Yet another school shooting in America

[ILLYRIAN]

Early news reports are of 15 dead in a Texas school for 6, 7 and 8 year olds.

 

[HowiMetdaSlayer]

Gah - just so awful & sad! 😫 🥺

 

[Ethan Reigns]

When you have a country with a population of 330,000,000 and something like 0.8% are on the sociopath / psychopath spectrum and gun ownership is easy, this is just going to be a regular part of the news. That makes 264,000 people on that spectrum. In one episode, Oz is told about a school shooting and he says, "It's getting positively trendy.". Some other nations have handled the problem with gun laws but that is not going to solve every problem. Black market guns will still be out there. The episode "Earshot" was delayed because it was about a kid up in a bell tower with a rifle and it was recorded right after a well-publicized school shooting. Canada has about a ninth of the population of the US but in one year a coupe of decades back, Canada had 168 shooting deaths in the same year the US had 11,500.

 

[nightshade]

I think mental health services around the world need severe improvement, and as well as background checks, renewal ones as well so that if situation changes guns can be removed from that person.
While it won't make much difference to family members stealing guns etc, it might help identify if there's a history of mental health issues.

I think there's also a lot of disconnect in the western world especially now, a lot more individualistic and no longer wanting the village to raise a child. It's no more love thy neighbour, when we don't even know who are neighbours are.

It is sad and shocking, but no longer surprising, and that's sad too.

 

[Plasma]

The fact that it was at an elementary school is the saddest fact. What reason would someone have to do that to children? 🙁

 

[Cohen]

I can’t properly convey my thoughts on this tragedy right now. It has hit me really hard, and I’m processing everything. But the United States is severely behind on gun control and unfortunately, our most innocent are paying the price. God save our souls. 💔

 

[TheMaster666]

When you have a country with a population of 330,000,000 and something like 0.8% are on the sociopath / psychopath spectrum and gun ownership is easy, this is just going to be a regular part of the news. That makes 264,000 people on that spectrum. In one episode, Oz is told about a school shooting and he says, "It's getting positively trendy.". Some other nations have handled the problem with gun laws but that is not going to solve every problem. Black market guns will still be out there. The episode "Earshot" was delayed because it was about a kid up in a bell tower with a rifle and it was recorded right after a well-publicized school shooting. Canada has about a ninth of the population of the US but in one year a coupe of decades back, Canada had 168 shooting deaths in the same year the US had 11,500.

Yeah and some cop procedural show similarly pulled an upcoming episode after last night's news for the same reason.

Post automatically merged: May 26, 2022

The sad reality is that bad things happen in the world, all the time. Every time tragedy strikes, people want to know there's something they can do about it, maybe prevent it from happening again. But these things are just going to happen from time to time, that's life. Best we can do is lower the proportion of incidence, but we'll never eliminate it.

However, I'm in the camp of targeting the potential shooters, and making it harder for them to get guns, not banning firearm ownership outright. Background checks, mental health evaluation, and cracking down on homemade/unregistered/black market guns should be the priority.

 

[nightshade]

However, I'm in the camp of targeting the potential shooters, and making it harder for them to get guns, not banning firearm ownership outright. Background checks, mental health evaluation, and cracking down on homemade/unregistered/black market guns should be the priority.

You cannot bans guns in America, like other countries were able to after school shootings, and the gun organisations pour millions into stopping any type of restrictions, so really people have to take guns out of the equation when thinking about how to prevent things like this happening again. That's something that can be looked at, are the shooters victims of abuse themselves, do they have untreated/undiagnosed mental health problems. These are things that can be improved.

 

[Cohen]

You cannot bans guns in America, like other countries were able to after school shootings, and the gun organisations pour millions into stopping any type of restrictions, so really people have to take guns out of the equation when thinking about how to prevent things like this happening again. That's something that can be looked at, are the shooters victims of abuse themselves, do they have untreated/undiagnosed mental health problems. These are things that can be improved.

The just-turned-18-year-old shooter in this particular case bought semi-automatic weapons less than a week before he did this. In fact, in a many cases, the perpetrators of these crimes purchased guns in the days prior to committing their acts. There IS something to say about the easy access of guns in the US. And I believe nearly all of the mass shootings that have occurred have been people without criminal history (I do not have specific facts to back this up, just going off of memory). So decreasing access could be one part of the solution.

 

[The Bronze]

I think there's also a lot of disconnect in the western world especially now, a lot more individualistic and no longer wanting the village to raise a child. It's no more love thy neighbour, when we don't even know who are neighbours are.

Very true. Most problems stem from or are exasperated by the system in place.

One thing is for sure, if God was going to intervene he would have done so already. So anyone in a position of power offering only prayers and no practical suggestions is happy for this to continue indefinitely.

 

[thrasherpix]

You cannot bans guns in America, like other countries were able to after school shootings, and the gun organisations pour millions into stopping any type of restrictions, so really people have to take guns out of the equation when thinking about how to prevent things like this happening again. That's something that can be looked at, are the shooters victims of abuse themselves, do they have untreated/undiagnosed mental health problems. These are things that can be improved.

Pretty much this. I wish it were different. Or better yet, I wish our CULTURE was different. I'm not just talking about our fetish for guns, I think if other key features of our culture were different then mass shootings would be rare instead of commonplace without changing anything regarding our admittedly absurd gun laws that only a super wealthy gun lobby could bring about.

And I am tired of the whole thoughts and prayers BS.

Would be nice that when politicians blame mental illness if they actually FUNDED that (unlike failed programs they fund no matter how wasteful it is), though psychiatry doesn't have my full confidence (and Big Pharma has none, I put them up there with the gun lobby for an evil, at least corrupting, force of civilization that do more harm than good--and I've recently come across how meds were creating a vicious circle in someone close to me so that I support her going off the meds, and she'd probably have been cured already had she done so earlier).

But even if some good regulations on firearms were in place, which would likely dent mass shootings (ideally it wouldn't embolden other criminals who'd be able to get guns as easy as they can meth, possibly with ammo more deadly than what's sold over the counter, because they now assume only they and the police have guns, plus I know more than one woman who fended off attackers with a gun--not a shootout, she shows it and they leave, so I'm glad they were legally armed), but not stop it...and there's something else that would eventually happen instead that would be a lot worse, especially in the age of the internet.

I don't want to say what that is, just that the deadliest mass murders (including of a school about a century ago) wasn't done with guns, and there's no banning the products involved that are essential to society. Since the vast majority of mass shooters are idiots, they won't think of it themselves (though others have done so), but the moment they can copy someone else, they will. (I believe posting instructions on how to do it on YouTube will get you a visit from the FBI as well as the vid taken down, which I support.)

At this point, all I feel is resignation on the matter, like with deadlier fire seasons and a planet slowly but surely becoming increasingly hostile to our civilization, which isn't even counting the inevitable solar flare that will bring western nations to their knees (one such potential flare missed Earth by 2 days about 10 years ago). Like the absurd levels of corruption and hubris throughout society, it is what it is.

Holland Manners was right.

 

[KaitKat]

Would be nice that when politicians blame mental illness if they actually FUNDED that

This. I’m sick of hearing guns aren’t the problem mental illness is and still not giving a crap about mental illness.

I also know conservatives like to blame the brake down of the nuclear family for mass shootings but I’m willing to guess that the internet has made it possible for these mentally ill people who have access to firearms to connect with extremists and foster some disturbing beliefs all protected under the first amendment.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Let’s please leave politics out of the discussion.

 

[nightshade]

How do we change this culture of violence and individualism? We certainly don't want more gang violence either, so it's creating better communities that support one another in a peaceful way. People draw together in tragedies, but how do we bring them together without something bad happening first?
I think the covid pandemic showed that well, people either came together or got more isolated.
I don't know, I just think we have to start looking around us more and seeing what we can do to help.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

America has a problem with its archetypes, the mythology that the country is raised on. One archetype peculiar to the US is the gunslinger, the man hired by a town to go up against the bad guys in an area where law barely existed and enforcement was "might makes right". It has come into the language with words like "troubleshooter", a descendant of the term "trouble hunter" that was first applied to telegraph linemen in the 1800's. It means that trouble is anthropomorphised and to solve a problem, you shoot it as if it was a person.

The gunslinger is looked at as a heroic individual with no attachment to the place he is serving and no ideological concern for the people he is assigned to kill - he is a travelling and usually rootless individual who is paid by the town to "troubleshoot" a situation. then he goes on to the next opportunity. A lot of disaffected people look back at this archetype and adopt it as their persona. You are not going to cancel this archetype - a lot of people use the word "troubleshooter" for technicians who are tasked with finding the reason why a piece of electrical or mechanical equipment is malfunctioning, so the word is in regular use.

Schools are popular targets because a lot of people got into their first bit of trouble at a school. School was trouble and the shooters are going to troubleshoot their lives just like a technician would take parts out of a car or an electronic item. And so they do. This archetype is unique to the US and although they happen from time to time in other countries, it happens twice a month in the US because gunslingers were the heroes of their time.

 

[Dora]

Here in the UK we have the 4th toughest gun laws in the world, I fully understand the attraction of gun ownership but honestly why would anybody want a semi automatic gun's with large capacity magazines designed for military use?? and why would anybody just be able to walk into a shop and buy one ? In the uk you have to have a good reason to have a shot gun but more so a sporting or target rifle, hand guns are not allowed , Doctors and police reports needed, where its kept lock up and its checked by police and ammunition is not stored with the weapon. You cannot even fire a rifle in a gun club until you do a 3 month probation .There is a argument that more people are effected and die through drink abuse than by guns in the US so why is alcohol not banned? but the easy availability of guns makes for easy use,
Members of the public can legally carry arms in public WTF
Quoting a constitution that was made back when a gun consisted pf a single shot musket to todays multi shot semi automatic rifles and shot guns beggars belief come on people that was 200 years ago.
You have a free right to travel but rules on how you travel why not on guns

 

[Antho]

Powerful words when we know who this man is and what happened to him ( he speaks English and the video lasts 2 minutes)

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Americans are proud of their 2nd amendment gun rights but as a Canadian, I have the inverse right: the right to walk down a street knowing that people I pass by will not be carrying guns. We have had a few incidents of shootings but not many people live in fear of the next one. There are criminals who carry guns of course, but they are not usually the ones who would snap and shoot up a school or a mall. We rarely get people shooting strangers.

My daughter once witnessed a ride-by shooting in Toronto: three guys on bicycles shot at some guy who they didn't hit because he hid behind a dumpster. But they were looking for this specific guy. They would not open fire in a school or a mall.

There was an incident in Toronto a few days ago where a 27-year old man was killed by police when he was carrying a gun in the vicinity of four schools that were put into lockdown for the duration. The gun turned out to be a pellet gun and the case is being investigated but in the aftermath of a shooting, the police follow a different protocol that says "shoot first and ask questions later" when there has been a recent mass shooting due to the possibility of a copycat.

 

[Hunga Munga]

I like guns ...as an interest .

I'm not allowed to own proper firearms in the UK because of my distant criminal record . Likely a wise move too , because I would have probably used them in my prime 😀 . Sometimes , legislation is there to save you from yourself 😀 .

I subscribe to a bunch of US gun channels , mostly history focused , but some exmilitary , one serving military , a few hunters , a lot of black American gun enthusiasts(usually hunters) . There is a lot of positives in the culture . America curates the world's modern military history usually at great personal expense . It's a fabulous leisure pastime for many millions of Americans , rich and poor , rural and urban ,of many races . Often puts food on the table too .

However I share Dora's horror at military calibre rifles on the street . I just don't see that as a sensible application of the right to bear arms .

Personally I'd be inclined to legislate out whole classes of weapons from US circulation , or at least tie them to a gun range or country property . I have no problem with someone owning an assault rifle , but I'm not keen to see them stroking it at Costco 😛 .

Personally I'd take AK/AR pistols off the shelves , most machine pistols(even semi-auto) , most combat shotguns , all drum magazines , there's a bunch of loud , cheap obnoxious weapon types in US circulation that are unsuited to responsible practical applications . I'm sure they're a great deal of fun to shoot , but not for potential use on the street .

I'd stamp down hard on full auto gun conversions . I'd be keen to agree some sort of standard loadout for concealed carry/open carry/truck guns . Training ,licensing , insurance ...all worth looking at on a Federal level , while still protecting the second amendment .When you think of the hoops you have to jump through just to drive a grocery truck for a living , why shouldn't owning a battle rifle have similar levels of responsibility and oversight ?

However I don't think these very moderate suggestions would have saved a single life in the recent spate of mass killings I've read about .