Horrible Shooting

[Rick]

Well at least it will help. The average citizen should not be able to have an assault weapon. Period.

He didn't use an "assault weapon." Gun control is not the answer. More gun control would not have prevented this. Even more gun control is not going to do a damn thing to stop these incidents. Do you actually think that stopping someone from owning an "assault weapon" is going to stop murderers from killing people? Are hunting rifles and shotguns not able to kill people? What about knives? Vehicles? Guns are not the problem, the whack jobs behind the gun are the problem. I read about a mass knifing in a school in China. See what I am getting at? I am an avid shooter and responsible gun owner, more gun control isn't the solution. Stop listening to the biased main stream media. Screaming more gun control is simply a knee jerk reaction.

And I wish everyone would stop calling the guy a shooter. I am a shooter. This guy and those like him are murderers, not shooters.

 

[preying mantis]

He didn't use an "assault weapon." Gun control is not the answer. More gun control would not have prevented this. Even more gun control is not going to do a damn thing to stop these incidents. Do you actually think that stopping someone from owning an "assault weapon" is going to stop murderers from killing people? Are hunting rifles and shotguns not able to kill people? What about knives? Vehicles? Guns are not the problem, the whack jobs behind the gun are the problem. I read about a mass knifing in a school in China. See what I am getting at? I am an avid shooter and responsible gun owner, more gun control isn't the solution. Stop listening to the biased main stream media. Screaming more gun control is simply a knee jerk reaction.

And I wish everyone would stop calling the guy a shooter. I am a shooter. This guy and those like him are murderers, not shooters.

Amen.

I always hate to see tragedies like these turn political but you know they will. A knee-jerk shriek of "ban all guns!" is easy after the death of so many innocent children. But this happened in the #5-ranked state by the Brady Campaign in terms of strict gun control legislation.

My condolences are certainly out to the families of those involved in this ordeal.

 

[preying mantis]

A good example I forgot to mention is Chicago. Pretty much the tightest gun control in the country, but probably the highest murder rate. A good example of why additional gun control is not effective. More gun control only hurts the law abiding gun owners like myself. Criminals will not care about the law.

And also I'd be willing to wager that most gun crimes are committed with unregistered firearms (I know that before the Columbine shooting, for instance, the kids bought the guns out of the back of a van a few days beforehand). I have the proper permits and documentation for every single one of my guns, and they have never killed a person. They have spent most of their lives locked away safely, on my wall, etc. As you said, the only thing tight gun control does is take guns away from owners like you and me.

The war on drugs sure is doing a great job at stopping the trafficking of narcotics, after all.

 

[hibiscusmile]

All fftopic: . As the song goes, let there be peace in the world and let it begin with me. MJ

 

[Mëluzynn]

We saw that in TV news too, it's so sad.

Gun control is the answer, I'm sure of that. We don't have things like this here...

 

[fleurdejoo]

So sad.

I hear you Mel however we all already do have guns here.

I am licensed and carry every day for my own protection.

We need more money for public mental health facilities!

 

[Sticky]

If you take away the guns, what then? The mentally ill will always find something to use. Help for the mentally ill is the answer.

I like your prayer Hibiscusmile. Amen and thank you.

 

[gripen]

A lot of people own firearms in the United States and the vast majority of them are VERY particular about gun safety. Even though I keep my shotgun high on a rack on my wall out of reach of any four year-old, not to mention a lock on its trigger and unloaded with my ammunition in a lock box in my closet, I still take it down and put it high on a shelf locked in my closet when my cousin brings her toddler over. And pretty much everyone I know who owns firearms are the same way or even more cautious.

But obviously people being responsible with their weapons isn't exactly newsworthy, so you only hear of tragedies such as yesterday's and automatically assume we're all nuts toting around AK-47s with our finger on the trigger as we walk down Main Street to buy milk. Not true at all.

I will definitely agree that measures need to be taken to ensure that the mentally unstable do not obtain weapons. Not just guns, but weapons of any kind. Taking guns away from owners such as myself is not the answer, and it never will be; it lies within better screening of purchasers and reform of the mental health system. Educating yourself about guns also plays an important role.

People like you are not the problem. You are a model citizen. You use a gun as a sporting item right?

What I cannot understand is people owning guns for self defense. You will only cause more problems then you solve with such weapons.

(edit) This is all my opinion please treat as such.

Sorry for all the off topic. I feel strongly about this subject next time I will try to respond more like a human being when I talk about it.

 

[agent A]

Too late for 20 children

 

[Peter Clausen]

Rebecca was right. Off topic content on gun control is hijacking this thread. I have cleaned it up some, but with respect to hopefully everybody that got to retain at least one post with their opinions on why events like this occur.

This topic was temporarily removed from the forum but is back now because it is important for this forum to provide more than just a place for discussions on mantises--because we are more than just mantis keepers. I prefer that you don't comment on my actions here as a moderator as it is off topic. This is simply a notice of explanation.

My personal opinion? I think humans evolved the abilities to think and feel things in ways beyond those of other animals. There are 300 million people in the United States, for example. Two of them went nuts this week. They weren't able to cope with being thinking, feeling animals and they behaved outside the lines of what is natural for most humans. In statistics this is known as a rare event and it's a good thing that murder and suicide are mostly bred out of our gene pool. It isn't a great comparison, but I have seen that some ghost mantises are more likely to cannibalize than others. We are all different in degrees. Some of us are more sensitive to the issues around us (like gun control) than others. Most of us out there are good people though. We might vote differently on issues, but we show each other respect while we're doing it and we handle our personal and joint problems in healthy ways for the most part.

 

[agent A]

The real problem is we dont notice the psychos and help them in time

Nobody with a sane mind would commit a crime like this, but this guy went crazy on friday and opened fire at a school

Now he and 20 children are dead

If his problem was diagnosed and treated on time and properly, this would never have happened

The 20 kids and 6 adults killed by him arent the only victims here

Someone else was failed by society and now they are dead with the label as the most hated man on earth

 

[patrickfraser]

The killer probably thought there was nothing wrong with him and his thought processes were correct. Just another sicko-, psycho-, sociopath. The world is full of them and they see no need to visit a counselor or discuss their "problems". in their mind they are completely normal and everyone else is the "crazy" one. LOCK 'EM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY!

 

[hibiscusmile]

amen, and I say amen!

 

[brancsikia339]

All over facebook there are memorials to those who were killed. One teacher stood in between her first graders and the shooter, and she was fatally shot. Apparently 20 children are now dead and 7 adults. It's terrible, and right by Christmas too. The shooter (according to reports) had multiple mental disorders and could barely feel pain. Why would he do this? Why would he murder so many people, including children? According to newspapers, all the children were 6 and 7 years old. WHY?!

 

[Mëluzynn]

Here we heard a teacher hide her students in cabinet/closets since she heard the first shoot. When the guy enters her classroom she tolds him kits were in sport class. She was killed but she saved all the children in her classrom.

 

[brancsikia339]

Here we heard a teacher hide her students in cabinet/closets since she heard the first shoot. When the guy enters her classroom she tolds him kits were in sport class. She was killed but she saved all the children in her classrom.

Yes that's what i was talking about. When i meant stood between, i meant she was protecting them from the shooter. She was very brave.

 

[Plex]

Yeah... she was very brave, the teacher who hid all her students..



Also something I saw online and went to the WBC website to verify made me a bit peeved, not sure if this is off topic or not but it seems the WBC came out and said that it was God's retribution against a nation accepting of gays and wants to picket the memorial service.

That deeply upset me... I didn't want to believe anyone would stoop that low. :no:

 

[agent A]

Yeah... she was very brave, the teacher who hid all her students..

Also something I saw online and went to the WBC website to verify made me a bit peeved, not sure if this is off topic or not but it seems the WBC came out and said that it was God's retribution against a nation accepting of gays and wants to picket the memorial service.

That deeply upset me... I didn't want to believe anyone would stoop that low. :no:

If god hated gays he would kill them

As Lady GaGa would say, god makes no mistakes

 

[angelofdeathzz]

I'm very sorry to say, God make a mistake where the shooter was concerned, he should have let the devil take him down below long ago. Now he has 20 6-7 yr olds and some very brave adults souls to heal and care for, so sad.

Yes I know God doesn't work that way, but still, so sad. But the part that really sux is there's not much we can do about this kind of madness.

Schools will be like jails and teachers will be armed sometime in the future, what a wonderful world for the kids...

 

[Plex]

I'm very sorry to say, God make a mistake where the shooter was concerned, he should have let the devil take him down below long ago. Now he has 20 6-7 yr olds and some very brave adults souls to heal and care for, so sad.

Yes I know God doesn't work that way, but still, so F'n sad. But the part that really sux is there's not much we can do about this kind of madness.

Schools will be like jails and teachers will be armed sometime in the future, what a wonderful world for the kids...

Sadly you're right, if things keep continuing like this and there are more and more copycat killers, that might become a harsh reality in some places.

=/

I think part of the reason things end up with people repeating the same thing that others have done before them though-especially on this scale-is because of the publicity that murderers like this tend to get...

People who are crazy in certain ways might crave this attention and crave knowing that even if he dies or is put away for life, he will still be a household name for a while at least and gain fame, and they rather that then dying as a sad nobody. Mixed with a lack of basic empathy and human emotion, that can lead to horrid events.

Look at Columbine and other major shootings-the killers were a household name in the country for a long while, but the names of the victims were unknown with the exception of a few for some people.

It's rather sad, really.