Current Affairs The " another shooting in America " thread

[The binman chronicles]

Unfortunately if the 58 dead and 851 injured in the Vegas shooting couldn’t even get bump stocks banned I don’t think anything is going shock enough to get legislation passed.

Such a sad, pointless waste of lives.

Indeed it is and you are right they don't care how many ordinary people are killed, it will take something huge like another presidential assassination for them to even blink never mind do anything about it.

 

[riddick]

Indeed it is and you are right they don't care how many ordinary people are killed, it will take something huge like another presidential assassination for them to even blink never mind do anything about it.

You kidding? It will do the opposite. Gun sales will go ballistic because of 'preppers'.

 

[brieverton]

I know American culture and society champions the individual and individualism, to a greater extent than here, so it doesn't seem much of a stretch to assume that such conditioning begins in school, or even earlier.

I used to watch shows like 90210 with a certain fascination, wondering if the "kids" were really as mature as they seemed, grappling with what to me seemed like adult problems.

You have the football jocks and prom queens and what must be a mass of average students and kids, but it then seems like the "nerds" and "geeks" who don't fit in there, are going to be significantly more marginalised than their equivalents here. And I was very much a nerd myself. That always has the potential to be deadly in a gun obsessed society.

I hope it's clear that I'm not trying to provide a justification of such warped behaviour, just trying to understand within the context of what seems to be as a very damaging emphasis on individualism in the US.

 

[The binman chronicles]

You kidding? It will do the opposite. Gun sales will go ballistic because of 'preppers'.

It may well boost sales but it would force a discussion in congress for sure. Whether anything would be done off the back of it is another matter...

 

[Connor]

Genuinely could not imagine being in that situation.

 

[TheBigIguana]

I'm sure we'll get a heartwarming speech from our President reminding us that there is blame ON BOTH SIDES in this instance..


It's never going to change. Sandy Hook was the line in the sand that got covered up.

My friend and I were talking about it earlier and we kind of agreed that Sandy Hook was the end but honestly it should have never gotten past Columbine. Gun control should have started then and we didn't do much and from that point we have accepted things

 

[riddick]

My friend and I were talking about it earlier and we kind of agreed that Sandy Hook was the end but honestly it should have never gotten past Columbine. Gun control should have started then and we didn't do much and from that point we have accepted things

agree wholeheartedly. Columbine was such a huge moment in a lot of American lives and, yet, there's been a lot more shootings that have dwarfed it. They didn't act when low class minorities were killed, they didn't act when higher class teens were killed, they never acted when hundreds of low income kids were killed by gang violence and they never acted when higher class children were executed.

Any ONE of those should have sparked a serious discussion. [Poor language removed], Australia banned guns(mostly) because a guy in a clock tower killed, what 12 people?

 

[Rook]

I know American culture and society champions the individual and individualism, to a greater extent than here, so it doesn't seem much of a stretch to assume that such conditioning begins in school, or even earlier.

I used to watch shows like 90210 with a certain fascination, wondering if the "kids" were really as mature as they seemed, grappling with what to me seemed like adult problems.

You have the football jocks and prom queens and what must be a mass of average students and kids, but it then seems like the "nerds" and "geeks" who don't fit in there, are going to be significantly more marginalised than their equivalents here. And I was very much a nerd myself. That always has the potential to be deadly in a gun obsessed society.

I hope it's clear that I'm not trying to provide a justification of such warped behaviour, just trying to understand within the context of what seems to be as a very damaging emphasis on individualism in the US.

its not the younger generations tearing this country apart. its the boomers.

 

[artetas_biggest_fan]

Indeed it is and you are right they don't care how many ordinary people are killed, it will take something huge like another presidential assassination for them to even blink never mind do anything about it.

Another presidential assassination would only mean more would be armed to the teeth. The backward logic is always more guns.

As tragic as this latest school massacre is (291st since 2013, one per week http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43066226 ), it's not really worthy of headline news. It's par for the course there. It's similar to the bombs that go off in the Middle East on a weekly basis. Run of the mill. Brief report will suffice. The place is not safe, we all know it.

Besides the sadness over the tragic loss of life (many youngsters in this case), the most galling thing is the gun toting nutters and their fake sympathy. They couldn't give two shits about the victims.

 

[Tubey]

If everyone at the school was armed with a miniature nuclear missile launcher, this wouldn't have happened .

 

[ilikecheese]

I was listening to conservative talk radio on my way home from work. They were staunchly saying gun control won't prevent stuff like this. Almost angrily saying how stupid it is to even consider it.

It's so frustrating being an American knowing that half the population is so utterly brainwashed that even the idea of a discussion of gun control measures is simply out of the question.

 

[TheBigIguana]

agree wholeheartedly. Columbine was such a huge moment in a lot of American lives and, yet, there's been a lot more shootings that have dwarfed it. They didn't act when low class minorities were killed, they didn't act when higher class teens were killed, they never acted when hundreds of low income kids were killed by gang violence and they never acted when higher class children were executed.

Any ONE of those should have sparked a serious discussion. [Poor language removed], Australia banned guns(mostly) because a guy in a clock tower killed, what 12 people?

It's sad because the clocktower shooting was also an American one back in the 60s. Not quite sure of all the details of the Australia one but I think it was about 30 people and basically they said enough this can't happen anymore

 

[riddick]

It's sad because the clocktower shooting was also an American one back in the 60s. Not quite sure of all the details of the Australia one but I think it was about 30 people and basically they said enough this can't happen anymore

Was just able to look it up, there were 34 fatalities.


I just don't get what needs to happen to have the conversation.

 

[Pettifogger]

Ugh! Just saw this news. We need a seriously massive march on the capital. This way out of hand. Far more people in the USA are for gun control (including the majority of NRA members) than against. But the lobbying arm of the NRA is corrupt and powerful.

For some measures, sure. But probably not enough to impact these incidents.

55% of Americans think the NRA has the right amount of influence or too little influence. That is going to get more polarized if the responses everyone hears from this incident come from the NRA on one side and celebrities/MomsDemand/etc. on the other. Sizable majorities of US gun owners express favor for certain gun restrictions - magazine limits or AWB - but I suspect many do not trust the motives of the loudest folks on this topic.

And to some extent, I don't blame them. Magazine limits won't do much, neither will an AWB. A considerable decline in gun deaths from gun control measures would require either a) a handgun ban or b) some sort of user-side restriction that is going to be very hard to implement and goes far beyond mere weapon restrictions.

 

[ilikecheese]

Was just able to look it up, there were 34 fatalities.


I just don't get what needs to happen to have the conversation.

Honestly I think it would take something massively extreme (like way more massive than today).

Like someone getting into a joint session of congress and creating a bloodbath.

Not even sure that would make a difference if I am being totally honest.

I mean if Vegas couldn't get bump stocks banned I almost feels like nothing could happen to change things.