There's plenty outrage.. and sorry to say quoting some *other* horror doesn't negate what we are talking about here..
crock of **** http://www.worldmapper.org/posters/worldmapper_map290_ver5.pdf And I seem to remember Princess Diana making the news bringing this to world notice
Oh, and aren't we the clever one... Your posts are just too much fun! Thanks, I'm really enjoying this. CW
What are your thoughts on locking guns away in gun safes when you are not using them? We have that law here and it's very effective. A friend posted on Facebook a few days ago that the Police came and did a random 'gun check' for the 5th time this year. He said he was getting annoyed with them as he is responsible with his guns as he locks them away. Granted we live in a small City and it's easy for the Police to get around to check gun owners. There are many guns here as a lot of people go hunting and shoot at the gun club. Surely if this boys Mumma had her guns locked away in the gun safe this tradegy could have been totally avoided and 20 little kids would be enjoying Xmas with their families next week. My thoughts are- If her guns were locked away, the chances of this boy going off and trying find another gun to still carry out this massacre would have been slim. Yes, he may have still have tried/have done it................but putting things in place (say like gun safes)would have made it just that little bit harder for him to execute his plan. Maybe he didn't even have a plan. It might have been a spur of the moment thing. If the guns were locked away, again, this shooting might not have taken place. Just my thoughts on this. Guns will never be banned in America. Every person owning 3 guns in America is as American as 'apple pie'. But surely putting other/extra rules in place making it harder for people to access guns who don't own or qualify to own guns would be a good thing?
Not sure it would have changed anything Pap. Media is reporting Mom and son regularly went target shooting together, he could easily have used this as a pretext to unlock the guns before he went haywire. He shot her twice in the face for goodness sake - this is a seriously deranged person.
Weapons are generally recommended (if not required) to be secured in a safe or with trigger/barrel locks. There is a real fear and concern that children in the home can get to an unsecured, loaded weapon and either kill themselves or others playing with it. However, securing all weapons in this fashion would perhaps entirely defeat the purpose of a home-defense weapon in an emergency. That said, the son would likely know the combination(s), wouldn't he? So, how would that have changed the course? OTOH, if the mother had secured the weapons in a safe and withheld the combination, I guess that would have frustrated his efforts. Temporarily, anyway. I am also thinking (lawyer hat on) that there will be civil suits filed against the estate of the deceased mother (as well as the son's), as a result of her failure to secure the weapons from someone with alleged psychiatric issues. It's not ideal, but that's how the system works here. I don't agree with the whole 3-gun per person stereotype. I know many Americans that have never fired a weapon, let alone own them. OTOH, I know a few scary gun owners, too. Just a few years ago, a Vietnam vet with a LONG history of instability and confrontations shot up a bar, killing a Doctor on the way through town. The red flags were there. CW
A very fair point. And, there's no doubt America is not a perfect place. It will never be, either. That said, it's all relative. CW
With no offence to my American friends, the scale and wealth of the US amplifies the effect of people on the fringes of normal society. It appears that the Mother subscribed to the end_of_the_world idiocy that grips .01% of the population in America. Stockpiling food and weapons to be ready when the aliens/zombies/black helicopters take control. These cults exist all over the world (e.g. gas attack on Tokyo subway station) but sadly seem to be more prevalent in the US.
None taken. But, I may not agree with the snippet I quoted. As you point out, a larger society will have more incidences even if the rate of incidence is the same. .001% * 100,000,000 is 1/4th the number .001% * 400,000,000. Still the same percent, though. I also think the American media plays a role in how extensively events like these get reported. I don't recall how long I heard about the Norwegian massacre was in the news, but the longer and LOUDER the story gets told, the more it will be in the forefront of our minds. And, then, of course, there's the politics of the whole thing and people who will seek to use it to achieve an objective who don't want it to taper down. Still, your point that there are loons everyhwere is apt. CW
Is there a possibility that this attack was actually motivated by 21/12/2012, ie. put his Mother and these children out of their misery since the end of the world is coming? Changing subject: In regards to all these attacks we need better ways to monitor the mental stability of the population ... and unfortunately this really comes down to Big Brother watching over us sort of stuff. Pete
Tough to do. And, just because the flags may be present doesn't mean that that person actually will do anything. In US law, until a crime is committed, there's little/nothing to prosecute and no basis to suspend their Constitutional rights. Although, if you're adjudged to be incompetent by a court or have self-committed to a mental institution, Federal law will prohibit selling you a weapon. On occasion, buyers slip through (I believe the VA Tech shooter was such a case). I suppose we'll hear more about his motivation soon, though, which may answer your first question. CW
there was something seriously wrong in this boys life/home. there were probably warning signs all over. nobody paying attention. boys dont shoot their mothers in the face.... ed
Generally not. But, generally, people don't shoot each other even when they have access to weapons, either. How, specifically, is someone to screen out the loons? Is there a DNA test? Is there a 100%-accurate, psychological test? CW
Defending against these sorts of events is difficult and expensive, if not entirely impossible. I'd wager that the FBI's assets are trained on higher-value targets. There may be a breadcrumb trail, but the question remains how to identify this particular boy as a person of interest before the event. And, even if he's identified as such, how can one prevent such an act unless you park a couple of agents in front of his house 24/7? CW
