US Connecticut Shooting

[AeryFairy]

I'm sure you've all heard by now.

Twenty children and six adults have been killed in a shooting attack at a primary school in the US state of Connecticut, police say.

Lt Paul Vance said the gunman was also dead, but did not identify him.

However, officials told US media the killer at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, was a 20-year-old son of a teacher at the school.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20730717

Heartbreaking tragedy, I feel for everyone involved.

 

[Chryssie]

This horrible tragedy has me so upset. There has been nothing on the TV but this all day. What could have possessed this young man to kill his own mother and her entire class of kindergardeners? It just is beyond comprehension.

 

[KLS52]

So terribly sad and a bit too close to home for me.

 

[Cerebellion]

I'll return to this when I'm somewhat rational. I literally just cursed out someone for posting gun control and 'pray for...' **** on my facebook wall. The bodies aren't even cold yet and the politics have come out to play. Fuckers...

 

[yakherder]

And also today, some fruitcake in China attacks 22 children and and old lady with a knife. None dead in this attack, but an unfortunate addition to an already nasty day.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20723910

 

[KLS52]

Oh wow.

 

[Cerebellion]

And also today, some fruitcake in China attacks 22 children and and old lady with a knife. None dead in this attack, but an unfortunate addition to an already nasty day.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20723910

I saw this earlier. It's not a good day to be a school kid, is it?

 

[Spang]

The bodies aren't even cold yet and the politics have come out to play.

When would be the best time to talk about gun control, gun culture in the United States, and lack of access to mental health services?

 

[Cerebellion]

Well, we all know how rational shocked and grief-stricken people are. No time like the present, right?

 

[mlp]

Well, we all know how rational shocked and grief-stricken people are. No time like the present, right?

I think most of us have thought our positions on gun control through before today. After all, this is not the first mass shooting, although, as far as I can remember, this is the highest number of such young victims in the U.S.

I hurt for all of these families and the pain they will live with for the rest of their lives.

 

[Eleven]

People always say "Not now". They say "Now is not a good time to talk about gun control and the tragedy guns cause. People are grieving. It's not a good time."

Seems like a good time to me.

In relative terms, guns are weapons of mass destruction. Compared to a knife or a club or anything else offered by gun advocates as an alternative murder weapon, guns have the potential of doing more damage in a shorter time span to a larger group of people. Had James Holmes or used a knife or a club or a slingshot or even a bow and arrow when he attacked those people in that movie theater in Aurora Colorado, the number of dead and the number of injured would have certainly been smaller. Had that been the case, Holmes may not have killed a single person but because he was so easily able to acquire the weapons of mass destruction that he used to slaughter those people, 12 people died and 58 were wounded.

Holmes had bought a knife when he bought the ammo used in the shootings. He didn't use it.

Va. Tech. Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Columbine. Austin, TX. It's endless until we start talking about it.

 

[mlp]

^^^ Agreed. The difference in number of fatalities between the attack in China and the attack in the U.S. today illustrates the difference between a knife and a gun.

 

[das_nut]

I think most of us have thought our positions on gun control through before today. After all, this is not the first mass shooting, although, as far as I can remember, this is the highest number of such young victims in the U.S.

38 elementary school children were killed in the 1927 Michigan school bombing.

Anyways, it's very sad, regardless. I hate how everyone is speculating and advocating their own political positions without even waiting for the details.

What a commentary on our culture when we see the deaths of 20 children as a chance to advocate our favorite positions.

 

[Freesia]

Yes it is a very sad commentary when people decide to discuss the necessity of guns after an episode of gun violence. What weirdos for discussing it at that time.

 

[das_nut]

Yes it is a very sad commentary when people decide to discuss the necessity of guns after an episode of gun violence. What weirdos for discussing it at that time.

Earlier today, when the news had gotten the details of the shooting wrong and falsely identified Ryan Lanza as the shooter, people started blaming a video game he liked to play for the violence.

Maybe its better to wait until we hear the facts before we start making decisions.

 

[sequoia]

Earlier today, when the news had gotten the details of the shooting wrong and falsely identified Ryan Lanza as the shooter, people started blaming a video game he liked to play for the violence.

Maybe its better to wait until we hear the facts before we start making decisions.

We have the facts. He murdered people with a gun. What more do you need?

 

[mlp]

38 elementary school children were killed in the 1927 Michigan school bombing.

If you noticed, I was talking about mass shootings.

Anyways, it's very sad, regardless. I hate how everyone is speculating and advocating their own political positions without even waiting for the details.

What a commentary on our culture when we see the deaths of 20 children as a chance to advocate our favorite positions.

And yet here you are.

 

[das_nut]

And yet here you are.

Which position have I advocated?

The only one I can think of is to argue that we should wait until we have all the facts before making decisions. Which I guess is a position, but a pretty mild one. And it gives us time to focus on the tragedy of the event.

 

[Renee1]

What a commentary on our culture when we see the deaths of 20 children as a chance to advocate our favorite positions.

I think if that was really how you felt you wouldn't be in here passive aggressively advocating for your favourite position...

 

[mlp]

Which position have I advocated?

The only one I can think of is to argue that we should wait until we have all the facts before making decisions. Which I guess is a position, but a pretty mild one. And it gives us time to focus on the tragedy of the event.

You've already posted one of the responses you post in every gun control thread that I've seen you post in, to-wit that people can kill equally large numbers with means such as explosives as they can with guns.