The Latest Mass Shooting

[airportkid]

The 2nd amendment need not be repealed.  Simply reinterpreted - as it has been numerous times.  Where it specifies allowable weaponry it says "arms".  It doesn't say "firearms".  Only an embedded worship of firearms assumes arms must mean firearms.  It doesn't have to.  Arms in the context of the amendment could be interpreted by legislatures and courts to mean paring knives, sticks less than 1 inch in diameter or stones less heavy than 2 ounces.

The weaponry assumed by "arms" is already restricted.  I believe automatic weapons are excluded.  I know airplanes with any kind of live firearm are illegal in private hands.  Possession of a nuclear bomb won't be defended as an "arm" Joe down the street would be allowed to own.  What separates permissible "arms" from impermissible "arms" is already arbitrary.  That separation lies in laws and court rulings, not in the amendment itself.  Hence it is in legislation and litigation that remedies can take shape, not in trying to overturn the amendment outright.

It's extraordinarily poor wording is what could eventually be its undoing, interpreted finally into harmlessness.

[Minimalist]

Yabbut, we have been upset about 3 babies having to be fed non-allergenic formula in hospitals. It dominated the news for 3 weeks, a week per baby.

WTF is wrong with people?

Babies can't vote.... but they make wonderful props for hypocritical politicians

[abaris]

A very strong argument against private possession of firearms is realizing personalities like Percie are permitted ownership, and do.

Percie doesn't make me nervous. Percie is just ingrained in his views, but doesn't give the appearance of being dangerous or on the brink of going over the edge.

But let's not turn this into yet another Percie thread.

[Minimalist]

That's the problem.  They never do until they snap.

[Minimalist]

Excellent commentary:

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opin...e-n1295693

The Texas shooting shows the futility of arming teachers

If armed and trained professionals can't stop a gunman, how can a teacher be expected to?

Hardcore opponents of gun control in the U.S. often respond to school shootings by proposing to arm teachers or add armed security guards to schools. But the inability of police to stop the gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, before he killed at least 19 children and two teachers Tuesday exposes the poor reasoning behind that proposal.

And he's right.  Within hours the Attorney General of Texas was out making exactly that asinine proposal which is about all you can expect from these republiKKKunt shitheads and a prime example of why this country is fucking doomed.

[Dancefortwo]

Excellent commentary:

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opin...e-n1295693






And he's right.  Within hours the Attorney General of Texas was out making exactly that asinine proposal which is about all you can expect from these republiKKKunt shitheads and a prime example of why this country is fucking doomed.

If gun nuts had to go through the gauntlet of requirements, tests, long distance travel and doctor's appointments women have to go through to get an abortion no gun would ever be sold.

[Dānu]

"And some of them will say, our hearts are with the families. Well, guess what. The families don't need your freaking hearts. They need their kids." -- father of Parkland victim

[Phaedrus]

They don't need the speeches and the words, either. They need action, something done about this country's gun problem.

[airportkid]

They need action, something done about this country's gun problem.

Magnets.  Outfit all those dead airliners at Mojave with giant electromagnets and fly 'em 200 feet above population centers.  When the gathered guns on the undersides reach a critical mass/drag coefficient head for Wayne LaPierre's house and turn off the electromagnet while swooping over it.  The accumulated cargo will include a number of gun owners still clutching their guns with not yet cold dead hands, and a large number whose cranial cavities will turn out to have been filled with unrefined iron all along.

Some might think that's an utterly absurd plan.

But it's no more absurd than what we've been doing for decades and will apparently keep doing.

[Thumpalumpacus]

They don't need the speeches and the words, either. They need action, something done about this country's gun problem.

To every politician "sending prayers", I have to ask, "why send prayers instead of exercising powers?"

Remember, "The Lord helps those who help themselves".

[Cavebear]

I'm tired of "breaking news" about another school massacre. It is all horrible and tragic. And it just US in the US. I heard that the US has has 288 mass school shootings over some recent years. And the next most violent nation was Mexico with 8. 288 vs 8... Yay, we are #1.

First, the MSNBC, FOX, and CNN news has been all about the hideous crime. How much news was there? I saw the initial reports the day it happened. They didn't know much, but they repeated it 24/7. 24 hours later, they had enough more information to fill 5 minutes. And repeated it over and over and over again as "new".

The event was horrible and tragic. But there are other events going on in the world. 100 children were killed by Russians in Ukraine in April. And there is a war going on there with civilian adults killed, executed, and left to rot.

According to WordOMeter, 529,759,083 have caught Covid and 6,306,291 have died. Over 3,576,000 have died from starvation.

There are 1 Billion guns in the world. The US had 120.5 per 100 residents; the most of any nation. It has gotten worse since then. It has to stop.

This is comparing mass-shootings of innocents to gun-access. If we don't learn to manage who can get guns, these massacres will continue. It is our responsibility as citizens to demand a stop to the uncontrolled access to military weapons.

[Minimalist]

The Texass republiKKKunts have already decided that what they want is MORE GUNS.

[SYZ]

Frustrated onlookers had urged police officers to charge into the Texas school
where the gunman's rampage killed 19 children and two teachers.

"Go in there! Go in there!" nearby women shouted at the officers soon after
the attack began, said Juan Carranza.

Mr Carranza witnessed the scene from outside his house, across the street
from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. He said the
officers did not go in.

"Let's just rush in because the cops aren't doing anything like they are supposed
to," he said.  "More could have been done.  "They were unprepared," he added.  

Department of Public safety director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes
to an hour elapsed from when the gunman opened fire on the school security
officer to when the tactical team shot him.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the
Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get
a staff member to open the room with a key.

Texas has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the United States and has been
the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the US over the past five years. But
Governor Greg Abbott repeatedly talked about mental health struggles among
Texas young people and argued that tougher gun laws in Chicago, New York and
California were ineffective.

—Excerpted from ABC News Australia, 26 May 2022.

[SYZ]

I'm tired of "breaking news" about another school massacre.  It is all horrible and tragic.  And it just US in the US.  I heard that the US has has 288 mass school shootings over some recent years...

So far this year, the US has experienced 213  mass shootings (all ages).

And 651 children aged 0  to 17 years have been killed with firearms to date 26 May.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Texas has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the United States and has been
the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the US over the past five years. But
Governor Greg Abbott repeatedly talked about mental health struggles among
Texas young people and argued that tougher gun laws in Chicago, New York and
California were ineffective.

—Excerpted from ABC News Australia, 26 May 2022.

That's because he cares more about holding power than wielding it wisely. If we look at mass shootings during Abbott's tenure, Texas outstrips his three whataboutism points of reference. But the cunt doesn't care so long as he stays in office.

He doesn't care.

[Cavebear]

Gun advocates argue that "guns make us safe".  So why do we keep having these massacres of students and neighbors?  

Well, obviously, (I say sarcastically) we are not yet armed to the hilt.  We need every teacher having an AK-47 hanging at the hip, dozens of SWAT team guys in every school, and probably every student armed and taught how to fire a gun.

The sick thing is that some people think that makes sense.  The sad thing is that enough people vote for those lunatics...

[Cavebear]

I hardly know what to do anymore. I live in Maryland, one of the strongest Democratic States. It is anti-gun and pro-women's reproductive rights States. Almost all the Representatives and the 2 State Senators are liberal/progressive. There isn't much I can do about other States

I can't affect the Trumpian Supreme Court. I can't influence Senators and Representatives from other States. I can't affect Judges in other jurisdictions. In a sad sort of way, I have no influence at all over anything political or social.

I suppose I could give money to campaigns elsewhere, but it seems like they just use that to ask for more.

It all makes me feel both angry and helpless.

And, oddly, it wouldn't be much different if I was in a strongly conservative Republican State. I would still have little influence.

I think we are all becoming "Balkanized" here. The result can be an autocratic takeover, a minor or major civil war, or a beat-down of autocrats at the voting booths. I sort of hope for the latter, but I don't think things look good. There are SO MANY angry crazy people.

I don't understand the angry people. When an entire classroom of innocent 4rth-graders were killed by an angry 18 year old with military weapons a couple days ago, too many angry crazy (or power-hungry) adult politicians jumped up to defend gun-rights reflexively.

But then, most of them have their children in protected private schools and live in gated communities... They have little to fear and much to owe the NRA for campaign funds.

The whole system is all fucked up.

Thomas Jefferson once said "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical". It might be time for that. The militias have to go, the crazies have to go, and the conspiracy-theorists have to go.

[GenesisNemesis]

Have seen some people saying that some police scanner audio is missing.

[Thumpalumpacus]

An overwhelming majority of Americans questioned in a poll conducted one day after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas supports background checks on all gun sales.

The survey from Morning Consult and Politico showed that 73 percent of respondents “strongly support” universal background checks and 15 percent “somewhat support” the requirement.

Only 4 percent said they “somewhat oppose” the background checks, and another 4 percent “strongly oppose” them. Five percent said they had no opinion.

https://thehill.com/news/state-watch/350...gun-sales/

Meanwhile 52 senators prefer their donors over the wishes of the American public.

[abaris]

https://thehill.com/news/state-watch/350...gun-sales/

Meanwhile 52 senators prefer their donors over the wishes of the American public.

But still, the country has more guns than citizens.

[Thumpalumpacus]

But still, the country has more guns than citizens.

You gotta start somewhere, Abs. You know how to tackle a big problem? Break it down into small problems and then address those one at a time.

[Dancefortwo]

https://thehill.com/news/state-watch/350...gun-sales/

Meanwhile 52 senators prefer their donors over the wishes of the American public.

The Washington Post had an interesting opinion piece yesterday titled. "America Embraces Child Sacrifice."  

 On the surface, contemporary America seems very distant from the world of Greek tragedy or the Toltec capital of Tula in 950 A.D. But our societies have something in common. We all practice child sacrifice.

 Given the lack of action after these spasms of butchery, there is only one possible conclusion: We are willing to tolerate the murder of children. We accept events that will gravely wound the bodies and psyches of many others.

  But in exchange for what? For what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has called "the fundamental, God-given right each and every one of us has to defend our lives, to defend our homes, to defend our children, to defend our family”? Must we allow the possibility that our children will be destroyed in order that they might, hypothetically, be saved? 

It's so true.  Conservative Republicans (and that's most of the Republican party)  don't really care about children.  It's all a ruse to control the abortion narrative.  It's all about power.  They really don't care about "innocent babies being aborted"  because if they did they'd support national healthcare and child care and give some sort of shit about children being slaughtered in classrooms and take action immediately to have strict gun laws. But nope, they are very willing to sacrifice children to guns and poverty on the alter of the NRA. They DO NOT care one whit about, living breathing children.....unless they're white and rich of course.   

As far as I know most of these children were Mexican-Americans so, "Meh, bunch of wet-backs were shot by another wet-back"  I guarantee that's what's swirling around in the brains of many Republicans.   I'll bet they noticed this right away.

[Cavebear]

https://thehill.com/news/state-watch/350...gun-sales/

Meanwhile 52 senators prefer their donors over the wishes of the American public.

Total agreement there.

[no one]

When the American public can grease my wheels, I'll consider them people.

[Cavebear]

Have seen some people saying that some police scanner audio is missing.

Do you have any evidence of that or is it just something from Fox "News"?