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Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

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Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#141
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then someone blows the old ladies brains out thinking that she is the shooter. Nice plan.

I always hear people worrying about this, but it doesn't sound likely at all. Has it ever happened?

I have no idea. I live in a country without the general public having access to handguns.

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#142
Am I the only one who finds it strange (or even slightly disturbing) that this is essentially an after the fact live-blog of the event? For those connected to this school, I can understand wanting information and not wanting to wait. For anyone else, it just seems like obsessive rubbernecking taken to the extreme.

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#143
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say the same thing when people in oppressive regimes are silenced with no recourse because the government has no reason to fear it's own citizens. Sigh. I did not downvote your post, but frankly I'm angry that you just assume everyone who is pro-2nd amendment just isn't as enlightened as you are.

frankly I'm angry that you just assume everyone who is pro-2nd amendment just isn't as enlightened as you are. Where exactly do I make that assumption? You'll notice that I didn't even call for a blanket ban on guns, just that, as a nation, we could actually sit down and have a serious talk about whether people should be able to own weapons like this one for private use: [EDIT: I regret posting the link to the rifle,…

This is a terrible, very sad event. My heart goes out to everyone affected by it.

However, the idiocy of the tweet, designed only to spread FUD, the mindless retweets and ignorant comments, really piss me off. A few people have pointed out that .223 is a calibur, or 'shell size', and one of the mindless retweeters said she thinks shell size is gun specific.

i mean WTF... such epic ignorance...

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#144
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would really rather we talk about mental health and brain chemistry. Objects are easy to vilify, but we are ignoring mental health in this country and this is the result. The number of people walking around with untreated Schizophrenia is seriously problematic. The shooter in NM set off so many warnings that were ignored by people in power that it should have been seen. When the dust settles, I would expect a simil…

While I agree with everything you've just said, I'm not sure what the answer is. You have to go and purchase a gun, it's extremely difficult to manufacture one yourself. So, there's a point of control, where we can check people (including, yes, for mental illness). But mental illness itself has no check point. How can we ensure that people do not have untreated Schizophrenia? Mandatory checks for everyone once a year…

All the gun control in the world doesn't prevent you from getting someone else to buy you a gun (or getting one on the second hand market). I'm certain if we banned guns completely there would be a drop in gun violence, but tragedies like this are clearly a mental issue and I think they would probably just drive their car through a playground at recess if they didn't have a gun.

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#145
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly right. But did you using your spoon make 27 fat who didn't want to be?

Sure, the analogy is silly. The point really is that [Noun] Control is impossible. What about crossbows, knives and rocks? Things aren't the problem. People are the problem.

Reductio ad absurdum: I would like to own my own [nuclear weapon], please.

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#146
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weapons needed to resist a regime are not weapons we allow people to generally have in America at any rate. If we really believed in the 2nd Amendment, people would be allowed to own serious weapons of war but not be allowed to own concealable personal firearms.

> You have a natural right to self defense from all threats. Foreign and imaginary.

I think today's news shows that the non-foreign threats are hardly imaginary (and I would argue much more relevant than foreign threats).

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#148
post #74

Something to be aware of Ruger's 1 Million Gun Challenge http://www.ruger.com/micros/million/about.html

I fail to understand the point of your comment. Why do we need to be aware of a gun manufacturer wanting to sell guns?

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#149

Listen, there are two parts to this: 1. The horrible tragedy, and 2. The hopes to prevent this from happening again. If we are going to talk about this, we need to all fall under the assumption that we agree that this is both a very tragic act perpetrated by someone who is obviously disturbed/mentally ill, and that it is all of our desires to do what we can to make sure senseless acts of violence like this never happ…

> 1. Disarm everyone, and 2. Allow everyone to carry weapons.

Nice strawmen. There are obviously options in the middle, namely, increasing traceability of weapons and ammo and shutting down channels that where weapons are allowed to change hands anonymously.

The proliferation of weapons is one thing, but the fact that these tragedies occur and we don't have a way to follow the chain back to the disreputable dealer who sold these armaments - and shut them down - is just non-sensical.

The 2nd amendment fundamentalists who don't even want question how these weapons can get in the wrong hands - often use that same strawman you pose above - which is rediculous - many folks support the 2nd amendment yet find the need for further action to prevent these events from happening.

Re: Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say the same thing when people in oppressive regimes are silenced with no recourse because the government has no reason to fear it's own citizens. Sigh. I did not downvote your post, but frankly I'm angry that you just assume everyone who is pro-2nd amendment just isn't as enlightened as you are.

Oh, that is such a straw man. In America, the country in which I (and presumably you) live, what's the body count on the ol' oppressive regime-vs-AR15 wielding madman debate anyways? I'm thinking it's on the order of 0 to a couple hundred thousand. If everybody in North Korea owned a shotgun, yes, the world would be a better place. I don't understand why that means children should be murdered en masse, or that I shou…

>> I don't understand why that means children should be murdered en masse, or that I should have to dodge bullets in my own neighborhood (yes, really), all so that you can sleep easier at night knowing that the far-off, nebulous specter of the 'oppressive regime' is held safely at bay by your Colt 45.

Pardon me, but I grew up in a country where 'oppressive regime' was not far off at all, and where brutal murders happened in my neighborhood all the time. I knew my Dad didn't own a gun and it scared me to death. So how dare you belittle my beliefs in the need for armed civilians. Disagree with them, by all means, but do you really think I'm arguing children should be murdered en masse?

What you're proposing is, in my opinion, that same thing as arguing that the government should regulate or perhaps even ban internet access because of all the child pornography. Screw civil liberties, think of the children!

edit: Also, I would argue that confiscating laptops at airports will save as many lives as trying to ban guns in the US at this point.

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