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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

#191

Post by king_jester »

grkballer44 wrote: post #39

Within a couple years this exact scenario will play out. A gunmen will talk in a crowded place loaded to the gills. Assault rifles, bullet proof vest, explosives hid around the building. He will pull out his gun and kill the poor unsuspecting first soul. After that initial shot someone with a concealed weapons permit is going to blow his brains out cutting his rampage short ( I truly hope the person who plays the her…

How will common small arms deal with a determined gunman with assault protection gear, esp. in a chaotic, high stress situation like that? We would be better off finding a way to lessen and stop these kinds of events from occurring.

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

#192

Post by kevinh »

llambda wrote: post #35
ColinWright wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have flagged it, and I'm not so much complaining, as reminding people that this isn't a generic social site, it's intended to be specific to hackers. As such, anything that's not specifically of interest to hackers as opposed to general members of the public, does not belong here. Yes, this is of relevance to the vast majority of people in the USA, and it should be of major concern, and that's exactly why it doesn'…

Try on a little human emotion and sensitivity for size: this isn't your site to police. Even pg has pointed out the precision of the wording which you seemingly ignored.

Posting an article on a website isn't sensitivity. It just lets people gawk.

Despite what pg says, this article does not belong on Hacker News. This has absolutely no relation to hacking in general. There are a multitude of sites that will provide content like this article. There are precious few sites limited in scope to what Hacker News should be about.

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

#193

Post by mnicole »

nollidge wrote: post #168
mnicole wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Procuring a gun doesn't mean it was done over a counter.

Of course not, but I'm not sure what that has to do with my comment.

Sorry, thought you were insinuating that changing the laws on obtaining one would make a difference in stopping those who will essentially do whatever they need to to get it. :)

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

#194

Post by [deleted] »

zenta wrote: post #145
vyrotek wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#195

Post by cheeseprocedure »

king_jester wrote: post #162
JoeCortopassi wrote: post #129

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…

If you believe that the shooter in this case was disturbed or had mental illness (I've seen no reports to conclude this, btw) then the first thing you would demand is 1) better mental health care facilities and treatments for the public at large and 2) universal health care systems to provide the least possible friction in accessing those mental health care services. Also, you don't have to be either for banning guns…

We[1] need to begin tearing down the stigma of mental illness before better care can really have an impact.

[1] Canada/the US, at least; I'm not familiar enough with other cultures.

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

#196

Post by samspot »

alexbell wrote: post #36

It's depressing how we are becoming numb to mass shootings due to their frequency. It seems like a week can't go by without a tragedy like this occurring.

I'm not numb to this... it is seriously getting to me. I'm pretty appalled at how may people have jumped at the opportunity to get on their soapboxes in this thread.

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

#197

Post by driverdan »

xauronx wrote: post #7

This isn't hacker news. I'm going to see this depressing, heart wrenching news in a hundred other places... let me have my one safe technology news site :(

I agree completely. Everyone should flag this and it should be removed.

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

#198

Post by abstractbill »

JoeCortopassi wrote: post #129

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…

It seems that there are two schools of thought (generalizing obviously): 1. Disarm everyone, and 2. Allow everyone to carry weapons.

I think these are actually two extreme positions to which almost nobody seriously subscribes.

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

#199

Post by soapdog »

pdeuchler wrote: post #84
jacquesm wrote: post #56

The psychology behind the kind of people that could do a thing like this baffles me completely. Insanity doesn't begin to describe it. Parents should not have to worry about whether or not their children are safe in school. At the same time armed guards at school are not a solution either, then you might as well turn it into a mini prison. What a sad sad day. Even countries with gun control have instances like this (…

In my ever so humble opinion, it's a population issue. When you have a population size of 300 million you're going to get a lot more outliers (crazy people) than if you have a population of 7 million. Statistically, you will also have crazier people.

Brazil is as big as the U.S. and we don't have this kind of trouble here often. I am 32 and I remember it happening twice in all those years and in both cases the shooter said he was inspired by U.S. shootings...

I don't believe the shooters are mentally ill. There is simply sad, evil people in the world that think that shooting a lot of people will get them some attention/fame/recognition. In a society like the current U.S. society where being unknown and alone is worse, in the mind of some people, than being known as a serial killer this kind of thing is bound to happen.

Due to the nature of your society, you will never ban firearms. They will always be available and those wanting to kill can always find another ways.

In mu humble opinion, your problem lies in the fact that some very weird and sad people there find that serial killing is a glamorous life/ending. The worship or desire of a thug life or being known/recognized as a criminal by the media and society drives these wackos towards this behavior.

When consumerism is king and money/oportunity/perspective is low, when not being the most popular thing ever is worse than dying, when parents don't impose limits to their kids and just keep pumping meds into them, this disaster will keep happening.

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

#200

Post by TallGuyShort »

hyperbovine wrote: post #174
TallGuyShort wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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 happ…

And now you live in a country with enough societal and institutional safeguards against oppression that it isn't necessary for the citizenry to own automatic weapons. Congratulations.

First of all, the country I grew up in was South Africa, which history can tell you was almost destroyed by what people called "safeguards" at the time. The government was trying to rid the country of "terrorists" and it brought the country to the brink of civil war. So what is the relationship between these societal and intitutoional safeguards you refer to, and the warrantless electronic surveillance that was also on the front page of HN this morning with vocal opposition from the vast majority of this community?

edit: In case it wasn't clear, I don't actually believe the South African government was doing what it claimed - but believe when I tell you we had no idea just how bad the government was until after it was all over. My point was that safeguards aren't always what you think they are, and they they won't always be there. You can't decide to give citizens rights only when the government decides they need them.

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