Newtown, Conn School Shooting

[dainerra]

but, those numbers don't tell you that you are still more likely to be a victim of a violent crime in the UK than almost anywhere in the world! Even South Africa has less violent crime than the UK! So the criminals won't use a gun to do it? The UK now has an age limit to purchase kitchen utensils for crying out loud! Why? Because in the UK a criminal can pick up a pointy stick and be more heavily armed than any private citizen.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ry-Europe-Britain-worse-South-Africa-U-S.html

and I own several semi-automatic handguns. You seem to be confused on "semi-automatic" and "assault weapons" Semi-automatic just means that you don't have to rack the slide after each shot and the spent brass is expelled from the chamber automatically. We're not talking hunting squirrels with an Uzi here. They've been using them to hunt since the 1900s, yes even semi-automatic shotguns.

As for the mother have them in an "inaccessable place" We're talking about a 20 year old son, not a toddler who found daddy's gun laying on the nightstand.

 

[bakerjw]

A couple of posters have hit the nail on the head. Look at our society. Look at the violence on TV, in movies and in video games. Our children have been desensitized almost from birth. There is also the breakdown of the family. I have 2 black friends who grew up in the south end of Chicago and have good careers in IT. I commented to one of them one day that I was impressed that he stayed in school to get an education and get into a good field. His response? "My daddy would have whupped my backside if I had gotten in trouble." My other friend was the same way. They both had active parents involved in their lives. The pervasiveness of violence in our entertainment industry is not going away. In fact it will probably just get worse. With that in mind, we need to harden up the security in our schools. And then other soft targets will be sought out and attacked. Then we'll have to harden those up as well.

When I was in Ecuador a few years back, almost every business had steel bars on their doors, that were locked during the day, or an armed guard. I have a picture of an armed guard in a McDonalds parking lot and one of guards in towers at a local shopping center. Crime is rampant enough there that they need to take these measures. That is where we are headed.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

This debate is unbelievable! Some people will blame anything and everything rather than even consider firearms restrictions. I don't think anyone suggested that all guns be banned, simply restricted. What possible reason could that mother have for owning two hand guns and a semi-automatic weapon? If she were a gun enthusiast and used them for target practice why would they be kept in accessible place? Why should anyone own a semi-automatic weapon anyway? These are nothing but assault weapons. Surely nobody hunts with a semi-automatic, are they really that poor shots? A shotgun is all that is needed to bring down a deer. Where's the sportsmanship in using a semi-automatic? This is not just to do with untreated mental illness, or even more spuriously, the desire for publicity because of the way the media report these tragedies, it is to do with unlimited gun ownership. Despite Q9 claims that UK has worse gun crime, laughable were the circumstances not so tragic, the figures are as follows:
July 2012
England and Wales
Gun ownership 6.2% Shooting fatalities 47

USA
Gun ownership 88.8% Shooting fatalities 9,146

I think it only natural that people would want to try to figure out how to stop this from occurring again and I'm seeing more a discussion on what realistically will and won't work vs. a debate. We currently have gun laws and restrictions but they will not stop someone intent upon doing this type of horrific act. In fact, there is evidence that he attempted to purchase a gun several days prior to the shooting but didn't as he didn't want to wait for the 14 day background check. The restriction worked as he didn't purchase a gun. However, it wasn't able to stop him as he got guns elsewhere.

We don't know yet how his mother kept her weapons but he was not a child, he was 20 years old. I think it obvious that he stole them - took them without her permission - and she possibly died attempting to stop him from doing just that. Anyone wanting to do this type crime could certainly steal guns. The point is that laws and restrictions won't stop someone from getting a weapon if they want one.

I think this situation has everything to do with the treatment of mental illness as sane people obviously don't do this type of thing. It would seem logical to me to treat the actual cause of this horror instead of attempting to avoid the repercussions of the illness. As we've seen, it's way too late by that time.

 

[Smithyard Farm]

I am thinking if the principal and all the teachers were able to carry, it would't have gotten that far. Moms, dads, grammys, grampys aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, lives changed forever, a whole county feeling violated, and unsafe. feeling like if it can happen there, it can happen here. Hold your babies, keep them safe and pack one.

How does that saying go? " if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns..." Criminals are criminals... banning guns is not going to keep people who dont follow the laws from having them. I dont know about you, but i would rather be on an even playing field

 

[Q9]

This debate is unbelievable! Some people will blame anything and everything rather than even consider firearms restrictions. I don't think anyone suggested that all guns be banned, simply restricted. What possible reason could that mother have for owning two hand guns and a semi-automatic weapon? If she were a gun enthusiast and used them for target practice why would they be kept in accessible place? Why should anyone own a semi-automatic weapon anyway? These are nothing but assault weapons. Surely nobody hunts with a semi-automatic, are they really that poor shots? A shotgun is all that is needed to bring down a deer. Where's the sportsmanship in using a semi-automatic? This is not just to do with untreated mental illness, or even more spuriously, the desire for publicity because of the way the media report these tragedies, it is to do with unlimited gun ownership. Despite Q9 claims that UK has worse gun crime, laughable were the circumstances not so tragic, the figures are as follows:
July 2012
England and Wales
Gun ownership 6.2% Shooting fatalities 47

USA
Gun ownership 88.8% Shooting fatalities 9,146

You nicely ignored the article I posted earlier, I see. Here, have a second look. I don't believe I said "gun" crime, now, did I? You're quite skilled at putting words into my mouth. Very intellectually honest of you, defeating arguments that weren't made. I said violent crime - believe it or not, violent crime does not always involve guns, and remember, our rate is skewed UPWARDS by high-control warzones like NYC, Chicago, L.A., and others.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ry-Europe-Britain-worse-South-Africa-U-S.html

In addition, here's a bunch of heroes who used guns to stop this kind of thing.

http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/mass-killings-stopped-by-armed-citizens/28307/

By the way, you apparently don't understand the meaning of semi-automatic. It means one shot per trigger pull. Those handguns were semi-automatic weapons, too. Why own one? Because guess what? They're effective weapons. Yes, weapons are used for killing. In an ideal world they wouldn't be necessary - but this is not an ideal world. The deterrent offered to criminals by the knowledge that they may be shot dead during their next home invasion is necessary, and the deterrent to government even more so.

The Second Amendment, if anything, describes the right to bear military arms - that is, "assault" rifles in modern terms. The American patriots used their privately-owned firearms (oftentimes better than the muskets used by the redcoats) in defense of their liberty.

 

[Mike Winters]

in china and the UK the main weapon for killing people you dont like are knives. tight laws.

in US guns. some laws

in the middle east bombs and guns. no laws

I am not saying gun control is good or bad, I am saying that people that want to kill others are going to do whatever it takes to do as much damage as possible.

You can round everyone up and make them live their whole lives in a bubble but if someone wants to kill you they are going to do what ever it takes. That is what needs to be fixed the the source of the problem not what people use to kill someone with.

 

[Capvin]

I continue to read some of these postings and my main overriding feeling, is disgust. My son, daughter-in-law and my two young grandchildren (5 and 3) live in Newtown, CT. My little grand daughter goes to the elementary school and two of the dead children were at her last birthday party and one of the dead children's family is a member at their temple. Thankfully, my grand daughter is safe, but I ask you...how do you explain this to a five year old? There is talk about media blame but just before this shooting one of you posters proudly put up a picture of a semi automatic weapon mounted on a truck. This is a similar weapon that was used to kill these children. Maybe the shooter saw other pictures like that and said..."Wow, that is neat." I said it was obscene and I was criticized for my statements. I asked, What was the possible motive for posting that type of picture? and received no response. I complained about the NRA in that it was not doing what it was originally organized to do. I say again to the NRA and it's supporters, "We do not need another political party whose only function is to encourage people to post obscene pictures. And, Ed, I know that you mean well, but do you really want little children attending schools that have become armed camps? I do not think that is the answer and I do not think that a knee jerk "gun control" action is the answer either. But I do think it is time we begin to use some common sense in understanding that some kinds of reasonable and responsible gun use and control is not a violation of our second amendment rights.

What I find even more disgusting is people like Huckabee that, notwithstanding his efforts to backtrack on his statements, said that he was not surprised by this act of violence in our schools because we took God out of our schools, etc. That is the real obscenity and my feeling is that if there is a God then Huckabee should die a violent death and those innocent children will remain unharmed. I would remind him that the promise of heaven is not worth the price of even one of those tortured child's tears. His statements are one of the best argument for atheism that I have ever heard. Just to look at him know would make me puke, but he wants to run again for president of this country.

 

[Q9]

I continue to read some of these postings and my main overriding feeling, is disgust. My son, daughter-in-law and my two young grandchildren (5 and 3) live in Newtown, CT. My little grand daughter goes to the elementary school and two of the dead children were at her last birthday party and one of the dead children's family is a member at their temple. Thankfully, my grand daughter is safe, but I ask you...how do you explain this to a five year old? There is talk about media blame but just before this shooting one of you posters proudly put up a picture of a semi automatic weapon mounted on a truck. This is a similar weapon that was used to kill these children. Maybe the shooter saw other pictures like that and said..."Wow, that is neat." I said it was obscene and I was criticized for my statements. I asked, What was the possible motive for posting that type of picture? and received no response. I complained about the NRA in that it was not doing what it was originally organized to do. I say again to the NRA and it's supporters, "We do not need another political party whose only function is to encourage people to post obscene pictures. And, Ed, I know that you mean well, but do you really want little children attending schools that have become armed camps? I do not think that is the answer and I do not think that a knee jerk "gun control" action is the answer either. But I do think it is time we begin to use some common sense in understanding that some kinds of reasonable and responsible gun use and control is not a violation of our second amendment rights.

What I find even more disgusting is people like Huckabee that, notwithstanding his efforts to backtrack on his statements, said that he was not surprised by this act of violence in our schools because we took God out of our schools, etc. That is the real obscenity and my feeling is that if there is a God then Huckabee should die a violent death and those innocent children will remain unharmed. I would remind him that the promise of heaven is not worth the price of even one of those tortured child's tears. His statements are one of the best argument for atheism that I have ever heard. Just to look at him know would make me puke, but he wants to run again for president of this country.

Where was this picture? I want to see what you thought was "obscene."

Weapons are not bad any more than a jet fighter is bad. In the wrong hands, it can do bad things, but in the right hands, it can and will stop those bad things.

 

[Mike Winters]

Morgen freeman has a point we worship violence and ignore good deeds. 60 years ago solders were seen as war heroes, solders now are seen as criminals that just get a right to kill. When is the last time advertisements shown Sgt. Johnson eating corn flakes or Cheerios to promote the war effort

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Where was this picture? I want to see what you thought was "obscene."

Weapons are not bad any more than a jet fighter is bad. In the wrong hands, it can do bad things, but in the right hands, it can and will stop those bad things.

This picture I originally posted here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...d-we-post-random-pictures/11300#post_10049979


Then linked here cause it was already on here an fit. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/722481/political-ramblings/390#post_10066377

An he is blocked, thats why he got no response...