I know, Romani. You don’t come across as snarky at all! I’m sure my kid is feeling the same way as you are now.
Ditto. Mine is applying to a 3 week program in a Central American country this summer. I suppose her chances of being a victim of violence may be less there than here.
@romanigypsyeyes Re the BBC. They have a short memory, Remember Northern Ireland a couple of decades ago?
The body count in Northern Ireland was a lot lower than what goes for normal here.
When I was in Spain this may, I saw a big newspaper headline saying “Baltimore is a war zone”. It was sad to see news like that about the US.
I can’t tell the tone you’re using, Tom, but 1- no I don’t since I’m in my mid-20s (though my British mom does), and 2- all I know is that my British cousins who are my age never had to worry about gun violence in school (or elsewhere). I didn’t have that luxury.
Gun control is too little, too late. There’s already too many guns in circulation for that to be of much use…
It’s a very complicated problem that is almost impossible to solve quickly.
“A senior federal official who is monitoring the case said investigators believe one of the shooters left the party after getting into an argument and returned with one or two armed companions.”
From the LA Times.
If this is accurate, what I’m most disturbed by is the fact that apparently no planning was needed to carry out this bloodbath.
Well, it’s the NRA’s mission to get as many guns into circulation as possible to make gun control impossible.
^^@fractalmstr Oh for heaven’s sake, what does that even mean? Obviously, they are still being sold. For whatever reason, they keep getting sold. How is it helpful to keep putting more into circulation?
It normalizes massive gun ownership.
ETA: To be clear, I am not anti-gun ownership.
“Apparently no planning was needed to carry out this bloodbath.”
I don’t even comprehend how this would have worked. Some guy gets angry at a meeting, leaves, rounds up a couple of his pals while the meeting is still going on, tells them he wants to kill everyone in the meeting, they say OK, and half an hour or an hour later they all return with long guns/semi-automatic weapons which they had handy, and start massacring everybody in the room? It makes no logistical sense without advance planning.
And the pipe bombs? Sure, people keep them around the house all the time!
Gee, imagine if we put that “there’s too many of them, therefore we can’t regulate them” logic onto other things.
Seat belts in cars.
Cigarettes in a variety of ways.
Building codes.
The list goes on and it’s a ludicrous argument.
I should just offer to bake them some pies. I can kill them all with my cooking.
I was simply saying that it will take much more than just increasing gun control to solve this problem.
Sadly, I’ve given up. I’ve written my congressman repeatedly, but he’s a good guy and on the right side of the issue. Should I harangue him to introduce legislation that won’t get passed? I’ve also joined and donated money to Everytown for Gun Safety, which backs Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. What else can we as individuals do?
My kid is getting her masters in public health now, and plans to stay in the US. Never did I think she could be at a conference and be targeted in a mass shooting.
This is happening so frequently now that I’m beginning to think it’s just a matter of time before someone close to me – family, friend, me – is present at a mass shooting. I’ve never been the type to curtail my movements out of this type of fear, and I’m not going to now, but I’m afraid this is becoming a way of life here.
And I agree with emilybee. “The people in this country refuse to take any action to change things and getting upset about these things doesn’t change anything either. I refuse to react by “phoney praying” for the victims and their families.”
And I also really don’t want to live in a society where everyone is armed.
Donna, it could easily be advanced planned in the macro and conducted on the fly in the micro. In other words, case the joint and know the details of the venue ahead of time, then get in on the day and confirm the logistics and attendance. I know that my firm always disseminates floor plans of our holiday party in advance to all attendees inside and out, so a disgruntled employee could definitely plan ahead and then show up in the day to determine the location of specific targets. Doesn’t strike me as odd at all. However, I am not disgruntled and really like my job.
From my Twitter feed it appears this was a case of the suspect being involved in a sexual harassment case probably with the people at that conference center.