The Atlantic, on the Islamic State claiming murderous attacks:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/isis-amaq-las-vegas/541746/
Not even satire: http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-36131
If this individual had ties to a terrorist organization, will the official response be to attempt to find and remove from the United States all individuals in the same demographic group (white male U.S. citizens in their 60s)? I’m guessing not. On the other hand, if the shooter were a man in his 20s or 30s with a Middle Eastern-sounding name, all individuals in that demographic group would be targeted.
https://www.vox.com/2016/6/13/11911948/australian-comedian-us-gun-laws?
“In Australia, we had the biggest massacre on earth, and the Australian government went: “That’s it! NO MORE GUNS.”
And we all went, “Yeah, all right then, that seems fair enough, really.”
Now in America, you had the Sandy Hook massacre, where little tiny children died. And your government went, “Maybe … we’ll get rid of the big guns?” And 50 percent of you went, “F YOU, DON’T TAKE MY GUNS.””
"You have guns because you like guns! That’s why you go to gun conventions; that’s why you read gun magazines! None of you give a (crap) about home security. None of you go to home security conventions. None of you read Padlock Monthly. None of you have a Facebook picture of you behind a secure door.
“By the way. Most people who are breaking into your house just want your (expletive) TV! You think that people are coming to murder your family? How many (expletive) enemies do you have?”
Would be funny if it wasn’t so true. Would be funny on a different day. Now, it just rings completely true. When do we learn? When is it enough for you? When do we actually care enough to actually DO something about it? When do you stop pretending that guns aren’t part of the issue?
Something that can be done about this is to have a national computerized gun registry that requires a passport as an ID in order to purchase a gun, and laws that restrict individuals from owning more that a couple of guns (who needs more than that for personal protection or hunting?). And then having qualification standards for gun ownership. And then concentrate on prosecuting and incarcerating the people that break those laws instead of people who commit minor drug offenses.
We’ve known what we need to do to prevent this all along.
As doschicos mentioned, all it took was one horrible mass shooting for Australia to come to its senses - why are we so willing to allow these tragedies to happen?
The rest of the world thinks the U.S. is a nation of idiots - and I agree.
I don’t get the fascination with guns. I was reading some comments on an article about gun control a few months ago and someone was speaking to the idea of limiting ammunition and there were some people trying to justify that that was a bad idea because “I can use 10,000 rounds during one target practice”. I mean, we’ve got a national attitude that our citizens deserve the right to collect and own as many guns as they please and to purchase unlimited quantities of ammunition. People think gun ownership and use is a fun hobby. And that they are entitled to this wanton use of deadly weapons. I think there are a gazillion other hobbies that don’t result in the death of 30,000 people/year or that instigate unstable or evil individuals to commit mass homicide.
I also don’t buy the justification that we need more people carrying guns in order for us to be safe. I don’t understand why people think they need to carry or own guns to be safe. I worked outdoors in the backcountry for many years, and much of the time I was alone, miles from any home or town. I never carried a gun - I wasn’t allowed to. The only people in my profession allowed to carry guns lived in Alaska, where Grizzly bears were a concern. I’m a female, and I didn’t live in fear of being attacked by wild animals or by the few random people that I’d encounter out in the forest. One time I was sitting in my truck looking at my notes and a couple of hunters carrying guns just walked up to my window and asked me if I was lost. I never heard them approaching. I wasn’t scared - I just told them I was working, and thanked them for the concern. And they went on their way. They could have done anything they wanted to me - but like 99.99% of Americans, they were normal people going about their business and not planning or contemplating doing harm to anyone.
The event in LV could have been prevented, but our country thinks it is a higher priority to pander to the gun industry and to the egos of men who get some kind of weird thrill by shooting and owning guns. I could go off on a tangent about my ideas on the topic of men, their fears, and their obsession with guns and violence, but I won’t (hint - evolutionary stall).
I’m just so mad about this. I want to find a photo of every single NRA lobbyist and do some kind of mass public shaming. Harrass them until they quit or something. Rob their huge bank account
You name it.
But I will start all over again writing every single person who represents me in any way. All the way down to the school board if I have to
A picture (or chart!) is worth a thousand words…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/oct/02/america-mass-shootings-gun-violence?CMP=fb_us
For you Attorneys, if they find who sold or provided him with the illegal automatic rifles, could that person be prosecuted for aiding murder?
I am SO angry right now I am shaking. I am angry that we live in a society where this can happen for no reason what so ever. I am angry that the victims of this senseless violence aren’t even getting 24 hours of respect without turning this political. We are a country divided and this is a time we should all be unified yet all I see is ridiculous back and forth divisive dialog about our country. Sometimes I agree with most of you on issues and sometimes I don’t. Today I am finding mostly sadness in the situation and the majority of responses on this thread sickening.
Google CBS senior legal counsel and see what comes up.
I am so sickened by all of this and Pray and respect the victims.
As far as I’ve heard, the police haven’t identified what kind of gun he was using. It sounded like a machine gun! They may want to hunt down the source of that gun before they go public with the gun information.
@bhs1978 at least CBS did the right thing …
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/10/02/top-cbs-lawyer-no-sympathy-for-vegas-vics-probably-republicans.html
@bhs1978 please don’t advocate for my thread to be closed. We are all angry. I am firmly in the camp that this should become political and I say that as a gun owner.
Every time there is a mass shooting all you hear is , " it just happened", “stop politicizing it”, " you are being partisan". As far as I am concerned there is no better time than the present to talk about common sense gun legislation.
The second amendment was written when you could only get off one shot and it took some effort to reload. I am sure they didn’t not mean for the average citizen to have artillery meant for war.
Yes @3scoutsmom I was glad to see they reacted so quickly.
I am furious at gun apologists who inevitably say this is not the time to talk about gun violence. It’s the 273rd day of the year, and this is the 273rd mass gun killing of the year. If we wait 24 hours, there will be another mass attack.
When should we talk about it? According to gun fans, that would the the 12th of Never.
Every time I hear “thoughts and prayers” it makes me sick. You say “thoughts and prayers” and I hear “more dead people, but I will do nothing about it.”
So, @bhs1978, you obviously found time in your grief to post here. You don’t think we all feel grief? What do you propose doing that will help the dead? Prevent more from dying in similar fashion in yet another mass shooting at some point in the future? Just prayer?
You pray. I’ll talk about gun control. As proven by the difference in statistics between this country and others, only one might prevent another massacre like this from happening again. We’re long on prayer and short on gun control.
I’m not discounting your grief but please don’t discount ours or think that others don’t care like you do.
Sigh, I’m bummed I can’t find that article. Maybe I’m conflating it with something. It’s entirely possible. It echoes with this story though (published today). The gist was that ISIS is becoming more desperate and thus are trying to claim more attacks with flimsy or no evidence. Two recent examples are the Philippines casino attack and the bomb they claimed was in an airport led to the evacuation of that airport (The evacuation was unrelated and there were no bombs).
Until sometime around a year or two ago though, they did indeed only come forward with hard evidence. But that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
I join with Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts; he said he will not participate in any moment of silence for the victims in Nevada because he refuses to be silent about this continuing madness in our country. Maybe it’s like what the AIDS activists used to say in the 1990s; Silence = Death.
Really @doschicos Your response is to attack me for posting. I did not discount anyone’s grief. Don’t tell me you don’t discount mine when you start off your post with an attack. I wrote down my feelings in a strong way that we are a country divided and that we can’t even come together for 24 hours to respect the victims.
@“Cardinal Fang” you’re right. “Thoughts and prayers” has always equated to “more dead people, but I will do nothing about it”
It’s never the right time for the gun apologists.
I don’t recall anyone saying, “it’s not the right time” to discuss Islamic terrorism after the bombing in a Liverpool, the mowing down of people in Barca or the nightclub shootings in Paris.
@bhs1978 Not attacking. I’m asking you, what are you going to do besides pray? You are the one who attacked here if you go back and reread your post.
“the majority of responses on this thread sickening.” (sic)
You grieve your way, we’ll grieve ours. I don’t recall commenting on your posts and grieving process as being “sickening”. Now that would be attacking.
Again, I ask, what are you going to do beside pray to help ensure more Americans don’t die like this in the future? @bhs1978