Connecticut Elementary School Mass Shooting

[Redstar]

For those that haven't heard there was a mass shooting this morning at a Connecticut elementary school. A twenty-year-old shooter stormed the school, killing 27 people. Twenty of them were kindergarten-aged children while the others were teachers, the principal and a counselor. The shooter's parents have also been identified as killed.

This is a really terrible thing. You can't even comprehend it. It makes you question the purpose of life.

[1upmushroom]

It's terrible, just think about what the parents are going through, like looking through some photos realizing that those photos are the only photos they'll ever have of that kid. That's just downright tearjerking.

[Roareye]

Stupid American culture not learning that not everyone needs to be able to own a firearm -_-

Especially with the press now blaming Mass Effect, and completely ignoring the more likely key causes;
- Autism
- No friends
- Rejected by half his family for over 2 years
- Ridiculous gun ownership culture which is centuries out of date and dangerous

Nope, clearly it was that his brother's (Who he hadn't seen for over 2 years!) liking of Mass Effect that made this happen.

This is a tragedy, yes. The truth is, this will happen again. Many times. American culture allows for it, and then is surprised when it occurs. The key reasons (Even if you remove the argument against firearms) for this being repeated not too long in the future is because American culture ignores the very reason he shot the school up in the first place - a lonely, mentally disturbed psychosis caused by the society and environment in which he was raised. If it were a one-off, I wouldn't say this. But school shootings have been happening every decade or more for over a century now, and each time the press (And likely the civilian population) find a scapegoat to blame because nobody likes to think they may be, in part, responsible.


My condolences to the innocents who were lost, this is a horrendous tragedy, one that could have been avoided if proper steps were taken. I hope, somehow, some form of moral justice can be served.

[1upmushroom]

Autism is a likely factor though I have my doubts.

No Friends is very likely as well.

Was this one true? I never saw that fact brought up though I'm sure this is the most likely.

I'm not sure that making changes to the gun ownership rule will exactly work. It's still easy for someone to get a gun illegally. So hardly little will change.

Nope, clearly it was that his brother's (Who he hadn't seen for over 2 years!) liking of Mass Effect that made this happen.

Oh goddammit we're going to use THIS excuse?! Look moral guardians, we are NOT in the mood for this, hell I don't think we EVER WERE in the mood for that crap.

American culture allows for it, and then is surprised when it occurs.

Even if it does happen a lot, people will still be shocked over it. A death is still shocking to see, no matter how many times you see it. Also while america does seem to allow this crap, I'm sure they don't KNOW they allow it. People have been trying to change constitution and other laws for many years, however I'm one of the few people that believes that America keeps losing its freedoms every other year or so and I'm a little worried that this will result in America taking another step into Totalitarianism territory. But maybe I'm just paranoid.

Also have you guys seen the comments on youtube about this? "Dude, lots of people have died before" "Who cares?", "Let's move on already"

I made an entire email of sorts just dealing with THAT so I'll just let you guys read them for yourselves if you want to.

[1upmushroom]

....

No,

just

no.

Please tell me you're joking.

[Serum]

I am so staying out of this one.

[1upmushroom]

I actually think it'd be BETTER if you were joking. I mean really? They're going to praise their version of God for sending someone to kill elementary schoolers?

[ultimateemail5000]

Morgan Freeman is going around telling everybody why this happened. Every time Morgan Freeman explains something, he gains a freckle on his face.

[Movieguy]

Actully drugs are a all around theory to how this happened.
zoloft and zanax think
Well zoloft for sure.
Lanaza and many other shooters have been found that they used the medications.
My father after his car accident was prescribed these.
His first doctor pumped him full of this shit.
later on a new doctor said that he needs to get off of it.
He said should I just quiet.
The doctor told him he had to be weened off it and to take half as much etc.

See from my dads personal experiences and his theory. The drug makes you a bit more how you say it susceptible to things.
Your not as willed and if a person were to go cold turkey or forget to take it it causes psychotic fits.

What I am saying is that there is a clear connection between the Drugs and the mental lapses the shooters may or may not have had.
It's just a theory, but from what has been reported FBI agents believe there is a connection with the drugs which caused Lanza to snap.

Not saying it wasn't also outside forces of his mother and people around him. The drug could of been what pushed him over the edge. It's complicated and like what happened in Aurora. It's best to wade out the waters till the FBI and other officials have figured out what the hell happened.

My school is going to have a week long lockdown. Each day we will have a drill. I can under stand it once or twice a year. Yet this is shear paranoia. I feel that everytime something bad happens people believe others will quickly follow suit.

News sources are blaming media. When all it could be was most likely a mix of emotions that Lanza kept boiled up inside and finally he snapped due to his weak mental cap. sorry I've said enough. I'd like to hear what you think though.

[Redstar]

The Obama administration has called for the renewal of several expired gun control bills as well as the passage of new ones. These would mostly concern the manufacturing, selling, purchasing and owning of assault rifles. There is also a push to expand access and treatment for mental health problems.

A potential move towards real change? What are everyone's thoughts. Will these actually make a difference?

[Roareye]

Yes. It's proven fact it will. Look at Britain. This is one of the few times we totally got it right and America got it wrong (a rarity, I give you that).

34 people were shot in Britain last year. 34. So it won't cure it completely, but then nothing will. However compare that to over 100,000 in the USA, and it is a clear advantage. It will take time for gun numbers to reduce and crime to go down, but in just this incident and the Barman shootings, your numbers are worse than Britain. You can argue scale, due to America being larger, but Obama is so right that inaction is the same as condoning the actions taken here. If you block protection of your civilians, you are the problem.

Everyone has the right to freedom. Britain is a free country. America is still a young country, only a couple of hundred years old (Britain is near 1000 in current state), and as such needs to mature with time so its actions match its lofty words. Removing access to assault weapons is a major, and necessary step towards maturing America out of a dark age, and its something to be embraced.

[Redstar]

Apparently, there's a conspiracy theory going around that the shooting is a liberal hoax masterminded by the Obama administration to sway the media towards the regulation of firearms. This theory states that no children were killed at all and their parents are just actors hired to pretend they had murdered children.

How delusional do you have to be to believe that an entire town could orchestrate such a hoax? How could anyone pretend to believe that a plan that would necessitate hundreds, if not thousands, of actors would hold together for more than a day? Conspiracies fall apart. You cannot suggest that no one is going to come forward and that some guy on Youtube is going to figure it all out. People are fucking stupid.

[ultimateemail5000]

Apparently, there's a conspiracy theory going around that the shooting is a liberal hoax masterminded by the Obama administration to sway the media towards the regulation of firearms. This theory states that no children were killed at all and their parents are just actors hired to pretend they had murdered children.

How delusional do you have to be to believe that an entire town could orchestrate such a hoax? How could anyone pretend to believe that a plan that would necessitate hundreds, if not thousands, of actors would hold together for more than a day? Conspiracies fall apart. You cannot suggest that no one is going to come forward and that some guy on Youtube is going to figure it all out. People are fucking stupid.

It's like saying the twin towers in 9/11 were all a conspiracy and it never happened. Conspiracy theorists just dig into something and try to... you know what I don't even know how to handle it. Blame Obama, blame the media, people always blame these two things if something goes wrong. If it's not hte President, it's the media. They blame everything but themselves.

[Carnivorous M.]

I live in a highly conservative backwater corner of Texas, where everyone swallows this shit and then spews it out constantly. It was all I could do not to punch someone when people at my school were laughing and making jokes and kids were pretending to shoot each other, within literally hours of that video going viral.

I have never in my life hated Texas or the rabid-conservative majority of the people who live here as much as I do whenever I hear about this.

Given that rabid-conservative people have spent my entire growing-up trying to brainwash and prune away everything about me that didn't fit into their views-- which encompasses most of the things that I feel make me a worthwhile human being-- that's really, really saying something.

Also, fuck Westboro Baptist Church. I don't wish lightly for people to go die in a fire, but damn. Damn.

Pardon my French, and God be with those kids and their families.

(The real God, not the asshole who serves as a mouthpiece for all of the vileness inside people like WBC.)

[Serum]

Alright, guy, relax. There's a difference between conservatism and idiocy, although sadly I will admit that the line is growing blurrier every day. I'm a registered Republican, I can say my ideas are fairly conservative, but not in the sense you're thinking of-- I try to follow Barry Goldwater's stance on things-- conservatism isn't about blasting other people because they're black or gay or because they don't agree with you-- conservatism is about economics, about getting the financial system to run right.

That makes me more of a Libertarian than a Republican, I suppose, but sometimes I like to be able to vote in the primaries for someone I think that will make a difference. Either way, people like Pat Robertson, the 700 Club, the Westboro Baptist Church-- they're decidedly not conservative, in fact, they stand against everything true conservatives hold dear. Politics and life itself are not so simple that it can be boiled down to someone being liberal, conservative or moderate. There are many ways to look at many things.

[Carnivorous M.]

Good point. I do try to make a distinction between actual conservatives and rabid-conservatives; it's hard for me, though, because almost every person I've ever known IRL who has identified as 'conservative' was the rabid-idiot-fundamentalist type. And almost every person I've ever known IRL, and who would be therefore in the best position to make my life hell, is a 'conservative.' Deeply-ingrained knee-jerk 'THROW IT INTO THE SUN RTFNOW' reactions are hard to overcome, and I apologize.

[DinohattenGOP]

Stupid American culture not learning that not everyone needs to be able to own a firearm -_-

Especially with the press now blaming Mass Effect, and completely ignoring the more likely key causes;
- Autism
- No friends
- Rejected by half his family for over 2 years
- Ridiculous gun ownership culture which is centuries out of date and dangerous

Nope, clearly it was that his brother's (Who he hadn't seen for over 2 years!) liking of Mass Effect that made this happen.

This is a tragedy, yes. The truth is, this will happen again. Many times. American culture allows for it, and then is surprised when it occurs. The key reasons (Even if you remove the argument against firearms) for this being repeated not too long in the future is because American culture ignores the very reason he shot the school up in the first place - a lonely, mentally disturbed psychosis caused by the society and environment in which he was raised. If it were a one-off, I wouldn't say this. But school shootings have been happening every decade or more for over a century now, and each time the press (And likely the civilian population) find a scapegoat to blame because nobody likes to think they may be, in part, responsible.


My condolences to the innocents who were lost, this is a horrendous tragedy, one that could have been avoided if proper steps were taken. I hope, somehow, some form of moral justice can be served.

I've seen autism alleged and mentioned of him, but I still haven't seen it confirmed.

The gun culture is not ridiculous, its our basic rights and freedoms. If you take those freedoms away from anyone, you create sub citizens in our country.

Guns are also not the only thing being grabbed. People can't have knives in the big cities.

A knife, fashioned in whatever way you choose, is an essential tool of day to life. There are people who might get caught in something and need to be rescued with a knife. I eat all of my meals with a large knife. Knives are good and there should be no tolerance for anyone trying to limit them.

Guns are not quite the same exact ballpark with what I describe above about knives, but understand this... the next shooter, just like the previous shooter, is gonna look for the highest number of targets and the least amount of resistance. They will attack large numbers of people who can't fight back. Where might future targets be? Schools, Restaurants, Malls, Movie Theatres, Towers, etc.

When a future incident happens... are you gonna have anything on hand to make a difference against the attacker?

I recommended that the faculty be armed. If they're uncomfortable with that, there's also beanbag projectiles and non lethal (or less lethal) firearms if they have the audacity to be worried about an attacker or reasonably frightened of even one of their own kids grabbing it away from them. A bean bag projectile will humble even the strongest guys. Hell, why not get a supersoaker full of mace? Or something designed with that idea? Get things like that. There will be security out there now but its not gonna be good enough unless people have arms to defend themselves. Many of these attackers will be civilians and they are not difficult to be taken down by other civilians.

The V for Vendetta Shooter over in Florida was successfully taken out by armed security a few years back. The guard actually stood down for a while at the request of one of the hostages who was trying to talk sense into the shooter. Armed guards... work. He could have taken out that shooter before he made any shots. Luckily no one was harmed.

Stranger