Post: #1

We can not celebrate a week without a mass shooting in America thanks to a shooting near the Empire State Building.

Maybe next week will be better. http://news.yahoo.com/several-people-sho...47539.html

Post: #2

It's like mass shootings have gone viral.

Post: #3

/shrug it's the USA. I've given up on all hope of people there ever fixing the problem.

Post: #4

Take a look at the "Update" on this..

http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-...-sh,29293/

Post: #5

Quote:Queens resident Rebecca Fox, 27, said she saw people running down the street and initially thought it was a celebrity sighting, but then saw a woman shot in the foot and a man dead on the ground.

Typical female thought process. Celebrity sighting.

Post: #6

Yeah, well in America, we are all about displacing responsibility.

It's the "Thank god," worship celebrities, blame the outside world mentality.

Maybe "we the people" are the problem and not some outside force.

Post: #7

Don't worry Gents. Take some comfort in knowing that Bloomberg is focusing on ridding NYC streets of the real killers

   

Post: #8

Expect more of this. MUCH MORE.

As the economy worsens (at least for the bottom 70%) and job loses increase, more folks are going to snap. Some will be organized (like the anarchists during the OWS protests in Oakland), but many will be one guy going off.

The difference with America is the guns. Let me state again that I am EXTREMELY pro gun. In fact, I think several of our gun laws are still too restrictive. However, I am not in denial of the fact that there will be MANY MANY more shootings. The only benefit we have now is that we are not seeing ORGANIZED shootings. There has been organized vandalism by the anarchists, but that has not involved firearms. If we get 2 or more individuals in body armor who decided to go on a killing spree, that shit will look biblical.

The gun genie is out of the bottle. Nothing to be done about that problem now. On a national level, we need to get our economy and our society back on stable footing. However, I seriously doubt that will happen. On a personal level, the best thing you can do is to have an exit strategy and to stay strapped. I am thinking of moving to Florida, Nevada, or Texas just so I can get a concealed carry permit.

For those who think this is blown out of proportion, the city of Houston was so concerned that they produced a video on how to survive a mass shooting.

Post: #9

Part of the problem is that the world is so overly connected these days. A shooting like this becomes world news
the same day it happens. It inspires borderline people to act out when they see it on TV or the internet.

I doubt anything like this ever happened 100 years ago. If it did people in the next state or country sure as
hell didn't hear about it like they do today. Hell they even filtered out the history books for the most part.

Post: #10

(08-24-2012 01:09 PM)joehoya Wrote:  Expect more of this. MUCH MORE.

Agreed.

I think the end game might involve initiatives to remove the incentive.

Every time some nut stages a mass shooting, his mug shot is all over the world media. They analyze his mental state, discuss his angst and try to find the reason why he acted.

Maybe there's a certain kind of psycho that decides "being shown in the news media as a mass murderer has to be better than living as an anonymous drone".

Paul McCartney had a good point when they interviewed him about John Lennon's shooting. He said "we should never say this person's name", when talking about the guy that shot Lennon. He didn't want the guy to gain fame or notoriety for what he did.

Maybe, eventually, the media will agree to publicize absolutely nothing about the shooter.

Also, they could change the tactics for armed response. Some kind of hybrid between SWAT and military. The team has a mandate to kill the guy no matter what. Even if he surrenders, he leaves in a body bag.

That would remove the incentive to pull a mass shooting just to see what happens. They guy knows he'll die where he opened fire, and won't live to see the aftermath.

Post: #11

These mass shootings will pass. Just like everything else.

I remember when there was a "school shooting" hysteria after Columbine.

Eventually, the hype around it dies out.

Post: #12

Yeah, but in the short term they do tend to run in streaks (just like suicides, divorces, etc can be "spread"). Depressing phenomenon.

Post: #13

(08-24-2012 01:09 PM)joehoya Wrote:  I am thinking of moving to Florida, Nevada, or Texas just so I can get a concealed carry permit.

Now this is what I don't agree with on the pro gun argument.

I don't think civilians being able to shoot back is all that helpful in a "massacre" situation. Hell the 2 policeman that took down the gunman today injured 8 innocent people in the gun fight.

I think it would take too much luck, and way more skill than the average civilian has to take down a shooter who is better prepared and usually better armed.



I am a Canadian with a family of hunters and I agree with the right to protect your house, but don't see the benefits of letting civies carry in public.













Also, in related crazy news. 19 people were killed last night around Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local...9779.story

Post: #14

(08-24-2012 06:33 PM)canucktraveller Wrote:  

(08-24-2012 01:09 PM)joehoya Wrote:  I am thinking of moving to Florida, Nevada, or Texas just so I can get a concealed carry permit.

Now this is what I don't agree with on the pro gun argument.

I don't think civilians being able to shoot back is all that helpful in a "massacre" situation. Hell the 2 policeman that took down the gunman today injured 8 innocent people in the gun fight.

I think it would take too much luck, and way more skill than the average civilian has to take down a shooter who is better prepared and usually better armed.



I am a Canadian with a family of hunters and I agree with the right to protect your house, but don't see the benefits of letting civies carry in public.

For me, carrying a firearm would not be about playing Hero and trying to save everyone else. It is about me not getting put on my knees begging for my life. I'm not trying to be a hero, i am just trying to stay alive. If there is shooting, I am out of there. BUT, if I cannot get out I want to have a way to defend myself, besides praying that this guy runs out of ammo before he gets to me.

(08-24-2012 06:33 PM)canucktraveller Wrote:  Also, in related crazy news. 19 people were killed last night around Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local...9779.story

It wasn't 19 people killed. It was just 19 people shot. On a Thursday, that is a little unusual, but those would be normal numbers for a weekend in Chicago. This is what happens when you have an undermanned, inexperienced, and largely demoralized police force in a major city with large concentrations of poverty.

Post: #15

http://gma.yahoo.com/jersey-shopping-pla...ories.html

New Jersey Shopping Plaza Shootout Leaves Three Dead
By KEVIN DOLAK | Good Morning America

New Jersey Shopping Plaza Shootout Leaves Three Dead (ABC News)
Police in New Jersey have reportedly shot and killed a man suspected of being involved in a deadly shootout inside a shopping plaza this morning.

Law enforcement officials say the three dead include the alleged gunman, according to WABC-TV.

Police responded to shots fired inside the Pathmark supermarket on Route 9 in Old Bridge, N.J., just before 4 a.m. There was a confrontation with the gunman, WABC reported. There's no word on his motive.
Several employees were inside the store, which was preparing to open at 6 a.m. Two windows near the entrance to the Pathmark have been shot out.

Numerous employees were taken across the street to a T.G.I. Friday's.
The scene is now under control, according to WABC, and there are emergency responders in the plaza parking lot who have been standing in front of the store for the past hour.

Post: #16

I've just seen that and wanted to link it as well. Who would have thought? I mean, USA is a huge country with a huge population, but these kind of things still seem eerily common.

Post: #17

I know this is going to sound a bit apathetic but the fact remains that we have 310 million people in a nation full of firearms and there will always be a few individuals out of the millions of others that will pull shit like this. Personally, I'm still a supporter of gun rights despite these shootings because I understand that firearms protect more people from crime in this nation than they actually cause. Not to mention that the majority of the homicides committed in the USA are related to the War on Drugs and not mass shootings.

I know it's fun to look at a few clustered shootings and scream to the high heavens about how bad the world has become but when you really think about it, it's not that bad(crime-wise anyway). Unfortunately, the media would like to convince people that they'll be shot and killed if they take two steps off their doorstep unless they live in a gated suburb with a police car on every corner in the same way that they convinced nearly all women in the '90s that all men outside of their families are pedophiles trying to snatch their children off playground swingsets.

Once you stop watching television(or at least the news), you begin to realize that life goes on much as it has for decades. I'm not saying that we don't have problems in this nation concerning mental instability and the economy but not every man with facial hair is a pedophile, not every black guy on the sidewalk is a rapist, not every guy in a suit is trying to steal your 401k, and not every lonely white guy is a serial killer. In my opinion, it's quite sad how fearful the average person is today based upon sensational journalism when all they have to do is get off the couch, walk outside, and see reality.

So now that my rant is over... can we get back to the champagne and condoms?

Post: #18

(08-31-2012 07:22 AM)JayMillz Wrote:  http://gma.yahoo.com/jersey-shopping-pla...ories.html

New Jersey Shopping Plaza Shootout Leaves Three Dead
By KEVIN DOLAK | Good Morning America

New Jersey Shopping Plaza Shootout Leaves Three Dead (ABC News)
Police in New Jersey have reportedly shot and killed a man suspected of being involved in a deadly shootout inside a shopping plaza this morning.

Law enforcement officials say the three dead include the alleged gunman, according to WABC-TV.

Police responded to shots fired inside the Pathmark supermarket on Route 9 in Old Bridge, N.J., just before 4 a.m. There was a confrontation with the gunman, WABC reported. There's no word on his motive.
Several employees were inside the store, which was preparing to open at 6 a.m. Two windows near the entrance to the Pathmark have been shot out.

Numerous employees were taken across the street to a T.G.I. Friday's.
The scene is now under control, according to WABC, and there are emergency responders in the plaza parking lot who have been standing in front of the store for the past hour.

Damn shame.

That town is a half hour from me.