Another mass shooting!

It could be called a christ-mass shooting
Any sadistic fucker who feels the need to slay children, particularly this close to christmas, must burn in hell for eternity.

@ucme Yeah, things like this I hope the Christians are right.

I refuse to read about this or discuss it.
I saw the headlines, that’s all I need to know. I don’t need to feast on the gory details.
Bottom line, ugly stuff happens, always has, always will.
Sick, sad and disturbed people commit sick, sad and disturbed acts.
End of story.

I just heard about it, and that’s so terrible. :(
How someone can convince themselves it will be fun to kill little kids is beyond me.

I say we ban all guns.

I mean then all the guns will be gone and nobody will be able to shoot anyone.

Awaiting more information.

@Yetanotheruser
I feel sad and sicken.

N/A

Seems to be catching http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/12/14/man-stabs-22-children-at-chinese-elementary-school/

Merry Fucking Christmas!

I listened to President Obama’s response to the shooting. He said this is happening too often, and I have to agree. I keep wondering why these things are happening so often. I am sure that when they look at the personal history of the shooter, it will be the same story about a disturbed young man who got a bunch of guns. While I support gun control, I have to ask why these same kinds of things did not happen 50 years ago. Are these events symptomatic of something in our society?

@LostInParadise Absolutely! More people, more psychos,and with more people having to struggle so hard to survive in this era and in the current economic climate, it’s a perfect recipe for disaster. People have always gone off the deep end,but, I truly believe that mental illness has been on the rise in the last 30 years due to these factors. Overcrowding, lack of resources, and the ability to purchase firearms so easily all leads to an increase in these violent outbursts.

Oh man, I broke down on the drive home hearing about this.

@Coloma
Sadly I agree with you.
The answer is to provide more resources for at risk children, teens and adults.
Unfortunately many greedy people prefer to cut funding and balance the budget on the backs of the middle class. They are the same people who say guns don’t kill.

@AshLeigh It’s not that the shooters just “convince themselves it will be fun to kill little kids”. In almost all cases, the shooters are seriously mentally ill.

That doesn’t make it any less heinous or any more acceptable, but it does explain it 99% of the time. It’s not as if these people just wake up one day and say, “Hey, why don’t I go shoot up some elementary school kids? That’ll be awesome!”

This thread is a place to react? Okay. That fucking sick mutherfucking fucker, I hope he fucking burns in mutherfucking hell for fucking all of mutherfucking eternity! That’s my reaction.

So Obama said these sort of shootings are happening too often.

Wow. what a genius…

I just drove by my local elementary school at 2:30 here in California.
and it was heartbreaking seeing all those little children and parents were, obviously, hugging their babies extra close. So sad.

Updated reaction: Now that it’s had some time to soak in, I’m teary-eyed and can’t stop imagining a crazed shooter walking into my daughters’ school. And I can’t stop hugging my little one. I’d be hugging my oldest too, but she’s at a friend’s house.

I live about 20 miles away from Dunblane in Scotland where a similar thing happened in 1996 as to what went on today with children of the same age. (since our primary school covers roughly the same age bracket) I was at school and remember a teacher running out as her niece was at that school and the look of sheer terror on her face is something that you can’t forget. I also personally know one of the paramedics that had to go there and what they saw led to them being off ill for a long time and needing therapy for an extended period of time.

My brain just comes up with a big question mark when it tries to work out how somebody can do something like that.

@TheProfoundPorcupine

I know, what I wonder is WHY, if the person is going to kill themselves anyway, WHY the need to take out all these other innocent people?
Just do yourself in! Trying to figure out crazy people makes you crazy. :-/

Here’s a thought I had right away: Why are most of the perpetrators young white men? I’m not going to go into super ridiculous speculative theories, but I don’t think it’s just a coincidence. What is it about modern American society that leads young men to think this is the answer to their problems, and furthermore, what kind of problems lead to this kind of reaction?

@Coloma
I think they blame the wrong people for their pain.
As the parent of an autistic son. I had to fight for his appropriate education. I am angry with many people. I would openly pray that they reap what they sew. I could never harm any human unless they threaten my family.
We do need away to help unstable people. We need to prevent unstable people from obtaining guns.

I stepped back into my memories today. Thinking of what it was like to be in elementary. I can still see the two giant trees outside my classes window in the 3rd grade. This time of year, the tree barely had leaves and they were mostly orange, red and yellowish. I didn’t realize it then, how lucky I was to live and breathe everyday. I was just going with the flow and it was a good flow. Sadly, today, the flow has been disturbed once again. This time a gunman went into an elementary school to commit such a heinous crime. I tried stepping into this mans shoes. All I could feel was numbness upon the shooting. There after, once the first shot was fired, I felt rampage running through my blood. I also felt the filth in my soul and worms that ate my heart. I also stepped into the shoes of the children. Scared and confused everything was surreal. My heart hastened and the moment felt like an eternity. Nothing made sense. Nothing felt natural. The flow had stopped. Stepping back into the shoes of the gunman, I realized I was a dead man walking. I became possessed and a living monster, a dead man walking. I step again once more into the children who have survived, and I’m relieved to see my mother. There she is running towards me, crying and all. I don’t realize it yet, but I’m crying too. I’m confused and I don’t know if I could ever go back to school? Do bad people like this exist a lot now? I wonder? I fear? How could I go on.

Well guys these are some of thoughts I’ve had about today. Trying to digest this story and consume it is nearly impossible. There really is just no logic as to what happened. I’m just overall bummed out. Bummed out that these children were loved by parents, friends, family. It takes so long to raise a child. So many emotions from the time of conception, to birth and now, death. I’m bummed that this man felt this was the answer to his problems. I don’t know how I would personally respond to something of this magnitude if any single family member were involved.
I want to write a letter to the immediate families of the victims and give my condolences. I want them to know a nation is behind them and is caring for them. I know this is a huge tragedy and only time may heal. Should anyone find a way to contact them via post card please PM me. Or state it out here. We should all let them know as a nation we stand by them .

I hate to think about the effect this is having on the relatives of the children who were killed and on their surviving schoolmates, when it is nearly making me cry, so many miles away and not affected directly by it.
I hate to think about these young lives being disrupted as they were.
I hate to think that they will all have such a hard time processing this and that they will never forget this incident.
And I feel sorry that it had to happen, that no one could help that man, that no one noticed what was going on with him.
Oh god, they are so young!
That makes me so sad.
I remember being convinced when I was sad as a child that the sadness would never end.
I hope there will be someone there for those children that had to witness this who will make them understand that though the sadness might never go away completely, it will get less painful gradually.
I hope the lives of the families from which a child was killed do not turn into one huge nightmare from this day on. I wish this hadn’t happened to them.

Well as an outsider looking in, I think it’s time for a serious conversation about gun control. It appears your politicians are terrified to raise this issue because they fear they will not be re-elected if they dare to even suggest gun control.

@Bellatrix : Yes, yes they are.

@Bellatrix
Your correct they do what is best for them and few consider the majority of American citizens.

@Bellatrix Our politicians are evil incarnate. Jesus mercy, I am so on the edge of that tree house in Costa Rica. Seriously, I almost bought an island off of the coast of Tonga about 5 years ago. Thing was, it flooded at high tide. lol
Oh well..swim to shore for some roasted grubs in banana leaves. lol

@Coloma : Take me with you. I’ll start a tropical fruit plantation.

@bookish1 My pleasure! You’re voted onto my island! :-D

I don’t think US politicians are unique in making decisions based on what will get them votes. Votes are the currency of politics after all. I think they are unique in terms of their response to gun control and this seemingly never ending stream of mass shootings. Really though, if enough of you don’t stand up and say ‘We will vote for you. Please do something’ and mean it, they aren’t likely to act.

Australian politicians are equally driven by polls and shit. Same-sex marriage would seem to fall into that bag. Whatever happened to the idea that politicians are supposed to make decisions that represent the best options for us, even when we don’t necessarily recognise the that an unpopular course is the best thing for us? They have access to the best information, experts and analysis but they are driven by what we think we need or want. Or by their interpretation of what they think we think we need. Or worst, their own self-serving motives. I know – I am being utopian!

@Bellatrix Aaaah, Utopia, well….bad seeds sprout up in all climates. haha

My husband’s hometown is next to Newtown, so his entire family is very disturbed.

Not-one-but-two handguns…hooray for the United States of America. Disgraceful.

@PaulSadieMartin and a backup rifle.

I rode home from school for Christmas break with a friend today. We were listening to NPR and heard about this tragedy as it was unfolding. I didn’t realize we were driving through Connecticut. I was watching out the window and started noticing helicopters. Two, three, four, just hanging in the air. It struck me odd but I didn’t make the connection until my friend who was driving said, oh jeez. We’re in Newtown.

We were only on the highway so besides the helicopters I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It still felt unreal, though, knowing that immeasurable tragedy and grief was so nearby.

I hate that this is becoming almost commonplace. What kind of society produces these sick fucks? I think it would be a mistake to comfort ourselves with thoughts that these people are just isolated nutcases. There is something going on here.

One thing we need to do is stop broadcasting the shooters’ names. These people need to die in anonymous shame. As long as we provide them with notoriety there will always be more people who decide they want that.

It makes me so sad, and I’m sadder still that it’s not nearly as shocking as it used to be.

@Bellatrix Whatever happened to the idea that politicians are supposed to make decisions that represent the best options for us, even when we don’t necessarily recognise the that an unpopular course is the best thing for us? I once asked a Q along those lines, because in the US I think we thinking of our politicians as supposed to represent us. So, do they represent what their majority wants? Or, do they do what they think is best? Forget about votes, which are they supposed to do?

After the Gabby Giffords shooting in AZ (she is a congresswoman of ours, she survived with brain damage, others were shot in that shooting) Obama did not do anything aboutgun control. This is what I tell my right wing paranoid friends who think Obama will take away all their guns. Their is no evidence Obama is for ridding Americans of guns. Someone on fluther, not sure if it was this Q, yesterday wrote, this is not the time to talk about gun control, maybe thinking we are too emotional? Well, then when is the time? Americans only do things when they are emotional. 9/11 let’s all go to war, doesn’t even matter if it has nothing to do with 9/11, get rid of horrible Arab dictators, let’s go. Americans make big changes when they are freaked out usually. And, when they can identify with the people who are affected by something scary. The politicians need to seize the moment.

@JLeslie
I agree.

I’d much rather explain to a man why he can’t have a gun than to a grieving mother why he can.

@AshLeigh Brilliant, outta the mouths of babes! ;-)

It is sadly time the majority of us comprehend that the both parties and the majority of Politicians are self serving and corrupt. They do what is best for the lobbyist, drug companies, big business and corrupt companies like Monsanto. If one of their children were shot they would actually care.
What would be best is stricter rules about who could purchase weapons. It should be done for the benefit of the majority of American’s.

The parents will always remember the lives of their children, but the world will remember their deaths, and that might be the greatest tragedy of all.

Really upsetting. I don’t think that even 9/11 hit me as hard as this one. I think that @Coloma is on to something; with a growing population, it’s not unreasonable for the number of disturbed people to also grow.

@philosopher The shooter in this case could not legally purchase firearms. The ones used were effectively stolen.

I don’t believe these shootings took place.

Firearms aren’t allowed on school campuses.

@Nullo
A Biometric requirement such as a fingerprint would prevent this. It would stop people from being able to use stolen weapons. Something must be done.

@Crashsequence2012 : Obama must have been behind it.

@bookish1 i don’t see a correction.

Would you care to explain?

@philosopher Guns are comparatively simple mechanical devices. You can’t put a fingerprint reader on them without introducing onboard computers that can fail, and any authentication system on the gun itself will cost a defensive gunman the split second (or longer) between himself and the Jack The Ripper wannabe.
There are gun safes, however (usually with a combination lock, but a biometric lock isn’t out of the question), and this tragedy could have been averted if the guns’ owner used one, or (if she used one) kept the password to herself.

@Crashsequence2012 @bookish1 Nah, the guy just didn’t read the sign. /bitter sarcasm

@Nullo
A Biometric safe would be a good idea.

@philosopher I see! As it happens, gun owners are exhorted to buy safes and locks, and many of them do, which is great. There’s a nifty sort of combo lock that’s getting to be popular that has unmarked buttons that need to be pressed in a certain order, and newer ones do indeed have biometric scanners on the buttons. Unfortunately, any safe can be cracked, biometrics or no.

I just watched an expert on the topic of these mass shootings, and he said some of the people who do this are mentally ill and some aren’t. That they have three things going on, resentment, hopelessness, and identification and facination with distruction. These people blame others for all their problems.