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| Gun control in the wake of Virginia massacre | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 17 2007, 07:12 AM (1,068 Views) | |
| stormbreaker | Apr 17 2007, 07:12 AM Post #1 |
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Master of His Domain
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http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/...631133620070416 There's a ton of articles you can search for, but during an hour of school today I watched the news with my Personal Finance class. Last I heard, there were at least 22 killed, and 29 wounded. The shooter is dead, and police are investigating whether or not he killed himself. Again, last I heard, there weren't any details of names of any kind. The shooting started around 7:00 this morning. This is "The Most Deadly School Shooting in the US". You might recall at the same school, on the first day of class, there was another shooting. And a week ago there were bomb threats. And yet there was almost no security? No guards or anything? From what the police chief said, Virgina Tech was unprepared. On another note, the Dow Jones is up well over 100 points today, easily a third of what was lost a couple months ago when a small computer glitch terrified the investment community. It would seem a school shooting now and then is good for the economy. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Comments? |
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| Mr. Awesome | Apr 17 2007, 08:46 AM Post #2 |
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Master of His Domain
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Sounds pretty crazy! The Columbia deaths were definitely below 15, and this is over 20! |
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| Mr. Awesome | Apr 17 2007, 08:58 AM Post #3 |
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Master of His Domain
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Wikipedia has more on it. Although less than the 45 deaths of the Bath School bombing, 33 were confirmed dead total. |
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| stormbreaker | Apr 17 2007, 10:07 AM Post #4 |
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Master of His Domain
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It's horrible. Although the Dow Jones could be due to something else, (like Apple Final Cut 2) I still think its worth pointing out the massive press coverage over this. There's at least five Diggs with 2-3,000 Diggs each, and several sites broadcasting LIVE. Not to mention the news stations are going crazy. It's insane. And horrible. Imagine: airport security just to get on your campus. What is our world coming to? Scratch that. I simply don't want to know. |
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| Mars | Apr 17 2007, 04:55 PM Post #5 |
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Igor Bonanimals
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Excellent coverage Stormbreaker. This is awful news (especially when you read the acid playground thread). I'll leave the anti-Bush rantings for European Son which I'm sure will be hate fuelled with a hint of anti gun flavour. |
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| European Son | Apr 17 2007, 06:58 PM Post #6 |
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Master of His Domain
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For the record the final death toll stands at 33. Perhaps this should be expanded into a gun control thread? Personally, apart from the obvious tragedy that this incident is, I also see it as two things. 1. Yet another horrific reminder that while the 'right to bear arms' may have its inherent advantages in theory, human nature and faults in any psyche have proven yet again to prevail for the worse. President Bush may speak of his mission to "Fight em' over there, so we don't have to fight em' here." but in a sense, he's instantly and quite blatantly ignoring the carnage already taking place within his borders. Far fetched, but loosely relevant. Finally, consider this. You can legally own a firearm capable of this sort of pure aggression and bloodshed at the age of 18, and yet not be able to legally have a beer in the United States until you reach the age of 21. Say something? 2. If ever there was an opportunity for any Democratic candidate (particularly Obama) to win over the more hesitant 'social moderate' voters, it is with this incident. Fueling great outcry over gun control, this incident provides a stepping stone for Obama to possibly swing the current stubborn attitude in regard to gun ownership, and the blatant failure of the second amendment to stem violence away from Republican based policies. |
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| Arkan | Apr 17 2007, 06:58 PM Post #7 |
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Better than sliced bread
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Its Columbine, not columbia. Very sad news indeed. Whats going on over there? |
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| Mr. Awesome | Apr 17 2007, 11:13 PM Post #8 |
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Master of His Domain
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I don't think gun control is the main issue here, although it would have helped a little. If psychotic asians are going to go on killing sprees, they'll do it without guns if they have to. I think we should isolate these matters as soon as we know about them. Nobody did anything for two hours after the first shooting. |
Guess what! I'm writing a book called Nuclear Winter!
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| stormbreaker | Apr 18 2007, 07:15 AM Post #9 |
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Master of His Domain
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Gun control is very much a part of this tragedy. I agree with Euro, although I didn't know you could legally have a gun at 18. That's ridiculous. They identified the shooter, he's Asian, and he left a 'disturbing' note. I haven't read anything as of late, except for this article about a professor saving most of his student's lives. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122137 This is really horrible. And once again, not to dwarf this tragedy, but I also heard on the news something about 76 people dieing in a bomb in Iraq; or something like that. It was short. Too short. I can understand something unpredictable like a school shooting is a better thing to broadcast as a news company, but 76 deaths is certainly a more horrible thing than 33. I can understand the difference, though. A car bomb is more likely to go off in Iraq than a school shooting on any given day. But I do see this as an opportune time to prove the truth is Stalin's abused quote: "One death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic." It's exaggerated, but to a certain extent, correct. How often do you hear of horrible news in Iraq? Daily. Most people (and I speak for myself and some other Americans, at least) just don't care anymore. I stopped listening to that stuff a while ago. But that stuff still comes after the news article on flying penguins. Meanwhile, this shooting takes CNN over for the whole day. Once again, I'm not trying to demean this tragedy. Far from it. I am very sorry for the people who lost loved ones in this incident. My heart goes out to their friends and families. It's a horrible world, guys. Soon, things will be so bad we can't leave our houses without fear of our lives. |
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| Mr. Awesome | Apr 18 2007, 08:45 AM Post #10 |
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Master of His Domain
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That's the wrong kind of attitude. Pessimism will get us nowhere, and this world certainly has some fucked up stuff in it, but you wouldn't want your news to bring you only the bad side, would you? I agree, everything important must have coverage, but if the media showed more of the worse side than it already does, I'm sure many would lose hope. There is good in the world. |
Guess what! I'm writing a book called Nuclear Winter!
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| stormbreaker | Apr 18 2007, 08:53 AM Post #11 |
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Master of His Domain
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Certainly there is good, and I am no pessimist. But when you look back on all the evil stuff that happened yesterday, it certainly gives one a bleak outlook on the future. You're right. There is good in the world. It's just at the moment, there is an abundance of sadness and horrible news to be taken in. |
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| Mars | Apr 18 2007, 05:00 PM Post #12 |
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Igor Bonanimals
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That varies wildly from state to state. In Virginia however, you can purchase firearms over the counter without a license or any waiting period. The killer bought the guns two days before the shooting. So if you're pissed off, you can pretty much act upon it straight away.
Interesting views. But remember, the college massacre got more news time because it occured within the country the news station is based in. I agree that the deaths in Iraq are under-reported (although it varies from station to station) but yeah, generally a massacre at a local school will get loads of coverage. I agree with European Son but I think it will take a lot more than that to tip the balance. Remember gun control is largely a state based issue so I doubt places like Texas will be laying down arms any time soon. Also, on a local note: Australia has a low level of gun related deaths because we have an excellent system of gun control. A family friend used to own and fire guns at a range in the eighties. When Martin Bryant murdered 35 people in 1996 at Port Arthur Prison the government went crazy and ramped up gun laws big time. The guns that weren't taken away, the poor guy had to store in a painfully expensive concrete safe, transport them directly from the safe to his car boot (also containing a safe) and take them to the range, use them and then transport them back home. When he found out he had to reinforce his roof to prevent break ins he dropped his hobby. Stuff like that is unfortunate but it is necessary if we are to maintain our excellent low gun death statistics. |
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| European Son | Apr 18 2007, 06:10 PM Post #13 |
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Master of His Domain
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Of course gun control is the issue. What is the issue then? Perhaps the issue apart from gun control is in this case, is your racial slurs and ignorance?
Very good point, the actual response was completely and utterly ridiculous. |
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| Arkan | Apr 18 2007, 07:15 PM Post #14 |
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Better than sliced bread
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Its kind of ironic that we are watching Bowling for Columbine in my media class now. I find it unbelievable that it is so easy to purchase guns over there. I have hardly seen any gunshops here in Australia. |
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| Mr. Awesome | Apr 19 2007, 08:32 AM Post #15 |
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Master of His Domain
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I agree that my casual use of racial slurs is certainly offending to some, but gun control wouldn't help at all here. First of all, the biggest threat to a shooter is what - other guns. If we had harsher laws against gun control, somebody who was planning this type of attack out could certainly get access to them illegally, as was the case with Columbine. Although it may prevent a few sudden angry attacks, in the long run it would make it more difficult for the innocent to defend themselves. Can you see here why gun control isn't as relevant as some think? In the Columbine shooting, the two attackers had mixed their own explosives, and even though they didn't detonate, it means that weapons are more easily accessible to people who want them than we think. Lastly, gun control would be a hard law/restriction to implement, especially when so many gun-loving Americans would proclaim such un-constitutional, being in our second amendment and all. A faster, better law enforcement would have certainly helped here.
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6:29 PM Jul 11