This is where it will turn political. That is what the mass media (FAKE NEWS) wants people to believe.

The Virginia beach shooter was black. The Virginia tech shooter was Asian. The Washington DC snipers were black. The Fort Hood shooter was Muslim, The San Bernardino Christmas party shooters were Muslim, The Pulse night club shooter was Muslim.

There is no official number to be considered a mass shooting but four or more victims is widely accepted. Cities like LA, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Camden, Newark, Trenton, NJ have two, three or four shootings with four or more victims on any given night. I would argue there aren't very many white guys involved in those shootings.

Several of the amendments to the constitution, principly the first, second and fourth, almost guarantee that we have to live with this sort of phenomenon. These freedoms come at a price, it has always been that way.

I am no expert on the first amendment but I think that social media companies could set conditions for participation and enforce them. I think that they are going to come under increased pressure to be more self policing.

If that's what it looks like that is not my intent . I guess this morning I reached a point where I said enough is enough . All I am hoping for is a civil conversation about how to make the situation better. Maybe there is no better I don't know . But I do know no one should be killed just because they are at the mall or a store or a bar.

They'll come under pressure, do something, then be accused of censorship by one side or the other or possibly even both sides. Monitor, if you see something that appears to be inciting violence report it, let law enforcement handle it.

It drives me crazy when I read that something like this is being investigated as a "hate crime". Murder in general is a hate crime. Not many examples of a person loving someone so much they decided to shoot them dead.

I say throw HIPAA away if you shoot up anything and kill or injure anyone, and lets see just what drugs these shooters are on. I would like to know just how many of these shooters are on some kind of anti-depressants, you know the ones that you see advertised on TV every few minutes. But I'm sure the pharmaceuticals will fight that with more money to the politicians pockets!

Concur.

Global Warming
people go cray cray in the heat !

I'd add Ritalin, Adderall. We're a medicated society today. I count myself as lucky I grew up in the 70's and 80's before people decided that people with high energy and short attention spans should be medicated into behaving the way they want them to. But I don't believe you'll ever get anyone to look into this kind of thing.

I know it is not your intent, rfuer. But politics is unavodable in this context. Which is part of the problem.

There can be no civil conversation about how to make better the situation of a lunatic with a rifle killing innocents.

In my opinion, setting artificial parameters regarding conversations about mass murderers is part of the problem. Unless, of course, one is in favor of mass murderers.

Open the discussion wide. Mental illness, religion, politics, should NOT be censored; should not be bleached by the fictitious notion that civil conversation will solve this problem-if indeed, as you suggest, the problem can even be solved.

We've come to the point where sympathy for a trans man menstruating represents some kind of dilemma to said trans man, for example. The observation where a crime-ridden, rat-infested city is actually crime-ridden and rat-infested is somehow racist; where public defecation is considered normal and a basic human right; where male athletes identifiy themselves as female in order to dominate women's sports is not considered insane are all examples of how 'civil discourse' is not, nor likely can ever be, helpful.

A culture and a society simply refusing to acknowledge a harmful reality in order to be civil is destructive.

And at 0500, the tone turned stupid.

I know this is in jest, but the heat makes them nutso

A lot of truth in that refusal to acknowledge reality thing.

Yeah... kinda sad that it only took 12 comments before a political talking point had to enter. Just shows how politicized everything is today.

We were once more civilized in that we hung/executed these murderers without delay. Then we showed their dead bodies with close up pics. Then we made some sort of “so it ends with those who make this choice” type of statement. Back then young people could see the reality of a life of crime.

Now we “must seek to understand,” we care more about the perpetrator and give light sentences (Norway shooter got 21 years!). Now we seek to blame anything other than the true cause, the natural evil that is in the heart of some men.

Eh, hasn't homicide been trending down?

This seems to be a combination of weak mental foundation combined with pressure.

There is a lot of anti-white male advertising these days.

Most white males are strong enough to shrug it off. One in a million might crack.

If you look by % cause of death, mass shooting is pretty dang low. It makes bigger headlines than the bigger problems that come first.

It seems to me that there is correspondence between school systems recommending mental drugs and mass shootings.

I do wonder in some cases that make a lot of media attention if the shooting wasn't "cultured" into being. There are some sick folks out there.

The complete failure of multiple levels of law enforcement and previous victims in a particular incident in Florida just baffles me.

Too much logic here for a jaded, TDS afflicted closet-PARF junkie to digest. Something like 50+ shootings in Chicago this weekend. Crickets.

Great post.

It’s hard to know where to start w this post. Yes, being a terrorist is an equal opportunity type thing. Why do you think that all of the recent ones in the U.S. are white males and young? What’s different in the social/political climate in recent years? It’s obvious to any honest person in the world that the easy availability of guns and ammo is what makes the U.S. the place where this happens every week but that’s always been the case. Why did this not happen every week in 2010 or 1988? :confused:

Your last paragraph is just propaganda, completely dishonest. The term, “mass shooting” is generally accepted to be 3 or more victims, (not 4, a completely different threshold), also your statement regarding the number and frequency in American cities is simply pulled from your ass. I’ve live down in Los Angeles for decades, the violent crime and murder rate has plummeted and I cannot recall a shooting w four or more victims in recent memory, much less on “any given night.” :rolleyes:

More to the point, someone shooting gang rivals or their family in the ‘hood, while tragic, has zero effect on my safety or yours. It’s something you read about in the paper. Chicago is a perfectly safe city for everyone who does not live in certain neighborhoods and/or engage in certain lifestyles. Mass shootings in random public places are a different thing and are textbook cases of terrorism. I was in a Walmart yesterday, buying motor oil. The victims are complete innocents engaging in normal activities in normal, public places. I can certainly see your motivation for conflating terrorism w normal crime but it’s like trying to wrap 9/11 into overall commercial aviation safety. That dog won’t hunt.

Good thing there was a cop there who took a bullet so that many other could escape..

(I agree this should be parf'ed)

Lots of interesting theories that I agree with here.
I would like to mention that with a high police force, or armed society presence. Shootings are put down relatively quick. Garlic festival shooting was less then a minute before engaged by police. Arizona's mass shooting was taken by a ccw. Arizona's only school shooting was in fact a suicide on a high school campus.

A polite society is when everyone is armed. Btw I would like mention the 1AD Joe that helped kids escape the Wal-Mart shooting. I sure bias in the mainstream media won't mention this.

The Constitution shouldn't be a death sentence. Nor a political tool.

It is not going to be changed. 2/3 of the States and 2/3 of Congress are not going to vote for a change.

Ain't gonna happen.

What needs changing? What would you change, if anything?