10 dead in a US college shooting

[Kronos]

More people were killed in the USA in shootings in a year than have been killed by terrorist activity in 40 years. Yet the government has introduced draconian laws to combat the so called 'War On Terror.' But little gun control laws have been introduced.

I do not understand why the BBC news feels the need to give which is a frequent event in the USA, so much coverage on UK news.

And why are mass shootings so common in the US compared to other advanced countries?

 

[Columbo]

Two complete failures of the police to confiscate weapons from individuals that had proven unfit to posses them on multiple occasions and knee jerk reactions from government was "the UK at its very best"?

A blanket ban and handguns was a knee jerk reaction?
I guess your view and my view on the need for guns within society is totally different.

 

[shadow_boxer]

Sad to hear of another pointless shooting over in the US. Unfortunately this will continue to happen as guns are so ingrained in their culture and the gun lobbying / manufacturers are too powerful. It'll take a lot more than a few school or colledge gun shooting to bring about a mass change. Nobdy cares about these little incidents apart from those directly involved. Heck even an assassination of the POTUS probably wouldn't. If Americans want to keep their guns then they can accept these things will happen.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

A blanket ban and handguns was a knee jerk reaction?
I guess your view and my view on the need for guns within society is totally different.

Thomas Hamilton had been caught with handguns in public on at least one occasion, but wasn't charged nor had his weapons confiscated due to him being bezzers with the Chief Constable through the Masons.

You think it was okay to destroy a sport and a cottage industry due to one nutter and systematic firearms licensing failures by the police?

 

[cheesyboy]

The UK handgun ban was certainly knee-jerk, at least to some extent.

It doesn't necessarily follow that it was a bad decision, though.

 

[MookJong]

I heard on LBC this morning that in the last 11 years 316,500 people have been killed by guns in the U.S.

Staggering...

 

[Cosimo]

Some form of hate crime by the looks of it as he was targeting Christians:

Witnesses said he ordered people to the ground, before making them stand again and state their religion. He then began firing. Witnesses say he shot those who had said they were Christian.

Mercer, from the Rosenburg area near the college, injured at least seven others and was among those killed following a shoot-out with police.

He was said to have walked into the college with three weapons, one a long gun and two handguns.

Stacy Boylan, whose daughter Anastasia Boylan was wounded, said Mercer walked into the classroom and shot the teacher dead at point blank range before turning on the students.

Miss Boylan spoke to her father shortly before spinal surgery. He told CNN that the gunman ordered the students to stand up if they were Christians as he reloaded.

“And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,’” Mr Boylan said.

“And then he shot and killed them.”

 

[estebanrey]

Some form of hate crime by the looks of it as he was targeting Christians:

I wonder if Fox News will write this one off as just a wacko kid and not a hate crime like they did with Dylan Roof.....oh no I forgot, he was attacking Christians so they'll happily label this terrorism and say it's more proof of the 'war on US Christians' that only exists in their minds.

 

[OhEsEcks]

I heard on LBC this morning that in the last 11 years 316,500 people have been killed by guns in the U.S.

Staggering...

One interesting metric of measurement is the Crips / Blood war. It kicked off at the same time as the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Early 70s. By the time the Good Friday Agreement had been signed in the late 90s, nearly five times as many people had been killed in the Crips / Blood war as had been killed in the Troubles. That's something in the range of 15 odd thousand (was mentioned in the documentary "Crips and Bloods: Made in America").

Another one is that since the start of the Mexican cartel wars, they estimate that over 100k people have been killed in Mexico in drug related gang / police / army violence and upwards of over 1.5 million have been displaced. Drugs flow into the US. Guns flow out.

 

[thep02]

I heard on LBC this morning that in the last 11 years 316,500 people have been killed by guns in the U.S.

Staggering...

Epic figures, I hope they raise a smile in Iraq if Iraqis get a chance to read them.

Re the alleged outflow of yank weapons not so true, Latin and South America are full of very cheap effective firearms whereas the yank guns are expensive and not as specced out as the full auto military kit available South of the border largely due to yank meddling down there.

Fast and Furious was a blatent yank government action to try and get domestic gun ownership tacked onto foreign policy and treaty arrangements.

 

[ubersonic]

Thats gotta be fake. Looks nothing like a gun store not to mention Uzi's and AR-15's are illegal in the state of New York.
Not the point but still.

Didn't know that.

Would have thought banning Uzi's would have been considered anti-semitic lol.

 

[John40]

Shooter was English who had moved to the US as a kid.

 

[Uther]

That was a hard hitting speech by Obama, you could see his frustration. Of course nothing will happen and there'll be another shooting along shortly.

 

[antran]

^^ I agree with you there, nothing will happen.

Guns is part of the American's culture, deeply embed in their dna.

 

[shorttricky]

Thats gotta be fake. Looks nothing like a gun store not to mention Uzi's and AR-15's are illegal in the state of New York.
Not the point but still.

Presumably you didn't actually bother to watch the video? It does tell you that right at the start.

At least one of the firearms the actor claims was used in a mass shooting—an Uzi submachine gun—has never been used in a single documented murder in the history of the United States.

He doesn't claim it was used in a mass shooting. He says "9mm submachine gun" and nothing more.

I'm guessing it's the one a 9 year old girl killed her shooting instructor with

It's a real shame you can't spend 3 minutes of your life watching it so you could at least comment on it factually

 

[boxman2000]

I wonder if Fox News will write this one off as just a wacko kid and not a hate crime like they did with Dylan Roof.....oh no I forgot, he was attacking Christians so they'll happily label this terrorism and say it's more proof of the 'war on US Christians' that only exists in their minds.

There is a real anti-Christian sentiment going on at the moment worldwide - call it what you like but murdering anyone is evil, whatever their religion.

And what do you think is going on in the middle east at the moment?

Who do you think a good chunk of the refugees coming over to Europe are? Christians, escaping persecution. Sadly there are daily reports of them still getting assaulted by Muslims to such an extent that they are getting driven out of the larger camps into separate camps - rarely getting any media exposuresource

 

[koolpc]

Sad news yet again regarding Guns in the states. This keeps on happening all the time

 

[Winky_The_Winking_Turtle]

Stop reporting on it.

Agreed. As morbid as this sounds, the next time a mass shooting happens I hope the murderer post online before hand about how "Fox/CNN/etc. made him do it."

As far as I'm concerned social media/news coverage (especially "live"/24h constant feed...) play a big role in the killers incentive. Not generalising, but typically they tend to be introverted white males who lack social skills, have deep rooted mental issues which have gone untreated, and as a result actually believe they "have nothing to use".

They crave attention, to finally be heard on a grand scale. Imagine going from what feels like being invisible, to an infamous celebrity of sorts being plastered all over the internet, news, etc.

Obviously a skewed view on the matter, just trying to look from a different perspective.

 

[ubersonic]

The last time an American told me that guns weren't the problem because if the victims had guns they wouldn't have been victims I pointed out to him that the Americans slaughtered at the Alamo had guns, that annoyed him lol.

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Snip

A good post.

The last time an American told me that guns weren't the problem because if the victims had guns they wouldn't have been victims I pointed out to him that the Americans slaughtered at the Alamo had guns, that annoyed him lol.

If a victim has a gun and ends up not being a victim, usually (not always) that means someone else has become the victim.

Many gun nuts over there treat guns and their ownership like a ideology rather than just a tool to kill things. The idea that everyone has the right to possess guns as well as use them, is pushed into peoples heads by a gun culture which glorifies the ownership and right to use guns on anyone that crosses your land without permission. I don't understand how people can come up with the 'violence caused by video games' argument when a young person goes psycho and totally ignore how guns have been glorified for years in a million other ways.