The Current Events Thread

[Valbrandur]

About this situation, I think while lack of guns might not have prevented it, it could have prevented it from being so bad.

There aren't many, if any at all ranged weapon alternatives to a gun with killing power (as far as I know, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) and I think it might be easier to wrestle down someone wielding a melee weapon than someone who can kill you at range. Unless it's a very strong person who's exercised a lot.

That said, it's tragic that there are 18 kids who never even got to have a chance at enjoying life. Considering that the alleged shooter's brother was dead, it seems likely that he pretty much just lost it and went on a bloodbath.

[Syobon]

My personal opinion is that while you might never be able to prevent people from doing horrible things like this, that doesn't mean you have to make it easy.

[Lambeth]

In addition to some gun control, some emphasis on mental health would be good. People with possible mental issues get marginalized far too often.

[Kalekemo]

President Obama Addresses the Newtown, Conn., School Shooting

[Wry Bread]

I heard that CNN, FOX and MSNBC all basically just googled "Ryan Lanza" and used the first image search result all over their headlines without double-checking whose image they were actually using or even waiting to find out if the shooter was, in fact, Ryan Lanza. Which means they grabbed the photo and information of a totally unrelated Ryan Lanza who is now being harassed and sent death threats on Facebook by people eager to feel like they're "helping".

[Kalekemo]

Yeah, news organizations tend to have a habit of doing stuff like that.

[SaintCrazy]

Isn't there some kind of quality control we can put on these newscasts? Because so many of them are really, really dumb, and most countries agree that American news is a joke.

[Lotharu]

Exerpt from a comment on the New York Times article on the shooting today:

Unfortunately our only practical option to help prevent mass shootings like the one today in CT is to increase the deterrent effect. There is no other option. If we tighten restrictions on gun sales and ownership, we invite organized crime to profit and gain power from it. Think prohibition and the power it gave to the mob. Think of that power in our current age of globalization. We use this deterrence - guards or law enforcement officers with guns and/or security screens at entrances - at airports, banks, government buildings, major sporting events because it deters crazies or criminals with guns from using them. We simply need to broaden the use of this deterrence, sadly, to schools and shopping centers and other places where we're in the presence of unpredictable strangers.

[D-vid]

It's sad that America is a country where you can compare a lightly alcoholic beverage to deadly weapons because there really IS that much of a demand for said deadly weapons by way too many people for the dumbest reasons.

[TheStranger]

Its too late to restrict American gun laws, the gun fetish theyve systematically bred into their society for the past 200 years is so firmly ingrained that the amount of buyers for black market guns is too high.

[Paper_Pikmin]

dude I was like eating dinner with my family and they were talking about this gun shit.
so anyways I'm all wondering to myself technically talking to my tulpa about when some news organization will blame this shit on vidya gaems. a few seconds later, my mother fuckin blames this shit on bideo lames. i laughed to myself with my tulpa and I almost physically laughed. i hate it when people blame this shit on vidya, it's inaccurate and full of bias.

[Kalekemo]

He was depressed and mentally unstable.

Clearly a sign that he had been playing video games.

[Wry Bread]

Okay. I'm not going to try to define where exactly "the line" is re: murder. It probably wiggles around. But wherever it happens to be precisely, shooting and killing 18 children 10 and under and a further 8 adults (according to the reports I've read so far) is way over it. There is no "oh, poor baby, he was misunderstood" or "the real victim here is Adam, and society is to blame!"

If he had a terrible life and was mentally unbalanced, I'm sorry for that; no one deserves to have to live a shitty life or deal with mental instability. But the sympathy I extend to anyone who has to deal with that does not change nor impact the fact that this is an unforgivable act, and that I would fully expect him to be put to death as soon as legally possible had he survived, especially given that there is no room for question or doubt in what was done, how, and by whom regarding the law. I am not a proponent of the death penalty over life sentences in the overwhelming majority of cases, and do not view it as "vengeance" or "justice." Revenge and righteousness on a personal level should not ever enter into a death sentence, save perhaps for the relatives of victims seeking personal closure. But someone who has committed an act on this level cannot be allowed to re-enter society for many reasons-- for one thing, if he were deemed insane and in need of rehabilitation, once he had returned to a state of stability, would he even be able to live with himself for killing his own mother and most (if not all) of her very young students? Would his life be worth living knowing that every landlord, boss, significant other and friend he ever made would know he had done this? Life for pedophiles, rightly or wrongly accused, is known to be hard, bitter, lonely and unbearable, to a degree that often drives those correctly convicted to strike again. Could anything less be expected of someone who killed nearly 30 people, the massive majority of whom were unquestionably innocent gradeschoolers? It sucks that he may have been unbalanced. It does. It's a tragedy start-to-finish. And unfortunately, there is no room for reasonable "forgiveness" here. And a life sentence would hardly be "better" in this case-- prison is not kind to those who have harmed children, because even other hard criminals look down on and loathe pedophiles and people who attack kids. If he weren't put to death by us, he would be beaten to death the second a guard "accidentally" let him into the yard before the other inmates were inside. There just isn't another reasonable option in cases like this.

[Lambeth]

dude I was like eating dinner with my family and they were talking about this gun shit.
so anyways I'm all wondering to myself technically talking to my tulpa about when some news organization will blame this shit on vidya gaems. a few seconds later, my mother fuckin blames this shit on bideo lames. i laughed to myself with my tulpa and I almost physically laughed. i hate it when people blame this shit on vidya, it's inaccurate and full of bias.

I blame society's fetishization of violence, which yes, some video games are a part of. Also plenty of movies, tv shows, and even books.

[TheStranger]

In the words of an idol of mine "Violence will always be part of society because its a part of humanity, but it only has the room that society allows it, and if it isnt kept where it belongs, you might as well forget about society alltogether". In other words, violence is part of the human nature, and while it will always be part of us, and supressing it entirerly is impossible, we need to accept that real life violence isnt glamorous or fulfilling.