Black Dog Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Why? Surely you have seen here that "Americans this, Americans that" is essential to establishing and communicating opinion about the Canadian identity. Norway didn't have any reason to do this after their shooting spree. People usually start asking tough questions around the15th shooting spree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkman Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Of course it's not. Things are much more "progressive." Your ilk has done well to degrade the civil society. I think the sanctity of human means much less to society than it used to. Shootings like this never used to occur. What a tragedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 I think the sanctity of human means much less to society than it used to. Shootings like this never used to occur. What a tragedy. I'm not so sure about that. The worse school violence for fatalities in the U.S. happened in 1927 at Bath, Michigan. It was a bombing by a tax protester and 38 kids were killed, along with 7 adults and many others injured. But there was no internet or cable TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleipnir Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Amazing how fast we are willing to focus on the person behind the gun and how quickly we forget about the people on the other side of those bullets. They're giving the victims their privacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayward Son Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 (edited) I think the sanctity of human means much less to society than it used to. Shootings like this never used to occur. What a tragedy. Well, not a shooting (truck bomb), but the worst school massacre remains the one in Bath, Michigan in 1927. And for percentage of students killed, the shooting in Greencastle, PA in 1764 resulted in only 3 students surviving with 9 or 10 dead. So, I don't we should ideolize the past by elevating it (or degrading society today) without justification. (edit: I see bush-cheney beat me to it) Edited December 15, 2012 by Wayward Son Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilber Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Read this tweet today and it hit home. "The wider tragedy is how culturally we have come to expect mass murder. Columbine didn't change us. It conditioned us." I think there is some truth to that. Every time this happens, the quicker we seem to get over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkman Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 I'm not so sure about that. The worse school violence for fatalities in the U.S. happened in 1927 at Bath, Michigan. It was a bombing by a tax protester and 38 kids were killed, along with 7 adults and many others injured. But there was no internet or cable TV. Perhaps those interested could do a count of such attacks each decade since 1900. See if the number stays within a range every decade or something like that. Pointed out one attack doesn't really give much in the way of context. It was announced earlier today that this was the worst attack of its kind in US history. I may be going out on a limb here, but I really think that in a society where babies are found in dumpsters the sanctity of life isn't as as rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 ....I may be going out on a limb here, but I really think that in a society where babies are found in dumpsters the sanctity of life isn't as as rich. There have been over 430 homicides in Chicago this year, many were school kids. Just because it's mass murder on one day in suburban CT doesn't change the overall math. Gun homicide rates are actually down in the U.S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 (edited) Read this tweet today and it hit home. "The wider tragedy is how culturally we have come to expect mass murder. Columbine didn't change us. It conditioned us." I think there is some truth to that. Every time this happens, the quicker we seem to get over it. That is spot on and appalling as hell. Another thing to consider: nearly the exact same thing happened today in China as well. Almost the exact same amount of kids were attacked. Except the guy in China had a knife. Most of the children, although injured, survived. Food for thought. Edited December 15, 2012 by cybercoma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 There have been over 430 homicides in Chicago this year, many were school kids. Just because it's mass murder on one day in suburban CT doesn't change the overall math. Gun homicide rates are actually down in the U.S. Pop the cork. Only hundreds of school kids were murdered in Chicago alone. Something's working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Squid Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 15/24 worst mass shootings in the world in the last 50 years happened in the USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest American Woman Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 I don't think this talk about "Americans this, Americans that" is going to get us anywhere. I know us Europeans are excused for making such generalisations but I would have thought that Canadians knew better than that. I used to think so too. Now I know better. I agree. It's funny, but Americans are one of the few identifiable groups left that it is permissible to tar with one brush. That's the truth, and sometimes it's difficult to understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbg Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 (edited) My thoughts are posted here (link). I moved the post in view of the incredible thread drift. Edited December 15, 2012 by jbg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pliny Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 This is a real tragedy. Very sad when young children are involved. How could such an horrific event occur? I remember the mother who drowned her three children in the bathtub. When you hear about such an event what is your immediate thought? For some, it might be there needs to be greater gun control. For others, it might be that there needs to be easier access to mental health. I heard Barack Obama speak on the incident today and he vowed something would be done about these too frequent incidents. Does anyone wonder what his immediate thought was? I shudder to think how the second amendment will be tempered. There is generally a psychiatrist and/or psychiatric drugs connected to the vast majority of these bizarre incidents. Columbine, Ft. Hood, Batman movie. Has anyone read the labels on psychiatric drugs? The mother who drowned her kids didn't have a gun but she was taking anti-depressants. Come on! It's time to make the connection and target the right source - drugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 (edited) 15/24 worst mass shootings in the world in the last 50 years happened in the USA. I doubt that...have you been to northern Mexico recently ? They are still finding mass graves. Edited December 15, 2012 by bush_cheney2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest American Woman Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Apparently the gunman suffered from Asperger syndrome. The handguns were his mother's. Not sure how stricter gun laws would have prevented this tragedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dog Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Apparently the gunman suffered from Asperger syndrome. The handguns were his mother's. Not sure how stricter gun laws would have prevented this tragedy. Nothing could have been done. Just one of those things. Move along folks, nothing to see here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Apparently the gunman suffered from Asperger syndrome. The handguns were his mother's. Not sure how stricter gun laws would have prevented this tragedy. Right...the handguns were legal and registered. The Bushmaster .223 may have been grandfathered in or obtained in another state (they are now banned in CT). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest American Woman Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 (edited) Right...the handguns were legal and registered. The Bushmaster .223 may have been grandfathered in or obtained in another state (they are now banned in CT). I'm not familiar with types of guns - why is the Bushmaster .223 banned in Connecticut? I had read that the weapons used were A Sig Sauer handgun and a Glock handgun. Edited December 15, 2012 by American Woman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilber Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Apparently the gunman suffered from Asperger syndrome. The handguns were his mother's. Not sure how stricter gun laws would have prevented this tragedy. Maybe if they were stricter, his mother wouldn't have had a pair of semi automatic handguns. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest American Woman Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Maybe if they were stricter, his mother wouldn't have had a pair of semi automatic handguns. Just a thought. So no Canadians own semi automatic handguns? More to the point - only Americans own semi automatic handguns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Killing sprees are rare?http://nymag.com/dai...ting-spree.html Are these venues random?It seems to me that the killers seek places of "hope". === In your list, I don't see a maniac walking into a senior citizens home. Why do these lunatics choose schools? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlight Graham Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 (edited) I think that is a grossly unfair post. Why? 88 guns per 100 American civilians. That's 270 million guns owned by civilians. The US has a massive gun culture, rooted in its history (legal and otherwise) and the nature of its founding, but also the massive militarization of the country that takes pride/patriotism in the weapons of war it creates/uses. Many Americans are obsessed with portable murder machines, and see it as a right to own them and train how to use them. Edited December 15, 2012 by Moonlight Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilber Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 So no Canadians own semi automatic handguns? More to the point - only Americans own semi automatic handguns? aSome do but very few. If she bought them for self defence, they didn't do her much good. Or 26 others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercoma Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Easy access to guns makes people more efficient killers. Full stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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