Topic: Virginia Tech Campus Reels From Shooting That Leaves at Least 32 Dead

[Rich]

Say what you will, per capita, in countries w/ more restrictive gun laws there are far fewer of these types of incidents.  Of course, the cultural confound is remarkable in these types of cases as well.  We also are the most violent non-weapon criminal country around.  Maybe the solution runs deeper than simple law passage.  FWIW, it's a matter of me making a couple of telephone calls to obtain any/all of whatever restricted/banned substances you want....

[Boxer2500]

I live in an area with some of the highest gun ownership rates in the US. Also some of the lowest crime rates.

It's hard to rob a 7-11 when the guy standing behind you in line is carrying a .357 Magnum on his belt.

[Rich]

IIRC, you also live in an area that is largely rural and has a population demographic fairly typical of non-urban sites.  I know...I was raised in one just like it.  Again, cultural norms and influences cannot help but contribute to these types of incidents.  Changing said norms and influences is a bit tougher task than legislation can handle...you cannot, no matter how hard you try, legislate morality.

On a different note, if my only purpose is to survive and procreate, why be good at all?  Raping, pillaging, and plundering should be a preferred way of life.  It certainly would be an easier one.  Good choices are always the most difficult to make; why be good?  To that end:  Fuck You.




 

[Ultra]

On a different note, if my only purpose is to survive and procreate, why be good at all?

So that people will wish to procreate with you?

Seriously, I was speaking only on a biological level.   Spiritually, that issue is another matter.

In States where concealed carry has been recently re-allowed, violent crime has gone down.

[Allan L]

It's hard to rob a 7-11 when the guy standing behind you in line is carrying a .357 Magnum on his belt.

Whatever that set of digits stands for.

I prefer to leave enforcement to the police, not to the man standing behind me who may well have the wrong idea about what I'm doing.

The one thing that beggars belief is that, according to reports broadcast over here, your recent Korean bought a 22 mm firearm in a store: that's all but 7/8 of an inch calibre. What on earth is the legitimate use for such an elephant gun in the hands of a member of the public?

[Ultra]

It's hard to rob a 7-11 when the guy standing behind you in line is carrying a .357 Magnum on his belt.

Whatever that set of digits stands for.

I prefer to leave enforcement to the police, not to the man standing behind me who may well have the wrong idea about what I'm doing.

The one thing that beggars belief is that, according to reports broadcast over here, your recent Korean bought a 22 mm firearm in a store: that's all but 7/8 of an inch calibre. What on earth is the legitimate use for such an elephant gun in the hands of a member of the public?

.22 caliber = .22 of an inch.

The police were real helpful yesterday on campus.   Ask the janitors.

[Boxer2500]

It's hard to rob a 7-11 when the guy standing behind you in line is carrying a .357 Magnum on his belt.

Whatever that set of digits stands for.

I prefer to leave enforcement to the police, not to the man standing behind me who may well have the wrong idea about what I'm doing.

The one thing that beggars belief is that, according to reports broadcast over here, your recent Korean bought a 22 mm firearm in a store: that's all but 7/8 of an inch calibre. What on earth is the legitimate use for such an elephant gun in the hands of a member of the public?

7-11 is a major convenience store chain, but it's also used as a generic term to describe any convenience store. Secondly a .22 is just about the weakest firearm you can buy. It's typically used either for hunting small animals such as squirrel or for target shooting.

I mean no disrespect, but I don't think it's right for someone who resides in another country to criticize how we do things, especially when it's clear that you have no concept of what life is actually like over here. It's not just you I'm referring to, but the large number of articles I've been reading out of international newspapers today that paint a woefully inaccurate picture of life in this country and our gun laws.

Whether or not gun ownership is legal, a determined lunatic is going to find a way to kill.

[Ultra]

I mean no disrespect, but I don't think it's right for someone who resides in another country to criticize how we do things, especially when it's clear that you have no concept of what life is actually like over here.

I think it is quite fine for others to criticize. Feel free to disagree.  We criticize what we don't understand all the time though.

Whether or not gun ownership is legal, a determined lunatic is going to find a way to kill.

See: London subway, circa July 8, 2005.

[Boxer2500]

True Ultra, I had just finished reading a couple of overtly Anti-American/Anti-Gun articles out of European newspapers before I posted.

[Ultra]

Back in early 2006, a plan in the Virginia legislature to allow for concealed carry on the state’s college campuses failed in subcommittee. A representative of Virginia Tech said that the bill’s defeat would make “parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”  The truth is the polar opposite of what the gun control advocates will conclude. For what we have at Virginia Tech is just one more example of gun control and government protection failing miserably at their advertised goals, and in fact making such a massacre more likely to begin with.

In 2002, at Appalachian Law School in Virginia, a private institution, a school massacre was cut short when students resisted, one of them with a gun he had retrieved from his car.

This fellow who did these shootings wasn't going to be stopped by anything but a gun.  What a shame it wasn't one of his victims instead of his own.

[Allan L]

Thanks for clarification about 7-11

As I wrote it was reported here that one weapon was 22 mm
In my colonial past I came across the .22 inch which was little more than a cordite-powered air-gun and if that was what he used, o.k. the reports were wrong. Not unusual.

As I said, we are surprised that you seem surprised that these things occur, but I suppose I should stay quiet and stick to things we have in common, like motor vehicles.

[Rich]

Allan, I cannot speak for anyone other than myself on this site, but I believe others would be in agreement with me regarding my wish that you speak freely and honestly whenever you so choose.  No one learns anything by always listening to their own voice; I've learned this and relearned this over the course of my own professional and personal lives.  Please, keep talking...

r

[MG]

we are surprised that you seem surprised that these things occur

Now, see? That right there is an insightful statement that I personally would like to hear more about. Can you expand on that idea?

Rich is correct. Your input is not only valuable but also desired. Civilization occurs when it values the input of all its members. Unfortunately for the US, this state of affairs has not existed here since roughly the Eisenhower Administration.....

[GRAYWOLF]

Rich is correct. Your input is not only valuable but also desired. Civilization occurs when it values the input of all its members. Unfortunately for the US, this state of affairs has not existed here since roughly the Eisenhower Administration.....

And, the republic hasn't existed for about 140 years, unfortunately!

[Ultra]

Allan, I cannot speak for anyone other than myself on this site, but I believe others would be in agreement with me regarding my wish that you speak freely and honestly whenever you so choose.  No one learns anything by always listening to their own voice; I've learned this and relearned this over the course of my own professional and personal lives.  Please, keep talking...

r

 

[Boxer2500]

Yeah, I was feeling a bit testy yesterday, and my comments were directed more at the unseen newsmen who were painting a woefully inaccurate picture of American life in their articles, as I thought I said in my above post (but for whatever reason it got cut off after the first sentence).

[MG]

the republic hasn't existed for about 140 years

It is rare that I meet a man more sardonic than I !   

[Rich]

Well, he got what he wanted.  M. Cho's manifesto will now be read by millions; his lunatic rantings heard by as many more; his grotesque images pasted on the wwweb.....

Sometimes, I think the best deterrent for any future shitbrains is to take this kind of material and put it right in the grave with their creators, viewed only once previously by the investigators directly involved with the case.  BION, Charlie t-shirts still sell......

[Ultra]

BION, Charlie t-shirts still sell......

 

[Rich]

"Believe It Or Not, Charlie (Manson) t-shirts still sell."

My point is something having to do with John Wayne Gacy portraits and the base interests of our populace.  We tend to make grotesque folk heroes out of these miscreants.....

[Ultra]

I thought you were addressing me.  (Charlie)  Once I understood who you were addressing, I understood the message.

Addressing Allan L's point, I am not very surprised when these things happen.  As sad of a commentary as I think this is, I tend to think it is par for the course.

 

[Rich]

Good point, C....I'm never particularly shocked at this stuff either since Columbine and 9.11 in all honesty.  Becoming inured to this type of violence says something, and it's not good.  I wonder how quickly our "nation in mourning" will get over this one...

On another point, I've found it fascinating since I was a literal teenager that our Christian society hardly blanches when a popular media source (e.g., magazines, television, movies, etc.) deems showing someone putting a gun to the head of someone else (or themselves) and blowing said head off in full technicolor, Sam Peckinpah, glorious-super-slo-mo as less offensive than someone fucking someone else......Given the amount of research that states quite clearly that viewing violence over and over and over desensitizes us to the commission of same and, honestly, I'd rather fuck than get killed, I think said dichotomy is interesting...Onward, Christian Soldiers.....

[Otto Puzzell]

As a failing but earnest Christain, I find the former much more repulsive than the latter, FWIW.

[Boxer2500]

Good point, C....I'm never particularly shocked at this stuff either since Columbine and 9.11 in all honesty.  Becoming inured to this type of violence says something, and it's not good.  I wonder how quickly our "nation in mourning" will get over this one...

On another point, I've found it fascinating since I was a literal teenager that our Christian society hardly blanches when a popular media source (e.g., magazines, television, movies, etc.) deems showing someone putting a gun to the head of someone else (or themselves) and blowing said head off in full technicolor, Sam Peckinpah, glorious-super-slo-mo as less offensive than someone fucking someone else......Given the amount of research that states quite clearly that viewing violence over and over and over desensitizes us to the commission of same and, honestly, I'd rather fuck than get killed, I think said dichotomy is interesting...Onward, Christian Soldiers.....

Evidently a lot of folks in this great nation think that it's more immoral to depict creating a life than it is to depict someone taking a life.

I would hope most sane people out there would be more repulsed by seeing some poor sap get his head blown off than by seeing a couple doing the nasty.

[MG]

From my perspective, the ardor of the anti-abortion crazies versus the total apathy of the very same people to the suffering and degradation that attends so many millions (and possibly billions) of living individuals is a dichotomy I just cannot comprehend.