Gun Control Debate

[N.E. Brigand]

So they made up an entire person to cover up their incompetence?

To be clear: saying "the police lied" is like saying "water is wet," and should not distract from the fact that the killer should never have been able to acquire a gun in the first place.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I posted that before, but it doesn't seem to have gone through.

What an incredible clusterfuck!

[N.E. Brigand]

I know I'm worked about this, but here's another point: in the 45 minutes or so during which police did not engage the shooter, it's very likely that there were kids who had been shot but whose lives could have been saved with immediate medical attention instead of bleeding to death.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

100% The original stories all stated that 14 children had been killed. Could at least the other five have been saved?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Another victim of the shooting, literally dying of grief.

Grieving husband of teacher killed in Texas school shooting has died, family says

The husband of one of the teachers killed in a Texas school shooting this week collapsed and died on Thursday while preparing for his wife's funeral, the family said.

[RoseMorninStar]

oh my, heartbreak upon heartbreak.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is how much of the rest of the world sees the U.S.A. right now.

[Frelga]

The Onion has gone feral.




Wait. Wait. Wait. What?

NEW: Texas law enforcement officials at a press conference say they believe that all the children that were shot and killed in Uvalde, TX were shot by Salvador Ramos and not anyone else [i.e. law enforcement].

They *believe*? They are not sure?

[N.E. Brigand]

The Uvalde police department had trained using a plan for this situation, based on Texas guidelines that were updated in 2018 after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The training manual includes this sentence: "A first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field."

[N.E. Brigand]

A horrifying chart from the Financial Times. The U.S. ban on assault rifles ended in 2004:



And here's a 2020 chart from the New York Times:

[N.E. Brigand]

On CNN tonight, an official with the Texas Department of Public Safety said that police officers remained outside the school for so long because "if they proceeded any further not knowing where this suspect was at, they could have been shot. They could have been killed."

For starters, let's ban guns that are so dangerous they make police afraid to confront the criminals using them.

[Impenitent]

According to tonight's news broadcast, gun sales across the USA rise significantly immediately following a mass shooting. I find that horrifying and dystopian.

[Sunsilver]

Most sane people do, Impy!

Interesting co-incidence: I was watching an old Western movie last night, and they mentioned the town of Uvalde!

[RoseMorninStar]

According to tonight's news broadcast, gun sales across the USA rise significantly immediately following a mass shooting. I find that horrifying and dystopian.

Yes
They're more afraid of liberals comin' to take their guns than they are of children being massacred.

[Sunsilver]

[listens to Ted Cruz interview. Has to strongly resist the urge to slap some sense into him...]

At one time, I was doing temporary secretarial work for the Ontario government, in the Plans Administration Division, which gives new buildings the green light. It's not hard to see how developers might want to put pressure on the P.A.D. to approve their projects.

The head of the division received a nice gift basket from a client. He had me type up a very nice, polite letter, saying he could not accept it. That's how strict the government was about one of their employees accepting gifts, which could be seen as bribes.

Sooo...how is it legal for the N.R.A. to give millions of dollars, supposedly 'campaign donations' to senators, in return for the senators voting against regulations to control firearms?

Can someone please explain how they are LEGALLY able to get away with this?? Or is everyone 'just pretending' it's a campaign donation, not a bribe?

[Eldy]

Waiting to confront Texas school shooter was ‘the wrong decision,’ police admit along with string of other failures - NBC News

McCraw revealed that the gunman entered the school through a back door he found propped open at 11:33 a.m. and began shooting in classrooms 111 and 112. At least 100 shots were fired "based on the audio evidence at that time," he said.

Just two minutes later, at least three police officers entered the same door the gunman did. By 12:03 p.m., there were as many as 19 officers in the hallway.

However, it wasn’t until 12:50 p.m. that the classroom the gunman was shooting in was breached using keys from a janitor. That is when the gunman was fatally shot.

Maybe this was already reported before this afternoon, but I'd missed the detail that the police were inside the school for more than an hour before breaching the classroom door.

And about that SRO...

A school resource officer was not already stationed at the school. When he arrived at the scene, he inadvertently passed the shooter, who was crouched down next to a car.

[RoseMorninStar]

[listens to Ted Cruz interview. Has to strongly resist the urge to slap some sense into him...]

At one time, I was doing temporary secretarial work for the Ontario government, in the Plans Administration Division, which gives new buildings the green light. It's not hard to see how developers might want to put pressure on the P.A.D. to approve their projects.

The head of the division received a nice gift basket from a client. He had me type up a very nice, polite letter, saying he could not accept it. That's how strict the government was about one of their employees accepting gifts, which could be seen as bribes.

Sooo...how is it legal for the N.R.A. to give millions of dollars, supposedly 'campaign donations' to senators, in return for the senators voting against regulations to control firearms?

Can someone please explain how they are LEGALLY able to get away with this?? Or is everyone 'just pretending' it's a campaign donation, not a bribe?

I think it has something to do with the 2010 Supreme Court Citizen's United ruling equating money with 'Free Speech'. I do not have the knowledge to discuss it in-depth, but it sounds like bad law to me.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Waiting to confront Texas school shooter was ‘the wrong decision,’ police admit along with string of other failures - NBC News

McCraw revealed that the gunman entered the school through a back door he found propped open at 11:33 a.m. and began shooting in classrooms 111 and 112. At least 100 shots were fired "based on the audio evidence at that time," he said.

Just two minutes later, at least three police officers entered the same door the gunman did. By 12:03 p.m., there were as many as 19 officers in the hallway.

However, it wasn’t until 12:50 p.m. that the classroom the gunman was shooting in was breached using keys from a janitor. That is when the gunman was fatally shot.

Maybe this was already reported before this afternoon, but I'd missed the detail that the police were inside the school for more than an hour before breaching the classroom door.

And about that SRO...

A school resource officer was not already stationed at the school. When he arrived at the scene, he inadvertently passed the shooter, who was crouched down next to a car.

Such a confluence of bad decisions, bad luck, bad laws, bad culture, and very badly disturbed person.

[N.E. Brigand]

Ten-year-old kids in the classroom repeatedly calling 911 as the attack is underway:



Source (New York Times)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's so heartbreaking.