Well dont overlook the greater availability of guns like AR15 to kids and 18 - 21 year olds. We can not overlook the ease of opportunity to commit such shootings. Most earlier school shootings in 70s and 80s were rifles or handguns so the victim counts were lower. Just looking at average deaths of school shootings since columbine versus 70s and 80s tells you that. We do have a society that glorifies violence in TV, movies and video games. It does not cause violence but it does tap into those kids ALREADY predisposed to it. I have played plenty Call of Duty and love Goodfellas and The Godfather but I would never shoot up a school because I am not predisposed to violence. Basically in the 1970s you couldnt see violent movies or tv shows as easily as you could today. And we had no video games. Mental health is always an issue but now guns are more accessible to those kids with problems. Sandy Hook shooter was extremely unstable but his mom made guns available to him pretty openly. If she was not shot she would be rotting in prison. In the 1970s anyone I knew who had guns, it was RIFLES or a handgun in the house locked up or kids were afraid to even go near it. Would Colombine, Sandy Hook and Usvalde shooters have had such easy access to guns like an AR15 in the 1970s? AR 15 was invented in the 1950s....so the gun is not new, just the availability. Gun responsibility is extremely low in many gun owners. When did people with rifles parade down city streets in the 70s and 80s...? People want to flash their weapons more because fuck libs or some stupid shit. Personal responsibility has nothing to do with it because someone crazy enough to shoot 19 kids never had any personal responsibility issues. But we are such a selfish country that we would rather everyone had freedoms and rights versus checking in on troubled kids. Lawsuits make schools hesitant to step in when there are issues and problems are simply pushed out of the school. Bullying was always an issue but never like it is now with social media. The individual self worth for troubled kids can be destroyed with one social media post and then you get a school shooting. So lots of issues to discuss, but to say we had the same ease of access to guns in 1970s as today is not true. It is not 100% this issue but ask yourself... other countries have troubled kids, bullying and mental health but no regular school shootings. Did we invent this crime? No but we do nothing to stop it after every shooting when a troubled kid is ignored and given easy access to weapons because MAH RIGHTS!
Lets say there were easily 100 school shootings in last 10 years.... I am sure that figure is close or way more. All a true government that functions would have to do is create an advisory panel of various non-partisan experts and have them conduct a detailed study of EVERY SINGLE SHOOTING and review who the shooter was and what common behavior was displayed and overlooked and ignored, what events led up to the shooting, how did the shooter get the gun, how did the school/police respond, etc.. Then after an exhaustive 1 year study with this panel of various experts, come up with a common set of issues that can be addressed to significantly reduce school shootings. I guarantee you if we reviewed 100 on our own we can come up with clear cut negligence in how the kid was handled or how they got their hands on guns. You could solve this problem much better and avoid the "Guns for all" and "Take all guns" this has turned into on FOX and CNN.
That is sooooo so true. Just in general, I mean yeah these kids that shoot up a school are messed up, but just overall, social media is horrible for this. That's why the suicide rate and suicide ideations are so damn high. A healthy self image and self esteem is probably the most important thing in a teen's development. More so than grades, sports, anything. Success in those follows a healthy self-esteem. I tell this story to a lot of young parents I have the pleasure of knowing>> Way back in the day, we were in 8th grade and they field tripped us to our future high school. We got the tour. They took us into the computer lab, (yes they actually had those, but they were way in their infancy.) and some girl that was instructed to show us around was set up to give us a demo on one of these stand alone machines with 12X12 black and white screen. She says "Somebody give me your name." Being the always outspoken and rambunctious VZ that I still am, I shouted out my name. She goes "Spell it." I was in such a hurry, I transposed two letters, ie spelled my name wrong. Well my little circle of friends caught it, and while it sounds funny now, at the time, they used that at every opportunity they could to tease me. Now of course I was an assh*le too, so most of the time I had it coming, kinda like you guys down here go back and forward, but it did kind of bother me. The point being, that was only a close circle of friends. Today that would be the entire school. Can you imagine what a teenage girl feels like if she lets a guy get to 3rd base and he brags about it on social media?! All the sudden she's "a slut" and the whole friggin school knows it. Probably including the teachers and some parents too. That would be horrible. I dunno. It's not gonna go away, its molding our culture. Where its going I have no idea. But make no mistake, the advent of social media and everyone having a computer in their hand... is not healthy overall. jmho.
BABYLON BEE Lifeguard Waits An Hour For Backup Before Jumping In To Save Struggling Swimmer SAN FERNANDO, CA—A lifeguard at the San Fernando Community Pool reportedly refused to jump in and save a drowning child who was fighting for his life in 6 feet of water because it would constitute risking his life. The lifeguard in question, Peter Stroll, claimed to be following standard lifeguarding procedure. "Are you kidding? I can't save you right now. I might drown!" said Stroll as he picked up the phone to call for help. "According to the procedure, I will block all access to the pool and call for highly trained Coast Guard rescue divers to arrive." The child's father attempted to jump into the pool and save his kid but was prevented by the determined lifeguard. "Sir, I can't let you risk your own life. Let me do my job!" Stroll reportedly said in between whistle blows. "Then do your job! Save him!" pleaded the parent. "Sir, please. It's a liability for me to risk my life. Do you know how much the city would have to pay my family? Hundreds of dollars!" The child was eventually rescued when a group of parents overpowered the masculine lifeguard and braved the dangerous chlorinated waters. Authorities arrived on the scene shortly after to assess the child's health and arrest everyone who tried to save the child. "This is a pool of law and order!" Sheriff Witherdrew told reporters at the scene. "We can't just have people bypassing our sacred lifeguard institutions to take rescues into their own hands. Millions could be saved! It'd be total anarchy!" At publishing time, lifeguard Peter Stroll was awarded a key to the city by Mayor Rankowicz for extreme bravery in following procedure to keep the city free of liability.
So the Oklahoma shooter bought his AR style at 2pm and killed his doctor and bystanders at 5pm, but he also had a handgun? Or did he buy both? [edit: he bought the hand gun at a pawn shop a day or two before] Hard to say but what I read seemed to indicate he already possessed the handgun. If that is the case then he must have though he needed an AR to make the doctor extra-dead. It would be interesting to see the gunshop surveillance tape as if the guy was crazy from pain he blamed the doctor for, he probably looked like somebody they should not sell to.
What the fuck is an AR style? Was it an AR-15 or was it not? These meatheads in the media use the same statement. It is sort of like saying, 'He drives a mustang style of car', 'he ate an egg style of breakfast', 'he has a gold style of watch', 'he owns a Google style of stock'.
No, Louie Gohmert, you don’t have a heart if you’re not willing to make a sacrifice for something or someone you love. Talk about not actually getting “it.”