Texas shooting.

Aqua Letifer

They're crazy.

And if they're not, we're making them that way

First person shooter games. Popularizing destructive life choices in social and mainstream media. The mass medication of young school children. The rigid authority of the prison system imposed upon public school children.

And on the flip side of the coin, too many schools have learned nothing about basic security...Secure single
point entry. Armed security. A crazy society where HIPAA trumps common sense and medical records are not subject to review.

I'm not certain that the solution to gun violence is to ban video games, bring back don't ask don't tell except for everybody, ban depression meds, make medical records public, and get more people with guns inside elementary schools.

Jolly

Well, I'm looking at what has changed.

We didn't have mass shootings at schools for most of the 20th century.

We do now.

Why?

Doctor Phibes

Do most countries that allow 1st person shooter video games have mass school shootings?

Maybe looking at what is different about the countries where mass school shootings are common would be an idea. And it's really only one country.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

Aqua Letifer

@Doctor-Phibes said in Texas shooting.:

Do most countries that allow 1st person shooter video games have mass school shootings?

Maybe looking at what is different about the countries where mass school shootings are common would be an idea. And it's really only one country.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

Now if we could only figure out what's unique about America...

Klaus

Well, I for one am a little ambivalent on the gun issue, but I think the gun proponents should at least have the honesty to admit that the likelihood of school shootings would be dramatically lower if the US would have a similar amount of "guns in the wild" and similar gun rules as most other first world countries. They should be so honest to admit that the recurring school shootings are a price they are willing to pay.

Mik

@Jolly said in Texas shooting.:

Well, I'm looking at what has changed.

We didn't have mass shootings at schools for most of the 20th century.

We do now.

Why?

I have to believe that the fact we are bombarded from birth with images that reward violence as a resolution has something to do with it. Your brain gets wired differently based on input.

Klaus

@Mik said in Texas shooting.:

@Jolly said in Texas shooting.:

Well, I'm looking at what has changed.

We didn't have mass shootings at schools for most of the 20th century.

We do now.

Why?

I have to believe that the fact we are bombarded from birth with images that reward violence as a resolution has something to do with it. Your brain gets wired differently based on input.

That may or may not have something to do with it, but all other first world country citizens see the same images. It's very possible that we'd see similar levels of school shootings in France, or Germany, or Japan, if they'd have similar access to guns. But the matter of fact is that somebody who is willing to commit a school shooting has a much harder time to find the tools for the job in countries with more restricted gun access. That's not even debatable.

Aqua Letifer

89th

@Jolly said in Texas shooting.:

Well, I'm looking at what has changed.

We didn't have mass shootings at schools for most of the 20th century.

Some might say this is lazy and myopic, but my normal response these days is one that we have discussed before (recently, I think?).

School shootings have increased significantly since Columbine in 1999. Why?

First, we live in an age of instant information. We are exposed to worldwide "bad" stories 24/7. The internet makes the spreading of ideas (and spreading of tragedies) instantaneous. It reminds me of how we were talking about the one man who survived both atomic bombs in Japan and how (before the 2nd bomb went off in Nagasaki, his boss hadn't even heard of the Hiroshima bombing...in his OWN country...that happened 3 days prior). Are humans supposed to handle this 24/7 worldwide information influx?

Second, the media LOVES these shootings. Massive ratings, somber music, special coverage graphics, etc. This is probably the most critical reason behind these shootings as the shooter will know their name, face, and reason/manifesto will be aired for billions to see. IT INSPIRES OTHERS.

Third, in some cases (like the VT shooting) guns were made available to those with mental issues. However, I don't really think stricter gun laws will have much of an effect on shootings (per the above point), since many of these shootings, like Sandy Hook and probably even this case, were done by kids who accessed guns from relatives who didn't store them properly.

As Biden would say at this point in rambling... But anyway... This will always happen. It's not a matter of gun laws, and there's no way the media will self-restrict their own coverage of these events, so they WILL always happen. It sucks...

Personally, the only thing I think we can do is:

Don't watch the media (i.e., their ratings) when they cover these stories. It'll never happen, but a boycott of media who post the shooter's name and face, would be great.
Similarly, realize these events have ZERO impact on your life. Why spend time stressing about a bad event that happened a thousand miles away and has zero impact on your life other than the coverage stirring up anger and sadness? I've said this to friends who think I'm myopic and cold... but yesterday I worked, mulched the yard, and played with my kids. If I let every horrible story out there consume my time (and increase my stress) when it has 0.000000001% chance of affecting me, why would I?

Yes, hearing news about your local area or topics that are relevant to you is important, but try to tune out everything else. It's both a logical approach as well as a prudent one for your sanity.

Increase programs and ways to identify those who are mentally unstable and/or do what we can to restrict their access to guns. In this case, the dude was posting pictures of his guns, he was bullied, he had all the warning signs that should initiate some... obviously in retrospect.
I would say pass more gun laws, but I really don't think it'll have an impact on these very rare and random acts of violence by mentally unstable individuals. And yes, gun shootings are very rare (although still too many) despite what the media might want you to think.

Catseye3

@Jolly said in Texas shooting.:

They're crazy.

And if they're not, we're making them that way

First person shooter games. Popularizing destructive life choices in social and mainstream media. The mass medication of young school children. The rigid authority of the prison system imposed upon public school children.

And on the flip side of the coin, too many schools have learned nothing about basic security...Secure single
point entry. Armed security. A crazy society where HIPAA trumps common sense and medical records are not subject to review.

Agree with everything. HIPAA is especially nuts.

I don't get why more parents are not making the connection between the games and these awful happenings. Oh right, I forgot -- idiots.

Not to mention the popular delusion that "my kid would never do such a thing". Until he does.

89th

Oops my reply was long.

TL;DR

Media makes shooters famous and inspires others, it's now "a thing" you can do if you're feeling crazy and violent
Gun laws mostly don't change a shooter's access to weapons
Try to ignore, 99.9% of bad events you see out there have zero impact on your life... focus on your local community, try to improve it there, if everyone did that...

Horace

@89th said in Texas shooting.:

Oops my reply was long.

TL;DR

Media makes shooters famous and inspires others, it's now "a thing" you can do if you're feeling crazy and violent

Gun laws mostly don't change a shooter's access to weapons

Try to ignore, 99.9% of bad events you see out there have zero impact on your life... focus on your local community, try to improve it there, if everyone did that...

I think those are good points. The idea of affecting the world by murdering a bunch of kids is ever present, and a tiny minority of people will act it out. It’s a thing that people can imagine. It’s plausible. And it’s not even that hard.

You should flesh out your ideas in a longer post.

LuFins Dad

I don’t know the solution but I noticed that the after a week of blaming white supremacy, we’re back to blaming guns again…

Aqua Letifer

@89th said in Texas shooting.:

Oops my reply was long.

TL;DR

Media makes shooters famous and inspires others, it's now "a thing" you can do if you're feeling crazy and violent

You keep saying that. I don't know why you think Crazy needs a one-size-fits-all explanation.

These kids weren't John Lennon. And they weren't "shot." So many bullets tore through their bodies that they're having to use DNA to identify some of them. And then the shooter killed himself. This wasn't some asshole who wanted to be internet famous. Some people get to a place where they find being alive so disgraceful they want to go to war with it. "The media" is the last thing in their mind when they gun down strangers.

89th

@Aqua-Letifer said in Texas shooting.:

@89th said in Texas shooting.:

Oops my reply was long.

TL;DR

Media makes shooters famous and inspires others, it's now "a thing" you can do if you're feeling crazy and violent

You keep saying that. I don't know why you think Crazy needs a one-size-fits-all explanation.

These kids weren't John Lennon. And they weren't "shot." So many bullets tore through their bodies that they're having to use DNA to identify some of them. And then the shooter killed himself. This wasn't some asshole who wanted to be internet famous. Some people get to a place where they find being alive so disgraceful they want to go to war with it. "The media" is the last thing in their mind when they gun down strangers.

I think it's fair to say that both you and I are equally guessing on the motive in this particular case. My point is just that the "idea of shooting up a school" continues to be promoted by the media when they cover events like this so...exhaustively. Heck, look at buffalo... it was less than a day before they started publishing his manifesto.

Aqua Letifer

@89th said in Texas shooting.:

@Aqua-Letifer said in Texas shooting.:

@89th said in Texas shooting.:

Oops my reply was long.

TL;DR

Media makes shooters famous and inspires others, it's now "a thing" you can do if you're feeling crazy and violent

You keep saying that. I don't know why you think Crazy needs a one-size-fits-all explanation.

These kids weren't John Lennon. And they weren't "shot." So many bullets tore through their bodies that they're having to use DNA to identify some of them. And then the shooter killed himself. This wasn't some asshole who wanted to be internet famous. Some people get to a place where they find being alive so disgraceful they want to go to war with it. "The media" is the last thing in their mind when they gun down strangers.

I think it's fair to say that both you and I are equally guessing on the motive in this particular case. My point is just that the "idea of shooting up a school" continues to be promoted by the media when they cover events like this so...exhaustively. Heck, look at buffalo... it was less than a day before they started publishing his manifesto.

I offered another explanation aside from yours. There are still others. The point is, not everyone who shoots up a school does so because they want to be on TV. The media needs a serious overhaul but doing so won't move the needle in the least with these incidents.

Doctor Phibes

@LuFins-Dad said in Texas shooting.:

I don’t know the solution but I noticed that the after a week of blaming white supremacy, we’re back to blaming guns again…

I never mentioned guns. I just made what I thought to be a screamingly obvious point that we should look at what's different about America. Certainly guns should be considered, but maybe there's other things?

Blaming something that every other country in the world is subjected to, such as video games, doesn't make any logical sense, unless you consider them in conjunction with things that are unique to the US.

bachophile

Ill put in my two cents although I admit I have had this back and forth with Jolly in the past over some other horrific shooting, I certainly don't remember which one. so nothing new being added here.

Jolly you immediately put forth the mental health issue as the major issue, thus shunting gun control out of the spotlight and concentrating on the bad state of mental health in the US.

my response is twofold: one, hard to imagine that the number of people with serious and probably criminal mental health problems is so much greater in the US then in any other developed country with the same access to violent games or media, Given a certain proportion of any population will naturally harbour sociopaths and crazies, because that's the way the world has always been...no reason to think America has a greater share than anywhere else....

But even if I accept the premise that mental health is a greater problem in the US then elsewhere, then all the more reason to do everything possible to keep guns away from potential nutjobs....by drastically increasing the regulation over arms sales.

Be that as it may, I think that gun lobby proponents who use the constitution as an excuse for bearing arms (a la Lauren Boebert), seems to me that a simple reading of the original framers, maybe im an originalist??? is that arms were necessary for militias to defend a nascent nation and have no connection to the legal right of an 18 year old angry boy to buy weapons to slaughter children.

there i said it. I know I cant convince Jolly, but at least thats how I see it.

89th

@Doctor-Phibes said in Texas shooting.:

@LuFins-Dad said in Texas shooting.:

I don’t know the solution but I noticed that the after a week of blaming white supremacy, we’re back to blaming guns again…

I never mentioned guns. I just made what I thought to be a screamingly obvious point that we should look at what's different about America. Certainly guns should be considered, but maybe there's other things?

For better or worse, America is different. More people, bigger area, less "community" in many places, melting pot of ethnicities, cultures, religions, history of freedom/gun rights, free press, etc. I'd imagine it would be easier in countries that have fewer people, smaller geographic area, longer history/community culture, heck... a "single" culture, expectations, etc.

That being said, there have been 800 or so killed in 20 years due to active shooters in the USA, and 126,000 killed by unlicensed drivers. Yes, active shootings sucks, but it's not as prevalent as the media wants you to think. I think in the last 10 years there's "only" been like 8 active shooter events in schools with more than 2 deaths. It's tragic, but it's rare. I'd imagine folks in other countries get the idea that high schools in america are like shooting scenes in saloons in old western movies.

89th

@bachophile said in Texas shooting.:

But even if I accept the premise that mental health is a greater problem in the US then elsewhere, then all the more reason to do everything possible to keep guns away from potential nutjobs....by drastically increasing the regulation over arms sales.

Sure, but how? I think there are 94 million adults who live in a gun-owning home already and most active shooters use someone else's gun.

But forget them, for new buyers, how would you properly screen for mental health issues? Heck you can buy a car without a drivers license, today, too. How can there be a sufficient mental health check on gun transactions? Walk me through what that would look like, I would be for it if it was possible. Even if possible, it would maybe have prevented this shooting... maybe. But wouldn't have prevented Sandy Hook and others.

The New Coffee Room

Texas shooting.