School shooting in Littleton Colorado (middle school) Breaking --

[elehhhhna]

no print source yet.

[951-Riverside]

1. Sources:

http://www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp?S=12032723
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/23/deer-creek-middle-school_n_473943.html
http://news.google.com/news/more?um=1&cf=all&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=dMQhes0xIpyGEUMUWYG4URKZOR3qM

[donheld]

2. Denver's 9news

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=133326&catid=339

[TheMightyFavog]

3. Geezus, not this shit again.

We really need to re-evaluate they way we do mental health in this country.

[mmonk]

48. We do mental health?

[tridim]

4. 15 years old kids with guns.

[Garbo 2004]

7. Shooter reportedly an adult. nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

33. Not acting like an adult.

[aikoaiko]

5. Nobody wants to see something like this happen

It sounds like the teens will survive ( and I wish them a speedy recovery) and the assailant is under arrest.

Its very strange for an adult to target teens like this at a public place. The backstory will be interesting, I'm sure.

eta: perhaps we should wait until all the facts get revealed before we through around pro-gun and anti-gun rhetoric.

[Touchdown]

6. Littleton again.

Man. This is something else!

For out of towners. Columbine HS is in Littleton. Tom Tancredo's former district. Not heavy repub, but enough of a majority to elect only them.

[DevonRex]

8. Not far from my house. Again. :(

Last time friends of my son were trapped for hours before they could get out.

[Don Caballero]

9. When will our gun culture be broken?

We really need to look at our gun laws and mend all the loopholes and address our obsession with firearms.

[anonymous171]

10. End the drug war. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Violent video games.

Mini skirts.

[anonymous171]

14. Don't forget rap music.

Anything to distract from the real cause of our violence problem.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. My lawn.

Get off it.

[Don Caballero]

12. Agree completely.

Ending the drug war would be a great first step towards the banning of firearms.

[anonymous171]

15. LOL Have fun trying to amend the Constitution. nt

[Don Caballero]

18. That would be ideal but

getting guns off the street incrementally is our greatest and most effective tool of disarming the civilian population.

[anonymous171]

19. I would only support that if the Government were disarmed as well

[Don Caballero]

20. That is where we disagree

I believe a strong democracy with a disarmed public protected by armed security forces is the way it ought to be.

[etherealtruth]

21. I believe a strong democracy with a disarmed public protected by armed security forces

So do I!

[proteus_lives]

36. So you're a authoritarian?

What other rights would you take away?

[etherealtruth]

46. Very, very, very rarely authoriataria

I generally have the view of live and let live.

I don't beleive gun ownership is a basic unalienable right.

Would love to see an unarmed society

[proteus_lives]

47. I believe it is.

"I generally have the view of live and let live."

What makes gun-ownership different from voting or freedom of worship?

Or is it just about fear for you?

[anonymous171]

22. You really think that our racist, classist criminal justice system protects us?

[951-Riverside]

23. Agree to disagree

Most police officers in the UK don't carry guns.

[Don Caballero]

24. They don't need to worry about perps being armed with guns

[anonymous171]

25. If we banned all guns our police officers would not have to worry about that either.

[Don Caballero]

27. Exactly

The police in the States seem like rabid dogs ready to pounce. I have to figure the reason for this is that anyone they are questioning could be armed. If guns were banned for civilians, the police force would be much calmer and peaceful when performing their duty to protect and serve.

[anonymous171]

29. And they wouldn't need to be armed. nt

[951-Riverside]

26. Oh really Don?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/03/london-gun-crime-shootings-rise

[ak6903]

31. wtf

are still on your disarm the whole of the country deal......

[Don Caballero]

32. To me it is the most important issue ever

[aikoaiko]

44. Enjoy the pizza....

:applause:

[pipoman]

49. ...

;)

[beevul]

30. "Off the street" = "out of people gun safes", right? N/T

[DevonRex]

17. Even with the loopholes closed there will always be some evil person

who goes off the deep end. Just think, everybody has a clean record to begin with. Then they commit their first violent crime. They were legal to purchase that weapon all the way up until they became a felon. Even crazy people can have weapons unless they've been adjudicated as being "mentally defective." If they haven't been involuntarily committed, they're perfectly legal to purchase guns.

And there are so many private sales that go on with no paperwork whatsoever that it's really easy to get around the law.

But, yes, close all possible loopholes and amend the gun laws by all means. Something is better than nothing. I fear your first question will be the hardest to address.

[beevul]

28. Uhh...

It was already a "gun free zone". Guns are banned in them. Your chosen rules. YOU explain their failure. And don't be passing the buck.


How much more illegal do do you think it will have to be made, before it starts working?

[proteus_lives]

35. It's not about firearms.

You and the rest of the grabbers need to suck it up and address the real problems.

[Kyril Enko]

13. Carrying on the tradition.....

...of our self-destruction. :cry:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

37. Not really.

[Quantess]

34. Oh no, not again!

These shootings are so common lately, it's sick!

[TheWraith]

38. Actually, they're quite UNcommon.

But the fact is that they're always deemed "newsworthy," and in a country of 300 million people the news media can always make a handful of incidents seem like a constant barrage.

[Quantess]

39. In your opinion, the shooting incidents have not increased lately?

I think the shootings have increased in the past two or three years.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

40. The FBI statistics show a decrease in crime.

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2009prelimsem/table_3.html

[Quantess]

41. I appreciate that. But, I'm talking about MASS SHOOTINGS, lately

I have also seen other statistics citing a decrease in crime, which of course is good news. But, violent crime encompasses so many different styles of violence. Lately, it seems like rage has dwarfed muggings, regarding gun violence.

Is there any way to find out whether there has been an increase or decrease in the motives?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

42. There isn't an easily identifiable pattern that I can see.

There were 6 between 1998 and 2001. Virtually none in 02, 03 and 04. Then 9 from 2005 to 2009. 1999 and 2009 were definitely the worst years. 3 mass shootings in both those years. 29 were killed in the 1999 incidents and 23 people were killed in the 2009 incidents. The 2 worst single incidents occured in 1991 and 2007 at Luby's and Virginia Tech respectively. 23 were killed at Luby's and 32 were killed at Virginia Tech. Interestingly gun deaths are still on a downward trend despite the above incidents.

[Quantess]

45. That you can see...

is there some data you are looking at? When I click on your link, on any particular year, nothing happens.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

50. No easily identifiable trends in mass shootings.

The trends in violent crime are easily identifiable.
Violent Crime Murder
2006/2005 +3.7 +1.4
2007/2006 -1.8 -1.1
2008/2007 -3.5 -4.4
2009/2008 -4.4 -10.0

[Rocknrule]

43. WTF IS WRONG WITH COLORADO?!?!

Are they raising monsters here or something?

First Columbine. Then Platte Canyon. Then YWAM/New Life. Now this? You can't even throw a snowball in this state without hitting a place that's been shot up now.

I know these things happen everywhere, but it seems like Colorado is the worst. Sadly this isn't the first time I've been ashamed of my state.