America has become a killing field.

[pbel]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

 

[Staidhup]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

I have to agree, the social fabric and family unit has been corrupted and destroyed from within. We all, as a society, are responsible for the carnage that has occurred, the loss of the moral compass that once was the pillar and foundation of our society has been silenced. The infatuation with fantasy and disconnect from reality has created a generation of individuals that are incapable of discerning right from wrong, value of humanity, and compassion toward one another. We have become a society based on self gratification without consequence. This is not about guns, knives, or words, it is simple the decadence of a society that needs to rediscover what once made it great.

 

[westwall]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

Not yet it hasn't. Tragedies like this will become more common...that is certain. However the killing fields will begin after the populace is disarmed. Then you will see a real bloodbath...all at the hands of a wealthy elite abetted by their useful idiot minions.

 

[oldfart]

We all, as a society, are responsible for the carnage that has occurred,

I have to disagree. When people argue that all of society is responsible, they implicitly argue that no one specifically is responsible. Neither I nor you are responsible for anyone elses evil behavior or mental illness. We only are responsible for what we do, individually and as citizens.

the loss of the moral compass that once was the pillar and foundation of our society has been silenced. The infatuation with fantasy and disconnect from reality has created a generation of individuals that are incapable of discerning right from wrong, value of humanity, and compassion toward one another. We have become a society based on self gratification without consequence.

I also disagree here. I have lived through the era you look back on when we all had a "moral compass". It was a more brutal, violent, and unprincipalled period that you admit or probably imagine, but I was there. Selective memory does not help solve problems.

This is not about guns, knives, or words, it is simple the decadence of a society that needs to rediscover what once made it great.

It is about guns and knives. We will always have mentally disturbed individuals among us as well as truly evil monsters. And our society is brutal and violent, encouraging often sadistic behavior. There are steps we can take to limit this kind of violence.

First, we must do a better job of identifying those who should not have access to highly lethal weaponry and keeping them and weapons apart. Since we don't want to emulate most other advanced societies that eschew widespread private gun ownership, we have a heavy responsibility to safeguard firearms better. Too many Americans keep firearms with inadequate regard for security or safety. If we want to reduce tragedies, that will have to improve.

Second, we will have to deal with the facts that our society is to an extent not seen in other developed countries a culture of hatred, violence, and brutality. It is not enough to wring our hands and bemoan the decline in values which never existed as our fantasies suggest.

Read this board and see what passes for sport here: fear, threats, racism, and abuse. US Messageboard is a microcosm of everything that poisons our society. We know how to stop this kind of violence, but the truth is too many of us don't want to. We love our bloodsport too much.

 

[jan]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

I have to agree, the social fabric and family unit has been corrupted and destroyed from within. We all, as a society, are responsible for the carnage that has occurred, the loss of the moral compass that once was the pillar and foundation of our society has been silenced. The infatuation with fantasy and disconnect from reality has created a generation of individuals that are incapable of discerning right from wrong, value of humanity, and compassion toward one another. We have become a society based on self gratification without consequence. This is not about guns, knives, or words, it is simple the decadence of a society that needs to rediscover what once made it great.

With all due respect Staid, it's not about building a great society either. Simply, it's about keeping our kids safe. The government requires these kids to go to school...if they ditch a truancy officer will grace your door...so it's clear we're mandated to send our kids to school. The least we can expect of our schools is to keep our kids safe while they're in the custody of said schools.

Let's think about this in another way...could the school district or the state or federal government be sued for the wrongful deaths of these kids? Certainly is food for thought, huh? Perhaps if a class action lawsuit were brought up against the powers that be...all of the powers that be, they would get off their ass and make our kids safe while they're in the custody of public schools.

 

[HUGGY]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

Not yet it hasn't. Tragedies like this will become more common...that is certain. However the killing fields will begin after the populace is disarmed. Then you will see a real bloodbath...all at the hands of a wealthy elite abetted by there useful idiot minions.

Even if there was a string of shootings like today and the government somehow passed a law demanding that evey gun be turned in nobody but fools would do it. If they started going door to door attempting to confiscate guns.. THAT is when the bloodbath would start. No one in government has the authority to enact such a law. It would be an effective end of our government.

 

[Staidhup]

We all, as a society, are responsible for the carnage that has occurred,

I have to disagree. When people argue that all of society is responsible, they implicitly argue that no one specifically is responsible. Neither I nor you are responsible for anyone elses evil behavior or mental illness. We only are responsible for what we do, individually and as citizens.

the loss of the moral compass that once was the pillar and foundation of our society has been silenced. The infatuation with fantasy and disconnect from reality has created a generation of individuals that are incapable of discerning right from wrong, value of humanity, and compassion toward one another. We have become a society based on self gratification without consequence.

I also disagree here. I have lived through the era you look back on when we all had a "moral compass". It was a more brutal, violent, and unprincipalled period that you admit or probably imagine, but I was there. Selective memory does not help solve problems.

This is not about guns, knives, or words, it is simple the decadence of a society that needs to rediscover what once made it great.

It is about guns and knives. We will always have mentally disturbed individuals among us as well as truly evil monsters. And our society is brutal and violent, encouraging often sadistic behavior. There are steps we can take to limit this kind of violence.

First, we must do a better job of identifying those who should not have access to highly lethal weaponry and keeping them and weapons apart. Since we don't want to emulate most other advanced societies that eschew widespread private gun ownership, we have a heavy responsibility to safeguard firearms better. Too many Americans keep firearms with inadequate regard for security or safety. If we want to reduce tragedies, that will have to improve.

Second, we will have to deal with the facts that our society is to an extent not seen in other developed countries a culture of hatred, violence, and brutality. It is not enough to wring our hands and bemoan the decline in values which never existed as our fantasies suggest.

Read this board and see what passes for sport here: fear, threats, racism, and abuse. US Messageboard is a microcosm of everything that poisons our society. We know how to stop this kind of violence, but the truth is too many of us don't want to. We love our bloodsport too much.

Over the past 60+ years, I have simply been around too long for that not to recognize where it will digress. Yes, we had our share of gang violence, malcontents, disenfranchised, nut cases, snipers on college campus towers, organized crime, assassins, and masochistic maniac's terrorizing the country side, but we understood the price one would pay for such transgressions. I was part of the generation that turned the other cheek, with ignorance of the consequences, fertilized the decline. I assume with age we see the fallacies of our youth and ignorance?

 

[The Infidel]

This thread has been a good read so far...

 

[westwall]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

Not yet it hasn't. Tragedies like this will become more common...that is certain. However the killing fields will begin after the populace is disarmed. Then you will see a real bloodbath...all at the hands of a wealthy elite abetted by there useful idiot minions.

Even if there was a string of shootings like today and the government somehow passed a law demanding that evey gun be turned in nobody but fools would do it. If they started going door to door attempting to confiscate guns.. THAT is when the bloodbath would start. No one in government has the authority to enact such a law. It would be an effective end of our government.

If only that were true Huggy. No, slowly but ever so surely, you will begin to see a systematic disarming of the public. First the evil black guns. Then those terrible handguns. After that will be the sniper (hunting rifles), and finally the shotguns will go.

That's the way it has allways gone and the rich in the end are those with the guns and the peasants are once again disarmed, soon to be turned into serfs and exploited till the cycle begins again.

 

[sealadaigh]

We all, as a society, are responsible for the carnage that has occurred,

I have to disagree. When people argue that all of society is responsible, they implicitly argue that no one specifically is responsible. Neither I nor you are responsible for anyone elses evil behavior or mental illness. We only are responsible for what we do, individually and as citizens.


I also disagree here. I have lived through the era you look back on when we all had a "moral compass". It was a more brutal, violent, and unprincipalled period that you admit or probably imagine, but I was there. Selective memory does not help solve problems.

This is not about guns, knives, or words, it is simple the decadence of a society that needs to rediscover what once made it great.

It is about guns and knives. We will always have mentally disturbed individuals among us as well as truly evil monsters. And our society is brutal and violent, encouraging often sadistic behavior. There are steps we can take to limit this kind of violence.

First, we must do a better job of identifying those who should not have access to highly lethal weaponry and keeping them and weapons apart. Since we don't want to emulate most other advanced societies that eschew widespread private gun ownership, we have a heavy responsibility to safeguard firearms better. Too many Americans keep firearms with inadequate regard for security or safety. If we want to reduce tragedies, that will have to improve.

Second, we will have to deal with the facts that our society is to an extent not seen in other developed countries a culture of hatred, violence, and brutality. It is not enough to wring our hands and bemoan the decline in values which never existed as our fantasies suggest.

Read this board and see what passes for sport here: fear, threats, racism, and abuse. US Messageboard is a microcosm of everything that poisons our society. We know how to stop this kind of violence, but the truth is too many of us don't want to. We love our bloodsport too much.

Over the past 60+ years, I have simply been around too long for that not to recognize where it will digress. Yes, we had our share of gang violence, malcontents, disenfranchised, nut cases, snipers on college campus towers, organized crime, assassins, and masochistic maniac's terrorizing the country side, but we understood the price one would pay for such transgressions. I was part of the generation that turned the other cheek, with ignorance of the consequences, fertilized the decline. I assume with age we see the fallacies of our youth and ignorance?

dude, you have a smoking gun as an avatar.

 

[HUGGY]

Anyone that thinks the 2nd Amendment is about protecting the right to hunt is an idiot.

To understand the founding fathers mindset they just got done defeating the most powerful military on the planet, with some critical help from the Germans and French. Most of the local "rulers" tax collectors ...their own neighbors...were loyal to the British.

They knew that if the revolutionists were unarmed the revolution would have never happened and we would still be speaking English.

Clearly the right to bear arms and have a small well regulated militia was to protect ourselves from ourselves and a government that strayed from the intent of the constitution.

There have always been wolves howling at our heels trying to force their beliefs and desire for power using any trick they can think of to gain their ends. Anyone that thinks it coudn't happen here is a fool. Anyone that believes that a "civilized" society cannot go horribly wrong hasn't been paying attention. What happened in Germany is not ancient history. All it takes is the right circumstances .. and we are capable of incredible hubris, greed and vengence usually misplaced.

All we need is an excuse.. an enemy real or imagined. We invaded two sovereign countries because of 9/11. Neither one of these countries was involved in the planning and execution of the terrorists. At best all we really could accuse Afghanistan of was not having control of their land. They STILL don't have control of much of their land even after over ten years of us being there spending our treasure and lives to "show em how it's done". The real enemy preceeding 9/11 was our own stupidity. WE trained those guys to fly. Student pilots with practically no time invested NOT WANTING TO LEARN HOW TO LAND??? WTF??? WE had some FBI living with a couple of them and agents with their hair on fire and no action taken. When I was a student pilot IN FLORIDA ..if I had told my instructor I didn't really want to know how to land ...loud alarms would have gone off immediately and I would have been asked to leave and be reffered to a mental institution...to be observed for potential suicide.

9/11 was a hundred times more our own fault than any country in the ME or Africa. That may be our worst enemy is our innability to take responsibility for our own failures.

That is why we need guns in citizens possession. Our government is capable of incredible stupidity and damn right treasonous behavior. Our Government learned NOTHING from Viet Nam. Our Government can get so worked up and make dangerous decisions so easily it seems that they would gleefully march us right off a cliff and think nothing of it. No matter how insane the results they would surely justify any bad action without batting an eye. It has happened dozens of times in our own lifetimes. ..

No...the REAL reason why we have weapons is that our own elected officials cannot be trusted. They are just men. They let greed and lust for power and just damned stupidity pave the way to horrible mistakes that they are immune from the consequenses of.

Before I lose faith in the second amendment I am willing to see a thousand madmen kill innocent Americans. Yes it is horrible. Losing our country to someone elected to govern us, equally as insane, would be worse.

 

[Noomi]

Nice to see that owning a gun is far more important than saving lives.

Shameful

 

[HUGGY]

Nice to see that owning a gun is far more important than saving lives.

Shameful

Owning a gun IS important. Only getting upset after some mentally disturbed person abuses possession of a firearm is what is shamefull.

Not having a responsible citizenery that promotes easy access to mental health facilities is what is shamefull.

 

[notoriety]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

But then why do we have less violence in europe? violent video games are abound there as well and tv violence is commonplace too.

 

[Stephanie]

Nice to see that owning a gun is far more important than saving lives.

Shameful

too bad you don't feel that way about saving babies from abortions...

shameful is most of you are hyprocties of the highest order

 

[midcan5]

One of the most difficult questions in these tragedies is why someone didn't say something before the sick or crazy person committed an act of horror. Surely there were signs as there are in all these cases but people keep quiet. This will sound odd but America needs to create - form - start a movement similar to the right wing movement to deny women the right to choose. Instead of protecting cells we need to protect people. It can cross all lines of society and for those who argue privacy please make sure your arguments are consistent across the board. Guns and people kill people neither alone can do something this evil.

Eight children a day die in America with guns, this was just a busy day in a nation with twisted values in this area of policy.

A Case for Gun Control

Understanding the killer. [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Columbine-Dave-Cullen/dp/0446546925/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8[/ame]

.

 

[Stephanie]

I don't think we are a more violent nation, we just have 24/7 media jumping on these things for ratings and as we see in some for their own biased activism

 

[sealadaigh]

Nice to see that owning a gun is far more important than saving lives.

Shameful

i think that is a simplistic, unfair, and inaccurate statement...at least if you are referring to the constitution of the united states of america.

i think people, many people, take parts of the constitution and interpret it according to their particular needs and do not take it as a whole body of well thought out work. many people have no idea what is said before the first amendment.

 

[Jos]

Dont mention the prescription drugs SSRI that past killers have been found to be taking

Christopher Bollyn

Aurora, Colorado Massacre’s Main Suspect James Holmes – SSRIs? « Kyoto

Columbine and Drugs

Virginia Tech massacre, crimes of violence, drugs and SSRI anti-depressants | Smart-Kit Puzzles and Games

My condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy

 

[Katzndogz]

Guess I’m getting old, but what has happened to America? Every couple of days, killing here killing there…Shoppers and most recently babies.

I see the primary cause as video games and TV violence promoted as entertainment. The role models of Hollywood cutthroat entertainment, is pervasive.

Guns are everywhere.

I have to agree, the social fabric and family unit has been corrupted and destroyed from within. We all, as a society, are responsible for the carnage that has occurred, the loss of the moral compass that once was the pillar and foundation of our society has been silenced. The infatuation with fantasy and disconnect from reality has created a generation of individuals that are incapable of discerning right from wrong, value of humanity, and compassion toward one another. We have become a society based on self gratification without consequence. This is not about guns, knives, or words, it is simple the decadence of a society that needs to rediscover what once made it great.

There is the answer. We've had an armed society in the past. A universally openly armed society with less violence than we have now. What we didn't have was a society so degenerate and depraved that this is what it has become. There is no right or wrong, except what the individual decides. Everyone is his own God. Everyone is entitled to have his every wish immediately satisfied.

Then we have compounded that by insisting that there is really nothing wrong with the mentally ill. They should be mainstreamed and not treated any differently than anyone else.