This is HORRIBLE ... Time for a Change

[graystone]

Sad, Just Sad

I blame our society and our Goverment! We have allowed criminals every right in the world! Victims have no rights! Kids control most parents! When I was a kid the parent controlled the kid! Most teachers cant paddle now. When I was in school I have seen coaches lift football players off the ground when they were paddled! This tought respect! If we have no or can't teach respect how can it be gained? Every morning over the PA we said a prayer. God had been taken out of schools. How can he protect if he's not allowed in? People do you not see a pattern here? We have to get this country back to the basics!!!! We need to punish people by public stonings and hangings and firing squads! Right now we give them every right, 3 hot meals a day, tv's, gym, WE AMERICANS TAKE CARE OF THEM!!! I could go on all day, You know this, I know this, and our world know's this. Only thing that makes me feel good is heaven gained many new angels yesterday in heaven and oh how beautiful it must be! Shane and it's please get God back within your heart!

[kpolley]

Just a couple things to note here...

1. The killer in CT, according to the latest news reports, only used pistols in his killing spree. He had a semi automatic rifle, but authorities say he left it in the car.

2. The guns he used were stolen from his mother, whom he killed before he went to the school.

3. There were over 32,000 deaths in the us last year as a result of motor vehicles. When are we going to pass stricter "car laws"?

If the logic behind gun control laws was sound, there wouldn't have been a killing in CT in the first place because murder is already illegal. Drugs are illegal and we have an astronomical amount of people using them every day. Alcohol was illegal during prohibition and it didn't stop people from drinking.

Stats show that stricter gun control laws don't lower crime rates at all. Illinois, the last state in the union (until recently) to refuse to allow conceal and carry had the 7th highest homicide rate of the 50 states based on population percentage. Chicago, which has an all out ban on handguns and this year the story was that more people were killed in Chicago than in Afghanistan over the same period of time. Gun control laws only work on those already concerned with following laws.

There will always be guns out on the streets. The question is, will the citizens have them or only the criminals?

[Jim Warfield]

Guns Make it

Too quick and easy, but then everything in our modern society is supposed to be that way, quick and easy, no fuss, no muss, stand back far enough and no blood will splatter upon you.
Other weapons (except poison) involves much closer ranges and more physical "work" to knife, bludgeon someone, which may then go on to warn others what you just did or want to do to them.
"He's covered in BLOOD! RUN!!"
I wonder if he had to find a key and unlock those guns?

[Badger]

One more thing to ponder. Kennesaw, Ga has an ordinance that REQUIRES each household to own a gun. You never hear about crime in this town for some reason...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/...19257620070418

[HauntedPaws]

Now it's know he killed the kids & teachers 3-11 shots each with a semi/automatic rifle. The teachers motherly instincts kicked in and they stuffed kids into closets and bathrooms. Women don't need to be taught how to protect children it's engrained in them. What would have helped is if schools had panic buttons like banks do. Here banks are protecting worthless money but get instant police action while schools have a town's most precious commodity yet have to dial 911. Had the office been able to push a button and get instant police presence this thread might not even exist.

As for gun rules and ownership if someone wants to get you, you're under the assumption an a big one at that, that you can get them before they get you. Case and point the Colorado incident the attacker was in full ballistics lvl 2 body armor I believe. You probably wouldn't have stood a very good chance against someone as heavily armed and armored as that with your pistol.

[Mike Goff]

sign.jpg


Shane hit the bullseye with his last post. Our decaying culture is the single most significant factor. I have quite a bit of evidence in my research to prove this point, but I am tired. Not only has violent movies and video games stripped young people of their empathy, they have also made them more efficient killers. No I am not saying to ban video games, but I do have a solution for another time.

[HauntedPaws]

How about text messaging and facebook allowing kids to hide behind the internet as bullies? It also is making them anti-social and not teaching them social skills. When I was in school if a bully came at you and got his ass whooped he wasn't a bully any longer. My oh my was that fun to see.

[Dreamreaper]

He would have found a way to do this. Outlawing guns is like outlawing drugs, the bad people who don't obey the law's will still have them.

[Dreamreaper]

Yes but again.....it comes down to those who will abide by the law....and those who do not. Sure guns laws work great for those that will abide by them - it has been proven time and time again people who are intent on killing others will find a way to do it, knives, bombs, hell even recently a bow was used......I didn't see anything about controlling bow usage.

No one knows how to stop these things - laws may curb a few incidents but if someone is set on destroying other peoples lives they will find a way.

Well said.

[Pumpkin King]

Shane hit the bullseye with his last post. Our decaying culture is the single most significant factor. I have quite a bit of evidence in my research to prove this point, but I am tired. Not only has violent movies and video games stripped young people of their empathy, they have also made them more efficient killers.

To an extent then, are we at all to blame? As an industry it's our job to find new and creative ways to depict death and illicit fear, and I think it certainly could play a role in desensitizing the population.

Of course, I would never in a million years argue for censorship. The first ammendment is the only one that I like more than the second, but if we aren't going to sensor what we create then we need another solution, which I think needs to be common respect and courtesy and a return to the simple idea of caring for one another.

Mike, I'm with you 100% on this one, and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

[Mike Goff]

To an extent then, are we at all to blame? As an industry it's our job to find new and creative ways to depict death and illicit fear, and I think it certainly could play a role in desensitizing the population.

Of course, I would never in a million years argue for censorship. The first ammendment is the only one that I like more than the second, but if we aren't going to sensor what we create then we need another solution, which I think needs to be common respect and courtesy and a return to the simple idea of caring for one another.

Mike, I'm with you 100% on this one, and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

You have brought up a question that has been on my mind since the first year that I started haunting. I have struggled with the idea of promoting the darker side of entertainment, and any conflict that might be present with my own faith and my own sense of morality. This is a question that each of us must answer on an individual basis. I would never criticize somone for the path that they have taken, but I have set my own boundries that I will never cross. I would like to think that the majority of us set these types of guidlines. I have actually tried to have an impact on young people within our community, and I start by having a positive influence on the kids that work for me. My community has a pretty good idea of where our boundries are, and I like it that way. We also make very strong recommendations for how young is too young. While it is true that the creaters of entertainment do share a certain amount of blame for the decay of our society, the ultimate responsability falls in the lap of the parents.

Making people become better parents is a pretty tall order; The fact is no one can make anyone do anything. It is possible to make somone wish that they had done something, but that is the extent of control that someone can have over another. We cannot make people restrict the content of their childrens entertainment, but if thier child commits a heinous crime as a result of exposure to violent entertainment, I believe that a prosecutor could make a pretty strong case to 12 reasonable people that the parents contributed to the childs lack of empathy and ultimately the crime itself. The problem is that prosecutors are overburdened (by design IMHO) and many are lazy. This is where the public comes in. Public opinion has done a great job of curtailing everything from parents hosting underage drinking, to smoking, to drinking and driving and even drugs to some extent.

As it is now, if someone leaves a firearm accessable to an unauthorized user, and they commit a crime, or even if they have an accident, the firearm owner can be and usually is held criminally and civilly liable. The amount of liabilty is contigent on the accessability. (for the record, I support this 100%, If you are going to own a gun, you are responsable for it) Why then is it so unreasonable to hold the parents liable if they are grooming a sociopath? It would probably take a decade for such an effort to be effective and it should start with education, but it is completely doable. It would never eliminate mental illness, which is another problem (that I believe is contributed by many of the poisons that people are subjected too, but I will try to stay focused.) It won't put an end to violence, but it stands a good chance of putting us on the same level as the rest of the civilized world. In the meantime, we should not infrige peoples God given right of self defense as defined by the 2nd ammendment of the Constitution.

[Mike Goff]

I thought that I would share this article about the shooting in Conneticut. It is written by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. He is without question the foremost expert on the subject of active shooter scenarios. He has the best answers to the problem that are currently available. I have attended seminars that he has given and his knowledge and expertise are second to none. Anyone interested in self defense should watch every youtube video that he has ever uploaded.

http://www.policeone.com/active-shoo...emy-is-denial/

[tonguesandwich]

Well said:
TURN OFF THE NEWS.......

Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed
people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

[mindtumor]

I have three young children, two of which are in school and when I read this Friday all I could think about the rest of the day was how horrible this was. I spend the majority of each day fearing for the lives of my children already and reading stuff like this just worsens that.

[graystone]

Couple of things

Couple of points.......
1..... EVERYONE should have a gun for protection... NO ONE needs the same guns our military has however!

2..... We have got to get God back in our public places! We HAVE allowed God to be taken from EVERYTHING! Mostly due to atheists! If you don't believe fine!!! just allow the one's who do their faith! I think we need a few more examples like Madalyn Murray O'Hair! Do you know that in 8 countries you are put to death for saying your an Atheists!!! Their crime rates almost don't exists! Something we should look at!

3..... We got to get RESPECT back! Now if a parent tears a kids ass up as it is today the parent can face jail time! If that were so when I was a kid my Dad would have got life! Getting a good ass whipping when I did wrong made me the person I am today. It tought me respect, it tought me right from wrong! It tought me when I do wrong I will BE PUNISHED! I learned, I got it! We don't have respect! We send our kids to their room with cellphones, tv, computers, ipads! Oh don't forget the violent video games! There is no punishment in the world! If our kids don't learn true and hurtful punishment then the really have nothing to be scared of now do they?

4..... Amen keep this shit off the TV I seen where CNN gave it a name like a damn movie... The Shady Hook Massacre!!!! Urban Dictionary says..... Massacure....A slaughtering of large numbers to rid them from the earth!!!!! OMG REALLY!!!! The media makes these things into ratings!!! This is not a horror movie preview people! It's lives lost due to the way our nation is ran!

5..... Start setting examples. Right now at worst they get life in prison. I remember here in Alabama they took away the electric chair out because " it was cruel and unusual punishment". WHT? let the SOB'S suffer!!!! Let them die a slow and painful death! Let their last breath remind them of what they did!!! PEOPLE, AMERICA WAKE THE HELL UP! WE AS A NATION ARE ALLOWING THIS WE HAVE TO BAN TOGETHER AND GET OUR NATION BACK TO THE BASICS!!

6.... We have, have, have to start making changes. A few people can't! Sadly I see time and time again issues brought up during times like this only to forget about them when the victims are buried. Please we NEED CHANGE AND NEED IT NOW!!!! Shane and it's sad, hurt and disgusted!