Again

Bailey Holt and Preston Cope

The 11th school shooting since 1 Jan, and the 50th this academic year.

Comments

[cleek]

it is exactly as we want it to be.

[Countme-a-Demon]

Exactly.

Preston Cope's family and friends said the kid had no enemies.

Yeah, he did. America.

Bailey Holt's said she was an innocent young woman.

Well, America permits its citizens to unilaterally skip the trial by jury, so the fact of her innocence in undetermined. The NRA will say she was innocent, and yet set up the kid killer with the instruments of her execution.

But, it's too soon to talk about it.

Not too soon though for the next mass killer to start hoarding ammo.

He's a white male. He's purchasing the guns and ammo right now.

[Ugh]

What is wrong with white culture?

[hairshirthedonist]

If only everyone was armed, this sort of thing would never happen. You guys just don't get it.

[Countme-a-Demon]

Yes, it would have been better, as in "exceptional", if both Preston and Bailey had been carrying at school for self-protection and one of their weapons had accidentally fired, killing the other.

That would have been what the Founders originally intended, except for the part where a girl was armed, in the absence of redskins.

But it's too late to talk about it.

[CharlesWT]

Are school shootings about guns? Schools? Or both?

[Ugh]

My position: repeal the 2nd amendment, offer a one year buyback on all firearms, after which possession of any firearm would be a felony.

[russell]

it is exactly as we want it to be.

i'm sure folks will have a variety of things to say about it, but cleek pretty much nailed it.

[cleek]

Ugh for President.

[Pro Bono]

Number of shootings in UK schools in the last 20 years (post Dunblane): 0
Number of homicides in UK schools in the last 20 years: 3

If only we had our freedom.

[wj]

Are school shootings about guns? Schools? Or both?

Neither. The schools are merely a convenient place for those with guns to find a bunch of targets.

[hairshirthedonist]

If only we had our freedom.

You are blind to your oppression.

[Girl from the North Country]

My position: repeal the 2nd amendment, offer a one year buyback on all firearms, after which possession of any firearm would be a felony

I'm with Ugh all the way, with possible exceptions for sporting (hunting) guns, heavily controlled. But then, as Pro Bono so tactfully hints, we here are uncontaminated by ludicrous notions inherited from the 18th century which equate an armed citizenry with freedom. Our inherited ludicrous notions do involve monarchy, aristocracy, comcommitant pageantry etc, but on the whole (unless perhaps you favour the bob mcm view of the world) those involve far less suffering, and certainly far fewer deaths.

[Countme-a-Demon]

Are Las Vegas shootings about guns? Or country music? Or hotel room service? Or all three?

Are office place shootings about guns? Or hiring and firing practices? Or the machete shortage? Or all three?

I would attempt to repeal the Second Amendment as well. I'd also dig a pony.

But I would allow the ownership and use of reasonable types of hunting firearms, registered, licensed, and insured under the supervision of state and local governments, with periodic testing for proficiency, as with motor vehicles.

I would completely disarm all government agency employees, at every level. Law enforcement may retrieve their weapons at an armory when necessary.

But until then, I would like to see a heavily funded liberal bunch of troublemakers start a mirror image NRA and a nationwide chain of gun stores which proselytize fully-automatic gun ownership and the selling of heavy-duty weaponry for means of self-defense to all Americans and immigrants with clean records and considered to be the OTHER by republican party proclamation.

All Dreamers, all Obamacare recipients, shithole dwellers, well, basically any group of human beings whose names come up in a generalized way during conversations among conservative republicans when they get together for a masturbatory chat about their superiority.

The former list could now include employees of the FBI and the CIA, those nests of liberals.

Also, a blood test or mouth swab to identify and weed out any republican genetic markers and predisposition to jagoffery and assholishness.

[cleek]

He's a white male. He's purchasing the guns and ammo right now.

found him.

http://www.wtae.com/article/uniontown-area-high-school-shooting-threat-reported/15892739

next!

[wj]

we here are uncontaminated by ludicrous notions inherited from the 18th century which equate an armed citizenry with freedom

Or maybe it's just that we here (here being ObWi, rather than Britain) have figured out that the Russians are on to something. Defeating a (tyrannical or otherwise) government in our times is more likely to involve software than guns. We may not have guns, but we do know a lot about creating software.... ;-)

[Hartmut]

The Donald of course knows the reason (1) for these school shootings and the solution (2): (1)Obama stopping the policy of equipping police and firefighters with excess military weaponry. (2) more heavy military equipment for cops and firemen (tanks, grenade launchers, armored personnel carriers*, cal. 50+ rifles and machine guns).

*well, those could at least make a tiny bit of sense in extreme situations allowing security to approach more safely.

[russell]

I imagine that most of what I'd want to accomplish by way of gun control could be accomplished by requiring owners to carry liability insurance.

let the invisible hand sort out the knuckleheads and freaks from the responsible law abiding folks.

you can already buy it from the NRA, those guys should be all over it. it's not a restriction on your rights, it's a revenue stream!!

but then, i, too, would dig a pony.

[cleek]

i'm waiting for the Black Mirror where all students have to wear full (Trump™ brand, "USA! Freedom™"-emblazoned, made in China) body armor because that will be the only way to protect kids from the 2nd Amendment.

[CharlesWT]

There're body armor backpacks available.

[Nous]

WJ - Neither. The schools are merely a convenient place for those with guns to find a bunch of targets.

Schools are not merely convenient places. There are lots of places with as many targets and fewer safeguards in place.

They choose schools because schools are the site of the social relations that are the cause of these nithings' grievances, real or perceived.

Ask any teacher. They will tell you why these things happen at schools.

And don't think for a second that more guns in schools in the hands of security or teachers/administrators would change the shooter's calculus.

[cleek]

teachers having guns in the classroom means kids will have easy access to guns: they'll just steal them from teachers. unless the teachers' guns have biometric locks, which the NRA hates because Freedom™.

[Nous]

Even without the issues of weapon retention and safety, I'd be oppose to carrying a firearm in my own classroom on the grounds that it disrupts the classroom environment and the power dynamic in ways that hurt my ability to teach.

And we already have huge problems that arise out of the militarization of our police. Do that with teachers as well and we may as well just start building prisons and cemeteries as our only public works.

[Byomtov]

Teaching can be stressful. Students misbehave, etc. introducing a gun into that is idiotic.

[russell]

the elephant in the room is the fact that some kind of strategy or plan for dealing with people shooting kids in schools is necessary.

don't look now, but this country has lost it's mind.

[Nous]

I've been discussing strategy with my (college) students since the VA Tech shooting. It's part of the reason why I never ask them to turn off their phones.

We have crisis management seminars for instructors every year during the run up to the school year.

And this in a state where it's illegal to bring a firearm onto campus except as part of a duty requirement.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

I know some folks that teach Nuclear Physics at VA Tech. I think they should be able to bring a nuclear warhead to class. In "self defense", y'know.

Also, it would be pretty awesome for a lecture demo also too.

It's where we're going, it's just a question of when we get there.

[Countme-a-Demon]

Nous wrote:

"Even without the issues of weapon retention and safety, I'd be oppose to carrying a firearm in my own classroom on the grounds that it disrupts the classroom environment and the power dynamic in ways that hurt my ability to teach.

And we already have huge problems that arise out of the militarization of our police. Do that with teachers as well and we may as well just start building prisons and cemeteries as our only public works."

I can't think of anything.

In America now, it would be more out of place, and probably a reason to be charged with disturbing the peace, if a guy went into a gun firing range, cleared his throat, and demanded the attention of the shooters and asked them to turn to page 164 in Jane Austen's Emma and begin reading aloud to each other.

No doubt as he was hauled out of there by the constabulary, the inconvenienced patrons would call him an "elitist", or woise.

This happened, as we reach peak bullshit, thanks to real muricans:

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/get-country-navajo-lawmaker-harassed-arizona-trump-supporters-accusing-illegally/

A mere foothill of bullshit, I expect. The peak will be reached when nuclear mushroom clouds blanket the American landscape and the mp death merchants in the conservative movement move closer to cheer, because it would be politically correct not to do so, the 90 minutes it took the lout to learn everything there was to know about nuclear weapons, except for the "they are fucking dead" part.

I'm now convinced mp wanted to be President so he has access to those gummint bomb shelter vaults hundreds of feet below ground where he can wait out the holocaust with his evil cabal and emerge to pick up real estate cheap.

[Nigel]

12 year old girl school shooter:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42897626

[wj]

I think they should be able to bring a nuclear warhead to class. In "self defense", y'know.

Also, it would be pretty awesome for a lecture demo also too.

It's where we're going, it's just a question of when.

Not gonna happen. The gun manufacturers, of whom the NRA is a wholly owned subsidiary, don't make and sell nukes. So no reason to push for them. And, since someone setting one off would take out a bunch of potential customers, they'd actually fight against it.

Now if the NRA was merely an association of gun nuts, it might be a different story. But it ain't.

[CharlesWT]

"At this time, the information suggests that this was an isolated incident, involving the negligent discharge of a firearm, where innocent children and a staff member were unfortunately injured," the LAPD said in a statement.
School shooting that injured four students now believed unintentional, police say; 12-year-old girl is booked

[russell]

when i was 12, bringing a gun to school would have been seen as a fairly remarkable event. and not in a good way.

also, "12 year old girl is booked" is one of the most depressing things i've read this week. perhaps mom and dad should be required to answer a few questions down at the police station, too.

[Nigel]

Bringing a gun to school would have been seen as a utterly extraordinary event...

...my entire lifetime, not just when I was 12.