# How will the Tea Party spin the CT shooting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 15, 2012, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098 "2012-12-15T07:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/41 "2012-12-15T19:18:18Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > Republicans and conservatives also think people need ID to vote. I wonder if they will be opposed to ID, education or licensing for owners of deadly weapons. [They do.](http://pollingreport.com/guns.htm) 96% of American support background checks for gun purchases. But your analogy fails on education and licensing, since those are not required for voting. Also, most Democrats support voter ID laws, too. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/42 "2012-12-15T19:34:06Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > IMO they will find a tasteless, completely inappropriate take on it, and run with it. What do Dopers think that take will be? Conspiracy theory. The CIA, UN, Trilateral Commission, and ACORN somehow forced the shooter into making the attacks, so that the Kenyan-born “President” Barack **HUSSEIN** Obama would have an even better excuse to personally take away the guns of true American patriots. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/43 "2012-12-15T20:29:34Z")
So, y’all’r ridiculing conservatives for how you imagine they might respond? Classy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/44 "2012-12-15T20:34:43Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > So, y’all’r ridiculing conservatives for how you imagine they might respond? Classy. Don’t be absurd. They’re mostly ridiculing them for a cartoonish, made-up version of how they would respond! ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/45 "2012-12-15T20:52:57Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > So, y’all’r ridiculing conservatives for how you imagine they might respond? Classy. I personally only shared actual responses I have seen from actual people on the actual Internet. I’m sorry that real conservatives happen to share some characteristics of cartoonish made-up versions of themselves. Maybe you should talk to them about this. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/46 "2012-12-15T20:56:59Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > But how would an armed citizen be any different? The idea is that having someone who is armed confront the gunman and possibly bringing the incident to an end long before the police can respond. Let’s see: The shooter had 2 handguns and a vest, and anything moving was a target. If a teacher _had_ had a gun and was willing to use it, he would have had to make a head shot at a moving target surrounded by children. What are the chances of anything good coming from this scenario? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/47 "2012-12-15T20:59:39Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > So, y’all’r ridiculing conservatives for how you imagine they might respond? Classy. I posted an actual article where they attack Obama for being silent on union violence (one guy got punched) and responding immediately to Newtown. Tea Partiers are largely stupid, angry and misinformed. Guessing what they’re gonna say is amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/48 "2012-12-15T21:06:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Let’s see: The shooter had 2 handguns and a vest, and anything moving was a target. If a teacher _had_ had a gun and was willing to use it, he would have had to make a head shot at a moving target surrounded by children. What are the chances of anything good coming from this scenario? Most of the kids were tiny, so if the teacher was going for a headshot, at least the kids would likely not be in the line of fire since the shooter was so much taller than them. There is always a chance that dude would have been stopped, but I think the pro-gun types massively over-estimate how brave they’d be in one of these situations. They aren’t soldiers preparing for battle. They’re civilians going about their day, a dump of adrenaline isn’t likely to turn them into John McClane. It’ll make them into someone crouching behind cover and shaking in fear with a white-knuckle grip on gun. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/49 "2012-12-15T21:07:39Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > So, y’all’r ridiculing conservatives for how you imagine they might respond? Mostly. But there’s also been some discussion of actual responses. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/50 "2012-12-15T21:20:14Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > He was quite upfront on why he chose those cases. He was measuring cases that could have continued without intervention, not cases where the damage was done and finished. Because it’s still cherry picked data. In the 63 cases that he excluded from his findings, were guns prohibited from use in those states? No. Does he investigate the concealed carry laws in the states where these shootings occurred, to perhaps demonstrate a higher incidence of people who fight back in shooting sprees in states with the most relaxed gun laws? No. He just excludes a majority of the cases in order to draw this very very narrow conclusion that people who are being shot at are more likely to be successful IF and when they fight the perpetrator back rather than wait for the police to intervene. His conclusions need so many asterisks at the edge of them it’s insane. “New study finds that spree shootings result in fewer deaths when people in the crowd subdue the shooter!\*” \*except when the shooter takes his own life \*also except when she shooter flees and is later apprehended by the police \*and in many cases the people did not use firearms to subdue the suspect \*or if the perpetrator gave himself up to police voluntarily It would be like me doing a “study” of all the times I bought an umbrella when I went to the store. Except I excluded from the averages all the times I went to the store when it wasn’t raining. Wow! On average, I buy a lot of umbrellas! ---
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/51 "2012-12-15T22:10:47Z")
Here’s to the folks who guessed “School Prayer.” Points to you. [Bryan Fischer](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/15/bryan-fischer-god-did-not-protect-connecticut-shooting-victims-prayer-banned_n_2303903.html)is trying to figure out how to further spin this as to how God is mad that the Gays can now get married in 9 states. Just give him some time. Maybe Huckabee will be able to explain how, despite the fact that the shooter was straight, it’s all the Gays fault… ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/52 "2012-12-15T22:18:44Z")
Apparently the “liberals should like killing kindergarteners because they like abortion!” argument that [**pkbites**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15797242&postcount=32) floated in the pit thread is a thing among conservative thinkers, these days. Here’s [**eminent Tea Partier Victoria Jackson**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/victoria-jackson-connecticut-school-shooting_n_2303518.html) on the subject: > [@](#): > > My friend Jim Riley posted: “Wasn’t the Connecticut killer just doing what abortionists do every day? It’s a wonder we don’t have more 20 year old “dads” doing what women and doctors have been an accomplice to for years in America. When you forget the TEN COMMANDMENTS, people, THIS is what you get.” Elsewhere, [on her Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/victoriajacksonfanpage), she writes: > [@](#): > > Obama dramatically wiped a tear as he said, “The majority of those who died today were children – beautiful little kids … They had their entire lives ahead of them – birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own…” > > YEAH OBAMA. SAME AS THE MILLION BABIES YOU HAD ABORTED THIS YEAR. > > ARE YOU CRYING FOR THEM?! So I guess at least some of them are choosing the Baffle Them With Bullshit approach. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/53 "2012-12-15T22:58:35Z")
The shooter wasn’t a dad, of course, but if Victoria Jackson ever started paying attention to the facts I would take a second look at the Mayan calendar. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/54 "2012-12-16T03:39:39Z")
> [@Untoward\_Parable](#): > > It was an Obama conspiracy, he wants public sympathy to take all the guns away and to sterilize republicans. I actually saw someone say this seriously another message board. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/55 "2012-12-16T04:21:43Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Apparently the “liberals should like killing kindergarteners because they like abortion!” argument that [**pkbites**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15797242&postcount=32) floated in the pit thread is a thing among conservative thinkers, these days. Here’s [**eminent Tea Partier Victoria Jackson**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/victoria-jackson-connecticut-school-shooting_n_2303518.html) on the subject: > > > [@](#): > > > > My friend Jim Riley posted: “Wasn’t the Connecticut killer just doing what abortionists do every day? It’s a wonder we don’t have more 20 year old “dads” doing what women and doctors have been an accomplice to for years in America. When you forget the TEN COMMANDMENTS, people, THIS is what you get.” Okay, Tea Partiers, you win this round. You managed to come up with a real crazy response that’s more insane than any of the hypothetical crazy responses we made up. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/56 "2012-12-16T10:59:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m sure Obama watched the whole thing play out in the Situation Room, via one of the many drone spy planes flying over America Every minute. And he refused to call the police! Ceiling Obama is watching you massacre. > [@Marley23](#): > > Mostly. But there’s also been some discussion of actual responses. Sadly, I thought mine would be an over the top strawman reaction that nobody would countenance. Then I read the exact words (“freedom isn’t free”) in the pit thread. On another forum, right before the shooting, someone argued that there is going to be a lawsuit where a business will be held liable for banning guns from its premises, because a robber will kill someone inside the building (and their capacity to do so would have been prevented by someone shooting the robber). I’ve asked him if he thinks the school will now be held civilly responsible for Mrs. Lanza not aborting her son. ---
**Author:** ![dexter8459](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dexter8459](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dexter8459)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/57 "2012-12-16T14:34:38Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > But how would an armed citizen be any different? The idea is that having someone who is armed confront the gunman and possibly bringing the incident to an end long before the police can respond. Presumably someone who volunteers to be armed security is mentally prepared (as well as trained in gun use). 99.9% of people who own guns (which is about the same percentage of people who carry them in public) have never shot at anything other than a target or a deer. How are they mentally or physically prepared to shoot at an armed antagonist who suddenly appears in a crowded setting that is normally calm and peaceful? Imagine in Aurora that someone stood up in the dark theater and started shooting at where they thought the gunman was standing. Hard enough to do that if you’re not trained police or military, hard to hit what you are aiming at when it’s moving, hard to avoid hitting innocent bystanders, hard to not get shot yourself. Then imagine that 20 heroes came to the theater armed and they all wanted to “do the right thing”. Now you’ve got 20 people all shooting at each other. Good idea? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/58 "2012-12-16T15:17:46Z")
> [@dexter8459](#): > > Presumably someone who volunteers to be armed security is mentally prepared (as well as trained in gun use). 99.9% of people who own guns (which is about the same percentage of people who carry them in public) have never shot at anything other than a target or a deer. How are they mentally or physically prepared to shoot at an armed antagonist who suddenly appears in a crowded setting that is normally calm and peaceful? > > Imagine in Aurora that someone stood up in the dark theater and started shooting at where they thought the gunman was standing. Hard enough to do that if you’re not trained police or military, hard to hit what you are aiming at when it’s moving, hard to avoid hitting innocent bystanders, hard to not get shot yourself. Then imagine that 20 heroes came to the theater armed and they all wanted to “do the right thing”. Now you’ve got 20 people all shooting at each other. Good idea? For Tarantino . . . ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/59 "2012-12-16T15:50:23Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > One of the teachers was armed. Unfortunately, her gun was used against her. > > Republicans and conservatives also think people need ID to vote. I wonder if they will be opposed to ID, education or licensing for owners of deadly weapons. Bullshit. The shooter did not walk into her classroom, open her purse and take away her gun and start to shoot. And as far as I am concerned, I am sane and not a felon and passed the NRA safety course, I should be able to have anything I damned well want. I should be able to concealed carry anywhere except a municipal building/airport if I damned well want. [In US and her territories, I do not claim that my right to bear arms or arm bears carries anywhere outside the US.] I will say that I am Republican, registered as such at 18 and consider myself fairly conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098/60 "2012-12-16T15:51:21Z")
Don’t know about the rest of the country, but gun purchases of so-called assault weapons have skyrocketed in Oregon in the past couple of days. One shop owner interviewed on local news said he’s had the largest volume of sales in 20 years in the business, with background checks taking up to four hours. An interviewed customer said that after this shooting, the government will be going after this type of weapon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-tea-party-spin-the-ct-shooting/644098.md?page=4)