# \[My friend was killed in the\] Oregon community college shooting \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166 "2015-10-01T18:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/141 "2015-10-02T11:35:45Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > This. Good grief, I stay the hell out of gun threads in general, but you’d think you could ever read about some tragedy without it always devolving into this bullshit. Sigh. I agree. > [@Lancia](#): > > I wonder if you people even give a shit about the lives lost. > > I just got home to a phone full of messages, missed calls, and texts. A woman I worked with in my hospice days was one of the victims. She grew up in an abusive, poverty-ridden household, fled long before she was a legal adult, and lived a very hard life on the streets for a long time. Now married and a mother of two, she had decided to go back to school so her kids would have a better life than she did. > > And now she’s gone. > > Every time something like this happens, there’s a bunch of screaming back forth about guns, each one of you trying a make a point that the other side has no interest in hearing. All the while real people are lying in morgue somewhere, gone forever. > > Larry Levine. An adjunct professor, teaching remedial English for adults. Hard work, shitty pay. Cared about his students, made sure they had tools and the skills to find success in college should they desire it. Loved the outdoors, used tales of fishing and hiking as an icebreaker in his classes. People, especially older students who were downright scared about going to school, warmed up to him and felt at ease in his classroom. > > Amber, whose last name I will not reveal. Spent her whole working life caring for other people. Holding their hands, comforting them in sickness and pain. Worked long hours keeping dying people comfortable. Put everyone else’s needs before hers: her kids, her husband, her community, complete strangers. Wanted a better life not for herself but for her daughters. > > And they, along with so many others, are gone now. > > And nobody really gives a shit. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to see this earlier. My heart goes out to you and all those effected. For the rest of you, did you not read the fucking OP? This is about someone worried that their friends might be dead. And you decide to bring in the same bickering that happens in every gun thread that pops up. The next person that brings up gun control, politics, the 2nd Amendment, Donald Trump, concealed carry, gun free zones…anything resembling a debate, will get warned. I don’t think it would be that hard to find a gun debate thread in GD or the Pit. Stop shitting all over Lancia’s thread. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/142 "2015-10-02T11:36:52Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > **Moderator Action: EVERYONE, the hijack on gun control in this thread needs to stop.** Open a Pit thread or a GD thread if you want to discuss it further. > > There is poster in this thread who has lost colleagues and friends in this tragedy- this thread is not the place to debate gun control. > > This includes\*\* lawoot, Terr, fubaya, cmyk, magiver, doorghinge, lobohan\*\* and anyone else I missed. I guess we both got up at the same time. My anger made me type slower. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/143 "2015-10-02T12:21:20Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > Nope. the “unless expressly authorized by law” loophole means that a CCW, carrying his permit, is well within his rights to carry a gun on campus. Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be hassled about it, though. If “hassled about it” means disciplinary action from the college then yes, the college is a “gun free zone”. On edit, after I saw the warning: this is not about “gun control”. This is about the college’s policy - quite relevant to the shooting. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/144 "2015-10-02T13:02:03Z")
Apologies, I was the first to roll my eyes about bringing that shit up in here, but got sucked in anyway. Watching it all unfold on TV all day, emotions run higher. Explaining the reality of stuff like this to my 12 yo son once he got home from school and caught some of the news… Starts asking questions. What do you say except the truth and try to assure him how rare this sort of thing is? But it’s still scary, and he’s not stupid… There’s always a chance… Anyhow, sincerely sorry for your losses, **Lancia.** ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/145 "2015-10-02T13:06:24Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > I wonder if you people even give a shit about the lives lost. > > I just got home to a phone full of messages, missed calls, and texts. A woman I worked with in my hospice days was one of the victims. She grew up in an abusive, poverty-ridden household, fled long before she was a legal adult, and lived a very hard life on the streets for a long time. Now married and a mother of two, she had decided to go back to school so her kids would have a better life than she did. > > And now she’s gone. > > Every time something like this happens, there’s a bunch of screaming back forth about guns, each one of you trying a make a point that the other side has no interest in hearing. All the while real people are lying in morgue somewhere, gone forever. > > Larry Levine. An adjunct professor, teaching remedial English for adults. Hard work, shitty pay. Cared about his students, made sure they had tools and the skills to find success in college should they desire it. Loved the outdoors, used tales of fishing and hiking as an icebreaker in his classes. People, especially older students who were downright scared about going to school, warmed up to him and felt at ease in his classroom. > > Amber, whose last name I will not reveal. Spent her whole working life caring for other people. Holding their hands, comforting them in sickness and pain. Worked long hours keeping dying people comfortable. Put everyone else’s needs before hers: her kids, her husband, her community, complete strangers. Wanted a better life not for herself but for her daughters. > > And they, along with so many others, are gone now. > > And nobody really gives a shit. Some do care. I’m so very, very sorry, **Lancia**. These people sounded truly lovely and I have no doubt that they, and their contributions, will be sorely missed. My heart goes out to everyone touched by this senseless tragedy. You will all be in my thoughts and prayers. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/146 "2015-10-02T13:17:52Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > If “hassled about it” means disciplinary action from the college then yes, the college is a “gun free zone”. > > On edit, after I saw the warning: this is not about “gun control”. This is about the college’s policy - quite relevant to the shooting. You had time to edit and yet you continued to disregard instructions. I don’t care how you quibble, this thread is about Lancia’s concern and now grief about her friends. This is not about the school’s policy or CCW’s. This is a warning for threadshitting and failure to follow moderator instructions. If you feel the overwhelming need to respond to someone who you feel is wrong on the internet do it in a different thread. And have some damn decency in this one. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/147 "2015-10-02T14:09:56Z")
We read about tragedy and calamity in the world but how often we forget the statistcs on a police blotter were lives that in turn were part of other lives. And one day that may be ours. Oh, **Lancia** , this is so heartbreaking… Nothing to offer the victims and survivors but solidarity in this tough time… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/148 "2015-10-02T14:13:36Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > That’s just goofy. There is no Amendment guaranteeing your right to own or drive a car. You’re still left with have to overcome that 2nd Amendment roadblock that’s prevent people like you from banning all firearms. The purpose of the 2nd Amendment was never to facilitate popular resistance to the government, it was never to facilitate home defense or hunting, it was to prevent reliance on a standing professional army for national defense, by making sure there would be enough men keeping muskets at home to be ready for militia service at any time. Why do we need it any more? We’ve been relying on a professional standing army for national defense for more than a century now and it still has not turned into an instrument of tyranny. The FFs were simply **wrong** on that point. And not even the NG relies on privately-owned firearms anyway, not any more. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/149 "2015-10-02T14:20:47Z")
**Warning Issued** Somehow you missed two sets of moderator instructions and a warning given just a few posts up? Knock off the gun debate in this thread. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The purpose of the 2nd Amendment was never to facilitate popular resistance to the government, it was never to facilitate home defense or hunting, it was to prevent reliance on a standing professional army for national defense, by making sure there would be enough men keeping muskets at home to be ready for militia service at any time. Why do we need it any more? We’ve been relying on a professional standing army for national defense for more than a century now and it still has not turned into an instrument of tyranny. The FFs were simply **wrong** on that point. And not even the NG relies on privately-owned firearms anyway, not any more. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/150 "2015-10-02T14:21:34Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The purpose of the 2nd Amendment was never to facilitate popular resistance to the government, it was never to facilitate home defense or hunting, it was to prevent reliance on a standing professional army for national defense, by making sure there would be enough men keeping muskets at home to be ready for militia service at any time. Why do we need it any more? We’ve been relying on a professional standing army for national defense for more than a century now and it still has not turned into an instrument of tyranny. The FFs were simply **wrong** on that point. And not even the NG relies on privately-owned firearms anyway, not any more. Two moderator instructions from two different mods. One warning to another poster. I thought people would get the hint. I know, someone is wrong on the internet. Take it to another thread. Warning issued. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/151 "2015-10-02T14:22:09Z")
Ok I’ll back off. You type faster. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/152 "2015-10-02T16:01:38Z")
I give a damn, **Lancia** , and thank you for those beautiful, albeit brief glimpses into some folks I wish I could have known. They were obviously wonderful people whose senseless deaths will leave great holes in the world. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/153 "2015-10-02T16:12:18Z")
**Lancia** , my sincerest condolences. I hope all your other friends are okay. You mentioned a student who helped others escape. [Could it be this brave soul?](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/02/forget-oregon-s-gunman-remember-the-hero-who-charged-straight-at-him.html?via=desktop&source=facebook) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/154 "2015-10-02T18:16:58Z")
[4chan . . . disturbs.](http://www.salon.com/2015/10/02/4chan_and_the_oregon_shooter_what_the_suspicious_thread_says_about_a_horrifying_subculture_of_young_male_rage/) > [@](#): > > Responding to the original poster, other users jumped in with helpful feedback. One person told him, “I suggest you enter a classroom and tell people that you will take them as hostages. Make everyone get in one corner and then open fire. Make sure that there is no way that someone can disarm you as it it possible. I suggest you carry a knife on your belt as last resort if someone is holding your gun.” Another suggested, “You might want to target a girls school which is safer because there are no beta males throwing themselves for their rescue. Do not use a shotgun. I would suggest a powerful assault rifle and a pistol or 2x pistols. Possibly the type of pistols who have 15+ ammo.” Someone else posted a photo of Elliot Rodger with the message, “It takes a great man to do great things. Become Legendary.” Someone else, concerned, asked, “You’re only shooting college age students, correct? I have grandparents that live up there,” while another person encouraged discretion, telling him to aim for the “Chads and Stacies who have scorned many and yourself. You’ll do the world a favor by purging part of the population that only exists to consume resources and act for themselves.” And one person posted hopefully, “I am so excited for this. If this comes true then thank you for my late birthday gift anon.” > > Yes, some other participants chimed in to say, “Nobody cares you’re pathetic and this is why no one likes you,” but the amount of enthusiastic support the post received is nauseating. And after the news of the shooting broke? “HE DID IT ONE OF US ONE OF US.” “You made us proud today, son. You made us proud.” One of the more rational comments came from the man who said,”Wanting to KILL EVERYONE (including yourself) is a symptom of having male emotions,” because at least he added, “Ya gotta get some distance mentally… but more importantly, you have to turn around and feel, just feel.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/155 "2015-10-02T18:20:09Z")
[George Zimmerman: “P.O.S. Obama” and Oregon shooter share “mixed race” heritage and desire to kill Christians.](http://www.salon.com/2015/10/02/george_zimmerman_p_o_s_obama_and_oregon_shooter_share_mixed_race_heritage_and_desire_to_kill_christians/) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/156 "2015-10-02T18:21:21Z")
Remember Alek Skarlatos the guy that helped stop the train terrorist in France? He’s a student at ucc. Planned to attend this semester and decided instead to appear on dancing with the stars. talk about a bizarre coincidence. He could have been a terror victim twice in 5 weeks. > **[Alek Skarlatos Says He Would Have Been at Oregon College If Not for 'DWTS':...](https://www.etonline.com/news/173189_alek_skarlatos_would_have_been_at_oregon_college_if_not_for_dancing_with_the_stars)** > > The 22-year-old train hero opens up about the attack on his alma mater. > [@](#): > > “The shooter had conversations with others online about intentions and he started it in Snyder Hall and moved to the science building, which I understand you had classes in,” DeGeneres explains. > > “Right, I had classes in Snyder Hall,” Skarlatos says. “I mean, it’s a fairly small community college and, just the town in general, everybody knows each other, so with that many deceased, I mean, everybody’s going to know at least one person.” > > “I would have been there today if I didn’t agree to do [DWTS],” he continues. “I had classes picked out and everything.” ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/157 "2015-10-02T19:12:47Z")
**Lancia** - I humbly apologize for my previous participation in your thread. I can only say that I was carried away by the moment. That is not an excuse. I have no excuse. Sorry. I had originally intended to join in the “New school shooting in Oregon” thread in the IMHO forum. A post in there suggested that there was already a thread and linked to your thread. That OP requested that that thread be closed and it was. I should have paid closer attention to your OP and realized that it covered a different perspective. Again, I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/158 "2015-10-02T19:15:15Z")
_I just sent this letter to my two U.S. senators and member of Congress:_ I urge you to back much stronger Federal restrictions on firearms. The tragedy yesterday at Umpqua Community College in Oregon reminds us that hardly a week goes by that there isn’t a gun massacre somewhere in our country. Even worse, dozens die every day, here and there, lost amid other headlines. An estimated eight American children a day are killed by gun violence. Recent mass shootings at Virginia Tech, the Washington Navy Yard, a school in Connecticut, a movie theater in Colorado and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin have again underlined the need for a more sensible national gun policy. There is no reason why anyone needs, for instance, to be able to fire thirty bullets in a matter of seconds, as happened in the shooting which killed six and wounded thirteen others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in Arizona. The shooter was only stopped because he paused to reload. The National Institutes of Health have designated firearms injuries and deaths a major public health crisis. We have far more shootings per capita than any other western industrialized nation. This is madness, and unworthy of a great republic; it cannot be what the Framers had in mind when they wrote in the Second Amendment of a “well regulated militia.” We are awash in guns, but can still take some smart, common-sense steps towards reducing gun crime. Now is the time. Assault weapons and large ammunition magazines must be banned; the mentally ill, criminals and terrorism suspects must not be able to buy guns and ammunition; the gun show background-check loophole must, at long last, be closed. I hope you’ll lead the way in seeing that firearms violence is greatly reduced, if not eradicated, in the United States. We must do all we can to stop this senseless carnage, and we must do it now. Very truly yours, ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/159 "2015-10-02T19:22:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [4chan . . . disturbs.](http://www.salon.com/2015/10/02/4chan_and_the_oregon_shooter_what_the_suspicious_thread_says_about_a_horrifying_subculture_of_young_male_rage/) It appears that the 4chan poster [may not have been the shooter.](http://heavy.com/news/2015/10/chris-harper-mercer-umpqua-community-college-ucc-roseburg-oregon-shooting-shooter-gunman-dead-eggman-4chan-name-id-identity-photos-twitter-social-media-facebook-youtube/) (scroll down to #5) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166/160 "2015-10-02T21:02:25Z")
One of the heroes that tried to stop the attack. He tried blocking the classroom door and took three bullets. He was shot two more times after the shooter got in the classroom. > **[Army vet shot at least five times trying to stop Oregon shooter; hero dad to...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/10/02/army-vet-shot-at-least-five-times-trying-to-stop-oregon-shooter-hero-dad-to-survive-shooting-on-day-of-sons-birthday-family/)** > > An Army veteran who took five bullets trying to stop the massacre in Oregon looked up at the shooter and said, “It’s my son’s birthday today,” his family said Friday. Hero d… > [@](#): > > An Army veteran who took five bullets trying to stop the massacre in Oregon looked up at the shooter and said, “It’s my son’s birthday today,” his family said Friday. > > Hero dad Chris Mintz is expected to survive the Thursday morning shooting, relatives in the North Carolina town where he grew up told WGHP-TV. > > In an interview with ABC News, Mintz said his concerns were for everyone else touched by the tragedy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-was-killed-in-the-oregon-community-college-shooting-edited-title/733166.md?page=9)