[My friend was killed in the] Oregon community college shooting [edited title]

[aceplace57]

Alek Skarlatos returned to Roseburg to be with his friends and support the community. He’s obviously pretty upset because he was supposed to be at that college yesterday. He was already enrolled in Tues, Thurs and Sat classes. A spur of the moment decision to join dwts changed everything.

GMA interview

- YouTube

[Guinastasia]

Lancia, I’m so very, very sorry.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

Meh. An incident like this brings out the best in some and the worst in others. I am already dreading the inevitable statements by the NRA, the freak fringe, and every other cancerous wart who thinks he or she can turn this terrible thing to their advantage.

[raventhief]

I am so so sorry Lancia.

[drachillix]

@cmyk

(btw, I get the Mini-14 is a very similar rifle compared to the AR-15… nice try )

Its functionally identical, yet not banned by many pieces of legislation that would ban or restrict and AR-15.

[cmyk]

@aceplace57

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 survive shooting on day of son’s birthday: family – New York Daily News

It’s really a harrowing and heartening thing this guy did. After watching his story, he actually was shot 7 times and still, he lives, breathes and is in good spirits considering he’ll need to learn to walk again and the events of yesterday.

So glad he’ll be able to celebrate his son’s birthday this year and all the others.

[BrainGlutton]

@Master_Wang-Ka

Meh. An incident like this brings out the best in some and the worst in others. I am already dreading the inevitable statements by the NRA, the freak fringe, and every other cancerous wart who thinks he or she can turn this terrible thing to their advantage.

Tennessee Republican’s deranged reaction to Oregon shooting: Christians must now arm themselves.

[dropzone]

@Master_Wang-Ka

Meh. An incident like this brings out the best in some and the worst in others. I am already dreading the inevitable statements by the NRA, the freak fringe, and every other cancerous wart who thinks he or she can turn this terrible thing to their advantage.

@drachillix

Its functionally identical, yet not banned by many pieces of legislation that would ban or restrict and AR-15.

@BrainGlutton

Tennessee Republican’s deranged reaction to Oregon shooting: Christians must now arm themselves.

All reported for ignoring mod instructions. For fuck’s sake, show some class and take it elsewhere, assholes. This isn’t a debate. It’s a thread about a friend of ours who lost some friends violently.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Enough. The discussion of gun control is not appropriate in this thread. This is a discussion thread about the incident itself and to lend sympathy and support to Lancia. Open another thread to discuss gun control.

@Master_Wang-Ka

Meh. An incident like this brings out the best in some and the worst in others. I am already dreading the inevitable statements by the NRA, the freak fringe, and every other cancerous wart who thinks he or she can turn this terrible thing to their advantage.

@drachillix

Its functionally identical, yet not banned by many pieces of legislation that would ban or restrict and AR-15.

@BrainGlutton

Tennessee Republican’s deranged reaction to Oregon shooting: Christians must now arm themselves.

@Elendil_s_Heir

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…

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

I am locking this thread temporarily.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

**I am reopening this thread: **

Note: There is to be no discussion of gun control politics in this thread.

Start a GD or Pit thread to discuss that issue.

The OP lost someone close to him in this shooting and politicizing this issue will result in additional warnings.

[Dangerosa]

Lancia, I am so sorry this happened. I’m so sorry it struck so close to home for you. I have a friend who teaches remedial English at a community college - she and her students really are dedicated people trying to make lives better. About all I can say is may time help heal.

[nearwildheaven]

One of the teenage victims was one of a set of quadruplets.

Can’t imagine what his family’s going through.

My local PBS affiliate airs a half-hour of BBC news every weekday evening, and yesterday, they went to the shooter’s father’s house, and he told them (in so many words) that their family is suffering terribly, and he’s sorry for what his son did, and he wanted to press to leave them alone. I will not use the father’s name, out of respect for his privacy, and it sounded like he was living in Great Britain.

[aceplace57]

A very nice write up and tribute to Professor Larry Levine. Several of his friends spoke about his life outside the classroom.

Oregon shooting victim professor Larry Levine loved nature, writing

The educator was also a dedicated fisherman and belonged to a fly-fishing and conservation group called the Steamboaters. The organization is dedicated to preserving “the traditions and art of fly fishing” on the North Umpqua River and keeping its waters clean and pure.

Greenley, a fellow member of the group, said that Levine was a talented steelhead fly fisherman who has been involved with the North Umpqua River as a guide since the 1970s.

“He wanted to be on the river. He stayed up there, wrote and guided. He was a nice, helpful guy,” Greenley said. “He was a recognized writer, and I’m an aspiring writer. We did a lot of talking about different stories we had done.”

[Slow_Moving_Vehicle]

Nothing really to say, except to add my condolences and sympathies to you and all the victims, Lancia.

[Count_Blucher]

Lancia, I’m so very sorry that this happened so close to you and to people you know personally.

[BigT]

Thanks, Ivory. I’m so, so sorry, Lamia. This shit just makes you so angry. In a way, I understand those who wanted to make it political–so they felt like they were doing something.

Ironically, I think that the anger I and others feel is the closest we can ever get to understanding the mindset of these shooters. You feel yourself thinking “that guy deserves to die,” even if you are opposed to the death penalty. Sometimes I think all the angry talk is partly to reassure ourselves that we could never do anything like this.

Not because we’re actually in any danger of doing so, mind you. But we feel guilty for even thinking those thoughts.

I don’t know if you’ve felt angry yourself, Lancia. Maybe you went straight to grief and sadness. But clearly a lot of other people have gotten very angry, and I thought that might help. Maybe I’m totally off base. But it is something that helped me think through it all.

Again, I am so, so sorry for your loss, Lancia.

[Digital_is_the_new_Analog]

I just caught up here…wow. So sorry to hear the news, and especially to Lancia.

Part of the internet age…the world getting smaller…is that we have more of a connection to each other. It makes these tragedies even more personal.

[Ibn_Warraq]

@Rick_Kitchen

The guy has zero friends on his Facebook page. His last posting was a link to an article “Signs You Have Raised a Serial Killer”. Dated two weeks ago.

sounds eerily like Elliot Roger’s FB page.

[Magiver]

@BigT

Ironically, I think that the anger I and others feel is the closest we can ever get to understanding the mindset of these shooters. You feel yourself thinking “that guy deserves to die,” even if you are opposed to the death penalty. Sometimes I think all the angry talk is partly to reassure ourselves that we could never do anything like this.

Not because we’re actually in any danger of doing so, mind you. But we feel guilty for even thinking those thoughts.

Ultimately that guy deserved to be normal but it’s virtually impossible to force treatment upon someone. It’s reasonable to assume the signs were there for people to see. We know now that he was sent to a special school for kids who were violent. What he did took considerable planning on top of whatever crazy thoughts built up over the years. The cold cruelty of it was astounding. It was literally focused on the innocent for the sake of it.

I found myself hoping he suffered well above the need to be stopped and then saw the madness in all of it.