# Stupid Gun news of the day (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729 "2013-01-29T19:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 297
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5921 "2015-10-01T20:39:11Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Good lord, there’s some sick fucks out there. And a few right here, too. But we should be over our “hoplophobia” by now, shouldn’t we? [It happens enough.](http://mic.com/articles/126176/oregon-school-shooting-is-the-142nd-school-shooting-since-sandy-hook-massacre) > [@](#): > > Thursday’s shooting at a community college in Oregon is the 142nd school shooting in the United States since the December 2012 Sandy Hook massacre … The Oregon campus shootings is the 294th mass shooting this year IOW, more than one a _day_. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5922 "2015-10-01T21:13:41Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > [We’ve been through all of this before.](http://images.dailykos.com/images/161512/lightbox/TMW2015-09-02color.png?1440793523) > > Now is not the time… good guys with guns…yada yada yada. So, I’m sure someone’s pointed this out before, but… fuck it, I’m annoyed. If we say, for the sake of argument, that the week following a mass shooting is ‘too early’ to talk about taking action to stop them, the full list of days so far this year when it would have been appropriate to discuss are as follows: _Wednesday, April 15th._ It would have to be a short discussion, though, since there were two more of them the following day. (I don’t have data for September to hand. There’s a small chance there might be a day in there. Wouldn’t bet on it, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5923 "2015-10-01T21:19:05Z")
> [@TheSeaOtter](#): > > So, I’m sure someone’s pointed this out before, but… fuck it, I’m annoyed. > > If we say, for the sake of argument, that the week following a mass shooting is ‘too early’ to talk about taking action to stop them, the full list of days so far this year when it would have been appropriate to discuss are as follows: > > _Wednesday, April 15th._ Tax Day is not the day for politics. ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5924 "2015-10-01T21:25:51Z")
Why don’t we pick a random day next year to discuss guns and gun violence? If we plan ahead - then it won’t be reactionary. Although it will almost certainly follow another mass shooting somewhere - so there is that . . . ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5925 "2015-10-01T21:27:41Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Do we actually know anything about the shooter yet, or is “responsible gun owner” just snark? > > 😕 More snark, or are you actually claiming the NRA has commented on the shooting? Not the NRA as such, but: [Ben Carson and right-wing Twitter politicize Oregon shooting with pro-gun agenda: “Democrats and the media want us unarmed and helpless”](http://www.salon.com/2015/10/01/ben_carson_and_right_wing_twitter_politicize_oregon_shooting_with_pro_gun_agenda_democrats_and_the_media_want_us_unarmed_and_helpless/) At least Alex Jones hasn’t floated a theory that this shooting was a government false-flag op . . . so far as I’ve heard . . . yet . . . ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5926 "2015-10-01T21:38:51Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Do we actually know anything about the shooter yet, or is “responsible gun owner” just snark? **TheSeaOtter** ’s link identfies the shooter as a 20 year old male who sacrificed his life in defense of his 2A rights. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5927 "2015-10-01T21:50:06Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not the NRA as such, but: > > [Ben Carson and right-wing Twitter politicize Oregon shooting with pro-gun agenda: “Democrats and the media want us unarmed and helpless”](http://www.salon.com/2015/10/01/ben_carson_and_right_wing_twitter_politicize_oregon_shooting_with_pro_gun_agenda_democrats_and_the_media_want_us_unarmed_and_helpless/) > > At least Alex Jones hasn’t floated a theory that this shooting was a government false-flag op . . . so far as I’ve heard . . . yet . . . Wow. “… _there will be calls for more gun control, and that happens every time we have one of these incidents_ …” Now **that** is a brain surgeon! ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5928 "2015-10-01T22:28:47Z")
What’s the old movie line…I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more? Well I’m mad as hell about these endless school shootings. People are shooting down our children and it HAS TO STOP! I don’t give a rip right now about anyone’s right to bear arms. I’m ready to make gun ownership by anyone but law enforcement punishable by death. Shut down the damn gun manufacturers. No one in this country is forced to hunt to eat anymore. Get guns out of this country, whatever it takes. If people still won’t give up their guns, tax ammunition. Make each bullet cost $1,500 dollars or more. There is limited damage any nutcase can do with one or two bullets. Call it the Barney Fife law. In a few short years my grandchildren will start going to school. I do NOT want to see them head to school every morning wearing bullet-proof vests and fearing for their lives from some idiot with a gun. I’ve never liked the fact that any ordinary citizen can lead his normal everyday life packing heat. If you have a gun, eventually you will use it or someone will steal it and they will use it. If that gun were never there in the first place, there would be 0% change of it being the instrument involved in shooting anyone. We have an emergency in this country when it comes to guns and our children. We need to wake up and see that and fix it. Full disclosure. One of my sons was present in the theatre complex when James Holmes shot it up, although thankfully in the chamber next to the one he chose for his attack. I will never again be unbiased about the issue of personal weapons. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5929 "2015-10-01T22:32:37Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Link please. [This Internet link provides details in hundreds of gun murders.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18734855#post18734855) There ya go, cupcake. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5930 "2015-10-01T23:58:00Z")
The sheriff handling this latest mass shooting [opposed doing anything after Newtown](http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/10/oregon-sheriff-umpqua-massacre-white-house-gun-control-newtown). Because the Second Commandment is holy. But nothing can be done, observes [The Onion](http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-prevent-says-only-nation-where-regularly-ha-51444), topical and fast as ever. > [@](#): > > ‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens > > tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations. “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this guy from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what he really wanted.” Some of you need to shut up, get the hell out of the way, and let us try to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5931 "2015-10-02T02:14:12Z")
And yet the votes to ban or heavily restrict guns aren’t there. And don’t blame that boogeyman “The NRA”- if Congresscritters vote by lobbying power, then why isn’t there an anti-NRA that is better funded, more politically powerful, and commands more grassroot support? Why doesn’t the Brady Campaign set national gun policy? Why have states loosened restrictions on carry rather than tightened them? Do you think that somehow happened by magic? > [@Cartooniverse](#): > > This Internet link provides details in hundreds of gun murders. > > There ya go, cupcake. Try again. And if you recall I didn’t ask for statistics on gun murders, I asked for a link supporting your claim that > [@](#): > > According to the N.R.A. he has had a blood-red letter day. > > These are the days they dream of. The stuff of advertising campaigns. > The stuff of the 2nd Amendment. IOW, cite facts or shut up, but don’t put words in other peoples’ mouths. And don’t call me cupcake. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5932 "2015-10-02T02:45:16Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > And don’t blame that boogeyman “The NRA”- if Congresscritters vote by lobbying power, then why isn’t there an anti-NRA that is better funded, more politically powerful, and commands more grassroot support? Because the NRA is the lobbying arm of the gun manufacturers, who have virtually unlimited resources to throw against any gun safety legislation. You seem to think this issue is decided by grassroots public support, when it is actually choreographed by money interests, plus a willingness to abandon public safety for private profit. Those who believe the gummint is coming for their guns are just pawns. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5933 "2015-10-02T05:53:30Z")
> [@](#): > > **US mass shooting at [add place]** > > [add photo from scene] > [add photo from scene] > > A gunman has shot numerous people at a US [college / school / mall / other]. > Initial reports are that [add big number] have been killed and [add even bigger number] are seriously wounded. > > Little is known about the gunman at present, but media are swarming to the area and will soon interview someone who will confirm the shooter appeared [completely normal and was a credit to his parents / to be a loner who kept to himself (note: change gender in unlikely event shooter is female)]. > > People across America are sending their prayers to people at [add place], with those from the Mid-West and the South adding a small footnote reminding God that guns aren’t the real problem. > > An NRA spokesman said the mass shooting at [add place] showed it was time for the goverment to attack the real problem of [mental illness / Islamic fundamentalism / something else (not guns)]. Shamelessly stolen from [http://eveningharold.com/2015/10/01/us-mass-shooting-at-add-place/](http://eveningharold.com/2015/10/01/us-mass-shooting-at-add-place/) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5934 "2015-10-02T09:47:49Z")
We need to stop politicizing the deaths of innocent Americans and get back to talking about Benghazi. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5935 "2015-10-02T13:26:03Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > And yet the votes to ban or heavily restrict guns aren’t there. And don’t blame that boogeyman “The NRA”- if Congresscritters vote by lobbying power, then why isn’t there an anti-NRA that is better funded, more politically powerful, and commands more grassroot support? Why doesn’t the Brady Campaign set national gun policy? Why have states loosened restrictions on carry rather than tightened them? Do you think that somehow happened by magic? What would it take to get you to rethink your opposition? What is the difference between Chris Harper-Mercer and _you_? How can the rest of us tell? Hell, how can _you_ tell? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5936 "2015-10-02T13:36:06Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > What would it take to get you to rethink your opposition? > > What is the difference between Chris Harper-Mercer and _you_? How can the rest of us tell? Hell, how can _you_ tell? What is the difference between Chris Harper-Mercer and _you_? How can the rest of us tell? Hell, how can _you_ tell? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5937 "2015-10-02T13:44:54Z")
I’m not armed. Are you? And, assuming you are, what would be _your_ answer? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5938 "2015-10-02T14:10:57Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > I’m not armed. Are you? > > And, assuming you are, what would be _your_ answer? I don’t want to kill people. That is a major difference between you and me. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5939 "2015-10-02T14:13:53Z")
:rolleyes: How do I know you don’t, and never will? How do _you_ even know? Step aside and let the grownups deal with it, please. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/5940 "2015-10-02T14:59:24Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > And yet the votes to ban or heavily restrict guns aren’t there. And don’t blame that boogeyman “The NRA”- if Congresscritters vote by lobbying power, then why isn’t there an anti-NRA that is better funded, more politically powerful, and commands more grassroot support? Why doesn’t the Brady Campaign set national gun policy? Since we’re in the Pit let me point out that this is STUPID. Its stupidity is independent of which side of The Great Gun Divide that I or you or the majority of Americans might be on. Lobbying, and hence legislator response, is NOT proportional to the number of voters who click a particular box. It’s instead related to the vehemence of the support, to how important that issue is to people on one side or the other. Voters who support gun control tend to be rational thinkers(\*), who are concerned about a variety of issues: quality of education, equal opportunity, environmentalism, police brutality etc. etc. Gun freaks, OTOH, tend to be obsessed with a single issue: **Guns Guns GUNS GUNS!!! I want my GUNS!** … This isn’t me just speculating; I’ve read voter interviews of homosexuals who favor rational economic and social policies, but vote for the Republiopaths anyway because of GUNS!!! - - Although I consider myself a rationalist, I was neutral on the topic of gun control until I started reading these threads. The arguments still haven’t swayed me one or the other. But I now oppose America’s gun culture for the simple reason that the Gun Nuts are, as a rule, _ **ridiculously stupid people** _. Hope this helps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729.md?page=296) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729.md?page=298)