# The Newtown shooting was really really bad... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 8, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825 "2013-12-08T16:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/141 "2013-12-13T01:12:32Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > Careful now…I’m assuming this isn’t referring to me… Ooops, yeah… no. I was addressing **Damuri Ajashi**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/142 "2013-12-13T01:19:44Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > No country that requires its citizens to license and register their handguns before they can roll around orgasmically in a giant pile of them can truly be called “free,” sir. I tried that once. The trigger locks kept poking me. Anyway, we’re free to get abortions and gay marriages, so enjoy your fascism, you jackbooted Yanks. [does the happy freedom dance] ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/143 "2013-12-13T01:31:36Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > OK, I’ve made a number of arguments. Name perhaps 3 that you think are specifically stupid, and why. How about this one right here: > [@Kable](#): > > > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > > > No country that requires its citizens to license and register their handguns before they can roll around orgasmically in a giant pile of them can truly be called “free,” sir. > > Truer words have never been spoken. Your working definition of “free” is tautological. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/144 "2013-12-13T01:45:57Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Your working definition of “free” is tautological. It was a joke you idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/145 "2013-12-13T01:49:56Z")
The prob, Kably-boo, is that you say so many dumb things that your attempts at humour get lost in the shuffle. Anyway, your view of “freedom” is hopelessly tainted by the fantasy you’ve been sold of ruggedly gun-totingly carving out the wilderness or some such crap. At most, you have to wait for the snowplows to clear the road to the mall. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/146 "2013-12-13T01:56:35Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > I used to wonder that. Then I had to defend myself with my pistol in a home invasion and it saved my life just like it saves the lives of a lot of others. Since then, I’ve been kind of partial to those guns, and they sure are fun to shoot. You ever consider any of that? just maybe?? If you wondered whether the right to bear arms was actually a tragic mistake (etc.\*\* QS\*\*'s pretty hyperbolic statement) why did you have a pistol? I mean, it seems as though owning a gun would be the end result of a fairly decisive opinion on whether they were useful for self defense, on the side that they were. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/147 "2013-12-13T02:01:56Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > > [@andros](#): > > > > Your working definition of “free” is tautological. > > It was a joke you idiot. Oh, I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call it “a joke.” But it is definitely tautological. . ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/148 "2013-12-13T02:11:03Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > If you wondered whether the right to bear arms was actually a tragic mistake (etc.\*\* QS\*\*'s pretty hyperbolic statement) why did you have a pistol? I mean, it seems as though owning a gun would be the end result of a fairly decisive opinion on whether they were useful for self defense, on the side that they were. I had a guns from before. Hey, since were in the pit I can ask. Do you have Aspergers? ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/149 "2013-12-13T02:12:29Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Oh, I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call it “a joke.” Yeah, I roll on my guns. They’re sharp moron. > [@](#): > > But it is definitely tautological. > . How so? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/150 "2013-12-13T02:15:19Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > I had a guns from before. Sure, I get that. I’m just asking, if you were still wondering, if you were uncertain as to whether the right to own guns was based on a tragic mistake, why did you own a gun in the first place? For me personally, if I shell out the money to own something it would be having already decided whether or not the basis for my owning that thing was sound and reasonable. Especially if I were obligated to some level of responsibility with that object. > [@](#): > > Hey, since were in the pit I can ask. Do you have Aspergers? Nope. I think you probably could have asked that in GD, too, if you’d done so in that way. It seems to me that it was more the whole “I’ll just link this here, no more said about it” method of you doing so before that brought a mod down on you. Do you, out of interest? ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/151 "2013-12-13T02:20:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > The prob, Kably-boo, is that you say so many dumb things that your attempts at humour get lost in the shuffle. Yeah, like what? > [@](#): > > Anyway, your view of “freedom” is hopelessly tainted by the fantasy you’ve been sold of ruggedly gun-totingly carving out the wilderness or some such crap. At most, you have to wait for the snowplows to clear the road to the mall. Your countries gun laws are a lot less free than mine. Don’t think so, try buying an 20 round rifle magazine. Oh wait, it’s on the list of things you are not free to own. So sorry, just pretend you wouldn’t want one. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/152 "2013-12-13T02:25:50Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Nope. I think you probably could have asked that in GD, too, if you’d done so in that way. It seems to me that it was more the whole “I’ll just link this here, no more said about it” method of you doing so before that brought a mod down on you. Some other spectrum disorder or similar? > [@](#): > > Do you, out of interest? No, but I’ve read about it and conversed with people with it. They talk and right a lot like you. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/153 "2013-12-13T02:33:32Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > How so? Put down your _Soldier of Fortune_ and pick up a book sometime. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/154 "2013-12-13T02:35:41Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > Some other spectrum disorder or similar? Nope. I do have OCD, but that’s about the sum of my mental health oddities. > [@](#): > > No, but I’ve read about it and conversed with people with it. They talk and right a lot like you. If nothing else, I don’t talk like I write (whether I actually make any **more** sense in speech is another thing entirely ;)). But anyway, if i’m reminding you of acquaintances on the autistic spectrum, it’s just coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/155 "2013-12-13T03:02:46Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Put down your _Soldier of Fortune_ and pick up a book sometime. What would you suggest? ---
**Author:** ![Kable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kable)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/156 "2013-12-13T03:05:55Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Nope. I do have OCD, but that’s about the sum of my mental health oddities. If nothing else, I don’t talk like I write (whether I actually make any **more** sense in speech is another thing entirely ;)). But anyway, if i’m reminding you of acquaintances on the autistic spectrum, it’s just coincidence. I don’t know, this all seems to fit: > [@wiki](#): > > Speech and language > Although individuals with Asperger syndrome acquire language skills without significant general delay and their speech typically lacks significant abnormalities, language acquisition and use is often atypical.[8] Abnormalities include verbosity, abrupt transitions, literal interpretations and miscomprehension of nuance, use of metaphor meaningful only to the speaker, auditory perception deficits, unusually pedantic, formal or idiosyncratic speech, and oddities in loudness, pitch, intonation, prosody, and rhythm.[1] Echolalia has also been observed in individuals with AS.[35] > > Three aspects of communication patterns are of clinical interest: poor prosody, tangential and circumstantial speech, and marked verbosity. Although inflection and intonation may be less rigid or monotonic than in classic autism, people with AS often have a limited range of intonation: speech may be unusually fast, jerky or loud. Speech may convey a sense of incoherence; the conversational style often includes monologues about topics that bore the listener, fails to provide context for comments, or fails to suppress internal thoughts. Individuals with AS may fail to monitor whether the listener is interested or engaged in the conversation. The speaker’s conclusion or point may never be made, and attempts by the listener to elaborate on the speech’s content or logic, or to shift to related topics, are often unsuccessful.[8] > > Children with AS may have an unusually sophisticated vocabulary at a young age and have been colloquially called “little professors”, but have difficulty understanding figurative language and tend to use language literally.[1] Children with AS appear to have particular weaknesses in areas of nonliteral language that include humor, irony, teasing, and sarcasm. Although individuals with AS usually understand the cognitive basis of humor, they seem to lack understanding of the intent of humor to share enjoyment with others.[18] Despite strong evidence of impaired humor appreciation, anecdotal reports of humor in individuals with AS seem to challenge some psychological theories of AS and autism.[36] > **[Asperger syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome)** > > Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, is a diagnostic label that has historically been used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Asperger syndrome has been merged with other conditions into autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is no longer a diagnosis in the WHO's ICD-11 or the APA's DSM-5-TR.\[1... ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/157 "2013-12-13T03:21:49Z")
Did you copy and paste that section on\*\* speech\*\* and language without reading that about half plus of it refers specifically to **speech**? “This all seems to fit” seems - beyond pedantically - hyperbolic. Anyway, like I said, I do have OCD, so I have been psychiatrically evaluated. I’d like to think that at some point it would have been pointed out if they thought I had some other undiagnosed mental condition. And from my personal experience i’d say I don’t have anything like that. I wouldn’t have said it counts, but apparently you would, so i’ll point out that it’s never before been suggested to me by strangers on the internet that they thought I was somewhere on the autistic spectrum, or indeed by people I know well. So I guess it’s myself, mental health professionals, and everyone else i’ve ever known plus everyone i’ve ever met vs. your opinion on that. Maybe it’s some kind of bias at work? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/158 "2013-12-13T03:33:40Z")
**Kable** , bubbeleh, are you posting drunk tonight? Very poor idea, really. I know from experience. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/159 "2013-12-13T03:44:20Z")
> [@Kable](#): > > What would you suggest? Any good _Calvin and Hobbes_ compilation. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825/160 "2013-12-13T03:45:22Z")
Are there really _bad_ Calvin and Hobbes compilations? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newtown-shooting-was-really-really-bad/675825.md?page=9)