# The tree of liberty needs to be watered with the blood of school children **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 15, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854 "2018-02-15T02:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/61 "2018-02-15T15:51:32Z")
On February 14, 1929 seven men were murdered in an organized crime operation that later came to be called “The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre”. Seven! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/62 "2018-02-15T15:51:43Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > the biggest load of crap since Paul Bunyan’s ox took his last dump. Oh babe, I’m so stealing this line. Putin’s allies in the NRA love days like yesterday. It makes their donations spike. Gun makers rejoice as any talk of the most innocuous regulation sets off panic and people want to grab all the guns and ammo they can before god forbid they might not be able to buy as freely at some distant point in the future. For enough people, yesterday’s deaths are the price they are all too willing to pay to have their precious guns. No amount of bloodshed will ever be enough. Repealing the second will take generations, but if we keep voting Democratic eventually enough of the Supreme Court will change so that the worst decision since Dred Scott can be overturned. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/63 "2018-02-15T15:53:19Z")
> [@Unpronounceable](#): > > or the [fourth](https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/01/us/school-shootings-in-2018/index.html)…it depends on how much you stretch the definition of “school shooting” for PR purposes. Yeah, once they get to college somebody else has to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/64 "2018-02-15T16:16:56Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > For those of you with obsessive-compulsive firearms disorder, realize this: there is a number. Whether it’s the total number of incidents, or the rate of incidents, or number of victims or the frequency of deaths, there will be a number at which you say “Holy shit, that’s too many! We have to change this.” > > For the most impaired among you, we will never reach that number. However, for many of you, it will come. > > The question that you probably won’t have the guts to ask yourself at that point is, “Why wasn’t this number enough?” Why wasn’t Feb 14, 2018 enough for you? This seems optimistic. If Sandy Hook didn’t do it, can anything? ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/65 "2018-02-15T16:31:54Z")
Pres. Trump may refer to places Angola as “third world” but an incident like this is unheard. I would that hope there might be some action that will will pass review with the gun groups. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/66 "2018-02-15T17:06:01Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The dead schoolchildren should be hailed as heroes who gave their lives so that we could maintain our Second Amendment freedoms. > > I’m serious: the Dems in Congress should sponsor legislation giving the wounded and the families of the dead in such incidents the same benefits that soldiers wounded in combat, and the survivors of soldiers killed in combat, receive. > > And to make sure it ticks off the right, and makes the news, those killed in such shootings should be eligible for burial in our military cemeteries. They’ve given their lives for the ‘freedoms’ that conservatives value more highly than any other, so why the fuck not? And be sure to quote Bill O’Reilly, who said gun violence was “the price of freedom.” ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/67 "2018-02-15T17:07:12Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > Pres. Trump may refer to places Angola as “third world” but an incident like this is unheard. > > I would that hope there might be some action that will will pass review with the gun groups. The only action likely to pass review with gun groups would be more and easier access to more powerful and deadly guns. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/68 "2018-02-15T17:15:32Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > This seems optimistic. If Sandy Hook didn’t do it, can anything? The opinion among the most _bien pensant_ of the right wing is that Sandy Hook never happened. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/69 "2018-02-15T17:20:00Z")
[According to the lawyer](http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-sb-active-shooter-marjory-stoneman-high-20180214-story.html) he legally owned that AR-15. Thank ghod he was a law-abiding gun owner, and not one of the dangerous types that acquire weapons illegally. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/70 "2018-02-15T17:36:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > For enough people, yesterday’s deaths are the price they are all too willing to pay to have their precious guns. No amount of bloodshed will ever be enough. Repealing the second will take generations, but if we keep voting Democratic eventually enough of the Supreme Court will change so that the worst decision since Dred Scott can be overturned. Almost. If the price were their family and children, then they would find it too high a price. As the price is _other people_’s families and children, they find that price just fine. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/71 "2018-02-15T17:42:19Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > There have been 18 school shooting since January Not that anyone on this board cares, but take that with a [HUGE grain of salt](https://www.themaven.net/theresurgent/erick-erickson/reality-is-bad-enough-H79v7Ywg00a0zYZr4nJJHQ?utm_content=buffer892a2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer&full=1). The statistics include a man who shot a bb gun at a bus window and someone shooting a gun off campus at Cal State which struck a building. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/72 "2018-02-15T17:56:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [According to the lawyer](http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-sb-active-shooter-marjory-stoneman-high-20180214-story.html) he legally owned that AR-15. > Thank ghod he was a law-abiding gun owner, and not one of the dangerous types that acquire weapons illegally. You do realize that if the shooter was law abiding he would not have shot those school kids? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/73 "2018-02-15T17:59:02Z")
His name is “Czarcasm”. That may clue you in as to the nature of that post, Octy. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/74 "2018-02-15T17:59:17Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You do realize that if the shooter was law abiding he would not have shot those school kids? no one is a criminal until they are ---
**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:** [February 15, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/75 "2018-02-15T18:09:27Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You do realize that if the shooter was law abiding he would not have shot those school kids? You do realize you are a clueless buffoon? That’s the fucking point, batshit-for-brains. The constant bleating from the right about how we should go after those reprehensible types that buy guns illegally and not those law-abiding patriots that buy their guns legally completely ignores that fact that you hug these “patriots” to your bosom right up to the point that they snap. This guy was a MAGA hat wearing right-wing legal gun owner. A Patriot to the core…right until yesterday afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/76 "2018-02-15T18:14:02Z")
The only way to actually solve this problem is to take a lot of guns away from a lot of people, and put a million or so people in jail who aren’t there now. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/77 "2018-02-15T18:16:09Z")
I’m in full agreement with reforming gun laws but if gun rights advocates have a point, it’s that the frequency of mass killings is a relatively new and modern phenomenon. Repeat-fire weapons have been around a long time, through periods of increased and decreased regulation. Is it that dangerous ideas spread more easily and are more frequently imitated now? And if so, does this in and of itself justify sweeping gun control legislation? ---
**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:** [February 15, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/78 "2018-02-15T18:19:41Z")
_ **It’s the hate-filled gun-grabbing who caused this massacre.** _ If all the students had been packing heat, as God intended, don’t you think Cruz would have been taken out before he killed 17? Would he have even dared to attack this way? And … “Cruz” ?? I don’t know if he’s related to the Cruz who helped kill JFK, but he’d have been unable to smuggle his way into America if the Wall had been built. I blame Obama for not deporting this Islamist terrorist; shouldn’t the un-American surname have been a tell-tale? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/79 "2018-02-15T18:20:00Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The only way to actually solve this problem is to take a lot of guns away from a lot of people, and put a million or so people in jail who aren’t there now. I’m all for it. Round them up and melt down the guns. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854/80 "2018-02-15T18:22:55Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > “Harrassing” aside :dubious:, gun control laws in every other country yield pretty good results, though. Luckily for us, America is unique! I’ve always been a sort of “pro 2nd Amendment” type person, but I have to say this is way out of hand and enough is enough. It is just too easy for the wrong people to get a gun. In some states it is damn near impossible to legally get one (but oh so easy to do so illegally) and other states have virtually no controls at all. There needs to be a federal set of laws, not the crazy quilt mess we have now (cue the “states rights” crowd). We need a federal FBI database of known felons and crazies who should not ever be able to buy one. That data needs to be maintained and be updated as is fitting and needs to be readily accessible to reputable gun shops and dealers (for FREE of course) and enforced. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tree-of-liberty-needs-to-be-watered-with-the-blood-of-school-children/808854.md?page=5)