Another school massacre

[Belle]

You'd expect school to be one of the safest places on the planet for children. Not so in the USA, very sadly. This time it's Texas and the murder of more young children. It's as horrific as it is ritualistic and predictable. All the hand-wringing, excuse-making and finger-pointing changes nothing. All the speeches and empathy and promises; nothing.

The USA is not a safe place to live. The usual cries of 'hard right' and 'gun control' will ring in the empty air. Everybody will go about their business, until the next time when the rotation of grief and sympathy begins again.

Stop and think; your country has valorized violence through popular culture for circa 120 years; modern cinema is awash with violence, guns, shouting and uber-aggression. From the days of the old west, the American character of resilience and pioneering chutzpah was forged by the gun. That and bravery. Hemingway, Cooper, Hawks - they all loved hunting and shooting; it was and still is the locus of masculinity. But the perversion of that on the screen is reprehensible. Peckinpah through to Tarantino; pornographic violence.

And you're probably all still wondering why you got the Hays Code.

[jserraglio]

And you're probably all still wondering why you got the Hays Code.

Nope, we’re wondering why we still got the likes of Greg Abbott.

You lost it at the movies, dearest Belle.

October, 2015

[Belle]

That's just like saying cars are responsible for road deaths, when they are about 50% of the problem!! This is just avoiding the discussion. When you talk about your national road toll do you say "less people should have cars; there are just too many"? Seriously, now. Make some intelligent arguments!!

And then I forgot to mention from my list of US cultural problems street violence (defund the police) and ultra-violent misogynistic black rap music.

You can't tell me there weren't red flags with this perpetrator going back at least 2 years; signs that suggested somebody didn't just get out of bed one day, yawn and then say "I think I'll kill some kids today".

[jserraglio]

Seriously, now. Make some intelligent arguments!!

States like Mississippi with the least restrictive gun laws have the most gun related deaths. See the latest report on that correlation: https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/

On road kill by auto, whoa there, pardner! You know full well that comparing a car to a gun is utter sophistry. They have totally different purposes.

On American flicks, in schoolmarm fashion, you call out Sam Pekinpah and Quentin Tarantino for pornographic violence. Any fair-minded person who has actually seen their movies would recognize your statement as hyperbolic nonsense.

As for our rap music, it certainly can be misogynist, but at least it is not as pusillanimously hypocritical as your misogynistic demand just a week ago that girls ought to pose as vestal virgins:

Girls, stop jumping into bed with any man; they don't love you, they only want sex. Put a bit of value on your self worth and ask for more - even a REAL relationship, dare I say it!!!

[Rach3]

Texas is a horrible place with horrible leaders. Can’t keep its lights and heat on , nor its’ school children safe and alive, yet makes sacrosanct and easy the right to own and buy unlimited deadly guns to open carry while denying abortion rights because Texas claims to be“pro life.”

No wonder the Annual Meeting of the NRA is scheduled Friday in Houston with Trump, Abbott,Cruz among the speakers.Criminals all.

“Guns don’t kill people,people kill people.” I’d suggest the Uvalde killer would not have done so as easily without a gun.

We don’t need hunting or target shooting.There are plenty of sporting activities thatdon’t require instrumentalities that can be easily used to mass murder.A gun kept at home only and only for protection from an intruder may be justifiable, although most Americans are safer not trying to use one mishandling it.


America is broken. No one has the guts, will, or ability to do anything. SCOTUS is about to rule against New York’s gun law which is much more restrictive than Texas,see the “SCOTUS gun nuts” topic here.

[barney]

I wondered how long it would take Belle to argue that this too is the fault of the horrible left. About 0.6 seconds. Because it's the left that supports the NRA and won't even contemplate changing the laws, of course. The US has a deep, deep moral sickness when it comes to guns.

[maestrob]

I wondered how long it would take Belle to argue that this too is the fault of the horrible left. About 0.6 seconds. Because it's the left that supports the NRA and won't even contemplate changing the laws, of course. The US has a deep, deep moral sickness when it comes to guns.

Couldn't agree more.

It will reassure readers here that NYC and State have drawn up replacement legislation should our current gun laws be ruled unconstitutional.

NO "open carry" here in NYC.

The agenda of the freedom loving radical right is to impose their POV on all of us by taking away OUR freedoms.

Nuts to that.

Never forget.

[jserraglio]

https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/

[Rach3]

Joe Scarborough makes the good point that “fundamental” rights are not “absolute”, eg. free speech does not excuse libel, abortion can be regulated after viability. Despite the Supreme Court’s totally ridiculous historical misreading of the 2nd Amend., gun “rights” should and can be regulated, especially given the deadly nature of guns ; gun “ rights” are not “ absolute” as Abbott, Cruz, the NRA and similar vermin claim.

[Holden Fourth]

The one thing prevalent in most of these posts is the use of the word 'guns' as if the gun itself has its own personality. Less mentioned is/are the shooter/s yet they are the ones who make the decision to pull the trigger. Without that decision making process, these mass murders would simply not happen.

Analysing this, nobody seems to be focusing on what seems to be the root cause of the issue - the mental health of a section of the population who see it as personally OK to use firearms to kill other people. There are plenty of other countries where getting hold of a firearm is not too hard a process but they don't seem to have the same mass shooting issues that the US currently does.

Research clearly shows that violent forms of media do not actually increase the odds of mass killings by firearms so what is it about either the American psyche or the actual cultural mores of the country that seems to bring this about? Is it possibly a badly broken health system where many of those with mental illnesses don't get treatment because they simply cannot afford it? If I wanted to do something about the whole issue this is the place I would start.

[Rach3]

Analysing this, nobody seems to be focusing on what seems to be the root cause of the issue - the mental health of a section of the population who see it as personally OK to use firearms to kill people.

In fact, as noted in my earlier post, eliminate guns and it will be infinitely more difficult for the mentally ill to commit mass murder. The weapon of choice for these sickos is not a sword , rather , as in Texas, an AR - 15.

[Rach3]

Analysing this, nobody seems to be focusing on what seems to be the root cause of the issue - the mental health of a section of the population who see it as personally OK to use firearms to kill people.

In fact, as noted in my earlier post, eliminate guns and it will be infinitely more difficult for the mentally ill to commit mass murder. The weapon of choice for these sickos is not a sword , rather , as in Texas, an AR - 15.

Beto O’ Rourke today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtYnKn1v82Y

[Rach3]

Sen. Murphy’s response to the “mental illness, not guns” dodge:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics ... index.html

[barney]

Analysing this, nobody seems to be focusing on what seems to be the root cause of the issue - the mental health of a section of the population who see it as personally OK to use firearms to kill people.

In fact, as noted in my earlier post, eliminate guns and it will be infinitely more difficult for the mentally ill to commit mass murder. The weapon of choice for these sickos is not a sword , rather , as in Texas, an AR - 15.

Precisely. This is absolutely the point. I don't think these sickos would carry out mass murder with a knife, or at least not nearly so many of them. Up close and personal, and too much risk of fight-back.

[barney]

In my view, Greg Abbott has blood on his hands. And all the Republican whack-jobs. What we've been hearing here this week about training for five-year-olds if they find themselves under attack is beyond belief. In what sort of sick society is this necessary? Truly, the US is home to the best AND worst - so much to admire, so much to lament.

[maestrob]

In my view, Greg Abbott has blood on his hands. And all the Republican whack-jobs. What we've been hearing here this week about training for five-year-olds if they find themselves under attack is beyond belief. In what sort of sick society is this necessary? Truly, the US is home to the best AND worst - so much to admire, so much to lament.

You hit the nail on its head, Barney. Without Republican recalcitrance in Congress, sensible reforms would be possible here. Democrats have been pleading for this in the Senate for decades, yet Republicans, who are in total thrall to the NRA and its political contributions, have blocked universal background checks and elimination of sales of assault weapons and over-sized magazines over and over again.

Sure, mental health is an issue, but so is selling weapons of war to teenagers.

[Rach3]

An academic study , conclusion at end , although common sense is adaquate:

https://academic.oup.com/epirev/article ... 693bc7595b