27 Dead in Mass Shooting at Elementary School in Newton, CT

I was just supplying the link. It was submitted in professional papers as a theory, I don't imply that it's correct or not.

 

look, we're all sad about the shootings. we all don't want them to happen again. we all, apparently, (including me) have our own pet theories about why the shootings happened.

I'm content that you should conclude what you want, but I object to the insinuation that it is factual that the reason why mass shootings take place is because the younger generation has not been beaten enough.

if there is interest in continued debate, it should probably happen on another thread

 

I didn't mean to suggest that you were arguing any particular point, but rather that the original reference did not support a conclusion that scientific studies are invalid

 

Sorry, I did not intend to debate, merely to voice an opinion based on personal experience of 35 years doing crisis intervention mostly in Texas and the Haight as several in these parts can attest. Often this involved acting while unarmed to disarm Vets and or drugies that had gone over the edge. At the same time my extended family raised many children safely. There is a vast diff between spanking and 'beating'......

 

I was "physically disciplined" by my father until I was nine years old. In fact I was beaten nearly to death by him at around six or seven years old.

Thankfully my mom left him when I was nine.

I'm 48 now, have guns, and have absolutely no desire to take anything out on the rest of the world. I wouldn't even shoot him if I had the chance.

In fact, I wish my little brother would of have gotten spanked more. Maybe then he wouldn't have been jailed so many times for stupid shit.

Just my two cents.

 

If teachers carry guns students will arm up just to raise their hands.

 

...go on.

 

Not being sure what you mean by "nature" or "opportunity" relative to "mass shootings", I can agree, at least to some extent, with your conclusion regarding social/environmental cause. That is, if you mean the ever-growing lack of personal responsibility and accountability in combination with the all too common practice of blaming others for the obstacles and hardships one may encounter in life.

 

by nature I mean the genetic make up or whatever gives an individual their tendencies toward certain behavior. unless there has been an evolutionary shift leading to certain types reproducing more or less frequently (to some degree plausible), the nature of individuals should remain static over time.

I suppose that there could be a greater prevalence of certain types due to rates of reproduction, but I don't see this as a potential primary cause

by opportunity, I mean the availability of means to carry out mass killings.

semi-automatic pistols seem to be the weapon of choice in most mass shootings. easily concealed, but also offering a high fire rate. a variety of weapons are used in mass shootings though.

the greater availability of weapons in the us versus other countries may be related to the greater frequency of mass shootings here. for example, there was also an attack on an elementary school in china not too long ago. 22 children were attacked, but the attacker only had a knife, which might explain why no one actually died in the attacks.

however, guns, including semi-automatics, have been available in the us for a while now. I'm not aware of any increase in the availability of guns that would account for the increase in mass shootings

so my conclusion is that the increase in shootings is likely because of a change in us society rather than a change in nature or opportunity

limiting access to firearms might reduce the fatality rates in attacks, but access to firearms does not explain the increase in mass shootings

this is one to add to the pet theory bag. and by calling it a pet theory, I don't mean to say that it is necessarily wrong. it's just an idea that makes sense intuitively as the cause, but has not been established through evidence.

I'm not sure that the tendencies named are on the rise, or if they are on the rise, that they are the cause.

if there is indeed an increase in blaming others, that might account for why people might feel entitled to kill others, even strangers.

however, even if we accept this as true, I don't think it is sufficient to explain the increase in shootings. it seems to me that there has to be an element of rage and desperation that motivates the killing in the first place.

I'm not sure that the movie "anger management" is a reliable source, but an interesting observation was made in it. That there are two kinds of angry people: the ones who yell at the cashiers, and the cashiers who snap and go on shooting sprees.

My pet theory is that the us has been overrun by total assholes. The assholes control the banks, most corporations, the media, have a stranglehold on Washington, and basically ass-rape as many people as they can get away with in pursuit of their interests and agenda. Those assholes in turn inspire other people to be assholes by spreading ill will and a "me first and fuck you" attitude.

All the ill will creates alienation and lots of angry cashiers, who then snap and go on killing sprees.

 

There are nearly 130,000 licensed firearms dealers in the United States. 51,000 are retail gun stores.

37,000 grocery stores.

14,000 McDonald's restaurants.

13,000 Starbucks.

FBI's statistics show that there were more than 16.8 million background checks for gun purchases in 2012. The highest number recorded to date.

Gun retailers in Newtown and around the country say the massacre has sparked a surge in gun sales over the weekend, some reporting multiple requests for the AR-15 style rifle used by Adam Lanza.

: /

Read more: http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/2...ast-food-restaurants-in-america#ixzz2FSd0Lvjy

 

Basic civility and politeness are definitely on the decline. Being treated like shit on a day to day basis at my job made me lose my faith in humanity. It could certainly drive a less stable mind over the edge.

The Aurora movie theatre shooting saw a similiar spike in gun sales.

 

I suppose you'll all be much more comfortable when they use Samurai swords.. Or hijack school buses with box cutters and drive them into tall buildings..

 

From Friday to Sunday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation approved background checks for 2,887 people who wanted to buy a firearm. That's up 43 percent from the previous week, the Denver Post reports.
"A lot of it is people saying, 'I didn't think I needed a gun, but now I do,'". "When it happens in your backyard, people start reassessing — 'Hey, I go to the movies.'"
But the jump in gun sales extends beyond Colorado. A pawn shop owner in Durant, Oklahoma, said he sold more guns on Saturday morning than he had in "several years,"

: /

 

odon:

Something you may not understand is that are 11 different types of FFL's. Many of those "licensed firearms dealers" are so licensed simply to own one of a particular type of firearm as a collector -- some collectors are required the license for legally owning more than a specific number of guns. Gunsmiths are required an FFL even though they may sell no guns or ammunition.

And, believe it or not, a good number of those 37,000 "grocery stores" are also "licensed firearms dealers" -- even Walmart in some areas and lots and lots of small, mom and pop stores in rural areas. Yeah, that's right.

Are you saying there are too many "licensed firearms dealers" or not enough Mcdonald's and Starbucks. And, did your source actually refer to McDonald's as "restuarants"?

 

Thanks for the clarification. Too many "licensed firearms dealers".

As the backlash against America's lax gun laws continued to grow after the Newtown tragedy, Wal-Mart announced yesterday that it was suspending the sale of models of the AR-15 Bushmaster rifle similar to the one police say Adam Lanza used last Friday.

The decision by America's most recognised discount retailer followed a similar move by another chain, Dick's Sporting Goods, to suspend sales of all hunting rifles. At the same time, one of the country's largest asset management firms, Cerberus Capital, said it would sell its stake in Freedom Group, the maker of the Bushmaster, lending weight to the sense that patience with years of inertia on gun control may have snapped.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...spend-rifle-sales-after-backlash-8424569.html

Restaurant
A place where people pay to eat meals.

Meal
Any of the regular occasions in a day when a reasonably large amount of food is eaten.

Hard attack weighting to happen...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jv53izkr9s"]The Triple Double Quarter Pounder - YouTube

 

Thanks for your clarification. I didn't think of Wikipedia as a source for that info -- ' got mine from the booklet that came with the application form.

In view of the technical definition, I can accept that McDonald's is a "restuarant" -- but, still...

I didn't watch the vid for fear of raising my colesterol level.



(edit) Whoa! Got that edit in there, huh. Oh, well. No worries.

 

The info to the right is quite good, too.

...was just bein' a smart ass - sorry.

 

I sure would be.

 

Yes, I recognized that, but......... so was I :biggrin: