Gun violence- are you a victim or know somone who was?

That's so sad, Eric.

In this guy's case, it wasn't entirely shocking. He had a bad home life, always came to school wearing the same, dirty clothes. He looked and seemed depressed. He was bullied a lot. I talked with him a lot, and he would open up sometimes. I can't say that I thought he was suicidal but when I found out, I guess all of the signs added up. But, many people who are depressed don't take their lives, so.

I don't think that people who commit suicide are weak, they have just lost hope. Like there's no hope at all in their mind and heart. I have had depressed days before, like we all do, but I've never felt hopeless or in despair. I think that would be a really lonely place, and that's probably what they're feeling.

 

I've been that low before and know that feeling all too well. Experienced it a few times when I was younger. Something always intervened though. I was fortunate...

 

Maybe someone brought you hope. I think back to him all the time, and wonder if I could have said something...or done something. I thought I was trying to make him feel accepted. I know he always felt like an outcast. It's amazing how mean kids can be to other kids. That, added on to what he was dealing with at home, he lost hope.

 

I'm sure his home life is what needed the most attention. Home is the foundation and strength for all of us. If you don't have that to lean on because it's crumbling, you can easily lose your sole.

 

i've been avoiding this thread, not because of the subject matter but because it was already like 5 pages by the first time i saw it. but i had a little time to kill tonight so i gave it a read.

anyway, i have a few thoughts. primarily, i'm surprised at how little gun violence people have seen here. i have never experienced it myself; i grew up around guns but was never directly threatened with one. i just come from a hillbilly family who liked to drink whiskey and do target practice. specifically on thanksgiving, the family tradition was for all the guys to get drunk first thing in the morning and chase all the hunters off my grandpa's property, while shooting at empty beer cans and occasionally more creative targets in between hunters. i did have one scare during thanksgiving hunter patrol, when the gun jammed up and then randomly shot while i was carrying it back to the rest of the guys, but even as a child i knew enough to never point it toward people so there was no issue other than my heart pounding out of my chest when it happened. i also hit myself in the thumb with a BB ricochet once. and one time, i was with my dad on the back road behind my parents' house and someone started shooting down the road, close enough that we could hear the bullets whizzing by our heads. but that's as close to personally being involved in any gun violence that i can recall.

but really, i can't believe that everybody doesn't know someone who has been involved in some sort of gun incident. they're common enough, and everyone knows enough people, that i can't imagine not knowing anyone. 3 out of 4 of my grandparents went to war for starters. not to mention all the other veterans i know. then there's the suicides. i was in about 4th grade the first time someone i know killed himself with a gun. lately it's been a big thing around here; i live in a town of maybe 15000, and we've had i think four high school suicides just in the last year. i only knew one of the four, but that was a gunshot (i think at least some of the others were too, but i really only concerned myself with the kid i knew). when i was in college i delivered pizzas in an area that included the college itself, the richest section of the city, and also the most dangerous ghetto in the city, along with a few areas in between. i primarily worked the day shift so the most threatening thing that happened to me was a kid whipping a basketball at me, but most of my nighttime coworkers were robbed at gunpoint at one time or another. i had a cousin who was shot to death by the police for trying to sell drugs while unarmed himself, although he was white at the time so it was apparently ok. on the other end of that spectrum, i have a part time employee who is also a police officer and has told me a couple stories about crazy people with guns that he had to deal with. and this is all just off the top of my head; i feel like there must be several things i'm forgetting. not to mention all the things that i don't even know about. edited: i got on facebook after posting this because nobody's posting on hf tonight, and was immediately reminded of the guy i've worked with a few times who actually got kind of famous for helping kids during a school shooting a few years ago. edited again: went back to facebook after posting the previous edit (if you fuckers would post something i wouldn't have to resort to this), and was this time immediately reminded of my friend from high school who decided to go fight in iraq and got shot in the head his first week there.

finally and most importantly, airheads is definitely worth a watch. i saw it a couple times back in high school, and even then i knew it wasn't really a good movie, but it had that indefinable entertaining factor anyway. i really don't remember anything about it now, but i'd be interested in watching it again. probably after at least 4 beers of course.

 

Holy smokes......
What was he thinking? World must have been falling apart.

 

Sounds like you hit a few home runs that night. The closest I've ever come to catching anyone trying to steal anything from me was when I was jumped by two guys the first time and 4 guys the next. No weapons involved (thank goodness), and I walked away with everything I had in my pockets. Fucked up my knee though.

 

Hey Meliai, I meant to tell you this when I recommended that your boyfriend do rehearsals. The reason why he should do rehearsals to make sure everything goes smooth is because the bad guys do rehearsals. Most of them rehearse, but at a minimum they all plan. They plan thier actions from start to finish. Just a thought.

 

Yep. They get a lot more practice than we do. I'm trained to a standard more than many are and even I know I'll probably need to account for missing with half my shots. Unless you are a cop, soldier or criminal, we are at a disadvantage when the time comes.

Never mind if you might face mire than one.

 

And that's why every handgun owner, especially those with a concealed carry permit, should get to the range more often, to maintain or gain proficiency. At a minimum, it builds confidence.

 

It should be a mandatory thing. But many will argue that it will be unfair for a plethora of reasons. Can't afford the courses, single parent can't afford to have the kids watched etc etc etc etc.

 

True. And that's why there's this thing called hindsight, and survival of the fittest. May the man with the fastest magazine change, win....

 

Nah. That will never fly. We are supposed to prop up those less fortunate. If they have a rough childhood they have to commit crimes. Since they don't have opportunity it's our fault and we owe them.

And we can't house them in prison.. It might be overcrowded and not to a standard they deserve. God forbid they might not be able to get rehabilitated if they are deprived of cable or the food is crappy.

 

Always rehearse

 

LOL! Yes, God forbid. So crazy how they are treated better than someone trying to make an honest living.

 

That was funny as fuck! There's some dumbasses, and this was simply "karma" at work.

 

Every parent should show thier kid this video. This little girl did what all kids need to do if faced with this situation:

 

I have been shot at with a bb gun not hit but my friend was.
My aunt was shot and killed.
My uncle was with a friend in a robbery. My uncle gave up his wallet and lived. His friend refused to give up his wallet and died.