20+ murdered in US school shooting. Many primary school children among the dead.

[whitey]

Oh FFS, we have a shooting and this gun control shite starts up again. CT has probably the strictest gun control laws in the flicking country. I know, I lived there for 5 years. (BTW I don't own a gun and don't want to either)

This lady has a mentally unstable adult son living under her roof, yet she chooses to (1) keep guns on the premises and (2) obviously keep them in such a manner that he can gain access to them.

Why didn't she get them the Fvck out of the house and get her son the help he so obviously needed.

If he had stolen her car and ploughed into a group of school kids at a bus stop do you think we should ban cars.

[J70]

Oh FFS, we have a shooting and this gun control shite starts up again. CT has probably the strictest gun control laws in the flicking country. I know, I lived there for 5 years. (BTW I don't own a gun and don't want to either)

This lady has a mentally unstable adult son living under her roof, yet she chooses to (1) keep guns on the premises and (2) obviously keep them in such a manner that he can gain access to them.

Why didn't she get them the Fvck out of the house and get her son the help he so obviously needed.

If he had stolen her car and ploughed into a group of school kids at a bus stop do you think we should ban cars.

"A shooting"...

[J70]

Oh FFS, we have a shooting and this gun control shite starts up again. CT has probably the strictest gun control laws in the flicking country. I know, I lived there for 5 years. (BTW I don't own a gun and don't want to either)

This lady has a mentally unstable adult son living under her roof, yet she chooses to (1) keep guns on the premises and (2) obviously keep them in such a manner that he can gain access to them.

Why didn't she get them the Fvck out of the house and get her son the help he so obviously needed.

If he had stolen her car and ploughed into a group of school kids at a bus stop do you think we should ban cars.

Are cars built to kill and maim people?

Some people are too deranged and/or stupid to be allowed access to guns, yet the US right wing will not countenance any attempt to restrict access and or encourage background checking and waiting periods. And that's before you even get into the assault weapons stuff. Why the f**k does someone outside law enforcement or the military need a weapon that can carry 30+ bullets in a clip and fire them all in seconds?

And how about planes, if we're going to make stupid comparisons? They're lethal when things go wrong, but after 9/11, when it finally hit home in the US that psychopaths really could cause havoc in their own back yard, American people acceded to having to walk through all kinds of security hoops so that they could travel safely.

Let's hope no one belonging to you is ever killed by some nut in the next mass murder. You might lose your blase attitude.

[Hardy]

Why do these people head for schools to do their killing? Is anything known about the psychology of that?

[whitey]

Oh FFS, we have a shooting and this gun control shite starts up again. CT has probably the strictest gun control laws in the flicking country. I know, I lived there for 5 years. (BTW I don't own a gun and don't want to either)

This lady has a mentally unstable adult son living under her roof, yet she chooses to (1) keep guns on the premises and (2) obviously keep them in such a manner that he can gain access to them.

Why didn't she get them the Fvck out of the house and get her son the help he so obviously needed.




If he had stolen her car and ploughed into a group of school kids at a bus stop do you think we should ban cars.

Are cars built to kill and maim people?

Some people are too deranged and/or stupid to be allowed access to guns, yet the US right wing will not countenance any attempt to restrict access and or encourage background checking and waiting periods. And that's before you even get into the assault weapons stuff. Why the f**k does someone outside law enforcement or the military need a weapon that can carry 30+ bullets in a clip and fire them all in seconds?

And how about planes, if we're going to make stupid comparisons? They're lethal when things go wrong, but after 9/11, when it finally hit home in the US that psychopaths really could cause havoc in their own back yard, American people acceded to having to walk through all kinds of security hoops so that they could travel safely.

Let's hope no one belonging to you is ever killed by some nut in the next mass murder. You might lose your blase attitude.

Agree with most of what you say, but I think you are missing my point.

If this can happen in a state that already has some of the strictest laws in the country, how would more gun laws have prevented this tragedy from happening?

[AZOffaly]

'Strictest in the country' != 'Strict enough'.

It's tallest pygmy syndrome. No great achievement to have the strictest laws in the country when those 'strict' laws allow automatic weapons to be owned by joe soaps who have absolutely no need to have them.

[omagh_gael]

Why do these people head for schools to do their killing? Is anything known about the psychology of that?

Maximum impact in terms of thier "legacy" is probably one of the factors. However, if reports are true, and this young man has Asperger's syndrome then that is likely to be significant. The mix of rigidity of thought and lack of empathy and Add in talk of a personality disorder and you're on a slippery slope. If, as presumed, this man had some form of conflict with his mum then the school probably appeared to be a legitimate target in order to further 'hurt' his mum. I  general terms I think it's  no coincidence that these happen in schools/colleges as these are areas of huge social pressures that  clash with the time when the majority of psychiatric disorders emerge. Mix in hormone overdrive/bullying/stress from exams/social pressures and the number of previous 'guide' shootings probably causes these individuals to snap.

[Walter Cronc]

Anyone hear the head doctor from the Newtown hospital interviewed on sky news just now. What an arrogant p***k!!

[magpie seanie]

'Strictest in the country' != 'Strict enough'.

It's tallest pygmy syndrome. No great achievement to have the strictest laws in the country when those 'strict' laws allow automatic weapons to be owned by joe soaps who have absolutely no need to have them.

Exactly. No-one should be allowed to own the type of weapon used in this atrocity. Whatever needs to be done to stop people getting access to weapons like this that are designed to kill human beings has to be done.

My heart just breaks for the kids, the families, the coomunity that has been ripped asunder by this terrible crime. The NRA and their ilk have rivers of blood on their hands in the eyes of any right thinking person.

Obama achieved something spectacular by introducing his healthcare plan and getting re-elected afterwards with a weak economy. I understand that introducing proper, sensible gun control measures will be far more difficult but I hope and pray he is the man I believe he is and that he can do this.

[Eamonnca1]

Al Queda must be jealous of the NRA, they never managed to kill as many Americans as the NRA has.

The NRA are nothing but a terrorist organization as far as I'm concerned.

[heganboy]

He had me right up until th last line..................what the fcuk

Stew,
there's a lot of missing context:

Gary Younge is a Guardian feature writer who has written extensively on Civil rights. He is from England and his parents are from Barbados. He moved to Chicago and has been a multiple winner of best journalist awards from Britains Ethnic minority media awards. He has been a professor Public Policy and Social administration in New York and recently moved to Chicago. He is completely in awe of the fact that the US has twice elected a black man. Within this context his comment may be seen to say that the US is perfectly able to pass gun legislation and he is encouraged by the possibility...

[stew]

He had me right up until th last line..................what the fcuk

Stew,
there's a lot of missing context:

Gary Younge is a Guardian feature writer who has written extensively on Civil rights. He is from England and his parents are from Barbados. He moved to Chicago and has been a multiple winner of best journalist awards from Britains Ethnic minority media awards. He has been a professor Public Policy and Social administration in New York and recently moved to Chicago. He is completely in awe of the fact that the US has twice elected a black man. Within this context his comment may be seen to say that the US is perfectly able to pass gun legislation and he is encouraged by the possibility...

Why anyone is in awe of a black man getting elected as president is beyond me at this stage and the comment is still baffling to me, why would anyone still be in awe of the Americans electing a black president at this stage?

Down the line there will undoubtedly by a female president and an openly gay president, it is coming, I understand the contextual point he is trying (badly) to make but I feel he does not give enough credit to the voting population of the US and I think he need's to get over the fact that a back man sits as a two term president, move on sir, nothing to see here.

[thejuice]

Funnily enough there was a bloke on Fox talking about the secession movement that seems to be stirring in parts. He was suggesting as an experiment the red states should run as an independent country for 4 years and see which country does better.

He suggested that the red country would keep their guns, ban abortion and all the usual. Might be worth a shot. 

[Main Street]

The part of Gary Younge's article I'd take exception to is this bit, just for the way that it implies that the Democrats are a pro-gun regulation party.

'The trouble is that people feel powerless to do anything about it. The gun lobby has proved sufficiently potent in rallying opposition to virtually all gun control measures that Democrats have all but given up on arguing for it.'

Afaics, the Democrat party and the Republican party have equal culpability in the lack of political will to enforce gun control regulations.

[Throw ball]

I heard on the news that this will be the fifth time Obama, as president,has had to visit the scene of a 'spree' massacre. If this is not a sign that gun control is needed then what is?