Palin's Gunsight was on Arizona District (shop, license, automobile)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by notreesininceland

Ray,

You mean when Bush got INSTALLED to the Presidency by his Papa's buddies in the US Supreme Court?

Seriously, the scale of the vitriol post Obama's election is off the charts. And it is coming from ELECTED Republicans or from those hoping to get elected on the Republican ticket. Nothing of the sort existed during the Bush years. Face it man - it is racism, pure and simple.

Right... nothing such as John Kilbourn's infamous "SNIPERS WANTED" graphic, or John Kerry saying he should have "gone to 1600 Pennsylvania and killed the real bird with one stone," or the New York State treasurer claiming that Chuck Schumer would put a bullet between Bush's eyes if he could get away with it, or a left-wing fantasy flick depicting GWB's assassination -- and not an actor portraying GWB but archival footage of GWB himself being altered to depict his assassination.

Either your memory sucks or -- as I suspect -- it's selectively faulty.

[RedJacket]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

No. What I said is that one side sees itself as correct, and the other side as incorrect. But that's never the truth, since the other side sees itself as the correct side. Think about this for awhile

Abbie has a very wise daddy.

[notreesininceland]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

No. What I said is that one side sees itself as correct, and the other side as incorrect. But that's never the truth, since the other side sees itself as correct, too. Think about this

I have :-). Note that logically both sides cannot be right, although both can be wrong. (You should read the stuff written by your compatriot Bertie Russell, one of the greatest liberals ever.)

[NomadicBear]

Originally Posted by AADAD

C'mon folks. we've taken this to it's natural end. now what do you think could be done to prevent it........seriously ! Are you here just to score points and call names?

One question I have is: do we really need assault weapons? If this guy didn't have a semi-automatic large clip human being exterminator, he would not have been able to do near the damage. I'm all for people being able to own shotguns, rifles, etc., but I'm starting to think we need to revisit getting rid of some of these assault weapons. You can throw out the old "a gun never made the choice to kill anyone," but there's a reason it's illegal to buy hand grenades.

[AADAD]

I think that it is a health question. when people are out of bounds with bizarre behavior they should be flagged and not allowed to purchase a weapon. when they are denied they can appeal in front of a judge.

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by AADAD

I think that it is a health question. when people are out of bounds with bizarre behavior they should be flagged and not allowed to purchase a weapon. when they are denied they can appeal in front of a judge.

Even if a judge turns you down you can buy one from a criminal.

[richelles]

I have a question that remains from my original question 475 posts ago where I asked about how many such assaults have we had with multiple victims and why we keep having these assaults since the massacre at Virginia Tech? I was near Virginia Tech the morning it happened and one thing I have learned since is most of the illegal guns confiscated in New York came from sales made in Virginia. Since this attack, under such similar circumstances, I don't think any one will deny that, based on the reporting, the gun laws in Arizona are similar to the gun laws in Virginia. After the attack in Texas at Fort Hood there were news stories that the laws in Texas were similar to those in Virginia. That brings me to a question about Alaska. Is it possible we should be asking the question not will it happen here but when will it happen here? From what I've heard Alaska has lax gun laws, possibly similar to Virginia, Texas, and Arizona so what is the likelihood of a mass murder happening here similar to what has happened elsewhere? And what can, or will ,we do to eliminate that possibility?

[gobrien]

The chances for an attack in Alaska are just as high and as random as any other place. All it takes is someone with the desire to do it. Even if guns were tightly controlled, there are other ways of hurting people.

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by NomadicBear

One question I have is: do we really need assault weapons? If this guy didn't have a semi-automatic large clip human being exterminator, he would not have been able to do near the damage. I'm all for people being able to own shotguns, rifles, etc., but I'm starting to think we need to revisit getting rid of some of these assault weapons. You can throw out the old "a gun never made the choice to kill anyone," but there's a reason it's illegal to buy hand grenades.

No, it doesn't need to be revisited. We already visited it ad nauseum.

How about working on a real solution? This young man needed help long before this happened. Why did society fail him? Why didn't someone else stand up and get him the help he needed?

Even though I'm retired from law enforcement I still put myself out there and help people get the help they need. And sometimes that help is just taking the time to talk to people.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by AADAD

...... Red Queen what would you have done to prevent this from occurring?

What would you have done?

I'll try to answer it from a parental perspective.

I of course like to think that had this been my son, or the child of a close relative, I would have been enough in tune regarding his mental state to see that he got some kind of help before it got to this stage.

Quite a few people have asked me throughout recent years just how I raised my own son to be such a good young man. The only answer I can give them is the one I'll give here...communication. Keep them talking every chance you get, know who they are as people, know their friends and their interests.

I applied the same principle when I worked with homeless/disenfranchised youth and I had some pretty amazing success stories among the kids I worked with.

I can't say whether or not that would have been helpful in the particular case of the shooter. But one thing that all of these young male shooters have had in common over the years is an extremely alienated and messed up family environment, and I don't think that's a coincidence.

That's what I mean when I say that if any answer exists to this, it begins in the home, with us, as individuals, as parents.

There is a common thread which runs through the lives of the young males who have shot up public places, whether it has been schools or political functions, and that is that they come from home enviroments that are high in personal alienation. They are in front of computers, playing video games, listening to music and watching tv.

An entire generation of parents have given over the raising of their children to electronic babysitting devices.

Electronics in themselves aren't the demon here, but these things in excess...combined with no real bonding between family members, no connection with community...well, that's the common denominator that is pertinent to all of these young men who have committed these terrible crimes.

So that's my answer. Families need to get back to having real values. As an aside, one of my students was named Kip Kinkel (edit---he was a student after he was incarcerated for shooting up Thurston High school, not before).