For those of you who think Seattle Crime is getting bad... (to buy, live)

[iskray917]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Why wasn't this all over the national news? One person gets shot at Virginia Tech, and it's a national scandal. What's the UW, chopped liver? Nobody cares?

I attribute this shooting at the U to the decline of the University District over the last 2-3 decades. It used to be a popular shopping center, now it's Homeless Row.

That said, I still have a number of friends living in Seattle (I went to university there, and lived there for 20 years afterwards), and no one has mentioned crime. It's a non-issue for them. Some complain about the economy going downhill, and mismanagement by the City Council, but no one mentions crime.

This did not effect UW at all. The shooting was a block from being in Ravenna, I suppose if he decided to shoot up some place 2 blocks north it would have been evidence of the decline of Ravenna.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by iskray917

This did not effect UW at all. The shooting was a block from being in Ravenna, I suppose if he decided to shoot up some place 2 blocks north it would have been evidence of the decline of Ravenna.

Or that the shooter is some kind of loose end who went crazy.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Or that the shooter is some kind of loose end who went crazy.

Nnnnaaaaw. It has to be because of the decline of the U district.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by 415_s2k

Nnnnaaaaw. It has to be because of the decline of the U district.

The nature of that shooting, a mass shooting, where someone just goes in and kills a bunch of people, seems more like something psychotic or sociopathic.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

The nature of that shooting, a mass shooting, where someone just goes in and kills a bunch of people, seems more like something psychotic or sociopathic.

Oh, most certainly... that was just sarcasm.

The U District really isn't very "rough." I lived about a mile up from Cafe Racer on Roosevelt, in Maple Leaf, and so I drove by it daily - I wouldn't say it's part of the U District even. It's on the very outer periphery. I bought all my guitar picks, strings, cables, etc. at the music store next door, and one of my best friends there lives literally right across the street in a bungalow. He's never had a single issue there, and all the nights I walked through the U District, sober or not, alone or with a friend or with a girl, I never once had anything worse than, "Can you spare me a dollar man?" outside of Memo's.

I know that muggings do happen there, but it's usually some a-hole who sees a freshman girl walking alone and sees an opportunity. A friend of mine did have a guy demand her purse; she yelled "no" at him, held it close to her, told him to get the f away, and so he turned and started to leave. Then, he turned and went, "look, can I have a couple dollars? PLEASE?" Hardcore, man. The area isn't anywhere near as bad as the ID let alone hoods in other cities, and how often do you hear of a totally-random multiple murder-suicide of this scope happening in LA, NYC, Chicago, DC, New Orleans, or even Detroit? Totally isolated incident, carried out by a nut from Ellensburg.

When I think of the U District, I think of a bunch of Asian students wearing purple and gold scarves walking around, drinking a coffee, wondering whether they should get curry or pho for lunch... not a powder keg on the edge with bloodthirsty pyschopaths lurking in every dark corner.

[movingwiththewind]

Originally Posted by tablemtn

The Globe and Mail - one of Canada's biggest newspapers - ran this story today about the violence in Seattle:

South of Vancouver, a city asks, 'What is going on?'

Some comments to the article:

"What is shockingly evident in the society to our south is their complete and utter inability to link " their constitutional right to bear arms" with the reality that the abundance of these weapons brings to their everyday life.
When will Americans ever draw the line between easy access to guns and their astonishingly high gun violence?"

"What is going on?"
American politicians are cowards when it comes to standing up to the US Gun Lobby.
That's what going on."

How true! Unfortunately, so many people still don't get it. The problem will not go away until gun laws are changed in this country.

Why deny the obvious? Is that really so hard to understand?

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by movingwiththewind

Some comments to the article:

"What is shockingly evident in the society to our south is their complete and utter inability to link " their constitutional right to bear arms" with the reality that the abundance of these weapons brings to their everyday life.
When will Americans ever draw the line between easy access to guns and their astonishingly high gun violence?"

"What is going on?"
American politicians are cowards when it comes to standing up to the US Gun Lobby.
That's what going on."

How true! Unfortunately, so many people still don't get it. The problem will not go away until gun laws are changed in this country.

Why deny the obvious? Is that really so hard to understand?

In Toronto, there was a shooting in the mall. Gun laws in Canada are stricter, and people still find ways to get guns illegally. People who are willing to kill don't care whether about gun laws either.

[movingwiththewind]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

In Toronto, there was a shooting in the mall. Gun laws in Canada are stricter, and people still find ways to get guns illegally. People who are willing to kill don't care whether about gun laws either.

True, but stricter gun laws will make a huge difference.

The most important thing, though, is to change general populace' perception about guns. So far, general public's opinion about guns in the US varies from being neutral (usefull tool for self-defence) to a positive one (a cute little toy for grown-ups to play with)

Guns should be viewed as negatively, as, say, hard drugs: They're made for destruction, there is no other use of them. In addition, it seems that people are as much addicted to their guns as to hard drugs, and would never give them up. I don't know why guns have so much power over some people, why so many people in this country are so addicted to guns.

[rainforest338]

Blaming guns again. There were/are plenty of homicides in Seattle involving knives, blunt objects, beatings and vehicles. The issue is people.

[movingwiththewind]

Originally Posted by rainforest338

Blaming guns again. There were/are plenty of homicides in Seattle involving knives, blunt objects, beatings and vehicles. The issue is people.

Blaming people again.

Then why on earth there is much higher number of gun-related crimes in the US comparing with other developed countries? What, an average American is genetically more violent than a general Canadian, French or German?