Desensitization (Virginia Tech Shooting)

[Erik Blazynski]

perhaps my reaction is a bit extreme, but I am just so tired of the media circus turning everything into hyperbole. Which they have without question done here. They are clearly shaping the opinions of everyone that participates. I agree with you nearly 100% El Hombre Grande.

[revots33]

Just another day in gun-crazed America.

Seriously, there's so much sick s**t on the local nightly news every day, I think it's impossible NOT to become desensitized.

But I think the appeal (grotesque as it is) of a story like this is the randomness. That's why workplace shootings, school shootings, etc. get such huge play in the media. "It coulda been me." The tragedy in Darfur is thousands of times worse but I doubt many of us are planning a visit there anytime soon. But we all work, go to school, eat out in restaurants, etc.

[KJatl]

Bans or Restrictions on gun ownership really just takes away the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. Criminals, by their very nature, do not obey the laws. Law-abiding people do.

Pass bans or tougher restrictions on gun ownership? The outcome is simple.

Your average person won't be armed and the criminals and evil-intentioned will. Just imagine if VT permitted students/faculty with concealed carry permits to have their guns on campus. The shooter might get a few shots off before they put him down. A few people might die compared to 32.

[Brad1970]

[ QUOTE ]
Bans or Restrictions on gun ownership really just takes away the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. Criminals, by their very nature, do not obey the laws. Law-abiding people do.

Pass bans or tougher restrictions on gun ownership? The outcome is simple.

Your average person won't be armed and the criminals and evil-intentioned will. Just imagine if VT permitted students/faculty with concealed carry permits to have their guns on campus. The shooter might get a few shots off before they put him down. A few people might die compared to 32.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I would have been there & close enough...when that sumbeech stopped to reload....I would've tackled his ass. Brian Urlacher wouldn't have nothing on me!!!

[pyedog]

A society that allows and even encourages people to buy semiautomatic and even automatic weapons should expect these kinds of things to happen fairly often. I am not surprised now, and I won't be surprised when his record gets beaten in the next few years. Also gun laws will never be tightened in the US because most citizens there are Republican morons (see above for some evidence). They believe that this event could have been prevented if everyone was a gun toting Christian like this very shooter.

Also the people who "truly care" about this event and watch all of the coverage are only doing what this shooter would have wanted - giving him the attention he desperately craved. By ignoring it and not caring, as callous as that seems, at least it isn't glamourizing this guy's massacre and helping to sell ads for CNN.

[El_Hombre_Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
perhaps my reaction is a bit extreme, but I am just so tired of the media circus turning everything into hyperbole. Which they have without question done here. They are clearly shaping the opinions of everyone that participates. I agree with you nearly 100% El Hombre Grande.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's kinda what I thought. I find myself just so sickened by the assine coverage sometimes that I find myself tuning out the real, underlying story. It's like the "Geraldo" school of Journalism has taken over completely, making every story pure hyperbole, no matter how inappropriate it is. I mean, can you think of anything less appropriate then turning this is to a hollywood circus act? "Pass the salt" is actually a better reaction than participating in a three ring circus over 32 dead people..

[Edge34]

[ QUOTE ]
A society that allows and even encourages people to buy semiautomatic and even automatic weapons should expect these kinds of things to happen fairly often. I am not surprised now, and I won't be surprised when his record gets beaten in the next few years. Also gun laws will never be tightened in the US because most citizens there are Republican morons (see above for some evidence). They believe that this event could have been prevented if everyone was a gun toting Christian like this very shooter.

Also the people who "truly care" about this event and watch all of the coverage are only doing what this shooter would have wanted - giving him the attention he desperately craved. By ignoring it and not caring, as callous as that seems, at least it isn't glamourizing this guy's massacre and helping to sell ads for CNN.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your post is so amazingly misinformed that it is unbelievable. First, your drivel belongs in politics, not in psychology.

Second, your words belie your biases. You have every right to your opinions, but THINK FIRST, please.

1) Society does not "encourage" people to buy guns. If that were the case, we'd have even more left-wing nutjobs yelling about the NRA, etc.

2) Republican morons. That's mature. I could bring up the fact that you're a socialist coward in a country who's best defense is our army, but that's beside the point.

3) Statistics actually have shown that gun violence is LOWER in places where there are legal, trained, RESPONSIBLE owners of firearms.

4) So we ban guns. Then what? Do we ban nails and PVC pipes because some mental case went to Home Depot and made pipe bombs and blew a bunch of kids up? When do you stop complaining about how its all "society's fault" and start stepping up for personal responsibility.

Guns aren't dangerous. Maniacs with any type of weapon against unarmed, defenseless targets are.

[El_Hombre_Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Bans or Restrictions on gun ownership really just takes away the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. Criminals, by their very nature, do not obey the laws. Law-abiding people do.

Pass bans or tougher restrictions on gun ownership? The outcome is simple.

Your average person won't be armed and the criminals and evil-intentioned will. Just imagine if VT permitted students/faculty with concealed carry permits to have their guns on campus. The shooter might get a few shots off before they put him down. A few people might die compared to 32.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe this to be true, as counter-intuitive as it first seems to be. I mean, the point is that he didn't go to a police station or a gun range or a drug den and start shooting, because that wouldn've been a massacre; it would have been a gun fight.

First, If 20 or so of the people in that room were armed, there would have been less, not more, death. First of all, this cute little pansy probably would have wet his pants and not
even tried this. The courage required to pull such a stunt is proportionally inverse to the number of your perceived victims that may actually be the guy who blows your brains out before you mow down 32.

Second, I know that this guy was crazy, and he may have done it anyways, and I'm sure that even if every citizen had a loaded handgun that somebody could kill several people before some one reacted. I'm also aware that a good samaritan might accidentally shoot an innocent bystander.

But he couldn't of reloaded. And he couldn't of got to 32.

The right to bear arms is not a "G. Dubya redneck" mentality issue for Americans, like our Australian friend seems to think. It is the right to not be completely helpless when an intruder comes into our home to harm us, or some whackjob does this. You will never suppress guns completely, so criminals will have them. And as much as I don't want to be in a gunfight, its better than a massacre.

So yes, our Australian Friend, there is a gun in my home and I have given the NRA some money. I think it the prudent thing to do.

[pyedog]

[ QUOTE ]

3) Statistics actually have shown that gun violence is LOWER in places where there are legal, trained, RESPONSIBLE owners of firearms.


[/ QUOTE ]

Well I don't really want to get in an argument with an NRA guy because your opinion is set and you will never change your mind.

But the US has extremely lax gun policies, a gun loving culture, and also by FAR the highest incidents of gun deaths of any country. I really doubt that this is coincidental. In your opinion, is this because not enough people own guns and because people aren't educated in gun use well enough?

Also, I'm not naive enough to believe that this guy wouldn't have lashed out in some other way if he couldn't buy these guns and extra size ammo, which are both designed for mass killings. But don't you think that he would have had a hard time killing this many people without raising suspicions if he couldn't just walk into a store and buy automatic weapons? It is probably hard to buy bomb making materials, and possibly not as glorifying for the killer to fulfill his gun culture fueled fantasy.

In my opinion only law enforcement officials should be allowed to own handguns. I am 100% certain that this would reduce murders in the US. I am glad that you disagree with me though because otherwise I would have the same opinion as a Bush supporter.

Also I don't care if you bash Canada. We're not an ideal country either but I'd rather live here than in the US (I've worked in both places and have the choice). At least I can play internet poker until the US gov't pressures us to ban it too.

[Brad1970]

[ QUOTE ]

At least I can play internet poker until the US gov't pressures us to ban it too.

[/ QUOTE ]

We can play internet poker too. Just not on every site because some of them are pansies based in a foreign country who bowed down to Frist's political play for the White House. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]