200 Mass shootings in 127 Days

[ken_sylvania]

What are the chances that anybody actually cares enough about the problem to really find out what happened in each of these cases? And really, truly try to find out whether the killers were "men who were afraid or uncomfortable and deputized themselves to 'defend' themselves from unarmed people"
or what was actually going on. As long as the approach to the problem continues to be to dehumanize and ridicule the "problem people" we won't get any closer to an answer. I don't expect Ms. Gay is likely to change many people's minds by mourning the "innocent" people who were killed for engaging in petty crime. Don't get me wrong - I'm not implying that any one of these people should have been shot, but in my opinion articles like this feed the very divisiveness that got this society to where it's at in the first place.

The thing is that none of these victims committed a petty crime. It's not a crime to accidentally ring the wrong doorbell because you mixed up the address. It's not a crime to turn down the wrong driveway by accident while looking for a house. These people got shot for making normal human errors, not crimes.

That could well be the case - I don't know the details of any of these. I was making that observation strictly based on the author's characterization of some of these men as "enforc[ing] justice for a petty crime."

[Szdfan]

What are the chances that anybody actually cares enough about the problem to really find out what happened in each of these cases? And really, truly try to find out whether the killers were "men who were afraid or uncomfortable and deputized themselves to 'defend' themselves from unarmed people"
or what was actually going on. As long as the approach to the problem continues to be to dehumanize and ridicule the "problem people" we won't get any closer to an answer. I don't expect Ms. Gay is likely to change many people's minds by mourning the "innocent" people who were killed for engaging in petty crime. Don't get me wrong - I'm not implying that any one of these people should have been shot, but in my opinion articles like this feed the very divisiveness that got this society to where it's at in the first place.

The thing is that none of these victims committed a petty crime. It's not a crime to accidentally ring the wrong doorbell because you mixed up the address. It's not a crime to turn down the wrong driveway by accident while looking for a house. These people got shot for making normal human errors, not crimes.

That could well be the case - I don't know the details of any of these. I was making that observation strictly based on the author's characterization of some of these men as "enforc[ing] justice for a petty crime."

Gotcha. I understand what you're saying now.

[Szdfan]

Jamelle Bouie responding to tweets from Megyn Kelly about hardening "soft targets" as a response to mass shootings:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/opin ... -guns.html

What is a “soft target”? It is a school or a mall or a church or a gym. It is a library, a movie theater, a grocery store or anywhere people gather to live their lives. What would it mean to “harden” those targets, most of which have already been targeted at one point or another? It would mean additional police officers and armed security; metal detectors and reinforced doors designed to bar entry; heightened scrutiny for visitors and even mandatory checks for identification.

To harden our soft targets is, in other words, to turn the entire country into an airport security line. And far from a free society, this hardened America would be a continental version of Baghdad’s Green Zone, each checkpoint or guard a visible reminder that we’ve organized our entire lives around the prospect of instant death by lethal violence. We’re already halfway there. It is normal, at many synagogues and Jewish community centers, to have armed security guards. It is normal, at many schools, to have metal detectors. It is normal to drill young children for when a shooter appears — to train first and second and third graders to run and hide or play dead.

And of course, there are those who already live in a garrison state of sorts. For some Americans, it is a garrison of their own making: gated communities manned by armed guards. For others, it is more akin to a surveillance state, one of constant police presence and contact.

Either way, it is a world of fear and alienation, where people live in a state of heightened awareness, even anxiety. It is not a world of trust or hope or solidarity or any of the values we need to make democracy work as a way of life, much less a system of government.

[Jazman]

Jamelle Bouie responding to tweets from Megyn Kelly about hardening "soft targets" as a response to mass shootings:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/opin ... -guns.html

What is a “soft target”? It is a school or a mall or a church or a gym. It is a library, a movie theater, a grocery store or anywhere people gather to live their lives. What would it mean to “harden” those targets, most of which have already been targeted at one point or another? It would mean additional police officers and armed security; metal detectors and reinforced doors designed to bar entry; heightened scrutiny for visitors and even mandatory checks for identification.

To harden our soft targets is, in other words, to turn the entire country into an airport security line. And far from a free society, this hardened America would be a continental version of Baghdad’s Green Zone, each checkpoint or guard a visible reminder that we’ve organized our entire lives around the prospect of instant death by lethal violence. We’re already halfway there. It is normal, at many synagogues and Jewish community centers, to have armed security guards. It is normal, at many schools, to have metal detectors. It is normal to drill young children for when a shooter appears — to train first and second and third graders to run and hide or play dead.

And of course, there are those who already live in a garrison state of sorts. For some Americans, it is a garrison of their own making: gated communities manned by armed guards. For others, it is more akin to a surveillance state, one of constant police presence and contact.

Either way, it is a world of fear and alienation, where people live in a state of heightened awareness, even anxiety. It is not a world of trust or hope or solidarity or any of the values we need to make democracy work as a way of life, much less a system of government.

Seems to me quite a few people, including a bunch of claiming 'christians' (and their chosen legislative reps) want to live this way: in obeisance to a few american-specific sacred cows... (they MUST have those things at ALL cost!)
I've begun likening it to a preschool classroom where the main playthings are knives, lots of knives ("just tools!") everywhere in the classroom, and instead of the adults putting the knives away/lowering the number of knives in the room, etc, the adults just give them more and make it even easier to get more and to play with them. And now there's utter mayhem, lots of injury, lots of pain among the children... but still the adults do nothing - oh a few token bandages here and there, shusshing them and a morning platitudeness prayer that the kid's won't pick up the ever increasing amount of really sharp knives...

Another thought from personal observation (I have specific people here and in my church circle in mind): the same people who oft bemoan the state of american humanity (more secular, more sinning, more cussing, more debauched, more angry, more you name it), will, through their political privilege, vote (or hope someone votes) for reps who expressly hold the belief and run/govern on giving that same ever degenerating american humanity easier access to deadly weapons... (but simultaneously want to try and limit that same humanity's ability to commit sexual sin)
Can anyone explain the logic of that? Doesn't seem to add up for me.

[Josh]

It’s telling that some of you are focused on “shootings” yet remain strangely silent about the other mass killing this week, that is, one with an SUV that killed half a dozen people.

Or the lunatic running around Chicago right now beating strangers (including a young mother with a baby) with a baseball bat.

The problem is not guns, or SUVs, or baseball bats.

[Dan Z]

It’s telling that some of you are focused on “shootings” yet remain strangely silent about the other mass killing this week, that is, one with an SUV that killed half a dozen people.

Or the lunatic running around Chicago right now beating strangers (including a young mother with a baby) with a baseball bat.

The problem is not guns, or SUVs, or baseball bats.

Umm...the OP was about "Mass Shootings"

[Josh]

It’s telling that some of you are focused on “shootings” yet remain strangely silent about the other mass killing this week, that is, one with an SUV that killed half a dozen people.

Or the lunatic running around Chicago right now beating strangers (including a young mother with a baby) with a baseball bat.

The problem is not guns, or SUVs, or baseball bats.

Umm...the OP was about "Mass Shootings"

Right. So why the emphasis on that, instead of focusing on mass killings? I don't think the method by which someone is killed is particularly important.

[Ernie]

Once there are 200 intentional SUV or baseball bat killings in a few month's time, I can imagine someone starting a thread about that.
But hey, in the meanwhile, we have all sorts of threads about all sorts of things here on MN - some are unique one-time happenings. So anybody can write about anything they wish. There is no threshhold of how many times something needs to happen before a thread can be started. So if someone wants to call attention to a different form of killings, they are welcome to do so.

[Ernie]

I don't think the method by which someone is killed is particularly important.

I do. The number of mass shootings is significantly higher than a decade ago and this creates trauma for a lot more people including children.
It is one thing to shoot or club someone in the back 40 when no one else is watching. People are affected but not the same as if it is witnessed by others.

[Ernie]

If 80% of murders and suicides happen with firearms, (not including abortions) it makes sense to me that people may want to discuss this method.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads ... n-the-u-s/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/195 ... apon-used/