http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-te.to.browning09feb09,0,1074183.story

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-bodies0203,0,6317131.story

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-browning0211,0,3599091.story

Pin that one on dehumanization and disconnect, dude. 

But darling, if you know you're going to sound like a dick, why say anything at all?

We can't dwell on every little thing many months after they happen.

Here at UCF there is a rather large student movement pressing the administration to allow students to carry handguns on campus so that if this happens the students can gun down the attacker and prevent further injury. And I do mean large. That should tell you how serious this is on most campuses.

This troubles me.

This troubles me.

Why?  It's not like being armed with a gun instantly turns you into a psychopath.

Fun fact, the brain has an inhibitor that causes immense emotional trauma when another life is taken.  Only a natural instinct such as survival can overcome this inhibitor.

In other words, the average dumb college student can not and will not pull the trigger unless they feel their life is threatened.  If anything, violence would go down.

But no guns = higher crime*

*based on irefutible scientific study done about 100 years ago.

You're from the navy you're obviously biased and scientific evidence 100 years ago doesnt mean it is valid nowadays, specially when we're dealing with social sciences

I don't live too far from this school

This is sad...I hate to hear when this stuff happens.

The world today thinks it's cool to go on a killing spree in a school.

Seems like every year This form of violence has been getting more popular. There needs to be a name for this Phenomenon

There needs to be a name for this Phenomenon

Insanity?

Let's all hop on the insane bandwagon!

Insanity?

Let's all hop on the insane bandwagon!

I meant a nick name for school shoting.

Here at UCF there is a rather large student movement pressing the administration to allow students to carry handguns on campus so that if this happens the students can gun down the attacker and prevent further injury. And I do mean large. That should tell you how serious this is on most campuses.

Honestly, I'm starting to feel this is the right thing to do. It's just getting ridiculous - and surely the thought of fellow classmates carrying handguns will stop any of your ssj_darksephiroth types from pulling a gun and blasting people for a completely unworthy reason.

That's just fucking stupid. Although it would mean people would have something to defend themselves with in such a moment, the amount of shootings would just rise (note, not mass-shootings, single events etc).

Although I do believe this is also valid, and Epic Hero's confusion scenario is also a bit worrying (and very valid). I think the proper solution would be to have certain licensed gun carriers who are unknown to the general student body. I mean, it's not perfect, but surely it's better than nothing.

I feel pretty safe up here in Canada. I can only remember 3 school shooting here in Quebec and one of them wasn't really a school shooting.

And we don't have that fucked up relationship with guns that you have in the USA. I mean, with what Jeff said, you just cannot deny that there is a problem.

It's pretty good here as well (Melbourne). There's been isolated incidents, and one a couple years ago where a kid shot two other people (assumedly a personal thing, not a random thing), but nothing serious.


This is just incredibly worrying though. The frequency has definitely been up as of late, and it's getting to the stage where any wackjob (whether they be from inside the school or out) could forseeably take a gun into a campus and cause considerable damage - if not physically then at least emotionally. Something definitely has to be done.



EDIT: Off MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23171567/

"NBC News and MSNBC
updated 10:22 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2008

DEKALB, Ill. - A former graduate student armed with two handguns and a shotgun opened fire Thursday in a large lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University, killing five students and wounding 16 others before killing himself, authorities said. "

That dehumanization isn't complete bullshit. The guy who did our schoolshooting had pretty much reasoned his shooting with some loosely quoted NIETCHZE (like Hitler, you know?) mixed with some other stupid philosophies. He thought everybody else are lower people and that he is some better one, with the responsibility to do humanity a favour and kill as many as possible etc.
Althrough... i always thought the "manifest" looked cheap. Like that he figured out some excuse to shoot people with the little knowledge he had from his philosophy 1 -course. 

He was a looney, yes, but he seemed to be complete normal (to everyone; yes from the outside) before the shooting.

ptizzle

Well, i'm not so sure whether any licenced gun legalization would be too much of use, unless you had some ungodly effective bureacracy system to make it work and that's just unrealistic.
Since you guys have this hilarious gun legalization - thing... i think the school's general infrastructure itself needs alterring. I mean, you would need to change the system to prevent threats from the inside, you know? The schools have been designed to be safe from outer attacks and fires and whatnot, but these shootings are complete different thing.
I have no idea how to pull this out but goddamn, i think this is somewhat a necessity since the guns are so common thing there!

I meant a nick nam-

- No.

You'd think they would've outlawed guns by now if they had any sense. I'm not a patriot but damn am I glad firearms are illegal in the UK. All this because of people are unwilling to give up their guns that "protect" them. WHO'S THE CLOWN?

Angry Black Man's post seemed like a joke to me (because of the 100 YEARS AGO part), why are people arguing against it

In any case, even though I understand the argument that everyone wearing firearms would dissuade many people from doing shootings, I ultimately don't agree with it.
Having many firearms readily available would make non-premeditated shootings more likely. Imagine some guy whose all pissed and mentally unstable, and suddenly has an urge to kill someone (for instance, hes being bullied, or at least thinks he is)... and just happens to have a gun on him.
Sure, maybe he wont be able to do as much damage, since others around him will have means of defending themselves, but the shootings are likely to become much more frequent. On the other hand, with firearms harder to come by, someone who gets murderous urges will not be able to carry them out immediately, and will need to take the time to acquire a weapon. There are good chances he ends up changing his mind, rejecting the murderous urge as some weird phantasm of the moment.

Also, if everyone were to have firearms, guns would no longer be an unusual and alarming sight. Someone who shows up at a college with a handgun, with the intent on using it on students, will not look menacing or dangerous at all until he actually shoots someone (since everyone has guns anyways). On the other hand, with weapons not admitted on school grounds, someone who has one is immediately suspicious. Thats not a particularly strong point in my opinion, but it still cant be ignored.

A solution could be, armed security presence at schools. I know most colleges already have a security team, but usually they're unarmed, and their job is simply to call the cops when something happens. Give them gun's! This way there are people who can intervene immediately, the dissuasion effect of people being there and armed still works (though it is admittedly less intense than if EVERYONE had guns), and it doesn't share the disadvantages of the "give everyone guns" idea.

tl;dr:
1.If all students have firearms, it makes non-premeditated shootings more likely
2.If all students have firearms, it makes firearms a less unusual sight, and people who show up with the intent of using them on students wont actually look dangerous until they shoot someone.
3.Instead get armed security at schools.

There's one HUGE flaw with you guys that are defending the "if we all carry guns the shooter will think twice" idea:  THE SHOOTER IS INSANE.  Almost all of these shooters killed themselves at the end, why the fuck would they be worried about being shot by someone?  It's not going to make them think twice if they're already planning on dying.

Well that is kind of the concept. They say that if the university allowed students to carry handguns that people would think twice before trying to shoot up the campus. The big argument is that that would increase the likelihood of a student using a gun, but the proponents argue that people who are intent on starting school shootings would be able to get guns anyway, so allowing people to carry guns would not increase the likelihood. At the last debate about this I argued that many people who participate in school shootings kill themselves anyway so the pain of death would not deter them, but I did not get a particularly logical reply back.

Serious?  You think a guy who shot and killed himself after the shooting would think twice about it if other people had guns?  Really?

In all likelyhood, more people would get hurt.