13 Killed, 20 Wounded in Oregon College Shooting

[c.d.]

Hello Steadmund,

You are overlooking the fact that NRA members VOTE and they tend to vote on this one issue. A few thousand votes from NRA members can decide an election. Politicians simply don't want to alienate them and lose an election.

c.d.

[c.d.]

And while I am in favor of some gun restrictions, I am not so naive to think they will in any way stop these sorts of tragedies. There are literally millions of guns in America and there are unfortunately a number of mentally ill people as well. Do the math.

c.d.

[Steadmund Brand]

Hello Steadmund,

You are overlooking the fact that NRA members VOTE and they tend to vote on this one issue. A few thousand votes from NRA members can decide an election. Politicians simply don't want to alienate them and lose an election.

c.d.

I overlooked nothing, what I am trying to say is many NRA members are also in favor of gun control.....it's the lobby that isn't.. and if someone stands up to the lobby and makes it clear to the public that restriction is not "taking away guns" but trying to make things more safe. Sure there are those who will only vote on that issue.. but there are also thousands of people who will come out to vote on the other side if the case is brought to them....like any other issue... remember just a few years ago politicians were afraid to take on gay rights because of the powerful fundamentalist Christian movement ( which is even larger than the NRA) but some people finally stood up to them.. sure there are still those who vote based on just that issue... but, on both the pro and con side.....it'll take time and someone brave enough to start (who, truth be told will fail) but that will start the conversation on a political level...

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

And while I am in favor of some gun restrictions, I am not so naive to think they will in any way stop these sorts of tragedies. There are literally millions of guns in America and there are unfortunately a number of mentally ill people as well. Do the math.

c.d.

Again.. it's a first step... like in Australia... restrictions, buyback programs etc.. and now a gun on the black market in Australia is THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.....making it much harder for the "bad people" to get them....the problem has been there are way too many guns available ( as i said in my first post) and anyone who wants one can get one... illegal or not...and for not much money....but we can take steps to change that.... I also am not so naive as to believe this will fix things over night.... it will take time.. but saving lives, even one at a time is a worth it.....

I live in New York state, and because of a disease I have I am forced to take some medications that would label me as a "risk" so I cannot get a gun permit..but I can cross the state line to PA which is less than an hour from me and go into a show and buy one... no questions asked... that, to me, is a problem that should be solved...

Again, I am not preaching... I am very much in favor of the right to bear arms...but I just don't think it should be so "easy" to get them.. do you realize it is easier to get a gun in the United States then it is to get a Newfoundland puppy.. you need a better background check for the puppy then the gun in a lot of places (not all of course)....(to be fair... I understand the background check for the puppy....they should only go to good homes who can properly take care of them )

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

There are studies on it and there is a thing called autism meltdown. http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2009...-meltdown.html

Incidentally, there is no particular test to diagnose autism. Doctors look at the child's behavior and development to make a diagnosis. Seems a lot of kids these days are thrown under that diagnosis and I'm skeptical.

Willie Stevens, the Hall/Mills murder suspect, had 'low ears' now that is a physical characteristic that signals chromosomal abnormalities. I wonder if this Mercer kid was on psyche meds, and it seems a lot of these shooters were. I think the side effects, which are not at all 'side' effects but just one of the effects of the medicine, are really the problem here. That and a mother who was not home, but working and encouraged a kid already with problems to learn how to shoot a gun.

Also, an absentee father, which also is a common denominator in these cases.

Below is a pic of Willie Stevens showing his low set ears (Mercer does not have this).

I'm reminded that James Thurber once wrote an essay on the Hall/Mills murder centering on Willie Stevens, "A Kind of Genius". He does look eccentrically clever (to me at least). He enjoyed attending fires as a volunteer.

[Steadmund Brand]

2 more shootings today on or near college campus's... one in TX and one in AZ...both allegedly because of an argument (not a mass shooting) but over simple arguments... when is enough enough....I'm sorry.. but guns should not be so damn easy to get

Steadmund Brand

[Abby Normal]

In my opinion I believe all handguns and assault weapons should be illegal in this country (USA)except for the military and law enforcement.

You can keep your hunting/ target shooting rifles and shot guns, keeping hunting and practice legal of course, but just make it as secure a process as possible to obtain them.

[sdreid]

In my opinion I believe all handguns and assault weapons should be illegal in this country (USA)except for the military and law enforcement.

You can keep your hunting/ target shooting rifles and shot guns, keeping hunting and practice legal of course, but just make it as secure a process as possible to obtain them.

But I shoot targets, not animals (I'm not even a meat eater), with my handguns and "assault weapons". An "assault weapon" is nothing but a carbine; the term is hyperbole.

[Beowulf]

I'm reminded that James Thurber once wrote an essay on the Hall/Mills murder centering on Willie Stevens, "A Kind of Genius". He does look eccentrically clever (to me at least). He enjoyed attending fires as a volunteer.

That's interesting. Yes, he was brilliant and if he did the murders I would say he definitely had that meltdown they describe, and understandably so.

What is hard to understand is these kids that go into public places and shoot to kill have no 'sudden' trigger, no emotional, personal connection.

Willie's sister, Mrs. Hall, whom he lived with and who took care of him, was publicly humiliated, cheated on, lied to for 4 years. This very much explains emotional involvement. When he went down DeRussey's Lane and found his sister's husband and his girlfriend under the crab apple tree, possibly in flagrante delicto, would totally explain a trigger, leading to a meltdown. They think he carried the gun for safety only, as he was going out into a darkened woodsy isolated area.

But what would be the meltdown for these random murders we see lately? I cannot see it being a meltdown. It's rather a premeditated thing.

[Mayerling]

That's interesting. Yes, he was brilliant and if he did the murders I would say he definitely had that meltdown they describe, and understandably so.

What is hard to understand is these kids that go into public places and shoot to kill have no 'sudden' trigger, no emotional, personal connection.

Willie's sister, Mrs. Hall, whom he lived with and who took care of him, was publicly humiliated, cheated on, lied to for 4 years. This very much explains emotional involvement. When he went down DeRussey's Lane and found his sister's husband and his girlfriend under the crab apple tree, possibly in flagrante delicto, would totally explain a trigger, leading to a meltdown. They think he carried the gun for safety only, as he was going out into a darkened woodsy isolated area.

But what would be the meltdown for these random murders we see lately? I cannot see it being a meltdown. It's rather a premeditated thing.

If Willie did kill Rev. Hall and Mrs. Mills it was out of anger and disgust about their carrying on and how it had hurt his sister. He and his sister were very close, and he died only a few weeks after she did.

The punks who carry out the Oregon outrage or Columbine seek "attention". The one in Oregon loved the way that prior mass campus shooters "became famous". It reminds me of a killing that a recent anniversary has reawakened. This week John Lennon would have been only 75 years old. Imagine how much music he might have created had he lived past 1980. His assassin (whom the public has kept alive since then) Mr. Chapman once said that it took Lennon a lifetime to achieve his fame and it only took him (Chapman) one minute.

Jeff

[Beowulf]

It's a really good point. So miss John Lennon. Yes, the music he would've made. What a loss to us all for that punk's cheap bid for attention.

[GUT]

It's a really good point. So miss John Lennon. Yes, the music he would've made. What a loss to us all for that punk's cheap bid for attention.

And no reunion.

[Mayerling]

And no reunion.

No GUT, there was no reunion. And don't forget, George Harrison was stabbed seriously (but survived) when an intruder was caught by him in his home.

One thing that always really played with my emotions about the Lennon tragedy. Chapman claimed (how much can we give to his claims, I wonder) that he was outraged by the hypocrisy exhibited by Lennon and was influenced to kill him by his reading of the conclusion of his favorite book, "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger. If you recall, Holden Caulfield rails (throughout that book) about the hypocrites in all parts of life he runs into.

What bugs me is I had to read that drecky novel twice for school when I was in the seventh grade and again when I was in the twelfth. I always hated it, and felt that the biggest hypocrite in the book (because of his breast beating) was Holden. And (again, if we are to believe Chapman) this was the reason we lost all that glorious music.

It didn't happen, but I frequently wanted to hear that Salinger, while out walking a dog or doing some grocery shopping near his upstate New York home, was shot and killed by a young man wearing earphones and listening to a tape of Beatle tunes. And when the police arrived was sitting on the ground reading the lyrics to "Let it Be". Then I would have been curious to see how Chapman would have reacted to the news. My guess is he would have shrugged his shoulders - but I like to think that he would have been upset if one of the people who told him the news stated, "It took thirty years for J. D. Salinger to build his literary greatness, and his assassin only took one minute to gain his fame!"