Another Day In The Neighborhood, Another Mass Shooting

[Blahblah]

Our breakfast tv was covering this live all morning (in Aus). So sad for everyone affected. But my instant reaction was "not again". I don't know how you manage to go about your every day lives without constant fear in America. 

[Whoosh]

I have never been a big crier and I had a rough several years a while ago where I cried and cried and the result seemed to be that I no longer cried ever.  I can't even think of the last time I cried - probably a few years.

Then I was reading about this and I broke out into that kind of desperate horror cry - a kind of crying i didn't know existed until i was 40. Now I can't stop.   It's this tragic event, but it's not this tragic event.  It's all of it.  It's too much.  It's just too much.  How is this possible?  What in the ever loving fuck are we doing wrong that there are all these depraved violent people so full of hate? 

I am sure I will be fine in just a bit here, but it really is just too much.  My heart goes out to all the surviving loved ones of this new group of victims.  

[GodsKnickers]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I truly feel like we're going to wake up one day and find that the US has actually truly really instituted a real life version of The Purge.

Oh wait.....

[Walking Cat Bed]

I hate this. I hate it I hate it I hate it.

For fuck's sake, people, STOP KILLING EACH OTHER.

[VelociRapture]

From one of my state's Senators. He (along with Senator Blumenthal) worked tirelessly to get federal gun control laws passed after the shooting at Sandy Hook; they failed because Congress refused to act... And now we are forced to mourn another shooting and more lives lost.

I'm truly disgusted. WHEN IS ENOUGH GOING TO BE ENOUGH?!

[EyeQueue]

Just heard the press conference from the Sheriff down there.

Two suspects dead. One male, one female, both wearing "combat-style" clothing.

Very unusual (from what I know) for a female to be involved in mass shooting incidents.

Such a sad situation all around. And I'm tired of hearing about these incidents now almost on a weekly basis.

[doggie]

Looks like two females were included. Of course fuckabee and friends posted on the tragedy but never said anything about the pot shooting.

[GodsKnickers]

I read it somewhere today, and can't recall the quote exactly but it went something along the lines of "if you don't do anything after a bunch of tiny kids get killed during the middle of their school day, then it's officially over, because nothing will ever happen to stop this."

[GeoBQn]

 Whenever horrible shit happens now you get the "stand around with a phone" crowd watching like it's a movie. There's a serious disconnect going on with that. It disturbs me greatly. It's not a movie or a game. People are getting killed ffs. 
And to attack a center for the developmentally challenged makes no sense at all. What is happening to us? The world is losing more of it's humanity each day.

I don't think it was the phones that did that.  In the documentary "June 17, 1994" about the OJ Simpson bronco chase, the footage included bystanders lining the highway and waiting at Simpson's house--some of them cheering him on and holding encouraging signs.

I forget which recent mass shooting caused one of my Facebook friends to say, "Face it--we are living in a dystopia."  This is the week where I begin to agree with him.

[bashfulpixie]

There's nothing to say at this point. As a country, we refuse to do anything. It's so deranged. Everyone will shake their heads, ask why, and go about their day.  Then, when this happens again sometime in the next week, the process will start over.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

[FrumperSeamstress]

It's baffling to see that shit like this is happening over and over again, yet no one is doing anything about it. I used to cry about events like this, but I've grown numb. 

How much do you want to bet that they won't call them terrorists if they're white?

[Shadoewolf]

Certainly not your typical American names. Syed Farook (male) and Tashfeen Malik (female) and the head guy for the Council of American-Islamic Relations is all on CNN, saying they already spoke to the guy's brother in law. 

Current info is there was some relationship between the two of them, either BF/GF or married.  He was a county worker attending the holiday party at the center (he went to the same event last year),  he apparently left angry and came back with the female and they shot up the place. The police chief said there was some degree of planning involved, this wasn't just spur of the moment.

My heart goes out to the families who have lost their loved ones and prayers of healing for those injured.

[drivingmishcrazy]

Horrible. And when I saw "center for developmentally disabled" I died a little inside. I work at a similar type of job, rented out or not, goddamn, that's supposed to be a safe space. I'm so sick of all of this. This is not the kind of world I wanted to give birth to my child in.

[VelociRapture]

Certainly not your typical American names. Syed Farook (male) and Tashfeen Malik (female) and the head guy for the Council of American-Islamic Relations is all on CNN, saying they already spoke to the guy's brother in law. 

Current info is there was some relationship between the two of them, either BF/GF or married.  He was a county worker attending the holiday party at the center (he went to the same event last year),  he apparently left angry and came back with the female and they shot up the place. The police chief said there was some degree of planning involved, this wasn't just spur of the moment.

My heart goes out to the families who have lost their loved ones and prayers of healing for those injured.

They were a married couple. Allegedly dropped their baby off at Grandma's and told her they had a Doctor's appointment. Now their daughter has no parents and the victim's families (as well as the families of the shooters) are mourning horrific losses.

The brother-in-law sounded like he was in complete shock. He said he spoke with Syed just last week and nothing seemed odd or off. He and other family members have already spoken out against the violence and offered condolences to the families of those killed or injured. Same with leaders of the Muslim community in the area.

And now for a personal opinion, not addressed to anyone in particular:

Prayers are fine when they come from the average citizen. I'm so fucking sick of seeing politicians call for prayers after mass shootings though. You're the people elected to DO something about this stuff - maybe if you spent more time working on solutions instead of fighting you wouldn't have to ask for prayers!

[happy atheist]

I'm not sure of the original source of this, but it's perfect.

[sawasdee]

Thank you, Happy Atheist, for the best comment I've read on guns in years!

[2manyKidzzz]

Apparently the mr. went to Saudi in 2013. Maybe twice. Some talk of getting his wife overseas, but I didn't really get what they were saying. Angry, angry people. The current scenario for not having/getting your way is just to kill people. People do not want to accept that the world will not always be their oyster. My son does not want to go to an opening night of Star Wars. I wouldn't have suggested it as to not make him feel afraid but he came up with it. 

Sitting outside on our very warm Black Friday having a lovely lunch at a restaurant with my family. Was a bit nervous, to be honest. 

They just said he got his wife on a fiancee visa. Great. Guess they didn't want to be on the TLC show. 

[VelociRapture]

Apparently the mr. went to Saudi in 2013. Maybe twice. Some talk of getting his wife overseas, but I didn't really get what they were saying. Angry, angry people. The current scenario for not having/getting your way is just to kill people. People do not want to accept that the world will not always be their oyster. My son does not want to go to an opening night of Star Wars. I wouldn't have suggested it as to not make him feel afraid but he came up with it. 

Sitting outside on our very warm Black Friday having a lovely lunch at a restaurant with my family. Was a bit nervous, to be honest. 

They just said he got his wife on a fiancee visa. Great. Guess they didn't want to be on the TLC show. 

This has always been the way some people have resolved issues. Look at the Bible - Cain killed Abel because he didn't get what he wanted and didn't know how to handle it. Using violence to get what you want or to vent your frustrations has always happened - we just hear about it a lot more now thanks to the media and technological advances.

(I'm not Christian anymore, but Cain was the first early example that popped into my head. A lot of the stories in Greek Mythology illustrate this as well - the Gods are angered and lash out violently because of it.)

As for your son, of course respect his boundaries and feelings - if he isn't comfortable going to opening night then that's a perfectly valid decision on his part (and I give you credit for allowing him to make that decision on his own). Have you spoken with him about the various attacks that have happened recently at all? I know when I was a kid and something scary happened I always felt more frightened if my parents didn't talk to me about it. Your son may feel differently though and you obviously know him better than I would - but it's a thought at least.

And opening night is fun, but there are always a ton of people there. Sometimes its better to wait a few days so you can enjoy it with less people around.

[sparkles]

My daughter is going to the opening of Star Wars with a group of friends. She said to me last night that they have some reservations about going now but decided that they'd go ahead with it. One big reason: "Well, we said it's New York City. We have all kinds of security measures in place and we know the movie theatre has metal detectors."

Metal detectors. In a movie theatre. This is the world our kids are set to inherit. I feel like crying.

I fear our outrage about this ongoing violence is going to fade into resignation. I mean, we hardly have time to process one tragedy before we're hit with another. Lather rinse repeat ad infinitum. We can't let up in the fight against this kind of senseless violence but sometimes, it really does seem like a losing battle.

[2manyKidzzz]

@velocirapture : My son is now 21 and is, in his own words "A GROWN MAN". If I had suggested he not go, he would have then gone. He told me this himself, he and his friends decided because of current violence, and also because I guess he doesn't lke the mob scene aspect. I told him I was glad. He is away at college and knows I will talk with him about anything. He knows how much we love him. Tell him often. 

People in general, throughout history, just WANT THEIR OWN WAY!!!!! Sadly.  Time to take a nice walk in the woods, have a cup of tea and enjoy life as we can. It has certainly gotten to be too much if I am sitting out at a restaurant the day after Thanksgiving and think off and on of terrorism and bullets flying. We stayed, of course, but .......a new dimension,  

[FundieFarmer]

I am a gun owner. No concealed, no carry, only can use it at my house in a stand-your-ground situation or out hunting...because that is (supposed to be) the law. I grew up in a Southern family where guns are just part of the daily landscape. But then things started changing, and then I had active shooter drills and the danger of being out in public has been a reality all my growing up years. My boss doesn't want to go to movie theaters anymore, and there are police officers at our churches on Sundays. This situation...where going out in public to the most mundane place takes your life into your hands...my gun is useless in that situation, because it's not there, because it's at home, where it is supposed to be, because that's the law. This argument about more people having guns...that's stupid, because you can't really take them out into public where you'd "need" them in the first place, and the last thing we need is a bunch of uneducated, trigger-happy nut jobs armed and ready to do vigilante justice.

And since people are using the right to bear arms within your home as a front to purchase weapons to make the public spaces less safe, where the guns others have don't do anything to help because they're not there (and they shouldn't be), well, then there's no point in us having the right to have them at home either because all it does is give access to the people who would use them for bad purposes. This isn't worth it anymore. 

So there you have it, folks. A card-carrying, gun-owning Southerner who'd rather give up her guns than have this violence continue.

[VelociRapture]

@velocirapture : My son is now 21 and is, in his own words "A GROWN MAN". If I had suggested he not go, he would have then gone. He told me this himself, he and his friends decided because of current violence, and also because I guess he doesn't lke the mob scene aspect. I told him I was glad. He is away at college and knows I will talk with him about anything. He knows how much we love him. Tell him often. 

People in general, throughout history, just WANT THEIR OWN WAY!!!!! Sadly.  Time to take a nice walk in the woods, have a cup of tea and enjoy life as we can. It has certainly gotten to be too much if I am sitting out at a restaurant the day after Thanksgiving and think off and on of terrorism and bullets flying. We stayed, of course, but .......a new dimension,  

Oh geeze! I thought your son was younger than that - sorry, my bad! Ignore the rest of my advice in that case!

(For the record, your son sounds like a thoughtful young man. I'm glad he and his friends thought it over carefully and made a choice they felt comfortable with.)

And I totally agree. It is a new way of living for a lot of people. I was 13 when the September 11th attacks happened - sadly, more than half my life has been lived under the threat of massive violence.

I don't know if that's why or if its just something about my personality - but I find that I don't scare easily when it comes to these shootings or attacks. I get incredibly angry and sad of course. And I'm all about preparing for the worst just in case and being aware of my surroundings and everything - but I don't really feel scared. Maybe I'm just used to the world being like this at this point.

And yeah, people have always wanted their own way. I think the problem now is that they have access to extremely powerful weapons they can use to get what they want.

[Dinaberries]

The issue of gun violence in America, and the way it's tied into a gun culture that is so deeply entrenched in the national identity, and also the fact that gun lobbyist groups are so powerful makes gun control seem like a hopeless dream. It is so sad. I am thankful all the time that I moved to Australia. I love America but I don't feel that I and my family are safe there.

[Destiny]

I'm just going to leave this here. I think it expresses my rage well:

[Cleopatra7]

What annoys me about this latest shooting is that now that the suspects appear to be self-radicalized Muslims, you know there's going to be a new round of legislation and investigations into Islamic terrorism. In comparison, if the shooters had been a white couple or two white guys, we'd just be hearing, "Well, these things just happen, and the shooters were probably just a couple of fringe nutcases."