News reporter and photographer shot and killed on live broadcast this morning

[DeadPresident]

"Wholesale changes" that would save American lives? It's gun control, not burning the constitution.

Edit: Actually, just gun regulation. One has to question the sanity of any country that has bearing military-spec arms as such a key part of its identity.

 

[Greens]

Between Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, you might be surprised.

But I just think you have to understand American history. The 2nd Amendment wasn't added for slave owners. It was a right most Americans felt very strongly about, especially in light of British gun grabbing.

The slave owner part was for the people who see the Founding Fathers as these morally righteous God-like figures.

I know why the second amendment was added. I just don't think it's automatically applicable to society in 2015 just because the Founding Fathers said so back when assault rifles weren't commonplace.

 

[Thundercrack85]

If you want a blanket ban on guns a la Australia, it will never happen.

If you want to limit certain rifles, magazines, further background checks, etc, you might have a shot. No pun intended.

 

[DeadPresident]

No, since it seems like something that would tie into your work I wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Before looking into it I thought they were just there to race bait and stir up the protestors.

I'm not sure, from what I'm reading it may have started as a blank and positive movement, but like anything one can't quite see how it'll pan out until the human element affects it. People will always bring their own personal beliefs to it. So yeah, I can see how it may be something that could work out badly if the majority of protesters are of a certain race and the majority of cops are of another race.

From recent news stories it seems like the whole Ferguson thing caused a bit of a rift inside the Oath Keeper thing when #BlackOpenCarry became prominent. I can see how this will become another issue in a long string that will end up polarizing people because a racial element is included. I can't say much more because I'm not too familiar with the movement and its history as a whole though, I'll keep an eye out for anything else though.

 

[regwec]

The idea that a law code, frozen in time, will forever prove useful and appropriate, is bizarre. It recalls the absurdity of sharia law in a modern context.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

alright, I do not necessarily agree with this, but I'm posting it to show how I find it quite insensitive how people exploit these events so quickly just to try to prove some political points.

 

[Matt Mortem]

I'm pretty sure guns were being discussed just as much after the church shooting too.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

I'm pretty sure guns were being discussed just as much after the church shooting too.

which renders that picture fallible.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

alright, I do not necessarily agree with this, but I'm posting it to show how I find it quite insensitive how people exploit these events so quickly just to try to prove some political points.

Well Roof murdered kind hearted strangers soley because they were black. This shooter killed ex co-workers who he claimed mistreated him because he was black and gay.

I'm not saying the black shooter wasn't racist but this shooting wasn't limited to bigotry like Roof's.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

How is an open border going to help a kid who can't move until he's 18? In some evangelical theocracy, a gay kid would never live that long.

I don't believe the social experiment would last very long.

Heck, once they outlaw porn and alcohol the population will decline 90%.

But after that massive failure how many people are going to let the religious right steer public policy again?

Kind of like how the country outlawed alcohol and people quickly realized it was a terrible idea and never brought up banning alcohol again.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

How would this even work? People aren't going to want to leave where they are just to live in a state that agrees with them. Do you realize how expensive it is packing up and moving across the country? Is the economy is just going to be the same regardless of the market that these people are leaving? If you're a hardcore Christian then chances are you aren't going to move away from a good career in a place like Silicon Valley that has people who disagree with you. This idea makes no sense at all, and it would never work just based on the fact that you wouldn't be able to force people into certain areas against their will.

Not to mention you don't find it a little odd that you think that people being bracketed into certain zones based on political ideologies is the right way to go? That sounds far too close to East Germany and West Germany.

I already admitted it would be a logistical nightmare.

And it wouldn't be like East and West Germany. It would be like Utah and California but with more ideological experimentation. .

 

[Whiskey Tango]

This thread ceased to be about Alison Parker and Adam Ward a long time ago.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I'm so desensitized this really didn't do anything to me. Don't get me wrong, I know it's sad. But, this happens so ****ing often it's hard for me to really feel anything. Every other day some lone nut, racist or a religious fanatic shoots a bunch of people. Democrats call for gun control, Republicans either blame something else, or say it's not appropriate to have a discussion about it.

It's hard to really care. I think Sandy Hook was the last time I actually got really upset by one of these things. I do get annoyed, but that's about it.

It's disturbing how routine this is becoming.

 

[Marvolo]

Yep. If we wait too long and it becomes any more routine its going to be harder to drum up support for more gun regulations because people will just accept these tragedies as a normal part of life in America and stop being emotionally effected by them. Its pitifully ironic that the crazies who are shooting people are making it harder to pass gun regulations. Its so ****ing ass backwards and infuriating.

 

[Snow Queen]

So George Zimmerman is throwing a fit on Twitter about this for obviously the wrong reasons. Including bringing up him killing Trayvon Martin.

George Zimmerman @TherealGeorgeZ
We all know how it ended for the last moron that hit me. Give it a whirl cupcake.

Can he get any scummier?

 

[Parker Wayne]

He tries way too hard for attention.

 

[Sawyer]

I'm honestly ready for Zimmerman to die. I won't go as far as saying I wish for it, but boy will I cheer when the day comes.

 

[Marvolo]

He's going to keep on and one day he is going to cross the wrong person who won't put up his BS. On that day he will either die or be hurt very badly.

 

[PyroChamber]

I read an article about the shooter and it said that he's had a history of angry issues and would just flip out on anyone on the drop of the dime, and that he constantly played the victim in every situation.

It mentioned one instance where he was working at a bar and got upset and wrote a 20 page letter to the manager, all because the staff didn't tell him he was doing a good job IIRC.

 

[regwec]

On the division of a super-state into smaller states along ideological lines:

This was attempted in the Holy Roman Empire at the Peace of Augsburg, in 1555. Ultimately, it was an enormous failure, and led to the Thirty Years War, beginning in 1618. Part of the problem was that the Peace froze a political situation in time, when of course various pressures mean that affiliations are always shifting.

I'm so desensitized this really didn't do anything to me. Don't get me wrong, I know it's sad. But, this happens so ****ing often it's hard for me to really feel anything. Every other day some lone nut, racist or a religious fanatic shoots a bunch of people. Democrats call for gun control, Republicans either blame something else, or say it's not appropriate to have a discussion about it.

It's hard to really care. I think Sandy Hook was the last time I actually got really upset by one of these things. I do get annoyed, but that's about it.

It's disturbing how routine this is becoming.

I often hear this, and I can understand it. It would be hard to manufacture a crime more hideous than Sandy Hook, and yet nothing was done. I have begun to wonder whether gun massacres are just becoming a part of American life and something that is, implicitly, accepted. This appears to be the case with polluted air in China, dramatic wealth inequality in India, and binge drinking in Britain. I suppose you could also draw an analogy with the place of suicide in Japanese culture.

 

[Schlosser85]

....George Zimmerman is such a piece of ****. Like, wow.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

On the division of a super-state into smaller states along ideological lines:

This was attempted in the Holy Roman Empire at the Peace of Augsburg, in 1555. Ultimately, it was an enormous failure, and led to the Thirty Years War, beginning in 1618. Part of the problem was that the Peace froze a political situation in time, when of course various pressures mean that affiliations are always shifting.

.

Ooh, historical precedent is always nice.

Looks like it lasted for 60 years then imploded.

Thanks for the info.

Now back to the endless gun control debate.

 

[jokesonm3]

I still believe that my theory of tracking all registered firearms with a built in gps to make sure they aren't in a certain place like a shopping mall or a school is still effective and reasonable.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I still believe that my theory of tracking all registered firearms with a built in gps to make sure they aren't in a certain place like a shopping mall or a school is still effective and reasonable.

Many people who love guns would hate the idea of the goverment tracking the position of all their guns.

Are you serious?

 

[Greens]

What we need after the NSA debacle is MORE tracking!

It's a noble idea, but not realistic.