I’m sure most of you know by now, there’s was another mass shooting on Sunday, in the U.S. The 24-year-old shooter murdered Eli Clayton, 22, of California, and Taylor Robertson, 27, of West Virginia. He injured a dozen more at the Jacksonville Landing “Madden NFL 19” gaming tournament before killing himself. And here’s a big surprise: the Baltimore resident LEGALLY purchased the two handguns used in the shooting despite having been hospitalized twice in psychiatric hospitals when he was a teenager, and ring prescribed anti-psychotic medications. I honestly don’t know what else to say. I don’t even have hope that perhaps this will be the calamity that finally forces common sense gun reform. The only way things will change is if we remove the politicians who so stubbornly cling to the NRA and its ideals. And we can begin doing that this November. We cannot sit apathetically at home and do nothing!
It’s so terrible these young lives taken tragically by such easy access to deadly weapons, I’m also horrified by the toxic masculinity present in this whole debate and that a guy feels so entitled to win that he can’t value human life, others’ or his own, when that entitlement is threatened
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It’s unacceptable that this country can’t compromise on common sense gun laws. In this case the shooter had been hospitalized back in 2010 and treated with an anti-psychotic drug. How he passed a background check in Maryland is beyond me.🤷🏻♀️
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I don’t want to like this post… Why Kim? If we can’t give life, how can we take it? Why are guns needed in day to day life?
Sorry I don’t know what to say or do
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Honestly Shalini, I am so frustrated. I believe in our 2nd Amendment, but the Republicans and the NRA refuse to consider any common sense gun reform. I don’t think our Founding Fathers envisioned a world where there would be things automatic weapons. In this case the shooter used two hand guns, but at least one of them had a laser scope on it which of course made it easier for him to hit his targets.
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Oh god!! Guns with laser… In the hands of someone not responsible… Aren’t there background checks, police verification, and other documentation before procuring a gun?
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There’s supposed to be Shalini. However, in the case the hospitalization was when he was a juvenile and he was there less than 30 days. As far as him being on an antipsychotic med for bipolar and schizophrenia, this too was when he was a juvenile. I don’t know if he was still on the med, or if he was on any other antipsychotic. Even if he was, I don’t think there are any laws requiring a doctor to report this to law enforcement.
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Omg everything is computerized in your country and yet things like this, falls through the gaps.
Antipsychotics are permanent. Brain suddenly doesn’t start producing the required enzymes to keep a body sane. So he has stopped taking them could be the case.
Here the cops are pretty strict in issuing legal guns, lots of red tape. And most of us hate guns anyways.
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I can never understand the gun thing as I’m in the UK so we can’t just go and buy one.
I’ve never seen one (in real life) and I’m sure my friends and neighbours haven’t either.
Not to say that there isn’t any guns here, if course they are, but it just seems to be few and far between, i wouldn’t even know how to go about buying a gun.
I understand the whole ‘protection’ thing, but protection from what? Our houses get broken into etc. but we don’t see that many shootings on the news. Stabbings? Yes …lots, perhaps that’s worse, i don’t know.
I spoke to my little boy yesterday after seeing this on Twitter, to explain about how games are not real, and just because he shoots or stabs someone in a game, it doesn’t mean he can do it in real life, he looked at me and said “is this a serious conversation Mum, do you think I’m that stupid!?”
I kept quiet after that lol
I saw the Twitch video of the shooting on Twitter before i relised what it was, it’s so awful, i can’t believe someone that has those sort of issues can just pop to a shop and buy a gun, is it really that easy over there?
Vicci x
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The way guns are regulated varies state by state here Vicci. In Massachusetts for examples, has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country. I’m not familiar with Maryland’s laws, but regardless of what state you purchase a gun in, you have to pass a federal background check. With the shooter’s psychiatric history, he never should have been allowed to purchase two hand guns. I can’t wait to hear how this happened.
BTW, I LOVE your son’s response!
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Lol yeah he’s not backwards in coming forwards haha
So different states different laws?
That must make things really difficult, i suppose it’s easier here as we are only tiny compared to the U.S. so 1 law for everyone which is NO GUNS…simple lol, i mean Farmers and people have them, people who hunt game etc but not Joe Blogs next door.
A girl in our Goodreads geoup is from Dallas and i was amazed that people can just wander down the street with them holstered, as long as you don’t whip them out you are ok, so what’s the point in having them?
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Sigh. Berit, it’s so difficult to explain the gun culture here. I support the 2nd Amendment, but honestly, groups like the NRA are absolutely mental about their guns. They see any kind of proposed reform as the beginning of the end!
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This is Berit we have pretty strict gun laws in California as well, in some states they can carry them around it’s confounding!
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It’s insane Berit!
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I couldn’t possibly agree more. ❤
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This is going to sound horrible, but if I have to say “my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families” one more time, I’m going to be sick. Interesting that this is the 4th mass shooting in Florida in the last two years, although this shooter bought his guns in Baltimore.
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I hope so too Kim. I’m in the UK and I know two people with guns – one is a farmer and one has a smallholding and hunts for sport. So it’s not like if you have a legitimate reason to have a gun or you want one for gun sport you’re not allowed – there’s simply more checks and legislation about how you keep them. It seems like a pretty common sense approach to me. I hope the US follows suit.
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After the Newtown school shooting and last year’s Parkland, I’ve pretty much given up any hope of ever seeing gun reform legislation, at least not in my lifetime.
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Sadly I agree with you.
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😞 I don’t understand how the NRA have so much political sway? Is it just the size of their membership?
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Membership+Money=Power.
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Reform is years over do, why isn’t a solid background check on every gun sale made? I have guns, they are secured in the safe and only for use if my life is threatened. I have a mental illness and I’m not a killer and every killer is not mentally ill. I don’t have a clear answer but know what we are doing isn’t working. It’s much to easy for someone to buy a gun out of anger and use. If it took a month to background check and a so called cool off period maybe that would save a few. There is so much anger in society and from reason people think grading a gun is the answer. ??
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Have to ask… if your guns are secured in a safe and only for use if your life is threatened, will you have time to get to your safe, unlock it, get the gun out, turn around and shoot whoever it is that is threatening you? I think if I was threateneing you I’d have finished you off long before you got to the safe!
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You are 100% correct!!! My husband of 15 years doesn’t understand that because I have mental illness doesn’t mean I’ll kill myself like my father. It’s an ongoing conversation. I live in Texas and have been around guns all my life, I respect guns.
I recently told him researching a 9mm was on my agenda. He doesn’t freak out but I can see in his eyes he doesn’t want me to. I’m not a person to set back when told what to do, there are times when compromise is needed. I have a gun in my office, he knows it’s there and knows I will not put it in the safe. Hell I could save his life one day.
Getting a 9mm that isn’t to hard for aa female to cock is my challenge yet I have looked and they are out there.
My comments may not make sense to you, I respect that.
Thank you for commenting, a good conversation is what will get us to a place we can all live with gun laws.
Melinda
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According to the news, he bought the two guns legally, which I’m assuming a background check would have been a part of. Why an immediate flag wasn’t sent up as to his violent psychiatric history I have no idea.
I agree with you that not every killer is mentally ill, but in this case he very clearly was. He NEVER should have been able to obtain those guns!
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Your right….one problem is his history would not have come up because those are privacy files covered under HIPPA law. Your doctor doesn’t store a mentally ill person’s record in a central database. The privacy laws is where to draw the line.
With this shooter, was he clearly mentally ill before the shooting. Most of those details come out after the fact. I don’t have the answers. 🙂
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I’m sure more answers will be forthcoming.
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Your right, what is painful to me is when parents and friends saw changes or heard talk of guns but no one said a word. We’re at a point where we have to take what we see, know and hear serious. I have a heavy heart for the parents.
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Kim this is just an ongoing thing isn’t it? Sigh. Hope I haven’t upset the lady above, but really, the reasons, sorry, excuses for owning a gun in a suburban family area are beyond ridiculous. Thoughts and prayers though eh?
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It is Fraggle. And I can’t tell you how frustrated and angry I am. I grew up with guns. My dad was a collector and used to take my sister and I out target shooting. We were also taught the responsibilities that come with having a gun.
And, I have to say that guns and society have changed over the last few decades. Back in the 70s, people weren’t going into schools and public areas with weapons like the AR-15 and killing as many as people as they could. In this case the shooter had two handguns instead of an AR-15 (thank God), but at least one of the guns had a laser scope which allowed him to aim more accurately. And when you factor in that he bought these guns legally when he had a psychiatric history that should have precluded him obtaining any weapons, well, once again we have an absolutely unforgivable situation.🤬
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It’s a real vise on the heart.
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That it is. And as usual entirely preventable.
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“Guns and society have changed”
Not sure about that Kim. In 1966, I was 14 years old, and watched this event on the TV news.
‘On August 1, 1966, after stabbing his mother and his wife to death the night before, Charles Whitman, a former Marine, took rifles and other weapons to the observation deck atop the Main Building tower at the University of Texas at Austin, then opened fire indiscriminately on persons on the surrounding campus and streets. Over the next 90 minutes he shot and killed 16 people (including one unborn child) and injured 31 others; while a final victim died in 2001 from the lingering effects of his wounds. The incident ended when a policeman and a civilian reached Whitman and shot him dead. The attack is one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.’
!966 or 2018, it is still the guns that are killing people. If the people firing them could not buy them, maybe they would find other weapons to use. But they would be unlikely to be able to kill so many, at one time.
But most Americans are conditioned to guns, It is your culture. It will never change.
It is the curse of your nation, and the blight on your society.
Sad to hear about Jacksonville. Until the next one knocks it off the news.
Best wishes, Pete.
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When I said things have changed Pete, I meant the technology has gotten more sophisticated and people here seem more likely to go for a gun to solve their problems. Also adding to it is the mental health issue. People are falling through the cracks. This shooter, with his background never should have been able to pass a background check.
As bad as the University of Texas clock tower shooting was, with 16 innocents killed, imagine how much worse it would have been if he had something like an AR-15. And now we get to worry about 3D printed plastic guns that Texas “entrepreneur”, Cody Wilson, is still selling the blueprints for online despite a court order to stop. That’s all I was saying.
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OK, Kim. I misunderstood about the technology. Printed guns? Isn’t progress wonderful. 😦
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This is awful Pete. I’ve been ranting to Tom about it for days. You know how he’s pro gun, but he’s also horrified by this.
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I’m not sure if there is enough momentum in America for gun laws to be changed….even with the repeated school massacres, the shootings etc. From an outsider’s point of view, you have to have law makers who are willing to forgo the wrath of your Gun associations and take a stance, that prioritises life over guns…..but will that happen in your November elections? Is there anyone standing for election on such a matter?
I don’t agree with the politics of John Howard, but after the massacre at Port Arthur in 1996 he had the gumption to actually legislate against this weapons. But I’ve watched massacre after massacre of school kids, and no one in your country appears to want to take on the massive and powerful lobby.
Why?
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Republicans are beholden to the NRA who pour hundreds of millions of dollars into their campaigns. Democrats are much more vocal regarding gun reform. The problem is, the NRA in my opinion is the most powerful lobby in the U.S. and there is nothing they won’t do to take a candidate who’s not pro-gun down. Part of the reason why Hilary Clinton lost the election was her promise to take on the NRA.
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Wow – that says a lot for a gun lobby to be that powerful, to hold so much sway. Its like making them responsible for shaping the political landscape of America…..
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They definitely hold a lot of power over the government. It’s quite frightening actually.
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And it’s interesting because they’re not accountable to anyone else…..its like they get to choose who gets to be elected, not the actual voting public…..
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😞
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This is so terrible!🙀 I hate to hear how much this is happening but it keeps making me more and more irate that the government is never going to wake up!😖😿🙏
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It’s heartbreaking and infuriating.
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You’re right!!!😿😢
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I hadn’t heard about this incident. Breaks my heart to hear this and as much as I don’t understand the guns thing in USA, I just don’t get how that shooter was able to legally purchase two guns with his history. Its sad.
Hopefully the govt will do something, perhaps tighten the regulations on federal background checks?
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Unfortunately I don’t see anything changing soon Diana. Especially with Trump and the Republicans controlling all three branches of government.
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