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Today's Mass Shooting

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It's good that the "thoughts and prayers" thing has become a much-mocked meme, to the extent that politicians are now afraid to say it.

They'll substitute some other religious codswallop instead of course, but at least the, "thoughts and prayers" line is no longer trotted out by anyone with any awareness.
 
Police have released additional details in a press conference moments ago.

Officers on routine patrol in the district encountered an armed man firing shots around 1:05 a.m., Biehl said.

Within 20 seconds, officers had engaged with the shooter and within 30 seconds he was “neutralized”, Biehl said.

Police are showing videos and playing 911 calls received into dispatch.

The suspect, Connor Betts, was wearing a mask, body armor and hearing protection. He used a .223 caliber rifle with 100-round drum magazines, Biehl said. The gun had some modifications but Biehl said he was unable to elaborate what those modifications were.
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The shooter had an additional weapon, a shotgun, in his vehicle.

The shooting happened on the street, and he was killed by police while trying to run into a nearby bar after they engaged him. It sounds from the description as if the bar itself wasn't specifically targeted; but it seems highly likely that there would've been additional casualties if the suspect had successfully made it into the crowded bar with his weapon.
 

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Nothing will happen. There were worse shootings, and nothing happened.
Buy bigger gun, if you don't want to, buy bulletproof vest. Learn to give first aid. Celebrate freedom.
 
theprestige said:
"Unspeakable act of evil."

It's like Trump literally wants to embolden the nazis.
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Trump: “How do you stop these people?"
Rally member: "Shoot them!"
Trump, laughing: "That's only in the panhandle you can get away with that stuff. Only in the panhandle.”
 
Captain_Swoop said:
Trump Tweets

Today, I authorized the lowering of the flags to half-staff at all Federal Government buildings in honor of the victims of the tragedies in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio....

....The flags at the White House will be lowered today through Thursday, August 8. Melania and I are praying for all those impacted by this unspeakable act of evil!
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A real man of action there! He knows just what to do when citizens are murdered.
 
smartcooky said:
It doesn't matter how many rampage shootings you have in one day; two, three, five, ten, twenty.... NOTHING WILL HAPPEN because US politicians do not have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the pro-gun lobby. They are cowards one and all, afraid of losing their NRA rating and their dirty campaign money.
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The TX governor already stupidly said they should be talking about memorials right now, ie too soon. :rolleyes:

Sorry Guv, "too soon" went out of favor after Parkland.


Listening now to the hypocrite in chief telling us "Hate has no place in our country. It's been going on for years, for years."

There's a video of him at his last rally cheering on a guy in the audience that yelled, "shoot them", in reference to immigrants crossing the border.

OK Democrats, there's your first campaign commercial, juxtapose those two clips and send it off virally on social media.
 
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Skeptic Ginger said:
The TX governor already stupidly said they should be talking about memorials right now, ie too soon. :rolleyes:

Sorry Guv, "too soon" went out of favor after Parkland.


Listening now to the hypocrite in chief telling us "Hate has no place in our country. It's been going on for years, for years."

There's a video of him at his last rally cheering on a guy in the audience that yelled, "shoot them".

OK Democrats, there's your first campaign commercial, juxtapose those to clips and send it off virally on social media.
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Well maybe if it's too soon to talk about action due to this mass shooting, how about taking action to deal with Columbine now?
 
Reports that past tweets referring to Mexican immigrants as an "invasion" are being deleted from President Trump's Twitter account.
 
Neil deGrasse Tyson disappoints:
https://www.tmz.com/2019/08/04/neil-degrasse-tyson-mass-shooting-data-tweet/
In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings.

On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose…

500 to Medical errors
300 to the Flu
250 to Suicide
200 to Car Accidents
40 to Homicide via Handgun

Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data.
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This pisses me off. While true, that is besides the point.
First off, a death from violence is not the same as a death from an accident like a car accident. It is far more traumatic to the survivors.
Secondly, not all violent deaths are equivalent, that is why we have Murder 1, etc.
We have separate laws for terrorism and hate crimes that are different than a murder as a crime of passion for a reason: It terrorizes whole groups of people. It victimizes more people. So it is more than just numbers.
Lastly, we work incredibly hard with our public health infrastructure and hard data and evidence based policies to reduce things like the flu. Not so much with gun violence.
 
IanS said:
<snip>

If the majority of voters in the US really cared more about the vast numbers of innocent people shot dead every year, then how is it possible for US politicians to ignore the will of that majority and still get elected by a minority?
I think US voters just don't want to stop it. They think those lives are a price worth paying in exchange for them continuing to keep & use their guns.
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The same way that 50% of the voters in a state can end up with 23% of the seats from their state in the HoR represented by their party.
 
Sherman Bay said:
For anyone who has a problem with Neil DeGrasse Tyson's comments, I suggest reading Innumeracy by mathematician John Allen Paulos.
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In the comments on a news article, one guy last week argued that "statistically speaking, your local surgeon kills more people than the latest mass-murderer." It reminded me of an old joke Paulos shares in Innumeracy: A worried professor smuggles a bomb in his luggage every time he flies because there's an astronomical chance two bombers will share a flight.
 
The Dayton shooter is turning out to be rather the opposite of the El Paso shooter. In old social media posts he calls himself a leftist who is "going to hell", rails against mass shootings, and urges people to "vote blue".

“This is America: Guns on every corner, guns in every house, no freedom but that to kill,” he wrote in December 2018. And, “’Tis! The pistol is a Beretta 93R, called the REK7 in BO4. Do love me some guns!” He also wrote, “Hammer, brick, gun.” On Feb. 14, 2018, he tweeted this at Sen. Rob Portman: “@robportman hey rob. How much did they pay you to look the other way? 17 kids are dead. If not now, when?” That was the date of the mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida.
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None of his social media postings so far hint at any mass shooting plans, or intent to commit violence against any particular group. The entertainment district he struck at caters to a wide and diverse demographic.

Claims from people purporting to have gone to high school with the shooter consistently describe a well-known misogynist and hypermasculine bully, who was once expelled for writing an alleged "hit list" on a bathroom wall.
 
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