There have been 204 mass shootings — and 204 days — in 2015 so far
These beautiful women were among the victims of the latest mass shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana -- victims of a white male, white supremacist who, according to reports, was a Tea Party follower:
Does that make all Tea Party followers or white males mass murderers? Well for some right wingers, it does because those same people believe ALL Muslims are mass murderers when a Muslim shoots and kills people. Some who believe that also believe all Muslims are potential terrorists and should be deported--even American Muslims (where do Americans get deported to?)
So should we apply the same logic to white males? Just last month a white male slaughtered 9 people in a church. Should all white males be suspected as terrorists, because they are responsible for an awful lot of these mass shootings:
According to data compiled by Mother Jones magazine, which looked at mass shootings in the United States since 1982, white people -- almost exclusively white men -- committed some 64% of the shootings.
Raw Story:
"Police have identified the gunman who killed two women and wounded seven other people at a Louisiana movie theater before fatally shooting himself. Investigators said 59-year-old John Russell Houser opened fire Thursday night during a showing of the film, “Trainwreck,” in Lafayette — about 500 miles from his home in Phenix City, Alabama.
UPDATE: Louisiana gunman was a Confederate flag-flying Tea Party kook who hated Obama and admired Hitler Police said Houser, who they described as “kind of a drifter,” fired 13 rounds from a .40-caliber handgun into the theater crowd after watching the movie with them for about 20 minutes."
The Mass Shooting Tracker:
The Mass Shooting Tracker is different from other shooting databases in that it uses a broader definition of mass shooting. "The old FBI definition of Mass Murder (not even the most recent one) is four or more people murdered in one event," the site's creators explain.
"It is only logical that a Mass Shooting is four or more people shot in one event." These shootings have become so common that they typically don't even make national news. Do you remember the four people shot in Cincinnati earlier this month? How about the seven in Cleveland, or the nine in Fort Wayne? Unless you live in these areas, you probably didn't even hear about them.
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This year there were 18 mass shootings in April, 39 in May, 41 in June, and 34 so far in July -- and the month isn't over yet. The theater shooting was Louisiana's 8th this year. There have been 10 in Ohio, 14 in California and 16 in New York. Will anything change? Probably not.
The Charleston shooting did produce a fruitful national conversation -- not on guns, but on the symbolism of the Confederate flag, which the shooter adopted as a banner of his racist beliefs. It took 150 years and a national tragedy for the country to reach something like a consensus on the meaning of a battle flag.
"Those who live in America, or visit it, might do best to regard [mass shootings] the way one regards air pollution in China: an endemic local health hazard which, for deep-rooted cultural, social, economic and political reasons, the country is incapable of addressing," The Economist wrote in response to the Charleston massacre. "This may, however, be a bit unfair. China seems to be making progress on pollution."
LAFAYETTE MOVIE THEATER SHOOTER WAS A RACIST, RIGHT-WING EXTREMIST TEA PARTIER (TWEETS, SCREENSHOTS)
19 comments:
Piyush "Bobby" Jindal:
“We never imagined it would happen in Louisiana,” Jindal said afterward, though the state has the second-highest rate of gun deaths in the country, more than twice the national average. Louisiana also has some of the laxest firearm regulations, for which Jindal bears much responsibility. During his eight years as governor he’s signed at least a dozen gun-related bills, most intended to weaken gun-safety regulation or expand access to firearms.
Times has a good article
Couple key excerpts after they establish why this man should never have owned a gun:
1. The next year, Mr. Houser applied for a permit to carry a concealed pistol, but the application was denied by the sheriff’s office; Alabama, however, does not require a permit or license to buy or own a handgun.
2. “Because of the brand of weapon it is, it’s more difficult to trace that type of weapon than it is other types,” said Chief Jim Craft of the Lafayette Police Department, but he would not elaborate.
So just what was done to check this man's background and why can't they trace the ownership of the gun?
There are so many floating around that it's probably impossible keep track of sales but by all means weaken the already lax control laws.
Or better yet, arm folks in the theater and have them shooting at movement in a dark theater.
"An armed society is a polite society". And you are damn well going to hear it from the clown car.
My heart is heavy. It seems like every other week, we're learning about some mass shooting in the U.S. or abroad. Is THIS our new normal? Is THIS how it has to be?
Anger, fueled by fear of loss, change, hate, or mental instability can trigger violent and sometimes lethal behavior.
We are living through an era in which many feel a heightened sense of loss and some have difficulty handling rapid social change. Hate seems on the rise as well and all this results in anger. It becomes a self perpetuating cycle until BOOM, violence erupts.
America is becoming ever more angry and violent rsponse is on the rise.
We (politicians and lawmakers) continue to spin our wheels.
The death toll continues to rise.
Rusty Houser:
"In 2011, Houser, who went by "Rusty," apparently commented on a blog post titled "Moral Sickness at Root of America's Decay," according to the International Business Times.
The site notes that the phone number in one of the comments posted by "Rusty Houser" is the same as the one listed on Houser's LinkedIn profile, which has since been disabled.
"America is so sick that I now believe it to be the enemy of the world," the commenter wrote. "I know next to nothing about Iran, but the little I do know tells me they are far higher morally than this financially failing filth farm."
"Failing filth farm" You'll find rhetoric like that on quite a few right wing blogs as a description of America under the Obama administration. "Rusty" and those far right blogs have a lot in common in their hatreds and spewing it on blogs. "Rusty" acted out his lunacy, and those blogs allow anti-semitic rants. Both "Rusty" and those people on those blogs feel the same hatred and rage.
Cranston, Bobby Jindal is the governor of a state that has some of the laxest gun laws and also has one of the highest rates of deaths by firearms. How could anyone not imagine this happening in a state like that?
Ducky quoted the NRA: "An armed society is a polite society" is NRA b.s. and everyone knows it. In countries where firearms are controlled and not readily available to mentally ill people, they have fewer firearm deaths. We lead the world in that area.
Ahab, obviously a mass shooting a week or a day is our new normal, and we can thank our gutless legislators and the criminals in the NRA.
RN, it's actually about mentally ill men getting their hands on firearms. The last three mass shooters Roof, Abdulazeez, and now Houser, all had mental issues. We're a stupid country that allows mentally deranged men to get hold of weapons of mass murder, and the people who claim there's nothing we can do because SECOND AMENDMENT! are just plain crazy.
ARoTPB, you're correct. I've read that sort of rage on many a right wing blog. It's nothing new. They've been predicting the end of America since January 20, 2009. Those folks are angry, spiteful, and ill-informed.
"Jindal said that the mass shooting “is an awful night for Lafayette, an awful night for Louisiana, an awful night for the United States. There’s no good reason why this act of evil should intrude on the lives of families.” Piyush, a devout fundamentalist Christian, had to lie because he dare not utter the truth after another gun tragedy he and his NRA friends perpetuate and thrive on.
For one thing, the shooting could not, in any way, shape or form be an awful night for America, Lafayette, or especially Louisiana. Due to Republicans, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the NRA, what happened in Lafayette, like what happened in Chattanooga, Charleston, Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine, and Phoenix cannot possibly be considered awful because they are normal for America. All Republicans know, and Piyush Jindal certainly does, that nothing in America is awful, it is exceptional.
It is also exactly what Americans should expect from an exceptional nation that actively promotes putting more guns in the hands of more Americans and why this country continues vying for the number one spot in the world for daily gun violence and deaths. It is a distinction that was at one time reserved for lawless extremist nations like Yeomen, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan."
He was a mental case,he did not take his cause to a military installation like Perhaps a Bill Ayers,Nidal Hassan
Are mass shootings the norm now in exceptional America?
Anon, perhaps because Houser was, in addition to being a mentally unstable person, he was also a coward who knew shooting up a theater and targeting women would be easier than trying it at a military base. BTW, Anon, Ayers did not attack any military bases. You sound like one of those fugitives from facts who comments at a certain blog that welcomes and promotes pornography, racism, and antisemitism.
The Question Man,
It appears so.
Saw this today, Shaw.
The Gun Lobby walks up to the American People and asks “Would you allow me to sell as many of my products in an unregulated manner, including to the mentally unstable and criminally minded, if it only cost you a few tens of thousands of deaths a year?”
The American People respond: “Of course. No one should limit our liberty.”
The Gun Lobby then asks: “What if that included an average of two mass shootings a month in elementary schools, movie theaters, and places of worship?”
The American People: “Of course not! We value the lives of innocent citizens. What kind of country do you take us for?”
Gun lobby: “We’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling over price.”
Hyperbole with the purpose of creating guilt so as to control the discussion and influence action based on emotion.
Oh sorry government bldgs How many anti-gov't bldgs did the Tea Party bomb?
"Oh sorry government bldgs How many anti-gov't bldgs did the Tea Party bomb?"
What the hell is an "anti-gov't building?"
Oh, wait. That would be the RNC headquarters. So the answer is "none."
Now go back to that blog where ignorance and bigotry reigns supreme.
... anti government bldgs (buildings)...
Facilities housing those individuals advocating resistance to present governmental dogma and engaged in redefining the purpose of out government along more radical non republican and democratic pathways.
Is an anti-government building the same as an anti-rational thought TeaBagger?
Here's some Bagger stupidity:
SORRY! Doesn't BEGIN to go far enough. We MUST outlaw ISLAM in ALL its forms, an DEPORT all Muslims, and those who SPPORT and DEFEND them. PERIOD!
To where would the raging idiot who wrote that "deport" THIS GUY?
Some would say government is anti-rational thought at work. Just ask a Tea Party advocate. Or... perhaps Gallup could do a poll.
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