Tag Archives: mass shooting

Are Newtown conspiracy theorists a danger to themselves or others?

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Hunter | Daily Kos: read this story of a Newtown resident who is now under constant assault for being supposedly “in on the conspiracy” and weep:

What did Rosen do to deserve this? One month ago, he found six little children and a bus driver at the end of the driveway of his home in Newtown, Connecticut. “We can’t go back to school,” one little boy told Rosen. “Our teacher is dead.” He brought them inside and gave them food and juice and toys. He called their parents. He sat with them and listened to their shocked accounts of what had happened just down the street inside Sandy Hook Elementary, close enough that Rosen heard the gunshots.

Rosen did media interviews about his involvement; this, apparently, was enough to unleash an onslaught of phone calls, hate mails, and the like from America’s strong and growing contingent of Fucking Stupid People, many of whom have convinced themselves of the notion that the murder of twenty elementary school students and six adults was actually all just a government-sponsored hoax, a not-so-elaborate plot to fake yet another mass murder in yet another American town to justify taking their own personal guns away. This, in turn, is because there is a small but very loud collection of Fucking Stupid People in America who are far more concerned about the rights of their guns than the rights of your children, to the point of not even believing your children actually exist, if that’s what they have to believe in order to support the rich, creamy notion that all the world and its myriad horrible events exist only to be in support of, or in direct opposition to, their own personal little metal penis extenders. 

[...] If you think the gubbermint is after your guns, and you specifically think that the latest summary execution of a new record number of schoolchildren (or theater patrons, or college students, or restaurant-goers—really, there’s quite a list to choose from) are, according to the voices from your dental work, hoaxes in support of that wider anti-you plot, then yes—the gubbermint should be taking your goddamn guns, and your ammo, and they should probably go into your house and put safety covers on all your electrical outlets just so you don’t go around sticking your tongue in them.

The best reason the NRA is usually silent after mass shootings: Wayne LaPierre

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But don’t hate the messenger, hate the lobby and the laws it creates:

The Washington Post: In his first extensive public remarks since the mass shooting at a Connecticut school last Friday, the head of National Rifle Association on Friday called for schools to be armed with police officers in an effort to reduce violent outbreaks like the one that took place last Friday. “The only thing that stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” NRA President Wayne LaPierre said at a press conference in Washington. LaPierre also called on Congress to act immediately ”to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school in this nation.” [...] “Politicians pass laws for gun-free school zones, they issue press releases bragging about them … in doing so they tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk,” said  LaPierre, the head of the nation’s largest gun rights group.

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Putting a Police Officer In Every School Would Cost At Least $5.5 Billion a Year: According to the National Center for Education Statistics there are 98,817 K-12 schools in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says cops make $55,000 a year. So we could put $5.4 billion as the low level estimate of the cost. Cops obviously have health care benefits and pension and disability benefits for police offers tend to be fairly costly so the real price would be higher than that. At any rate, on both the policing side and the gun control side it would be a mistake to focus too much on spectacular school massacres. What happened at Sandy Hook was terrible, but at least 78 people have been shot and killed in America since then. If you want to regulate guns more strictly, the smart play is to focus on the portable concealable handguns that are widely used in those “ordinary” crimes and if you want to spend billions on hiring new police officers the smart play to focus on deploying them in the high-crime neighborhoods where most of the murdering happens. Obviously one would hope that a less-armed, lower-crime society would also feature fewer monstrous massacres as a side benefit but concentrating our policing resources on static defense of K-12 schools would be foolish.

President Obama in Newtown

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con-tem-plate: President Obama in Newtown, with the siblings of those that lost their lives.

‘Let the little children come to me,’ Jesus said, ‘and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’

Charlotte. Daniel. Olivia. Josephine. Ana. Dylan. Madeleine. Katherine. Chase. Jesse. James. Grace. Emilie. Jack. Noah. Caroline. Jessica. Benjamin. Avielle. Allison. God has called them all home.

For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on and make our country worthy of their memory.

— PRESIDENT OBAMA. (via inothernews)

apsies:

Cristina Hassinger, the daughter of Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung, tweeted this picture of President Obama holding her daughter before the interfaith service this evening.

Hassinger tweeted the following yesterday: My mom, Dawn Hochsprung, was taken tragically from me. But she went down in a blaze of glory that truly represents who she was.

Fuck Mike Huckabee and Bryan Fischer: it’s always the sinners who know sin best

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Mike Huckabee: Newtown Shooting No Surprise, We’ve ‘Systematically Removed God’ From Schools – “We don’t have a crime problem, a gun problem or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem,” Huckabee said on Fox News. “And since we’ve ordered God out of our schools, and communities, the military and public conversations, you know we really shouldn’t act so surprised … when all hell breaks loose.”

Charles Johnson: Bryan Fischer echoes this theme, saying God could have protected the children in Newtown, but “God is not going to go where he’s not wanted,” because God is a “gentleman.”

I’ll tell you what’s a true sin: believing God is a petty, vindictive bastard just like you. And a society that encourages more guns, less mental health care, and even more spending cuts out of our country’s social safety net, just so the wealthiest among us can keep their tax breaks.

A gun in every cold, dead hand

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Michael Tomasky calls bullshit on the idea that after the Aurora theater shooting, we’ll work to make sure it “never happens again.” In our current reality, Wayne LaPierre’s National Rifle Association owns the GOP, body and soul, and controls the Democrats through fear. The NRA has successfully marketed itself as the national symbol of ‘Merican Freedom™ and as the only logical answer to all modern fear and anxiety. He says,

“… I can understand why it makes people feel better in some way to say it. But really. Nonsense. We have no collective will in this country to make sure such a day never happens again. In fact, if anything, we are headed for a day when 20 percent of the people in a movie theater are armed themselves, and we have a good old shoot ’em up that would’ve made John Ford’s head spin but will make the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre’s heart soar like an eagle.

“[...] The net effect is that we have laws no one wants—not cops, not the military, not even most gun owners themselves—except the NRA. Earlier this year, the Indiana state house passed—with NRA backing—a bill spelling out when citizens could kill police officers. Some prominent military leaders wanted military personnel to be able to discuss gun safety with troops as a way of trying to stem military suicides, many of which are committed with personally owned guns. The NRA was having none of it. Finally, as to gun owners, I will never forget the late 2009 poll—conducted by Frank Luntz, no less—that found that 69 percent of NRA members back closing the gun show loophole. That poll produced a series of fascinating findings that showed NRA members to be pretty reasonable people in private on the telephone. But alas, in the political arena, in Wayne they trust, I guess.”

Personally I’m not anti-gun. I am against the gunshow loophole. I’m against how easy it is to buy semi-automatic rifles and high capacity mags because Bush let those bans expire. I’m against how easy it is for straw purchasers along the border to load up on semi-autos and high capacity mags for Mexican cartels (Hello! Fast and Furious).

You know who’s not against any of those things? The NRA. Their bottom line is profit for gun manufacturers and dealers — that’s who they lobby for. Doesn’t matter who buys their products, only that their products are bought. If terrible crimes are committed with their product, great. They’re happy to generate more fear so more of their products are purchased. Follow the money.

If you’ve never watched Bowling for Columbine, maybe you should.

The inner madness of America

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“Every country has, along with its core civilities and traditions, some kind of inner madness, a belief so irrational that even death and destruction cannot alter it. In Europe not long ago it was the belief that “honor” of the nation was so important that any insult to it had to be avenged by millions of lives. In America, it has been, for so long now, the belief that guns designed to kill people indifferently and in great numbers can be widely available and not have it end with people being killed, indifferently and in great numbers. The argument has gotten dully repetitive: How does one argue with someone convinced that the routine massacre of our children is the price we must pay for our freedom to have guns, or rather to have guns that make us feel free?” — Adam Gopnik : The New Yorker

via: silas216

Video: first court appearance for James Holmes

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The Denver Post: The man accused of committing one of the worst mass murders in U.S. history sat quietly beside his defense attorney in court this morning, his hair dyed a reddish orange, his face changing from blank stare to wide-eyed and dazed.


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He’s scheduled back in court next Monday on 7/30/12.

Update: msnbc: “The Colorado prosecutor says it will likely be a year before James Holmes would stand trial.”

Twelve souls

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Source guardian:

  1. Matt McQuinn was shot dead after he dived in front of his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire Photograph: AP
  2. Micayla Medek lived in the Denver suburb of Westminster, Colorado, and attended Aurora Community College Photograph: AP
  3. Veronica Moser-Sullivan, six, the youngest of the victims. Her mother, Ashley Moser, remains hospitalised with gunshot wounds to her neck and abdomen Photograph: -
  4. Alex Sullivan was at The Dark Knight Rises premiere celebrating his 27th birthday and his first wedding anniversary Photograph: AP
  5. Alexander C Teves, 24, of Phoenix, earned a master’s degree in counselling psychology from the University of Denver in June Photograph: -
  6. Rebecca Ann Wingo had started a job several months ago as a customer relations representative at a mobile medical imaging company Photograph: Facebook

See our full tribute to the victims of the Aurora shooting in our gallery here.

  1. Jonathan Blunk had high hopes for the future, with plans to re-enlist in the Navy and the goal of becoming a Navy Seal. The 26-year-old served three tours in the Persian Gulf and North Arabian Sea between 2004 and 2009 Photograph: AP
  2. Alexander J Boik, known as AJ, recently graduated from high school and was to start classes at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design Photograph: AP
  3. Jesse Childress was an US air force cyber-systems operator based at Buckley air force base in Aurora Photograph: AP
  4. Gordon Cowden had gone to the midnight movie premiere with his two teenage children. At 51, he was the oldest of the victims killed in the shooting Photograph: AP
  5. Jessica Ghawi was pursuing a career in sports journalism. She had previously survived a shooting at a Toronto mall Photograph: AP
  6. John Larimer, 27, was a US navy sailor based at Buckley air force base, where he was a cryptologic technician Photograph: AP

See our full tribute to the victims of the Aurora shooting in our gallery here.

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producermatthew: ”Speaking at a memorial on Sunday, President Obama demonstrates with his right hand how a 21-year-old woman saved the life of her 19-year-old friend by applying pressure to a gunshot wound during the Aurora, Colorado mass shooting. [KMGH]“

The personal stockpile of James Holmes: exactly like the Founding Fathers intended

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Reuters: “The gunman was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a Glock .40-caliber handgun… Police found an additional Glock .40-caliber handgun in his car…. Holmes had purchased the weapons legally at three area gun stores in the last 60 days and bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition online, including a 100-round drum magazine for an assault rifle.”

CBS News: “Investigators also tell CBS News they have …interviewed a UPS driver who says Holmes had 90 packages delivered to his workplace on the University of Colorado medical campus.  And sources say over the past several months, Holmes spent about $15,000 as he was putting together his deadly arsenal — guns, chemicals, explosives, and ammunition. [...] Holmes did most his shopping on Internet sites. And he was clearly in a hurry. A receipt from TacticalGear.com shows on July 2 — two-and-a-half weeks before the shootings — Holmes purchased a bulletproof vest and other equipment. He paid extra to have it shipped by 2nd-day air.”


divineirony: Reloading could put a damper on your shooting spree. Today’s guns can fire hundreds of rounds per minute.

 

Aurora theater shooting: Coroner’s Office releases the names of the victims

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The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office has released the names of victims killed in Friday’s shooting at an Aurora theater, reports The Denver Post:

According to the office, 11 victims have been definitively identified. They are:

Jonathan T. Blunk
Alexander J. Boik
Jesse E. Childress
Gordon Cowden
Jessica Ghawi
John T. Larimer
Micayla Medek
Veronica Moser-Sullivan
Alex M. Sullivan
Alexander Teves
Rebecca Wingo

The coroner’s office said Matthew McQuinn has been presumptively identified and that all families have been notified.


image: newsweek 

Aurora theater shooting: the next 48 hours

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John Cole summarizes the next 48 hours in one post:

R- Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

D- Yes, but guns make it very easy to kill people in large quantities. He would not have been able to stab 71 people.

R- Stop trying to politicize this tragedy! What we need are not fewer guns, but more guns. If only someone else in that theatre had had a gun, they would have been able to stop him in his tracks.

D- Yes. Nothing could go wrong with crossfire in a dark theatre. This is absurd. There is a clear lesson here, and we need to do something about the ease with which people get firearms.

R- There’s no lesson to be learned, the guy was crazy. You can’t stop every crazy person.

D- We could try to make it harder for crazy people to walk around with a shotgun, a rifle, two handguns, and gas cannisters. (My note: and 6,000 rounds of ammo off the internet)

R- I knew Obama and you liberals were coming for our guns. Second Amendment!

Cole- And after 48 hours, the topic will die down as me move on to the next scandal/tragedy du jour, and then we can have this same exact conversation again the next time someone murders a dozen people with a gun.

Also, I see that I wasn’t the only one who watched O Brother, Where Art Thou last night. In my opinion John Cole is close to the perfect man because, in addition to his opinions (which I share, more often than not), he cooks, cleans, and gardens. And he loves his pets. Total package!

Our Lady of Perpetual Twitch

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This first tweet caught my attention yesterday, since it practically explodes with a stunning lack of self-awareness and irony by itself, but especially because of the almost stream-of-consciousness tweetriver of far-right outrageous outrage that preceded it:

That IS ghoulish! Oh, wait…


UGH, indeed. It never fails to amuse me that Malkin named her website “twitchy” — a word that perfectly describes everything about her.

Aurora movie shooter is a former medical student

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The Boston Globe: [James] Holmes was a student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver until last month, spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said. She did not know when he started school or why he withdrew.

The image of Holmes is from the University of Colorado.

Update: Live: KUSA reports he was studying neuroscience.