Father of Shooting Victim Also Points Directly at the Kitchen Cutlery Drawer.

Everything always has to be someone else's fault. It couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the fact that he raised a crazy fucking nut job.

<400 rounds is not rare to have on hand for anyone that likes to go target shooting. I think I have about 200 in my closet right now. Calm down.

I'm confused, I watched a video by the shooter where he clearly was motivated by not having any beautiful women throw themselves at him by the time he was 22. Rodger did not say the NRA, he said he'd have a day of retribution against hot women who've forgotten they owe him some nookie.

If it's any consolation, one less future lawyer....
Christopher Ross Michael-Martinez, an English major who planned to go to law school after graduation.

@4: Yeah, it was very early. My bad.

The NRA is just a lobby organization for gun manufacturers, sellers, and buyers: us. The outrage should be directed at ourselves.

The scary thing is that his misogynist ranting about girls has a tone so close to Charles' writing about why he sucks at small talk.
http://youtu.be/zBvaVWdJRQM
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
I tried it again at a convenience store (making American small talk), and the look I got from the cash attendant was one of undisguised bafflement. The whole plate of her face made it as plain as day that she did not know what the fuck I was going on about. And I was actually stunned by how stunned she was by the words coming out of my mouth. An alien could not have had a more singular effect on a human being.
But Americans seem totally puzzled by my attempts to groom them. Totally puzzled.
Later on the bus, I did not even try to groom the man sitting next to me.

I am sure he places no blame on his wife or himself. His child is lonely and broken inside, posting disturbing videos which reveal deep mental issues. Easier to assign blame to the NRA and makers of fine kitchen ware than one self I suppose.

@11 You didn't read the other comments before posting, did you?

Do we know how he was able to get the gun? Since he was clearly mentally disturbed, were there any regulations preventing him getting a gun? Clearly not, if he was legally able to get it. Shouldn't we as a society be making sure mentally unstable people don't have access to these weapons of mass murder? The father if the victim is SPOT ON.

Doesn't look like @11 even read the actual post before posting.

#14

His parents reported him to police and authorities and said that he was mentally disturbed and they worried he might cause harm.

The police visited and gave him a clean bill of health (because he presented himself as a nice young man and it's not their skill to make mental health evaluations).

In the same way that James Holmes was on a scholarship for a curriculum in mental health science and policy, this guy was in the group of people who supposedly don't have these problems and therefore wouldn't be put in a rubber room.

The external penis of death struck again. If after 20 school kids deaths cannot change the laws of this country then I don't what will. We wring our hands at this type of situation over and over again and nothing. Time to start mocking the gun nuts...shaming is not working.

@13,
http://www.bustle.com/articles/25696-san…
Officials revealed on Friday night that the three guns found in Rodger’s car – two SIG Sauer P226 pistols and a Glock 34 Longslide pistol – were all obtained through legal channels and registered to the 22-year-old Rodger. 41 unused ten-round magazines were also found in the BMW. Although police had responded to requests from Rodger’s family to check on his well-being, deputies did not find enough reason to take him to a mental facility. Said Santa Barbara County Sheriff and Coroner Bill Brown:

You gotta understand that when a firearm is purchased there is a check run on people who purchase the firearm. But if a person has not been institutionalized or has not been taken against their will and put on a hold, that information is not entered into a database and is not disqualifying information for purchasing a firearm legally.

During the welfare check, police found him to be ”polite and courteous,” though lonely. They gave him discussed support options with him but ultimately cleared the case. The deputies found that Rodger had no history with guns. The welfare check was not the only time Rodger had encountered police: Last June, officials interviewed him when he was hospitalized after an alleged assault, although police suspected that Rodger was the aggressor. Earlier this year he again met with police when he held his roommate under citizen’s arrest for petty theft. The roommate had allegedly stolen three candles, valued at $22.

@15
The post is primarily about the father of the shooting victim whose death Chefjoe is celebrating.

I'm not celebrating anything except for when Rodger pulled the trigger on himself, finally. Not even the bicyclist he hit.

@16 - Mocking won't help either, they surround themselves with a pretty potent circle-jerk ring of truthery. Facts don't matter, only what they want to believe. All you have to do is read the comments in this thread for proof.

I mean their answer for everything is more guns. School shooting? Arm everybody! Crazy people with easy access? Arm everybody! Scared of the darkies? Arm everybody white for self-defense and everybody else so they kill each other! Black kid in a hoodie with some skittles? Good thing the guy who killed him was armed, so we have one less thug punk on the streets! Why not give him a tour of the factory where they made the murder weapon and buy his art on eBay too?

Their actions already are worse than caricature - mocking them would probably just give them more ideas.

@20 - "I'm not celebrating anything except" [another shooting death.]

Such a lovely person you are. What a gift to the community. Humanity is so lucky to have you.

@22, and the world is extra special due to you too.

Entitled spawn of limousine liberals goes berzerk and kills a bunch of people with knives and guns after months or years of bright red danger signs, and the problem is... the NRA.

Makes sense.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/n…
Digby, as always, sums it correctly and succinctly:

Mental illness exists in other developed countries. Radical Islamism does, too. Sexual entitlement and misogyny certainly do. Unpopular loner kids exist, too, as do disgruntled employees. But none of these things are causes of mass murder sprees in, say, Germany, France, England or Japan.

The common denominator is the gun. It is always the gun, and it will always be the gun. We can try to fix the other social problems all we want--and we should. But until we fix the gun problem, we will continue to offer the lives of ourselves and our children on the altar of this insatiable, bloodthirsty Lord we euphemistically call the "gun rights movement." Year after year, month after month we will continue to propitiate this monster with our blood and tears until enough of us decide that we have had enough, overthrow its foul priests and sack the tainted officials corrupted by its bloodstained lucre. Until that day the NRA will simply take our children, group by group, to its yearly Lottery because, after all, that's the way we've always done it. For freedom.

@23 - OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO WITTY

Circle jerk death cult fantasies on aisle 24.

Wow Charles, you post is bringing out all the apologists.

Oh my God.

I know internet trolls are not exactly a shining beacon, but based on some of the comments here, America in general is not ready for guns, or knives, or grown-up scissors.

Ironically, the people here who are demonstrating the patience and rationale to handle a firearm are the people who are vocally against it.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/25/i-…
TBogg also weighs in with an erudite editorial:

I used to hunt and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the hell out of it. But I wouldn’t consider attempting it now, in an age where gun-owners lump AR-15′s in with sporting guns. Where a lousy shooter can disguise his inability to shoot with an extended clip that allows him to keep shooting until he finally hits something, anything. Where hunters feel the need for silencers for God knows what reason.

The NRA has killed off the sportsman with their neglect and replaced him with the gun nut who spends more money on more guns, not out of a desire to feed his family, but to stave off a mythical jack-booted government bogeyman coming to take away those guns. This paranoid vision of America that the NRA sells is why we have the gun violence that we have today, because no sensible gun legislation can be passed because of what the father of one of Elliott Rodgers’ victims described as “craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA.”

I’m not the NRA poster child that I was at age 8 anymore. I want nothing to do with those people.

I may be a natural born killer, but I’ll be damned if I’ll be an accomplice to murder

@25 -The solution is and has always been more guns! An armed society is a polite one because reasons. AND FREEEEEEDOM!!!!!

It's amusing to me that Boring Dad Is Boring only posts on fun posts. Complete Slog silence for a month, but tries to make sure he shows up to apologize for gun violence on occasion:

Feb 18, Mar 14, Mar 25, Apr 10, and now today. It goes back farther than that too of course. All comments on gun posts, essentially mocking those who don't share his viewpoint that guns make us safer/guns aren't at fault, enforcing the law is/people who don't love guns like he does are stupid/crazy/hypocrites.

He's such a great example of what a person (and America!) can accomplish when they're extremely motivated by a cause they're passionate about.

*gun not fun, stupid letters right next to each other. If I only had a gun, I could've defended my phone from the tyranny of tiny keyboards.

All right.

What laws would you pass pre-emptively identifying who's a post adolescent going through a bad patch, as opposed to a person sufficiently ill to harm others?

All those guns already out there, what do you propose to do about them? Forcible search of all residences for unregistered firearms? Forced mental evaluations at periodic times for those exercising a clearly stated Constitutional right? Having a minor child in your home- grounds to revoke 2nd Amendment rights?

See, the howling and hollering for more laws, absent some concrete reason to believe those laws will impact gun violence substantially at a civil rights cost Americans are willing to bear, is just noise. I get it. You want to be outraged and this is a great trigger for your outrage. But before you start cutting the bill of rights maybe 5 minutes real thought wouldn't hurt.

Also, Elliot Rogers would have fit in quite well as a Louisiana legislator:

1. The Louisiana House voted yesterday in favor of a bill that "requires physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the facility or medical office where it took place. It also imposes the same restrictions -- including a 24-hour waiting period -- on abortions induced by medication as those carried out through surgery." This means that at least three, perhaps four, of the remaining five family planning clinics that provide abortions will be forced to close, leaving only one in Shreveport, in the northwest corner of the state. There will not be an abortion provider in New Orleans or Baton Rouge.

The vote was 88-5. Think about how overwhelming that vote is, how gut-wrenchingly overwhelming and pathetically regressive. The bill has already passed the state Senate, and Gov. Bobby "These Flames of Presidential Ambition Ain't Gonna Fan Themselves" Jindal tweeted that he will sign it.

2. The Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee advanced three bills. The first would prohibit "abortion providers and their affiliates from speaking in public or charter schools on health issues." It's part of a continued assault on sex education in the state because why would you want your sex ed teacher to be someone who deals with the consequences of STDs and unwanted pregnancy? The target of the bill is Planned Parenthood and their Satan-trained instructors. By the way, Louisiana has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation.

The other two bills: One would force hospitals to keep pregnant women on life support, no matter what her family says. The other would force the one or two remaining abortion clinics to hand out a pamphlet on the "psychological effects" of abortion. The psychological effects of forcing a family to watch as a brain-dead woman they love is turned into an incubator are not covered by the bill.

3. The House Health and Welfare Committee, ignoring its name, voted down a bill to accept Medicaid expansion funds in order to get health care to the 250,000 adults who would qualify for it. The Senate committee had already killed its version of the bill. Confronted with the story of a homeless woman who might have lived had she been able to get coverage, Sen. Dan Claitor, a Republican, moved to kill the bill, saying, yeah, "We can do better...I disagree that this is the answer." That was a month ago. He has not offered an alternative.

4. The House voted down a bill that would have allowed the state Department of Education to survey teenagers about sexual practices and knowledge. It's part of a larger CDC survey to help determine policy towards the nation's youth. Said one Republican legislator, "Won’t we desensitize children when asking them about sexual activity?" The only question that Louisiana will allow its tender students to be asked is whether or not they learned about HIV and AIDS in school. 25% said that they had not, which is way above the 16% national average.

5. That might be because sex ed is optional for Louisiana students. Yeah, a bill making it mandatory was killed in committee last week. - See more at: http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/#sthash.K…

@28

Where does the 2nd Amendment mention hunting? You guys who hate guns always bring up hunting as though our right to bear arms was based on that one reason.

A tyrannical federal government, you know like the one we have now, being taught a lesson by state militias is the most historically defensible reason for the right to bear arms. But two things. First, nobody rational is arguing for states to do anything about federal tyranny. We have courts for that. Second, since original intent isn't binding or usually provable (intentionally since debate notes from the Convention were destroyed) the reason I might have for owning a gun isn't at issue.

@2 what the fuck are you talking about? this is the VICTIMs father.

@34 - I'm sorry about your penis.

@36: you read my mind

@34 there is nothing tyrannical about this government just like nothing tyrannical when Bush was President. Stop having a hissy fit and act like a man.

#17

The details on the stabbings (they don't say knife) is sparse.

Maybe because most of the feeds wanted to rush in on the guns are bad theme.

I've checked a few timelines on the news they don't even have a specific time of death for the killings in his apartment (the rampage began around 9:30pm).

I was going to say maybe he killed them in his sleep, but 9pm seems a rather early bedtime for a bunch of male college students on a Friday night!

Which would mean he may have done it earlier in the morning...or...who knows?!

@36
As always, a superb answer! Your erudition and thoroughness of refutation are matched only by your Twain like wit!

All I aspire to in life anymore is to be just like y..

Oh, wait. I'm not a sexually depraved halfwit with childish politics and economic beliefs.

Hey Pridge, old pal? Given the amazing lesson I learned from you already, any answer to my post at 31?

I'll wait while you learn to read, learn logical structure, do a bit of research and generally have anything to say a well educated gerbil couldn't immediately see as bullshit.

Lots of penis talk this morning.

So what is Seattleblues's excuse for being in this here virtual airport bathroom stall instead of attending Church this Sunday morning?

@29

Probably posting as one of the anti-$15 contingent, but it was a nice break from him I didn't realize we were getting at the time.

this is not an edifying discussion. i already knew that most of you gun nuts were assholes lacking any empathy whatsoever. it's what makes you 2nd am. absolutists and conservatives.

its a FATHER who's son just got sacrificed on the altar of YOUR GOD to ANOTHER alienated young male with a legal arsenal. of course he's spreading blame.

There is no evidence of mental illness here, just high functioning Aspergers and a shitload of misogyny. And nobody here is railing for autism to be added to the list of people who shouldn't own guns (though perhaps they should since as the Washington Post recently noted there is a ‘significant’ statistical link between mass murder and autism). Nope, they rail against MI and "the crazies" even though it appears that in this case it was not one of them. They will talk about making a mental health database, like a sex offender database, so everybody can know and feel safe. They will talk about bringing back the asylums and mass incarceration without due process because that is the only way to be safe. They will talk about suspending gun rights to anyone even suspected of being MI.

@44- blahs doesn't feel impelled to attend church because he has never sinned. Church attendance is solely for those who have sinned by making unwise lifestyle decisions, i.e. done things that blahs finds unsavory.
He is a church of one, worshipping his own personal Calvinist theology. In his mind, he's always in church.
Worshipping his own perfection.
It's like monotheistic masturbation, admiring his own self perceived perfection in a mirror that reflects only himself.

@47, we could always make mental illness a crime punishable by imprisonment. That'll keep the rest of us safe.

Get seattleblues- do u like living in a society where stuff like this happens?

I meant "hey seattleblues" ugh autocorrect

@47, did you watch the video Rodgers made in his car, before he went on his drive-by shooting adventure? No mental illness?

And what we could do is tighten up the commitment laws in each state. In Washington, the involuntary commitment law was loosened during the same period that Western State was emptied out, its inhabitants to be assisted "in the community". Absolute idiocy, because the community mental health system was not good, and now its abysmal because the Republicans in the legislature don't like taxes. Someone has to be either actively physically harming themselves, starving to death, or attempting to murder someone else for the county mental health professionals to be able to bring them in for a 12-hour hold. Then they wait on a gurney in a hospital ER, because there are no beds for a temp hold. Then they get released, because there are no beds in psychiatric wards or hospitals. All in the name of individual freedom.

And the result is this guy.

@52: Bullshit. You are putting the civil rights of people to be free from restrictive treatment against the willingness of politicians to pay for treatment in a community. If the politicians are cheap, then just warehouse them, right? And if they are generous, then they can get the treatment they deserve and that is the most effective. But be sure to note that they aren't actual human beings (the mentally ill are 'defective' according to the law and are not full human beings). Otherwise this discussion of giving people rights based on budgetary constraints might appear a little crass.

By the way, do you think people with MI are actual human beings or just partial human beings (defective)?

@53, read my last paragraph. Obviously, you didn't, or you'd know that I'm disgusted at how mentally-ill people are treated (or not treated) now. As far as defective, I think you may be an idiot.

@50

Do you like living in a state of irrational fear driving poor public policy.

Feeling deep sympathy for the Martinez' loss and agreeing that the NRA caused his sons death aren't mutually exclusive. And asking that proposed infringements on basic rights be well considered, effective in aiding public safety, and limited as possible isn't being a gun nut. It's being rational.

Seattleblues you didn't answer my question. I admit I have the feeling u secretly enjoy the violence, in a sick self-righteous way

In your world it would seem to me that the shooter SHOULD have had his guns, and oh well, TOO BAD for his victims and their families

@56

So that was never a question- merely a statement of your ill considered assumptions about people whose political views you don't share.

Noted. Have a nice day.

@57, in my world it's too bad that nobody institutionalized him or ever put him in an involuntary hold, something that would have prevented him from being able to legally purchase weapons. We're talking about a guy who made a citizen's arrest of his roommate over $22 in candles earlier this year.

@30. Thank God I don't have a gun. Otherwise I likely would have blasted my cell phone and auto-correct into smithereens long ago!

Someone should have pointed out to this kid that blond sex workers probably exist. I haven't picked up a paper copy of the stranger in years, but the last time there were a couple pages of "Horny and have cash? Lets you and me get together!" ads. I'm betting Santa Barbara has some similar resource. He obviously had plenty of money.

@41,42 - LOL.

@31, @36, etc.

do you two speak gibberish as well as you write it?

you're both quite fluent when posting here.

BTW, @31, try noticing the rate of gun violence in other places, as compared to here in the US.

& no matter how you parse our constitutional rights, at the top of the Declaration of Independence the first thing listed is our " unalienable Right (to) Life".

@63 OK -

So the US has more guns per capita than anywhere else
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_g…

but doesn't lead in any of the categories for firearm related deaths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou…

Now what?

Also, the US Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence - They are two entirely different documents.

For the record, here is the first section of the Declaration of Independence - which was written after a year of war, fought by people with guns by the way.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

BREAKING: Per Fox News, Elliot Roger committed the mass murder because ...... he was gay!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/25/fo…

No one is asking the obvious question: why didn't the families of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing blame fertilizer manufacturers? Why didn't the families of the victims of 9/11 blame box cutters? Why didn't the families of the victims of the Boston bomber blame pressure cookers?
Because ultimately it was the douche bags who did the killing, and douche bags who want to kill will always find a way.

Seriously, would this guy be happier if his son had died from a bomb made of simple household chemicals and easy to follow instructions that could be found on Google? And spare me, SPARE ME the lame "but guns are easier" line. They actually aren't. I've fooled around with pipe bombs when I was a teenager and set them off in the woods just to see if I could do it. Even as dumb kid I was TERRIFIED at how easy it was to do and how easy it would be to leave some in a backpack on a busy bus.

And California has some of the toughest gun laws on the books of any state, so obviously banning guns isn't helping.

Honestly, sit back and think of how easy it would be to kill a massive number of people. The first thing that comes to mind is derailing a train. After that a bomb in mass transit. Guns are not all that practical when you consider they have to be used actively (as opposed to a bomb that can be left while one splits) and make a lot of noise, drawing attention.

This guy is being just as illogical as many of the posters here. Oh, and gun violence is actually at an all time low in America, and that is a FACT. Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013…

And watch, I'll get called a "right wing hack", despite being a pot smoking bisexual who is pro-gay marriage, anti-war on drugs, anti-war, anti-corporate welfare, pro-environmental regulation etc, be accused of being a Republican (despite having an anarchist in my profile pic) and the data I provided will be ignored.

It's no wonder the illogical, pro-more gun control laws side is losing this debate. Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/201…

Actually, after looking at the shooter's motive, I blame him first and second the politicians who made prostitution illegal. This was one deranged man who really needed some pussy. If only it was easy and legal for him to go to the local red light district and have safe sex with a consenting adult in a regulated industry (like most of the western word) None of this may have ever happened.

Honestly, would you rather guys shoot their loud for a fee, or shoot into a crowd?

Video or not, I submit to you that a person who could kill several strangers (or even one) is, ipso facto, mentally ill. If you disagree with me, I can't help you because you probably don't even know what "ipso facto" means or even how you would go about looking it up.

@66: This is one of the most idiotic posts I have seen in a while. To make an effective explosive you either need a large quantity or regulated materials. And to make an effective explosive you need expertise and placement. To kill people with a derailed train, you have to access the tracks unnoticed and the train has to be going fast (and guess what, in the US high speed rail isn't a problem). To kill people effectively with a gun all you have to do is go to a gun store, buy the gun and bullets, and point and shoot.

Your brilliant "use a bomb" idea worked well with the Boston Marathon, didn't it. The bombers planned and executed it perfectly and only came away with three fatalities from their bombs. Elliot Roger just flipped out and shot at random and killed at least the same number.

Gun-loving assholes are increasingly being marginalized, which is good news even if more people have to die. They don't know it, of course, because they live in an echo chamber, but owning guns is increasingly the province of damaged individuals who are not welcome in normal society.

@68:

If you disagree with me, I can't help you because you probably don't even know what "ipso facto" means or even how you would go about looking it up.

TL;DR: "If you disagree with me, you are wrong and dumb (because you disagreed with me) and I don't need to hear what you are going to say. And to solidify my circular reasoning, this is all because I self-defined a term, thus it must be obvious unless you are stupid."

@71

If your tl;dr is longer than the original statement, you're doing it wrong.

@72: Yeah, I went a little overboard on that one. But to be fair, I'm not as clever as @long-time reader. I still haven't mastered the ability to write a statement that anybody who disagrees with is automatically wrong. The best I have done is "this statement is false". So close, yet so far.

@55: I absolutely HATE living in a society where "irrational fear driv[es] poor public policy".
Irrational fear of The Government taking everyone's guns away and quashing all personal freedom? It's impossible to even regulate guns. Irrational fear of scientists conspiring to take all our money? Nothing gets done to combat or manage climate change. Irrational fear of Christians getting their feelings hurt? Science teachers are required to include outright lies in their curricula. Irrational fear of women killing babies for fun? Doctors are required to lie to their patients. Irrational fear of Muslims blowing us up? Islamic law is unconstitutionally singled out by the states and unjustly banned from consideration.

@66: There are laws in place to prevent mass-killing via bombs, and those outrages led to tightening thereof. If you buy huge quantities of ammonium nitrate, you're likely to be investigated. If you try to bring box cutters onto a plane, you'll be held back and questioned.
But time and again, some angry or mentally-disturbed man uses guns to kill people en masse and your lot rant and holler against any efforts to prevent repetitions of their crimes. Restricting the possession of high-capacity magazines, putting tighter requirements on gun licenses, and investigating people who uncharacteristically purchase guns in large numbers would save lives every year, but these are called tyrannical by a small but disproportionately empowered minority of this embattled nation.

#21
"...Mocking won't help either, they surround themselves with a pretty potent circle-jerk ring of truthery. Facts don't matter, only what they want to believe. All you have to do is read the comments in this thread for proof. "

I would be extremely hard-pressed to NOT ascribe this to you and your fellow, low-info, bolshie hoplophobe muppets who seem to have nothing better than to um - what's that term you used? - oh yes, CIRCLE-JERK each other off every time some crazed nut-job offs some innocent souls.

And boy, do you seem to have a fixation on dick, huh?

@69
" To make an effective explosive you either need a large quantity or regulated materials. And to make an effective explosive you need expertise and placement."
http://xniquetx.blogspot.com/2008/07/ana…
http://delirium_tantrom.tripod.com/id42.…
http://bnrg.cs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Cours…

The result of two minutes on google.

And actually, it is absurdly easy to derail a train. " the kind of intentional train derailments Al Qaeda was plotting were not high on the list of concerns. That’s bad news, because it’s pretty easy to derail a train."
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technolo…

And you absolutely ignored the data I provided to show that gun crime is actually falling.

Thank you for absolutely lacking any facts but sticking to baseless emotional arguments. Knuckle-dragging, Pabst Blue Ribbon drinking, Vegan pizza eating white liberals like you are the best friends people who support the second amendment ever had: the more you talk, the more obvious it becomes how clueless you are.

@73 :D

This whole gun issue thing is pretty off base.

This creepy psycho felt entitled to some kind of sex with hot blondes birthright. Had he just stuck to running people down with his car, he would likely have killed many more people.

Somehow I've never thought of trying the "I've got a rich daddy, so a smoking hot brunette is my birthright" tactic. Silly me, if only I had known...

#70

"Gun-loving assholes are increasingly being marginalized, which is good news even if more people have to die. They don't know it, of course, because they live in an echo chamber, but owning guns is increasingly the province of damaged individuals who are not welcome in normal society."

I was wondering when the Amazing Know-Nothing Butterball would show up....Laughable.

I refer you to the answer I gave Pridge "Because...Penis!" Wessa, specifically the Circle-Jerk part. Because you obviously don't KNOW any gun owners. Let me re-phrase that...Because you obviously don't actually know anyone AS as gun-owner, although odds are extremely high that they are people you know, work and socialize with. Bet on it.

No seattleblues it was your chance to state otherwise and disprove my inclination about people like u. Your unwillingness to answer the questions with a simple "no" supports my thoughts on u. And NOW if u were to answer no, it would seem more that u were lying.

Chef joe, maybe he should have been put in a mental help facility. But he wasn't. So the govt is failing on 2 counts: gun regulation and helping the mentally disturbed. What can we do about those...

@74
First, there are no big regulations on bomb making materials: http://www.ammoniumnitrate.org/how-to-ma…
Ammonium nitrate is very easy to blend. And pipe bombs can be made by any idiot high school kid, as I did when I was reckless and set them off in the woods just to see if I could.
And California already has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in America: http://www.latimes.com/local/political/l…

And it is not a "minority" that is against new gun control laws, but a majority. Poll: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/201…

Guns are like stranger abductions: the media hypes it up to look like a problem when the data actually says the opposite. Just as kids are actually very, VERY unlikely to be stolen off the street by a pedo in a white van, gun violence is actually low in America and dropping steadily.

But just as people believe pedos kidnap kids all the time because of how the media focuses on the handful of times it happens creating a panic, the media focuses on a handful of these random killings and makes people think this is a big issue, when it isn't.

@77: It is not off base. They have cars in the UK and Germany and shit of this magnitude doesn't routinely happen. I raise the bullshit flag.

@81: So? You can go to the gun store and get a weapon that can kill more you dumb shit. Sometimes there is a mastermind like Timothy McVeigh or al Qaeda associates. But most of the time it is just a rage murder by a kid who couldn't tell his asshole from a screwdriver, but sure as fuck knows how to kill with a gun while walking down a school hallway or a shopping mall.

@82 Well, the incidence of violent crime in the UK is about twice that of the US, while gun violence is lower.

If those statistics are applicable to the US it begs the question - Would cutting the US gun violence rate in half, and doubling beatings and rapes be a good tradeoff?

@81
Actually, if you bothered to read the link I posted (assuming you can read) you would see that it is not that easy to get a gun in California: http://www.latimes.com/local/political/l…

And guns are actually not that easy to use. If you think it's easy to fire multiple rounds when you're adrenaline is pumping, recoil is happening, the gun keeps jamming, people are coming at you, running from you, the mag keeps getting stuck etc than you have obviously never actually fired a gun before.

@84
Russia and Brazil have gun control laws that are TEN TIMES tougher than the US, and yet they have more gun violence then the US: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/…

There is absolutely NO EVIDENCE that gun control works. It is more about socio-economics then the availability of guns. I mean, if suicides started spiking, would we demand better mental health and suicide prevention...or ban bridges?

@86:

I mean, if suicides started spiking, would we demand better mental health and suicide prevention...or ban bridges?

All of the above, which is why the Aurora bridge has a suicide barrier (as do dangerous bridges in many cities). Smart people don't look at just the 'M' but also the 'O' when it comes to crimes.

@86

I'm really not fond of Breitbart's Big Government. Here's a link to the study itself.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs…

@75,78 - why is your comment history hidden?

And for the record, I learned how to shoot a rifle shortly after turning double digits, a pistol shortly after I got my learners permit, and I served three years in the army after I graduated high school. So yes, I know all about deadly weapons.

Perhaps that's why I don't fetishize them.

Also, penis is awesome. It must suck to have to compensate for your lack of it (either your own or getting it from others) with firearms.

You know your guns aren't ever going to love you back, right?

@90

Most people who own and carry a gun don't fetishize them. They're just a hopefully never needed tool that provides an option should something terrible happen. We don't go on rampages, we don't accidentally shoot ourselves or others, we don't leave our guns laying around, we don't hand our guns over to kindergarteners to play with, we don't allow our guns to be stolen, we don't hope for the chance to use our guns, we don't shoot at hoodies and skittles, and hey, arming everyone might work better than banning guns entirely :D

This guy thought sex with blondes was his birthright, because he drove a BMW I guess. He was (or went) crazy. If there wasn't a gun available to him he would have just used his car to kill people, or figured out some other way.

You can try to leverage this into a gun control issue if you like, but the broad brush with which you attempt to demonize a very large group of mostly responsible people isn't helping your side.

The "figured out some other way" line is such utter bullshit.

And as far as gun control, the issue is fairly simple: guns need to be registered and licensed, like those dangerous cars you mention. And part of the license needs to be a determination of the need to own a gun (as you said, it isn't a toy so a person should demonstrate a need for the gun) and of the fitness of the person to own the gun (including a background check on medical and mental health history). Responsible gun owners should be able to continue to own guns. The difference here is that they need to prove they are responsible. You can't drive a car if you have a history of traffic violations, or if you are medically unfit (including mental health). You can't drive a car if you can't prove that you can safely operate it. So why should guns be different? Don't cite the 2nd Amendment (as if it came from God instead of 18th century people). Cite an actual, logical reason why guns need to have less regulation than automobiles.

@92, in this case I believe all the guns were licensed per CA standards, which are pretty close to what you cite - aside from requiring a psych visit prior to each purchase.

#89
What the fuck is to you, ya mook?

Wow, you shot sum gunz, hold the fucking phone! And you were so pitifully low on options, you joined the Neo-Con Imperial Forces? Ooh did you kill any sand-niggers? And I'm supposed to be impressed? This accords you some credibility you believe?

What a fucking moron!

@81: Yes, it's easy to synthesize ammonium nitrate in small quantities. Did you miss the part where it (correctly) stated that the double-displacement reaction of ammonia and nitric acid is strongly (ΔrH⊖ ≈ -80 kJ/molrxn) exothermic. You can easily synthesize a few grams, but if you want a hundred kilograms? Well, either you spend months crudely synthesizing it in small batches, or you try to make it all at once and have it boil rapidly due to the energy released and probably combust with a great deal of violence. Seriously, this is shit I learned in high school. That issue of enthalpy is why you can't really synthesize 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene at home
Also, there IS substantial regulation of ammonium nitrate: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/6…
Finally, I did NOT say that gun control supporters make up a majority of Americans, but rather that gun control opponents are in fact a minority. This is absolutely true: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.asp…

@86: You nitwit, I have more than once debunked that study. It uses simplistic models, virtually ignores obvious confounding variables, and actually cautions against drawing any conclusions from such a crude study.
Here's the kicker: neither of the paper's authors are affiliated with Harvard! The paper was simply published in one of Harvard's student journals.

#90

Ha Ha Ha!
Y'know, anyone who obsessively harps on about the foibles, vices, and um...SHORTCOMINGS of complete strangers is usually found to be the one that doth protest too much.

Have a nice day darlin' :)

@92

I see you have never actually acquired a concealed weapon permit, or purchased a handgun. Let me know when you're more aware of the actual process one must navigate to purchase a handgun. It isn't anything like as simple as buying a car, or becoming a licensed driver (the US is the worlds easiest country to get a drivers license in by the way).

The 'good reason' you ask for hasn't changed since the US Constitution was written. I suggest you go read the Declaration of Independence, specifically the portion referred to as the indictment - the list of colonial grievances with "the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."

You say "Don't cite the 2nd Amendment (as if it came from God instead of 18th century people). Cite an actual, logical reason...". Well sir, you're a fool who would throw away a system of law which has allowed the residents of the USA to live in a state of relative freedom from tyranny for over 200 years. Again, you're sadly misinformed as to the ease of obtaining a handgun.

Why should anyone trust a knee-jerk reaction to the acts of a madman over the distilled wisdom of people who fought our bloody War of Independance? You know, the people who fought and died for your freedom to express whatever idiocy is in vogue this week?

Which amendment will you be disposing of next? The first? The sixth? The thirteenth? The nineteenth? You do realize that there are people who would do away with each of those, don't you?

Cite an actual, logical reason why guns need to have more regulation than they already do. The FUD and misinformation you've spewed up until this point don't qualify.

@99:

I see you have never actually acquired a concealed weapon permit, or purchased a handgun.

Ha, wrong on both counts!

@100

I see. So you used a comparison which you knew to be false to further your position. You're a real credit to the gun control lobby there.

@101: It isn't false and I didn't talk about concealed carry permits. I talked about sales. And if you look at California's laws, there is only a permit that requires a written test followed by the federal background check. There is no actual licensing (though California is smart enough to register guns). There is nothing you have to do to prove that you need the gun or that you are fit to own the gun beyond the bullshit NICS check.

@101: And I fell for your derailment. Fuck.

The point doesn't simply apply to California. That shooting is done. In Washington or almost every other state, you don't even have to go through the bullshit test or register sales of guns. In most states you simply buy the fucking gun if you pass the NICS test. But I'm sure you'll pooh-pooh this the next time a mass shooting occurs in Seattle or elsewhere.

@99: Did you just credit the 2nd Amendment with keeping us relatively free from tyranny? If so, can you please tell us what tyranny it has prevented?