Pam Geller bags another set of trophies for her cabinet.

The focus is going to be on guns and gun owners here, but the the real issue is hatemongering in the dumbshit teabagger community -- dumbshits who can't tell the difference between Muslims and Sikhs -- a failure that is cold comfort to members of either group. This killer's leaders -- his gun-nut leaders and his bigot leaders, and the huge overlap between the two -- get a free ride in the media.

Who's going to be next? Come on, kooks, let the speculation begin: what caliber weapon was it? How's a piece like that handle? Are you feeling a little sweaty? Tell us about your hero fantasy wherein you blast away the perps yourself with your concealed carry and show the darkness in your heart who's really boss. Big bad mothers with your big bad guns. America may win or lose at the Olympics, but when it comes to rivers of blood on the streets, in the temples, in the movie theaters and the schools, we're always Number One.

How much did Bachmann's paranoid rants about "Mooslim Brotherhood infiltrators" contribute?

The Stranger should report the email address of the anonymous commenter @ 2 to the FBI.

@2, Sikhs don't look anything like Muslims except to morons.

Also, in case you have plans, it's wrong to shoot up Muslims too.

Can #2, be turned into the FBI?

I have to blame the bastards who make a living sowing fear, hate, contempt and ignorance. I'm looking at you, Rush, Beck, Ailes, Rove, Hannity, Coulter, Malkin and the rest of you like-minded evil fuckwits. This is your idea of a "Christian America," with people killing their neighbors? This is how you make a living? Please, go die and let us try and rebuild some bonds of commonality, peace, and brotherhood without you stinking up the public square.

Spend enough time decrying someone as a threat, as a danger, as something that needs to be destroyed for the sake of ever-imperiled American ideals, and someone will take it as a cue to act.

What exactly does the teabaggy right think is going to happen? What possible equilibrium are they hoping to find between tolerance of non-whites and their execution? Do they even have a plan? Either they don't realize that this is going to be the result, and they're ignorant, or they're secretly smiling in approval, and they're assholes.

So, has anyone jumped to any conclusions about this event yet? Anyone?

Do we know the race of the shooter for sure as in ruled out it was another Sikh trying to settle a personal score. Now while it is more likely the shooter is a white guy that hates Brown people until the shooter is identified let's not jump to conclusion

@ 11, news reports have said the shooter is a white man in his 30s.

But yes, everything else is premature speculation, and if anyone is proven right, it won't be because they knew the facts of the case.

“Round and round we spin, with feet of lead and wings of tin.”
-Kurt V

News reports also have him as having a 9/11 tattoo that was visible.

This guy is probably looking to get the same kind of attention and fame the Aurora shooter got. I blame the media.

@10 Win.

All these guys (and until a woman commits this kind of crime I'll say guys) are shooters. They had guns and they killed people with them. Not knives, not swords, not anything else, but guns.

That's what matters. Not their political views, or their race, or their religion, or the views, race, or religion of the victims. Crazy and/or dangerous people have access to guns.

But no, the fact that it may have been a hate crime doesn't apparently make the gun conversation any more important. The guy who shot up the Jewish Federation 6 years ago was crazy and his crime was considered a hate crime. We couldn't even shut down the gun shows after that.

America may win or lose at the Olympics, but when it comes to rivers of blood on the streets, in the temples, in the movie theaters and the schools, we're always Number One.

That's poetic and all that, and gun control needs to be seriously considered and reconsidered, but facts are important, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou…

Talking about guns is as fucked as talking about abortion, only with the stereotypical political orientations switched. I tried to bring in data and reasonable arguments last time and nobody would acknowledge it, plus you've got posters like Fnarf telling law abiding and responsible gun owners to kill themselves.

Every time a tragedy like this happens people exclaim "Something must be done!" and they all nod sagely. But those arguing for more run restrictions rarely offer any meaningful suggestions while displaying great ignorance of guns, gun laws, and criminal behavior (as well as ignoring the realities of the 2nd Amendment and politics). You can't legislate away crime and while we don't know what happened here yet, overall gun crime would be reduced by ending the war on drugs, improving mental health, and doing more to address poverty.

These are tall orders, but they would benefit this country immeasurably more than banning metal boxes with springs in them that are slightly larger than other metal boxes with springs in them, or other such nonsense gun control measures that have been proposed.

It's one of those awful things that makes you want to curl up with a bottle of Asti Spumante, put The Carpenters on the hi-fi, forget about the slog, and just appreciate the sunset.

Easy access to guns is indeed part of the problem, but not the whole of it.

In American society, intimidation is seen as an acceptable strategy for getting ahead or maintaining one's status within society. Minor acts of terror are employed at the workplace when threat of joblessness is used to compel an employee into compliance. In many states, an adult beating a child with a large wooden object at school is seen as an acceptable means of restoring classroom order. Parents in many lower-income communities similarly use threats of violence to intimidate a youngster, who then grows up to do the same to his or her lovers and colleagues.

The difference between bullying and terrorism is merely one of degree. And so long as we foster the notion that bullying anyone, at work, at home, at school, or in a relationship-is the idealized manner in which one asserts one's dominance, this society is screwed.

Man, I know everyone is trying to be clever, but this is just so fucking sad. So unfair. So messed up. And, like Aurora, if the shooter hadn't had a semi-automatic, fewer people would have died. Simple as that. Fuck this rah rah gun culture. It's sickening.

@26. Exactly right. Guns are a big part of the problem. But a culture that idealizes killing as strength and guns as a holy fucking right, is another part of the problem.

Thanks to Gov. Walker, we've had concealed carry in Wisconsin for almost a year now. I feel so much safer!

I read recently that in Japan, one of the (many) regulations around guns is that prospective gun owners must submit to a thorough psychiatric evaluation and (if they pass and get a weapon) get re-checked every couple years. That makes a lot of sense to me.

yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Somebody anybody, purple, green, an xhtian, a yzian, who gives a shit what the color, sex or religion is? They walk into a house of worship and kill people, for __insert name of deity here__ sake it is an act of terrorism. That is the intent, that is out come, period. It is terrorism.

"We have seen the enemy and he is us."

@24, what do you mean, "while we don't know what happened here yet..."

Yes, we do. Someone shot a bunch of people.

@1

Great comment. I worship at a church which is predominantly East Indian (though I'm Black). I wonder if the Wingnuts are simply conflating all Brown people with Muslims. This is not the first time that Sikhs have been randomly murdered since 911.

I suppose the police will reveal info about the motives of this deranged man ASAP.

Fuck. Back in the good ol' days of N. California, the Sihk's ran each other over with pickup trucks, and nobody really gave a shit. But everyone sure as fuck knew they were Sihks, and not Muslims.

Fuck Wisconsin. Fuck the flyover. Fuck honkys. All us honkys got face-raped by vikings. That's the only reason we are white and predisposed to bipolar illness. Full stop. Anything else is stupid.

Again, Fuck Wisconsin. All of you.

@19:

Jennifer San Marco

Sylvia Seegrist

Yvonne Hiller

Amy Bishop

We're hoping to drive out ignorance and hatred and replace it with understanding and acceptance. Please come to the vigil honoring the victims of the WI shooting and learn more about the SIkh faith this Saturday at 7:30pm at Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Washington, 5200 Talbot Road South, Renton. More info here: www.tinyurl.com/sikhvigil. Thanks!