Culture of Violence:Gun Crime Up 89% in a Decade

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it takes a lot to kill someone with a pair of scissors.

it's quick and easy to kill someone with a gun, particularly if you're 12 and mugging someone.

why -- someone, please, tell me why -- is our murder rate in the US so much higher than in Canada, Australia, the UK, etc.

could it maybe be because we have so many more guns on our streets and that facilitates murder?


Why is the UK's so much higher than Japans?

Maybe we should look at how we're able to have so many guns and so few murders.
 
i'd rather be killed by gunshot to the head than have my throat cut.

so guns make dying easier for the victims. so there you go, guns ARE good. :happy:
 
personally? i believe in gun control, but i know ultimately if someone wants to murder someone, they'll do it even if they can't get a gun. recently, i saw extensive coverage involving a person who killed someone else with scissors and a knife. (though like i said i strongly believe in gun control.)

Ah, lucidity. :applaud:

The difference is if your gonna kill someone with a knife and scissors, you've really got to be determined or deranged. Something has to be driving you, as I'm sure it's probably not easy to do. However, with a gun, you just have to be pissed.

I bet if you could do a survey on people who have killed, those that shot someone probably have a higher "regret rate" cause shooting someone doesn't take much - there's no time to go "this is wrong". I think someone that went at someone with scissors and had the gumption to finish probably really thought that person deserved it.
 
Shootings at Texas Base Kill at Least 12; Dozens Hurt

By MARIA NEWMAN
At least 12 people were killed and 31 wounded Thursday afternoon in a shooting at a military installation in Fort Hood, Texas, according to military spokesmen. Lt. General Bob Cone said in Texas that the two alleged shooters were Army soldiers who opened fire in a “readiness facility.”

Lt. Gen. Cone confirmed that one shooter had been killed.

President Obama said it was “horrifying” that American soldiers would face such a situation at home.

Fort Hood is one of the largest active-duty military installation in the country. The base serves about 218,000 people, including service members, retirees and military families.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas told Fox 4 News that one shooter was in custody and “another is still at large.”

She said she was told by authorities that there were as many as 30 wounded.

“It was a processing center where soldiers are processed to go to Iraq or Afghanistan.

“Our hearts go out,” she said. “These are soldiers who are getting ready to go out to Iraq or Afghanistan and their families were under stress already. This was just a terrible tragedy and we don’t even know the extent of it yet.”

At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs said that President Obama has been briefed on the shooting.

Carroll Smith, spokeswoman for the Killeen Police Department, told the San Antonio Express-News that the post had not asked the local police for help.



not a hammer or baseball bat in sight.
 
not a hammer or baseball bat in sight.

Shepherd Smith actually said on the air that he didn't want to give the name until the military confirmed it, but that "the name says/tells you (can't remember what the exact words were) a lot". CNN says his name was Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan -allegedly he was being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and didn't want to go. But with that name, hey he was more than capable of this anyway, apparently.

I still can't believe he actually said that-and he was talking to Sen Hutchison and I think she may have said "yes" in a low voice but I'm not sure.
 
apparently, on fox of course, it seems to be Obama's fault for not pulling troops out like he said he would.
 
He was a psychiatrist or a psychologist but he still did this (that might be the most frightening part of all of it). I guess that's Obama's fault too. 3 somes on Gossip Girl..I blame Obama for that moral decline too.
 
He was a psychiatrist or a psychologist but he still did this (that might be the most frightening part of all of it). I guess that's Obama's fault too. 3 somes on Gossip Girl..I blame Obama for that moral decline too.



President Obama is to blame?

I did not realize he has had so much impact on the decline Western civilization over the past fifty years.


*inanimate objects seem to be receiving a lot of the blame on this thread
 
Shepherd Smith actually said on the air that he didn't want to give the name until the military confirmed it, but that "the name says/tells you (can't remember what the exact words were) a lot". CNN says his name was Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan -allegedly he was being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and didn't want to go. But with that name, hey he was more than capable of this anyway, apparently.

I still can't believe he actually said that-and he was talking to Sen Hutchison and I think she may have said "yes" in a low voice but I'm not sure.

Yes and Shep Smith is regarded as one of the moderates on Fox News. Seemingly Fox News before it became clear it was a soldier that did this were screaming about TERRA TERRA and creating the impression that it was a mini 911 type thing. They would have loved that, only a matter of hours before they would have found a link to the Iranians.
 
President Obama is to blame?

I did not realize he has had so much impact on the decline Western civilization over the past fifty years.


*inanimate objects seem to be receiving a lot of the blame on this thread

I also blame Obama for Jeremy Piven's moobs-even though he claims they're from drinking too much soy milk.

It's just a good thing that the major at Fort Hood didn't have two pairs of scissors
 
I also blame Obama for Jeremy Piven's moobs-even though he claims they're from drinking too much soy milk.

It's just a good thing that the major at Fort Hood didn't have two pairs of scissors


It's a bad thing that the major at Fort Hood did not have moral code.
I guess we will see why he committed this murder.

Which is part the question I asked on this thread. What is is about our society that is fueling this violence?
 
It will be interesting how the hawkish neo-cons will handle this story, I've already heard some very disturbing commentary on AM radio.
 
US: we're sorry we've been sticking our nose in your business for the last 60 years or so. we're going to leave you alone now and we'll just stick to buying oil from you at a decent price.
Middle East: we're sorry for what happened on 9/11 and we accept your apology, we are willing to peacefully work together in the future.

:grouphug:
 
Which is part the question I asked on this thread. What is is about our society that is fueling this violence?

My theory:

We are empty and miserable. We are led to believe that the more we have, the happier we will be, but that's not the case. Learning that is frustrating. We have no real role models. The ones we are provided are phony and either solve their problems with guns - legally or illegally - or they don't have "real" problems at all. As a society, we do not promote working through problems by facing the actual issue. We hold everyone else accountable for our "problems". When we don't have problems, we create them. We're a miserable lot that revels in and celebrates it. Just look at all these reality shows - these are the most unhappy, miserable, ungrateful, self loathing people on the planet - AND WE PAY THEM TO BE SO! And when we find someone that's not pissed off and miserable, we belittle them and blame them for our problems. We feel guilt for the things we have because deep down we know the cost, but don't want to admit to it - it's easier to blame "them over there" - and this guilt leads us to being ungrateful and unable to enjoy the things we have, which leads to frustration, anger, violence and denial. If we only had a few more dollars to play with, we could all get therapists....hey, let's LOWER TAXES!

I dunno. I'm a pretty happy person.
 
My theory:

We are empty and miserable. We are led to believe that the more we have, the happier we will be, but that's not the case. Learning that is frustrating. We have no real role models. The ones we are provided are phony and either solve their problems with guns - legally or illegally - or they don't have "real" problems at all. As a society, we do not promote working through problems by facing the actual issue. We hold everyone else accountable for our "problems". When we don't have problems, we create them. We're a miserable lot that revels in and celebrates it. Just look at all these reality shows - these are the most unhappy, miserable, ungrateful, self loathing people on the planet - AND WE PAY THEM TO BE SO! And when we find someone that's not pissed off and miserable, we belittle them and blame them for our problems. We feel guilt for the things we have because deep down we know the cost, but don't want to admit to it - it's easier to blame "them over there" - and this guilt leads us to being ungrateful and unable to enjoy the things we have, which leads to frustration, anger, violence and denial. If we only had a few more dollars to play with, we could all get therapists....hey, let's LOWER TAXES!

I dunno. I'm a pretty happy person.
How is that exclusive to America?
 
My theory:

We are empty and miserable. We are led to believe that the more we have, the happier we will be, but that's not the case. Learning that is frustrating. We have no real role models. The ones we are provided are phony and either solve their problems with guns - legally or illegally - or they don't have "real" problems at all. As a society, we do not promote working through problems by facing the actual issue. We hold everyone else accountable for our "problems". When we don't have problems, we create them. We're a miserable lot that revels in and celebrates it. Just look at all these reality shows - these are the most unhappy, miserable, ungrateful, self loathing people on the planet - AND WE PAY THEM TO BE SO! And when we find someone that's not pissed off and miserable, we belittle them and blame them for our problems. We feel guilt for the things we have because deep down we know the cost, but don't want to admit to it - it's easier to blame "them over there" - and this guilt leads us to being ungrateful and unable to enjoy the things we have, which leads to frustration, anger, violence and denial. If we only had a few more dollars to play with, we could all get therapists....hey, let's LOWER TAXES!

I dunno. I'm a pretty happy person.

:applaud:
 
What apologists?

Well generally when it's a Muslim on a rampage, like the one who decided to run over a bunch of folks in San Francisco, it quickly gets brushed under the rug. If it's anyone else, music, video games, and movies would come out as root causes.
 
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