Another mass shooting, Jesus!

At least 12 killed in shooting at a bar in Thousand Oaks; gunman also dead

A shooting in a packed bar in Southern California killed at least 12 people, including a sheriff's deputy who was retiring next year, authorities said. The gunman was also dead.

A shooter opened fire in a packed bar in Southern California during college night late Wednesday, wounding at least 11 people, some fatally, authorities said.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/08/us/thousands-oaks-california-bar-shooting/index.html



Thousand Oaks is a college town--Pepperdine University, among others--between Santa Barbara and L.A..  The "venue" was a large, country-themed dance bar, The Borderline Bar & Grill. WTF!

Turns out (after several right-wingers on Twitter tried to blame Middle Easterners) it's a veteran who had been having PTSD problems and several run-ins with the law.

My question is... why'd the guy still have his firearms?

I'm for gun ownership, but if somebody's having emotional problems bad enough to need treatment, and if he's had altercations with the law and is "known to" authorities... then for his own good and the good of all around him, take his fucking guns away, at least until he gets that shit squared up. If it's just a bad patch and he gets past it, fine, but at least for the time being, take the guns, the way you pull someone's driver's license if they get D.U.I.'s. We're fine on regulating cars because they can be dangerous, but guns (A) are designed pretty much only for killing things (even though you can target shoot, but that's pretty much just practice to be able to kill better), and (B) aren't as needed in everyday life as cars. I like guns, but many people get through their entire lives fine without ever owning one. It's more difficult to do that with a car.

Because nobody thought "Maybe this guy shouldn't have access to firearms for a while," we have a bunch of dead kids, a dead law enforcement officer, and a dead veteran who had earned a noble legacy for his service but ended up disgracing himself beyond all measure... all because nobody said "It'd be reasonable to not let him keep his guns while he's in this emotional state." They knew there was a problem. They were, apparently, just timid about doing anything about it. They gambled and everybody lost.

Frustrating, and tragic. And likely could have been avoided.

Agreed about recognizing issues and due process intervention. This has been a common factor in many of these shootings... all the way up to faculty fbi background checks. There are already processes and laws in place in most places too. However... most gun crime is committed by people already prohibited to possess a gun. Enforcement seems to be the most lacking common denominator.

LOWERING THE FLAG AGAIN.
That's Donald Trump's new response to any and all mass shootings in America. Was it still at half staff for the victims of the Jewish massacre at the synagogue? Before that, how long was it that it was at half mast for some other mass murder?
I've complained about this before and been told it was insensitive. The American flag code doesn't call for our flag to be lowered for events of this kind, for the death of religious leaders like Billy Graham, or for just anybody the POTUS thinks it will look good to lower the flag for.
We live in the most violent country in the world, with a larger jail population than other countries in the world, and we are a nation of people with a history of taking whatever we want by murder and genocide of the native peoples who lived here before us. Americans are a violent, greedy nation of people who own millions of guns. From what I can tell, at least half of us haven't evolved yet. And we don't make it easier by sending young men off to wars where they see their best friends killed, come home, and can't figure out what the hell it was all for. Because it was about money and oil  and their consciences can't accept that they did the things they did to benefit someone elses financial portfolio.
The only solution T.Rump has is to lower the flag. Again and again and again.
Fucking, warmongering bastards. People like that created this young man.

bigdog wrote:LOWERING THE FLAG AGAIN.
That's Donald Trump's new response to any and all mass shootings in America. Was it still at half staff for the victims of the Jewish massacre at the synagogue? Before that, how long was it that it was at half mast for some other mass murder?
I've complained about this before and been told it was insensitive. The American flag code doesn't call for our flag to be lowered for events of this kind, for the death of religious leaders like Billy Graham, or for just anybody the POTUS thinks it will look good to lower the flag for.
We live in the most violent country in the world, with a larger jail population than other countries in the world, and we are a nation of people with a history of taking whatever we want by murder and genocide of the native peoples who lived here before us. Americans are a violent, greedy nation of people who own millions of guns. From what I can tell, at least half of us haven't evolved yet. And we don't make it easier by sending young men off to wars where they see their best friends killed, come home, and can't figure out what the hell it was all for. Because it was about money and oil  and their consciences can't accept that they did the things they did to benefit someone elses financial portfolio.
The only solution T.Rump has is to lower the flag. Again and again and again.
Fucking, warmongering bastards. People like that created this young man.

I'm starting to think we should just make flagpoles half as tall as they are. I see them at half-staff more often than I do full, these days, and I'm not even kidding.

zsomething wrote:I'm starting to think we should just make flagpoles half as tall as they are.  I see them at half-staff more often than I do full, these days, and I'm not even kidding.

And it ain't even funny.

Something is profoundly wrong with this country, something much deeper than the right to own guns.

I wish that instead of blasting away 10 or 20 innocent people they would simply place the gun in their mouths and pull the trigger. I wish to God their was some way to convince them to do that.