Ongoing US Mass Shooting Thread

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

So if it's only 5 dead, do I still send thoughts and prayers?

Maybe just thoughts? Or prayers?

Wait, is this a big enough tragedy that we aren't allowed to talk about gun control for a week?

Man I'm so confused.

[agulati]

It's just sickening. Just sickening.

And the pro-gun folks will keep on defending their rights to bear arms.

Just sickening.

[ernie]

Originally Posted by 2Stonedbirds

I missed that part of the convo. Do you think a locked vehicle and a firearm out of sight is insufficient?

In an area where it continues to happen..clearly. As does our Sheriff who is far from supporting any sort of gun control.

And conveniently the bulk of these crimes occurs to people with NRA or similar bumper stickers. So yes at this point it is clearly not only insufficient but openly being advertised...

[calgaryblood]

I don't care how often this happens, every shooting is as sickening and sad as the one before.

Really not fair to the victims and their families when people just look at the numbers of the dead to see if this is worthy of feeling bad.

[Northendzone]

^ I agree, but at the same time, it is hard not to feel somewhat numb to these never ending incidents

I caught the tail end of a story that seemingly suggested that the families from the ssnady hook incident are suing someone (possibly the manufacturer) - I'd like tot hink that something like this could drive change, but I realize that it would likely be tied up in court for year, with appeals and what not - only one would would likely gain anything are the law talking guys

[Bunk]

The gun debate ended with Sandy Hook. There's barely even any point talking about it anymore. The US has made its choice, and it's probably not going to ever change. If Sandy Hook didn't do it, I have a hard time thinking of what would.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by Bunk

The gun debate ended with Sandy Hook. There's barely even any point talking about it anymore. The US has made its choice, and it's probably not going to ever change. If Sandy Hook didn't do it, I have a hard time thinking of what would.

I think it would take multiple attacks on high school and college football games, with really, really big death counts (100+). Probably in short succession, like back to back weekends or maybe three or four weekends in a row. With legally purchased guns and it would help if the perpetrators were all white. A female perpetrator would also likely help.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Bunk

The gun debate ended with Sandy Hook. There's barely even any point talking about it anymore. The US has made its choice, and it's probably not going to ever change. If Sandy Hook didn't do it, I have a hard time thinking of what would.

Short of an attack on a bunch of senior Republican senators families I don't think the gun debate will happen while Republicans hold both house and senate.

Debate might get reopened after the anti Trump blue wave post 2018, but probably the US will spend most of the first two years undoing the damage Trump has done.

[snootchiebootchies]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

I think it would take multiple attacks on high school and college football games, with really, really big death counts (100+). Probably in short succession, like back to back weekends or maybe three or four weekends in a row. With legally purchased guns and it would help if the perpetrators were all white. A female perpetrator would also likely help.

Unfortunately, I think the opposite would be true -- several consecutive incidents where African-Americans with legally purchased guns kill many white people including children would probably get people from all sides talking about gun control, or at least on increased background checks. That's how crazy things are -- we have to speculate on which macabre scenario will finally wake people up down there.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by snootchiebootchies

Unfortunately, I think the opposite would be true -- several consecutive incidents where African-Americans with legally purchased guns kill many white people including children would probably get people from all sides talking about gun control, or at least on increased background checks. That's how crazy things are -- we have to speculate on which macabre scenario will finally wake people up down there.

Yeah, unfortunately I think you're probably right.

[Fuzz]

Mass shooting.

Police say two people were accidentally shot at a church in Tellico Plains Thursday afternoon during a discussion about the recent church shooting in Texas.

http://wate.com/2017/11/16/2-acciden...ng-discussion/

[Senator Clay Davis]

Not a mass shooting, but an "only in America" shooting. Police down there really need to seriously re-evaluate their training, especially with the ongoing militarization of police.

Online gamers have said in multiple Twitter posts that the shooting of a man Thursday night by Wichita police was the result of a “swatting” hoax involving two gamers.

Swatting happened when someone makes a call to a police department with a false story of an ongoing crime – often with killing or hostages involved – in an attempt to draw a large number of police officers to a particular address.

Swatting has gained traction across the country with online gamers. Those who try to cause the swatting incident will use caller ID spoofing or other techniques to disguise their number as being local. Or they call local non-emergency numbers instead of 911, according to 911.gov.

Deputy Wichita Police Chief Troy Livingston said Thursday night that police were looking into whether the call that led to the shooting was a case of swatting.

Livingston said the department received a call that someone had an argument with their mother, that the father had been shot in the head and the shooter was holding his mother, brother and sister hostage.

“That was the information we were working off of,” he said.

Officers went to the 1000 block of McCormick, preparing for a hostage situation and they “got into position,” he said.

“A male came to the front door,” Livingston said. “As he came to the front door, one of our officers discharged his weapon.”

Livingston didn’t say if the man, who was 28, had a weapon when he came to the door, or what caused the officer to shoot the man. Police don’t think the man fired at officers, but the incident is still under investigation, he said. The man, who has not been identified by police, died at a local hospital.

A family member identified that man who was shot by police as Andrew Finch. One of Finch’s cousins said Finch didn’t play video games.

“This call was little peculiar for us,” Livingston said. “(The call) went to a substation first, then it was relayed to dispatch, then dispatch gave it to us. We have a lot of information to go through.”

On Twitter, more than a dozen people who identified themselves as being in the gaming community told The Eagle that a feud between two Call of Duty players sparked one to initiate a “swatting” call.

The person who was to be the target of the swatting sent a Tweet saying, “Someone tried to swat me and got an innocent man killed.”

Livingston, the deputy police chief, would only provide the block number of the home where the shooting occurred, not the specific address. Police were seen in the front yards of two houses across from each other at the corner of Seneca and McCormick.

Dexerto, a online news service focused on gaming and the Call of Duty game, reported the argument began over a $1 or $2 wager over the game.

“Normally this is a prank, but due to the high stress situation, sometimes it is closer to a death threat from a user trying to get cops to kill them,” one man told The Eagle in an email.

The officer who fired the shot — a seven-year veteran of the police department — will be placed on administrative paid leave, which is department policy.

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/cri...192111974.html

[kermitology]

What in the hell?! How does a police officer react without certainty and kill an unarmed innocent man?

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by kermitology

What in the hell?! How does a police officer react without certainty and kill an unarmed innocent man?

A lot of police officers in the US, especially in smaller cities and rural areas, do not have a lot of training but are heavily armed.

[Yamer]

Just another reason for me to stay away from online gaming.

[MoneyGuy]

I'd never heard about swatting until it appeared on a tv show recently. It's stupid and dangerous that people would do that.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

A lot of police officers in the US, especially in smaller cities and rural areas, do not have a lot of training but are heavily armed.

Cops in the US are extremely trigger happy due to the shear amount of guns, just about everyday a cop is shot at and I think 70+ are shot to death every year.

In Canada it's very rare for a cop to be shot and killed

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Just another reason for me to stay away from online gaming.

It's not online gaming you need to worry about, it's the US of A.

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

It's not online gaming you need to worry about, it's the US of A.

I've always experienced a lot of unhinged psychopaths, regardless of borders.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

It's not online gaming you need to worry about, it's the US of A.

Some idiot from BC has actually spoofed phone numbers and had SWAT teams arrive at his former internet gf’s houses and schools. Fortunately nobody was hurt, and they caught the guy who did it.