sassybritches said:

oookay. but they both have the possibility to be equally deadly, don't they? why not make training/proper use courses mandatory if you want to own a gun?

FUCKING ORG SHITFACE SLDKJF
[Edited 10/10/07 14:48pm]

evenstar said:

i'm all for it! when applying for a gun license you should have to apply on a shooting range and pass a test. however, that wouldn't help in safety. it would just mean criminals who want to own guns would be a great shot.

sassybritches said:

so you aren't really for it, then. i think it's more than a little ridiculous to think that criminals are going to bother applying for a license.

anyway, when it comes to school shootings you KNOW most of these kids get the weapons from their parents, who may or may not have them registered. but you know, your right to theoretically blow away an intruder totally trumps my right to attend classes without having my head blown off.

evenstar said:

no, i AM for it. i think people who hold a gun legally should know how to use it, care for it, store it, clean it, etc, correctly. i think gun classes are in order.

and yes, my right to theoretically protect myself in my own home does trump your right to theoretically be safe in a (public) class room, where there is greater chance for you to get help.

sassybritches said:

then why doesn't the NRA (not saying you're in it, just that it's the biggest pro-gun lobby) promote gun classes? my dad joined a few years ago and i've read their newsletters, and didn't read one article concerned with making sure the people who have guns know how to use them properly.

People should have the right to own as many guns as they want I don't care if they have enough to start an army, I just wish they would keep the guns out of children's hands!

evenstar said:

i don't know, i'm not part of the nra. why don't the people who belong to the nra push them to support a bill requiring classes? furthermore, why don't citizens lobby their politicians and contact the pro-gun lobby groups (like the nra) and demand classes be standard procedure?

i'd support it.

sassybritches said:

Because the typical gun supporter, The NRA and the Republican party don't give a shit about that and would never care.

nevermind.....


[Edited 10/10/07 17:12pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

what are YOU doing about it? are you joining the nra and pushing them to adopt such a position? are you contacting lobby groups and pushing them to address such a position?

or are you just pointing fingers at others, casting stones and blame?

CHIC0 said:

i would be ignored, just like ron paul. or shot.

sassybritches said:

I think that's the smartest thing you've said on this thread so far
[Edited 10/10/07 17:20pm]

sassybritches said:

naw...and at least YOU'd be respected!

ArielB said:

what? nothing?

CHIC0 said:

aw, shucks! thanks.

sassybritches said:

Um, I don't want to legitimize the fucking NRA. There are plenty of people lobbying and I support candidates who favor gun control. I do my part. There isn't enough sanity when it comes to this issue and there are more irrational people as regards to unfettered guns than there are those who want them to be regulated.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

yeah, well, if you say so.

Some updated info on the shooting...

Ohio school shooter gave many warnings

(CNN) -- Fellow students say they and school authorities didn't think Asa Coon's threats of violence were serious until the 14-year-old started shooting people at his Cleveland high school on Wednesday.

Coon killed himself after wounding two teachers and two other students at SuccessTech Academy. The youth had a history of violent confrontations and had been suspended after a fistfight on Monday.

A student who said he was friends with Coon said Coon had warned him a month ago that he was going to snap someday.

"He said if he did shoot up the school he'd let me and some other dude he knew go and all that, but I didn't think he actually meant that," the friend said. "I thought he was just kidding around."

Students said Coon was a "Goth" who usually wore black clothes and a trench coat and strapped an empty gun belt to his leg. He was an atheist and a devoted follower of Goth rocker Marilyn Manson.

One said Coon had been beaten up Monday after saying "F--- God" during an argument.

"He got beat up and he came back today, and I knew something was going to happen," the student said outside the school Wednesday afternoon. "Yesterday I was like, 'I'm not coming to school, man. This dude might come up here and shoot us up.' "

Another student said Coon gave a clear warning.

"When he got suspended he said, 'I got something for y'all,' " she said. "I thought he was just playing, because he, like, said that all the time. But I see that he was for real."

On CBS' "Early Show" Thursday morning, student Rasheem Smith said the school's principal, Johneita Durant, had not found time to discuss students' concerns about Coon, The Associated Press reported.

"I told my friends in the class that he had a gun and stuff," Smith said. "He was talking about doing it last week. I don't know why they didn't say nothing.

"We talked to the principal. She would try to get us all in the office, but it would always be too busy for it to happen."

A message left at Durant's office was not immediately returned, the AP reported, and a phone call to her home was not answered.

Coon had been charged with domestic violence last year and as a seventh-grader had attempted suicide while in a mental health facility, The Plain Dealer newspaper reported, citing court and Department of Children and Family Services records.

In 2006, Coon's mother, Lori, told police that her son had slapped her and called her a name when she tried to break up a fight between him and his twin sister, The Plain Dealer reported.

A court magistrate ordered psychological testing and family therapy, but Coon was not cooperative; he eventually was placed in an interim shelter, where the suicide attempt took place, the paper reported.

He wound up in a downtown detention center and then a mental hospital, where staff determined he might be bipolar but suggested further evaluation, according to The Plain Dealer.

Eventually he was released to home detention and enrolled in SuccessTech, a small magnet school for gifted and troubled students where Coon frequently clashed with teachers and other students.

"You get pushed and pushed and pushed, and sometimes you go over the edge," a neighbor told CNN affiliate WOIO.

"I ain't justifying nothing," said another neighbor. "I ain't saying he did the right thing, but I am saying he got pushed for a long time and asked them people to help, help, help, help, but nobody helped."

All the wounded were recovering on Thursday.

The most seriously injured, teacher Michael Grassie, 42, underwent surgery for a gunshot to the chest, said Ed Eckart, the city's emergency medical services coordinator.

No metal detectors were at the school on Wednesday, although the school board has portable detectors that are randomly moved from school to school, he said. An armed security guard was at the front desk, Police Chief Michael McGrath said.

As the shooting unfolded, emergency calls flooded into the Cleveland Police Department's 911 center, including one from a frantic mother, Beatrice Brown, who had been called by her son from the school:

"There is a shooting at SuccessTech Academy and my son is trapped in one of the classrooms," she says during the exchange. "They just shot somebody in his room and he doesn't want me to come up there, because he doesn't know where the shooter actually is."

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Guns don't kill people.


People with guns kill people.

I say ban all guns.

oh, this was in Ohio.
soon that place will have giant barbed wire fences around its entire borders anyway.

ArielB said:

right.

and then only the bad people, who get them illegally, will have guns. i couldn't think of anything scarier.

sassybritches said:

I could think of something scarier - trigger happy people carrying guns for "protection". seriously, 99% of these people don't even know how to aim, and will probably hit something else rather than the person threatening them.

ArielB said:

then make obtaining a gun licenses require gun lessons. you don't boost the black market. geez, i'm guessing you also think the war on drugs has helped end drug deals?

another 14 year old kid, this time in pa, has been busted trying to organize a "columbine style" attack.

msnbc is reporting on it now. apparently most of the weapons were bb guns and knives but there was one 9 millimeter handgun.

why are teens so violent today?

ArielB said:

I agree 100% Ariel. I believe guns should be outlawed. Yes, bad people having guns is a horrible thing but that is not a good excuse to own one. It's almost like saying: he has one so I am gonna have one, too.

And Sassy, teaching kids morals has jack to do with this. There are people who practically live in a church who do way fucked up stuff.

Lammastide said:

oh god, here we go...