Trump lectured about 'American carnage' in his inauguration speech and promised to do something about it. Really this was code for inner city crime, committed by people he could easily gain political capital by standing against. Carnage is happening in schools, churches and concerts but nothing is being done to stop it.
Trump lectured about 'American carnage' in his inauguration speech and promised to do something about it. Really this was code for inner city crime, committed by people he could easily gain political capital by standing against. Carnage is happening in schools, churches and concerts but nothing is being done to stop it.
Forgive the pun but I feel it's quite apt and impactful. The 'US of A' is simply 'shot to bits' as far as I'm concerned.
You have a country where the (arguably) most powerful man in the world masquerades like he's in a never ending reality TV show and a country where the majority (or large minority?) make like an ostrich when it comes to gun laws!
For such a fantastic place to visit it's quite unbelievable really. Wake up FFS!!
Haven't been able to get this post out of my head @aliwibble, having a one year old, the thought of in 2-3 years her being taught to be a distraction as she is slaughtered by a mentally ill teenager on a fame trip with a gun is truly heart wrenching.
My thoughts and prayers are not with the innocents families, they are with the victims of such things and the idiots that won't see guns are the problem.
In Florida an 18 year old can buy an AR_15 but can’t buy a hand gun until 21. How fucked up is that?
Can't buy a beer either.
Just saw this on the BBC news too. Absolutely crazy,
Nothing will ever get done until Congress etc sort out the NLA. Trump is one of their supporters & gave a speech at their conference last year. If Teresa May stood up at an ISIS convention & said how wonderful they were do you think you would have much confidence in her defending you against a terrorist attack.
To say that this latest shooting was all about mental health is totally wrong. It had nothing to do with his state of mind but to do with the fact he could buy a machine gun.
I feel that nothing will change until the American public make a stand. The first thing they should do is all teachers go on strike & say that they will not return until guns are banned. Imagine if ALL schools we shut for months until something was done.
But not all of the American Public want a ban on firearms.
I listened to an American on the radio yesterday who in between sobbing at the tragedy was defending the right to bear arms and was advocating giving teachers weapons. When asked if he would want his teenage children to carry arms his answer was and I quote “ yes. I would want them to be able to defend themselves” A further hypothetical question put to him was “ if it were possible to wake up tomorrow in an America free from guns would you take that ?. His reply was “No Ma’am. Everyone should have the ability to defend themselves and their family. People out there will have knives and baseball bats”
America getting to grips with guns is NOT going to happen.
I heard that on Iain Dale's show on LBC too... or at least an identical interview.
What kind of an imbecile thinks the right defence to people not having guns is to have guns? People with bats and knives are far less likely to do a lot of damage than someone in a hotel room or school spraying bullets at crowds of innocents or children.
I think the white-supremacist thing is nonsense. If he is so racist, why were 15 of the 17 killed white people and 2 Hispanic?
I am sickened by the shooting and sickened by both political parties using every angle to get the advantage not even one day after the event.
Yeah one of those parties is trying to stop AR-15s from being legal ffs. To make it harder for people with mental illness to get guns. To have a Federal registry of guns.
There are a lot of things that are a "both sides" issue. This is emphatically not one of them. In fact, this represents the pinnacle of where the two parties are separate--health care and the ability to get war weapons.
Except my point was that politicising I see is some Dems and some in the leftist press are claiming that the kid was a white supremacist who was once seen wearing a pro-Trump hat or something. That's the politicising from the left that seems disingenuous to me. We already know how full of it many on the right are on this issue the last 24 hours.
So what you're saying is that the press, "lefty" or not, should not report on what little is known about the suspect at this point, including he was a member of a white supremacist group and a Trump supporter? Maybe it's different over there but I don't see the coverage being driven by the Democrats in the UK.
What I see is the usual response in the aftermath in that the press will look into the background of the perpetrator and publish pretty much whatever they can find about him.
In this case he appears to be a gun loving, right wing, racist, nut job who publically expressed his support for Trump. You might have a point if it worked the other way, and the Republicans wouldn't use it if he wore a Hilary t-shirt, but let's be honest it's hard to imagine Fox News not reporting on something like that isn't it?
and when did this emerge - a few hours after the event & with Trump saying that the FBI knew about him. To me it is all rather convenient & sounded more like a way of deflecting criticism of the gun laws. As soon as I heard it my mind went back to the "who killed JFK thread" and how the FBI / news outlets were describing Oswald as a "lone nut" a few hours after the event, when Oswald himself hadn't even been questioned by the Dallas police. Very easy to plant stories.
I think the white-supremacist thing is nonsense. If he is so racist, why were 15 of the 17 killed white people and 2 Hispanic?
I am sickened by the shooting and sickened by both political parties using every angle to get the advantage not even one day after the event.
Yeah one of those parties is trying to stop AR-15s from being legal ffs. To make it harder for people with mental illness to get guns. To have a Federal registry of guns.
There are a lot of things that are a "both sides" issue. This is emphatically not one of them. In fact, this represents the pinnacle of where the two parties are separate--health care and the ability to get war weapons.
Except my point was that politicising I see is some Dems and some in the leftist press are claiming that the kid was a white supremacist who was once seen wearing a pro-Trump hat or something. That's the politicising from the left that seems disingenuous to me. We already know how full of it many on the right are on this issue the last 24 hours.
OK I've not seen that, so I apologize if that's happening. I do think you hold the two parties to different standards on this issue, but I do as well.
I think there are a lot of things to blame Trump for in the gum debate issue, namely rolling back regulations that made it harder for people with mental illness to get guns, and refusing to acknowledge gun crime both personally and within his Administration. I do not think the kid wearing a MAGA hat is particularly high on the list of problems or causes of the shooting. If someone is using the fact that he voted for Trump or wore a MAGA hat as some sort of explanation for violence, they are, from what we know, wrong in this instance. And that is an incredibly dumb take amidst all of the problems with gun violence.
If reports are accurate, this is someone who showed serious signs both of mental illness and violent tendencies. We can (and to some extent should) talk all day about what kind of mental health care system could have helped him, and early reports are that he at one point was getting care. But at the end of the day this is someone who should not have been able to legally purchase a war weapon.
The point scoring from left and right after these things is truly shameful.
The "Left": We need to ban assault weapons and have background checks for buying guns and make it harder for people with mental health problems to buy guns.
Right: Second Amendment. Right to bear arms.
Left: Every Amendment has restrictions on and different interpretations of it. That's what Congress does. That's what courts approve or disapprove of. And the Second Amendment was written at a time where muskets were the guns they were thinking of, not something that can shoot 70-80 bullets a minute.
Right: Why are you trying to take away our guns? Why do you hate freedom?
Left: We're not, we just want to make mass murder harder. We want our kids to be safe in schools. We want to ban modifications that make semi automatic weapons automatic. Why does anyone need that kind of fire power?
Right: Good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun
Left: But that almost never happens. And how many would be killed in the crossfire alone?
Right: Well it's all moot anyway because these killers are just mentally ill, sick people.
Left: Okay, so let's talk about expanding mental health coverage to people, making it affordable to everyone, improving continuity of care, making a long term push to increase the number of mental health professionals in this...
That was a great speech. I had tears in my eyes watching yesterday. Congressmen & all politicians across America should be ashamed of themselves. I wonder if Trump is going to visit their town anytime soon ???
FBI, Trumpie’s favourite whipping boys, will get the blame for this being allowed to happen.
No surprise the tweets have started. Scumbaggery reaches new level trying to use this tragedy to save his own neck.
Quite amazing, although not in the slightest given it is Trump, that he is using this situation to try and shut down an investigation into his election.
That was a great speech. I had tears in my eyes watching yesterday. Congressmen & all politicians across America should be ashamed of themselves. I wonder if Trump is going to visit their town anytime soon ???
Amazing speech - moved me to tears. I've been really impressed at how articulate the students have been in Florida post shooting.
Trump is really a worthless cowardly greedy scumbag.
Just watched that and found myself misty-eyed at times. Incredibly passionate, articulate and emotional response to what must be a horrendous event. I wish her every success in her attempts to start some sort of movement and momentum towards gun control. It's going to be an uphill struggle. The attitude of (some) Americans to their guns is utterly bewildering to most of the rest of the world.
Comments
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/trump-carnage/553424/
You have a country where the (arguably) most powerful man in the world masquerades like he's in a never ending reality TV show and a country where the majority (or large minority?) make like an ostrich when it comes to gun laws!
For such a fantastic place to visit it's quite unbelievable really.
Wake up FFS!!
My thoughts and prayers are not with the innocents families, they are with the victims of such things and the idiots that won't see guns are the problem. I heard that on Iain Dale's show on LBC too... or at least an identical interview.
What kind of an imbecile thinks the right defence to people not having guns is to have guns? People with bats and knives are far less likely to do a lot of damage than someone in a hotel room or school spraying bullets at crowds of innocents or children.
I think there are a lot of things to blame Trump for in the gum debate issue, namely rolling back regulations that made it harder for people with mental illness to get guns, and refusing to acknowledge gun crime both personally and within his Administration. I do not think the kid wearing a MAGA hat is particularly high on the list of problems or causes of the shooting. If someone is using the fact that he voted for Trump or wore a MAGA hat as some sort of explanation for violence, they are, from what we know, wrong in this instance. And that is an incredibly dumb take amidst all of the problems with gun violence.
If reports are accurate, this is someone who showed serious signs both of mental illness and violent tendencies. We can (and to some extent should) talk all day about what kind of mental health care system could have helped him, and early reports are that he at one point was getting care. But at the end of the day this is someone who should not have been able to legally purchase a war weapon.
Right: Second Amendment. Right to bear arms.
Left: Every Amendment has restrictions on and different interpretations of it. That's what Congress does. That's what courts approve or disapprove of. And the Second Amendment was written at a time where muskets were the guns they were thinking of, not something that can shoot 70-80 bullets a minute.
Right: Why are you trying to take away our guns? Why do you hate freedom?
Left: We're not, we just want to make mass murder harder. We want our kids to be safe in schools. We want to ban modifications that make semi automatic weapons automatic. Why does anyone need that kind of fire power?
Right: Good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun
Left: But that almost never happens. And how many would be killed in the crossfire alone?
Right: Well it's all moot anyway because these killers are just mentally ill, sick people.
Left: Okay, so let's talk about expanding mental health coverage to people, making it affordable to everyone, improving continuity of care, making a long term push to increase the number of mental health professionals in this...
Right: walks away.
God bless America!
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/7xzpac/im_sid_fischer_a_student_who_was_in_the_third/?st=jdrc74vw&sh=eda2338f
Trump is really a worthless cowardly greedy scumbag.