I say this because people paid more attention to the shooter than to the victims. When people hear what college I go to more often than not I get asked whether or not I knew the shooter and not if I lost any friends. Or even about my personal experience with the event. The shooters and the shootings themselves are repeatedly sensationalized by the media and people are becoming increasingly desensitized to the real issue at hand.
As for my "story of survival" it's nothing that hasn't been said before. It was chaotic and scary and surreal. What sticks with me is the horrible thought of confusion at the sounds and now knowing that people were dying by those shots and I had no clue at the time. The worst part is trying to grieve and go about your life with the news stations parked outside the dorms and campus hounding students about the tragedy for weeks afterward or having random strangers ask me about it when they see my school sweaters etc..
I guess the real question is what would you rather the media do? If you had absolute control over censorship what would you let the media show?
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· 8 years ago
Come to think of it people on this site even made joke posts about the event and when I commented about it they said I didn't have a sense of humor... That was pretty shitty too.
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· 8 years ago
If I had absolute control I would want the media to talk more about the victims. These were real people with hopes and dreams who were trying to better their lives by going to college. I wish the portrayal was more honest. The shooters aren't senseless monsters. They're people who knowingly and willingly committed this crime most often due to social issues or mental illness that could affect anyone, something most people ignore or overlook. The victims aren't getting respect and the shooters (or potentials) are getting sensational fame.
There have been so many shootings in this country the reality is that you either know someone intimately affected by a school shooting or you will.
Sort of like an obituary? Or something bigger like dedicating a page or so to each individual which addresses their dreams and goals in life and stuff like that?
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· 8 years ago
Yeah exactly. Something people may be able to relate to or empathize with. I think then it would keep their memory alive somewhat and make the public remember that these are real people that could just as easily been their friends or family.
Yet strangely, someone released the guy's name. Was on CNN. So the sheriff may not have but still got out.
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· 8 years ago
The point is the statement that the Sheriff is making. To not give these cowards the recognition they desire. Of course it will be public record if people want to look it up but the media needs to stop giving the shooter attention and instead give the victims attention.
The shooter may have been on 4chan before the event and said he wanted to do it and it would be the only way to be in the news. This came right after a presentation at my school about school shootings and how to survive them.
Oh no, a presenter came to our school and we had an assembly about it. He used to be a policeman and on a swat team. He told us how to survive. For example: duck and cover under desks is useless. That's only for earthquakes and stuff like that. A shooter would come in and see sitting ducks.
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· 8 years ago
Holy shit,, I totally remember some dude saying that a couple days before I heard of the shooting! I saw the post! Holy hell, it's archived I think... if the PD wants it???
Still.. that you have to have an assembly about it. Good considering the circumstances.. its just scary that its necessary.. I think the only thing we have ever had an assembly about in school was in case of fire.. and what to do if your bus crashes when you're out on a field trip.
It was an assembly because we are changing our safety protocols in the school, so everyone had to know about it. We're just cautious, it's not that we live in a dangerous area
Edit: the officer at my school's kid had a gun in his car... Emergency expulsion for him. Seriously, we aren't that bad of an area, I swear!
or maybe just better mental health services. if someone wants to kill people they can make a bomb in their kitchen, you arent gunna stop this by taking away the guns.
why do Americans after all of these shootings still think that gun laws arent the problem, i mean look at Australia for example when most of their guns got taken and when the government made it nearly impossible to get a gun there hasnt been a mass scale shooting since
Sorry for taking so long to respond. I live in Australia, and while I do realise that guns are far from the only way to kill, I would say that they are one of the easiest ways to kill a large number of people. Yes, healthcare for the people who would be committing these crimes is important, and I understand that your guns are important to you (if not why), but if one of the largest causes of mass murder is better controlled, there should at least be less deaths in the period between reducing the availability of guns and having an adequate healthcare system for those suffering from mental illness.
i get fencey about gun control, the people who hoard guns freak me out but at the same time i don't like the idea of NOT being allowed to have guns. and even if we banned guns tomorrow it would take so long before they stopped being plentiful anyways because there are just so many out there, and i still think these people will just switch to something else if they cannot get a gun, like, making a bomb in the kitchen. i just dislike both options (guns vs no/fewer guns) and i kinda feel like the people on both sides are kinda bananas.
Unlike Australia we have a right to own firearms they are a part of our culture it's not that easy and most of the reasons people commit these crimes is because they are getting the attention they want they keep happening because these nut bags think that it'll work and they've been getting what they want infamy and attention they've been doing it since columbine honestly if the hype at columbine was more about the victims than the shooters there would be less mass school shootings in the US and y'all wouldn't think we are all batshit crazy.
You have to remember POPULATION. Autralia has what, Twenty million or something like that? While here in the U.S, we have an upward of 318.9 million. There is too big of a difference to properly compare Murders and shootings. Yes, it seems often here, but that's because we have a VERY large population. And I know you might be thinking, "What about China or India? They have most of the world in those countries, why aren't shootings happening there?" I looked up on India, and it seems that the government has complete control over the guns manufactured, while here in America, We have privately owned companies making weapons as they want. Also, the gun control laws are MUCH more strict in India than here, since, and don't take this for a fact, I think that they're constitution doesn't ever mention the right to bear arms. China, on the other hand, is much different. It seems as if they don't sell fire arms at all, and illegally trafficking firearms is punishable by death.
The argument about the right for all to bear arms is debatable after reading the Second Amendment itself, and I understand that it is in fact under some debate. However, I do concede that stricter gun laws don't make the guns go away instantly, and of course think that better mental (and from what I understand about how the system works, also general) healthcare is a less heated route to go down. Also, please, take everything that I say about this stuff with a grain of salt, I'm only a 16 year old who really doesn't pay much attention to the news or do enough research into the arguments I get myself into.
I think that enforcing a tighter gun control is a way of fixing the symptom and not the main problem at hand. Surely those who really want to commit such vile crimes will find another way of doing so, either by getting guns in an illegal way or (as said before) by killing in other ways, for example by arson attacks, stabbing sprees (both which in the last couple of years occurred in Australia), or by making bombs. Then I can agree with you Kamatsu (as guns are not easily obtained in Sweden either) that the guns might be a problem too.. but perhaps not the main problem ... but what do I know..
Look you guys the second amendment says the citizens have the right to bear arms and maintain a militia my ancestors where killed by the British soldiers who came into Lexington in 1775 looking to confiscate weapons because of that event the bill of rights has the second amendment. I know America isn't perfect but neither is any other country we have our problems and so do you this is our problem and taking guns away completely will only make it worse...it's not that easy. I know y'all are trying to help and share your solutions but from a cultural perspective that will not work believe me I want these shooting to go away too my friends entire family was murdered last summer I know.
Those countries have a low population compared to America, and then have much stricter gun laws to boot. If you took those laws, then applied them to a population like America, yes, the murder rate would go down, but not enough to make a huge difference. If someone wants to kill you, they'll find another way. And even then, most of the time, if some one shoots someone with a gun, they had acquired that gun ILLEGALLY. If someone gonna shoot you, they won't care whether or not the gun they used was legally registered.
And, of course, changing the laws alone won't remove the guns themselves nearly quickly enough, hence healthcare is instead what needs to be targeted. We seem to be going around in circles here, though I guess that's kinda due to everyone thinking they're right (and often being so, even if only in part on my end).
Ah, I see what you're getting at. You see, here in the U.S, we do have a government controlled healthcare, but we live in a very capitalist society, unlike Canada or Australia, where they have a higher tax rate, but you get free health care. In America though, we only have a 7 percent tax rate, and most healthcare is privately owned. The problem with the Obamacare plan, is that it would have to either take away from our governments already tight budget (Not really tight, but in all the wrong places) or raise the tax rate, which would cause a massive uproar from the middle class, because we suffer the most from this. The lower classes get the free healthcare, while we have to spend our money to provide for them. And yes, the idea of it sounds good, but in reality, it doesn't work with such a large population like America. People would cheat the system, take it for granted, or the system wouldn't even work properly.
wow.. 7% in tax.. here I pay 33%, and that's minimum as I'm a student and only work part-time.. you guys do not want to know what my parents pay in taxes..
See what I mean? The government was designed to do nothing more than make laws and control the military. Nothing more, nothing less. So when something like Obamacare was introduced, people were afraid that they would jack up tax, which has always been a subject of worry.
Back to the gun issue honestly now that I think about it it's not about the guns themselves the whole argument is about that freedom the right to own a weapon the freedom behind it we could care less about the gun itself
this is what i say every time this stuff happens, forget their names, let them be dust in the records of history. remember the names of the victims and the people who stop these guys.
well ah...ahm...
As a survivor, why do you say this?
As for my "story of survival" it's nothing that hasn't been said before. It was chaotic and scary and surreal. What sticks with me is the horrible thought of confusion at the sounds and now knowing that people were dying by those shots and I had no clue at the time. The worst part is trying to grieve and go about your life with the news stations parked outside the dorms and campus hounding students about the tragedy for weeks afterward or having random strangers ask me about it when they see my school sweaters etc..
There have been so many shootings in this country the reality is that you either know someone intimately affected by a school shooting or you will.
Edit: the officer at my school's kid had a gun in his car... Emergency expulsion for him. Seriously, we aren't that bad of an area, I swear!
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64891000/gif/_64891158_gun_deaths_dev_countries_464.gif?
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Those countries have a low population compared to America, and then have much stricter gun laws to boot. If you took those laws, then applied them to a population like America, yes, the murder rate would go down, but not enough to make a huge difference. If someone wants to kill you, they'll find another way. And even then, most of the time, if some one shoots someone with a gun, they had acquired that gun ILLEGALLY. If someone gonna shoot you, they won't care whether or not the gun they used was legally registered.