OR - Nine killed in Umpqua Community College shooting, Roseburg, 1 Oct 2015 - #1

[KaaBoom]

The best way to prevent more dead children is to protect them more.

This experiment with Gun Free Zones (GFZs) is clearly not working.

It works just fine in airports. When was the last time there was a mass shooting behind the TSA lines in an airport? It works just fine in entire countries outside the US.

 

[rob]

You know I could understand if the guy had a job, worked and saved up the money to go out and buy the guns. But, I have not read that he EVER worked, and his mom is on record as telling neighbors that he had mental issues. So where did he get the guns? Is his mom buying them? and the ammo? and the bullet-proof vest and such?
If you know your kid is in a bad place, stop this. No guns, knives or other weapons should be allowed in the house. Yeah, he won't like it, but.... certainly going to be hard to live with now.

 

[kalekona]

I seriously think the Internet has so much to do with this. Whether he posted on 4chan or not...people are so disconnected from others in this day and age, disturbing, violent content is so easily available, people are able to retreat into their mind and avoid interactions with real people and they begin to lose the ability to relate to others in real life. JMO. And I think it would be one heck of a coincidence if the post on 4chan just happens to be a coincidence. Even if it is, there needs to be personal responsibility for threats made on the Internet, and for the people supporting and encouraging those to take actions. Could you imagine the blame that a person would be receiving if that conversation happened in real life? "I'm going to shoot up a school, you should stay home" "cool man, you should do it like this with these guns"...yet it's brushed off as trolls. Sorry, that is NOT ok with me. Nor is someone failing to keep guns away from a mentally unstable person.

My hubby and I discuss how to prevent the wrong people from getting guns a lot as responsible gun owners. I think the most effective one we have ever come up with is having to have references to purchase a gun and private sales having to occur through a brokerage. ETA: this still wouldn't make a difference to illegal gun owners.

Needed to go back and find this because the more I thought about the idea of "References" the more I liked it- and since I don't think I had heard this simple idea before I wanted to give you and your husband full credit for being brilliant.

 

[kalekona]

"How soon we forget"...

France officials hail Americans as heroes for subduing gunman...
www.cbsnews.com/.../france-americans-heroes-gunman-train-...
CBS News
Aug 22, 2015 - National Guardsman says he told his friends "let's go" after seeing man with weapons on train between Amsterdam and Paris, France.

ARRAS, France -- One serves in the Air Force, another recently served in Afghanistan in the National Guard, another is studying physical therapy - and all three Americans are being hailed as heroes for tackling and disarming a gunman they happened to encounter on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris.
<snipped>

You know he was a UCC alumni and is on his way there?

 

[Dogface]

I'm very sorry you have to deal with this. Sounds like your stalker is not mentally stable. Does he have a gun or guns?

Thank you, it's a very surreal situation tbh. At times I almost forget about it but then have shocking reminders. If he does they are not owned legally, he is a felon. (Just want to clear the air this was a normal preppy boy in high school who was a bit of a bad boy but nothing that would have ever alerted me that he was a full on crazy person). Just want to show the side that there are valid reasons for people to own guns, and several guns, and that for me, giving those up would leave me living in a lot more fear. We keep our pistols in biometric safes throughout the house. I don't wish this on my worst enemy, but, I am glad I have the ability to give myself the best chance at protecting myself.

I wonder if it will come to light that he was on/off medication. Mental illness is such a complicated thing, and treatment can be hard to fine tune, and going on and off meds is a very dangerous thing. I just wish people living with someone displaying these signs had better resources to be able to do something about it.

 

[Elley Mae]

This nation is going to hell in a hand basket. Whatever happened to land of the free, home of the brave? Why don't we hear about this type of violence in other countries? Am honestly glad to be as old as I am and won't be here much longer to witness the continued carnage of innocent people.

Oh it happens. bbm

At least 2 dead in shooting outside police building in Australia, reports say

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/1...g-in-australia-reports-say/?intcmp=latestnews

A 15-year-old British boy who came within days of successfully plotting an Anzac Day parade “massacre” in Melbourne after being radicalized by ISIS has been sentenced to life in jail.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/1...-prison-for-terrorism-plot/?intcmp=latestnews

 

[Elley Mae]

You know I could understand if the guy had a job, worked and saved up the money to go out and buy the guns. But, I have not read that he EVER worked, and his mom is on record as telling neighbors that he had mental issues. So where did he get the guns? Is his mom buying them? and the ammo? and the bullet-proof vest and such?
If you know your kid is in a bad place, stop this. No guns, knives or other weapons should be allowed in the house. Yeah, he won't like it, but.... certainly going to be hard to live with now.

Not sure but two pistols were his.

Pegues reports that the guns included a 9mm Glock pistol and .40-caliber Smith & Wesson, both traced to the suspect. He also had a .40-caliber Taurus pistol traced to someone in Portland, as well as body armor.

Investigators are still trying to determine how the gunman obtained a .556 caliber rifle, which is similar to an AR-15, Pegues reports.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-...ty-college-chris-harper-mercer-investigation/

 

[Isabelle]

Oh it happens. bbm

At least 2 dead in shooting outside police building in Australia, reports say

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/1...g-in-australia-reports-say/?intcmp=latestnews

A 15-year-old British boy who came within days of successfully plotting an Anzac Day parade &#8220;massacre&#8221; in Melbourne after being radicalized by ISIS has been sentenced to life in jail.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/1...-prison-for-terrorism-plot/?intcmp=latestnews

As compared to the US, how many in other countries for the first 3/4 of this year?

 

[Dogface]

Needed to go back and find this because the more I thought about the idea of "References" the more I liked it- and since I don't think I had heard this simple idea before I wanted to give you and your husband full credit for being brilliant.

Thank you! We had even talked about having to meet with a doctor who says you are ok, but that seemed like it was getting into iffy territory with medical records and stuff. I figure if you can come up with 3-5 people who would vouch for your stability that owning a gun shouldn't likely be a problem. Perhaps you could get a clearance license to purchase guns, and after "x" number of years you would have to renew this, as mental stability can change.

 

[Hatfield]

None of that is done to prevent mass murder. It's done to protect government facilities from the gun roaming hordes that control this country. We'll keep the airports safe, but if you are outside the airport, you are on your own. :facepalm:

When we didn't take action after Sandy Hook, it proved once and for all that most American's are accepting of any level of gun violence. Other countries reject it, American's accept it.

Homeland Security and CIA claim they stop attacks all the time.

"gun roaming hoardes" ? Seriously?

It seems to me it is always just a single mentally unstable idiot OR a terrorist that does this sort of thing.

 

[leah]

Thank you, it's a very surreal situation tbh. At times I almost forget about it but then have shocking reminders. If he does they are not owned legally, he is a felon. (Just want to clear the air this was a normal preppy boy in high school who was a bit of a bad boy but nothing that would have ever alerted me that he was a full on crazy person). Just want to show the side that there are valid reasons for people to own guns, and several guns, and that for me, giving those up would leave me living in a lot more fear. We keep our pistols in biometric safes throughout the house. I don't wish this on my worst enemy, but, I am glad I have the ability to give myself the best chance at protecting myself.

I wonder if it will come to light that he was on/off medication. Mental illness is such a complicated thing, and treatment can be hard to fine tune, and going on and off meds is a very dangerous thing. I just wish people living with someone displaying these signs had better resources to be able to do something about it.

There was a bulletin on my husband's phone from CNN, that the family said he had mental health issues and had sought treatment. Waiting to see soon if I can find more about this. It is very difficult to find the proper medication that works, and I sure wish also the resources to get help for a family member or yourself were better. But from what I have observed over the years, the stigma is alive and well. We have lived in different states, and some states from my experience, it is just very hard to get proper help.

 

[bessie]

Two young people with so much to live for, and could have done many good things. I will never understand how a parent thinks that a gun/guns are a good thing for their mentally ill child. I understand the appeasing thing to a degree, at times you feel, I will do anything to not cause outbursts and anger, and just want a day with some peace in it. But somewhere inside your head you must think it isn't a good idea, he/she may use the gun on themselves, family, or commit a mass murder. There is no way I believe that thought never entered some of these parent's minds.

<rbbm>

And that really is the relevant issue in this particular case. I doubt any rational adult would disagree that it was a poor choice if, in fact, one or both parents condoned, and/or contributed, to his ownership of even one firearm.

 

[Xara]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ire-shooting-dead-nine-victims-confirmed.html

DM has named one of the victims.

 

[bluesneakers]

None of that is done to prevent mass murder. It's done to protect government facilities from the gun roaming hordes that control this country. We'll keep the airports safe, but if you are outside the airport, you are on your own. :facepalm:

When we didn't take action after Sandy Hook, it proved once and for all that most American's are accepting of any level of gun violence. Other countries reject it, American's accept it.

I believe Sandy Hook was our last chance to get it right and we didn't even try. We let those kids downs, those families down, those victims. And all the kids and families and victims since exist due to our inability to take ANY kind of meaningful action. Why? What in our country is worth saving?

<modsnip>

 

[Dogface]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ire-shooting-dead-nine-victims-confirmed.html

DM has named one of the victims.

This article talks about him possibly having aspergers, and it makes me so sad for all the people living with it who would never hurt a fly but get stigmatized by these individuals.

 

[Isabelle]

I believe Sandy Hook was our last chance to get it right and we didn't even try. We let those kids downs, those families down, those victims. And all the kids and families and victims since exist due to our inability to take ANY kind of meaningful action. Why? What in our country is worth saving?

<modsnip>

Nothing will be done about the problem until it affects the right person/s. Then, it will matter. We just have to wait.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Oct 2 2015, 1:53 pm ET

Oregon Shooting: Umpqua Gunman Chris Harper Mercer — What We Know

by Cassandra Vinograd, Pete Williams, Andrew Blankstein and Tom Winter

The heavily armed gunman who slaughtered nine people at an Oregon college left a hate-filled note at the scene of his rampage and "felt the world was against him," law enforcement officials confirmed Friday.

Two officials familiar with the contents of the note say 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer, who was killed in a firefight Thursday with police at Umpqua Community College, wrote that he would be "welcomed in Hell and embraced by the devil."

He wrote that he was "in a bad way," one official said. "He was depressed, sullen."

The officials said Mercer lamented the fact that he did not have a girlfriend. "He said he had no life," another official said, adding: "He felt the world was against him." ...

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/or...nman-chris-harper-mercer-what-we-know-n437351

 

[STANDREID]

This guy was half black and a Nazi sypathizer! That tells you right there that he had a screw loose.

At any rate, all the people who were killed did not have guns so that's what gun control gets you.

 

[Fairy1]

One of the arguments we hear whenever the subject of gun control comes up is that if the victims were armed the incident would have/could have been stopped. That's just not true. Take the case of the whackjobs that killed the cops in the pizza place and then had a shootout with LE in Walmart here in Vegas. Five people died that day and every one of them had guns. The killers, the cops and the citizen in Walmart that tried to stop it himself and was killed.

It's just not as simple and clear cut as we'd like to think - no matter your position on the issue.

 

[Foxfire]

<modsnip>
If there had been CCPs allowed by students or an armed Security Guard on campus yesterday. The outcome would have likely been much different, imo..

When was the Security Guard first alerted to the shooter? What action did he/she initiate? How do you transport 4 weapons into a building/classroom without other students or faculty noticing? It took LE almost 10 minutes to respond. What was the timeline during this 10 minutes?