(Disclaimer: This article is written as if I accept the “official” story of what happened down in Parkland, but I actually don’t.)
Which of the following do you think was more likely to have been a contributing factor to the school shooting that happened down in Parkland, Florida?:
1 - Me and my locked-up AR-15, over a thousand miles away.
2 - The shooter’s classmates, and how they treated him.
Is it heartless and mean for me to point out facts and reason? Too bad. Because I know that I personally had nothing to do with the kid going on a shooting spree, while it’s quite likely that some of the students at his school—possibly including one or more of those fellow students now being given national notoriety for their calls for “gun control”—helped to push an already mentally unstable kid over the edge.
Now we have the ridiculous spectacle of ignorant, self-righteous brats like David Hogg out there screaming about “accountability,” but of course he doesn’t mean accountability from people who actually had an impact in the shooter’s life. No, he wants “accountability” from politicians, NRA members, people who support the Second Amendment—many millions of people who had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting, directly or indirectly.
Since people get irrational when they are emotional, let me point out what should be obvious: I’m not saying that the shooting was at all justified, or that any of the shooter’s classmates deserved to die. But I am saying that, in addition to other possible factors (his home life, his mental issues, whatever other stressors, etc.), the shooter being mocked, ridiculed and bullied at school—as the mainstream news admits that he was—probably had a hell of a lot more to do with him wanting to kill people than the fact that I have an AR-15 sitting in a gun safe in Pennsylvania. (Duh.)
You can whine about me pointing that out, but you would literally have to be an idiot to disagree. So, who bears more responsibility for the shooting happening: millions of Americans who own AR-15s, or the kids who spent day after day around Nikolas Cruz, either teasing and bullying him, or watching other people do it without intervening? (I don’t know if David Hogg himself ever even met the shooter, but his arrogant, condescending demeanor makes it quite easy to imagine him being a total jerk to some unstable and abnormal “misfit.”)
Marolo Alvarez, a classmate of Cruz’s, said, “I could have said something to administrators, that ‘hey this kid gets bullied a lot, please help him, please reach out to him.’ I kind of regret not doing that.’” Alvarez also said that other students would say about Cruz that he “looked like a school shooter.”
To his credit, Alvarez acknowledged that there might have been something he could have done, even though (according to him) he wasn’t one of the bulliers. Meanwhile, you have all manner of fear-driven and feelz-driven morons saying and doing spectacularly stupid things. For example, at least two people decided to make videos of themselves sawing the barrels off of their own AR-15s (which is a federal felony, by the way), as if that somehow makes the world safer. Next time I see a story about someone driving drunk and killing someone, should I saw my car in half?
Are we going to pretend that inanimate objects are the threat to humanity, and that the mindset and behaviors of certain individuals isn’t? Almost everyone has the ability, and the equipment available, to murder other people. But only a tiny percentage have the desire to do so. To focus primarily on things, as if things are the problem, instead of focusing on why some people want to murder others, is just profoundly stupid. While we’re at it, let’s start blaming ski masks for muggings, and blaming car keys for drunk driving, and blaming computers for online fraud. Heaven forbid we focus on the individuals who choose to do stupid or malicious things, and the factors that may contribute to that.
And that brings us to Emma Gonzalez, another self-righteous classmate of the shooter now publicly calling for widespread authoritarian violence against many millions of peaceful gun-owners. (Because yes, that is what “gun control” is: the state using violence against people for merely possessing certain inanimate objects.) Emma publicly stated the following (in a rather emotional, angry way, in fact):
“Since he was in middle school, it was no surprise to anyone who knew him, that he was the shooter. Those talking about how we should have not ostracized him? You didn’t know this kid! Okay? We did!”
Hey Emma, maybe take a brief break from acting as a useful idiot for political control freaks, and ponder the fact that me and my AR-15 did absolutely nothing to make the shooting happen, and couldn’t have done anything to prevent it (from over a thousand miles away). You, on the other hand, very likely could have done something to prevent it, and since you used the word “we” when talking about the kids who “ostracized” Cruz, you may very well have been a contributing factor to him going berserk and killing a bunch of people.
(While this is a somewhat different topic, it’s worth mentioning that having “laws” and institutions which coercively imprison many millions of children by way of “compulsory schooling,” trapping them in a setting where they are mocked or otherwise abused, making them captive victims of bullies, is also an obvious contributing factor.)
Maybe all the marching, protesting high schoolers ought to get off of their ignorant high horses, stop demanding more authoritarianism and less freedom, and ask themselves if they don’t bear some personal responsibility for bullied kids who go berserk. Because I know that I and my AR-15 don’t.
Obviously there is an agenda to keep when it comes to the media.
I think that school has changed alot over the last decade. Kids these days can be brutal little bullies. They are very arrogant and rebellious.
I'm just saying, in my days if I got picked on, it would play out differently. It was much more singular. If I got picked on by a bully, I would respond by punching him in the face, have a quick fight in the yard, two or three punches, and that was it. It didn't matter who won but the energy would be released and I will probably make a new friend.
There was no little bully gangs. There was no social media either so there was not that perpetual bullying online. With the fact that an aggressor does not have to see the victim in the face and can hurt by just randomly posting online, makes it even more brutal and instantly widespread.
It is just not like before. The playing field for social pricks is different.
Thank you for saying what many of us are thinking.
What I find 'ironic' is Emma Gonzalez is now saying that she's sorry that she bullied him. One of the largest mouths in the whole thing is part of the problem. I doubt the Hogg kid even knew him...seems beneath his station. Or was one of the biggest bullies he had.
It has been made very apparent that Cruz had several issues over several years. I don't think anything could have prevented this, except may people learn not to bully. Unfortunately that is never going to happen, pack mentality...attack the weak and different.
I don't have a problem with people owning any sort of gun. My ex was a Marine Corps sniper, he had a chance to get a MK-14 which is the predecessor to the currently used military weapon MK-16. I didn't have an issue with it. He was trained. He trained me, even though I did have some training when I was a kid.
No amount of laws passed are going to prevent criminals from getting their hands on guns. We can work to keep 'certain' types of people from being able to obtain them. When I say this, I am including myself in this group. If you have been diagnosed with PTSD, any type of depression with suicidal tendencies/ideation, anxiety disorders, a history of violence and so forth, I don't think you should be allowed access. I do understand that there are some with PTSD due to military service for some reason shooting helps, but if a flashback happens, what is going to stop you. You are never cured from these diseases/issues. You can relapse at anytime.
In fact, many of my friends have urged me to go get a gun now, especially since Colorado no longer requires a license for conceal and carry. As I mentioned, I don't think it is right for someone like me to own a weapon. I have the respect for what a weapon can do and I know the responsibility that I take on should I have one which is a lot more than most people.
I do think this is going to get a lot uglier before it gets better.
Nobody's suggesting you should get a weapon; just that you should be free to make the best call you can based on your own knowledge of your own circumstances.
We're not gun nuts. We're freedom nuts :)
Exactly. I just know that are people that do own them that truly aren't capable of making a sound decision, they have a fascination with guns. If I wasn't afraid of my flashbacks or depression. I wouldn't have an issue with having one. I have thought about it. I don't want to stand in the way of anyone else's freedom, but I do think there are certain people it's a recipe for disaster.
I don't think there really is going to be a solution that everyone will be happy with, but to take away that right, privilege and freedom is wrong.
Its important to recognise the limits of your capabilities.
The guys with an unnatural attraction to guns are going to do whatever they have to to access them, despite any bans.
Here in Australia they become cops.
It is. Sadly human nature is to place blame rather than accept responsibility. So true when someone has an unnatural attraction they will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Did that help anything? We don't hear much about cop shootings in Australia. Here it's another story, overzealous cops to being targeted.
No, it happens occasionally, but our cops aren't so worried about being shot.
Well said, as always. That said, I think privatization of LE/security should be part of the discussion. Of course, the police force, nor the court system, nor any of the government domain will ever be privatized, but I think the public would be a hell of a lot safer if competition would enter the equation. Or we can just let the police go on writing traffic tickets and arresting people for non-violent "offenses" instead of actually protecting the public.
There definitely a lot more to this story than is being told. What we are seeing is the usual knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy. un control will not solve the problem. Guns don't fire themselves. There were psychological problems festering long before he bought his first gun. No one wants to take responsibility. The kids at the school have some blame to shoulder as well as the FBI who had him on their radar. And what about the police standing outside while it was going down?
Legislating more gun control won't work. The problems with the youth today are deep seated and need to be looked at closer. How about they look at what's going on before saying that the guns are the problem. If there were no guns, there would be something else use as a weapon. Ay excuse not tolook deeper for the answers.
Well maybe if sawed the guns of the order followers in half that would at least slow down the oppression.
It's funny how a sick society gets sicker and they call for another distorted, oppressive treatment to fix it. The fire is burning quick throw gasoline on it. It just made it bigger. PUT MORE GASOLINE ON IT!
So where do we go from here? This push for confiscation and violence (possibly even gun violence) against those who resist the confiscation, is escalating at a frightening rate. Is there something that peaceful gun-owners can do that will divert this seemingly unstoppable movement toward complete disarming of the people. What power do current gun owners have that would stop this?
I am not a gun owner, personally. I have taken a government sanctioned and sponsored gun safety course and there are guns on the property that I live. What can I, a non gun owner do, to protect this right and freedom for all?
Well said. The person in the mirror too often fails to exam their role in anything as if we don't reap what we sow and there are not consequences to our actions.
kindness begets kindness and so on
Do you put any stock in the "false flag" narratives? Early on I heard some people claiming that multiple shooters were present, etc., but the censors at YouTube, etc., have largely disappeared this kind of commentary.
I have been leaning towards
3 Drugs that "may cause suicidal thoughts or actions".
and/or
4 he was a fucktard and he alone is responsible for his crimes
5 the cops and FBI who did nothing after several dozen calls and reports