Mass shooting in Las Vegas. 50+ dead

[GUBU]

No agnostics in fox holes

More than fifty people are dead from the hand of a man who was probably your co-religionist, and all you can think about are the words of a shell-shocked man in the immediate aftermath of the massacre.

You know the number of people at your funeral (including the officiator) will be counted on the fingers of a blind carpenter's left hand.

Back to the matter at hand, if anybody here had relations, friends or loved ones suffer at the hands of Mr Paddock, you have my depest sympathies. I wish that something like this will never happen again, but I am not hopeful.

[LastPoet]

Well any crazy fuck can kill a lot of people.

People change the machines too. With a bit of ingenuity, you can turn a semi rifle into an auto one. The availability of legal waponry also increases, the availability o hardware to customise, given some light machanic skills -.-;

As to the bullets, all you need is one and a few meters of yarn. tie the bullet to the rifle and infinite amno insues.

[Brian37]

This excerpt is from the Wiki entry on the Texas Tower Sniper:

Texas Governor John Connally commissioned a task force to examine the autopsy findings and material related to Whitman's actions and motives. The commission was composed of neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, pathologists, psychologists, and the University of Texas Health Center Directors, John White and Maurice Heatly. The Commission's toxicology tests revealed nothing significant. They examined Chenar's paraffin blocks of the tumor, stained specimens of it and Whitman's other brain tissue, in addition to the remainder of the autopsy specimens available.
Following a three-hour hearing on August 5, the Commission concluded that Chenar's finding had been in error. They found that the tumor had features of a glioblastoma multiforme, with widespread areas of necrosis, palisading[further explanation needed] of cells. and a "remarkable vascular component" described as having "the nature of a small congenital vascular malformation." Psychiatric contributors to the report concluded that "the relationship between the brain tumor and [...] Whitman's actions [...] cannot be established with clarity. However, the [...] tumor conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions", while the neurologists and neuropathologists concluded: "The application of existing knowledge of organic brain function does not enable us to explain the actions of Whitman on August first."
Forensic investigators have theorized that the tumor may have been pressed against Whitman's amygdala, a part of the brain related to anxiety and fight-or-flight responses.


I'm old enough to remember this shooting.  It was a BFD 'back in the day' and unfortunately the time line for getting the above information was rather long.  I note the similarity of the height of the gunman's perch in both mass shootings, and further, the shooter today is old enough to remember Whitman's assault too . . .

I mentioned this particular shooting to Tibs this morning when I heard, not because of the height, but because of the lack of obvious motivation, and the later diagnosis of a brain tumor. I would not be surprised to learn that this man had something severely wrong with him that wasn't just pure evil. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if he was just evil either.

The Kent state shooter back in the 60s had a brain tumor. Still a moot point to me. 

The sane need to stop allowing media to use motive as a distraction.

When a person with a brain defect gets a gun, it is still an issue of access.
When a criminal gets a firearm it is still an issue of access.
When a mentally ill person gets one like the Va Tech shooter, it is still an issue of access.
When a racist like Roof gets one, it is still an issue of access.
When a Muslim, like the Pulse shooter gets one, it is still an issue of access.


And even without taking mass shootings into account, the bulk of firearm deaths happen in the home or with someone the victim knew.

We have 36,000 firearm deaths per year on average. Mostly suicides, accidental, and domestic violence, between spouses, dating and neighbor on neighbor. 

So while funding mental health issues is important, ease of access is also a problem.

[brewer]

Worst sound bite yet. On CNN, Taylor Benge, witness, "I was agnostic going into that concert but I'm a firm believer in god now....."

No agnostics in fox holes

god needs killings to make converts.

[Minimalist]

I don't know how many times you'll have to be told this, Brian.....but the factory operators have bigger fish to fry than the flooded domestic market.  As an example, they;re currently angling for a change to federal oversight which would remove exports of..say, ar-15s, from the State Depts purview to the Commerce Dept.  Think of all the great deals to be made, lol.  As a bonus, it; the state department, where Hitlery Benghazi Mc MurderPants hid all the bodies.  It should be easy to convince the rubes that this is a good idea.  Gun sales are slumping under Trump, that's pretty much a cardinal sin to his base.

This is current news, but..I'm guessing it will be difficult to find buried under vegas.

@Min, I'd set my sights lower, be realistic.  No american gun ban is going to be able to pass if it includes a ban on a 47billion dollar export industry.  We barely give a shit what happens here..no tears will be shed for the people of Fuckedupistan.  Our current administration is looking to loosen regulation, in any case, not tighten it.

I hope by now that I've made it clear what I think of the current administration?

[Divinity]

I think it's time we send the NRA flyers for Penis Enlargement Surgery. They should know their little problem can be fixed.

[Brian37]

I think it's time we send the NRA flyers for Penis Enlargement Surgery.  They should know their little problem can be fixed.

It amazes me how people fall for their shit.

"More guns work".

Ok, then why does this shit keep happening? It would seem to me if it worked like they like to claim, we'd see less, but that is not what we observe.

What was it Einstein said, something like, "The epitome of stupidity is repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result."  It was Einstein right? Correct me if I got that wrong.

[Court Jester]

Blah. 40,000 people in one location and a shooter at an elevated level with a fully automatic rifle. Lucky the death count isn't well into the hundreds.

I still don't blame the gun though.

[vorlon13]

I mentioned this particular shooting to Tibs this morning when I heard, not because of the height, but because of the lack of obvious motivation, and the later diagnosis of a brain tumor. I would not be surprised to learn that this man had something severely wrong with him that wasn't just pure evil. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if he was just evil either.

The Kent state shooter back in the 60s had a brain tumor. Still a moot point to me. 

The sane need to stop allowing media to use motive as a distraction.

When a person with a brain defect gets a gun, it is still an issue of access.
When a criminal gets a firearm it is still an issue of access.
When a mentally ill person gets one like the Va Tech shooter, it is still an issue of access.
When a racist like Roof gets one, it is still an issue of access.
When a Muslim, like the Pulse shooter gets one, it is still an issue of access.


And even without taking mass shootings into account, the bulk of firearm deaths happen in the home or with someone the victim knew.

We have 36,000 firearm deaths per year on average. Mostly suicides, accidental, and domestic violence, between spouses, dating and neighbor on neighbor. 

So while funding mental health issues is important, ease of access is also a problem.

It was in Texas, not Ohio.

And as for specific palliative legislation to address this specific mass shooting, the autopsy findings on the shooter are highly relevant.  If he has an identifiable mass in his head plausibly influencing his behavior, a specific legislative remedy is obvious:

mass door to door compulsory CAT scans of everyone's head every 6 months

If, instead, he was a meth user or other drug abuser/addict, a different legislative remedy to address this specific finding would be:

mass door to door compulsory drug screenings every 6 months.

One certainly could not expect the second specific legislative remedy to be of any help in screening brain tumors (the first posited scenario), or vice versa.


And I would appreciate till we get some specific autopsy facts and FBI/ATF findings, all speculative legislative proposals at this stage need to be ID'd as such and/or limited or resitricted till we get those facts.

Particularly galling in past mass shootings was the plethora of legislative proposals widely agreed at the time (even by those proposing them) that in the specific event triggering the proposal it was acknowledged as being specifically ineffective that occasion.

So please, proposals for legislation at this time need to be tailored to what we know now, and those proposals if enacted earlier would have been obviously effective on this specific occurrence.

Thank you.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Worst sound bite yet. On CNN, Taylor Benge, witness, "I was agnostic going into that concert but I'm a firm believer in god now....."

No agnostics in fox holes

I spent years in combat zones and never needed one of your imaginary friends. I'm an adult.