Another shooting rocks the world

[Glacier]

What is up with all the people going on shooting rampages around the world the last couple of years?

The one in Germany today was particularly sad.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories

[Captain Awesome]

I wonder what they blame for these in Germany.
Here it's usually heavy metal music, video games or Internet.

[NoOne]

SAMSON, Ala. - A gunman who killed 10 people and himself in the worst mass shooting in Alabama history had trained as a police officer, recently quit his job at a sausage plant and kept a list of employers "who done him wrong," authorities said Wednesday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29623587

wanted to make a statement.

bumped from the headlines by someone in germany.

[Glacier]

Did these kinds of shootings occur 50 years ago or is this something new? My mom (who grew up in the 50s) claims they didn't have these kinds of shootings back then nearly as frequently as now.

It looks to me that the number of school shootings have been going down since 1996. The yellow line is the trend line.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html

[Queen K]

Perhaps the yellow trend line is declining because some schools have increased security measures.

As it is, wholesale death due to gun men should make us all run out and re-rent Bowling for Columbine, regardless of what people think of Micheal Moore. I think he is brilliant.

[usquebaugh]

Perhaps the yellow trend line is declining because some schools have increased security measures.

As it is, wholesale death due to gun men should make us all run out and re-rent Bowling for Columbine, regardless of what people think of Micheal Moore. I think he is brilliant.

Indeed. My favourite folk singer captured the tragedy of Columbine thus:

"To the Teeth" ~ Ani Difranco

and school kids keep trying to teach us
what guns are all about
confuse liberty with weaponry
and watch your kids act it out
and every year now like christmas
some boy gets the milk fed suburban blues
reaches for the available arsenal
and saunters off to make the news

and if i hear one more time
about a fool's right to his tools of rage
i'm gonna take all my friends
and i'm going to move to canada
and we're going to die of old age

[Nebula]

Did these kinds of shootings occur 50 years ago or is this something new? My mom (who grew up in the 50s) claims they didn't have these kinds of shootings back then nearly as frequently as now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting

[Captain Awesome]

Looking at the numbers, one can conclude that US students are usually better prepared. Or just better shots.

[Glacier]

Did these kinds of shootings occur 50 years ago or is this something new? My mom (who grew up in the 50s) claims they didn't have these kinds of shootings back then nearly as frequently as now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting

Is this better for you?...

[Glacier]

It looks like my mom was right after all (a real shocker). Lol. She grew up in the 40s and 50s and has always maintained that they never had school shootings when she was a kid. I would give her the "ya, right!" But now it looks like she was right.

Shhh. Please don't tell her that.

[Merry]

Well as another mum who grew up in a time when this kind of stuff was unheard of, I'm happy to hear a son admit his mother is right!!!!!
Seriously though, even though we had our fair share of bullies and students who suffered from depression, it would never have occured to any of us to go and shoot up the school as a way of getting revenge. I think part of the blame for today's reactions has to lie with the realistic video games that many of these loners sit and play for hours and hours. I know many don't want to hear that (my husband and son included) but I am absolutely convinced they play a role. Maybe for the more sensible user, who doesn't already have mental health issues, they really are harmless, but for the troubled student who is a loner who often sits and plays such games for hours on end, I believe these games really do have an influence.

[FreeRights]

Perhaps the yellow trend line is declining because some schools have increased security measures.

As it is, wholesale death due to gun men should make us all run out and re-rent Bowling for Columbine, regardless of what people think of Micheal Moore. I think he is brilliant.

I can't stand Michael Moore. All of his documentaries exist to argue a topic (so the opposing viewpoints are neglected), and Moore does so very subjectively by editing interviews and news items to support his argument.

If you take a slightly deeper look into his documentaries than he shows you, it would surprise you just how little legitimate substance actually exists. It's just the modern version of those old Soviet Union propaganda films.

[Nebula]

Wait a minute... you mean I can't get a free gun for opening up a chequing account in the States?

[Queen K]

Wait a minute... you mean I can't get a free gun for opening up a chequing account in the States?

Perhaps the offer's deadline expired?

[Glacier]

It is interesting that there are actually more school shootings per capita in Canada compared to the USA.

Decade Canadian Shootings American Shootings
1970s ............ .2 ............................ 5
1980s............. 1 ........................... 2
1990s............ 1 ........................... 13
2000s.............. 3 .......................... 25