a terrible day in Connecticut.

  • Two Factor Authentication is now available on BeyondUnreal Forums. To configure it, visit your Profile and look for the "Two Step Verification" option on the left side. We can send codes via email (may be slower) or you can set up any TOTP Authenticator app on your phone (Authy, Google Authenticator, etc) to deliver codes. It is highly recommended that you configure this to keep your account safe.

Capt.Toilet

Good news everyone!
Feb 16, 2004
5,826
3
38
41
Ottawa, KS
Apparently this is a quote from Morgan Freeman, and even if it isn't it still rings true. Keep doing the thing you do media.

“You want to know why {these shootings keep happening}. This may sound cynical, but here’s why.It’s because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he’ll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.
 

Twisted Metal

Anfractuous Aluminum
Jul 28, 2001
7,122
3
38
39
Long Island, NY
Apparently this is a quote from Morgan Freeman, and even if it isn't it still rings true. Keep doing the thing you do media.

How can you just assume that's true though? We have no idea what's going on in these people's minds. Maybe they don't care about media, maybe they just want the thrill of a killing spree. But I agree, it certainly doesn't help publicizing them so much.
 

Crotale

_________________________ _______________
Jan 20, 2008
2,535
12
38
Anywhere But Here
It takes 5-10 minutes to diagnose someone by a trained professional, but it takes 10 years to lock them up even if they're dangerous. That is my whole point. We don't know if the mother ignored her son's problems or if she sought after help and didn't get it in time. From my experience it is impossible to miss when someone you've known all their life starts to act strangely so she had to know he wasn't right in the head. Either way, she had weapons he could access and she should take a lot of the blame for what happened.

So, what do you propose, all the "sane" folk go around identifying and rounding up the "not-so-sane" folks? Unfortunately, social stigmas and other issues crop up that may otherwise prevent a mentally ill person from seeking help or even knowing he or she is ill. And it is not always obvious to the untrained eye as to whether a person is eccentric or simply batshit insane. Certain celebrities come to mind, not to mention those persons who play a lot of violent video games.

I don't care about statistics. One child being killed by a crazy person is enough to do something to lower the risk of it happening again. Schizophrenia is just one of may mental health problems. My brother is severely bi-polar. He's either completely normal or manic and doesn't remember anything he's doing. He can't control it and anything can trigger the switch. If he was being normal he literally could walk into a store and buy a gun with no problem and that should be everyone's concern, not just mine. Luckily, when he's normal he knows he's sick and knows better.

While statistics do not matter in the grand scheme of things, do you remember how homosexuality was only recently determined not to be a form of mental illness? To say that our laws should prevent a "mentally ill" person from owning or having access to a weapon isn't so cut-and-dried as you might want it to be.

I'm not against owning guns. I've fired many guns and some of my best friends are owners. If I were to purchase one, I would make it impossible for anyone else to use it by any means necessary, including family. It should be common sense for everyone. People make sure they're house don't contain carbon monoxide and other deadly gasses, but they just put deadly weapons in a glass cabinet with a cheap lock, or worse, no lock. It makes zero sense. If people don't have common sense then they need to be forced to do something if it means protecting innocent people. We force people to get a drivers license and pay for car insurance to protect innocent people. Why can't we force people to take the appropriate precautions so some 5 year old isn't shot to death when someone steals the weapon they failed to secure?

I have not been keeping my nose to the television on this killing, but how do we know that the killer's mom didn't secure the weapons? How do we know that the killer did not treat her the same way he pistol-whipped some of those kids before killing her, thus forcing her to give him access?

Putting the onus on the gun owner is a valid action, but the ultimate responsibility goes to the shooter who chose to carry out a complicated set of tasks.

You have no idea what was going through his head. Calling him evil is a cop out. There's always a trail of accountability.

Evil is a state of mind, not some religious voodoo shit that possesses a person. Manson is/was evil, he cares or cared not for his victims, and yet, knew what he was doing was wrong, but led and committed the horrible acts anyways.
 
Last edited:

DeathBooger

Malcolm's Sugar Daddy
Sep 16, 2004
1,925
0
36
44
To say that our laws should prevent a "mentally ill" person from owning or having access to a weapon isn't so cut-and-dried as you might want it to be.

Yes it is. If you had to see a doctor because you're can't tell reality from fantasy then you shouldn't own a weapon. Right now states are supposed to let feds know who is mentally ill so they can block gun purchases, but most states drag their ass and people slip through.

In this particular case, the mother was a nutcase who thought the world was coming to an end because of the economical collapse a few years ago and had an arsenal of weapons in her possession and turned her house into a barricaded fortress. She was killed in her sleep by her own weapons by her son. She took the shooter out of public school years ago and used to take him to shooting ranges. Who knows what else she did with him behind closed doors. The father and brother left years ago and they seem normal.
 

Zur

surrealistic mad cow
Jul 8, 2002
11,708
8
38
48
Yes it is. If you had to see a doctor because you're can't tell reality from fantasy then you shouldn't own a weapon. Right now states are supposed to let feds know who is mentally ill so they can block gun purchases, but most states drag their ass and people slip through.

You are obviously mentally ill. Please hand over your weapon.
 

Crotale

_________________________ _______________
Jan 20, 2008
2,535
12
38
Anywhere But Here
Yes it is. If you had to see a doctor because you're can't tell reality from fantasy then you shouldn't own a weapon. Right now states are supposed to let feds know who is mentally ill so they can block gun purchases, but most states drag their ass and people slip through.

In this particular case, the mother was a nutcase who thought the world was coming to an end because of the economical collapse a few years ago and had an arsenal of weapons in her possession and turned her house into a barricaded fortress. She was killed in her sleep by her own weapons by her son. She took the shooter out of public school years ago and used to take him to shooting ranges. Who knows what else she did with him behind closed doors. The father and brother left years ago and they seem normal.

So, anyone who owns an "arsenal of guns" must be a nutcase? Are you now classifying anyone who is a "survivalist" as a nutcase? Oh, because a parent taught her child to shoot there must have been some form of incestual relationship? Do you sit around smoking weed and dreaming up bullshit all day or something?

Face it, this dude could have taken any number of ways of killing these people. He could have made a bomb, for one example. While it is worthwhile to discuss mental health and access to weapons, this is only the tip of the iceberg of what may have been going on in this guy's head.
 

DeathBooger

Malcolm's Sugar Daddy
Sep 16, 2004
1,925
0
36
44
:rolleyes:

The mom is on record saying the shooter was burning himself and getting really disturbed. She had no business having guns remotely near him. The same goes for knives, poisons, bomb ingredients or whatever you want to include. Spin it however you want, but she was a fucking idiot that should have known better.