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Federal authorities are responding to a shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a small community southeast of San Antonio.
In a press conference Sunday night, an official from the Texas Department of Public Safety described the scene: Around 11:20 am, the suspect, dressed in black, approached the church and began firing an assault rifle. He then entered the church and continued firing.
Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed that at least 26 people were killed. A Texas Department of Public Safety official said the ages of the victims ranged from 5 to 72 years old. The AP reports that the pastor's 14-year-old daughter is among the dead.
The Department of Public Safety confirmed to NPR that at least 20 others were wounded. A DPS official said in the press conference that the gunman was confronted by an armed civilian outside of the church.
The shooter, who was found dead in neighboring Guadalupe County, has been identified as Devin Kelley, 26, a former Air Force member.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @03:45AM (16 children)
Well France doesn't allow people to run around with guns, so what's the weapon of choice for mass murder there? Trucks. Drive one fast into a crowd of people, and presto mass murder achieved. So do we call that the "French disease," that they won't get rid of trucks despite their repeated use in committing mass murder? I mean what the hell is wrong with them that they can't do the obvious? How about the obvious of not allowing Muslims to have and drive trucks?
Oh, right. Because it won't work.
And though I am appalled by all this sort of thing and believe this society is coming apart at the seams, I would like to pick a little bit of a bone with the smug assertion of moral superiority coming from Europeans or any others on this score. Have we also not been treated to news of mass murders committed all too frequently in their societies of late? Even the Scandinavians have not been spared (breivik).
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:02AM (7 children)
France isn't having more than one vehicle attack per day, are they? How many of these attacks have actually taken place in France? Your bullshit doesn't pass the smell test.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @04:07AM (6 children)
There was the truck murder in Nice. I forget where the other recent one was there. Oh, right, then there was the Charlie hebdo incident that was committed with all those illegal weapons they're not supposed to have, so the gun ban totally prevented that one. Nope, you're right, bad things like this only happen to america because america sucks, right?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @04:16AM (1 child)
Citations:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_France [wikipedia.org]
Lots of vehicle attacks in there. But really, can you blame one for forgetting some of the specifics when incidents of the "French disease" have become so common?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday November 06 2017, @04:17PM
Two instances of this so-called French disease this year, neither of which was fatal.
Which of those two twos was hard for you to count to, and was causing your confusion?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:17AM (3 children)
Bad things like this happen very regularly here in America. And if you're going to try to put words in my mouth you should capitalize "America" properly. I guess your disrespect for our country isn't limited to acceptance of mass murders and your support for making semi-automatic weapons available to criminals.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @04:26AM (2 children)
Typing on a tablet, jackanapes.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:33AM (1 child)
So am I. Perhaps you can use one of your guns to press "Shift" next time? I guess you don't stand for the National Anthem since that level of respect takes effort as well.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @04:53AM
Puerile and petty, and witless. Mass murder is everywhere around the world now, and instead of delving into why that is, you snipe on title case? To accomplish what, exactly? Blow us all away with how clever you are? To blame me for the murderous thoughts and deeds of others? To blandly accept your groupthink when the evidence all says gun control does not stop violence? It doesn't. For shame. A community of people was murdered in their sanctuary today and you choose to use that as an opportunity to opine on punctuation. Could you be more fatuous?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:20AM (3 children)
Now I want you to justify that with solid numbers. Show us stats from reputable sources that show us that the number of truck attacks and number of dead per such attack results in comparable overall fatality rates when adjusted for population size.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:35AM (2 children)
At this time has any AC in this thread successfully explained how arming the population would prevent a vehicle ramming attack; the vehicle attackers are almost universally dispatched by law enforcement, and not urban vigilantes open carrying AR-15s in a walmart.
TBH i'd be more afraid of a mass shooting in the USA than a vehicle ramming attack in either the USA or France.
- yet another AC.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @04:58AM (1 child)
Yeah I forgot the Paris nightclub killings. Gun control totally prevented that, too.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @06:25PM
Retard.
(Score: 2) by jimshatt on Monday November 06 2017, @11:20AM (3 children)
Besides, that's not really an argument against gun control.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 06 2017, @02:40PM (2 children)
"Unless you know of a way to transport goods by road without some sort of heavy vehicle?"
I do, because it predated the advent of the semi and was widespread. It did run on rails, but it is pretty damn hard to commandeer and randomly drive into a crowd of pedestrians. The street-level ones mostly carried passengers, but there's no reason they couldn't carry cargo.
The point I'm trying to make is that if you don't have guns, you'll kill with something else if you really want to do that. Trucks, acid, bombs, fire, knives, airplanes. Those are all methods that have been used for mass murder in recent years.
I think it's past time to tackle the stressors that are causing our collective sanity to be lost. Inequality and corruption are huge ones. We'd need to put the white collar criminals in business and government in real jail to do real, hard time. Building a healthcare system that everyone has access to, including for mental health, is another big one. Tackling long-festering issues like police violence against minorities is another one (and this is one where people on the Left need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and accept their culpability on this issue, too). It's because we have shirked that hard work that these phenomena have burgeoned. They will spiral until collapse if we don't. I really hope that enough people can realize that and act before it's too late.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by jimshatt on Tuesday November 07 2017, @12:23PM (1 child)
Good luck laying railroad tracks to every shopping area, btw.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 07 2017, @01:54PM
"Good luck laying railroad tracks to every shopping area, btw."
Don't have to. There were entities called railroads that did all that a long time ago. In most cases, those rail lines are still there, if unused. Some have been converted to bike or walking trails, but they can be quickly reverted to rails because surveying and smoothing the grades is the time-consuming thing. In many American cities streetcar rails are still there, under the pavement. I can go to downtown Brooklyn and find stretches of bare cobblestone and rails that served the warehouses that are now high-priced condominiums. In short, rails already were run to shopping areas, and a great many of them are still there under the surface.
Now, I don't think any government will do such a thing. But they could, if they really wanted to nerf the world.
Washington DC delenda est.