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4 Calif. Students Arrested For Alleged Mass-Killing Plot
The New York Times reports that four high school students in the small California town of Tuolumne, about 120 miles east of San Francisco, have been arrested, but not yet charged, for planning an attack on their school, Summerville High School. According to the Times, three of the four were overheard discussing this plot, and a fourth conspirator was later identified. Their goal, according to Toulumne sheriff James Mele, was "to shoot and kill as many people as possible at the campus"; they had not however been able yet to obtain the weapons they wanted to carry out the attack. From NBC News' version of the story:
"Detectives located evidence verifying a plot to shoot staff and students at Summerville High School," Mele said. "The suspects' plan was very detailed in nature and included names of would-be victims, locations and the methods in which the plan was to be carried out."
Looks like a success for "see something, say something."
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Well sure, as long as someone adds the "No really, we mean it!" stickers to those signs. History of those signs has been pretty poor so far without the new stickers.
And shortsightedness of youth. It's hard to see past your immediate problems. You not only see no future for yourself but you also can't see our comprehend the socio-economic causes for your misery. Only the most obvious ones are apparent to most folks, and that leaves the bullies. People love picking on nerds. Even teachers do it. We didn't stop bullies until the nerds started packing heat...
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Honestly I suspect a lot of nerds fantasized about doing things to their classmates of a violent nature. This subculture exists in-part because many of those who joined it were ostracized from others, and school as an artificial construct tends to force people that otherwise wouldn't associate to have to associate.
We'll probably never learn much about this case of any real meaning, but that the conspirators supposedly had a list, and that list as-reported contained the names of other students specifically, leads me to believe that the conspirators felt that they had been done injustice by these other students and that they felt they had no recourse beyond such a violent act. It could also be that there was never any serious intention to actually pull-off a spree killing, and that fantasizing about doing it was a way of blowing-off steam about how they felt.
My guess as to why they haven't been charged yet is that they're in that as minors without ready access to the implements needed to actually carry-out such a shooting it's difficult to know if there actually is anything to charge them with. Conspiracy generally requires an ability to carry out the ends of the conspiracy. People want to do harm to others, usually specific people and specific others, all of the time, but that doesn't mean that they're guilty of a crime because of a want.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
And the idea that schools in the US even need "gun-free zone" signs is bat-shit crazy. On the other side of the world, I did not need any sign or rule to know that if I sneaked my dad's shotgun into school, I'd be facing certain suspension. (That was before secure gun safes were mandatory.)
And that is a shame... my father took his rifle to school and kept it in his locker, they had a gun club at school and kids would often go shooting after classes were out...
And he has never owned a gun safe, and amazingly enough in 71 years none of his guns have jumped up and shot anyone... No one in any of his schools was ever shot either...
Guns didn't change, society did, for the worse...
I was arrested once in school for a bomb threat I didn't make. It's easier to agree with whatever they say than stand your ground and tell them they're wrong. The pressure they put on you is massive and they use sales tricks to limit your view to only the scenarios they create, don't they? "Yes, I don't normally leave in the middle of class to take a piss." "Yes I carry around markers." "Yes one of them is black." "Yes I've used it." etc...
"Gun free zone" means there's not even a weapon locked in a safe in the office, or in a staff member's car in the parking lot. It's a soft target.
But yeah, if you don't care about mass shootings, a "no weapons" policy makes some superficial sense.
It was different...
His parents were married all their adult lives and remained together until their death.
Corporal punishment was allowed in school, kids did not talk back to teachers and were taught respect for their elders.
He also went to an all white school of middle class Americans where everyone had a common background and understood each other.
50+ years ago was a different world, and while it was unfair to a lot of people (mostly anyone who wasn't white), it was a world in which these mass shootings were not so common.
It was also a world where you could spank other people's kids if they got out of line, kids could go out and play all day outside unsupervised, and so on...
Of course, it had other issues... but in this specific case, we were better off...
I'd actually really appreciate a 'regular' news site that had a high-quality community and an effective moderating system like Slashdot has.
I don't think one of those exists, does it?
It was also a world where you could spank other people's kids if they got out of line, kids could go out and play all day outside unsupervised, and so on...
The world is safer today than it ever has been before. Shit, there's probably less per capita killings in the Levant right now than there ever have been in history, that place has been a bloodbath since forever. The media narrative, however, is that things are more dangerous than they have ever been before. Bullshit. We simply have higher awareness of what is going on. Remember, gun killings are down. Gun deaths are holding fairly steady because suicide is up. People point to that as justification for banning guns, but there are lots of reasons why that is fallacious, among them having the right to take your own life if you choose. You don't have the right to determine that people must live a life in which they cannot be happy.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
And here is your hypocrisy right here. So instead as most pro gun people say blame the person not the gun. You say blame the drugs not the person. Do you see what u did there. To me freedom to consume what you want and do what you want to your own body takes precedence over the right to bear arms. Though I do like both.
Reminds me off reefer madness... I take you have never done drugs either. I'd be willing to bet more gun deaths have occurred under the influence of alcohol than all other drugs combined... But I doubt anyone would be surprised. We have an issue with all the "vices" but that is another topic.
As to gun free zones... Most areas where people now days want to kill peeople have these zones. Angred youth wants to shoot up school or racist at a black church. But if the answer is u want every school armed ... More guns for kids to have access to? Part of growing up is learning to control impulses and if a kid sees a gun in a moment... And we know how awesome and organized our public schools are.
I don't pretend to have all the answers. I'm not sure the best course of action but don't go placeing blame just on things you don't like. I own guns and don't like some of our laws but can see we do need stricter ones.
Yup. This is why I no longer live in the white trash neighborhood that I grew up in. I don't want my children to feel so unsafe at school that they feel compelled to arm themselves (like I did).
Despite the liberal gun hysteria, I feel VERY safe in my America despite the fact that it is also very well armed. My neighbors are not animals. I can't say that about the neighborhood I grew up in.
If any blacks want to flee that crap, I will happily welcome them with open arms.
The problems in the hood won't be fixed with a successful gun confiscation program. They will just be easier to ignore because liberals won't have gun murder statistics to fixate over anymore.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
I have personally used a firearm (happily, through brandishing, not having to actually shoot) to spare my wife and I from the ongoing actions of a very large, very crazy guy beating down our back door with a metal pipe. You would prefer that we fight him hand to hand and wait the 20 minutes it took for the police to show up. Why? Because you've never dealt with such a situation, lucky you.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
The proof is you are the only first world country with this problem.
Or, you know, keep your head in the sand. That might help.
The law was intended to keep gang activity away from schools not stop spree shooters. Your painting it as a failure against something it wasn't designed for, thats the text book definition of a strawman. While it doesn't by itself keep schools gang free it does provide a tool for LEOs to bust an other wise "law-abiding" gang member who's carrying a piece near a school when they shouldn't be.
" I can logic too."
Just not very well. Owning, carrying and handling a gun in ways that are against the law are victimless crimes -- unless of course, those guns are used to commit OTHER crimes which are not victimless (like murder or theft).
People, for the most part, will obey gun laws -- except the burglars and killers. Really, the only people who will obey the limits on ownership and carry are the ones who would never use a gun in such a way.
So, when the original poster noted that it's a bad law because it puts otherwise law-abiding people in jail he was right. And by you trying to equivocate his statement to removing "all laws" actually suggests you can't "logic" very well.