School Shooting in FL/WA/GA/MI/MD/YouTube/TX

[Durzan]

I think the solution might not be so much to ban certain weapons, but to instead unban all the weapons and instead require people to have licenses for weapons the same way we do with cars. Cars are dangerous devices, right? You can easily use one of the big vehicles, and mow down a bunch of people. We've all seen that. But we require training, and a test to get a license to drive one. Once you get that license, you can go to any car dealership and get anything from a tiny little smart car, to a giant diesel truck. The cars aren't regulated, but the people. I'd totally be for something like that with guns. Even if I HAD legal access to a fully automatic weapon, or a flame thrower, or a missile launcher, I doubt I'd ever buy or handle one.

Thats basically what I was thinking.

[iWriteStuff]

Who knows what the future holds, but the USA has a history going after Brits when they were not expecting the worst . If the USA ever deems a regime change is in order for your country as it has done in other countries, Brits might wish they had the right to bear arms.

You couldn't even defeat a handful of Brits and some Canadians in 1812. Got your White House burned down in the process.

You have to admit, you kinda asked for this:

britishsafespace.jpg (13.36 KiB) Viewed 2088 times

I think the idea here is to acknowledge that there are evil people in the world (not necessarily the British, of course) who want to kill and maim and we should be allowed to stop them. I would extend that to say if you are part of the gun community, you need to learn to police your own. If you won't, legislation will.

[Gage]

Pro-gun is losing the public debate because they hold to the idea "all access to all weapons or we fight".
[/quote]


So if it becomes nearly impossible to get a gun legally (people will still get guns illegally) everyone will just give up harming others and violence and decide that we should all just love one another instead?

[DesertWonderer2]

The punk is a sick, horrible person and I totally get your frustration. May he rot in hell.

I bet if someone were to look, there would be thousands of similar digital footprints that could be found right now. What are we to do? Take away their rights for something they said? Prosecute all of them for a crime that they might commit? Employee thousands of new officers to do nothing but go interview anybody using hate speech on the internet?

What is a workable solution?

How about a psych eval? How about an investigation? How about try to get him help before he acts out his stated purpose? How about AT LEAST TEMPORARILY remove the gun from his possession until we can be sure that a guy introducing himself as a "future school shooter" isn't anything more than someone with a really really really really really poor sense of humor? He was reported, and nothing was done. His friends and family knew he wasn't right in the head, but nothing was done.

Ability, motive and intent were all established. And nothing was done to prevent it.

I don't think you can have a respect for guns and be ok with the way this was handled. This hurts EVERYONE, not least of which are law abiding gun enthusiasts. If anything, gun enthusiasts should be the most offended by his actions.

We can do better than this.

What you are suggesting here sounds a lot like eliminating Due Process and changing the fundamental to our justice system that we are innocent UNTIL proven guilty. I can’t accept that.

[Gage]

The punk is a sick, horrible person and I totally get your frustration. May he rot in hell.

I bet if someone were to look, there would be thousands of similar digital footprints that could be found right now. What are we to do? Take away their rights for something they said? Prosecute all of them for a crime that they might commit? Employee thousands of new officers to do nothing but go interview anybody using hate speech on the internet?

What is a workable solution?

How about a psych eval? How about an investigation? How about try to get him help before he acts out his stated purpose? How about AT LEAST TEMPORARILY remove the gun from his possession until we can be sure that a guy introducing himself as a "future school shooter" isn't anything more than someone with a really really really really really poor sense of humor? He was reported, and nothing was done. His friends and family knew he wasn't right in the head, but nothing was done.

Ability, motive and intent were all established. And nothing was done to prevent it.

I don't think you can have a respect for guns and be ok with the way this was handled. This hurts EVERYONE, not least of which are law abiding gun enthusiasts. If anything, gun enthusiasts should be the most offended by his actions.

We can do better than this.

Maybe the FBI should hire the resources to go interview everyone with a picture of themselves holding a gun just to be on the safe side.

[Gage]

Its real easy to should of, could of, would of, after the fact.

[Fiannan]

Well what do people think of this?

https://businessinsider.com/pro-gay-pro ... &IR=T&IR=T

[Thinker]

As a society we need to recognize that mental illness can affect pretty much any person or any demographic. We should also learn to be more compassionate and accepting of people who suffer from mental illnesses. ".
-Finrock

The problem is that our entire language structure and how we talk about this is jacked up. This individual didn't have a "mental illness", he was wicked. He committed a very evil act.

Once we stop lying to ourselves as a culture we can actually begin to see the roots of the problem and fix it. Call it what it is, wickedness. This individual wasn't mentally ill . . . he posted on youtube that he wanted to be a school shooter. What we think about ourselves eventually becomes true.

So as a society we can't actually talk the appropriate language to even begin to solve the problem. There are a few instances where people black out, can't remember what they did and do something bad. There are instances where people temporarily go nuts (i.e. they can't talk, they can't function, etc., have an altered sense of reality, etc.).

But to plan out an attack and kill people, call it what it is . . . wickedness and evil. Anything else is just a massive societal delusion designed to self-deceive. Once you understand what this is (i.e. evil) then you begin to see the solution, i.e. good moral teachings!

"Mentally ill" has become society's go to code word for anything wicked. Kill your family-he must be mentally ill, rob a store at gunpoint-must be mentally ill, kill a bunch of people-must be mentally ill. Because of course what "sane" person would kill another. When the question really is what righteous good person would kill another? But heaven forbid we ever call someone evil or wicked . . .so we call them "mentally insane"

And it really does a massive disservice to individuals who are dealing with massive trauma (generally caused by being a direct participant in a truly malevolent act, either they did, saw done, or was done to them). Jordan Peterson has some great videos on this.

Maybe. I want to be sure that we aren't conflating "mentally insane" with "mental illness". Calling a person evil really doesn't accomplish much of anything in my opinion. Its simply a label. So, he is a wicked person. Now you say the solution is to teach righteousness. OK, but, who is going to teach righteousness? Were the teachers not teaching this person what was good and right? Did he have people in his life that were doing this? Clearly something didn't go through. I don't know if this is what you mean, but I don't think this person was born wicked or evil. He, like all of us, may have been born with weaknesses and dispositions, however, these don't in and of themselves make a person evil. The evilness may have come to him over time.

Now, I don't know this young man's history. But, my whole point is did the young man have any support in his life? What if when he was younger, he was treated with compassion, kindness, and he received treatment and help to deal with trauma of losing a father, losing a mother, etc.? What if instead of people calling him crazy, looney, nuts, weird, or evil and then shunning him, he was recognized as being at risk. I think you associating "wickedness" de facto with "mental illness" speaks precisely to the stigma and issue I'm trying to point out. We can't just assume that mental illness and wickedness go together. First, mental illness is real. Having a mental illness doesn't excuse evil acts that you do. Having a mental illness is not the same as being mentally insane. We can be accountable for our actions and have a mental illness. What this person did was evil. But, could this have been prevented if we viewed, understood, and treated mental illness correctly? I think so. Does society have a role to play when some of our kids are growing up, who are filled with so much frustration and anger by how they have been treated by others, that they act out in this horribly wicked way? I believe society does have a role to play. We can teach our children to be more compassionate. We, as adults, can stop treating a mental illness as some shameful stigma and teach our children the same attitude. We, as a society, as adults, can be more tolerant and accepting of others who are different from us. These things will filter down to our kids as they will emulate or learn both the good or the bad examples we set.

When I look at these mass shootings done by teenagers, I see kids who come from abusive and traumatic backgrounds, kids who were bullied and ostracized by the more "normal" folks, kids who felt abandoned by parents and society, kids who had mental illnesses that were not treated properly. At some point these kids were young and innocent. They were good kids, just like all young children are. So, yeah, teach more righteousness. Teach our children to be compassionate, more tolerant of people that are different, to be more loving and accepting. Intervening earlier, taking action earlier to address bullying, abuse at home, trauma, etc. Will this guarantee that no more mass shootings or that no kid will become evil? No. Does any of this take away from the responsibility or excuse those that murder? No. But I believe these things will make a significant difference and may stem the current tide of children at risk of becoming mass murderers.

-Finrock

Finrock,
You really nailed it - many excellent points. Essentially, you pointed out how it does take a village to raise a child & if we really want to prevent something like this from happening in our neighborhoods, we need to figure out exactly what response-ability we have. As mentioned, it is counterproductive to jump to the conclusion, “The guy was just evil.” - Not only does it involve hypocrisy (who isn’t somewhat evil?) but it also is the easy, cheating way out - pretending it’s all someone else’s problem, when in reality, that problem affected many who may have had such narrow mentality before this.

I’m not suggesting determinism, & I don’t think you were either, but it is important to realize that “in each of us is a bit of all of us.” While we all have free agency, some have their free agency hurt through traumatic upbringing. This is why we have to be careful and not condemn but judge righteously. He will pay for what he did - but in the big picture, I believe people who hurt others do so because they are hurting, so I’m praying for both the victims and families and for this man who acted out his personal horrors.

[mirkwood]

I think the idea here is to acknowledge that there are evil people in the world (not necessarily the British, of course)

Manchester City fans are and maybe Arsenal fans.

[iWriteStuff]

The punk is a sick, horrible person and I totally get your frustration. May he rot in hell.

I bet if someone were to look, there would be thousands of similar digital footprints that could be found right now. What are we to do? Take away their rights for something they said? Prosecute all of them for a crime that they might commit? Employee thousands of new officers to do nothing but go interview anybody using hate speech on the internet?

What is a workable solution?

How about a psych eval? How about an investigation? How about try to get him help before he acts out his stated purpose? How about AT LEAST TEMPORARILY remove the gun from his possession until we can be sure that a guy introducing himself as a "future school shooter" isn't anything more than someone with a really really really really really poor sense of humor? He was reported, and nothing was done. His friends and family knew he wasn't right in the head, but nothing was done.

Ability, motive and intent were all established. And nothing was done to prevent it.

I don't think you can have a respect for guns and be ok with the way this was handled. This hurts EVERYONE, not least of which are law abiding gun enthusiasts. If anything, gun enthusiasts should be the most offended by his actions.

We can do better than this.

What you are suggesting here sounds a lot like eliminating Due Process and changing the fundamental to our justice system that we are innocent UNTIL proven guilty. I can’t accept that.

What part of "This guy has a gun and has publicly stated that he wants to shoot children - someone should check in on that" sounds like eliminating Due Process? It's a crime to yell "Fire" in a theater. Should we take it less seriously when someone shows ability, motive and intent to shoot up a school of defenseless children?

I hold to my previous statement. Either the gun community learns to police itself or legislation will.

What do you think happens to a generation of voters who had to grow up afraid of being shot at in school?

[iWriteStuff]

Its real easy to should of, could of, would of, after the fact.

I'd normally agree with that, but in this case I think it's a near certainty that there will be another school shooting.

Oh wait! There's another one underway already:

Shots Fired At Highline College In Des Moines, WA; School On Lockdown

Just two days after a tragic mass shooting in a Florida high school, moments ago the campus of Highline College in Des Moines, WA was put on lockdown following reports of shot fired.

BREAKING: Reports of shots fired at Highline College in Des Moines. Campus is on lockdown. pic.twitter.com/VYv92PHD1Y

— Bill Wixey (@BillWixey) February 16, 2018
The lockdown has been confirmed on Highline's facebook page: “Remain in lockdown - This is not a drill All Buildings need to remain in lockdown. Barricade doors and windows. Police are responding and we will have further details shortly.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02- ... l-lockdown

This is not a unique phenomenon any more. They keep happening. If we never get serious about treating the underlying cause (read: not the guns, but mentally deranged evil people who use them), then we're never going to hear the end of school shootings.

[Gage]

A South Carolina student was arrested on Thursday after posting a Snapchat threatening a repeat of Wednesday's deadly mass shooting, which took place at a Florida high school.

Spartanburg School District Three spokesperson Sherri Horton told WHNS that officials received an anonymous tip about the threat, which was made via Snapchat, from the parent of another student at Broome High School.

The alarming photo shows an unnamed ninth-grade boy wearing a partial face mask and holding what appears to be an assault rifle with the caption "Round 2 of Florida tomorrow."
The parent of the child who received the concerning snap alerted police and identified the student featured in the photo to responding deputies.

After authorities went to the suspect's house, he told them that the post was "just intended as a joke and that he didn’t have any serious intentions," according to Lt. Kevin Bobo.

Bobo said the boy's parents allowed deputies to search the home, where they found both the mask and the weapon, which turned out to be a pellet gun.

The suspect, whose name will not be released due to his age, was charged with disturbing schools and transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Greenville, South Carolina.

[JohnnyL]

A South Carolina student was arrested on Thursday after posting a Snapchat threatening a repeat of Wednesday's deadly mass shooting, which took place at a Florida high school.

Spartanburg School District Three spokesperson Sherri Horton told WHNS that officials received an anonymous tip about the threat, which was made via Snapchat, from the parent of another student at Broome High School.

The alarming photo shows an unnamed ninth-grade boy wearing a partial face mask and holding what appears to be an assault rifle with the caption "Round 2 of Florida tomorrow."
The parent of the child who received the concerning snap alerted police and identified the student featured in the photo to responding deputies.

After authorities went to the suspect's house, he told them that the post was "just intended as a joke and that he didn’t have any serious intentions," according to Lt. Kevin Bobo.

Bobo said the boy's parents allowed deputies to search the home, where they found both the mask and the weapon, which turned out to be a pellet gun.

The suspect, whose name will not be released due to his age, was charged with disturbing schools and transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Greenville, South Carolina.

Not too hard, was it? First and mostly, because he wasn't a patsy in an anti-gun plot.

Good to charge him and take him away for a few days. Let it be published all around and let everyone know what will happen.

[DesertWonderer2]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fb ... -t-n848681

According to this there were protocols in place that would have prevented this. They simply were “not followed”. Terrible.

[tribrac]

Pro-gun is losing the public debate because they hold to the idea "all access to all weapons or we fight".

So if it becomes nearly impossible to get a gun legally (people will still get guns illegally) everyone will just give up harming others and violence and decide that we should all just love one another instead?

Well first of all, why not? Do you plan to meet Jesus when he comes again to establish peace with your AR, a sack full of pro-mags and glock on your hip? " Whew, glad I made it Jesus, of course I had to grease about 132 zombies to get here, almost ran out of ammo, so where is this Zion gonna be?"

Secondly, that argument is exactly the all or nothing stance I was criticizing. It is no longer believable to the public. Why? Because the shooters in these school shootings are NOT criminals with illegal guns, they are regular people obtaining mass killing machines legally. People are more afraid of regular people with guns than they are afraid of criminals. The status quo is seeing people killed but gun people refuse to discuss any options of changing the status quo. Refusing to come to table for any type of discussion is going to make it so that when the politicians react to the public's outcry the gun people will have no say in resulting rules.

That is why I say, change is coming, it will come fast, and gun people won't like it.

[gkearney]

Here is an exercise in how conspiracy theories can be wound up in any fashion one might wish.

In news reporting there is a saying that one should always "Follow the Money" Doing this we reade in Fortune "Gun Sales Have Dropped Since Trump's Election" http://fortune.com/2017/08/04/trump-gun-sales-obama/ and in the Guardian "US gun makers battle 'Trump slump' as sales fall compared to 2016" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ed-to-2016

As can be seen gun makers have suffered under Trump. They need to have an event to cause everyone to start talking about gun control again because when people start doing that everyone seems to rush out and buy guns and ammo. Soooooo

It seem clear that the only parties with a financial interest in a school shooting like this would be the only parties who would stand to benifit if there was some sort of gun control hysteria like there was under Obama. Sooooo

It would seem clear in this, somewhat distorted line of logic that the gunmakers have done a false flag operation to boost their sales, because right now everyone is calling for gun control and then people start calling for or believing there will be gun control gun sales go up and so the the profits of the gunmakers.

See ho90w you can spin a conspiracy theories in any direction you choose?

[eddie]

At the moment, I don't really care what the Florida gunman has been through, what kind of home he came from, who bullied him or the extent of his mental stability, I just don't care.

What I do care about is the safety of our children, and how to stop these gunmen from getting into our schools, I care about the ones who are attending school to learn, who will have careers, be good citizens, and most of all our future. They are the ones being shot in cold blood!

Why is it we can protect our money with guns, we also protect our Courtrooms with guns, and our Country, but we leave the children as sitting ducks?

Whatever the reason behind these shootings, right at this moment they need to be stopped!

We stop this from happening by preventing and addressing and taking care of kids who are at risk for doing these things before they cross the line. As Fiannen pointed out in their post, kids use to be allowed to bring their rifles to school. Guns have been guns have been guns. What's changed are the people. What's changes are the mental states, the break down of the family, the deterioration of morals, and so forth.

You may not care about this person and that is understandable and fine, but, we are talking about ways to prevent this from happening. Posting "guards" in our schools or arming teachers, etc., seems to me to just be putting our heads in the sand. Why do we need to do these things? Why on earth would we need to put guards in schools or arm teachers? If our kids were well adjusted mentally, if there was more compassion, more acceptance, more understanding, then we wouldn't have to worry about these things
There is a reason why we have kids going off as ticking time bombs. If we don't address that reason, we will continue to have these types of issues.

-Finrock

There will always be those who slip between the cracks, at this point I don't think we are willing to take that chance. I have no problem with armed security in the schools, as a matter of fact anyone of us should be willing and able to take down a shooter anywhere they might be. Talk is cheap and that's all that gets done everytime this happens, my compassion is towards the innocent victims, as it should be!

[Older/wiser?]

I have two words to fix the problem "Minority Report" (oh there goes ones agency). I can see it now a child is deemed a threat taken out of his home, by the state, medicated, or whatever treatment they think is best. Make guns laws so restrictive and controlled your rights are strangled. Either way, we all lose something. I'd like to see a study on the "Increase in violence" and the "decrease in worship of G_d" in his land, well at least they got rid of prayer in our schools ,I wonder if there is any correlation.. who will do anything to change that?

[David13]

I have two words to fix the problem "Minority Report" (oh there goes ones agency). I can see it now a child is deemed a threat taken out of his home, by the state, medicated, or whatever treatment they think is best. Make guns laws so restrictive and controlled your rights are strangled. Either way, we all lose something. I'd like to see a study on the "Increase in violence" and the "decrease in worship of G_d" in his land, well at least they got rid of prayer in our schools ,I wonder if there is any correlation.. who will do anything to change that?

You and I know the co-relation but the left would not admit it if they were struck by lightening, and the study etched onto their thick skulls.
dc

[JohnnyL]

Here is an exercise in how conspiracy theories can be wound up in any fashion one might wish.

In news reporting there is a saying that one should always "Follow the Money" Doing this we reade in Fortune "Gun Sales Have Dropped Since Trump's Election" http://fortune.com/2017/08/04/trump-gun-sales-obama/ and in the Guardian "US gun makers battle 'Trump slump' as sales fall compared to 2016" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ed-to-2016

As can be seen gun makers have suffered under Trump. They need to have an event to cause everyone to start talking about gun control again because when people start doing that everyone seems to rush out and buy guns and ammo. Soooooo

It seem clear that the only parties with a financial interest in a school shooting like this would be the only parties who would stand to benifit if there was some sort of gun control hysteria like there was under Obama. Sooooo

It would seem clear in this, somewhat distorted line of logic that the gunmakers have done a false flag operation to boost their sales, because right now everyone is calling for gun control and then people start calling for or believing there will be gun control gun sales go up and so the the profits of the gunmakers.

See ho90w you can spin a conspiracy theories in any direction you choose?

Sounds good. Now show supporting evidence.

[David13]

Here is an exercise in how conspiracy theories can be wound up in any fashion one might wish.

In news reporting there is a saying that one should always "Follow the Money" Doing this we reade in Fortune "Gun Sales Have Dropped Since Trump's Election" http://fortune.com/2017/08/04/trump-gun-sales-obama/ and in the Guardian "US gun makers battle 'Trump slump' as sales fall compared to 2016" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ed-to-2016

As can be seen gun makers have suffered under Trump. They need to have an event to cause everyone to start talking about gun control again because when people start doing that everyone seems to rush out and buy guns and ammo. Soooooo

It seem clear that the only parties with a financial interest in a school shooting like this would be the only parties who would stand to benifit if there was some sort of gun control hysteria like there was under Obama. Sooooo

It would seem clear in this, somewhat distorted line of logic that the gunmakers have done a false flag operation to boost their sales, because right now everyone is calling for gun control and then people start calling for or believing there will be gun control gun sales go up and so the the profits of the gunmakers.

See ho90w you can spin a conspiracy theories in any direction you choose?

Ok, so you think it's a good conspiracy theory.
It is one that shows an agenda. The same agenda that says the NRA caused the shooting.

Do you believe either theory? Or do you believe there is an agenda behind those two theories? If so, do you believe the agenda is in part a plan to disarm the American people?

If so, why do you think they want to disarm the American people?
dc

[David13]

Here is an exercise in how conspiracy theories can be wound up in any fashion one might wish.

In news reporting there is a saying that one should always "Follow the Money" Doing this we reade in Fortune "Gun Sales Have Dropped Since Trump's Election" http://fortune.com/2017/08/04/trump-gun-sales-obama/ and in the Guardian "US gun makers battle 'Trump slump' as sales fall compared to 2016" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ed-to-2016

As can be seen gun makers have suffered under Trump. They need to have an event to cause everyone to start talking about gun control again because when people start doing that everyone seems to rush out and buy guns and ammo. Soooooo

It seem clear that the only parties with a financial interest in a school shooting like this would be the only parties who would stand to benifit if there was some sort of gun control hysteria like there was under Obama. Sooooo

It would seem clear in this, somewhat distorted line of logic that the gunmakers have done a false flag operation to boost their sales, because right now everyone is calling for gun control and then people start calling for or believing there will be gun control gun sales go up and so the the profits of the gunmakers.

See ho90w you can spin a conspiracy theories in any direction you choose?

Also, I hope you don't think that's an original theory.
I have seen it from several other sources previously.

The question remains, do you think that's what's going on? If so, why? If not, why not?
dc

[gkearney]

Here is an exercise in how conspiracy theories can be wound up in any fashion one might wish.

In news reporting there is a saying that one should always "Follow the Money" Doing this we reade in Fortune "Gun Sales Have Dropped Since Trump's Election" http://fortune.com/2017/08/04/trump-gun-sales-obama/ and in the Guardian "US gun makers battle 'Trump slump' as sales fall compared to 2016" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ed-to-2016

As can be seen gun makers have suffered under Trump. They need to have an event to cause everyone to start talking about gun control again because when people start doing that everyone seems to rush out and buy guns and ammo. Soooooo

It seem clear that the only parties with a financial interest in a school shooting like this would be the only parties who would stand to benifit if there was some sort of gun control hysteria like there was under Obama. Sooooo

It would seem clear in this, somewhat distorted line of logic that the gunmakers have done a false flag operation to boost their sales, because right now everyone is calling for gun control and then people start calling for or believing there will be gun control gun sales go up and so the the profits of the gunmakers.

See ho90w you can spin a conspiracy theories in any direction you choose?

Sounds good. Now show supporting evidence.

Supporting evidence for a conspiracy theory? Since when did we apply such a high standard as that around here? But sinces you insist will some "fake news" do?

Gunmakers discuss need for public fear

JACKSON, Miss. (INS) - Leaders of the major gun manufacturing firms gathered in Jackson MIssissippi over the weekend to discuss the growing problem of declining gun sales following the election of President Donald Trump. Gun sales, which had been strong throughout the Obama administration driven in part by fears of gun control measures under the democratic administration have slumped in the months following the election.

Observers at the meeting attributed this decline to the lessening of fear in some circles to the prospect of greater gun controls by the new administration. More surprising however was the willingness of executives of gunmaking firms to admit that mass shooting contributed to the fear of gun control which in turn resulted in rising sales.

Daniel Waltram president of Waltram Arms of New London, Connecticut told the gathering that they "must always be ready to capitalize on events which might generate calls for greater gun control." Waltram in his speech to the gathering went on to explain that the gunmakers should be willing to take any advantage which might be gained from such issues as mass shooting to place the fear of impending gun control in our customers.

While Waltram was the most specific in his calls for greater fear of gun control as a driver of sales several other spokesman for gunmakers such as Colt and Smith and Wesson echoed his comments off the record.

Copyright 2018 by International News Service

YOu see I have a copy of the AP stylebook and can bang out "news" copy as well as the next fellow. I was only trying to show how easy it is to whip up a conspiracy theory to suit what ever agenda one might have. I'm not promoting this as real and the fact that I was asked if I did think it real ratehr proves the point.

[JohnnyL]

Here is an exercise in how conspiracy theories can be wound up in any fashion one might wish.

In news reporting there is a saying that one should always "Follow the Money" Doing this we reade in Fortune "Gun Sales Have Dropped Since Trump's Election" http://fortune.com/2017/08/04/trump-gun-sales-obama/ and in the Guardian "US gun makers battle 'Trump slump' as sales fall compared to 2016" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ed-to-2016

As can be seen gun makers have suffered under Trump. They need to have an event to cause everyone to start talking about gun control again because when people start doing that everyone seems to rush out and buy guns and ammo. Soooooo

It seem clear that the only parties with a financial interest in a school shooting like this would be the only parties who would stand to benifit if there was some sort of gun control hysteria like there was under Obama. Sooooo

It would seem clear in this, somewhat distorted line of logic that the gunmakers have done a false flag operation to boost their sales, because right now everyone is calling for gun control and then people start calling for or believing there will be gun control gun sales go up and so the the profits of the gunmakers.

See ho90w you can spin a conspiracy theories in any direction you choose?

Sounds good. Now show supporting evidence.

Supporting evidence for a conspiracy theory? Since when did we apply such a high standard as that around here? But sinces you insist will some "fake news" do?

Gunmakers discuss need for public fear

JACKSON, Miss. (INS) - Leaders of the major gun manufacturing firms gathered in Jackson MIssissippi over the weekend to discuss the growing problem of declining gun sales following the election of President Donald Trump. Gun sales, which had been strong throughout the Obama administration driven in part by fears of gun control measures under the democratic administration have slumped in the months following the election.

Observers at the meeting attributed this decline to the lessening of fear in some circles to the prospect of greater gun controls by the new administration. More surprising however was the willingness of executives of gunmaking firms to admit that mass shooting contributed to the fear of gun control which in turn resulted in rising sales.

Daniel Waltram president of Waltram Arms of New London, Connecticut told the gathering that they "must always be ready to capitalize on events which might generate calls for greater gun control." Waltram in his speech to the gathering went on to explain that the gunmakers should be willing to take any advantage which might be gained from such issues as mass shooting to place the fear of impending gun control in our customers.

While Waltram was the most specific in his calls for greater fear of gun control as a driver of sales several other spokesman for gunmakers such as Colt and Smith and Wesson echoed his comments off the record.

Copyright 2018 by International News Service

YOu see I have a copy of the AP stylebook and can bang out "news" copy as well as the next fellow. I was only trying to show how easy it is to whip up a conspiracy theory to suit what ever agenda one might have. I'm not promoting this as real and the fact that I was asked if I did think it real ratehr proves the point.

Desperate.

[gkearney]

Desperate.

Don't take me so seriously, I don't.