What Kind Of World Do We Live In That Someone Can Walk Into A School With Guns And Kill 26 People?

[Dombovar]

I know it is in the US, but that a 20+ yr old can get hold of a variety of guns, walk into an elementary school and needlessly kill 20 iinnocent children and 6 adults, makes you wonder what will happen next. Yet some people say that
there is nothing wrong.

[RATTER15]

In the USA, to every 100 people there are 88 guns, that is a big problem!!!

[naomi24]

//She was preparing for an economical crisis. Nothing wrong with that. Great excuse to label all the preppers as metal though, hey... //

Nothing wrong with that? Really? She was preparing for an economical crisis leading to social chaos and in doing that she had a store of guns with which to protect herself from other human beings. I’m not surprised her offspring had mental health issues. She sounds like a prime candidate for another Louis Theroux ‘Nutcases of America’ documentary to me.

[emmie]

Naomi, my thoughts as well. Neighbours say her son was rarely seen or heard from, and that the other son had moved away to NY some time ago.
Tragic that she died from the gun that she had taught her son to shoot with, and that mental health seems to have such a low priority in USA. It isn't much better here, but at least we don't have access to enough weapons to shoot up the people on a massive scale. 300 million weapons in circulation it is total madness.

[naomi24]

Em, //mental health seems to have such a low priority in USA.//

I'm not entirely sure that some in the US deem what most of us would consider to be mental heath issues, ie hoarding guns and food in preparation for imagined impending social chaos, to be mental health issues.

[emmie]

i meant the son, one of the things they have mentioned he may have had aspergers syndrome, and if he didn't get any help if that was the case,
from counselling, medication, then his life could have been difficult to intolerable.

[emmie]

as to the mother, the neighbours say she was a perfectly amiable woman, so there was no suggestion she had mental health problems. Carrying any weapon be it knife, gun, is an accident waiting to happen.

[naomi24]

Em, oh, I see. I hadn't read that - but I still think his upbringing may well have influenced his thinking.

[emmie]

it could well have done, perhaps no one will ever know. One parent gave the most heartbreaking testimony, he said that he prayed for his own beautiful 6 year old child, and that of the family of the boy who did this as they are suffering just as much, forgiveness at such a time is beyond me.

[naomi24]

I saw that, Em. I can't imagine the mental turmoil those parents must be suffering. I can't say I'd be thinking about forgiveness.

[mikey4444]

I agree that it would take a brave man to tackle Americans obsession with guns, but didn't somebody once say that "all it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing" ?

[Truthabounds]

According to a report by the World Health Organization
"Violence killed 1.6 million people in 2000, matching tuberculosis and surpassing malaria in their death tolls. The estimate is based on data gathered from 70 countries and includes war, assaults, suicides, and shootings. Researchers found that violent fatalities represent about 3% of all deaths in the world,” the report adds. “The scope of violence—against women, children, the elderly, young men and communities in general—proved far greater than they expected. One reason for that, researchers suggest, is violence frequently goes unreported.” The breakdown for violent deaths was: Suicide—50 percent, homicide—30 percent, and war—20 percent. Eastern Europe had the highest suicide rates, led by the Russian Federation and Lithuania. The ratio of gun-related deaths was highest in Albania—22 per 100,000 people. The United States had 11.3 per 100,000, while the United Kingdom and Japan had 0.3 and 0.1 per 100,000 respectively.

At Isaiah 60:18, we read: “No more will violence be heard in your land, despoiling or breakdown within your boundaries. And you will certainly call your own walls Salvation and your gates Praise.” How beautiful those words are!

But when will this occur? The fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that it will be within our lifetime. Because “the sign” that Jesus said would mark “the conclusion of the system of things” is now undergoing fulfillment. This “sign” includes “the increasing of lawlessness.” (Matthew 24:3-14, 34)

[Bluestone]

"maybe you havent heard but a huge amount of the worlds population believe the world will end on the 21st ... "

The gunman's mother was a prepper, she did not think the world was going to end, she was preparing for a financial crisis. Therefore, this mentally unstable kid did not "believe his mother and think he was saving the kids" from the wrath of December the 21st.

To be honest, I found what you wrote utterly ridiculous....

[naomi24]

Truthabounds, //How beautiful those words are!//

Conversely, how ugly these words …..

Thus saith the LORD of hosts ... go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 1 Samuel 15:2-3

[joko]

i find your leaping on the most irrelevant bit of my post quite ridiculous. fact is many think the world will end om the21st. maybe they did too.

how do you know she wasnt prepping for that... like a lot of others?

[atalanta]

The gunman was clearly a) nuts b) obsessed c) depressed d) suicidal and e) a coward. He intended to die, but he wanted to take as many people with him as he could. If things were to turn out the way he wanted, he had to choose people who could not defend themselves, people who would not have guns to fight back - and the only people in the US who are guaranteed not to have the use of guns are small children.

[Bluestone]

Joko, "how do you know she wasnt prepping for that."

What? The "end of the earth" on the 21st December? Because it's been reported she was prepping for a financial crisis... as I have said to you approximately three times now.

[emmie]

this is not the time for sermons truthabounds, this is a time for action.

[emmie]

at the end of a very long day, it's not worth arguing over what the mother was preparing for, the paper said she was a survivalist, and had amassed a small arsenal of guns, one of which the son used on her. It's a sad day when people argue over the small print. There are 26 dead, all those beautiful children and the head of the school and some of the teachers, who stood up to the man and shielded these little ones at the cost of their lives.
America is in mourning, but these types of crimes won't stop. President Obama said yesterday that he had been to 4 of these mass shootings, it has been in office 4 years, how many more will there be before he leaves.

[joko]

you are missing the point i was making ... in that many believe the world will end on the 21st ... maybe he did too

but split hairs all you like...

[Dombovar]

//this is not the time for sermons truthabounds, this is a time for action.//

You think how warfare has changed in our century. When war meant merely the clash of armies representing two opposing nations, slashing with sabers or even firing guns at one another on a battlefield, it was terrible enough.

Today the proliferation of weaponry, in particular small arms, is so widespread that it is responsible for the death of one person every minute and more than 500,000 killings a year [worldwide],” reveals London’s newspaper The Independent. “16 billion units of military ammunition were made, enough to shoot everyone in the world twice.” Nearly eight million firearms are manufactured annually, the majority for civilian use. As the study by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International Action Network on Small Arms points out, “societies that were once largely peaceful, with any scores being settled with fists or knives, have been transformed by guns.” In one country, assault rifles are used as currency. In another, an English teacher who gave lessons to an elderly woman was paid in hand grenades. And in a third country, “babies are named ‘Uzi’ and ‘AK’ after their fathers’ favourite assault rifles,” the paper said.