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[Kyzer]

Every time I see a reply like this I'm more and more done feeling sorry for things like this happening in your country.

I hope people at least don't go on blaming it on mental illness and actually acknowledge this as a hate crime against gay people. Seems like it's the best you can hope for these days.

1 - ill be sure to also let your country's idiots dictate how much of my sympathy you receive for mass casualty events

2- shootings being blamed on mental illness is typically not some kind of scapegoat or meme, there are officials who are experts investigating and if for some reason mental illness was the conclusion it wouldn't be a joke or some thing our country just likes to do

 

[MassiveNights]

An assault rifle?!

Forgive my ignorance but are these really easily attainable in the US?

If so, why?

I'm from the UK so this kind of thing just boggles my mind.

 

[Officerrob]

Going to go ahead and crosspost my feelings that I initially posted in PoliGAF:

As awful as it is to say on yet another day where there is a massive loss of life, nothing will change. The right will cling to this being a terrorist act, the left will scream about this being a hate crime and the ease of which people can get a gun in this country. At the end of the day, it's just another awful event in which we as a country refuse to learn from. Sad.

 

[Benedict]

Be armed, period.

They had an armed officer at the site who exchanged fire with the attacker when it happened. It didn't work.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Be armed, period.

I feel sorry for you if you genuinely think you have to live that way.

 

[EdibleKnife]

God in heaven. Wtf?

 

[Lead]

Not even with a gun it would be possible... he had an assault rifle.

Well, assault rifles are guns, but I'm going to say with 100% certainty he didn't use an assault rifle here.

An assault rifle?!

Forgive my ignorance but are these really easily attainable in the US?

If so, why?

I'm from the UK so this kind of thing just boggles my mind.

Assault rifles are not easily attainable in the U.S

They cost tens of thousands of dollars, require rigorous background checks and firearm registration.

 

[Kathian]

Holy SHIT.

My reaction. Disparity between injured and dead sounds like he/she executed people one by one :/

 

[Hedrush]

Just got a sky news notification, 50 dead and 53 injured.

 

[valkillmore]

Once again I am in shock at another mass shooting, a stunning casualty count thus far, absolutely horrifying

 

[knkng]

50? Jesus Christ this is sickening. I hope the families of victims are able to find some peace in their lives sometime in the future.

Nope, can't bring up those points. He's even a registered democrat. http://voters.findthedata.com/l/28019600/Omar-Mir-Seddique-Mateen

Well, I'd like to think people aren't already beginning their political pivoting of the tragedy, but holy smokes is this ever gonna shape the presidential election.

 

[Oriel]

Terrorism! Hate crime! No the problem is access to guns.



Because in many states, including Florida, a single person can walk into a gun store and buy a gun designed to do just that with practically zero checks.

Sigh. Literally hundreds were killed in terrorist gun attacks last year in France, in a country with extremely tight gun laws. The problem isn't JUST guns. And, to repeat, I say that as someone who thinks American gun laws are far too LAX.

 

[SliceSabre]

Holy shit the number went up to 50 murdered!? God damn!

 

[sflufan]

I just saw this. Read the first page and the last page. 50 dead another 53 injured? That is...absolutely crazy. What happened? Is the shooter alive or dead? I can't believe this.

The terrorist was killed in a firefight with the police SRT.

 

[Jeels]

Wow, you're seriously putting all of the blame on the guns? That's sad. I hate guns myself, but this horrible person used those guns. The blame is on him. Guns are the unfortunate method to his madness.

You can't do this type of damage without a very specific type of gun that no human being actually needs.

 

[fanboi]

Well, assault rifles are guns, but I'm going to say with 100% certainty he didn't use an assault rifle here.

According to AP:

The Associated Press ‏@AP · BREAKING: Mayor: Orlando nightclub shooter used assault rifle, 'there's blood everywhere'

 

[Regulus Tera]

This is gonna sound horrible, but at this point I can't feel anything. I've become numb to all these news about mass shootings in the US. They are just another statistic atop the previous statistics.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Wow, you're seriously putting all of the blame on the guns? That's sad. I hate guns myself, but this horrible person used those guns. The blame is on him. Guns are the unfortunate method to his madness.

No, they were the logical, accessible and efficient method to his madness.

 

[gatti-man]

Be armed, period.

I hate these kind of responses as they never logically play out. So a shooter starts shooting in a nightclub. Everyone is armed, everyone pills out their guns and starts shooting. Who is the shooter? Who is just defending themselves? Play out the scene in your mind then tell me again why that is a good idea.

I own a glock but I'm not gun crazy enough to subscribe to the idea that guns mean safety. They do and don't depending on the situation and your responsibility with said fire arm.

 

[Plinko]

No freaking reason any general citizen should own an AR-15 assault rifle. None.

Well, assault rifles are guns, but I'm going to say with 100% certainty he didn't use an assault rifle here.

Police just confirmed at the press conference that he did use one .

 

[killer_clank]

Wow, you're seriously putting all of the blame on the guns? That's sad. I hate guns myself, but this horrible person used those guns. The blame is on him. Guns are the unfortunate method to his madness.

Humans can't kill 50 other people in minutes without the use of guns. Guns and gun culture is the reason this bastard was able to kill so many people so easily.

 

[Ensirius]

I refuse to believe 50 people could've been murdered as easily if the perpetrator was using a knife/other improvised weapon over a gun. This has to stop, but will it? RIP to all who were taken in such a cruel and senseless act.

This is always brought up in mass shootings.
If the Sandy Hook shooting where 20 children aged between 6 and 7 years old plus 7 adults were murdered didn't change anything, NOTHING fucking will.
Get used to it, this will happen, and nothing will be done about it.

 

[nomster]

Well, assault rifles are guns, but I'm going to say with 100% certainty he didn't use an assault rifle here.

Assault rifles are not easily attainable in the U.S

They cost tens of thousands of dollars, require rigorous background checks and firearm registration.

I don't follow, are you trying to use some technicality on a definition here?

 

[Kyzer]

You can't do this type of damage without a very specific type of gun that no human being actually needs.

I'm not taking a side in this other than to say, if you are scoffing and dismissing the ideas of hate crimes and terrorism by saying the real problem is the existence of the weapons used, you have no idea what you are talking about

I'd be fine with someone stating their dismay for gun laws in this country right now but to marginalize and even make fun of the idea that terror or hate crimes are to blame in order to say guns are the real problem is ridiculous

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

Every time I see a reply like this I'm more and more done feeling sorry for things like this happening in your country.

So because some people are pro-gun, you feel less sorry for the death of innocent people?

Disgusting.

 

[Lead]

According to AP:

My best guess is he was using a sporting rifle and people with little gun knowledge have mistakenly identified it as an assault rifle.

Semi automatic sporting rifles are also legal in just about every European country other than the UK.

I don't follow, are you trying to use some technicality on a definition here?

It's not a technicality, neither practically or in the eye of the law.

 

[D23]

50 dead?? Oh my god.

 

[jrush64]

Got an alert from BBC, 50 dead. Bloody fucking hell.

 

[Subterranean]

They had an armed officer at the site who exchanged fire with the attacker when it happened. It didn't work.

Source on this?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Sigh. Literally hundreds were killed in gun attacks last year, in a country with extremely tight gun laws. The problem isn't JUST guns. And, to repeat, I say that as someone who thinks American gun laws are far too LAX.

Hundreds? I wish the us had hundreds instead of thousands.

 

[jediyoshi]

Well, assault rifles are guns, but I'm going to say with 100% certainty he didn't use an assault rifle here.

Assault rifles are not easily attainable in the U.S

They cost tens of thousands of dollars, require rigorous background checks and firearm registration.

 

[Jb]

My heart has been aching for 20 dead and now its jumped up to 50 with 53 injured.

50 gay people celebrating pride went out to have fun and will never go back home again.

How does anyone rationalise that kind of loss of life as acceptable in their head.

I genuinely cannot understand the kind of deep-seated hatred once must have in their heart to do something like this against innocent people. It simply doesn't make sense.

 

[Captainbojanglesiii]

Just terrible. 50 people is so many... It was awful when the day before one woman was killed, so 50? That's beyond tragic.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Fuck.

Fifty people lost their lives while out having fun with their friends. Because one fucking coward. R.I.P

that's what's always crazy to me when innocent people get killed. These people probalby thought they were going to hit up a club have some fun for a night then do somethin else the next day and life goes on. And then they just....die. 50 is an insane number.

Probably some asshole radicalized by isis or something. Would not be surprised.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Wow, you're seriously putting all of the blame on the guns? That's sad. I hate guns myself, but this horrible person used those guns. The blame is on him. Guns are the unfortunate method to his madness.

All the blame? No. But this doesn't turn out the way it doesn't without guns, no fucking way. Gun violence, accidental or otherwise, is a huge problem, and the fact that nothing can be done because of anti-gun control lobbyists and corrupt politicians is a fucking travesty.

 

[jstripes]

His father said he was "disgusted by two men kissing" some time ago.

Was their kissing harmful to him? Was their kissing harmful to others?

There's plenty of things out there that I find unpleasant, and while I might grouse about them, I just let them go.

 

[Matt_]

I don't understand how it could have gone from 20 to 50 so suddenly
jesus christ just barbaric, RIP to all

 

[azyless]

1 - ill be sure to also let your country's idiots dictate how much of my sympathy you receive for mass casualty events

Mass casualty events don't happen literally every day in my country

 

[Lebron]

Truly tragic. No words.


I wonder if we will finally learn from this tragic event

 

[VanWinkle]

You can't do this type of damage without a very specific type of gun that no human being actually needs.

No, they were the logical, accessible and efficient method to his madness.

I'm not arguing that point. I know that guns made it easier. I'm saying it's asinine to put all the blame on the guns instead of the monster that committed the acts.

 

[SJRB]

This is unreal.


Terrible tragedy.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

I can't believe America as a country is so fucking stubborn on the IDEA of giving up guns.

You don't fucking need them.

RIP to those killed and I hope to God their families will be able to heal one day. Life isn't fair.

 

[theaface]

No fucking way, this is horrible How can a single person do that kind of numbers?

Sadly the answer is easy - they could get their hands on an assault rifle. Not just a handgun but a frigging assault rifle. I don't know what business anyone but expertly trained armed forces should have being able to have a weapon like that. I don't know how anyone could defend a 'constitutional right' to own an indiscriminate death-dealing machine like that, but there it is.

Awful stuff. My sympathies for the victims and and their friends and families.

 

[Plinko]

My best guess is he was using a sporting rifle and people with little gun knowledge have mistakenly identified it as an assault rifle.

Semi automatic sporting rifles are also legal in just about every European country other than the UK.

It's not a technicality, neither practically or in the eye of the law.

The authorities just identified it as an "AR-15 type assault rifle."

 

[Lead]

An AR-15 is a semi automatic sporting rifle and they're also legal in many European countries. I live in Denmark and I own one.

The authorities just identified it as an "AR-15 type assault rifle."

Unless that thing was fully automatic they're wrong.

 

[Jeels]

I'm not taking a side in this other than to say, if you are scoffing and dismissing the ideas of hate crimes and terrorism by saying the real problem is the existence of the weapons used, you have no idea what you are talking about

I'd be fine with someone stating their dismay for gun laws in this country right now but to marginalize and even make fun of the idea that terror or hate crimes are to blame in order to say guns are the real problem is ridiculous

Where did I do that? All I am saying is you can't do this type of damage without a specific type of gun. Take that as you will.

 

[Kaervas]

Banning guns makes as much sense as banning Islam.

America allows for the freedom of religion and the freedom to bear arms.

We are constantly reminded, and rightly so, that the action of a few dont speak for the many: terrorist extremist are not your everyday muslim.

The same logic can and must be applied to gun owners: not all gun owners are extremist.

What people are asking in this thread is for a group to forfeit their rights in order to conform to a notion of what society should be for a minority. They are asking for the removal of a fundamental right.

I don't see people in this thread asking for a ban on Islam.

 

[mxgt]

Terrorism! Hate crime! No the problem is access to guns.

And so it begins

 

[Colonel Nasty]

But guys mah hobbies...../s

 

[whyman]

Looks like the religion of peace strikes again. Horrible event that I hope will be a turning point for American politics. If not, this will be more frequent.