Mass shooting in San Bernadino

[Valmy]

What the hell?
11B4V wants to take our guns?
What kind of infantryman are you?

I am starting to suspect you are a pog trying to pass for a grunt.

I don't think he wants to take guns away from infantrymen.

[11B4V]

What the hell?
11B4V wants to take our guns?
What kind of infantryman are you?

I am starting to suspect you are a pog trying to pass for a grunt.

I don't think he wants to take guns away from infantrymen.

Yea and arm them with wiffle ball bats.

[CountDeMoney]

Seedy, dust off your snub nosed six shooter from the closet. This is only the beginning.

Meh, I am substantially more concerned about Vietnamese nail technicians crossing lanes while they text than the occasional mooselimb mental patient.

Meanwhile...

Jerry Falwell Jr.: If more good people had concealed guns, 'we could end those Muslims'
by Sarah Pulliam Bailey
The Washington Post


The president of Liberty University, a popular pilgrimage site for presidential candidates, urged students during the school's convocation Friday to get their permits to carry concealed weapons.

In his remarks, President Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the late religious right leader Jerry Falwell Sr., pressed students at the Christian school in Lynchburg, Va., to carry weapons on campus following Wednesday's mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.

"It just blows my mind that the president of the United States [says] that the answer to circumstances like that is more gun control," he said to applause.

"If some of those people in that community center had what I have in my back pocket right now ...," he said while being interrupted by louder cheers and clapping. "Is it illegal to pull it out? I don't know," he said, chuckling.

"I've always thought that if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in," he says, the rest of his sentence drowned out by loud applause while he said, "and killed them."

"I just wanted to take this opportunity to encourage all of you to get your permit. We offer a free course," he said. "Let's teach them a lesson if they ever show up here."

Falwell told The Washington Post on Saturday that he has had a concealed-carry permit for about a year, but decided for the first time Friday to carry a .25 pistol because of the attacks in San Bernardino on Wednesday. Falwell said he has had several shotguns, rifles and pistols on his farm for several years but is new to carrying a concealed weapon and needs to find a holster for his pistol.

Falwell said that when he referred to "those Muslims," he was referring to Islamic terrorists, specifically those behind the attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino. "That's the only thing I would clarify," Falwell said. "If I had to say what I said again, I'd say exactly the same thing."

A spokesman for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) sent the following statement on Saturday:

"My administration is committed to making Virginia an open and welcoming Commonwealth, while also ensuring the safety of all of our citizens. Mr. Falwell's rash and repugnant comments detract from both of those crucial goals," McAuliffe said. "Those of us in leadership positions, whether in government or education, must take care to remember the tremendous harm that can result from reckless words."

Liberty University's convocation service, held three times a week in a 12,000-seat sports arena, is mandatory for the schools' students who live on campus and is also watched by thousands of its 95,000 online students.

Falwell said his comments have generated the most positive comments he has ever received for remarks made during convocation. "The support here on campus is almost universal," he said. Students of all faiths can attend Liberty, and Falwell estimated that about 15 to 20 students on campus are Muslim.

Some theologians believe that Jesus would call on Christians to put down their weapons in the face of violence. In response, Falwell referenced the story from the gospels of Jesus chasing money changers out of the temple with a whip.

"Jesus said 'Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's,' and part of that was to go to war, protecting whatever nation was under control of the king," Falwell said. "I wouldn't agree with any interpretation of Scripture that was used to say that a man or a woman shouldn't protect their families."

Virginia residents who are at least 21 years old may apply for a concealed weapons permit once they have completed training that satisfies state requirements. Residents must be at least 18 to purchase a shotgun or rifle and 21 to purchase a handgun.

Falwell noted the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history.

"I always wonder, what if one of those professors and students had a concealed weapon and could've ended what happened and saved countless lives?" Falwell said. "I don't understand why it's controversial for law-abiding citizens protecting themselves under the Second Amendment."

Falwell said the overwhelming support he has received from students comes from the frustration that they don't feel represented in the national conversation about gun violence.

"I think they're so tired of being told they're the problem because they have guns and because America is a country that has gun ownership," he said. "They don't hear anybody saying what they believe so when someone finally says something like I did yesterday, they were just hungry to hear it."

Falwell retweeted several tweets praising his remarks, including one that said "SUCK IT, Muslim extremists," with a link to the weapons course Liberty offers.   

In April 2013, Liberty's board of trustees approved a policy allowing students and faculty members with permits to carry concealed weapons on campus, except in residence halls. In November 2013, a 19-year-old Liberty student was shot and killed at an off-campus women's dormitory when the student attacked a campus police officer with a hammer.

Falwell's remarks to the students on Friday took place after former Republican Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), president of the Heritage Foundation, spoke.

Liberty prides itself on being the largest private, nonprofit university in the country, the largest university in Virginia and the largest Christian university in the world. The school has become a pilgrimage destination for Republican candidates (and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders) seeking to build bridges to conservative Christian voters.

Most of the university's dramatic growth has come through distance education and also from an expansion in federal aid. Two decades ago, Liberty students received less than $20 million in federal aid, but its students now receive more than $800 million a year in such aid.

Most major religious groups favor stricter gun-control laws, including black Protestants (76 percent), Catholics (67 percent) and white mainline Protestants (57 percent), according to a 2013 Public Religion Research Institute survey. But white evangelicals are the religious group least likely to support stricter laws (38 percent favor them while 59 percent oppose them).

[Martinus]

Well I disagree. I think removing tools that people can use does cut down on the extent to which a suicide actually takes place. I doubt said person is going to suddenly go - hey hanging might be a fun way.

This begs the question that suicide is, itself, intrinsically bad.

I actually do not think that suicide is in itself necessarily bad.

I do think that the vast majority of people who commit suicide do so for "bad" reasons, and as a society we should in fact takes reasonable steps to avoid most of them.

By limiting freedoms of the sane majority who is not going to kill themselves? I disagree. In isolation (i.e. if guns could only be used to commit suicide) this argument is no different than banning drugs, or cigarettes, or booze or unhealthy food.

[Martinus]

....
Sorry for constantly bringing their posts here, but I need this place to vent.

It's not just you, I think we could do with a internet meme/social media venting mega thread; something along the lines. "Stupid shit my family/friends post, so I'll Rolleyes about it here, because I can't rip into them elsewhere"

I second that. I'd start with people calling Amy Schumer "brave" for posing naked while fat.

[Martinus]

Languish doesn't want it it be terrorism

Since when? Who doesn't want it to be terrorism? I thought most of us have been seeing it as terrorism from early on.

[Martinus]

The weirdest part about this is that many people who are sharing this sentiment today were posting "Pray for Paris" few weeks ago. Either prayers work or they don't - make up your fucking mind.

[The Brain]

Prayers may not work for America because America has turned away from God. France has not.

[Martinus]

Prayers may not work for America because America has turned away from God. France has not.

[Martinus]

Also, while I agree that gun control discussion has a place, it is silly after this particular case, as it was terrorism. France has probably much stricter gun control laws than America, yet it did not stop Islamists from killing a lot of people with guns few weeks ago - so using this attack to argue for gun control is pretty dishonest.

[Liep]

Also, while I agree that gun control discussion has a place, it is silly after this particular case, as it was terrorism. France has probably much stricter gun control laws than America, yet it did not stop Islamists from killing a lot of people with guns few weeks ago - so using this attack to argue for gun control is pretty dishonest.

These guns were bought legally from what I've heard. You need a larger criminal network to secure guns illegally something these people might not have done so easily so the discussion is stil warranted.

[CountDeMoney]

Prayers may not work for America because America has turned away from God. France has not.

French Military Enrollment Triples After Paris Terror Attacks
by Alastair Jamieson

The number of young French people hoping to join the military has tripled in the wake of the country's terror attacks, according to official figures.

Recruiters are dealing with an average 1,500 applications a day compared to 500 a day before the Nov. 13 massacre in Paris that killed 130 people, Reuters reported.

Visits to air force recruitment offices have also tripled and requests for information are 20 times higher, according to figures on the military's website.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-terror-attacks/french-military-enrollment-triples-after-paris-terror-attacks-n474781

[Berkut]

Well I disagree. I think removing tools that people can use does cut down on the extent to which a suicide actually takes place. I doubt said person is going to suddenly go - hey hanging might be a fun way.

This begs the question that suicide is, itself, intrinsically bad.

I actually do not think that suicide is in itself necessarily bad.

I do think that the vast majority of people who commit suicide do so for "bad" reasons, and as a society we should in fact takes reasonable steps to avoid most of them.

By limiting freedoms of the sane majority who is not going to kill themselves? I disagree. In isolation (i.e. if guns could only be used to commit suicide) this argument is no different than banning drugs, or cigarettes, or booze or unhealthy food.

Who said anything about banning anything?

[garbon]

Prayers may not work for America because America has turned away from God. France has not.

French Military Enrollment Triples After Paris Terror Attacks
by Alastair Jamieson

The number of young French people hoping to join the military has tripled in the wake of the country's terror attacks, according to official figures.

Recruiters are dealing with an average 1,500 applications a day compared to 500 a day before the Nov. 13 massacre in Paris that killed 130 people, Reuters reported.

Visits to air force recruitment offices have also tripled and requests for information are 20 times higher, according to figures on the military's website.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris-terror-attacks/french-military-enrollment-triples-after-paris-terror-attacks-n474781

My English direct report tried to say something about being against the UK bombing Syria. My french counterpart and I shut her down.

[grumbler]

I was well aware of the lengths the gun lobby has gone to to etc. etc.  What I was totally unaware of was the current laws that allow clearly deranged people to get concealed carry permits.

"Shall issue" states are states in which authorities cannot deny concealed carry permits to clearly deranged people, unless such people have been adjudicated as mentally defective by a court.