Acts of Terrorism megathread

[Razgovory]

Someone should really call the Republican's bluff on this.  You want armed guards?  Fine, raise an armed guard tax.  Is it a mental health issue?  Raise a tax to fund better mental health services.  Make it easier to involuntarily commit someone.

[Eddie Teach]

Make it easier to involuntarily commit someone.

I don't like this idea.

[The Brain]

Make it easier to involuntarily commit someone.

Ideally the voters should decide if elected politicians get a new term, but sure.

[Tamas]

I am sorry but what if an armed teacher goes postal? To be safe, students should be armed as well.

[garbon]

I am sorry but what if an armed teacher goes postal? To be safe, students should be armed as well.

That makes me think of a dystopia thing of a smart school that can eliminate shooters itself.

[Josquius]

I am sorry but what if an armed teacher goes postal? To be safe, students should be armed as well.

Don't give them ideas "My little Brad is a under 16s rifle shooting champion. Clearly kids should be allowed to be armed too".

Though it would be an interesting one. Conflicting with their innate desire to control kids and eliminate their agency.

[DGuller]

I am sorry but what if an armed teacher goes postal? To be safe, students should be armed as well.

There is actually a program in Israel that does just that.

[mongers]

I am sorry but what if an armed teacher goes postal? To be safe, students should be armed as well.

That makes me think of a dystopia thing of a smart school that can eliminate shooters itself.

What we need is armed* drones permanently on patrol above all US schools.

*possibly also equiped with bunker-buster bombs incase the gunman takes refuge in the basement.

[Jacob]

Whenever anything big happens, Danish media tries to find a Danish person locally to interview... same thing happened here. They found a Danish mom in Texas, and I guess she's integrated very well. She says:

"It's not about weapons, it's about a sick young person" and also "it's the society we've created." She believes it has to do with social media, with wanting 15 minutes of fame, with wanting likes and she connects it to bullying. She recounts how her daughter was bullied and it didn't stop at school but continued on social media.

She says she's horrified by the shooting and her heart breaks for the families and she's angry that the US can't do a better job protecting children. Then she suggests that more police at schools might help. She also thinks it's about families... a good family like hers, where she's at home and the kids can talk to her if they have problems, is the best way to prevent shootings. She also notes that her 14-year old boy wants a handgun for his birthday. Luckily her husband takes the boy to the shooting range monthly, so he knows how to handle them. When asked whether it might not be a problem if one day the kid gets really angry over something. No, she replies, because (and this is a paraphrase) because he's being brought up right.

Based on this sample size, I predict nothing is going to change.

[alfred russel]

I predict nothing is going to change.

Jacob, I forgive you for thinking this, as you aren't american and probably don't know that this has been disproven. It may seem from a distance that we don't respond with legislative change to gun violence, but see this study that shows our legislatures do in fact enact gun control changes in the wake of major incidents, including republican legislatures.

Let me link to a study and i'll post the abstract.

There have been dozens of high-profile mass shootings in recent decades. This paper presents three main findings about the impact of mass shootings on gun policy. First, mass shootings evoke large policy responses. A single mass shooting leads to a 15% increase in the number of firearm bills introduced within a state in the year after a mass shooting. This effect increases with the extent of media coverage. Second, mass shootings account for a small portion of all gun deaths, but have an outsized influence relative to other homicides. Third, when looking at bills that were actually enacted into law, the impact of mass shootings depends on the party in power. The annual number of laws that loosen gun restrictions doubles in the year following a mass shooting in states with Republican controlled legislatures. We find no significant effect of mass shootings on laws enacted when there is a Democrat-controlled legislature, nor do we find a significant effect of mass shootings on the enactment of laws that tighten gun restrictions.

https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/16-126_ce055015-fc1c-4a8c-9a8a-8a9361d808bb.pdf

[Jacob]

Okay, fair enough. There'll be a flurry of law making, in two opposing directions.

My prediction is that it won't do much about the prevalence of guns nor about the number of shootings on a national level

[Sheilbh]

On the social media thing - I always think of the Charlie Brooker bit on reporting a mass shooting (examples from UK press):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2o1V4lX_g4

Sadly I think of it every time there's a shooting like this as the media's maybe got a little bit better, but not much

Edit: Especially the last minute or so.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Remember the shooting in Buffalo where a White Christian nationalist shot a bunch of Black people because he was inspired by the "White Replacement Theory" espoused on Fox News and by the GOP? The Republicans have voted against a bill written in response to that terrorism, because those terrorists are their base.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/26/senate-gop-domestic-terror/

Republicans, however, not only said it was premature to debate a response to the recent mass shootings, they expressed serious qualms about the content of the domestic terrorism bill itself. They echoed House GOP concerns that its provisions would lead to "targeting" of conservatives by the Justice Department, among other concerns.

[alfred russel]

Okay, fair enough. There'll be a flurry of law making, in two opposing directions.

My prediction is that it won't do much about the prevalence of guns nor about the number of shootings on a national level

I don't think you read what i quoted/bolded...doesn't seem like the laws do in fact go in different directions.

Third, when looking at bills that were actually enacted into law, the impact of mass shootings depends on the party in power. The annual number of laws that loosen gun restrictions doubles in the year following a mass shooting in states with Republican controlled legislatures. We find no significant effect of mass shootings on laws enacted when there is a Democrat-controlled legislature, nor do we find a significant effect of mass shootings on the enactment of laws that tighten gun restrictions.

[The Minsky Moment]

That follows the Busse theory that the effect of mass shootings is to catalyze the NRA base in a defensive-offensive reaction.