One for the books.

I want to observe the 24-hour rule. More will be revealed, always. It’s dangerous to extrapolate from incomplete data.

And while I freely acknowledge I’m no expert, this sounds like automatic-weapon fire, doesn’t it? (No gore, safe for work.)

It appears the killer took a sniper’s position from the Mandalay Bay and fired down into the crowd? That’s what you can do with an fully automatic weapon in a dense-packed area?

My god.

Our president sends “warm” condolences:

And here we go again. You ask me, 2017 sucks way worse than 2016, personal business aside.

Still standing, though, still whipsawing. It’s a long road ahead, and I’m still trudging down it. Better get to it. Open thread on the shooting and lord knows what else will come of this cursed day.

Posted at 8:14 am in Current events |
 

81 responses to “One for the books.”

  1. alex said on October 2, 2017 at 8:33 am

    Warm steaming condolences.

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  2. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 8:33 am

    When I listed two horrible events that happened this weekend, the horrendous shooting, the end of CHIP, I forgot to mention the vile tweets by our president*.

    *asshole

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  3. coozledad said on October 2, 2017 at 8:54 am

    Too soon to talk about gun control and how Republicans done stuck their dick up this country’s ass?

    Also, can we start profiling bitter old ass white losers now?

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  4. Charlotte said on October 2, 2017 at 8:58 am

    Just woke up and those kids in the pictures look just like my students —

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  5. basset said on October 2, 2017 at 9:04 am

    No question that’s full-auto fire. It’s possible to own an automatic weapon legally, but there’s a serious and extended vetting process and not just anybody can have one.

    That said, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that these guns weren’t legal… which leads to the big question: you can outlaw guns and impose restrictions, but how do you stop the people who are operating outside the law?

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  6. coozledad said on October 2, 2017 at 9:06 am

    Poor guns. People always a whuppin’ on em. We could sure use some prayer. Maybe some fucking “grace and peace.”

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  7. Heather said on October 2, 2017 at 9:17 am

    As has been said before, the debate about gun control was over after no actions were taken post-Sandy Hook.

    Also, where were all the good guys with guns who could have stopped this guy? (/sarcasm)

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  8. coozledad said on October 2, 2017 at 9:21 am

    Also, where were all the good guys with guns who could have stopped this guy?

    Beating their dicks over football players not standing for a flag and a song.

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  9. Dorothy said on October 2, 2017 at 9:32 am

    The tee shirt for that ‘extrapolate’ phrase was going around Facebook this summer and I bought one for my hubby because I knew he’d love it. He wore it to my mom’s 95th birthday luncheon and the step-dad of one of my sister’s good friends stood in front of Mike and said “Uhhhh, the saying on your shirt is missing something….” Mike just smiled politely and walked away.

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/15cc/

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  10. Suzanne said on October 2, 2017 at 9:33 am

    So true, Cooz.

    Now, will Trump ask for a travel ban of all middle-aged white men from their homes to go anywhere? Probably only if he’s a Bernie supporter.

    But never any gun control discussion. Never. They won’t.

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  11. 4dbirds said on October 2, 2017 at 9:38 am

    I woke up to this. I feel mainly guilt because I am no longer surprised by this and know nothing will be done.

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  12. coozledad said on October 2, 2017 at 9:39 am

    The Republicans are in fact, preparing to enable even deadlier mass shootings. The whole party, and anyone remotely connected with it, are ass cancer.

    The House could pass legislation as early as this week that would roll back decades-old restrictions on gun silencers, opening up the market for a device that critics say would make it difficult in a mass shooting to detect where gunfire is coming from.

    The House is also expected to move this fall on separate legislation that would allow people to carry their legally concealed weapons across state lines into jurisdictions, such as California, that tightly restrict weapons concealment.

    The silencer measure is part of the Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, a broad-ranging gun bill delayed in June after House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and two Capitol Hill police officers were wounded by a gunman who opened fire on a congressional baseball practice session.

    Critics say silencers — called noise suppressors by supporters and heavily regulated by the federal government for more than eight decades — would make it harder for police officers to locate a shooter in an attack.

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  13. Julie Robinson said on October 2, 2017 at 9:48 am

    All I can think about, on the day after my sister’s memorial service, is that over 50 families are now beginning the same grief-stricken process as ours. It’s not a club they should have to join.

    And Trump has also went his warm regards to the people of Puerto Rico, by dedicating a US win in a GOLF tournament to them: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-golf-presidents-trump/trump-dedicates-presidents-cup-victory-to-hurricane-victims-idUSKCN1C7032?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=59d1baf204d3016628c1a43e&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook. Doncha’ just think that makes them feel better?

    Speaking of grieving, does anyone have experience taking ashes on a plane? The more I read, the less I want to even try, in case we get a surly TSA agent.

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  14. Icarus said on October 2, 2017 at 9:57 am

    Conservatives one minute: we have to ban all muslims because even one potential terrorist is too much risk…

    Conservatives next minute: if we ban guns, only the bad guys will have them

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  15. Jeff Borden said on October 2, 2017 at 9:57 am

    A statement I read online said the gunman’s position high above the outdoor concert made it “like shooting fish in a barrel.”

    You know what will happen next, right? Not one fucking thing.

    Waco didn’t matter. Columbine didn’t matter. Tucson shootings including Gabby Giffords didn’t matter. Sandy Hook didn’t matter. What’re a few thousand casualties per year when there’s good money to be made selling guns and ammo? Grow a pair, ‘Murica. This is the cost of “freedom,” right?

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  16. brian stouder said on October 2, 2017 at 10:14 am

    Julie – I don’t recall any large obstacles when we flew to San Diego with my mom’s and dad’s ashes, a few years back. Mom always loved California, from her Navy days; and the Navy took their ashes for burial at sea.

    I’m thinking we just had them in the checked baggage…!!

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  17. Dorothy said on October 2, 2017 at 10:18 am

    Julie – I found this. Not sure if it’s helpful. https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/cremated-remains

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  18. Bitter Scribe said on October 2, 2017 at 10:25 am

    So…are concerts going to become the new airports?

    I wonder which of the Republijerks who tried to kill Obamacare, with its mandated funding of mental health treatment, will try to derail the discussion away from gun laws into mental-health issues.

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  19. Sherri said on October 2, 2017 at 10:29 am

    Maybe these shootings will matter. The victims were at a country music concert, which is a signifier for Real American. The feelings of Real Americans are the only ones that matter, we’ve been reminded endlessly over the last year.

    Ah, who am I fooling? Real Americans don’t want systemic solutions, they just buy another gun and live in their paranoiac superhero fantasy.

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  20. Suzanne said on October 2, 2017 at 10:55 am

    Sherri, “paranoiac superhero fantasy” describes is so well. I know a number of gun ownership advocates and any discussion of gun restrictions comes back to that. I have not met one yet who doesn’t say that if he/she had been in situation A, B, or C with a firearm, he/she would have been able to stop it. Seriously, not a one.

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  21. Sherri said on October 2, 2017 at 11:12 am

    How do you stop people who are operating outside the restrictions of gun laws? The same way you stop people who operate outside the restrictions of murder laws.

    Laws and regulations aren’t a 100% solution. Having laws and regulations do begin to change things, though, legally and culturally. We can reduce the number of guns, if we wanted to. Hell, we could probably make some impact if our leaders talked more about preventing gun deaths than about watering the tree of liberty. But, remember what I posted from my last leadership class: there are no dysfunctional systems. Every system is designed to produce exactly the result it gets, because someone benefits.

    The people who benefit from the current situation don’t want us to believe that the problem can be solved, because it will be solved at their expense.

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  22. Julie Robinson said on October 2, 2017 at 11:17 am

    From what I understand you’re no longer allowed to put ashes in checked luggage; I infer that they can look like a bomb. Carry-on seems a little squiggly, dependent on the airline and TSA agent. All the sites say call your airline, but has anyone tried to do that recently? I’m spending enough hours on the phone already taking care of Jeri’s finances.

    The other idea is to send them as a package. Fed Ex and UPS don’t accept them; with USPS you have to use two separate boxes.

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  23. Kim said on October 2, 2017 at 11:32 am

    I’ve said it before, but if this country couldn’t do something about guns after 20 kindergarteners and first graders were mowed down in their fucking classrooms it sure as hell isn’t going to rise for anyone. Ever. Especially when our moron president, the man we all deserve because of our collective inability to put country before self, extends his “warmest condolences and sympathies” to those affected by this latest predictable tragedy.

    I predict the silencer issue, put on hold after Scalise and others were shot, will again be put on hold until this blows over. Which, you know, it will. And then it’ll be tacked on to some feel-good nonsense bill, a tail on a deadly kite.

    Where the fuck is the outrage? Trump just told the world that “God is going to live in the hearts of those who grieve.” What about the guy who’s living with a grievance, an automatic weapon and (soon) a silencer? How about the mentally ill person or someone declared unfit to handle their financial affairs – that is, someone receiving disability checks from the federal government for those reasons – for whom Trump restored the right to purchase a gun? (Yeah, that happened in February. No photo op.)

    Instead: In times such as these, I know we are searching for some kind of meaning in the chaos, some kind of light in the darkness. The answers do not come easy. But we can take solace knowing that even the darkest space can be brightened by a single light and even the most terrible despair can be illuminated by a single ray of hope.

    The answers are easy. It’s action that takes courage. What I find so maddening is it shouldn’t.

    God help us.

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  24. Sherri said on October 2, 2017 at 11:35 am

    Julie, does the funeral home have any advice? I’m sure other people have encountered this problem before.

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  25. Julie Robinson said on October 2, 2017 at 11:55 am

    They said to check with the airline. This is probably because we didn’t use any of their extra services, only the cremation itself. $695 for a slideshow we could accomplish with three clicks on our own computer, $1495 to use their facilities for visitation, when we held it at the church, catering, writing obituary, printing memory cards, catering. We did them all ourselves and the church ladies provided a scrumptious feast.

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  26. Sherri said on October 2, 2017 at 11:59 am

    Oh well. Over 20 years ago, when my husband’s father died on a visit to us, the local funeral home was very helpful in getting the body home to T.N. of course, that was a body, and we didn’t have much choice; lots of regulations around transporting bodies. We had to have a local funeral home transfer the body to a funeral home in TN.

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  27. Bitter Scribe said on October 2, 2017 at 12:10 pm

    I’ve said it before, but if this country couldn’t do something about guns after 20 kindergartners and first graders were mowed down in their fucking classrooms it sure as hell isn’t going to rise for anyone. Ever.

    I’m afraid Kim is right. Gun nuts will resort to utter insanity—remember “Sandy Hook was a hoax”?—to avoid acknowledging any negative consequences to unfettered gun ownership, ever. And our craven politicians, for whom losing an election apparently is a fate worse than death, will go along.

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  28. Heather said on October 2, 2017 at 12:16 pm

    People on Twitter are already talking about “actors” and “false flags.” Ugh.

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  29. Suzanne said on October 2, 2017 at 12:30 pm

    Oh, my, Heather. I hadn’t even thought about the conspiracy people. I bet there will be a young brunette white woman there who will be compared to the generic young brunette white woman that shows up often on conspiracy sites. See! Same person was at every mass shooting! Proves it was faked!

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  30. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 2, 2017 at 12:37 pm

    Julie, it depends on what kind of seal is on the container. If it’s just a crimped crematory tag on the plastic bag in an unsealed container, they (TSA) might ask to “poke around in the ashes.” If there’s a coroner’s seal on the container, or a closed urn sealed shut, they shouldn’t. Generally, they don’t.

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  31. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 2, 2017 at 12:40 pm

    The problem is a sealed metal urn. Those often won’t make it as carry on. A wooden box-type urn with the heavy plastic bag inside will pretty much always go right thru.

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  32. susan said on October 2, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    Here’s the real conspiracy: Gun-maker stocks rally after mass shooting in Las Vegas

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  33. Peter said on October 2, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    The tribune just had an interesting article on the tragedy. While I thought that the police did an excellent job on tracking and locating the shooter, the article notes that the gunman’s location was determined when the smoke alarm went off in his room and the distress signal was sent to the main panel.

    The article also said that it took 20 minutes to locate and stop the gunman. I haven’t listened to the audio, but what I saw on TV was a few shots and then the barrage.

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  34. Jeff Borden said on October 2, 2017 at 1:06 pm

    As someone who lives in Chicago, where we are well on way to matching last year in senseless homicides, perhaps I should keep my yap shut about mass shootings. Even if every long gun and automatic weapon in ‘Murica were confiscated and melted into paper weights, there would still be plenty of pistols, the weapon of choice on our blood-soaked streets. They’re easier to get over in Indiana than a Benadryl and the state line is less than a half-hour from our most gun-infested neighborhoods.

    It’s hard to reach any other conclusion than this is who we are. . .citizens of a nation founded by acts of violence against the British, expanded into other territories with violence against indigenous people and accruing foreign holdings with violence, i.e., the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War.

    But virtually all nations were created with violence. They, too, exterminated the locals and waged war for territory, water, access to oceans, etc. Is there a more blood-soaked continent than Europe? How is it most of the civilized world has been able to reduce gun violence –one mass shooting in Australia led to the outlawing and confiscation of all automatic weapons there– but we will not? Why are we so different?

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  35. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 1:29 pm

    Every time I check my computer there are more dead as those with grievous wounds don’t make it. What a tragedy. I also think that this won’t matter to the gun nuts.

    Julie, I brought coffee beans in a one pound bag back from Santa Fe and it was almost confiscated. They make a blend there that I can’t find here in Chicago, that was the first time I tried to take it with me on the plane. I had no idea it would be considered suspicious.

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  36. basset said on October 2, 2017 at 1:51 pm

    So… anyone want to suggest a realistic solution? how do we keep these mass shootings from happening?

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  37. Julie Robinson said on October 2, 2017 at 2:04 pm

    The ashes are in a plastic bag, inside a wooden box. The box itself isn’t sealed, and I don’t know about the bag itself because I haven’t looked and I’m not going to. We do have a transfer letter from the funeral home, and a strategy. Our daughter is going in with us and will wait by security. If it’s rejected, she’ll take them home and mail them.

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  38. Heather said on October 2, 2017 at 2:26 pm

    Basset, gun control is a realistic solution. Unfortunately people don’t want to hear that.

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  39. Alan Stamm said on October 2, 2017 at 2:31 pm

    Warmest is for birthdays, weddings, graduations, reunions, promotions retirements and other celebrationns.

    Sincerest or deepest or heartfelt or profound is for condolences and sympathies.

    How can a 71-year-old public figure be so tone-deaf as to not get that, really now?.

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  40. Suzanne said on October 2, 2017 at 2:45 pm

    Nevada has open carry, right? So isn’t the theory that if people see other people walking around with guns, they will know that if they start shooting, someone will take them out? Obviously, that works well.

    I think the sensible gun control laws would help. There is really no earthly reason that anybody should be able to buy these high powered, rapid fire weapons. Unfortunately, there are so many of them out there, even with strict gun laws, it would take years to get them out of the pipeline.

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  41. Sherri said on October 2, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    Gun ownership was a significant predictor of firearm homicide rates (incidence rate ratio = 1.009; 95% confidence interval = 1.004, 1.014). This model indicated that for each percentage point increase in gun ownership, the firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9%.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3828709/

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  42. adrianne said on October 2, 2017 at 3:17 pm

    Tone deaf for our dear leader is right. No emotional intelligence.

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  43. Charlotte said on October 2, 2017 at 3:19 pm

    Julie — it was 2003, so not sure how asshole-y TSA is being these days (although the TSA in Bozeman is notoriously bad) — but they were fine when i had to take my brothers ashes back to Chicago … I had a note from the funeral home, and they were actually really nice about it.

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  44. LAMary said on October 2, 2017 at 3:40 pm

    Just as it happened after Sandy Hook, gun sales surged today and gun company stock went up.

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  45. Mark P said on October 2, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.

    We’re there. All we’re waiting for now is destruction.

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  46. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    Trump’s use of “warm” is exactly the kind of thing someone with early Alzheimer’s would say. It’s the kind of mix up they would make, the use of the wrong word, close but not exactly appropriate. Everyone knows what they mean and excuses it because of the person’s condition. In Trump’s case it makes you scratch your head. Someone obviously wrote the speech he gave today, I didn’t hear the whole thing but what I heard was much better than his tweet. I haven’t heard that he went off script so maybe everything went well?

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  47. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 4:10 pm

    Basset, I realize we have a big problem because of all of the guns we already have in circulation, but I think we can do much, much better in keeping them out of the wrong hands, and just plain curtailing their proliferation. I am absolutely sure there are people out there who can figure it out. Why in the world does anyone need a semi automatic or automatic weapon, except in a war zone? There is absolutely no reason for them at all in the hands of anyone else but a soldier in combat.

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  48. susan said on October 2, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    Deborah, these are xtian soldiers, so gun are appropriate.

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  49. Dave said on October 2, 2017 at 4:21 pm

    Tom Petty has died, massive heart attack.

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  50. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 4:25 pm

    Tom Petty was my age. Sorry to hear he has gone.

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  51. LAMary said on October 2, 2017 at 4:31 pm

    I really liked the song Freefallin. RIP, Tom.

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  52. Joe Kobiela said on October 2, 2017 at 4:54 pm

    It’s easy to say we should have gun control, but can you get more specific? Total ban? How are you going to confiscate all the guns? No automatic guns? Same deal, no magazines? Who is going to enforce the guys loading autos in their basement? Maybe we should work on a way to identify potential shooters, I wish I had a answer.
    Then to top it off, Tom Petty died.
    Pilot Joe

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  53. brian stouder said on October 2, 2017 at 5:05 pm

    Possibly we could begin by agreeing (or disagreeing) that easily available guns are not a key to our freedom and liberty. In fact, the idea of widely owned guns (of all sorts) strikes me as oppressive – but waddaya gonna do, eh?

    When they had the quill-pens out, and wrote the Second Amendment, they directly referred to “a well-regulated militia” – and – leaving aside that our endless supply of chuckleheads aren’t in any sort of a militia (let alone a “well regulated” one), aren’t we heartily tired of these almost common-place annual slaughters?

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  54. Icarus said on October 2, 2017 at 5:12 pm

    “It’s easy to say we should have gun control, but can you get more specific? Total ban? ”

    Glad you asked, I’ve been asking myself this too. Maybe we can start with creating laws that specify which calibre are acceptable for 1) hunting, 2) self defense and not either or. To enforced that we only allow guns with certain calibre to be manufactured (i’m spit-balling here but let’s say the new ones are .31 for home defense, .52 for hunting). All others are banned. Eventually these older models will become obsolete, especially if you incentized the ammosexuals to get a discount for trading in their old .22s, .38s and .44s and then follow up with stiff fines or costly permits to keep the old weapon that ammo is no longer made for.

    Then you need technology. We need smart guns. Guns that will only fire if the proper owner(s) is holding them.

    why are gun advocates afraid of smart guns?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-german-gunmakers-quest-for-a-smarter-weapon-infuriates-us-gun-rights-advocates/2014/08/06/4c78fd82-18cb-11e4-9349-84d4a85be981_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/we-need-the-iphone-of-guns-will-smart-guns-transform-the-gun-industry/2014/02/17/6ebe76da-8f58-11e3-b227-12a45d109e03_story.html?tid=pm_pop

    I know these ideas won’t magically stop everything, but they could change the culture. Because right now we are not doing anything different but expecting things to change.

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  55. Jeff Borden said on October 2, 2017 at 5:23 pm

    As noted above, eliminating assault weapons would not end gun violence in ‘Murica. But what happened in Australia after a madman used auto weapons in a killing spree? They were outlawed. People were required to turn them in. No sales were ever allowed again. And no automatic weapon has been used to murder ever since. We lack the gumption of the Aussies, I guess. Plus, I don’t know if firearms are enshrined in their constitution.

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  56. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    Joe, you can ask us our opinions about what we think should be done but hows about we listen to the experts who know what they’re talking about? Let’s find out who they are and share what they say here. I’m not talking about gun marketing guys, I’m talking about people down in the trenches who have dealt with these issues and have come up with good solutions. Maybe they’re in Australia? That might be a good place to start. We can opine here all day and all night but are any of us here really that savvy to all of the issues? The journalists in our midst probably have some good stats and stories. Lets hear them. I have my opinions sure, but I’m certainly no expert. I believe there are people out there who have good solid evidence based solutions and can’t wait to let us know what they are.

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  57. Heather said on October 2, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    How about looking more closely at the association between domestic violence and gun violence? Maybe people convicted of domestic violence don’t get to have guns.

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  58. Sherri said on October 2, 2017 at 5:48 pm

    There’s not a magic regulation that will stop gun violence, but it is possible to change society’s thinking about what is acceptable. There was no one single regulation that reduced the rate of smoking, but a bunch of things, from the Surgeon General’s warning to increasing taxes to removing spaces where smoking is allowed, changed the culture around smoking.

    What won’t work is throwing up our hands and saying that because we can’t confiscate the guns out there right now, we can’t solve the problem. Or that because we can’t ban precisely the right kind of weapon, nothing is possible. It’s a whole lot easier to change the culture around gun ownership than to identify, a priori, potential shooters, and can be done without as much destruction to civil rights, 2nd Amendment absolutists to the contrary.

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  59. Bitter Scribe said on October 2, 2017 at 5:52 pm

    Joe: Let’s take baby steps. The first one would be NOT legalizing silencers.

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  60. basset said on October 2, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    And maybe Tom Petty is not dead, just close to it. The local police seem to be walking that back.

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  61. beb said on October 2, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    brian @53:: and that “Well Regulated milita” was for fighting against slave revolts. Slave states before the Revolutionary War had militias of all white men ready in case the slaves decided to improve their situations.

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  62. Joe Kobiela said on October 2, 2017 at 6:18 pm

    I like the idea of smart guns, can only be fired by the proper owner, that one may have potential. Not sure you can compare Australia to the USA, a lot less population down under and I wonder how many assault guns there were there vrs here.
    Pilot Joe

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  63. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 6:21 pm

    Yes, imagine if those guns used in this massacre had silencers, the carnage would have even been higher since people wouldn’t have heard the shots. Some people said it took them a few seconds to realize the noise wasn’t firecrackers. Just imagine how long it would’ve taken them to figure it out without the noise of the firing. What reason in the world do gun owners need silencers? I don’t understand. If you can’t stand the noise when you shoot get out of the kitchen as they say. Isn’t the noise part of the power thrill people get when they shoot? I would think that when you add a bunch of technology to the act of hunting or shooting you take away the authentic test of your prowess as a shooter in the shooting range or as a hunter in the wild? Isn’t it more fun when it’s your wits and skill over the animal? Basset?

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  64. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 6:25 pm

    I read a statistic today that every week a toddler shoots someone with a gun. So yes, smart guns for sure. That technology would be a blessing.

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  65. Jolene said on October 2, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    But, like every other sensible idea, the NRA has resisted the idea of smart guns. A dealer who wanted to sell them was met with death threats.

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  66. David C. said on October 2, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    I agree Joe, smart guns are a good idea. But this is what happened to one gun shop that wanted to sell them.
    https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0503/Death-threats-stop-gun-store-from-selling-smart-gun.-Why

    Other than that, if I was your benevolent dictator, I’d go house to house and take them away.

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  67. alex said on October 2, 2017 at 8:14 pm

    Not only is il Douche tone deaf but he’s a cold-blooded fucking creep. It wouldn’t occur to him that he’s using the wrong language because he’s totally insincere anyway.

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  68. susan said on October 2, 2017 at 8:32 pm

    Julie, a friend and her sister just flew to Colorado to scatter their Dad’s ashes. I asked her how her sister transported the cremains:

    My sister had to get special permit , I think, from the airline. She had the papers with her and put the two separate containers in a suitcase to “carry on”. When she went through the TSA line, the agents that she approached and told them what she had inside were very sensitive and helped her take the containers out and put them back. The two guys were very respectful and kind to her.

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  69. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 9:16 pm

    When did this get to be normal and why, Ed from Gin and Tacos asks http://www.ginandtacos.com/2017/10/02/the-sacred-harvest/

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  70. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 9:20 pm

    I leave in the morning for NM. Ugh another travel day, getting up at the crack of dawn, at least I get there in the morning and I gain an hour. Better than the trip back to Chicago which is always an all day ordeal and in to the night, but that doesn’t happen until the 19th.

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  71. Deborah said on October 2, 2017 at 9:32 pm

    So is Tom Petty dead or not?

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  72. basset said on October 2, 2017 at 9:37 pm

    Deborah@63, in nearly every case the bullet gets to the target before the sound does – in fact, most of the noise when you fire a 22 (small size and relatively low-powered but can still kill you dead) comes from the bullet going supersonic.

    I can only speak for myself here, but I don’t get any kind of “power thrill” from shooting, no more than I do from using a drill or a saw. For me, a gun’s a tool – go for the quick and humane kill, shoot only what you or another human will be eating.

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  73. basset said on October 2, 2017 at 9:43 pm

    Only the game you will be eating, I should say. Punching holes in pieces of paper from a distance is big fun and makes you a more capable, therefore a more ethical, hunter.

    My approach to deer hunting consists of figuring out where they’re gonna be then going there and waiting for em to show up, still would be irresponsible not to be able to hit what I aim at though.

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  74. jcburns said on October 3, 2017 at 12:44 am

    Tom Petty was maybe not dead on Twitter for a while, but by midnight, the NYT and the WP and most of Twitter has him deceased. Which is probably why Twitter should never be mistaken for the AP wire, not even by AP wire reporters.

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  75. Dexter said on October 3, 2017 at 2:55 am

    Tom Petty loved the hell out of his Confederate flag, but I am letting him off the hook now… <>

    By chance, the Level One trauma center hospital where my daughter normally works, and which was, according to her many friends and co-workers there, “a blood bath in the lobby and hallways”, was not her scheduled work day venue, so she was picking up extra hours at the outlying hospital near the racetrack & the Paiute Indian Rez. That hospital was the one deemed too far away, so the wounded were crammed into the other hospitals. She called there, and was told to stay and not abandon her work station where she was already working.

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  76. Dexter said on October 3, 2017 at 2:56 am

    https://dailyheadbanger.com/tom-petty-says-his-use-of-confederate-flag-onstage-was-downright-stupid/

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  77. Deborah said on October 3, 2017 at 3:35 am

    Joe, please read this article about what can be done to curtail gun deaths https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/10/upshot/How-to-Prevent-Gun-Deaths-The-Views-of-Experts-and-the-Public.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur it has a lot of info about what experts say and what the public supports. It looks to me like a LOT can be done.

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  78. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 3, 2017 at 7:54 am

    Original intent: the Framers meant muzzle-loading black powder arms. Anyone who wants those can have them. Beyond that, let the laws to restrict and manage be passed.

    Lacking that solution, I’ve always thought you can respect the Second Amendment while instituting user licenses akin to driver’s licenses. With harsh unambiguous consequences for someone using firearms without proper licensing for themselves. Having said that, I don’t see how it would have stopped a mystery terrorist like the Vegas shooter. I’m still waiting to read something definitive on what the main weapons were and how they were obtained or converted. Can you actually still buy a full-auto AK-47 legally? If so, that’s a problem.

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  79. basset said on October 3, 2017 at 8:13 am

    Did they mean that specifically, JeffTMMO, or just the technology that was available at the time?

    It is indeed possible to buy a full-auto Kalashnikov legally, but not just anybody can have one and there’s a hell of a screening process, not to mention considerable expense.

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  80. Deborah said on October 3, 2017 at 8:22 am

    Trump dedicated a golf trophy to the hurricane victims!!??? Can you get anymore clueless?

    The Vegas shooter had more than 40 guns. I’m sorry but that is not normal, nothing about that is normal. What do you do with 40 guns except kill people? The mega multiple gun ownership should be a red flag. I agree Jeff, that licensing similar to what is required to drive a car seems very doable, maybe not easy but doable. Look what they were able to put in place for safer air travel after 9/11, it took some trial and error but it happened quickly. Sure, I complain about the inconvenience and plenty of gun nuts will complain about licensing or whatever else but I don’t care. If there’s a will there’s a way. The vast majority of the nation’s population wants gun control, why are we strangled by the few who don’t? I’m going to stay riled up about this for a long time. End of rant for now.

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  81. susan said on October 3, 2017 at 10:20 am

    To continue along the lines of licensing gun owners as we license car owners, I think we should also require gun owners to carry insurance for said guns. That would have to have some effect.

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