Another fucking spree shooting. Great.

reminder that one of Trump's first acts in office was to make it easier for mentally ill people to buy guns

to-do:

gun control legislation (out of the question)
thoughts
prayers

fwiw here is a list of the directors of the ATF since 2004

• 2004 Edgar A. Domenech (1st time—acting)
• 2004–2006 Carl Truscott
• 2006 Edgar A. Domenech (2nd time—acting)
• 2006–2009 Michael Sullivan (acting)
• 2009 Ronald "Ronnie" A. Carter (acting)
• 2009–2011 Kenneth E. Melson (acting)
• 2011–2015 B. Todd Jones
• 2015– Thomas Brandon (acting)

maybe a nationwide ban of hotel balconies

what will be awesome is if/when Nevada tries to pass stronger gun legislation at the state level and then Congress passes a law to supersede it - because States' Rights only count when our donors want them to

Two of my high school friends had family in the orbit of this; one's mother was in New York New York at the time of the shooting and the other's husband was working at this event (he and his coworkers are okay).

Las Vegas is the 273rd mass shooting (4+ people shot) in America this year. We're 273 days into the year https://t.co/7kljZd3J0Y

— Mike Rosenberg (@ByRosenberg) October 2, 2017

what absolute horror https://t.co/V0ZY4MViPx pic.twitter.com/XprKnb8D9X

— Alex Press (@alexnpress) October 2, 2017

A surprisingly solid rundown.

We have cnn on mute in the office I'm in today and the faces of some of the people they've interviewed (random survivor guy, the shooter's brother) look high, drunk, and confused. Like the proper facial expression doesn't exist for this so they're just unconsciously mugging while they attempt to make sense of it on camera.

reminder that one of Trump's first acts in office was to make it easier for mentally ill people to buy guns

― frogbs, Monday, October 2, 2017 9:56 AM (fifty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

reminder that keeping registries of "mentally ill" people is fucking odious

I'm so tired of seeing the "we need better mental healthcare" dodge. None of these people would actually support expanded mental healthcare services so just fuck off.

I mean you're talking about expanded government programs, what the fuck else does "better mental healthcare" mean?

i went to bed last night with the first reports rolling in and decided to sleep through the initial inaccurate reports, hoping to wake up to better news than this. it makes me ill. the other week i was thinking about waking up to the news from Orlando, and thinking how the worst part of the current culture is that someone would inevitably perpetrate a worse attack someday.

also:

Police said they had no information about Paddock's motive, that he had no criminal record and was not believed to be connected to any militant group. Paddock killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was firing from, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters.

"We have no idea what his belief system was," Lombardo said.

Two senior U.S. government officials told Reuters that Paddock's name was not on any database of suspected terrorists and that there was no evidence linking him to any international militant group.

One of the two U.S. officials discounted a claim of responsibility that was made by Islamic State. There was reason to believe that Paddock had a history of psychological problems, the official said.

...

Lombardo said there were more than 10 rifles in the room where Paddock killed himself. He had checked into the hotel on Thursday.

people can pretend they can keep track of things and crack down but you never can, someone always slips through any loopholes and the shooter is always someone you never thought was capable of such a thing.

The interviews with his brother have been heartbreaking. Totally in shock, never imagined something like this happening. Hope facts come out soon.

https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/yourimage-261-e1506945523361.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=338&strip=all

there's no test to figure out who can do this shit, they just need hidden resentment and a complete breakdown and access to completely legal weaponry.

OTMFM

I've had enough imagination. I mentally hold my breath whenever my sister's family goes to Disney World.

xxp

this is the price we appear to be willing to pay to keep our current interpretation of the second amendment

i can't really compute that, but apparently many have and are fine with it

now they're saying 58 dead

i cant begin to imagine the horror of that scene - with him firing from so high above there’s nowhere to hide. just...my god

i cant watch the videos, i wont, but the few photos I’ve seen were beyond heartbreaking

horrific

with 400 wounded/injured there's a good chance the death toll rises further, unfortunately

500 injured

aaannnd we have yet another fucking spree shooting. Great: http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/10/americas-first-mass-shooting-since-vegas

jesus. what's it gonna take.

http://www.thoughtsandprayersthegame.com/

omg

boom boom boom boom - make that 274 mass shootings

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article176420606.html

I'm so tired of seeing the "we need better mental healthcare" dodge. None of these people would actually support expanded mental healthcare services so just fuck off.

― the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Monday, October 2, 2017 11:55 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this

Don't have anything to add beyond the obvious. The saddest & most frustrating thing about this is that absolutely nothing has changed since Sandy Hook. That same Onion article gets shared, the conversation gets stuck in a limited loop like "Lisa needs braces / Dental plan." I know it's been said many times before, but if anything would've led to stricter gun laws, it would've been that. Didn't happen. What it's going to take? Terrifying to imagine.

this shooting is actually an incident that gives lie to the notion that "if only someone in the crowd had a gun this could have been prevented," as if that notion is anything other that complete bullshit in any situation like this.

Guitarist for the Josh Abbott Band, who performed last night.

pic.twitter.com/0NFjHf3PW2

— Caleb Keeter (@Calebkeeter) October 2, 2017

That being said, I'll not live in fear of anyone. We will regroup, we'll come back, and we'll rock your fucking faces off. Bet on it.

— Caleb Keeter (@Calebkeeter) October 2, 2017

xpost if Sandy Hook didn't do it, nothing will. notice, of course, how of all the shootings the one that would elicit the most sympathy for the anti-gun cause is the one that draws in the most "it never happened" or "it was a false flag" arguments.

Any chance of efficacious action wrt gun control was dead after the non-response to Sandy Hook and it was buried with the election of Trump. I think we'll probably still have lots of good and impassioned conversation about it, though, alongside the requisite hopes and prayers. Won't somebody please think of the pundits.

I wrote that before I saw a mention of Sandy Hook. Clearly that's the agreed upon point where hope died.

notice, of course, how of all the shootings the one that would elicit the most sympathy for the anti-gun cause is the one that draws in the most "it never happened" or "it was a false flag" arguments.

― nomar, Monday, October 2, 2017 1:07 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's a really great point, I never thought about it like that.

How about a million people sitting outside the NRA HQ this weekend for as start?

blow up the gun factories and their machines.

somebody offers a deep thoughts:

When people say enough with thoughts and prayers they're just saying they don't believe in God and neither should you.

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 2, 2017

Podho should find out right now if there is one

pic.twitter.com/2Uns7nMLKW

— chris jones¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@LONG_DRIVE) October 2, 2017

Subsequent events have proven that (NRA spokesman) LaPierre had the right of things and that William Lloyd Garrison and Robert Jackson were wrong. The Constitution is not a pact with the devil, nor is it a suicide pact. It is a formalized, legalistic ritual of blood sacrifice. There are some things that we as a society, alas, must tolerate in order to stay true to our founding beliefs and to remain free. Schoolchildren shot to pieces is one of those things. The massacre of country music fans is another one of those things, the 273rd blood sacrifice to that one provision of the Constitution this year.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a12764429/las-vegas-shooting-result/

and given that it's a white guy, the false flag narratives have already begun

The creator of Dilbert is spreading a rumor that Stephen Paddock's brother might be a crisis actor pic.twitter.com/idhiiMuz5r

— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) October 2, 2017

What the fuck is the logic in this. it's a false flag bc it's a white guy w/ no clear political/radical/terrorist bent?

isn't Dildo a Logic Master?

was he always so batshit? what happened to him?

I recommend tracking down that longform profile of him from a few months back

it's a false flag bc it's a white guy w/ no clear political/radical/terrorist bent?

was he always so batshit?

Having bought and read "The Dilbert Future" when it was published, I can say the answer to this is "yes".