I blame the shooter and Reagan!

[gopiscrap]

Obviously the shooter is the one who pulled the trigger, but besides personal responsibility, what got him there?

In many ways, I blame Reagan! In 1980 Ronald Reagan campaigned for the Presidency of the US mainly (IMHO) on two major themes: belligerence and selfishness.

Belligerence in the form of, we're bigger and stronger than anybody else, lets go looking for a fight. Beef up the defense industry and make my rich friends richer and keep this nation on a war footing. When a nation is constantly looking for a fight, that seeps down to the personal culture of it's citizens. Let's blame somebody and punish them so that we can feel better about ourselves.

The bigger and much more serious issue was his campaigning on the theme of selfishness. Reagan demonized those who are the least among us, the poor, the dispossessed and those who have mental illness. During his time in office he worked dilligently to cut aid to welfare recipients (the welfare queen, when only 1/10 of one % ever comitted fraud) and was successful in cutting funding for mental health by about 70%. Those folks who would have been institutionalized or housed in group home settings were left to wander the streets. By perpetuating our greed for a health care system, these folks also were not able to afford the meds they so desperately needed. When they acted out, they were jailed and many times once again, either demonized or abused.

Much of this has been magnified by hateful talk radio and the tea party assholes who are trying to high jack the common decency which once was the norm in this country! Just IMHO

[gregoire]

1. Reagan's machine gun ban didn't go far enough...

that is why he is at fault. The Smith & Wesson (which seems to the choice of murderers everywhere) machine gun should not have been allowed to have been sold. Reagan's ban did not ban those things. It did not go far enough so you are correct it is his fault.

[NeverEnuff]

2. False

More people are killed by knives than guns. Are you also proposing that we outlaw cutlery? Shootings like the one in Colorado are caused by nut cases and the American peoples refusal to properly regulate their access to guns.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. I suggest you learn some basic facts about firearms before you embarrass yourself again

with such inane posts.

S&W is not over represented in illegal homicides (check the stats, they are out there). A machine gun was not used nor sold and could not have been covered.

Facts matter, you might want to get acquainted with some.

[gregoire]

4. It was a machine gun...

with a few small changes. Could you even tell the difference between the two from a picture? No. I have a coworker that is former military armorer(repaired guns) that admitted that the differences were so small that he couldn't tell the difference from a picture.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Bullshit

Your anonymous co-worker is imaginary, an idiot, or you misunderstood him.

The rifle was semiautomatic, just like the pistols. That does not qualify as a machine gun, and never has.

That you/him were unable to distinguish it means nothing to the physical realities.


Facts...they really do matter.

[11 Bravo]

6. Stop it, you're embarrassing yourself. The murderer carried a semi-automatic AR-15 ...

a 12 gauge shotgun, and one, or possibly two, .40 caliber handguns. One trigger pull ... one round fired. Not an automatic weapon in the bunch. (And as your coworker should have told you, one can't tell the difference between a semi-automatic weapon and one that has been modified to fire fully automatic, AKA a "machine gun", by looking at a picture.)

[Marymarg]

7. I agree.

In the early 70s, when Reagan was governor of California. I remember, as if it were yesterday, my boss (the chief psychologist of the state hospital where I worked, talking about Reagan closing mental health institutions in California--pretty much opening the doors and proclaiming all the patients cured. My boss said about Reagan, "he thinks you just shouldn't be crazy." My boss's remark has stayed with me all these years. Hearing of this latest massacre by someone obviously insane, brought it immediately to mind. Reagan's brilliant idea in the 70s caught on and here we are today, hardly surprised when we have news of a murderous rampage. Thanks Ronnie and all your ilk.