The lack of response after Sandy Hook is so egregiously appalling that i am convinced nothing will change in their system.
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While it is sad for the victims and families, it is difficult to evince much sympathy for the country as a whole, which refuses to do anything about the violence that underscores their culture.
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Yes its really sad. I really really like the USA and Americans. But I just dont get guns. Sorry state of affairs there.
I’ve been in the Army for more than 20 years and have fired pretty much every weapon from pistols to 120mm tank guns, and there is no way in hell I would ever have a gun in my house or anywhere near my family. Just pure insanity.
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There was a great pod on The Dailey today (New York Times podcast which is excellent) about the pressure the NRA are currently under. The New York AG is going after them and they may lose their status as a NFP and have to pay tax. Doesn’t sound like a big deal but they aren’t the organisation they were even 5 years ago. The political environment now means the dems aren’t pushing to the middle so this issue should be more front and centre.
Maybe.
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Ultimately, imo, it’s not “fixable” in any realistic sense. They should certainly take action to send a message and hopefully begin to change social norms, but I doubt much ever changes on the streets.
The entire country is swamped with firearms and the mentality of a large percentage of the populace would absolutely refuse to hand them back in, even if someone ever managed to change their Constitutional rights.
They also have a severe economic and cultural divide within the nation that lends itself to violence and conflict which imo is as big a factor as the 2nd Amendment itself. It’s not a good mix, to say the least.
There are estimates of 300+ million firearms in the US civilian population! A quick google search suggests that there may be 10 million Colt Ar-15 semi auto’s alone. Lol, that’s beyond comprehension. The equivalent of every single Australian owning 12 or 13 guns. The AR-15’s would be far more than many countries armed services would possess.
Do they even count it as a mass shooting if only 2 people died?
You don’t have to have died to have been shot.
Just one week later.
School Shooting Leaves 1 Student Dead and 8 Injured
10-13 minutes
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Last month, as the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting approached, STEM School Highlands Ranch joined hundreds of schools near Denver in closing temporarily amid security concerns. The anniversary came and went, and schools returned to their routines.
But on Tuesday afternoon, the STEM school’s worst fears were realized when nine of its students were shot, one fatally, and two fellow students were being held as suspects.
“We know two individuals walked into the STEM school, got deep inside the school and engaged students in two separate locations,” Sheriff Tony Spurlock of Douglas County said at a news conference.
Mahesh Anandan picked up his three children after a shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch near Denver, where nine students were shot, one fatally, on Tuesday.CreditNick Cote for The New York Times
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Mahesh Anandan picked up his three children after a shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch near Denver, where nine students were shot, one fatally, on Tuesday.CreditCreditNick Cote for The New York Times
At 6:45 p.m., about five hours after the shooting, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office released a statement confirming that one of the nine who had been shot, an 18-year-old man, had died.
Late Tuesday night, the sheriff’s office identified one of the suspects as Devon Erickson, 18, but said it would provide no further information about him because “we still have interviews to conduct and we want to make sure we have the most accurate information.”
Police tape was strung up outside the prim brick suburban home where neighbors said Mr. Erickson’s family has lived since the late 1990s. A next-door neighbor who declined to be named described him as a quiet young man who sometimes deflected eye contact and played several musical instruments.
Sheriff Spurlock said the suspects, who were armed with a handgun and other weapons, confronted law enforcement officers when they arrived. He said the suspects, Mr. Erickson and one juvenile, were not injured.
“I can tell you that there were shots fired,” he said. “Our officers went in and engaged the suspects. We did struggle with the suspects to take them into custody.”
Law enforcement officers directed parents who were picking up their children from Northridge Recreation Center after the shooting.CreditNick Cote for The New York Times
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Law enforcement officers directed parents who were picking up their children from Northridge Recreation Center after the shooting.CreditNick Cote for The New York Times
Sheriff Spurlock said neither suspect had been on law enforcement’s radar before the shooting and that the motive was unknown.
The sheriff said the injured students were age 15 or older.
Students who were not injured were taken to Northridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch, where hundreds of anxious parents gathered to look for their children on Tuesday afternoon.
“I heard a gunshot,” said Makai Dixon, 8, a second grader who had been training for this moment, with active shooter drills and lockdowns, since he was in kindergarten. “I’d never heard it before.”
Makai’s parents said they joined thousands of others in rushing to the school as news blazed through this suburban community.
“We’re more messed up than they are,” Makai’s mother, Rocio, said as they walked to their car.
The shooting at the Highlands Ranch charter school is the latest at an educational institution, rattling communities nationwide because young people have been put in mortal danger in places long considered safe havens. One week earlier, a man with a pistol shot six people on the last day of spring classes at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, killing two.
On Tuesday, as wave after wave of classes were released from the recreation center in Highlands Ranch, high schoolers began walking out in tears, reaching for their parents’ arms and hugging their teachers.
Tyler Rush, 17, a junior, said he had been on the second floor of the school, just above where the shooting occurred. He said that it began during the day’s final period and that the school announced a lockdown in the middle school portion of the building. He and his classmates gathered in a corner and turned out the lights. Some cried. Some sat paralyzed.
Law enforcement officers surrounded the Highlands Ranch, Colo., home of Devon Erickson, 18, one of the two suspects after a shooting at the nearby STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday.CreditNick Cote for The New York Times
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Law enforcement officers surrounded the Highlands Ranch, Colo., home of Devon Erickson, 18, one of the two suspects after a shooting at the nearby STEM School Highlands Ranch on Tuesday.CreditNick Cote for The New York Times
He heard two gunshots.
“I was in a state of shock,” he said.
Littleton Adventist Hospital in Colorado said five people were transported there after Tuesday’s shooting. Two are in serious condition while three have been discharged, the hospital said. Sky Ridge Medical Center said two children were transported there and were in stable condition. Children’s Hospital Colorado said one victim had been treated at its south campus and then released.
While details of how the shooting happened remained sparse, one parent said students had tried to stop the attack.
Brad Bialy said his oldest son, Brendan, a senior, told him that he was in class when gunfire erupted. Mr. Bialy said his son told him that two students entered the classroom and one pulled a gun out of a guitar case.
He said his son and two friends tried to tackle the gunman but one of the boys was shot in the chest. Other students tried to stanch the bleeding by putting pressure on his chest, Mr. Bialy said.
Fernando Montoya told a local television station that his 17-year-old son, a junior, was shot three times. He was taken to a hospital but was going to be released.
“Thank God he’s fine,” Mr. Montoya said.
He said after news of the shooting broke, he could not reach his son and was in a state of shock until they were able to talk to each other.
“We are so lucky,” Mr. Montoya said.
Sheriff Spurlock said the school, which has about 1,800 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, had no police officer assigned to it and used private security instead, but he did not say what actions that security service may have taken during the shooting.
The sheriff said that the school alerted law enforcement “almost immediately after the first gunshots were fired” and that deputies arrived roughly two minutes later.
Students got off buses after being evacuated from STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school that has about 1,800 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.CreditMichael Ciaglo/Getty Images
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Students got off buses after being evacuated from STEM School Highlands Ranch, a charter school that has about 1,800 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.CreditMichael Ciaglo/Getty Images
“I have to believe that the quick response of officers that got inside that school helped save lives,” the sheriff said.
Earlier in the day, local news media showed video footage of tear-stricken parents gathering near the school as at least two air ambulance helicopters arrived at the scene after the shooting, which was reported before 2 p.m.
Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said the state government was monitoring the situation.
“We are making all of our public safety resources available to assist the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department in their effort to secure the site and evacuate the students,” he said on Twitter. “The heart of all Colorado is with the victims & their families.”
STEM School will be closed for the rest of the week, the Douglas County schools superintendent, Thomas S. Tucker, said late Tuesday. Other schools in the district remain open, he added, with “heightened security.”
Douglas County is an affluent area south of Denver with about 350,000 people. It sits next to Jefferson County, home to Columbine High School, and students there are already primed to watch for gunmen.
Last month, hundreds of schools in the Denver area were closed as law enforcement searched for a Florida woman who they said had made threats ahead of the 20th anniversary of the deadly shooting that claimed 13 lives at Columbine High School, which is about seven miles from the site of Tuesday’s shooting.
The woman, Sol Pais, 18, was found dead on April 17 of an apparent self-inflicted shotgun wound in the mountains west of Denver.
Douglas County is more conservative than traditionally blue Denver, and like much of the region has been at the center of the national debate over gun violence.
“I have to believe that the quick response of officers that got inside that school helped save lives,” Sheriff Tony Spurlock of Douglas County said.CreditMichael Ciaglo/Getty Images
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“I have to believe that the quick response of officers that got inside that school helped save lives,” Sheriff Tony Spurlock of Douglas County said.CreditMichael Ciaglo/Getty Images
Last month, Mr. Polis signed into law a so-called Red Flag bill, allowing authorities to take guns from people deemed a threat after a court hearing. The bill divided the state, and some sheriffs said they would not enforce it, while some counties began calling themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.”
In Douglas County, the county commission criticized the bill, saying they feared it threatened constitutional liberties, while Sheriff Spurlock emerged as one of its most vocal supporters.
The area’s history of gun violence was front and center in last year’s election for its United States representative. Jason Crow, a Democrat, unseated Mike Coffman, a five-term Republican incumbent supported by the National Rifle Association.
Mr. Crow campaigned openly on gun control — including universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and restrictions on high-capacity magazines — and the issue dominated the race.
He was one of several public figures to express his sorrow on Twitter on Tuesday.
“It is with broken hearts that we respond to the news coming out of Highlands Ranch,” he wrote. “We still don’t have all the details regarding the situation at STEM school, but we do know this: we have a public health crisis on our hands. This cannot continue.”
Patrick Neville, a Columbine survivor and the top Republican lawmaker in the Colorado House of Representatives, said in a statement that the shooting was a reminder “of the need to secure our schools.”
He said armed security guards and facility upgrades were the best way to keep students safe.
“School safety programs which include armed security and safety upgrades to school facilities are the best way to stop these criminals from harming our children,” he said.
There have been several high-profile shootings in Colorado in recent years.
In 2010, a man shot two students with a high-powered rifle at a suburban middle school near Highlands Ranch.
In 2012, 12 people were killed at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., about 20 miles northeast of Highlands Ranch.
In 2013, a student in Centennial, Colo., killed himself after he fatally shot another student in the head.
Perhaps someone else can confirm something l was told earlier tonight and that is one state is pushing ahead with a plan to arm teachers, could be Minnesota. l am not inclined to look for this information, because if true, this is the height of madness.
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I am a teacher here and it is frightening. Every year we have to do all types of scenarios as just in case type of things and it scares the sh*t out of you every time and blows me away that we have to do it…nothing like growing up in schools back home.
The sooner I can convince the little lady to move back home the better.
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The phrase ‘engaged students’ enraged me more than a couple of little words should have.
Add at least 13 more to the body count.
I don’t count the gunman. ■■■■ him, I’m glad he’s dead.
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At least 4 dead in a spree shooting in Darwin. Not good. Bloke was on parole wearing a tracking bracelet!
This happened 1 minute from house.
Ordered takeaway from joint next to the motel that was shot up.
Luckily decided to go to Woolworths before picking up food because if not it would have put me there right around that time.
Had no idea what the police were doing blocking off roads causing detour.
Pretty scary.
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Glad you’re ok!
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So reports are:
45 yo.
Known to police, on parole
Motorcycle gang associate
Sawn off pump shotgun (illegal weapon)
5 potential shooting locations
Estimated 20+ shots.
4 dead, several wounded
Rings police when done and asks to be taken into protective custody!
It sounds like a revenge (or ordered) gang hit!
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Did you manage to collect your food?
If not, it’s a small price to pay for being alive.
Glad you’re ok.
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Yes got the food but didn’t think would be able to get there as heaps of the city was blocked off.
At this stage still had no idea what was going on so wasn’t really worried about anything except what plan B for dinner was.
We are all good here - thanks.
Very ■■■■■■ thing to happen. It will rock the town no doubt, small city.
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