Yet another school shooting

[Gob]

[oldr_n_wsr]

If they are not a good enough shot to defend themselves with six shots against a moose or bear then maybe they're indulging in the wrong pastime... it's much like a rock climbing baby wanting a helmet.

It's not so much when one is hunting the bear or moose, it's when they "pop up" unexpectedly. But getting even 6 shots out of a bolt action doesn't happen very fast, certainly not faster than a semi.

[Miles]

RPG not needed, for me anyway, all I need (hopefully) is the three shots I load in my six shot remington 600 . The cartridges are a .350 magnum so if a good hit, I have a good chance at surviving. But there are a lot of hunters out there who are not as good a shot who might need a little bit more "quantity" when inadvertently confronting a moose/bear. Yes, they put themselves in the position of hunting and maybe encountering game they didn't expect, but shouldn't they, knowing that they may have to defend themselves, legally be able to do it? After all, they are hunting for game, not school children (nor adults).

I am certain that I do not want to be in the woods with such individuals as you present. A semi automatic with an extended clip during hunting season, in my opinion, creates a very dangerous situation for any and all within range of such a weapon. Especially if that weapon is in the hands of someone who could be likely to over react to a perceived threatening situation.

[Crackpot]

It's not so much when one is hunting the bear or moose, it's when they "pop up" unexpectedly.

Isn't that part of the sport?

[oldr_n_wsr]

RPG not needed, for me anyway, all I need (hopefully) is the three shots I load in my six shot remington 600 . The cartridges are a .350 magnum so if a good hit, I have a good chance at surviving. But there are a lot of hunters out there who are not as good a shot who might need a little bit more "quantity" when inadvertently confronting a moose/bear. Yes, they put themselves in the position of hunting and maybe encountering game they didn't expect, but shouldn't they, knowing that they may have to defend themselves, legally be able to do it? After all, they are hunting for game, not school children (nor adults).

I am certain that I do not want to be in the woods with such individuals as you present. A semi automatic with an extended clip during hunting season, in my opinion, creates a very dangerous situation for any and all within range of such a weapon. Especially if that weapon is in the hands of someone who could be likely to over react to a perceived threatening situation.

Understood. I do not hunt in "crowded" hunting grounds (aka public parks/land) although that doesn't mean there couldn't be the "inexperienced" or "jumpy" hunter where I am hunting.

[Gob]

A teacher at a high school in California has been praised by police for averting a serious shooting incident.

The teacher and a campus supervisor talked a gunman into putting down his weapon after he had shot and injured one pupil at Taft Union High School.

Police said the gunman had enough ammunition to kill many people.

The injured student was taken to hospital in an air ambulance and is in a critical condition.

The drama started after 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT) when the gunman, also a student, arrived late, armed with a shotgun, at the school in the small town in California's central valley.

Students and staff telephoned police, but before officers could arrive, the suspect had shot at two people in a class in the science block. One shot missed its target.

The teacher, who had been grazed by a pellet, then intervened.
Map of California showing Taft and Los Angeles

He and another school official who entered the classroom are reported by US media to have warned the suspect that there would be no shooting in his class - at which point the gunman put down his weapon and police officers arrested him.

"They talked him into putting that shotgun down. He in fact told the teacher, `I don't want to shoot you,' and named the person that he wanted to shoot," Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said.

"The heroics of these two people goes without saying. They could have just as easily... tried to get out of the classroom and left students, and they didn't," he added. "

Parents of pupils said the suspect had been suspended last year from the school 120 miles (190km) north of Los Angeles.

[dales]

The press is now hyper-vilagent for any "firearms and schools" stories.

More fodder for the bleating sheep.

Here's the deal:

[Joe Guy]

....the suspect had shot at two people in a class in the science block. One shot missed its target.

It's not easy to miss a target inside a classroom with a shotgun.

[oldr_n_wsr]

armed with a shotgun

No assault type weapon here. Though I do agree how he obtained the shotgun should be invvestigated.

But heck, in many towns I know of, first day of hunting season is almost a sanctioned day off for high school (and some mid school) students. My nephew is 13 and shot his first deer at the age of ten. Since then this is the first year he didn't bag a deer. But he was busy in horse riding shows so he has an excuse.

You can't stop the nuts unless there are no guns whatsoever, which ain't gonna happen.

[oldr_n_wsr]

....the suspect had shot at two people in a class in the science block. One shot missed its target.

It's not easy to miss a target inside a classroom with a shotgun.

20 guage birdshot, maybe full choke, hip shot?

[rubato]

No one here has ever heard of target shooting?

So you enjoy target shooting so much, that you're willing to keep something in the house that makes you "less safe" " increases your risks" and makes it more likely that someone will break into your home?

Wow, you must really love target shooting...

People make decisions about relative risk all of the time. We have both driven and flown between Santa Cruz and Portland Ore. several times. Flying is statistically safer than driving but driving has advantages too. When we drive we can stop at Crater Lake Lodge, visit the Redwoods, stop in Trinidad stay at St Orres, visit the lost coast. Although driving is less safe it has advantages which offset that difference and which in balance a reasonable person might feel are worth it.

The same is true of gun ownership. One might honestly admit that gun ownership is less safe, which all of the data says it is, but believe that the offsetting advantages are worth that difference. One does not have to lie or engage in pathetic self-delusion and pretend that guns make you safer, which contradicts all the data. Lying is optional. Self-delusion is optional.

Only a stupid person does not know that this type of calculation is made all of the time.

yrs,
rubato

[dales]

Only a stupid person does not know that this type of calculation is made all of the time.

yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Ya know, this is another example, where rube tries to make a point, (it astonishes me that rube even wants to go down this particular road again...) and just totally flops on his face....

Bear in mind what this man is trying to say here:

One might honestly admit that gun ownership is less safe, which all of the data says it is, but believe that the offsetting advantages are worth that difference...

So in other words, what this self absorbed prick is conveying, is that he'd rather have a firearm on hand when his own fanny is on the griddle...despite the dangers involved...

than not...

He apparently believes that even though owning a fire arm will make him "less safe" and more likely to be attacked, he'd just as soon have one, because it has "offsetting advantages..."

Indeed it does...

ETA:

Especially when one lives in a high crime jurisdiction like Santa Cruz....

[Econoline]

Gun rights groups plan event on Newtown massacre anniversary
By Lindsay Cohen | Published: Oct 11, 2013 at 5:48 PM PDT | Last Updated: Oct 14, 2013 at 7:05 AM PDT

SEATTLE -- A Seattle-area group is planning a national event to celebrate gun rights on Dec. 14th, the anniversary of the mass shooting at a Connecticut-area school.

"Guns Save Lives Day" will take place in all 50 states, said a representative for the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation, although what the day entails is still to be determined.

Gun advocates are planning the event to coincide with the anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which killed 26 people, mostly children.

"The gunman lived in my neighborhood. He lived 50 yards from my front door," said Po Murray, a Newtown mother with two kids who were once Sandy Hook students. "For them to use that day to promote their agenda, it's completely inappropriate in my opinion."

Event organizers say they fear gun control advocates will use the day to push their beliefs so they want to counter that; to "show America that there is a good side to guns."

"We are certainly aware that it's going to hit a raw nerve with a lot of people," said Dave Workman, with the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, a co-sponsor of the event. "I think that possibly is one of the reasons we chose the day -- to make sure that people understand that, while what happened last year was a horrible tragedy, there are many good things people do with firearms."

"My Facebook lit up on it. It's sadness, more than anything else," said Ralph Fascitelli with Washington Cease Fire, a gun control advocacy group. "Is there no line of common decency?"

Fascitelli called the event politically-motivated and publicity-driven.

"Here, it's the most poignant first anniversary and gun groups are stomping on that," Fascitelli said. "It stomps on the sensitivities of certainly the Sandy Hook parents and any parent in America who can empathize with them. It's incredible insensitive."

Murray - the vice chair of the grassroots Newtown Action Alliance - said the group wasn't advocating any political agenda for the first anniversary of the shooting but rather encouraging people to participate in a day of service or perform random acts of kindness.

"We feel it's a day of remembrance. It's one of the most horrific tragedies that has happened in America," she said. "Particularly on the anniversary date, (to do that) I think it's completely inappropriate and insensitive."

. . .