Horrible people

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I live in Maryland's Howard County, and something horrible happened in its neighboring Montgomery County this afternoon, so I just want to let this off my chest.

This afternoon, my High School was called under a lockdown; the last hour of school, we just stayed in class and did nothing. Why? There had been five shootings in neighboring Montgomery County. (my school is close to Montgomery) Five apparently random, deliberate, freakin' shootings. A person(s) was comitting drive-by shootings, killing random people. A woman pumping gas was shot in the head. One man was watering (or was it mowing?) his lawn, and was killed.

I know that it's kind of hard to sympathize with something that's distant to most people on SP, but when something like that just happens around your own neighborhood, it's kind of shocking. One girl in my class was near panicking because relatives of her lived in Montgomery. I just want to let that off my chest, and want to know if a similar situation has happened to anyone else, where horrible people who do horrible tings have just made you worried sick.

[ October 04, 2002, 03:21: Message edited by: C'Jakob ]

 

/me holds up a sigh with neon letters on it "gun control! please!"

waiting for shralpy to come with his shotgun now..

No I can't say I ever had anything like it happening here, but I wouldn't be surprised if some other on the boards had.
It's truly horrible to hear about all those stories, glad nothing happened to you. Just clear your head, move on. S*** happens, you can either go on or follow it down the drain :/

[ October 04, 2002, 03:25: Message edited by: Lokken ]

 

My... god. I heard about this. Did the cops blow the mother away, or did they just arrest him. Or is he still on the loose... It's things like this that make you wish America was toupher on handguns...

Nothing like that arely ever happens over here. But, they just found somne guy who's home was jam packed with bombs and guns. Apparently he was on the verge of racial attack.

[ October 04, 2002, 19:41: Message edited by: Z-Layrex ]

 

Well, if all those stupid people would stop watering and mowing their lawns, things like this wouldn't happen.

 

People like that have lots, and I mean LOTS, of problems. They make me sick, and I just hate thinking about the victems and their family. The one last thing that I'll say is about how much I agree with Z-Layrex. The Americans all think that it's their right to have a gun. Why? For protection. From who, other than the other Americans that have guns for safety reasons. Then, some psychopath goes and steals a gun, and there goes the neighbourhood. And I apoligize to anyone that I may have offended.

 

I could use a loaded firearm, though...
Some people just have to die.

 

And I believe this bastard is still on the loose.

 

Lokken and Z-Layre:

Look.

Both of you are Britts, right?

I don't want to insult you here. So please do not take it like that.

But America is a little different from Britan. There's a few more people (twice the number), a few more "races" (or at least, number of people in a "race" other than White-Anglo-Saxon) here, and we are still a little miffed over the Quartering Act (we didn't feel like we had a say over the matter). Yes, the issue is well over 200 years old.

But the 200 year old laws that we have written over here still have rather disfiguring wordage concerning the Quartering Act; most of which would get me banned from SP on a permanent basis.

So, we have "guns". They aren't actually guns, they are are weapons. And yes; there is a difference between "gun" and "weapon".

But, your Island works a little different from ours. We have some different issues over here.

Personally, I see this as a failure of society. I would much rather see the other 200 people on the street all discharging their concealed weapons at this vehicle (and it's driver) than the "cops" starting a state-wide All Points Bulletin on the car and driver. I'd rather have 200 trained, competent, deadly shooters returning fire, than 200 sheep waiting to get eaten by a wolf when the sheep dog is busy at another section.

And if you don't understand that last analogy, then give it a little time. I am prepared to wait, in order for you to learnl. At the rate the entire world is going (yes; Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia are in there too), there won't be very many more 16-year-olds that don't know how to dismantle and clean a firearm...

 

ej is right. In Britain, if an armed man comes onto your property, you must run - you cannot kill him or it will be murder. In the US, you can shoot the guy, because he was intruding. This is probably exaggerrating, but depending on the circumstances, one may be able to get away scot-free. America seems to value property more highly than other nations, and that has led to problems, despite its advantages. Most other European countries like Britain are rather socialist, something the US can never become. But I do agree with gun control. Remember, people don't kill people; guns kill people.

 

Dear Ejsmith, the point with stricter weapon control is to make sure that the wolf doesnt have any fangs, nor that a sheep all of a sudden thinks he is a wolf and not only thinks but finds a whole set of fangs in the basement. In my mind it is as horrible to see the sheep firing back as it is to see that wolf of yours gunning them down.
I know that you think that wearing a gun down your pants of having a M-16 in your closet is a right your people have fought and you need to protect yourself from all those terrible people running around on the streets. But have you ever thought the thought that if firearms were under control the crazies would have to sit at home and think and sulk about how they would gun down alot of people but they cannot get a hold of a freaking weapon!

 

joacqin:

No. You missed my point entirely.

What I was saying, is that I'd approach the situation from a different side.

In Britain, the idea is remove weapons. So, strictly by definition, if you have a firearm, you are a criminal. That's not to say they don't exist, that's to say only the criminals have them.

What I'm saying is not remove the weapons, but remove the crazies instead.

By the method that I want, the crazies simply would not exist...

But geography is an important factor (perhaps a moot one, but possibly not) in there too. Britain has got a fairly different culture in there, which just is not all that removed from Europe anymore. Yes, America places importance on property. I'm a little more concerned with by actual status of "alive". I feel much safer in a crowd of people who I *know* are carrying firearms, than a crowd of people that just one of them is carrying a weapon.

But now, I'm probably just one of those crazies.

 

I agree with you entirely, EJ.

P.S.: Near the bottom of Lokken's posts it says "somewhere in Denmark."

 

And have you ever thought that the crazies would go and get a weapon on the black market and use it with impunity since they know that nobody is going to be able to retaliate.

I am against gun control, have always been. While we cannot deny the fact that the crazies will then have easier access to weapons, whenever you consider the fact that they will get them anyway, they might consider that somebody might actually be armed and nail them before they can get away with it.

While I'd agree that ej's post is a little extreme, he's right. Don't get rid of the guns, get a stricter crime law system and more enforcement of the laws that we already have.

 

I've never had anything like *that* happen anywhere near where I live. Although, there have been a few very violent suicides, a few years ago, this one guy slashed both of his wrists and let himself bleed to death in his living room, a few houses away from one of my best friends. That's a pointless murder, IMO, and the guy must've been crazy to do that...there *are* faster and less painful ways of killing onesself.