It sad that tragedies like this have to happen in order for something to be done about it.

 

Not really. This happens in America all the time and nothing is done.

 

It's so sad that this is the deadliest shooting in American history and it happened against a group of people, a lot of whom, in right wing Florida probably go to a gay club for escapism from the cruel prejudices of every day life.

 

I feel for Obama who will have to confront this publicly again. I feel like he is so exhausted and tired of having to try and fight against gun crime. But it's such a brick wall in America, at least in his time as president he's managed to get a proper dialogue going on about gun control.

There have been nearly 900 mass shootings since Sandy Hook....in late 2012. Less than 4 years ago. That's more than 5 shootings a week. Thousands of lives lost or changed needlessly because the National Rifle Association has bought off the republican party to ensure that their rights and ideology is promoted above the rights of countless americans to simply continue breathing.

 

http://www.vox.com/a/mass-shootings-sandy-hook

 

Horrifying statistics.

 

 

I'm betting by 5pm today, US time, the NRA will have said the phrase "If there was more responsible gun owners in that club then this could have been prevented" overlooking the fact that in every other civilised nation this simply DOES NOT HAPPEN because GUN CONTROL.

I didn't expect there to be 50 deaths from this :mellow: and because of homophobia and extremism too, how sad.

When you think of how much the world looks up to America and their status, seeing things like this happen there is just so much more awful. I can only hope that the fact this is now the deadliest in history and this coming right after yesterday's event means something will happen (and I'm not holding my breath either way).

Edited June 12, 20169 yr by Chez Wombat

I don't understand what the f*** is going on and how f***ed up you have to be to just start shootings like that.

 

What the hell. So much hatred and killing going on. I really cannot understand.

I didn't expect there to be 50 deaths from this :mellow: and because of homophobia and extremism too, how sad.

This didn't have anything to do with extremism, it was a hate crime. Pure and simple.

I think it is very convenient how the gunman's father claims it was down to homophobia - he's not exactly going to throw his faith under the bus.

Dude, there's a reason why the attack happened in a gay club.

 

Naturally folk will speculate why the perpetrator was homophobic, but this is still a homophobic incident first and foremost - 2016 and we see the worst attack on LGBT people in US history. :mellow:

Not sure, I think the movement is upcoming with what's happened over the last 4-5 years or so. Whether it's strong enough yet, probably not. Tirren was right earlier though, the people that actually want guns have so much money and power, it's hard for politicians to fight it without committing career suicide.

opinion polling/gun ownership trends seem to point that way i guess. like you said, i just don't see the gun-obsessed sect of our society relinquishing or losing their power anytime soon. if any sweeping changes were to happen it would have to rely on demographic shifts (bc gun ownership is tied to a v specific demo, namely the old, republican, and white) but that could take another generation or two.

Edited June 12, 20169 yr by dhwe

Not really. This happens in America all the time and nothing is done.

 

It's so sad that this is the deadliest shooting in American history and it happened against a group of people, a lot of whom, in right wing Florida probably go to a gay club for escapism from the cruel prejudices of every day life.

 

I feel for Obama who will have to confront this publicly again. I feel like he is so exhausted and tired of having to try and fight against gun crime. But it's such a brick wall in America, at least in his time as president he's managed to get a proper dialogue going on about gun control.

What's crazy is that public opinion broadly support some form of tighter gun control as well as Obama, and yet nothing has really happened yet. I don't get how the NRA have such a stranglehold on the country wtf.

What's crazy is that public opinion broadly support some form of tighter gun control as well as Obama, and yet nothing has really happened yet. I don't get how the NRA have such a stranglehold on the country wtf.

One word - money. If a congressman votes for tighter gun control, the NRA will fund an opponent's campaign at the next election. If something similar happened in Putin's Russia, we'd call it corrupt.

You'd think this sort of thing would push the country, or at the very least the state to finally ban guns once and for all. Obviously the only thing that matters to some people is money.

 

Unfortunately people like Obama have no power to actually change things, so these events will never stop.

This is frustrating. We should not be in a situation where I get annoyed every time I see a sentence along the lines of "America will surely wake up this time!" (events that should serve as wake-up calls typically do) but I do because it's just so... obviously wrong. Nothing is going to change, and blind optimism seems irritating in a situation with so little hope in the predictable future.

 

RIP to all the victims of this shooting, and every shooting.

This is frustrating. We should not be in a situation where I get annoyed every time I see a sentence along the lines of "America will surely wake up this time!" (events that should serve as wake-up calls typically do) but I do because it's just so... obviously wrong. Nothing is going to change, and blind optimism seems irritating in a situation with so little hope in the predictable future.

 

The only reason I even thought that this time is because of the numbers. For all the horror and discourse over Virginia Tech and Columbine, this has more dead than those combined. You are right, until Congress is changed, nothing will change, but it's incidents with a similar casualty level in other developed countries (like Port Arthur in Australia) that ended up pushing change through.

It is indeed a tragedy.

 

My thoughts and prayers go out to those involved. No words. :(

This brought me to tears;

 

RE: the Orlando shooting, CNN just described something I've never thought of - as investigators are inside the nightclub, where many of the bodies are still where they fell, they have to tune out the nightmarish sound of all of the deceased phones' ringing constantly as loved ones try to reach them. #shudder

This is so shocking and heartbreaking. Reiterating once again why things NEED to change regarding gun laws as many have already said. My thoughts go out to the 50 dead from this. :(

 

^ Oh gosh Tyler at that as well. Absolutely chilling.

This brought me to tears;

That is chilling :cry:

Omygod that is so chilling Tyler

 

This didn't have anything to do with extremism, it was a hate crime. Pure and simple.

IS just claimed the attack :/

The newsagencies now claim he also called 911 and said he was loyal to ISIS :/

As if more reason was needed for this to not signal a change. All of the blame will go to ISIS here, nobody will be talking about guns.

I almost cried over this news. I have no words for it.

 

As if more reason was needed for this to not signal a change. All of the blame will go to ISIS here, nobody will be talking about guns.

 

Well let's be honest, terrorists will get their weapons no matter the policy (see Paris, Brussels). I'm not in favor of the US gun laws, absolutely not, but changing the gun law will most likely stop disturbed people who do things on impulse, and won't have that much effect on planned attacks (assuming this attack was planned as IS claimed it).

 

And I know it's a different topic entirely but I wish we lived in a world where such a thing as religion didn't exist.