4th of July parade erupts into chaos...

[Mountain Man]

According to CNN, the police paid a visit to the suspect's home after he threatened to commit suicide, and again in 2019 where they confiscated a number of knives after he threatened his family. Shortly after, he purchased five rifles.

So another case where a guy was sending up one red flag after another, and the police either dropped the ball, or they simply didn't have the legal authority to act.

[Bill the Cat]

A few sites are making a deal about his dad "liking" a tweet about Trump, and then 3-4 paragraphs later making an "oh, the son may not agree with the father". Those sites are also making a big deal over the Waldo photos....

[Thoughtful Monk]

I don't know, and don't want to speculate. I'll wait for more information. If it wasn't for evidence that this was apparently a planned attack (i.e. the perch) I wouldn't even call it terror, but it's obvious this isn't a run-of-the-mill gang shooting.

Thank you for not speculating. It's happened too much where people use their agenda to interpret an event before the facts come in.

[rogue06]

Yes, the coverage has been... interesting. The media is far more interested in the gun that was used than they are about the suspect or his motives. In fact, it even looks like they are laying the groundwork to call this a random and unmotivated attack, but I'm not buying it. You don't do something like this without a motive. He planned it out well enough to dress in women's clothes so that he could blend in with the crowd as they fled the area.

I've heard several reports that he had been planning it for weeks.

[Gondwanaland]

Illinois 4th of July parade erupts into chaos after shooting kills 5, injures 16

Police are reportedly patrolling the parade area with rifles

At least five people were killed and 16 injured are feared dead following a shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday.

Witnesses say crowds fled the sound of gunfire, and others saw at least five bloodied people lying on the ground and another under a blanket, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

The number of victims remains unclear. Police have reportedly requested a canine unit to assist in finding the suspect. The suspect remains at large.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/chaos-eru...th-july-parade

Interestingly, it seems in 2013 Highland park banned AR-15s and similar weapons. And banned the sale of magazines of the size the killer used. As usual, gun control doesn't work.

[Thoughtful Monk]

Interestingly, it seems in 2013 Highland park banned AR-15s and similar weapons. And banned the sale of magazines of the size the killer used. As usual, gun control doesn't work.

Which is why Democrats are pushing for national legislation. They want to stop people from going to where it's legal to buy and bringing them back.

In NY, the much-ballyhooed gun reform legislation raised the age to purchase a gun like an AR to 21, (Not a bad idea in my opinion but I digress.) However, it didn't make possession by an 18-year-old illegal. Nothing can be done if they go out-of-state, get one, and bring it back. When you look at the details, at least in NY, the gun reform is going to accomplish nothing.

[rogue06]

Which is why Democrats are pushing for national legislation. They want to stop people from going to where it's legal to buy and bringing them back.

In NY, the much-ballyhooed gun reform legislation raised the age to purchase a gun like an AR to 21, (Not a bad idea in my opinion but I digress.) However, it didn't make possession by an 18-year-old illegal. Nothing can be done if they go out-of-state, get one, and bring it back. When you look at the details, at least in NY, the gun reform is going to accomplish nothing.

Which always brings up the question... why don't the places that they are available have anything like the gun-related violence problems that the places where they are banned do?

[Cow Poke]

Interestingly, it seems in 2013 Highland park banned AR-15s and similar weapons. And banned the sale of magazines of the size the killer used. As usual, gun control doesn't work.

But, but, but.... that nasty scary looking weapon of war rose up all on its own and shot lots of people!

[Cow Poke]

Which is why Democrats are pushing for national legislation. They want to stop people from going to where it's legal to buy and bringing them back.

So that the criminals who do this will be criminalerer?

In NY, the much-ballyhooed gun reform legislation raised the age to purchase a gun like an AR to 21, (Not a bad idea in my opinion but I digress.) However, it didn't make possession by an 18-year-old illegal. Nothing can be done if they go out-of-state, get one, and bring it back. When you look at the details, at least in NY, the gun reform is going to accomplish nothing.

With the nearly one BILLION weapons in the hands of people in this country, it's not reasonable to assume that the properly (or improperly) motivated person cannot obtain a "weapon of war".

This would be like the "war on drugs" all over again. How big is that multi-agency bureaucracy, how much money had been spent, and how effective has that been?

[rogue06]

So that the criminals who do this will be criminalerer?



With the nearly one BILLION weapons in the hands of people in this country, it's not reasonable to assume that the properly (or improperly) motivated person cannot obtain a "weapon of war".

This would be like the "war on drugs" all over again. How big is that multi-agency bureaucracy, how much money had been spent, and how effective has that been?

With ever advancing 3-D printers and other tech becoming the equivalent of meth labs.

[Cow Poke]

With ever advancing 3-D printers and other tech becoming the equivalent of meth labs.

EGGzackly - they would be creating yet another major criminal enterprise.

[Gondwanaland]

With the nearly one BILLION weapons in the hands of people in this country, it's not reasonable to assume that the properly (or improperly) motivated person cannot obtain a "weapon of war".

Especially when you have states like California publishing the addresses of people with gun licenses, effectively providing a shopping list for criminals who want to steal a gun and just go to the effort of casing the place out and waiting until no one is home (while simultaneously giving them a way to figure out which homes they can go to and rob without worrying about the homeowner having a gun)

[rogue06]

It looks like his being an apparent major league head, stoner, chronic or the term or your choice this decade, has some folks wondering if their might be a link between these sort of shootings and the ol' demon weed. Kinda sounds like the reefer madness scare of the '30s (stretching through the '60s) where smoking the stuff led to murderous rages

VerifiableDecentGoose-max-1mb.gifmadness-gif-10.gif
From the 1936 anti-marijuana movie Reefer Madness (a.k.a., Doped Youth and Tell Your Children)

The reality is the most obvious deleterious effect of cannabis consumption is what they called amotivational syndrome. That's where after hitting on the bong you end up doing much of nothing all day. Not really the stuff of angry mass murderers.

Anywho, here is something that goes into the reasoning pretty well: Did reefer drive the Highland Park parade ‘killer’ Robert Crimo to madness?

You don’t need to be a psychiatrist to know that the Highland Park shooter is sick in the head.

His evil act is unfathomable, but he does fit a familiar pattern of mass killers: alienated young male stoners who appear to be in the grip of a distinctively American madness.

Those who knew the 21-year-old suspect, Robert Crimo III, say he habitually smoked cannabis, a habit he appeared to share with young mass shooters, including at Uvalde, Dayton, Parkland and Aurora.

Obviously weed didn’t make them commit their evil acts, but it may have scrambled their brains enough for empathy to take a holiday.

As the country rushes headlong into the embrace of Big Weed, we need to heed the warning signs, not least in the scientific literature that increasingly shows that cannabis triggers psychosis, and in the emergency rooms where mentally ill kids are the living proof of its harms.

The higher the potency of THC, the worse it is, especially for the developing adolescent brain.

Which sounds similar to the TV/movie/video game violence desensitizing argument

[rogue06]

especially when you have states like california publishing the addresses of people with gun licenses, effectively providing a shopping list for criminals who want to steal a gun and just go to the effort of casing the place out and waiting until no one is home (while simultaneously giving them a way to figure out which homes they can go to and rob without worrying about the homeowner having a LEGAL gun)

FIFY

[Cow Poke]

Especially when you have states like California publishing the addresses of people with gun licenses, effectively providing a shopping list for criminals who want to steal a gun and just go to the effort of casing the place out and waiting until no one is home (while simultaneously giving them a way to figure out which homes they can go to and rob without worrying about the homeowner having a gun)

And it matters not whether this 'doxing' was intentional or accidental. The result is the same. It's one of the reasons I really distrust the "red flag law" concept.

(In addition to the fact that it's so easy to get on the "no fly" list, but nearly impossible to get off of it)