Umpqua Community College Shooting

Oct 2

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The University of Iowa; 5 dead, including the killer.

Lindhurst High School; 4 dead and 10 injured.

Pearl High School; 3 dead, 7 injured.

Thurston High School; 4 dead, 23 wounded.

Columbine High School; 15 dead, 21 wounded. The 2 killers are counted among the fatalities.

Red Lake Senior High School; 10 dead, 7 wounded. The killer is counted among the fatalities.

West Nickle Mines School; 6 dead, 3 wounded. The killer is counted among the fatalities.

Virginia Tech; 33 dead, 25 wounded. The killer is counted among the fatalities.

Northern Illinois University; 6 dead, 21 wounded. The killer is counted among the fatalities.

Sandy Hook Elementary School; 28 dead, 2 wounded. The killer and his mom who he killed before going to the school are counted among the fatalities.

Marysville Pilchuck High School; 5 dead, 1 wounded. The killer is counted among the fatalities.

Now, Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon joins the list of mass school shootings.

oregon-suspected-shooter

Chris Harper Mercer

Yesterday, Chris Harper Mercer killed 9 people and wounded 7 others. Mercer is counted among the total fatalities of 10. He was killed by police. According to CNN, Mercer was armed with three handguns and an AR-15-style long gun.

Kortney Moore, 18, told the News-Review she was in her Writing 115 class in Snyder Hall when a shot came through the window. Moore said she saw her teacher get shot in the head. The shooter then reportedly told the students to get on the ground before asking people to stand up and state their religion. He then began firing. Moore said she was lying on the ground with people who had been shot.

At this time, I don’t want to write about the killer. Hollywoodlife has reported 5 things you need to know about Mercer, including clearing up early rumors .  CBS has published about Mercer’s background.  Right now, I don’t really care.  What I care about is gun control.

It is said that guns don’t kill people; people kill people. Let’s apply that to motorized vehicles; cars and trucks don’t kill people, people kill people. However, in order to legally drive, the person must pass a test, get a state issued license, and in most states, have insurance. The license is generally renewed every few years. For those owning vehicles, most states require that registration is renewed every year.

Why can’t the same regulations be placed on gun owners?

Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, but I am sorry – when that was written, automatic guns did not exist. Let people own muskets and revolvers. Regulate all other guns.

President Obama gave a riveting statement yesterday. Saying to the families and the wounded that they have our prayers is becoming so common that it means nothing anymore unless we do something about gun control.

 

 

 

Source of school shootings: Wikipedia,

Posted on 10/02/2015, in Cases and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 41 Comments.

  1. roach59 | 10/02/2015 at 6:04 am

    It seems that when people own guns, that gives them a false sense of security. I have encountered a number of people who own guns and their confidence is at an all time high as they reference what they will do if someone confronts them on any level. We as a society have gotten completely out of control with gun usage and everything else. The sad part about it is that it’s going to get worse. The media helps to perpetuate these crimes by their overzealous reporting of every detail while giving the perpetrator major limelight (that’s exactly what they want). This whole issue of shooting at these public facilities is getting absolutely too commonplace. We really need to strengthen our resolve to try to end these senseless killings.

    Liked by 3 people

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  2. Deborah the Closet Monster | 10/02/2015 at 7:02 am

    I was pro unrestrained gun ownership until a couple of years ago, when I read Gavin de Becker’s The Gift of Fear (a book which may have saved my sister’s life). The fact he wrote an impassioned appendix dedicated to guns shook me; if no one else could have swayed me, he did. He does have a Q&A section on his site and addresses the matter again there.

    My husband wants to buy guns. Sure, great, I say, if you’re going to keep them somewhere else. Between having read de Becker and knowing that one of the gun expert kids was killed by his also gun aware brother, I am dead set against it. And it’s not some vague liberal fear driving this, but the truth that guns kill hundreds weekly in the United States. WEEKLY.

    Liked by 3 people

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  3. Deborah the Closet Monster | 10/02/2015 at 7:17 am

    Gun companies will say their buyers understand the risks of firearms, but that doesn’t answer for the forty New Yorkers killed by stray bullets in one year alone, or for all the other people who will become unwilling consumers of ammunition.

    To be certain the gun manufacturers have no misunderstanding, let me do right now what I hope more Americans will do, which is to put them in notice:

    I, for one, do not accept the avoidable risks posed by your products. As a potential victim, I do not sign on to any implied agreement with Colt or Smith & Wesson or Ruger, and I hold you entirely accountable for your failure to build in child-safr and other locking features that would clearly and predictably reduce death.

    — de Becker

    Liked by 4 people

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  4. Dr. Rex | 10/02/2015 at 7:27 am

    Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    …… and the band played on!! How many more before action is taken? SMH …. Just sayin’ …. because I lack the words!

    Liked by 3 people

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  5. yahtzeebutterfly | 10/02/2015 at 8:32 am

    I am horrified at the insensitivity of the NRA lobby and the make-a-buck gun industry companies. I am even more distressed by the accept-a-lobbying-buck legislators.

    In my mind, RESPONSIBLE gun owners should not feel threatened by new legislation that makes our country a safer place by insuring that guns are ONLY in the hands of responsible individuals.

    ONLY the type of guns that are useful for SELF DEFENSE should be allowed. ASSAULT weapons by their very name… “ASSAULT”… have no business being in the hands of citizens.

    Xena, THIS that you wrote bears repeating:

    It is said that guns don’t kill people; people kill people. Let’s apply that to motorized vehicles; cars and trucks don’t kill people, people kill people. However, in order to legally drive, the person must pass a test, get a state issued license, and in most states, have insurance. The license is generally renewed every few years. For those owning vehicles, most states require that registration is renewed every year.

    Why can’t the same regulations be placed on gun owners?

    Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, but I am sorry – when that was written, automatic guns did not exist. Let people own muskets and revolvers. Regulate all other guns.

    And, why do people need to own multiple guns when they can only shoot one gun in an incident of SELF defense???

    Tears and prayers for the victims and their loved ones are not enough. A push for change must occur.

    How many times can a man turn his head
    and pretend that he just doesn’t see?

    How many deaths will it take ’till he knows
    That too many people have died?

    Liked by 3 people

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  6. yahtzeebutterfly | 10/02/2015 at 9:04 am

    Excerpt from President Obama’s speech:

    We, collectively, are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.

    When Americans are killed in mine disasters, we worked to make mines safer. When Americans are killed in floods and hurricanes, we make communities safer. When roads are unsafe, we fix them to reduce auto fatalities. We have seat belt laws because we know it saves lives

    So the notion that gun violence is somehow different, that our freedom and our Constitution prohibits any modest regulation of how we use a deadly weapon, when there are law abiding gun owners all across the country who could hunt and protect their families and do everything that they do under such regulations, doesn’t make sense.

    So tonight, as those of us who are lucky enough to hug our kids a little closer are thinking about the families who aren’t so fortunate, I’d ask the American people to think about how they can get our government to change these laws to save lives and to let young people grow up. And that will require a change of politics on this issue.

    And it will require that the American people, individually, whether you are a Democrat, or a Republican, and an Independent, when you decide to vote for somebody, are making a determination as to whether this cause of continuing death for innocent people should be a relevant factor in your decision.

    If you think this is a problem, then you should expect your elected officials to reflect your views. And I would particularly ask America’s gun owners who are using those guns — properly, safely, to hunt, for sport, for protecting their families — to think about whether your views are being properly represented by the organization that suggests it’s speaking for you.

    Liked by 2 people

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  7. scrodriguez | 10/02/2015 at 9:34 am

    Sad to see this continuing trend happening in America I mean it is as if we just cant get a break and here we have yet another set of families that are looking for answers looking for change yet like those before them left empty handed.

    its sad that this Nation is so fixated on Guns, People say gun control is not the answer I agree 100% the answer is to abolish the 2nd amendment and get rid of guns all together as I have said before on this blog recently I will say it again America has proven once again we are not responsible gun owners.

    Whats sad is there were people on twitter when this took place who learned about this young man asked about their faith before opening fire on them. those people on twitter took that and tagged our president asking stuff like “are you going to fly the flag at half staff if the shooter is Muslim?”

    its a sad day in America when 2nd Amendment anti Obama gun nuts are just begging and praying for it to be a Muslim its become even that common to them that all they can do is hope its not the traditional mentally ill disturbed individual who we always see time and time again.

    Liked by 1 person

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  8. Bill Taylor | 10/02/2015 at 10:51 am

    this is where we will disagree, you have no right to life possible IF you are denied the means to defend that life if needed……..ONE armed student in that classroom could have ended that tragedy after the first shot was fired.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • yahtzeebutterfly | 10/02/2015 at 11:51 am

      “ONE armed student in that classroom could have ended that tragedy after the first shot was fired.”

      Bill, perhaps, but not likely. Have you seen this video? —>


      Uploaded on Apr 21, 2010
      The controlled study documented in these videos show that concealed carry permit holders are fooling themselves if they think they will be able to react effectively to armed aggressors.

      Most CCW holders won’t even be able to un-holster their gun. They will more likely be killed themselves or kill innocent bystanders than stop the aggressor. For more details, see “Unintended Consequences: Pro-Handgun Experts Prove That Handguns Are a Dangerous Choice for Self-Defense.”

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
    • Xena | 10/02/2015 at 1:54 pm

      Hey Bill. I just embedded a video below of this morning’s press conference. Mercer was wearing a bullet proof vest.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Bill Taylor | 10/02/2015 at 2:08 pm

        like the comedian said aim low they are riding shetland ponies……..had i been there and armed a shot between his eyes would defeat any vest he was wearing……in school long ago a group of about 10 from another school were walking through our school before lunch and all of them had chains they were swinging…..when the lunch bell rang within a couple of minutes 10 from our school faced them and beat them down very swiftly……there is ZERO chance my peers would sit still and allow any shooter to pick us off one by one, the moment the first shot was fired about 15 of us would charge them with the understanding if we do nothing we ALL die, IF we charge this idiot a few may die but most will live.

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        • Xena | 10/02/2015 at 3:24 pm

          Bill,
          I understand where you’re coming from and on first thought, I would be a person who, if the time was right, would rush the person intending harm and death rather than hiding. But the position I take on the matter of these killings is that the opportunity for gunmen to do it should not exist.

          From disgruntled former employees, to kids who are rejected and unpopular, to young men who feel rejected by blonds, to religious freaks, to people who want to be famous by taking another human’s life — they should have never had a gun; and they certainly should not have had 2 or more guns.

          Liked by 2 people

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  9. omtatjuan3 | 10/02/2015 at 11:25 am

    This is just another reason for some sort of gun control. This country has been taken over by right wing loons who talk about their 2nd Amendment rights and having their guns taken away from them by the “Black Man in The White House” Please… Oh that’s right this was done by an Islamic Terrorist we must fear. Wait Chris Mercer doesn’t sound Arabic to me.

    Liked by 2 people

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  10. yahtzeebutterfly | 10/02/2015 at 12:44 pm

    I wonder. Will this precious child grow up to see the consequences of an unending arms race among U.S. citizens or a safer environment from common sense gun legislation and from a reduction in military grade assault?

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. yahtzeebutterfly | 10/02/2015 at 12:58 pm

    “…there are more American families, moms, dads, children, whose lives have been changed forever.

    “… there’s another community stunned with grief, and communities across the country forced to relive their own anguish

    “…and parents across the country who are scared because they know it might have been their families, or their children.”
    ~ President Obama

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. Xena | 10/02/2015 at 1:49 pm

    This morning’s press conference.

    Like

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  13. Xena | 10/02/2015 at 3:30 pm

    Liked by 2 people

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  14. crustyolemothman | 10/02/2015 at 5:06 pm

    Unfortunately all that will come out of this newest slaughter or our fellow citizens is more gun sales and ultimately more murders to come.. We have a gun (owner) problem in our country and while some may deny it, we have actually reached the point that these murders simply don’t offend the general population like it once did. Until it directly affects you (generally stated) guns are not the problem, I have known several people who once were gun fanatics that after suffering a loss due to the possession and use of a gun, no longer are staunch supporter of unlimited gun ownership… Will gun control ever cease to mean hitting the intended target, probably not in our collective life times… Too much money and power involved….

    Liked by 4 people

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    • Xena | 10/02/2015 at 6:08 pm

      Mothman, you might be right. There was a school shut-down in El Paso today after a call about an armed person on campus.

      I have known several people who once were gun fanatics that after suffering a loss due to the possession and use of a gun, no longer are staunch supporter of unlimited gun ownership

      Oh yes, people don’t think it can ever happen to them or their family.

      Liked by 1 person

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  15. Gronda Morin | 10/02/2015 at 6:06 pm

    This country’s well being is being held hostage by the NRA and cowardly US Congress representatives. The NRA are notorious for never forgetting if a legislator voted favorably for any anti gun laws. As soon as this candidate is remotely vulnerable, the NRA steps in to derail him of her. We have lost many fine, courageous legislators this way. President Obama is right. This needs to be a single issue that people vote on..so, get out and vote!!! We need to organize one of those super Pacs and donate monies to it. Has Mr. Bloomberg done this? Unfortunately even many democrat leaders are hesitant to step forward.

    Liked by 3 people

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    • mindyme62 | 10/02/2015 at 6:41 pm

      Included in the death toll was the professor of the class where the shooting reportedly started, Lawrence Levine, a 67-year-old English assisant professor. He graduated from the University of Oregon, according to what is believed to be his LinkedIn profile.

      Other victims ranged in age from 18 to 59: Lucas Eibel, 18; Quinn Glen Cooper, 18; Lucero Alcaraz, 19; Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59, all of Roseburg; Jason Dale Johnson, 33, of Winston; Sarena Dawn Moore, 44, of Myrtle Creek; Treven Taylor Anspach, 20, of Sutherlin; and Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18, of Myrtle Creek.

      http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/officials-identify-nine-victims-killed-in-umqua-college-rampage/

      Liked by 1 person

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  17. yahtzeebutterfly | 10/02/2015 at 10:15 pm

    Lives cut down, torn, snuffed out
    GUNS
    Loved ones separated horrifically
    GUNS
    Tears and shattered hearts
    GUNS

    Legislators’ heads in the sand and victims’ bodies in the grave

    Armageddon beginning to sound like Arm-’N-Get-‘em

    Liked by 1 person

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  18. yahtzeebutterfly | 10/03/2015 at 10:41 am

    “An Oregon teacher’s letter to lawmakers: We don’t need your prayers, we need your courage”

    http://www.salon.com/2015/10/02/an_oregon_teachers_letter_to_lawmakers_we_dont_need_your_prayers_we_need_your_courage/

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