What kind of statement are shopping mall murderers trying to make? (America, POV)

[Ozzie]

These type of events are really shocking. It would undermine a fundamental sense of personal security in a neighbourhood to imagine a shopping mall killer couid emerge by cutting loose with an arm and kill others.

Shopping mall killers usually come from poor neighbourhoods and have easy access to arms. In the state of Texas if you immigrate you can obtain an arm in the space of 30 days simply by FBI extension of the immigration check. I would have a much harder task obtaining an arm in Australia even though I've lived here most of my life.

Americans seem to equate an arm with liberty. People from poorer nations could easily form the same attitude and then we could have anarchy.

The most common thing American's say when they are asked, "What's so great about about you country is the word "freedom". Americans feel they have freedom because they can say it, having internalised it. When asked, "What kind" the answer is quite a bit more hazzy.

So how has this expansion of "freedom" been been facilitated by Iraq? Aggression tactics of targeting the person rather than the ball, after all.

Given this socially acceptable message "the right to bear arms is equivalent to LIBERTY and ease of lawful access to arms facilitating liberty, how can we blame the individual only in the case of yesterdays shooting in Nebraska. Tragic though it is, this scenario speaks of a greater ill in society on one part certainly. That is, on his own relationship with it.

If raised on a carpet level, "Ghetto viewpoint" diet of personal opinion, it is possible to imagine that personal psychology and guns might emerge as a personal statement.

That is, having developed a mental attitude of "nothing to loose" poverty as their life context in the Ghetto, "feeling the expoited", might not the sense of being exploited explode as efforts to extinguish the perceived cause of the exploitation. Thoughts?

Do you think changing the availabilty of arms might help? Why is this politically unacceptable?

Why is a country with a "bill of rights", (unlike Australia) so ambivalent on what freedom is?

[Super Universe]

You ask what statement shopping mall killers are trying to make then go on a small tirade about America's idea of "liberty" and Iraq. If you don't like us, go on without us then.

To answer the OP, a shopping mall gunman is saying "I exist! I'm not nothing. You should have valued me!"

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Super Universe

To answer the OP, a shopping mall gunman is saying "I exist! I'm not nothing. You should have valued me!"

"Or, I'm a sociopathic killer!!"

[Ozzie]

[quote]

Originally Posted by Super Universe

You ask what statement shopping mall killers are trying to make then go on a small tirade about America's idea of "liberty" and Iraq.

I want to connect Americas idea of liberty at the gun as a contrast to Iraq.

If you don't like us, go on without us then.

Don't like American policy. Not Americans. I would like to "go on" without you. However, my countries economy is too heavily influenced by an uncertain number of unscupulous mortgage advisors informing, and influencing, and giving financial credit to anybody who wanted it.

To answer the OP, a shopping mall gunman is saying "I exist! I'm not nothing. You should have valued me!"

[Ozzie]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

"Or, I'm a sociopathic killer!!"

So why would the killer qualify him/herself as sociopathic?

[Guitar's Cry]

Removing the easy access to firearms would just promote the use of other weapons. Which wouldn't necessarily be a negative thing for a society, as a baseball bat is easier to defend against than a shotgun.

I imagine unequal class structure is at the heart of the shopping mall murderer. If the murderer is poor, the tyranny of runaway capitalism would be a prime target to strike against.

[Ozzie]

Originally Posted by Guitar's Cry

Removing the easy access to firearms would just promote the use of other weapons. Which wouldn't necessarily be a negative thing for a society, as a baseball bat is easier to defend against than a shotgun.

This is quite an amazing statement. That "freedom requires weapons".

I imagine unequal class structure is at the heart of the shopping mall murderer. If the murderer is poor, the tyranny of runaway capitalism would be a prime target to strike against.

No but it is what is inside the head of the killer that the media focuses on isn't it?

[Guitar's Cry]

Originally Posted by Ozzie

This is quite an amazing statement. That "freedom requires weapons".

Ah, but that wasn't a part of my statement. Freedom requires an individual to be prepared for the affects of being free. If the individual isn't ready, they will long for the comfort of constriction.

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." - Kris Kristofferson.

Originally Posted by Ozzie

No but it is what is inside the head of the killer that the media focuses on isn't it?

The media typically focuses on the negative affects that the actions of the killer had on society. It shows the pain and suffering of the victims, but not the threads of pain that drove the killer to kill.