Another Excuse for a Mass Shooter

[Epic Beard Man]

In the year 2000 I lost my mother to breast cancer. I was 19. I sat there for over a year watched my mother go from cancer remission to the cancer coming back spreading from her lymph nodes t ultimately her brain. On the day of her death, eyes rolled back I watched her gasp for air struggling to breath, her body fighting to hold on to its life in a futile effort. I even remember that moment intimately as if it just happened yesterday. Until the nurse trying to ease her suffering gave her a does of Ativan an anxiolytic. Her breathing calmed and eventually her breathing stopped where she passed. She signed a DNR so there was no effort to revive her. Sure, I was angry and at time still am which is why I haven't put anyone in the hospital here yet. I was depressed and never sought counseling. I took my grief and pain and sacrificed myself to go to school. I attained two bachelors degrees at a state school. I continued my education and attained a masters in Neuropsychology in 2012. I stopped going to school for a bit and began again in 2014 part-time.

I'm graduating this year with my second masters.....I wonder if I decided to take my Smith and Wesson Sigma 9mm and my Glock 20 Generation 4 and killed the same amount of people at 35, would they investigate to see if I am acting out a long standing trauma I experienced at 19? Or would they log on my Facebook and see some of my friends, some who are bloods and crips. Some with a checkered past which the media will use, like Trayvon to paint me as this disgruntled (and educated) black guy on a shooting rampage. Or what if my name was Muhammad ibn Abd'ullah? With the same historical background just switch names, would they think I had a mental condition or would they see if I had ties to ISIL? There are far too many people walking around with mental distress, even on this exact forum there are a couple that are enacting some form of bipolar disorder and I haven't even made a diagnosis just an observation based on my own clinical hours of behavior. How do you circumvent these situations by mental evaluation upon purchasing firearms? You cannot, lest you want to stigmatize those with mental disorders who are mitigating their demons with medication.

As the cop in my class stated yesterday "there are calls where we go out where a kid has a gun and it does not make it on the news." Rewind this back in the 80's there were class shootings that never made it into a national issue. Now it is. Mass Shootings have always been an issue, but because it reached beyond the urban areas into the affluent areas now we must figure if its drugs or psychological issues. Mass shootings happen for a variety of reasons but I refuse to believe losing his mother was the cause. He like so many are not unique to this. Killing himself would have been easier. I almost did it myself. The only thing that kept me was two things:

1) To know my brother coming in to see his little brother's brain matter spread across the white walls would be beyond traumatizing after losing your mother and

2) At the funeral I made a promise to my mother I'd get my college degree, which I did but now I have reformatted that goal into getting my graduate degree and I have reformatted it once more.

I want my future child to bury me and not my family...

I cannot accept this kid's reason...

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Sorry about your mom.

I agree that this shooting is unlikely to be the result of his mother's death, although that may have been a contributing factor in pushing him over the top. It didn't cause you to shoot up a school.

The adults in the home allowed the kid to have an AR-15 there?

In the end, what difference does it make what his stated reason is?

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Sorry about your mom.

I agree that this shooting is unlikely to be the result of his mother's death, although that may have been a contributing factor in pushing him over the top. It didn't cause you to shoot up a school.

The adults in the home allowed the kid to have an AR-15 there?

Thank you...

I don't know but that is a damn good question. Maybe hid it in the house away from them maybe?

 

[HonestJoe]

I wonder if I decided to take my Smith and Wesson Sigma 9mm and my Glock 20 Generation 4 and killed the same amount of people at 35, would they investigate to see if I am acting out a long standing trauma I experienced at 19? Or would they log on my Facebook and see some of my friends, some who are bloods and crips. Some with a checkered past which the media will use, like Trayvon to paint me as this disgruntled (and educated) black guy on a shooting rampage. Or what if my name was Muhammad ibn Abd'ullah? With the same historical background just switch names, would they think I had a mental condition or would they see if I had ties to ISIL?

For a start, you’re conflating what the police do and what the media (and by extension, public) do. In your hypothetical, as in this case, the police would and should investigate all those things and much more, primarily to check for any ongoing threat from accomplices or anything left behind by the attacker and then to establish method and motive, both as a basis for any subsequent prosecution and to help determine if anything could be realistically done to prevent or minimise similar incidents in the future.

What the media should do is calmly report only the confirmed facts but what they will do is spin, speculate and outright lie to try to get the big “exclusives” and eye-catching headlines so they can make more money out of the tragedy than their competitors while many in the public will grab and run with that to support whatever socio-political position they might desire to. Because of all of that, I think it is vital to draw a clear line between what the authorities are actually doing (much of which we obviously won’t be aware of at the moment) and what the media are assuming/speculating/pretending is happening.

I cannot accept this kid's reason...

I may have missed it but I’m not aware of the shooter himself giving any “reason” or anyone else outside than total speculation. It’s far too soon to be declaring motives or causes. The fact has been reported that both his parents are dead, his mother having died very recently and it seems perfectly reasonable that it could be a factor in the shooting but it will always take a whole combination of factors to lead to such an extreme outcome. I don’t think it’s legitimate for you to dismiss this element just because you didn’t respond in the same way to similar circumstances (just as countless other people who have suffered similar personal tragedies didn’t).

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

You can't talk about it now! That would be politicising the tragedy! You need to wait at least a month (in the off chance miracle there is no mass shooting incident in the next month and you try to raise the issue, you can be dismissed because there are obviously more pressing problems, since there hasn't even been a mass shooting for a month! )

 

[pearl]

On Ash Wednesday Catholics are reminded of their mortality. I was struck by the photo of a mother outside the school and the cross on her forehead traced with ashes.

 

[Mindmaster]

I cannot accept this kid's reason...

The FBI Was Warned About A School Shooting Threat From A YouTube User Named Nikolas Cruz In September

Just an update to the story, apparently the FBI was warned and did nothing. Hmm... I wonder why...

 

[Epic Beard Man]

For a start, you’re conflating what the police do and what the media (and by extension, public) do. In your hypothetical, as in this case, the police would and should investigate all those things and much more, primarily to check for any ongoing threat from accomplices or anything left behind by the attacker and then to establish method and motive, both as a basis for any subsequent prosecution and to help determine if anything could be realistically done to prevent or minimise similar incidents in the future.

What the media should do is calmly report only the confirmed facts but what they will do is spin, speculate and outright lie to try to get the big “exclusives” and eye-catching headlines so they can make more money out of the tragedy than their competitors while many in the public will grab and run with that to support whatever socio-political position they might desire to. Because of all of that, I think it is vital to draw a clear line between what the authorities are actually doing (much of which we obviously won’t be aware of at the moment) and what the media are assuming/speculating/pretending is happening.

I may have missed it but I’m not aware of the shooter himself giving any “reason” or anyone else outside than total speculation. It’s far too soon to be declaring motives or causes. The fact has been reported that both his parents are dead, his mother having died very recently and it seems perfectly reasonable that it could be a factor in the shooting but it will always take a whole combination of factors to lead to such an extreme outcome. I don’t think it’s legitimate for you to dismiss this element just because you didn’t respond in the same way to similar circumstances (just as countless other people who have suffered similar personal tragedies didn’t).

Did you look at the damn video or did you simply read what I wrote?

 

[metis]

You can't talk about it now! That would be politicising the tragedy! You need to wait at least a month (in the off chance miracle there is no mass shooting incident in the next month and you try to raise the issue, you can be dismissed because there are obviously more pressing problems, since there hasn't even been a mass shooting for a month! )

Yes, and between protecting our children or collecting political donations from the NRA, for most congressional Republicans the latter is far more important. They won't even allow gun-control proposals to come up for a vote.

BTW, most Democrats are not anti-gun-- they're anti-watching our kids getting killed, such as in 18 school shooting this year alone. Why is so much easier to buy an AR-15 than it is to buy a car? Why is it that most people who vote Republican want stricter gun-control legislation, and yet their own congresspeople won't even allow an up or down vote?

 

[Nakosis]

I just heard on the radio numerous officials talking about the tragedy saying with all certainty that they will take all measure necessary to prevent this from ever occurring again.

I just don't know how they could effectively go about it except perhaps making schools more similar to a prison compound. Arm guards covering all entrances and exits. Most schools try to have a warm and friendly atmosphere. I don't know how much they'd be willing to fund such a transformation anyway.

I have never thought about shooting anyone for any reason, but folks are wired different. Different people are going to react differently to a given situation. I don't know how they can think to identify everyone who might decide to start shooting up schools but that was the just of the talking points on the radio.

 

[sun rise]

As the cop in my class stated yesterday "there are calls where we go out where a kid has a gun and it does not make it on the news."

The only answer I can see starts with smashing the NRA's political power. It's basically been done in California and that model needs to be replicated in other states and in Congress.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

The only answer I can see starts with smashing the NRA's political power. It's basically been done in California and that model needs to be replicated in other states and in Congress.

 

[Augustus]

You can't talk about it now! That would be politicising the tragedy! You need to wait at least a month (in the off chance miracle there is no mass shooting incident in the next month and you try to raise the issue, you can be dismissed because there are obviously more pressing problems, since there hasn't even been a mass shooting for a month! )

 

[Phantasman]

In the year 2000 I lost my mother to breast cancer. I was 19. I sat there for over a year watched my mother go from cancer remission to the cancer coming back spreading from her lymph nodes t ultimately her brain. On the day of her death, eyes rolled back I watched her gasp for air struggling to breath, her body fighting to hold on to its life in a futile effort. I even remember that moment intimately as if it just happened yesterday. Until the nurse trying to ease her suffering gave her a does of Ativan an anxiolytic. Her breathing calmed and eventually her breathing stopped where she passed. She signed a DNR so there was no effort to revive her. Sure, I was angry and at time still am which is why I haven't put anyone in the hospital here yet. I was depressed and never sought counseling. I took my grief and pain and sacrificed myself to go to school. I attained two bachelors degrees at a state school. I continued my education and attained a masters in Neuropsychology in 2012. I stopped going to school for a bit and began again in 2014 part-time.

I'm graduating this year with my second masters.....I wonder if I decided to take my Smith and Wesson Sigma 9mm and my Glock 20 Generation 4 and killed the same amount of people at 35, would they investigate to see if I am acting out a long standing trauma I experienced at 19? Or would they log on my Facebook and see some of my friends, some who are bloods and crips. Some with a checkered past which the media will use, like Trayvon to paint me as this disgruntled (and educated) black guy on a shooting rampage. Or what if my name was Muhammad ibn Abd'ullah? With the same historical background just switch names, would they think I had a mental condition or would they see if I had ties to ISIL? There are far too many people walking around with mental distress, even on this exact forum there are a couple that are enacting some form of bipolar disorder and I haven't even made a diagnosis just an observation based on my own clinical hours of behavior. How do you circumvent these situations by mental evaluation upon purchasing firearms? You cannot, lest you want to stigmatize those with mental disorders who are mitigating their demons with medication.

As the cop in my class stated yesterday "there are calls where we go out where a kid has a gun and it does not make it on the news." Rewind this back in the 80's there were class shootings that never made it into a national issue. Now it is. Mass Shootings have always been an issue, but because it reached beyond the urban areas into the affluent areas now we must figure if its drugs or psychological issues. Mass shootings happen for a variety of reasons but I refuse to believe losing his mother was the cause. He like so many are not unique to this. Killing himself would have been easier. I almost did it myself. The only thing that kept me was two things:

1) To know my brother coming in to see his little brother's brain matter spread across the white walls would be beyond traumatizing after losing your mother and

2) At the funeral I made a promise to my mother I'd get my college degree, which I did but now I have reformatted that goal into getting my graduate degree and I have reformatted it once more.

I want my future child to bury me and not my family...

I cannot accept this kid's reason...

From my own perspective, ignorance of love creates all sinful acts. And not understanding death just fuels that ignorance.

 

[Revoltingest]

You can't talk about it now! That would be politicising the tragedy! You need to wait at least a month (in the off chance miracle there is no mass shooting incident in the next month and you try to raise the issue, you can be dismissed because there are obviously more pressing problems, since there hasn't even been a mass shooting for a month! )

There's talking (civil & thoughtful) & then there's talking (insults, snark & ignorant posturing).
The former is occurring on some threads already.
It's the latter kind which should wait.....or be avoided entirely.

 

[Spiderman]

Your mother still lives with you in spirit and is proud of you for getting those degrees. Congratulations!

 

[HonestJoe]

Did you look at the damn video or did you simply read what I wrote?

I did both. Is there anything in the interview you think contradicts what I wrote in response?

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

The FBI Was Warned About A School Shooting Threat From A YouTube User Named Nikolas Cruz In September

Just an update to the story, apparently the FBI was warned and did nothing. Hmm... I wonder why...

Buzzfeed is hardly what I'd consider a credible news source. According to Snopes, an arrest was made based on the video threat, but they're uncertain if it was another shooter or the one in Florida.

 

[Phantasman]

In the year 2000 I lost my mother to breast cancer. I was 19. I sat there for over a year watched my mother go from cancer remission to the cancer coming back spreading from her lymph nodes t ultimately her brain. On the day of her death, eyes rolled back I watched her gasp for air struggling to breath, her body fighting to hold on to its life in a futile effort. I even remember that moment intimately as if it just happened yesterday. Until the nurse trying to ease her suffering gave her a does of Ativan an anxiolytic. Her breathing calmed and eventually her breathing stopped where she passed. She signed a DNR so there was no effort to revive her. Sure, I was angry and at time still am which is why I haven't put anyone in the hospital here yet. I was depressed and never sought counseling. I took my grief and pain and sacrificed myself to go to school. I attained two bachelors degrees at a state school. I continued my education and attained a masters in Neuropsychology in 2012. I stopped going to school for a bit and began again in 2014 part-time.

I'm graduating this year with my second masters.....I wonder if I decided to take my Smith and Wesson Sigma 9mm and my Glock 20 Generation 4 and killed the same amount of people at 35, would they investigate to see if I am acting out a long standing trauma I experienced at 19? Or would they log on my Facebook and see some of my friends, some who are bloods and crips. Some with a checkered past which the media will use, like Trayvon to paint me as this disgruntled (and educated) black guy on a shooting rampage. Or what if my name was Muhammad ibn Abd'ullah? With the same historical background just switch names, would they think I had a mental condition or would they see if I had ties to ISIL? There are far too many people walking around with mental distress, even on this exact forum there are a couple that are enacting some form of bipolar disorder and I haven't even made a diagnosis just an observation based on my own clinical hours of behavior. How do you circumvent these situations by mental evaluation upon purchasing firearms? You cannot, lest you want to stigmatize those with mental disorders who are mitigating their demons with medication.

As the cop in my class stated yesterday "there are calls where we go out where a kid has a gun and it does not make it on the news." Rewind this back in the 80's there were class shootings that never made it into a national issue. Now it is. Mass Shootings have always been an issue, but because it reached beyond the urban areas into the affluent areas now we must figure if its drugs or psychological issues. Mass shootings happen for a variety of reasons but I refuse to believe losing his mother was the cause. He like so many are not unique to this. Killing himself would have been easier. I almost did it myself. The only thing that kept me was two things:

1) To know my brother coming in to see his little brother's brain matter spread across the white walls would be beyond traumatizing after losing your mother and

2) At the funeral I made a promise to my mother I'd get my college degree, which I did but now I have reformatted that goal into getting my graduate degree and I have reformatted it once more.

I want my future child to bury me and not my family...

I cannot accept this kid's reason...

On a different note, yesterdays shooting occurred in the very place I grew up. Our family arrived in Ft Lauderdale and Pompano Beach in 1957, and I was raised there when Parkland and Coral Springs were still under the Everglades swamp. It was in 1981, right after my mother died (from complications during surgery) that I didn't want any part of the big city life. It was crowded, gangs and groups popped up, and it was noisy. Traffic was causing a lot of road rage.

I have spent the last 30 years of my in the mountains away from the big city. Even though I didn't make as much
money, the cost of living was a lot less. My mind is much more clearer, and my fears all but subsided. The crowdedness is just not for me. When you crowd a few million people into an 844 square mile area, the craziness of one has a lot more effect on the crowded populace.

We can still choose the environment in which to grow our children and our family. After I left Broward County, my brother followed as year later, then my sister and neices, and finally my Father. They saw the benefits it had on me.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

I did both. Is there anything in the interview you think contradicts what I wrote in response?

You said: "I may have missed it but I’m not aware of the shooter himself giving any “reason” or anyone else outside than total speculation."

The video clearly discuss a potential motivate, and theree was no sensationalism, just a clear cut interview. Point is, where I drew the contrast is I lost a parent as well and I didn't think to go to a school or anywhere and decide to kill people. The point in saying that is, theree is always the psychological assertion of most if not all mass shooters. Since he lost his mother and perhaps maybe one of his motives what would be the media's speculation if I, as a 35 year old man did the same thing except instead of a school it was my place of occupation? Would I be seen as someone dealing with psychological distress that was not addressed or would they view me as something else as most media outlets do already?