Florida Night Club Shooting - at least 20 dead - impact on US elections?

Yeah, they do. It stems from a fundamental belief that if the people are weak and the government is strong then the government will protect them. I mean, you just said it yourself, they think if you strip rights away from people that it'll lead to less people dying violent deaths.

My "solution" is that we live in a dangerous world and so long as there is a desire to harm others, there will be violence. You don't combat that effectively by giving those who would do violence firepower superiority. You can't get rid of guns any more than you can get rid of drugs. They are things that are a fact of life. It's proven that prohibition simply does not work in America, so advocating for prohibition is foolish IMO.

France has very strict gun laws and it didn't prevent terrorists from doing almost exactly what was done in Orlando. The only way for people to be safe is by increasing security at places people gather.

 

CNN confirming that the shooter was known to fbi as an Isis sympathizer

 

I went to see Panic at the Disco and Weezer last Friday at the Woodlands Pavilion. About 1/2 way through, the lead singer for Panic said something, "Look, I just wanna say this- I don't care if you're gay, straight, trans- whatever- you should love who you want, and **** anyone that tells you otherwise." That statement received the loudest cheers of the night, and I was thinking about how that generation (most of these attendees were between 20 and 30, I'd guess) sees it differently from mine. They're much, much more accepting of sexual orientation differences. And I thought, you know, this is ultimately a good thing. Every generation will be more accepting of this.

And then this **** happens. It's just.... I can't type anymore, can't hold back the tears. So sad for all the senseless violence in the world. Damnit.

 

Why? Why would he despise them?

The easiest armchair psychology would be that he was conflicted by his own body's desires and his mind's socialized morality to resist at all costs. The result of a society's irrational rules. (pure speculation from history's experience)

Why should anyone even care if some people have desires for other people of the same sex. What is rational about that? Maybe to raise armies in defense of the tribe I guess.

 

I absolutely agree about increasing security. When I went to a concert last Friday, they made you empty your pockets, pull your shirt tight and spin around, etc. It does not bother me in the least about increasing security in places with mass gatherings of people. 100% with you on that.

 

Two other things to consider in this tragedy:

1) It demonstrates the need for consistent hate crimes legislation for LGBT. Credit to Equality Florida and the Obama Administration for federally applying what states had codified decades ago, including Florida.

Still, there's a lot more to do on this front, sadly.

2) The law that prohibits gay men from donating blood if they've had sex in the last year should be reexamined. If the science stands, let it stand, but this right now looks like a political roadblock that is stopping people from helping.

 

When it was reported that he saw two guys kissing in front of his son and had a major fit - seems he might have had some similar thoughts.

The lack of tolerance in Islam and any religion is a problem and a reason religion is getting less and less popular in enlightened societies.

DD

 

This is your thought directly after your country was possibly attacked by ISIS.

 

Really? A terrorist attack demonstrates a need for LGBT legislation? LOL, okay. So in your mind, this terrorist attack wouldn't have happened if the terrorist attack was called a hate crime? ALL terrorist attacks are hate crimes.

 

Not shocking, he's kind of an embarrassment.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Florida Governor Rick Scott issues state of emergency in Orange Country, following deadly mass shooting. <a href="https://t.co/6XaDucRdr0">pic.twitter.com/6XaDucRdr0</a></p>&mdash; NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCNightlyNews/status/742033524857901057">June 12, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

I grew up Catholic- Catholic school for 8 years, altar boy for 4 (thankfully never got molested), and even back then I had misgivings. The Old Testament was extremely contradictory (Thou Shalt Not Kill, and then God praises Joshua for killing craploads of people), and even the New Testament had problems (like Paul believing that women should be silent in church- although I attributed that to social mores at the time).

But I absolutely hated that bull**** about- "we're against abortion, but we're also against birth control. The Rhythm Method, Baby! or Abstinence until Marriage!!" Are you friggin kidding me?

There were a lot of things like that, and I left. Then I went back a few years ago. Occasionally. Sometimes, just to go into church for a few minutes in the middle of the week to reflect and say a prayer for positive things.

But it's used too much for hatred. The Jesus I had to study all throughout Catholic school had no time for any hatred against anyone. At least that was my experience. People take Jesus' teachings and corrupt them for their own prejudices.

 

Homophobia is the root cause of this crime--and while other incidents are not as reported or as flagrant, it's clear that legislation that strengthens the protection for the group that was attacked is to be commended. Homophobia is still a problem that needs to be addressed.

Fortunately, this is an area of the law where the Constitution has struck a good balance between the need for certain religious groups to vent their irrational hatreds and the need to punish irrational actions that stem from it. Still, there is more to do.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Horrific incident in FL. Praying for all the victims &amp; their families. When will this stop? When will we get tough, smart &amp; vigilant?</p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/742019961946791939">June 12, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness &amp; vigilance. We must be smart!</p>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/742034549232766976">June 12, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Not really. The root cause of this terrorist act is a radical interpretation of Islam. Calling this terrorist act a "hate crime" does literally nothing to stop the problem. That's just some ineffectual BS that often comes from things like this happening. People see something bad happens and they look to push their agenda even if it has little to nothing to do with what happened.

 

Again I highly doubt this was the worst shooting massacre in American History.

Spoiler

 

Is it really a radicalization? Or is Islam by nature, intolerant of gays?

DD

 

I said just about the same thing when I heard people describing it that way. "Worst shooting massacre in modern American history" would be a MUCH more accurate thing to say.

 

So many families destroyed forever. Unreal people can do this.

 

THE WORST... this week.

If Sandy Hook didn't catch gun control traction a gay shooting won't.

Never Forget... for a while...maybe