Mass Shooting at LGBT Nightclub in Orlando

The problem with using a gun to protect yourself is that you have to be willing to kill someone. Many people aren't and that is why their guns end up being used on themselves.

I was once robbed at gunpoint. It was scary. But I didn't immediately run out and buy a gun. I knew I'd never been able to shoot someone in cold blood. Plus, this person came upon me while I had my back turned to the parking lot and my head inside the back of my car (trying to organize the stuff I needed to take upstairs). So even if I had a gun, unless it was in my hands right that second, it wouldn't have done me any good. Not to mention, even if I had a gun in my hand (which would have made grabbing my bags kind of awkward) and turned around to find this guy standing there pointing a gun at me, what exactly would have happened? This guy was very nervous and twitchy and there was a good chance he would have seen the gun, freaked out, and shot me with his rifle before I would have been able to react.

I just don't buy this whole "good guy with a gun" meme. It doesn't jive with my own experiences or with the gun safety training I've received. t've read that at least one person had a gun at Pulse. (The security guard?) It sure didn't help.
 
So sorry @Simone411 for what you went through!
I guess you could say I've been through quite a bit in my life, and for some reason or another, I feel that God has been watching over me through it all.

I guess you could say that I haven't lived a boring life whatsoever. The reason I've decided not to get another gun is because of innocent children and what can happen. When I came home in 2012 from NurseCare, my niece brought her two daughters (my great nieces) to see me. She brings them all the time now, and they love it so much. They always want to watch Mrs. Doubtfire, Curly Sue, and The Wizard of Oz when they come over.

Some years back, an incident happened with on of my friends/co-worker's son. We were very close, and she had never spoken to me about it until her youngest son was a teenager.

My friend had a gun during the time her youngest son was around 4 years old. She thought she had the gun hidden, and that her son would never find it. A friend of hers came over and brought her son who was the same age as her son.

They let both of the boys play in her son's bedroom while they were in the living room having coffee. My friend didn't realize that the boys had wondered into her bedroom. A few minutes later, she and her friend heard a gunshot. Her son found her gun and thought it was a toy. He shot the other boy not realizing the gun was real and the boy died.

Her son went into shock after that. It traumatized him and he never remembered what happened when he got older. As far as I know, he still doesn't remember it and maybe it's a good thing.

This is why I don't want another gun in my home. Not when I have two precious great nieces and a great nephew, too, that also comes to my home.

There are other ways to defend myself, and believe me, I know how. I don't wish to have another gun in my home as long as I live.
 
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Not only be prepared to kill, but be prepared to have killed a family member or friend who you mistakenly thought was a threat to you. Or be prepared to dea with the aftermath/guilt of someone killing themselves or others with your gun. And prepare your will and plan for your family's future without you

But we gotta protect the sevond amendment - that's the MOST important issue
 
The Orlando shooter's ex-wife is on CNN with her fiance. I feel so sorry for this woman. She was briefly married to him and her family rescued her from him because he was violent and unstable. She thinks that he has always been mentally unstable and mentally ill and that steroids also may have played a role. She saw no signs of religion playing a role in his treatment of her or his angry disputes with his family. But, she has not seen him in seven years, so she has no way of knowing what role religion and terror groups might have played.

Religion is like money--it doesn't so much change you as reveal you. For some, religion's messages of peace, hope, and inclusion inspires them and gives them a way to participate in charity and personal betterment. Others see a different message in religion--it justifies exclusion, and an any means necessary attitude for keeping themselves "pure."

For people who are kindhearted, religion--Christian, Islam, Buddhism, whatever--makes them more so. For those who are violent--Christianity, Islam, Buddhism (969 Movement)--makes them more so. You interpret scripture/are drawn to interpretations of scripture based on your own world view. Any idea one has can find justification in religion.
 
Religion is like money--it doesn't so much change you as reveal you. For some, religion's messages of peace, hope, and inclusion inspires them and gives them a way to participate in charity and personal betterment. Others see a different message in religion--it justifies exclusion, and an any means necessary attitude for keeping themselves "pure."

For people who are kindhearted, religion--Christian, Islam, Buddhism, whatever--makes them more so. For those who are violent--Christianity, Islam, Buddhism (969 Movement)--makes them more so. You interpret scripture/are drawn to interpretations of scripture based on your own world view. Any idea one has can find justification in religion.

That's a very interesting perspective on religion.
 
1) Ah, you mean that some people think human life should be valued over material possessions? Yeah, that's a pretty old idea, dating back to well before the internet. Not surprising that people take that idea to an extreme.

2) Where can I find people saying that my daughter deserves to be raped because she isn't working to eradicate poverty? Not that I doubt that there are people who say such things, because you can just about always find someone who is saying something stupid and extreme and nonrepresentative of just about anyone else on the web if you look for it.

3) What I find odd is that someone would seek out such comments and then consider them especially meaningful.

1) During home invasion a family does not know if the intruder is armed or not, and what level of damage he/she is willing to cause to accomplish the burglary. They don’t have time to engage in sociology rhetoric about life vs. material possessions.

The issue itself “life vs. material possession” is very wide, from dangerous working conditions on a Hoover Dam, to a man protecting his wallet which contains money for his wife’s medicine….

2) First you asked what world I live in, and now you confirm that you’re aware that such comments do exist, but now dismisses them as “radical”. Yes, they do exist, and not always in a “radical form” but rather eloquently spoken with an academic language, which suggests that the speaker is at least well-educated.

Liberals Outraged After Miss USA Suggests Self-Defense To Prevent Rape
https://www.mrconservative.com/2014...ss-usa-suggests-self-defense-to-prevent-rape/

Sorry, Miss USA: Self-Defense Is Not The Solution To Sexual Assault
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/miss-usa-self-defense_n_5482117.html

One speaker cleverly linked her statement to George Zimmerman’s case and objected to the concept of “self-defense” in general.

The above examples is not that “radical”. But “radical” came to this subject as well. Another article, on the same subject, which I can not locate, had readers’ comments at the bottom. One of the comments led to a discussion about self-defense from rape in a home invasion situation. Few “liberal posters” supported an idea that Miss America should use her position to help the causes which eradicate poverty, then she would not have to worry about home invasions into her pretty little house, and harm to her pretty little body, and until she gleefully floats in the upper echelon of society with her newly acquired princess position, she should always worry about “the less fortunate” fighting for their share and yes, perhaps at her expense; oh, and the rape in some cases is just a part of an expression of frustration and can be linked to a form of class struggle.


http://www.startribune.com/charges-...-he-burglarized-twice-rapes-victim/212540071/ (the comments are gone, probably either too old, or got out of hand and eliminated)
In another case, where an elderly women was bugled, raped and injured, by a black teen, few people using rather academic terminology made refs to history, by suggesting that this woman, due to her age, probably did not mind when “back then” she sat in front of the bus, and blacks sat in the back, and now she is inadvertently suffering the consequences of being the “silent supporter” of past discrimination. Few other comments were about “her contribution to his imprisonment for the first 2 times he burgled her home. He is poor, sees burglary as only way out of poverty, and by putting him in jail she ended his hopes for the future, therefore his revenge”.

3) What I find odd, is that someone who participates in various socio-political web discussions, does not recognize the fact that very radical views can be expressed by educated well-spoken people and presented as socio-economic analysis rather then a left- or right-wing mindless exclamation.

There have been many discussions on the web about gun control, right of self-defense, stand-your-ground laws and all related. I don’t read the mindless exclamations on either side, but I do read comments containing proper language and a form of reason.

Here are few examples (in my own words) of the comments from liberals/from the left.
- Government is responsible for protecting citizens, and a government entity (police) should be called in case of a robbery.
- People should not take law into their own hands.
- By killing a burglar, a home owner is infringing on burglar’s human rights to stand trial, and to prove his innocence.
- Protecting your home with a weapon is: class warfare, protection of a class privilege of the haves against have-nots, and prevention of re-distribution of wealth and justice;

Fortunately, I saved one of the comments in a “word” format, but not the link:

One poster wrote:
“Grievance based violence” is contrary to self-defense. Torching cars, looting businesses, etc., is a form of protest, a revolution against oppression by emotionally outraged, trapped and cornered masses of people. Self-defense is individualistic and exists as an oppressive form of violence, and presumes the right of a single person to possessions and property as a form of entitlement and class privilege. “Grievance based violence" by contrast occurs as a response to intolerable oppression, and an expression of the underclass rising up. Oppressive violence is a function of class privilege, where revolutionary violence is a form of revolutionary justice. The upper or middle class homeowner protecting his possessions from a thieve; for his sole benefit and therefore practicing "oppressive violence", while the mob is practicing revolutionary justice for the many. It is clear that class or group status is what defines whether violence is legitimate or not.

The other poster contradicted:
Liberals have no problem with violence. They have a problem with violence that does not have a progressive source agenda.

In another discussion, a poster arguing against self- and property defense brought up a passage from Les Miserables (Hugo), as en example of proper response to a theft of your property: Jean Valjean steals silver from the Monastery, police catch him, but the Priest graciously denies the act of theft, confirms it was a gift, and hands Valjean another piece of silver.

I hardly call such comments on the “fringe”, given that the same ideas were expressed by millions during revolutions. It is VERY alarming that such are expressed in USA.

I have a question: what EXACT objections (other than hidden motivations of social justice, redistribution, and all sorts of class issues) do Liberals have against a law-abiding family or home owner owning a gun for home protection of his property and family from the buglers if he keeps his/her gun safe?
 
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Anyway...

A friend of mine told me his cousin lost three friends in Orlando. A lot of my LGBTQ friends have been texting me about how this is all just a reminder of all the crap they feel for simply existing. To many of us, LGBTQ rights, safety, etc. are just intellectual exercises or tools to continue a political debate to "fight for their side". We forget these are people's lives we're playing with, and legitimizing people's hate and anger of LGBTQ folks, even when disguised as just a political talking point, only fuels the anger and incites violence.
 
We forget these are people's lives we're playing with, and legitimizing people's hate and anger of LGBTQ folks, even when disguised as just a political talking point, only fuels the anger and incites violence.
And things like the story I'm linking, - Gay people still banned from donating blood- only remind me of how far we still have to go before the LBGTQ people in our lives can feel as safe and "normal" as anyone else. They can't even line up to help their friends because of prejudice.
 
It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't marry my husband. Our parents were alive when interracial marriage was legalized in the US. Equality will come, but we still have to fight for it to make sure it does in a timely manner. And something must be done about these tragedies in the meantime.

It shouldn't have been THAT easy (or legal) for this guy to get an assault rifle. Whatever happened to the "well regulated militia" part of the Second Amendment? A private citizen owning an AR-15 isn't going to do jack squat about protecting the freedom of their state. I have no idea how we got here from that wording. :(

Even if it wouldn't have been "impossible" for that guy to get an assault rifle, if it was harder, his plot might have been caught in the delay.
 
Anyway...

A friend of mine told me his cousin lost three friends in Orlando. A lot of my LGBTQ friends have been texting me about how this is all just a reminder of all the crap they feel for simply existing. To many of us, LGBTQ rights, safety, etc. are just intellectual exercises or tools to continue a political debate to "fight for their side". We forget these are people's lives we're playing with, and legitimizing people's hate and anger of LGBTQ folks, even when disguised as just a political talking point, only fuels the anger and incites violence.

Along these lines of the personal loss, grief, and anger that the LGBTQ community in Orlando is experiencing: has anyone heard of a reliable means of making donations - for funeral expenses, hospital expenses of the injured, support of dependents etc.? I would like to make a donation, but have not heard of a way to do that. I would feel more comfortable if an Orlando-based organization was overseeing it.
 
Along these lines of the personal loss, grief, and anger that the LGBTQ community in Orlando is experiencing: has anyone heard of a reliable means of making donations - for funeral expenses, hospital expenses of the injured, support of dependents etc.? I would like to make a donation, but have not heard of a way to do that. I would feel more comfortable if an Orlando-based organization was overseeing it.

I found this site, they have set up a GoFundMe to help the families and victims. I hope this help you.
 
I have a question: what EXACT objections (other than hidden motivations of social justice, redistribution, and all sorts of class issues) do Liberals have against a law-abiding family or home owner owning a gun for home protection of his property and family from the buglers if he keeps his/her gun safe?

One of my problems with a law-abiding citizen relying on a gun for protection from burglars is that if it's stored safely, it's not going to be accessible in an emergency. We have guns in our house but the only safe way to store guns in a house with children around to a standard that I'm comfortable with is locked up or disassembled. Out of reach isn't good enough, I've found my nephew places I never would have thought he could get to. Ammunition is stored separately. They can't be loaded and within arms reach. I'd guess that there's a greater probability of an accident with a gun that's loaded and kept at the ready than to be the victim of a violent burglary.

Beyond having to be prepared to kill another human being, another problem I have is that it takes a lot of training to use a gun effectively in high adrenaline situations. People that are highly trained screw up all the time. How is the average person who practices shooting at a range supposed be effective? In general, people do some pretty stupid things when they're scared and adrenaline is pumping. I don't see how guns make the situation any better.

Everyone has moments of questionable judgement and it seems incredibly risky to put a gun in the hands of people who are in high pressure situations that make them likely to not act rationally. The thought of most people using a gun to defend themselves scares me a whole heck of a lot more than being the victim of violent crime.
 
Few weeks ago Pink Pistols won an important court case in D.C., a right to carry a concealed weapon, if one is in fear of one’s safety:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles...es-its-dc-court-win-puts-homophobes-on-notice
http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/19...b-just-won-this-big-gun-rights-victory-in-dc/

Pink Pistols (A Gay Organization) "Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Pistols
http://www.pinkpistols.org/

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02...
"The right to own guns may be even more important than the right to marry, Thomas said during the monthly shooting practice organized by the gay gun group the Pink Pistols.

"I want to be liberated as a gay man, but I'm not willing to give up the rights I have," he said. "If they can take that away from you, what more can they do?""

"The Pink Pistols are likely to play a critical role in the developing San Francisco fight, said Chuck Michel, a spokesman for the California Rifle and Pistol Association and a lawyer for the National Rifle Association. "They have a great deal of legitimacy because they recognize they are at great odds of becoming victims because of their sexual preference. ... I think people will understand that they should not be deprived of their rights."

There is Gay Pride parade in SF on June 25th. Let's see if any one tries to interfere now.
 
It's really beautiful the way those iconic sites at home and abroad are lighting their towers, spires, giant wheels, bridges. etc. with the colors of the RAINBOW tonight. But, as gorgeous as they might seem to be, I...for one...would rather not see the need for them henceforth. If only...that could be. :fragile:
 
I have a question: what EXACT objections (other than hidden motivations of social justice, redistribution, and all sorts of class issues) do Liberals have against a law-abiding family or home owner owning a gun for home protection of his property and family from the buglers if he keeps his/her gun safe?

If a gun is being safely kept in a household, it's either locked up in a place with limited access, or it's being stored separately from its ammunition. How exactly is that going to protect anyone if a burglar breaks in unexpectedly?
 
That Sandy Hook wasn't enough is a disgrace and every incident since makes me more furious/despairing about that fact.

Devastated for the victims and their families. :(

https://twitter.com/dpjhodges/status/611943312401002496?lang=en

In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.


I'm heartbroken by this attack. Horrifying that at one of the few places where gay people should feel the most safe, this happens. Nothing but positive thoughts for the families affected by this tragedy.
 
I'm what some people would call an fundamentalist Christian and this tweet INFURIATES me. Lt. Gov. Patrick, you may not like how other people choose to live their lives, but how DARE you rejoice in their death?

:rolleyes: this infuriates me too, but i find i'm swinging from incredibly angry to incredibly sad today and I'm not letting any bigoted shit get by today.
 
3) What I find odd, is that someone who participates in various socio-political web discussions, does not recognize the fact that very radical views can be expressed by educated well-spoken people and presented as socio-economic analysis rather then a left- or right-wing mindless exclamation.

If that is supposed to describe me, I am not sure what inspired such a comment, but I don't really care at this particular time. I guess we will just have to consider one another odd, because when I read some of your links, I get something entirely different from them than you do, and I am completely baffled by your interpretations.

C'est la vie.

Horror, sympathy as world reacts to Orlando mass shooting

How to help Orlando shooting victims

The journalist Owen Jones , who seriously annoys me at times, gets it right http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...n-jones-storms-off-sky-news-paper-review-aft/

Wow. How could anyone not see this as a homophobic attack? Why insist that it must be a religiously motivated terrorist attack instead? Why can't it be a homophobic religiously motivated terrorist attack?
 
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They have identified 48 of the 49 victims which will hopefully bring some closure to family and friends.

Also glad that they are now not including the shooter as part of the 50 dead. It is now 49 killed plus the shooter, i.e, 49 innocent victims and 1 POS.

Also report is coming out which I hope can be verified is from high school classmates of the shooter who said the shooter cheered during the 911 attack and said praise Allah. If this is indeed the case then it definitely looks like this guy fell through the cracks.

Also interesting was from the FBI briefing that stated that when they breached the wall of the club to get the hostages out, the shooter was one of the people trying to get out and the police killed him. That tells me he was trying to get away rather than commit suicide...
 
What a heinous, awful attack :( Those who try to make this about Islam miss the point: this could have been perpetrated by any religion. The attack was homophobic, an assault on the LBGT community, and anyone who tries to think it otherwise needs to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror.

But yet again, I see, another mass shooting in America, with a gun that is legal there. So the politicians will weep their crocodile tears, and ask for prayers and express their condolences, and not one of them has the balls to actually do something about this. And even as some parents still ring and ring their child's phone, hoping that the fact they have not answered since the shooting does not mean what they fear it means, tonight no doubt the NRA fools will be clutching their guns tighter, and wailing that their right to bear arms is greater than the right of people - any person - to live in peace without fear of being shot.

Maybe one day I'll reach a sad zenith where seeing reports of yet another mass shooting in the US will not make me so furious. But I haven't got there yet, and forty-nine families are preparing funerals because of this stupid, nonsensical attitude.
 

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