U.S. students walk out again to protest gun violence

[rooster59]

U.S. students walk out again to protest gun violence

By Keith Coffman

 

Girls hold signs as teens kick off a voter registration rally, a day ahead of the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado, U.S., April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

 

LITTLETON, Colo. (Reuters) - Demanding an end to gun violence and tougher restrictions on firearm sales, thousands of students again walked out of classes across the United States on Friday in hopes of putting pressure on politicians ahead of November's midterm elections.

 

Timed to coincide with the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, students left classes at midmorning, many waving placards with slogans including "I should be worried about grades, not guns," and "Enough is enough."

 

Organizers said students from more than 2,600 schools and institutions were scheduled to take part, but that was fewer than participated in a similar walkout last month. In some places, demonstrators even met with resistance from school administrators.

 

"Today is about being proactive and being empowered and really funnelling all that energy and anger we have as young people into some productive change," one of the student organizers, Lane Murdock of Connecticut, told Reuters.

 

Olivia Pfeil, a 16-year-old sophomore from a high school in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, held a sign bearing the names of mass shooting victims. "We're expecting change or come next election cycle we will support politicians who are listening to the voices of the youth," she said.

 

It was the second student walkout since the Feb. 14 massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the emergence of a national student movement to end gun violence and toughen restrictions on firearms sales.

 

Many of the demonstrators wore orange, a colour that has come to represent the movement against gun violence. A 13-second silence was observed in honour of the 13 killed at Columbine.

 

At the Texas statehouse in Austin, about 1,000 students, many waving signs and chanting anti-NRA slogans, demanded stricter gun control measures.

 

“Because we can’t vote, this is the only way we can make our voices heard,” said Graeclyn Garza, a second-year student at McCallum High School in Austin, who waved a sign reading “Enough.”

 

Outside the White House, protesters sat in silence while they listened to the names of gun violence victims read aloud.

 

"It happened like 20 years ago," said Ayanna Rhodes, 14, a student at Washington International School, referring to Columbine, "And we are still getting mass shootings in schools."

 

Two gunman went on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, leaving 12 students and a teacher dead before killing themselves in a massacre that stunned the nation. But since then, school shootings have become commonplace.

 

Even as students prepared for their protest on Friday morning, news broke that a 17-year-old student had been wounded in a shooting at a high school near Ocala, Florida. A suspect was arrested soon afterward, police said.

 

The latest gun violence unfolded about 225 miles (360 km)northwest of the Parkland high school, where two months ago a former student killed 17 people in the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.

 

Despite widespread revulsion over the school shootings, the issue of gun control remains sensitive in Colorado and across the country, where the Second Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms.

 

'OPPOSE THEM AT EVERY STEP'

 

Dudley Brown, president of the Colorado-based National Association for Gun Rights, said the gun-control movement seeks to have the government take away constitutional rights.

 

"The main objective of these students is to ban firearms completely, and confiscate the firearms of law-abiding Americans," Brown said. "We will oppose them at every step."

 

In some conservative school districts, administrators told students they could face disciplinary steps if they walked out.

 

In suburban Dallas, a dozen students dressed in orange chanted "End gun violence!" as they huddled in a parking lot across the street from North Garland High School.

 

Freshman Victoria Fierro, 14, said school administrators blocked the doors when about 50 students tried to leave, so a small group exited through a side door.

 

"They told us we would get in trouble if we walk out, and we told them it was a peaceful protest, we're not causing any damage," Fierro said. "This is over a serious topic that people are pushing aside."

 

The principal declined to answer questions from Reuters.

 

It was not immediately clear whether Friday's turnout matched those of earlier protests. More than a month ago, tens of thousands of students from some 3,000 schools participated in the #ENOUGH National School Walkout to demand tighter gun control regulations.

 

On March 24, "March For Our Lives" rallies in cities across the United States were some of the biggest U.S. youth demonstrations in decades, with hundreds of thousands of young Americans and their supporters taking to the streets.

 

On the evening before the walk-outs, Colorado gun control activists rallied near Columbine High School.

 

Carlos Rodriguez, a 17-year-old junior from Marjory Stoneman, travelled to Columbine for the anniversary and said he found a sense of solidarity in the outpouring of support.

 

"That's the only thing that's keeping us Douglas students alive right now: the distraction of fighting for our rights and advocating for our lives," Rodriguez told Reuters.

 

There was no walkout on Friday at Columbine, which has not held classes on April 20 since the massacre. Students were encouraged to take part in community service instead.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-21

[Samui Bodoh]

9 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

"It happened like 20 years ago," said Ayanna Rhodes, 14, a student at Washington International School, referring to Columbine, "And we are still getting mass shootings in schools."

 

If there were mass shootings in my country at the level there is in the US, I would want the leaders to take action to prevent them. It is both shocking and stupifying that there is so much resistance to actions designed to prevent children from being shot and killed.

 

Gun rights people often say "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

 

This is mistaken. The truth is "People with guns kill people."

 

A truly civilized country would bend over backwards to lessen/stop mass shootings of children.

 

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

A truly civilized country would bend over backwards to lessen/stop mass shootings of children.

 

Platitudes are great.

 

But with somewhere around 300 million guns already in circulation, many of them in the hands of bad guys, those platitudes come up way short on practical solutions.

 

What, exactly, would you suggest?  Because no matter what your proposed solution is, I can play the devil's advocate and tell you why it won't work.   And I'm not even that militant about it.  Could the USA do better?  Sure, absolutely.  Can the problem be eliminated?  Not with 300 million already out there.  Pandora's box is already open.

 

Edited April 21, 2018 by impulse

[jimmyyy]

This is laughable, liberal socialist educators encouraging the young and stupid to think they can change the 2A.  All they have done is add millions of members to the NRA.  America will never get rid of their guns, its simply not going to happen.  We don't have a gun problem we have a mental health problem, which was brought on by these leftist educators and politicians who forced religion and american values out of the educational system.  

 

 

[stevenl]

32 minutes ago, jimmyyy said:

This is laughable, liberal socialist educators encouraging the young and stupid to think they can change the 2A.  All they have done is add millions of members to the NRA.  America will never get rid of their guns, its simply not going to happen.  We don't have a gun problem we have a mental health problem, which was brought on by these leftist educators and politicians who forced religion and american values out of the educational system.  

 

 

The only ones cl,aiming this is about 'getting rid of all guns' are the NRA, out of fear.

[Emster23]

300 million guns already out there, so why even try? some say.

It would take a long time to get rid of them... years maybe decades

That would still be less time than throwing up hands and doing nothing

[ballpoint]

The argument that bad guys will always get hold of guns holds little sway here, and, even if true, there's no need to make it so easy for them to do so.  In any case, your "bad guy" is going to use a gun in an armed robbery, or settle a score with a rival.  His aim is to get away free, not engage in a suicide mission by actually shooting a passerby and then getting shot himself.  You may point to the large number of non-mass murders in the US, but the vast majority of these have motives.  It's very rare for someone to go out and randomly shoot a single person dead with no motive.  When it does happen, it's reprehensible, and should be prevented, but is not what the OP is about.

 

The OP is about mass school, and other public places, shootings, where, in the majority of cases, the perpetrator is finally shot dead by law enforcement or himself (if someone can point to a female carrying out one of these acts then I'll change "himself").  They are far more likely to be done by a "good guy" who has snapped and has easy access to a gun.  He feels he has nothing to live for, and wants to make a statement / punish his perceived wrong doers, before ending it all.  How many of these people have gotten hold of their weapon through criminal means?  In every case I can recall, the gun was legally owned by the perpetrator or a member of his family.  Remove the easy access and remove the opportunity.

[mike324]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Platitudes are great.

 

But with somewhere around 300 million guns already in circulation, many of them in the hands of bad guys, those platitudes come up way short on practical solutions.

 

What, exactly, would you suggest?  Because no matter what your proposed solution is, I can play the devil's advocate and tell you why it won't work.   And I'm not even that militant about it.  Could the USA do better?  Sure, absolutely.  Can the problem be eliminated?  Not with 300 million already out there.  Pandora's box is already open.

 

Its like saying why should we regulate alcohol, or drugs. They are already out there, pandora's box is already open.

[UncleTouchyFingers]

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

The only ones cl,aiming this is about 'getting rid of all guns' are the NRA, out of fear.

 

He said "getting rid of their guns" not "Getting rid of all guns"... You interjected that little tidbit to try and mitigate the fact that these people are literally trying to get rid of/take away peoples guns, rights, and civil liberties, create overnight de-facto felons out of honest Americans, and ban the sale of "assault style weapons" AKA every basic magazine fed semi auto rifle out there. 

 

Recent lifetime member here too! Thanks kids (and CNN) 

 

[UncleTouchyFingers]

24 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

The OP is about mass school, and other public places, shootings, where, in the majority of cases, the perpetrator is finally shot dead by law enforcement or himself (if someone can point to a female carrying out one of these acts then I'll change "himself")

 

The fact that you didn't hear about this one just shows how complicit the media is in pushing the narrative of the (white) male shooter. 

 

Police talked with YouTube shooter hours before attack -- and say they didn't notice anything disturbing

 

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/04/us/who-is-nasim-aghdam-youtube-shooter/index.html

[impulse]

30 minutes ago, mike324 said:

Its like saying why should we regulate alcohol, or drugs. They are already out there, pandora's box is already open.

 

Another platitude.  But pretty short on any substance or detail.

 

Come back and propose a plan, then I can tell you why it won't work.

 

Edit:  BTW, Alcohol and drugs are consumables.  They're gone when they're used.  Guns are durables.  Use them all you want, and they're still around.  Huge difference.

 

Edited April 21, 2018 by impulse

[Anak Nakal]

3 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Platitudes are great.

 

But with somewhere around 300 million guns already in circulation, many of them in the hands of bad guys, those platitudes come up way short on practical solutions.

 

What, exactly, would you suggest?  Because no matter what your proposed solution is, I can play the devil's advocate and tell you why it won't work.   And I'm not even that militant about it.  Could the USA do better?  Sure, absolutely.  Can the problem be eliminated?  Not with 300 million already out there.  Pandora's box is already open.

 

You are France Defense policy.

 

I surrender!

I surrender!

I surrender!

 

I not try!

 

Promise!

 

[impulse]

Just now, Anak Nakal said:

You are France Defense policy.

 

I surrender!

I surrender!

I surrender!

 

I not try!

 

Promise!

 

And your proposal would be?  Pretty easy to throw rocks from the peanut gallery.

 

[UncleTouchyFingers]

Just now, impulse said:

 

And your proposal would be?  Pretty easy to throw rocks from the peanut gallery.

 

 

The end result is always the same:

 

Ban guns. 

[boomerangutang]

The older (and wiser?) I get, the more I see a need for the US to eliminate military-grade weapons from non-uniformed citizens (...from people who don't need them as part of their jobs).

 

Interesting that several posters say guns can't be curtailed, because there are so many guns.  That's like saying a sick patient can't be cured because there are so many bacteria in his system.  I differ. Policies can be put in place to lessen military-grade weapons in the US.  It will be painful medicine for some, but so be it.  Just as mustard gas and hand-grenades are outlawed, so too can military-grade weapons.  It won't be easy, but if I was prez, I would put action behind it, even if I had to use swat teams to batter down doors to do it.  .....same if I was taking action to close down bomb-making facilities in private houses.

[mike324]

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Another platitude.  But pretty short on any substance or detail.

 

Come back and propose a plan, then I can tell you why it won't work.

 

I'm sure you read recent news and plans on there, but why don't you propose a plan to cut down on the number of shootings since you don't agree with what is currently being proposed. I would like to hear your proposition instead of shrugging your shoulders and saying pandora's box is open.

 

Its common sense, you need to learn to drive to buy a car, but you don't need to learn to shoot to buy a gun. The plans out there isn't exactly rocket science. 

[impulse]

Just now, UncleTouchyFingers said:

 

The end result is always the same:

 

Ban guns. 

 

Here's why that won't work.  With 300 million guns already in circulation, some subset of them are in the hands of bad guys who won't turn them in.  Take the ability for good guys to defend their property and loved ones away, and the unintended consequence will be a huge increase in crime since burglars no longer fear armed residents when they break in.

 

I won't even go in to the founding documents of the republic, which enshrine the rights of an oppressed citizenry to rise up against their oppressors.

 

[impulse]

Just now, mike324 said:

I'm sure you read recent news and plans on there, but why don't you propose a plan to cut down on the number of shootings since you don't agree with what is currently being proposed. I would like to hear your proposition instead of shrugging your shoulders and saying pandora's box is open.

 

Its common sense, you need to learn to drive to buy a car, but you don't need to learn to shoot to buy a gun. The plans out there isn't exactly rocket science. 

 

I'm not smart enough.  But the difference is that I realize just how complicated the problem is.

 

BTW, you can own a car without ever learning to drive.  You can also drive it all over your own private property.  And the private property of anyone who will give you permission.   Another flawed analogy.

 

[boomerangutang]

3 hours ago, jimmyyy said:

This is laughable, liberal socialist educators encouraging the young and stupid to think they can change the 2A.  All they have done is add millions of members to the NRA.  America will never get rid of their guns, its simply not going to happen.  We don't have a gun problem we have a mental health problem, which was brought on by these leftist educators and politicians who forced religion and american values out of the educational system.  

So Jim, you're calling people stupid because they're young?  Everyone was young at some point in their lives.  Are you equating the two?   By your logic, you assume the older people get, the smarter they get?  Covfefe.

 

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

The only ones claiming this is about 'getting rid of all guns' are the NRA, out of fear.

Somewhat true.  Though the Russia-loving NRA (they give money to each other) are losing credence and respect a mile a minute.  It's not just high school students, it's every American who's not a redneck.   Things are getting polarized in the US.  In some ways, it's similar to Italy in 1939/40.  Substitute neo-Nazi gun huggers for Brown Shirts, and Trump for Mussolini, and you see what I mean. 

[mike324]

7 minutes ago, impulse said:

I'm not smart enough.  But the difference is that I realize just how complicated the problem is.

 

BTW, you can own a car without ever learning to drive.  You can also drive it all over your own private property.  And the private property of anyone who will give you permission.   Another flawed analogy.

 

Well, majority of the folks buy a car so they can drive not park in their garage. So not really a flawed analogy. Again its common sense.

 

11 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Here's why that won't work.  With 300 million guns already in circulation, some subset of them are in the hands of bad guys who won't turn them in.  Take the ability for good guys to defend their property and loved ones away, and the unintended consequence will be a huge increase in crime since burglars no longer fear armed residents when they break in.

 

I won't even go in to the founding documents of the republic, which enshrine the rights of an oppressed citizenry to rise up against their oppressors.

 

Guns do not stop crime, but yes it may better protect yourself which nobody is arguing about. That is a flawed reasoning, guns causes more crime according to multiple studies. Founding documents of the republic were made due to the circumstances during that time.

Edited April 21, 2018 by mike324

[sukhumvitneon]

9 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Interesting that several posters say guns can't be curtailed, because there are so many guns.  That's like saying a sick patient can't be cured because there are so many bacteria in his system.  I differ. Policies can be put in place to lessen military-grade weapons in the US.  It will be painful medicine for some, but so be it.  Just as mustard gas and hand-grenades are outlawed, so too can military-grade weapons.  It won't be easy, but if I was prez, I would put action behind it, even if I had to use swat teams to batter down doors to do it.  .....same if I was taking action to close down bomb-making facilities in private houses.

Comparing a rifle to mustard gas and grenades just LMAO.  The Clinton AWB didn't reduce crime by the way, in fact gun sales increased markedly during the ban, check the 2004 FBI report on it.

 

Turns out banning rifles/shotguns based on arbitrary "features" derived from some random list from California in 1989 doesn't really do anything, as does banning mags over some arbitrary limit. Letting the ban sunset was one of the few intelligent things "W" did.

[UncleTouchyFingers]

3 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

It won't be easy, but if I was prez, I would put action behind it, even if I had to use swat teams to batter down doors to do it. 

 

This.... This I can promise you would cause a serious problem for millions of Americans, and the SWAT teams. Without a doubt would cause a catastrophe unlike we've ever seen in modern US history. If you can live with a few thousand little waco's & ruby ridge's across most of the USA, from people that have done no wrong whatsoever, then that certainly says alot about you... Or at least that you havent thought this through very well. Theres anywhere from 20,000 to 60,000 militia members in the USA currently, most of which spawned from the government standoffs in the 1990's, and would spawn a hell of alot more if your policy was instated. And would most certainly turn most citizens against the government REAL quick. 

 

Sure there will be many (most) that will gladly turn in their weapons in order to keep from being killed by the government or sent to prison and ruining their easy lives, but there are a TON that would not. 

[impulse]

5 minutes ago, mike324 said:

Well, majority of the folks buy a car so they can drive not park in their garage. So not really a flawed analogy. Again its common sense.

 

Guns do not stop crime, but yes it may better protect yourself which nobody is arguing about. That is a flawed reasoning, guns causes more crime according to multiple studies. Founding documents of the republic were made due to the circumstances during that time.

 

One more time, I don't see a concrete proposal here.  Just some more platitudes. 

 

I believe in world peace, the end of hunger, and guaranteed health care for all humans.  But I don't have a plan for those.  Just like I'd love to see an end to mass shootings (that doesn't have even worse unintended consequences), but I can't think of a plan without serious downsides.  And I'm not seeing any workable plans put forward here.

 

[UncleTouchyFingers]

10 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Somewhat true.  Though the Russia-loving NRA (they give money to each other) are losing credence and respect a mile a minute.  It's not just high school students, it's every American who's not a redneck.   Things are getting polarized in the US.  In some ways, it's similar to Italy in 1939/40.  Substitute neo-Nazi gun huggers for Brown Shirts, and Trump for Mussolini, and you see what I mean. 

 

See, what you're intentionally doing right here is painting millions of Americans as literal Nazi-esque enemies to make it morally easier for you to subjugate the people you dislike (hate, clearly) to your ideology/beliefs/politics. 

 

Its rhetoric like yours that makes a "conversation" about guns impossible, and makes people like me dig in even harder (although thats not really possible because ill never bend the knee to people like you, ever, no matter how much of a villain you try to make me out to be).

 

The short term solution is to harden schools. 

 

The longer term solution is to look at WHY these kids are doing this, IE mentally what is getting re-wired in their noggins to make them feel like this is the only option. 

 

In no way is it a solution to attack people that havent done anything wrong. 

[Grouse]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Platitudes are great.

 

But with somewhere around 300 million guns already in circulation, many of them in the hands of bad guys, those platitudes come up way short on practical solutions.

 

What, exactly, would you suggest?  Because no matter what your proposed solution is, I can play the devil's advocate and tell you why it won't work.   And I'm not even that militant about it.  Could the USA do better?  Sure, absolutely.  Can the problem be eliminated?  Not with 300 million already out there.  Pandora's box is already open.

 

Have an amnesty and buy back every gun a fixed over price.

 

Automatic jail time for possession of a fire arm.

 

Make ammunition sales illegal

 

Change calibre of police and military weapons

 

and many more

[UncleTouchyFingers]

1 minute ago, Grouse said:

Have an amnesty and buy back every gun a fixed over price.

 

Automatic jail time for possession of a fire arm.

 

Make ammunition sales illegal

 

Change calibre of police and military weapons

 

and many more

 

So..... 

Ban guns. 

[boomerangutang]

3 minutes ago, UncleTouchyFingers said:

 

This.... This I can promise you would cause a serious problem for millions of Americans, and the SWAT teams. Without a doubt would cause a catastrophe unlike we've ever seen in modern US history. If you can live with a few thousand little waco's & ruby ridge's across most of the USA, from people that have done no wrong whatsoever, then that certainly says alot about you... Or at least that you havent thought this through very well. Theres anywhere from 20,000 to 60,000 militia members in the USA currently, most of which spawned from the government standoffs in the 1990's, and would spawn a hell of alot more if your policy was instated. And would most certainly turn most citizens against the government REAL quick. 

Sure there will be many (most) that will gladly turn in their weapons in order to keep from being killed by the government or sent to prison and ruining their easy lives, but there are a TON that would not. 

I mostly agree with you.  Whole books could be written on this topic.  

There were times, not long ago, if you went to the Chicago or NYC police dept and said "The mafia are bad. Police should bust them and put them out of business."  ....what would be the response?

 

Cops would look at you and probably laugh out loud, saying things like, "Are you kidding?!  We know the mafia is bad, but they're so big and powerful, there's nothing we can do to shut them down."

 

Yet there were individuals and law-enforcement organizations who endeavored to shut down the mafia - and there were some successes.  

 

Similarly, the argument that "there are simply too many guns owned by too many bad people in the US - that it's impossible to every try to lessen the problem." .....is to admit defeat, and therefore enable the harmful insanity (of multiple mass shootings in the US) to continue and increase.

 

Some right wing gun-huggers have convinced themselves that all reports of mass-shootings are fabricated (by liberal media).  It's actually a significant # are wallowing in massive denial of the truth.  the same sort of people who believe lots of other ridiculous conspiracy theories.  I'm sorry to say, my 40 yr old daughter is one of them.   She (and many others) also believe every story of a space craft going out of Earth's orbit is bs.  She's been sucked into the right-wing conspiracy BS - and her thinking is representative of around 15 to 22% of Americans.  Alex Jones is being sued by a father of one of the little kids who was murdered at Sandy Hook - because Jones keeps shouting (on his radio show) how the massacre was a fabricated story.

 

There are a lot of sickos in the US.  We thought Islamist extremists were whacko.  US whackos are giving them a lot of competition in who's-the-most-whacko dept.

[impulse]

1 minute ago, Grouse said:

Have an amnesty and buy back every gun a fixed over price.

 

Automatic jail time for possession of a fire arm.

 

Make ammunition sales illegal

 

Change calibre of police and military weapons

 

and many more

 

Because making stuff illegal is working so well on the war against drugs?  As if American prisons aren't already overflowing.

 

And I won't be voluntarily selling my guns unless I can buy replacements.

 

[boomerangutang]

6 minutes ago, UncleTouchyFingers said:

 

See, what you're intentionally doing right here is painting millions of Americans as literal Nazi-esque enemies to make it morally easier for you to subjugate the people you dislike (hate, clearly) to your ideology/beliefs/politics. 

Its rhetoric like yours that makes a "conversation" about guns impossible, and makes people like me dig in even harder (although thats not really possible because ill never bend the knee to people like you, ever, no matter how much of a villain you try to make me out to be).

The short term solution is to harden schools. 

The longer term solution is to look at WHY these kids are doing this, IE mentally what is getting re-wired in their noggins to make them feel like this is the only option. 

In no way is it a solution to attack people that havent done anything wrong. 

If my rhetoric seems out of left field - that's because it may take extreme language to deal with an extreme predicament.    Right wingers, by their own admission, say it would be impossible to take military-grade guns away 'from their cold dead hands.'   In other words, they're willing to wage military war against government/authorities in order to keep their war weapons.  They say it themselves.  

 

I don't think those HS youngsters are going far enough in their quest to make schools safer.   

[UncleTouchyFingers]

1 minute ago, boomerangutang said:

I mostly agree with you.  Whole books could be written on this topic.  

There were times, not long ago, if you went to the Chicago or NYC police dept and said "The mafia are bad. Police should bust them and put them out of business."  ....what would be the response?

 

Cops would look at you and probably laugh out loud, saying things like, "Are you kidding?!  We know the mafia is bad, but they're so big and powerful, there's nothing we can do to shut them down."

 

Yet there were individuals and law-enforcement organizations who endeavored to shut down the mafia - and there were some successes.  

 

Similarly, the argument that "there are simply too many guns owned by too many bad people in the US - that it's impossible to every try to lessen the problem." .....is to admit defeat, and therefore enable the harmful insanity (of multiple mass shootings in the US) to continue and increase.

 

Some right wing gun-huggers have convinced themselves that all reports of mass-shootings are fabricated (by liberal media).  It's actually a significant # are wallowing in massive denial of the truth.  the same sort of people who believe lots of other ridiculous conspiracy theories.  I'm sorry to say, my 40 yr old daughter is one of them.   She (and many others) also believe every story of a space craft going out of Earth's orbit is bs.  She's been sucked into the right-wing conspiracy BS - and her thinking is representative of around 15 to 22% of Americans.  Alex Jones is being sued by a father of one of the little kids who was murdered at Sandy Hook - because Jones keeps shouting (on his radio show) how the massacre was a fabricated story.

 

There are a lot of sickos in the US.  We thought Islamist extremists were whacko.  US whackos are giving them a lot of competition in who's-the-most-whacko dept.

 

What im reading here is you equating legal, law abiding gun owners to "The Mafia", then rambling on about space-junk and conspiracy theories. We get it. Everyone gets it. People like you think people like me are "whackos" and undeserving of the same civil liberties as you.