This time in Pennsylvania.

Dude. Who shoots Amish people? That's just plain evil.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

It is a new low - I mean these people go out of their way to not trouble the rest of society.

I'm intrigued to find out the background on this one, including the 20yo beef the milko had with the amish people.

Just another nutter perhaps - but in the US they have guns - and that equals multiple homicide.

Watching this town react -- at least according to the news-folk on the scene and I believe their take -- the Amish are all about "forgiving" the murderer and assailant of the little girls in the schoolhouse. Those children who are recovering from grievous wounds to their heads are the ones who should be in the position of forgiving or not forgiving, it seems to me. Not their neighbors. Not even their family members, though they were also injured by the assault. And how to forgive a dead man who has not and cannot apologize, atone, or make any kind of recompense for his acts?

Not so fast, I'd be thinking if I were a little girl on life support in some hospital in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Not so fast.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

I'm hearing he lost a child some 20 years ago, and has had a grudge against God ever since.  Perhaps this was his way of seeking revenge?  Either way he had some issue with young girls, confessing to sexually abusing a couple.

More amo for the anti-gun argument methinks.  Less guns doesn't mean less nutjobs, but it means less nutjobs with guns!!

3 school shootings in a week?  What has to happen in the US before some sense starts to prevail?

No, Cyba, he was 12-years old twenty years ago. The "lost child" referred to Elise - a premature baby who lived only hours. They have two other children, I believe.

He claimed in the suicide note that he had abused two minors (relatives) when he was an adolescent. No other validation for this confession has been validated or verified.

You can take his words and try to make some larger logical sense to his private internal logic as to why he decided to shoot 10 young girls execution style. But so what? For each malevolent malfunctioning unit, armed and surrendering to their convoluted killing purpose, there's not much that can be done to stop them. When there is one high profile massacre or hostage situation, other simmering monsters of internal rage out there may be coerced into acting out their own sick fantasies.

As is the custom, a deluge of Grief Counselors will then descend on the poor hapless afflicted communities. Then the country's poiticians will once again discuss "What To Do???" Their ideas will vary from limiting video game and TV vioience, banning yet another type of gun or ammunition, bullying seminars, sexual molestation seminars, or arming teachers (!). These nutjob school crimes tend to occur in bunches of 3 or 4; and then simmer back down while the nation gets back to focusing on other issues. The countless other nutters squirrel away their heinous notions of 'what I'd like to do some day...' and go on with their bumpy existences.

In a country where the population just hit the 300,000,000 mark this week, where there are the same number of firearms, and nearly as many laws regarding firearms and crimes utilizing firearms, it comes down to the individual malfunctioning units out there. The US seems to be the champion in that combo of murderers with guns, but that's only because we're the most high profile. We're prolific -- true -- but not the top of the heap. Try South Africa or Brazil or Mexico to name a few who beat the US. If you generalize it to include murder rates with any weapon, the US falls way down from the top o' the charts to middling.

Maybe it was just hyperbole, but I would ask you, Cybacat, what you would suggest is the best way for 'sense to prevail' in the USA?

In the mean time, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that moment.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Put Mel Gibson in charge, eh Cybacat?

x-ray
if your back's against the wall, turn around and write on it...