Police say there’s an active shooter in Lewiston, Maine, and they are investigating multiple scenes
Police say there’s an active shooter in Lewiston, Maine, and they are investigating multiple scenes
Get rid of guns and you can stop this.
It’s the most basic solution that even conservatives can understand.
They seem to apply the following logic to everything else:
Stop immigrants? Build wall
Stop terrorists? Kill them
Stop homeless? Bus them
Stop poor? Tax cut
Stop mass shootings? Ban guns
Ok wait a minute. The conservatives are wrong on all 4 of those. So are you saying that logic would be wrong for banning guns also? Not sure which argument you are making here.
One of the more common threads across these shootings is that the shooters tend to have some sort of mental issues that are painfully obvious and seem to get reported well before the shooting occurs. But the shooter's illness often festers in solitude, just circling a mental drain and getting more deranged until some sort of trigger sets them off. IMO, there needs to be a system that encourages gun owners to keep tabs on each other and vouch for each other (else lose their own license), and also require enlistment in the National Guard (with some sort of reduced requirements made for physical disabilities), with regular mental health screenings to check for stuff like this. Owning a gun should be treated as a huge responsibility, not something that just gets handed out to any dipshits just because they're 'Merican.
Getting rid of guns altogether would be great, but that just won't fly in America, there's just no chance of that happening anytime soon.
No one's even saying you have to ban all guns! Just common sense gun control would have prevented this! The dude was in an asylum and heard voices!!!
If they had taken the guns of this obviously troubled person, all those innocent people would have been unharmed...
No, no I'm saying ban all guns. At least one person is saying that.
You're right. If we only banned guns this would stop.
Just a nornal day in US
Definitely not for Maine though. This guy was a military weapons instructor for the army. My cousin was at West Point with him this summer and he is the one who got him a psych eval. One day on the shooting range I guess he had a psychotic breakdown talking about the voices in his head and wanting to shoot up places. The shooter was absolutely pissed about having to get a psych eval. The shooter is still at large and it's terrifying especially because he might be going after my cousin.
Yah but not for maine. It's a very quite state
This one shooter is likely to nearly match the TOTAL homicide rate for Maine last year (30). I think that when a state is looking at HALF THIER TOTAL MURDERS being from a mass shooting event, its time to stop treating them as an insignificant aberration and as a legitimate contributor to overall violence.
No, it really isn't.
Take a bow conservatives. The blood is on your hands.
They're cool with it.
If Conservative used bows, we wouldn't be in this situation.
I love how ppl who know nothing about guns are talking about how "it can't be full auto because $$$$"
Shut the fuck up u fools ..
U can buy a $20 auto sear online that makes any ar full auto. Yes its illegal. No one cares.
The big secret is ful auto or not doesn't matter, that gun will shoot as fast as you can pull the trigger. And someone like This I'm sure knows how to bump fire from damn near any position.
Yeah, people think that being able to fire off a whole magazine with one squeeze of the trigger means they can mow down 30 people like a gangster from an old black and white movie.
If anything, full auto would just make their shots less accurate and they'd run out of ammo faster in the heat of the moment.
this happened at a crowded bowling alley
Lewiston, about 35 miles north of Portland, emerged as a major center for African immigration into Maine. The Somali population, which numbers in the thousands, has changed the demographics of the once overwhelmingly white mill city into one of the most diverse in northern New England.
any indication that the crowd was any particular complexion?
I haven’t read anything about it, so I can’t say for sure, but I work in the Lewiston area and I’ve heard both the bowling alley and bar to be more “local” oriented businesses.
The Walmart distribution center is a weird one though, because it’s not really a store front.
Whatever his motivations are, it breaks my heart to see it happen in our neck of the woods.
I’m so sorry. I hope you didn’t lose anyone close to you tonight
The maine news was reporting that he had recently sought mental health support for schizophrenia and hearing voices.
White military guy, firearm instructor, buzz cut, wrap around sunglasses. Bet he knew where he was going.
No. There was a youth league Wednesday, though.
The shooter is still at large.
Robert Card
did they ask the guy with the huge gun what United States American political group he affiliates with? I feel like that's the question everyone's asking but I don't know because I didn't actually look
Excerpt from the US version of the Prayer of the Lord: "... and give us today our daily bread active shooter..."
It’s a satire news site
Is this real? I can't read anything.
Ah yes, the Obama voter.
(I know - it makes this commie bullshit sub so mad lmfao)
Must be an automatic weapon fired into a crowd to have that many casualties...
Automatic probably would have had fewer since it would have missed with most the shots. Lethality like that requires controlled and aimed fire with individual shots.
I believe the suspect that the police have identified was a firearms instructor at a military base down in Saco.
If it was a dense crowd, an automatic has more than enough accuracy to hit a ton of people since you do not need much accuracy at all in that scenario.
Some photos I've seen show a extended clip and a scope.
As much as USA is pro-gun, I thought automatics are not sold?
Regardless as the other comment says, firing on full auto is a waste of ammo. Back in service our first range practice we were given the Rambo-fantasy; hip firing at full auto at 10 metres out. No one hit any of the targets. It was a lesson to us that firearms, as easy as they are to use, needed at least some skill to be effective.
They aren’t.
Technically no. You can still get a fly automatic but they are expensive as hell. A cheaper solution would be a bump stock but that is even less accurate than an automatic. You could also illegally build your own.
As for ability to hit targets, how close together and how many were the targets? If it is a few targets spread out over 10-20 meters, yeah going full auto is going to miss a lot. Having dozens of people packed into a small area makes accuracy less important.
Full auto guns can be purchased. Most often they’re prior 80s ban guns. They’re older generally, although there are some newer full auto guns that have been hitting the market lately. They all require you to have full background checks and they’re serialized to match. The ATF is the one though that you have to register through to legally acquire one and from what I’ve heard it’s kind of a bitch to get approval on them (as it should be).
Were there 100 targets all right next to each other all within 50ft?
Highly unlikely unless he built it himself. Machine guns (automatic weapons) are extremely expensive (anywhere from the cost of a new car to a new house, depending on the model) and require you to submit to a colonoscopy, administered courtesy of the ATF. The result is that it's extremely rare for a legally-owned machine gun to be used in a shooting (afaik it's only happened once or twice since the ATF introduced tax stamps for them).
The thing that confuses me is why it is the government is able to restrict automatic weapons and weapons above a certain caliber through what is effectively a license system, but isn't able to restrict anything else because it'd run afoul of the 2nd amendment.
Guns should be like cars. No one should feel like they need one (except if it's part of your work, in which case your work should be providing one), and like a car, different kinds of guns should have different licenses. You want a double-barrel shotgun? Okay. You have to go through a week of training to get a basic redneck license and show you have a gun safe (not a cheapo lockbox) to keep it in when not in use. You want a machine gun? Cool. You have to get the super-ultra-deluxe gun owner's license that requires a year of training, authorization from the ATF and FBI, and proof that you have a gun safe to store it in.
Oh yeah, and if your gun is stolen and it was improperly secured and/or you fail to report it in a reasonable amount of time then your license(s) are permanently revoked and you're considered to be an accomplice to whatever crimes were committed with it.
I'd be willing that the last bit would dramatically cut down school shootings specifically.
I can buy a car with cash, no bg check, no license, no insurance, no training, no age restriction and drive it and use it on my private property...I can also move it across state lines with no issue. I can also buy any size car or truck without anything as well. So no your car analogy doesn't work.
And no that last bit wouldn't cut down on school shootings, as most are done with handguns in the inner cities using illegally obtained firearms already, and are usually gang oriented.
Tons of other things would cut down on our violence issue, but they're harder to pull off and politicians like to have a virtue signaling single voter issue to rely on.
At least 22 dead and 60 wounded.
To all of you out there who want no gun control. This blood is on your hands. Screw you and your 2nd amendment "rights."
Edit: 18 dead, 13 wounded
Still waiting for the good guy with a gun they keep repeating
EDIT: OK everyone, yes he was the good guy with a gun. Thanks to everyone for pointing this out
Apparently, the shooter was a firearms instructor. Aka, good guy with a gun turned bad guy with a gun.
This crap will never end until the tools they use to kill are off the streets.
cough cough Uvalde cough
didn't come because his mother aborted him /s
Yesterday the right said this WAS a good guy. Just let that sink in.
This guy is exactly the kind of person that the GOP considers a "good guy with a gun". He is a mentally ill veteran firearms instructor. Sounds like a boilerplate Trump supporter. Exactly who they want to have more guns.
Army vet and gun instructor... This was the good guy
There was a study published from data from the last like.. 10 years, I believe, that show that people with guns are more likely to run away, and people WITHOUT guns, are more likely to jump in and try to stop the shooter.
So ya. These good guys with guns are just pussies that never actually use them for good.
https://crimeresearch.org/2023/08/cases-where-armed-citizens-have-stopped-active-shooter-incidents/
Maybe be the change you want to see in the world instead of bitching, then.
edit: go ahead and keep downvoting me, when the right does finally manage a coup they'll be the only ones with any guns you stupid motherfuckers. For now, the 2nd amendment is your right -- you want to forgo it until they take it away from you (and only you), be my guest.
Predicting a failure in background checks here allowing him to get a gun:
Edit
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-maine-shooting-suspect-says-mental-health-deteriorated-rapidly-rcna122353
"The weapon believed to have been used in the attack was a sniper rifle with .308 caliber bullets, and it was purchased legally this year, officials said."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lewiston-maine-shooting-robert-card-what-know-rcna122262
"Maine court records show that a man named Robert Card who was born on the same date as the person of interest was charged with speeding in 2001 and 2002. No other criminal records were listed in the state's electronic court records system or in several other public records databases."
But also:
"It added that law enforcement said Card 'recently reported mental health issues to include hearing voices and threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, ME.'
The bulletin said Card was reported to have been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks this summer and then released. NBC News has not been able to independently verify the bulletin's statements about Card's history."
In previous incidents, people committed to mental health facilities didn't have it turn up on their background check unless it was ordered by a judge. That needs to change.
I'm seeing varying reports that he was also convicted of domestic abuse, but this link shows no such charges.
Anyone hearing voices needs to have their guns immediately seized.
Not very many people have argued that people who have actually made violent threats and been institutionalized should be buying guns.
The 5th Circuit Court (with at least one judge appointed by Trump) has ruled that removing the guns from a violent domestic abuser violates his rights: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/02/09/guns-domestic-abuse-second-amendment/
This guy was a firearms instructor. Literally a good guy with a gun turned into a bad guy with a gun.
True, but continuing to vote for representatives who refuse to have any conversation about gun control still makes them complicit in this behavior.
Someone once told me, be careful of your thoughts for your thoughts may affect your words, be careful of your words because your words may come to become your actions, be careful of your actions for your actions may reflect on your character.
If you ask me, owning a firearm and making violent threats don't necessarily mean actions, but I agree that there's a definitive correlation. I guess that I still believe that the action itself is the most honest and serious commitment to something a person can express.
And Republicans will still refuse to do any sort of enforcement law.
It doesn’t matter. Not what you say or how many people get slaughtered because of their powertripping fantasies.
The last time I argued with these folks, it was on r/Europe I think. Besides the rabid antics their arguments were…interesting? My favourite was „Imagine needing another man to protect your home“. Some time later one of them, a young English man, even became famous. By killing his mother and a couple of others. And of course it was a super incel with a multitude of mental health issues.
The point I’m trying to make is, they don’t care. Or at the very least they are deluded to a point that they don’t see what damage it does.
There are so many guns in the US right now that it's ridiculous. Gun control here would be great... If it were done a hundred years ago. I'm not saying I'm against common sense laws, but like... Pandoras box is open here.
There are 120 firearms for every 100 civilians that live in the U.S. We have 46% of the total worldwide statistic for civilian ownership. The US makes up only a meager 331.9 million out of 7.89 billion people worldwide. That means 4.2% of the world owns 46% of the guns... And those people are all American.
On top of this, some of the most heinous shootings in US history were performed with illegally obtained weapons. Columbine is one of the examples most will recognize.
I'm not leading up to anything here, I just wanted to educate everyone on how fucked we are.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_ownership
Definitely, but your argument is unfortunately what keeps us from ever doing anything about it. Thinking that it can't be done is just not good enough.
Age limits and rubber bullets for veterans would probably help
America has too many guns to ever have gun control. Move to Canada if you want that peace of mind.
People have vices, violence is a vice too
I am against gun control laws and this blood is not on my hands.
You may be blind to it, but it's there.
Your past failure to learn from these continued atrocities is your complicity. Your current preference to protect the tools of violence over lives is your complicity. Your future vote to keep the status quo even as history repeats itself is your complicity.
Yup, you're right, because millions of people have owned guns legally for hundreds of years, it's their fault and blood is on their hands for this mass shooting.
Your past failure to learn from these continued atrocities is your complicity. Your current preference to protect the tools of violence over lives is your complicity. Your future vote to keep the status quo even as history repeats itself is your complicity.
Guns three hundred years ago were only slightly more dangerous than a guy with a rock and a mean your mama so fat joke. It isn't hundreds of years it's like 150 years.
You dropped this chief /s
A truck is not designed specifically to kill as many people as possible in as little time as possible. Most firearms are. This type of firearm certainly is.
You can't sit in a hotel room in Las Vegas, hundreds of yards from a crowd, and kill 60 people and wound more than 400 with a truck or a knife. Very different tools.
And I really don't care about your gun "pastime" or "rights." I care about getting my kids safely home from school and how having 5-year-olds do active shooter drills. Insanity.
A couple points.
One: No armed militia is going to stop the US 7bn dollar military apparatus on home territory. Don't bring up Vietnam. Don't bring up Afghanistan. If you think gravy seals navy is anything compared to the Viet Cong you are deluded.
Two: using the France terrorist road vehicle attack as a counter is disingenuous use of stats/numbers. You can't compare a singular attack to the average gun based attacks in the US. What you would do -if you really cared to compare them- is take the average per capita road rage incident or vehicle based murders and compare them to the gun related mass shootings / deaths. You can control for many factors too (time frames, region, age, etc). Something about guns being readily available makes them more likely to be used. We have millions of people driving and only so many intentional terrorist attacks using vehicles.
The "nazi gun control supported the holocaust" argument has been debunked for a very long time. Argument debunk Nazi gun control laws
Frtuermore, gun control supporters of today are not the same as NAZI gun control supporters - who disarmed Jews.
This misinformation disappoints me, but the nature of your comment is overwhelmingly correct.
Horrifying words that ring true. Gun control is in my opinion moot for many reasons. This guy deserved more healthcare.
Your arguments about vans are OK but your fascist talking points tell me you're not worth listening to.
This is like saying that cancer isn’t the only way you can die so we should stop trying to cure cancer
https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1848971668
If those were just as deadly and easy, people would be using them. A fertilizer bomb can easily kill the person making it and the spread of a truck is significantly slower and more obvious than a bullet.
You are correct that there are multiple ways to kill people. But the other methods are not as likely to kill and are harder to operate effectively. There is no comparison so stop acting like there is one.
What a stupid fucking argument. Gun violence is a sheer numbers game. The ease of access and use of firearms is a massive problem, and when you combine that with the serious socio-economic/political problems in this country that is how you end up with this on-going violence.
Yeah, there are other ways for people to commit violence such as the examples you provided, but they aren't used at the same scale or with the same frequency. Why? Well, partly because building a bomb is a lot more complicated than buying a gun. Does it still happen? Yes, but again with FAR less frequency.
Your argument that because there are other ways to commit violence that we should not do anything to combat gun violence is just so tired and misguided. We should do something where we can to combat problems that we know how to deal with. It isn't a fucking mystery how you limit gun violence. You need to limit the number of guns.
Look at smoking as an example. Everyone knows that smoking causes cancer now. There are still people who choose to smoke, but it has become much less prominent thanks to social enforcement of not smoking in public places among other things. It took a generation, but millions of lives have been saved thanks to the slow roll of common sense limitations and restrictions on tobacco products.
Quit using these fallacious arguments, and just say what you really mean:
"I don't personally care about people who die to gun violence because my personal desire to continue owning guns supercedes the need for any common sense gun reforms."
You know that nobody has ever claimed it's the only way a nutjob would kill people
But for whatever reason, it's vastly more common to murder.people with a gun than with a truck or fertilizer bomb.
Coincidentally trucks are licensed, registered, and highly regulated. And while I'm sure you can get around it, the sale of ingredients that can be used in bombs are generally tracked/regulated as well.
I think the point you seemed to have missed is that building a fertilizer bomb is not as simple as obtaining a gun in many places in the US. There are no specific fertilizer bomb stores. There are no fertilizer bomb “shows”. They cannot be reused, you would have to build a new one every time…unlike a gun. They are illegal everywhere because they are bombs, and and every time you make a new one, you risk blowing yourself up first…which is a great feature!
Running a truck into a crowd, I mean sure, but I doubt you’d take out, say, 20 (just going off of what the current number of dead is in Maine), or 60 (Las Vegas) people. The Boston bombing “only” killed 3 people, so yeah sure I guess I’d prefer a relatively few people to take the time to make one and, assuming they didn’t fuck up, sure, I guess some innocent people could die here and there. It would suck, but I like trying to minimize easily preventable deaths. People escape from prison, too, but most don’t, and so we don’t just throw our hands up and say “oh well, guess we won’t investigate” every time that happens.
And I guess you could run a truck into an elementary school classroom somehow and manage to mow down 19 kids, but I really doubt it. I don’t have anything to compare that to, unlike…well yeah there’s been a lot of those in schools to look at over the past 20 or so years, so pick one.
I'm genuinely sorry that you're so stupid and afraid. Having poor education, no good role models and lack of support from friends and family is a pretty devastating combination. Maybe as you get older you'll grow out of being the way you are.
Ah right, the hundreds of fertilizer bomb attacks we have every year.
As if it wouldn't become a lot harder to buy fertilizer in days if that were the case.
(No I didn't miss the McVeigh reference, I just found it to be a ridiculous false equivalence.)
And if folks were running into crowds with trucks twice a week, we'd see some new restrictions there also.
Remind me the last time that happened
You're in denial. Stop being in denial. Seriously.
There's a reason why you can't buy bombs in the bomb store. These things are professionally designed to explode and kill as many people as possible.
Yet, you can go and buy an AR-15 or worse in a gun store. A weapon professionally designed to kill as many people as possible in as little time as possible.
This is an almost entirely American problem. It's not like the US is more mentally ill than every other developed country in the world. What distinguishes the US is the easy access to weapons. Take the tools of these killings away.