Shootings are becoming more frequent lately

[CobraBites]

another shooting in seattle...here is live link

 

http://abcnews.go.com/live

[CobraBites]

http://news.yahoo.com/hospital-1-dead-3-injured-university-shooting-001121180.html

[PimpedOutPete]

It has become the norm rather than the exception. A sad reality to the society we live in.

 

Leads to the question, how do we prevent this if possible.

[KingStinger!]

Wow, another shooting. The sign of the times speeding up.. Just saying..

[fireurza]

It has become the norm rather than the exception. A sad reality to the society we live in.

 

Leads to the question, how do we prevent this if possible.

 

 

what do you mean we? you live in canada

[KingStinger!]

what do you mean we? you live in canada

http://www.xtremeidiots.com/topic/46005-3-rcmp-officers-killed-and-2-wounded/

An example of what Pete means. Just because were Canadian dont exempt us from the sins of the world lol

[KingStinger!]

http://www.xtremeidiots.com/topic/46005-3-rcmp-officers-killed-and-2-wounded/

An example of what Pete means. Just because were Canadian were not exempt us from the sins of the world lol

[Sammy]

In the meantime, while this was all unfolding. Another 1000 people were shot to death in America.

[Scoarch]

well the USA's  population base is way larger and more dense than Canada's.  i wonder what the stats are world wide in developed country's for murder per population.  

i had seen a study years ago about population density on rats and how the more dense the population the more violent the critters became.   now i know we  are not rats  ( at least most are not   lol)  but the persons doing the study and others said that the rats social behaviour  mimics human behaviour quite closely.  

[little_old_man]

In the meantime, while this was all unfolding. Another 1000 people were shot to death in America.

 

Wow, really? Do you have a link to that? I must have missed it.

 

We average about 10-15 per day in a country of over 315 million, so a thousand people getting shot to death in a single day would be really big news.

[deerejon]

Its not that we are a more violent society than ever in history....geez...the crusades, rome, hitler, satlin, south Africa, Genghis kahn, sweeny todd...on and on...perhaps maybe? its the fact that news from around the globe and or country is available to all immediatly??

[7Toes]

no there's been shootings for a long time now but the media is going gaga over it now if a fire cracker goes off they say someone heard gun shots in there neighborhood.its all about the gun control there are trying to push  most media outlets are control by the government lol.thats like when they hold a press conference  they brief the press on what questions they are aloud to ask lol

[7Toes]

[ENG4INE]

If you look at FBI and independent crime statistics violent crime overall is going down in America. The liberal media just chooses to glorify shooter's actions by spending hours covering their actions in a story. What person that is bullied, ignored, antisocial, dysfunctional, and/or mentally ill wouldn't want to do something to gain national attention since they can't even get the girl next door to look at them? We need to stop making shooter's instant celebrities and address mental illness and parent's not taking accountability and the time to raise their children.  

[Sammy]

Wow, really? Do you have a link to that? I must have missed it.

 

We average about 10-15 per day in a country of over 315 million, so a thousand people getting shot to death in a single day would be really big news.

 

You are right I just pulled that number out of a hat to make a point. Actually its currently more like 500 per month. Even so, still a staggering number. Not long ago it was 1000 per month. So while this event is getting national attention... for 1 death... since then another 10-15 were shot. We dont hear about them.

 

In case you havent heard, there was a potentially infinately worse possibility that happened today. On par with a major terrorist attack .But he was shot to death before he could get inside the courthouse.

[little_old_man]

This article that came out following the UC Santa Barbara shooting a few weeks ago pretty much sums up how I feel about the increase of mass shootings over the last 30 years. Remember the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Places like that don't really exist any more. Those people are walking the streets, on tons of meds, and can legally buy guns.

 

 

We used to lock up crazy people. Then we stopped. We used to care for crazy people. Then we stopped. We used to call crazy people insane. Then we stopped. We used to call crazy people mentally ill. Then we stopped.

 

Now, we do next to nothing. Until they do something, like kill for reasons most of us could never even begin to fathom.

 

Elliot Rodger was lonely. Elliot Rodger was desperately lonely. Elliot Rodger was isolated. Elliot Rodger was a murderer, he was sick, and we can sit there and blame it on class warfare, misogyny, alienation, guns. The real cause (not to be disrespectful to the dead) is the fact that Elliot Rodger was just plain crazy.

 

There, I said it. Somebody has to. Since the dawn of time, there have been people who are ... well ... “crazy.” I know it sounds harsh, but the longer we sit around looking for euphemisms and explanations for their actions, the more people will die.

 

It turns out that Rodger was on “psychotropic” drugs. What are psychotropic drugs? Basically they are medicines that alter chemicals in the brain, which in turn affect mood and behavior. Some of the common side effects include (but are not limited to) suicidal tendencies, hallucinations, psychosis and mania.

 

Psychotropic drugs have become so commonplace, they’ve blended into our lexicon and may be taken, at one time or another, by as many as half of all Americans. Lithium and Prozac come to mind as immortalized by Gen X-ers. In the Nirvana song of the same name, Kurt Cobain describes crazy for millions of fans with the lyrics: “I'm so happy/'Cause today I found my friends/They're in my head.” By the way, Kurt Cobain was a manic-depressive drug user who shot and killed himself in the head 20 years ago.

 

Which brings us back to Elliot Rodger. He too had a friend in his head, a friend who convinced him that women who didn't want to be with him needed to die. This past weekend he went on a violent killing spree in and around the campus of the University of California Santa Barbara due to his “loneliness.” He was a sad, sick young man who thought he was entitled to love, entitled to sex ... misunderstood?

 

Actually, he was pretty easy to figure out. He was crazy. His mother told that to the police, but they they didn’t listen.

Police chose to leave him alone. They didn’t take his guns (they didn't see them). They didn’t even take him away. Why? Because, by law, they couldn’t institutionalize him unless he’d already been institutionalized. The problem is we no longer institutionalize.

 

Psychiatrists say getting somebody committed today is close to impossible. Long-term facilities are few and far apart, with waiting periods of up to a year. As for short-term interventions? They say insurance companies aren’t willing to pay for hospital stays, thereby creating a revolving door where even the violently insane can pass through undetected.

 

And therein lies the problem. We used to have a place for people who we thought were crazy. They were called “insane asylums.”

 

Then in the 1960s and 1970s, we did away with them. We chose instead to treat them with anti psychotic drugs and manage them with short-term or outpatient care.

 

Today we’re no longer allowed to call them insane. We’re simply allowed to say they’re “ill —mentally ill.” Gone are the places to put them. Gone are the institutions. Gone is the money to manage their care, long term or short.

 

So what are we left with? Crazy people, lots of them. And drugs, lots of them. And murders, lots of them. Is it unfair to suggest that all people who consume psychotropic drugs become violent criminals? Of course it is. So instead, let’s consider this list of the most noteworthy violent offenders who were on psychotropic, beginning with a man who tried to kill a president.

 

John Hinckley (1981) attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Also shot press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and policeman Thomas Delahanty. Drug: Valium.

 

Laurie Dann (1988) shot up a second-grade classroom in Winnetka, IL, killing one and wounding six. Drugs: Ana-franil and Lithium.

 

Patrick Purdy (1989) conducted a schoolyard shooting rampage in Stockton, CA, murdered five children and wounded 30. Drugs: Amitriptvine and Thorazine.

 

Joseph T. Wesbecker (1989) shot 20 workers at Standard Gravure Corp. in Louisville, Ky., killing nine. Drug: Prozac.

 

Kurt Danysh (1996) shot his own father to death in 1996 without knowing what happened. Drug: Prozac.

 

Michael Carneal (1997), just 14 year old, shot up a High School prayer meeting in Paducah, KY, killing three and leaving another paralyzed. Drug: Ritalin.

 

Kip Kinkel (1998), 15 years old, murdered his parents and went to school the next day where he killed two classmates and wounded 22. Drugs: Prozac and Ritalin.

 

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (1999) were behind the school shooting rampage in Columbine, Colorado in which they killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 24 others. Drug: Luvox.

 

Larry Gene Ashbrook (1999) murdered seven people and injured seven at a Christian Rock concert in Fort Worth, Texas. Drug: Prozac.

 

Michael McDermott (2000) accused of gunning down seven of his co-workers at a Wakefield tech. Drugs: A trio of anti-depressants.

 

Christopher Pittman (2001), 12 years old, murdered his grandparents. Drugs: Paxil and Zoloft

 

Andrea Yates (2001) drowned all five of her children – ages 7 years down to 6 months – in a bathtub. Drug: Effexor.

 

Jeff Weise (2005), a 16-year-old living on Minnesota's Red Lake Indian Reservation, shot and killed nine people and wounded five others. Drug: Prozac.

 

Terry Michael Ratzmann (2005) killed seven members of the Living Church of God (LCG) before committing suicide. Drug: Medication for Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

 

Seung-Hui Cho (2007) was the spree killer who killed 32 people and wounded 17 others at Virginia Tech. Drug: Prozac.

 

Robert Hawkins (2007) killed eight people before turning a gun on himself and committing suicide. Drugs: Ritilin and Zoloft.

 

Steven Kazmierczak (2008) opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing six and wounding 21. Drugs: Xanax and Ambien.

 

Robert Stewart (2009) killed eight people in a shooting at the Pinelake Health and Rehab nursing home in Carthage, NC. Drugs: Lexapro, Ambien, Benadryl, Xanax.

 

Jared Loughner (2011) shot former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz. at an event she was holding at a Safeway market. Drug: Medication for schizophrenia.

 

Eduardo Sencion (2011) entered IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., and shot 12 people. Five died, including three National Guard members. Drugs: He was taking unknown drugs for “mental issues.”

 

Scott Evans Dekraai (2012) entered a hair salon in Seal Beach, Ca. Killed and fatally shot six women and two men. Drug: Anti-psychotics.

 

Thomas "TJ" Lane (2012) killed three students during a rampage at Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio. Three others were injured. Drugs: Mix of prescription drugs with heroin.

 

Ian Stawicki (2012) opened fire on Cafe Racer Espresso in Seattle, Wash., killing five and himself after a citywide manhunt. Drugs: Unknown medication for “psychiatric problems.”

 

James Holmes (2012), dressed like the Joker, killed 12 people and wounded 58 during the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo. Drugs: Four prescription medications including Vicodin, (he was said to be hooked on it.)

 

Andrew Engeldinger (2012) shot five to death at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, Minn. Three others were wounded. Drugs: Mirtazapine Trazodon, Temazepam and Wellbutrin.

 

Adam Lanza (2012) shot and killed 27 people, including 18 children, at Sandy Hook elementary in Newtown, Conn. Drug: Fanapt.

[Tron]

But how was this latest shooting possible in Seattle? It was on a college campus ...which here in WA, is a "gun free zone". I didn't think random shootings perpetrated by crazy people were possible in "gun free zones". [sarcasm]

[Sammy]

The two epilepsy medications I take have their side effects. For one I can have significant mood swings. I could feel great. Or absolutely terrible. Others I want to punch someone out if I get real frustrated. But I know this and deal with it. Helps that in general I am a nice person. I suppose that is like when 'aunt flo' makes her monthy visit to women. Except for me its 24/7 every day of the year. No need to mark it on a calendar and its not going away.  By their very nature these medications affect the brain so such things are watched for.  Many people have it much worse than I do. Or are forced to take larger quantities of he meds. One of the side effects a few people could potentially have, which I dont, is suicidal tendencies. But it is rare.

 

But that is enough for some people to say that I need to be watched by the govt. Not just my doctor. Not because I show signs of something. But simply because I take the meds.  Some shooter is on a particular medication. Could be mine. Could be Ambien. Could be something else. Peoples reactions? Or the reactions of the shitheads on cable news? Treat every person on it as dangerous. While I am all for govt helping people with any issues that they may have I wont support a dumbass politician that wants to bring govt run institutions back. Or support the organizations that call for it.

 

I truly belive for example that while the NRA, or others more hard core than they are, push hard for unlimited and unrestricted gun ownership they would have no problem locking me away if they could. Not their problem.

[Tron]

You are right I just pulled that number out of a hat to make a point. Actually its currently more like 500 per month. Even so, still a staggering number. Not long ago it was 1000 per month. So while this event is getting national attention... for 1 death... since then another 10-15 were shot. We dont hear about them.

 

In case you havent heard, there was a potentially infinately worse possibility that happened today. On par with a major terrorist attack .But he was shot to death before he could get inside the courthouse.

 

The vast majority of gun deaths in this country are from suicide, or are due to criminals killing other criminals.

[Astronomer]

If you look at FBI and independent crime statistics violent crime overall is going down in America. The liberal media just chooses to glorify shooter's actions by spending hours covering their actions in a story. What person that is bullied, ignored, antisocial, dysfunctional, and/or mentally ill wouldn't want to do something to gain national attention since they can't even get the girl next door to look at them? We need to stop making shooter's instant celebrities and address mental illness and parent's not taking accountability and the time to raise their children.

I forget which organization advocates this, but they are urging media outlets to not give out any information on the perp, not even their name, but to focus on those killed and/or injured, and the community impact. Why give the cowardly shits the notoriety that they crave? Canada's equivalent of the NPR, the CBC, did just that on a segment of their nightly current affairs show, "As it Happens" regarding the recent incident in California. It was quite refreshing, informative, poignant, and it put these sort of incidents in proper perspective.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Astronomer

[Leadfinger]

It has become the norm rather than the exception. A sad reality to the society we live in.

 

Leads to the question, how do we prevent this if possible.

If your asking me (Leads <>Leadfinger)    "How do we prevent this if possible" (see below)

 

well the USA's  population base is way larger and more dense than Canada's.  i wonder what the stats are world wide in developed country's for murder per population.  

i had seen a study years ago about population density on rats and how the more dense the population the more violent the critters became.   now i know we  are not rats  ( at least most are not   lol)  but the persons doing the study and others said that the rats social behaviour  mimics human behaviour quite closely.  

I have heard about a similar study with rats in a cage and after growing up in Southern California I can totally see how relevant that theory is. Too many rats in that cage and it can be seen in a milder form on the freeways with road rage and just overall nastiness.  "Despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in a cage" (Smashing Pumpkins)

 

Its not that we are a more violent society than ever in history....geez...the crusades, rome, hitler, satlin, south Africa, Genghis kahn, sweeny todd...on and on...perhaps maybe? its the fact that news from around the globe and or country is available to all immediatly??

This is true

The age we live in has communication capabilities like never before in the history of man and when you put those capabilities in the hands of morons with a complete disregard of the well being of America, Canada or any nation.then add in some Agenda you better stand back . . cuz she's gonna blow!!!

 

If you look at FBI and independent crime statistics violent crime overall is going down in America. The liberal media just chooses to glorify shooter's actions by spending hours covering their actions in a story. What person that is bullied, ignored, antisocial, dysfunctional, and/or mentally ill wouldn't want to do something to gain national attention since they can't even get the girl next door to look at them? We need to stop making shooter's instant celebrities and address mental illness and parent's not taking accountability and the time to raise their children.  

This is a major contributing factor  . . .I'm even willing to go as far as saying 51% of these killings could have never happened if the parenting skills of humans improved greatly. I know some things good parenting cant fix like mental illness or chemical imbalance but if parents did a better job of teaching kids about interacting with others with these types of issues perhaps +% more could be avoided

 

This article that came out following the UC Santa Barbara shooting a few weeks ago pretty much sums up how I feel about the increase of mass shootings over the last 30 years. Remember the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Places like that don't really exist any more. Those people are walking the streets, on tons of meds, and can legally buy guns.

 

 

We used to lock up crazy people. Then we stopped. We used to care for crazy people. Then we stopped. We used to call crazy people insane. Then we stopped. We used to call crazy people mentally ill. Then we stopped.

 

Now, we do next to nothing. Until they do something, like kill for reasons most of us could never even begin to fathom.

 

Elliot Rodger was lonely. Elliot Rodger was desperately lonely. Elliot Rodger was isolated. Elliot Rodger was a murderer, he was sick, and we can sit there and blame it on class warfare, misogyny, alienation, guns. The real cause (not to be disrespectful to the dead) is the fact that Elliot Rodger was just plain crazy.

 

There, I said it. Somebody has to. Since the dawn of time, there have been people who are ... well ... “crazy.” I know it sounds harsh, but the longer we sit around looking for euphemisms and explanations for their actions, the more people will die.

 

It turns out that Rodger was on “psychotropic” drugs. What are psychotropic drugs? Basically they are medicines that alter chemicals in the brain, which in turn affect mood and behavior. Some of the common side effects include (but are not limited to) suicidal tendencies, hallucinations, psychosis and mania.

 

Psychotropic drugs have become so commonplace, they’ve blended into our lexicon and may be taken, at one time or another, by as many as half of all Americans. Lithium and Prozac come to mind as immortalized by Gen X-ers. In the Nirvana song of the same name, Kurt Cobain describes crazy for millions of fans with the lyrics: “I'm so happy/'Cause today I found my friends/They're in my head.” By the way, Kurt Cobain was a manic-depressive drug user who shot and killed himself in the head 20 years ago.

 

Which brings us back to Elliot Rodger. He too had a friend in his head, a friend who convinced him that women who didn't want to be with him needed to die. This past weekend he went on a violent killing spree in and around the campus of the University of California Santa Barbara due to his “loneliness.” He was a sad, sick young man who thought he was entitled to love, entitled to sex ... misunderstood?

 

Actually, he was pretty easy to figure out. He was crazy. His mother told that to the police, but they they didn’t listen.

Police chose to leave him alone. They didn’t take his guns (they didn't see them). They didn’t even take him away. Why? Because, by law, they couldn’t institutionalize him unless he’d already been institutionalized. The problem is we no longer institutionalize.

 

Psychiatrists say getting somebody committed today is close to impossible. Long-term facilities are few and far apart, with waiting periods of up to a year. As for short-term interventions? They say insurance companies aren’t willing to pay for hospital stays, thereby creating a revolving door where even the violently insane can pass through undetected.

 

And therein lies the problem. We used to have a place for people who we thought were crazy. They were called “insane asylums.”

 

Then in the 1960s and 1970s, we did away with them. We chose instead to treat them with anti psychotic drugs and manage them with short-term or outpatient care.

 

Today we’re no longer allowed to call them insane. We’re simply allowed to say they’re “ill —mentally ill.” Gone are the places to put them. Gone are the institutions. Gone is the money to manage their care, long term or short.

 

So what are we left with? Crazy people, lots of them. And drugs, lots of them. And murders, lots of them. Is it unfair to suggest that all people who consume psychotropic drugs become violent criminals? Of course it is. So instead, let’s consider this list of the most noteworthy violent offenders who were on psychotropic, beginning with a man who tried to kill a president.

 

John Hinckley (1981) attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Also shot press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and policeman Thomas Delahanty. Drug: Valium.

 

Laurie Dann (1988) shot up a second-grade classroom in Winnetka, IL, killing one and wounding six. Drugs: Ana-franil and Lithium.

 

Patrick Purdy (1989) conducted a schoolyard shooting rampage in Stockton, CA, murdered five children and wounded 30. Drugs: Amitriptvine and Thorazine.

 

Joseph T. Wesbecker (1989) shot 20 workers at Standard Gravure Corp. in Louisville, Ky., killing nine. Drug: Prozac.

 

Kurt Danysh (1996) shot his own father to death in 1996 without knowing what happened. Drug: Prozac.

 

Michael Carneal (1997), just 14 year old, shot up a High School prayer meeting in Paducah, KY, killing three and leaving another paralyzed. Drug: Ritalin.

 

Kip Kinkel (1998), 15 years old, murdered his parents and went to school the next day where he killed two classmates and wounded 22. Drugs: Prozac and Ritalin.

 

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (1999) were behind the school shooting rampage in Columbine, Colorado in which they killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 24 others. Drug: Luvox.

 

Larry Gene Ashbrook (1999) murdered seven people and injured seven at a Christian Rock concert in Fort Worth, Texas. Drug: Prozac.

 

Michael McDermott (2000) accused of gunning down seven of his co-workers at a Wakefield tech. Drugs: A trio of anti-depressants.

 

Christopher Pittman (2001), 12 years old, murdered his grandparents. Drugs: Paxil and Zoloft

 

Andrea Yates (2001) drowned all five of her children – ages 7 years down to 6 months – in a bathtub. Drug: Effexor.

 

Jeff Weise (2005), a 16-year-old living on Minnesota's Red Lake Indian Reservation, shot and killed nine people and wounded five others. Drug: Prozac.

 

Terry Michael Ratzmann (2005) killed seven members of the Living Church of God (LCG) before committing suicide. Drug: Medication for Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

 

Seung-Hui Cho (2007) was the spree killer who killed 32 people and wounded 17 others at Virginia Tech. Drug: Prozac.

 

Robert Hawkins (2007) killed eight people before turning a gun on himself and committing suicide. Drugs: Ritilin and Zoloft.

 

Steven Kazmierczak (2008) opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing six and wounding 21. Drugs: Xanax and Ambien.

 

Robert Stewart (2009) killed eight people in a shooting at the Pinelake Health and Rehab nursing home in Carthage, NC. Drugs: Lexapro, Ambien, Benadryl, Xanax.

 

Jared Loughner (2011) shot former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz. at an event she was holding at a Safeway market. Drug: Medication for schizophrenia.

 

Eduardo Sencion (2011) entered IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., and shot 12 people. Five died, including three National Guard members. Drugs: He was taking unknown drugs for “mental issues.”

 

Scott Evans Dekraai (2012) entered a hair salon in Seal Beach, Ca. Killed and fatally shot six women and two men. Drug: Anti-psychotics.

 

Thomas "TJ" Lane (2012) killed three students during a rampage at Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio. Three others were injured. Drugs: Mix of prescription drugs with heroin.

 

Ian Stawicki (2012) opened fire on Cafe Racer Espresso in Seattle, Wash., killing five and himself after a citywide manhunt. Drugs: Unknown medication for “psychiatric problems.”

 

James Holmes (2012), dressed like the Joker, killed 12 people and wounded 58 during the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo. Drugs: Four prescription medications including Vicodin, (he was said to be hooked on it.)

 

Andrew Engeldinger (2012) shot five to death at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, Minn. Three others were wounded. Drugs: Mirtazapine Trazodon, Temazepam and Wellbutrin.

 

Adam Lanza (2012) shot and killed 27 people, including 18 children, at Sandy Hook elementary in Newtown, Conn. Drug: Fanapt.

"MMMMMMmmmmmm . . .  .JuicyFruit"  ("chief" from the movie One Who Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest )

 

Thought provoking stuff here . . but then again we expect nothing less from LOM

 

@PimpedOutPete    Mr Pete in all seriousness . . .  as you know this is a complex problem of society . . . .  a problem with so many facets there could never be a single clear recognizable answer so we'll just have to keep trying as individuals and encouraging others to treat each other with respect and decency and  work harder at teaching our children to be better Adults. We cant just say it and expect it to happen we have to teach by example . . .Live it so the kids can learn it. 

[Astronomer]

Elizabeth Renzetti

It goes against journalistic instinct, but we should deny killers their glory

Elizabeth Renzetti

The Globe and Mail

Published

Saturday, Jun. 07 2014, 6:00 AM EDT

Last updated

Saturday, Jun. 07 2014, 6:00 AM EDT

Comments closed

 

The whole country watched Moncton, first with horror, then with caught breath. For a day, a gunman was on the loose, a city terrorized. And three people were dead, all RCMP constables: David Ross, Fabrice Georges Gévaudan and Douglas James Larche.

A suspect is in custody. Police have released his name, too, but I’m not going to repeat it here. There are plenty of other places to find his identity and read about the trail of unearned grievances on his Facebook page. In the coming days, I’m sure we’ll learn more. I imagine it will be a familiar story of alienation and misplaced rage completely unattached to any actual injustice.

 

 

This man is a suspect at the moment, nothing more. But he’s already succeeded in one thing: turning the attention of an entire country on himself. For a day, he and his stupid guns were the star of international cable news.

 

I’m not sure we want these guys taking up any more of our public space, sucking our valuable air. It’s what they want, to live in infamy, on a public stage where the spotlight is always on them. This is why they dress like cut-price Sylvester Stallones when they go out hunting humans, and make videos to be endlessly played on YouTube, and write “manifestos” about how the world has done them wrong.

 

We give them the attention they crave. Last Dec. 6, when I wanted to mark the anniversary of the murderous rampage at l’École Polytechnique that left 14 women dead, I realized that I knew the killer’s name but not the names of any of his victims. I went and looked them up, and it occurred to me that this was a second indignity committed against them. They are unknown, while his name lives on.

 

The 22-year-old who killed six people in Isla Vista, Calif., two weeks ago did his best to ensure that his electronic ghost would persist after he’d taken his own life. Affluent, pampered and troubled, he felt ignored, especially by the women who “owed” him something. He left a trail of poisonous videos and letters behind to ensure he’d have the attention in death he felt so grievously deprived of in life.

 

There are people who want to make sure that doesn’t happen. Richard Martinez is the father of Christopher Martinez, one of the victims of the Isla Vista killer. Mr. Martinez is incandescent in his rage, and he’s aiming that fury at America’s gun laws and a culture that he thinks inadvertently glorifies these criminals.

“When the media puts the shooter’s name out there, they put his picture out there, they put his videos out there, they’re doing exactly what the shooter wanted – they’re completing his plan,” Mr. Martinez told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Mr. Cooper has a policy of not naming or showing the pictures of mass killers on his program, partly prompted by the impassioned plea of the father of another shooting victim, a young man killed in the 2012 Aurora, Colo., theatre rampage. Megyn Kelly of Fox News has the same policy, saying she doesn’t want to reward murderous “infamy.” 60 Minutes recently ran a story about a football coach who confronted a student after he’d killed three classmates; the killer was deliberately not named or shown.

 

Does denying one killer his moment of glory keep others from following? It’s impossible to know, because you can’t measure absence. But there is evidence that some mass murderers play to an audience, and are well aware of their predecessors: “Many other perpetrators pay obsessive attention to previous massacres,” Ari Schulman wrote in The Wall Street Journal last year. “There is evidence for a direct line of influence running through some of the most notorious shooters – from Columbine in 1999 to Virginia Tech in 2007 to Newtown in 2012 – including their explicit references to previous massacres and calls to inspire future anti-heroes.”

 

It goes against every fibre of journalistic instinct to suggest that there should be less information out there, rather than more. We are always pressing for more detail, more information, on the grounds that the public deserves all the facts possible in order to make clear-headed decisions.

 

But there are many instances in which the media shield certain information, by law or by custom – publication bans imposed by judges, for one thing, or not naming minors involved in court cases. Perhaps that custom could extend to people who go on murderous rampages.

 

What if, after initial identification, they were quietly ignored, and pictures of their Rambo costumes and their big-boy guns weren’t reproduced incessantly? That way, the act would be greeted with the contempt it deserves. That way, there would still be room to remember the victims: David Ross, Fabrice Georges Gévaudan and Douglas James Larche.

[little_old_man]

Unfotunately Astronomer, reporters and the networks they work for hold ratings in much higher regard than journalistic integrity. When a story breaks, the first person to report the identity of a shooter makes their ratings go through the roof. To them that's all that matters.

[Astronomer]

I know Little_old_man, but I have to keep the spark of idealism alive within me, otherwise I'd stop giving a crap.

[Senapsbread]

Very simple what he says, but still.