Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[lineygoblue]

He bought all his weapons legally.

The only way you take the weapons out of his hands, is to make buying them illegal.

[SeattleLionsFan]

And the only way to stop him from being an Islamic crazy is what?

[The Oracle]

There's never going to be a 100% solution to that, there's just no way. It's absolutely mind boggling that that guy was able to buy guns. We're literally asking for it. Without being able to apprehend anyone who's being watched before they actually do anything, I don't know what the solution would be. But letting those people buy guns ain't working either.

[froot loops]

What terrorist acts did he do prior to this one? It is pretty obvious he is now, the FBI interviewed him 3 times but if you don't have anything it is going to be very hard to prevent this.

It is hard to stop mass shootings in general, if you have a guy willing to die, he can take a lot of people out. We have to make sure we know the facts before rushing to judgment on this one.

[hack]

Whatever it takes to stop the Saudis from poisoning young minds (basically, end the House of Saud), and then wait for people with already-poisoned ones to die off. Easypeasy!

[hack]

In the meantime, hold Egypt. That's a major objective. 90m people; great opportunity for radicalization. I just came back from an assignment there, and the extent to which global powers are lining up to throw money at it is astonishing. Everybody wants to have Egypt as a friend. There is surely no country on the planet right now where it's easier and faster to build a power plant.

[Wild Hoss]

Re -- shelter in place:

I think that they are walking that back somewhat. In recent years we have gotten "shooter" training at work and I believe that the recommendation now is to make a break for it if you've got a path to the exit.

?Shelter in place? is primarily about the response; LE wants hallways and open spaces clear so they can quickly move through structures and identify the shooter(s). IDK that their position will ever officially change.

Personally, I think your company has it right. The best thing an organization can do IMO is talk it through with employees- know your floorplan, and give some thought to the scenario so that if it happens you can react more quickly, and with some direction, in lieu of running blindly or freezing.

You are rolling the dice if your plan is to wait for LE to come save you, but every situation is different. If your only way out is a headlong change past the shooter, a locked door or a spot behind the copier is probably a better option. Planning ahead will give people a better chance at making good decisions under duress.

IMO, if you can at all make a break for it, do so. And don?t ?run from cover-to-cover? like I was hearing some idiot say on the news yesterday. For one thing, most people don?t know what cover will protect them from high-velocity rounds and what doesn?t; many might think a sofa will stop a 9mm bullet because it happens on TV, who knows. Additionally, distance is your best ally. Unless a Ranger or a SEAL is after you, you are most likely dealing with a casual shooter, if not an outright amateur, and being 100 feet away is almost as good as a mile. Especially when dealing with pistols.

[hack]

Did Gregg Easterbrook factor this in his latest ``Things have never been better why are people so weird!!!'' piece?

[Jeff Buchanan]

He bought all his weapons legally.

The only way you take the weapons out of his hands, is to make buying them illegal.

That's a start. Do you advocate for this? How do we balance constitutionally guaranteed freedoms with protection from terrorist acts? There's a separate subcomponent discussion here regarding gun control. I'm more interested in hearing the views of those that wish to present them regarding the larger issues of Civil Liberties in an era of Terrorism as an instrument of warfare.

[entropy]

I thought I'd paste a quote from the "World Affairs" link that Hack posted above:



It never crossed my mind that the Wahhabi influence in the US is so pervasive and so recent.

pretty scary

[Jeff Buchanan]

And the only way to stop him from being an Islamic crazy is what?

I don't know. Throwing up one's hands isn't the answer though. Discuss.

[Jeff Buchanan]

What terrorist acts did he do prior to this one? It is pretty obvious he is now, the FBI interviewed him 3 times but if you don't have anything it is going to be very hard to prevent this.

It is hard to stop mass shootings in general, if you have a guy willing to die, he can take a lot of people out. We have to make sure we know the facts before rushing to judgment on this one.

The facts are established: There was a mass shooting. The perpetrator declared allegiance to ISIS via a 911 call while he held hostages. The FBI had him on a terrorist watch list and interviewed him twice ....... and I agree with talent on this one. We need to clean up how this is done. Nevertheless, this was a terrorist act and it is being treated as one by national authorities. What else do you need.

Next question ........ are you throwing up your hands as well?

[entropy]

I like the direction BO was heading with Saudi Arabia... not labeling them an enemy, but certainly keeping them at a distance. One of my concerns with Hillary is her relationship with SA and what that means over the next 4-8 yrs. I'd rather see us turn our backs on SA and let them deal with their creations.

[entropy]

The facts are established: There was a mass shooting. The perpetrator declared allegiance to ISIS via a 911 call while he held hostages. The FBI had him on a terrorist watch list and interviewed him twice ....... and I agree with talent on this one. We need to clean up how this is done. Nevertheless, this was a terrorist act and it is being treated as one by national authorities. What else do you need.

Next question ........ are you throwing up your hands as well?

Might be as simple as if you are linked to ISIS or made contact, you're on a "no buying guns" list.

[Wild Hoss]

That's a start. Do you advocate for this? How do we balance constitutionally guaranteed freedoms with protection from terrorist acts?

Outlaw all public sales of magazine-fed weapons. If you cannot protect yourself or your home with a revolver, shotgun, or bolt-action rifle, then you are unable to protect yourself in the first place.

Unfortunately that's not going to work now, because there are enough magazine-fed weapons floating around out there to fuel the black market for decades, assuming we could prevent their import to begin with