I have no problem blaming the shooting spree on the shooter.

[Bicoastal]

No, it wasn't his lousy parents or a lousy mental health care system or our lousy American culture. These are outside factors, sure--and yet another argument for stronger gun control, gun safety and stronger background checks, all of which I AM in favor of--but they sure as hell don't explain why a 19-year-old adult made the decision to do what he did. Nobody dragged him to the mall and put the gun into his hand. He made a conscious decision to murder people who evidently meant nothing to him, and he deserves the blame.

Let it not be said that someone in dire straits has NO CHOICE but to destroy strangers. That's just ridiculous. Millions of us deal with a variety of problems every day, and all of us occasionally feel overwhelmed. At some point in our lives, each of us despairs. But only a few decide to "Go out with a bang," as he apparently put it, and their actions should not be excused away so lightly as if they committed a crime of passion. In this case, he went to an area where he was sure not to know ANYBODY, and destroyed their lives and their families' lives because HE was hurting. Not only is that inexcusable, but it's almost the most reprehensible thing I can think of.

This guy (I refuse to look up his name) may not have been a loser or a punk or a terrible person before yesterday--but now that he did what he did, I have no compunction in calling him any nasty name I please. In the macro sense, this incident may educate us on how to prevent similar events from happening, but in the micro sense--in the world of TODAY--he did what he did, and the blame for these people's deaths should fall on his shoulders and his shoulders alone.

Does that make me a FReeper?

[Why Syzygy]

1. No.

A freeper will be blaming liberals.

[blue cat]

2. Nicely said

[nebenaube]

3. actually

after *'s presser I expected "divertor man" to appear and boom, boom, boom just like clockwork. I'm just relieved it wasn't a suitcase nuke in DC.

[mdmc]

4. Case closed

It was his fault and he will be punished. Next!

[midlife_mo_Jo]

5. Killing only himself - I would feel very sorry for him

Wanting to go down in a blaze of glory - sigh - I feel much sorrier for the victims of his demented desire for fame.

[terisan]

6. Seems to me that the problem with blame in case of suicide of shooter is that he is dead.

When I see these news reports I think the best memorial for the victims if figuring out how to prevent the next killings. Probably the best memorial for the war dead also.

Prevention, I think, requires us to get inside the head of the killers and I think people have a hard time doing that-whether the killers are GW Bush, Dick Cheney, Wolfowitz, the combat soldier who disobeys the rules and kills a civilian, or this guy at the mall.

[Bicoastal]

7. Well, sure....

...dead men (and women) tell no tales. Neither can they face jail time or even any sort of punishment at all. It's important for the rest of us to learn from incidents like this one, I agree.

But still, I saw a different thread where someone called this guy a loser, and someone else said "Don't call him a loser--you don't know him enough to make a judgement like that! Besdies, in this day and age, when our President is murdering thousands of innocent people, and no one can get the mental health care they deserve..."

Well, this OP was me basically calling BS on that sloppy way of thinking.

[terisan]

9. I saw that thread too. I had decided to not respond because having dealt with lots of troubled

people I think it is not a good thing to divide people up into winners and losers but I also know the anger, pain, and rage people feel when someone murders or maims innocent people just going about their daily business. It is like the suicide bombers in other countries. One minute people are walking in the marketplace smiling and laughing, the next minute they are torn apart bleeding and dying because someone decided to play the decision-maker, the angry god of the old testament.

I mention Bush's rhetoric because I think there is a connection in what goes on in the minds of the serial killers, the mall murderers, the suicide bombers, and the mass murdering dictactors or would-be dictators.

I agree with your statement of anger. If we were not angry we would be in despair. The fact is I come to DU because to remind myself that there are people who care enough to post and be active.
I used to visit Free Republic-just to learn the mindset. I actually found several decent people there but they get overrun by the "nuke 'em" group.

It bothers me personally that I get angry about the murders but haven't figured out how to take the next step that will lead to prevention.

Michael Moore has an outtake from Sicko on youtube. It is about rehabilitation in prison for criminals, including murderers. He said he didn't include it because no one in America would believe it. Norway is a very homogeneous country and things may work there that would not work here but what we have doesn't seem to be working at all.

[bryant69]

8. I think looking for causes outside the shooter has nothing to do with blame

The guy pulled the trigger himself; a street kid who sells crack is guilty, an iraqi kid who blows himself up in an attempt to kill our troops is guilty - they choose to do what they choose to do.

That said, we need to look at what we, as a society, can do to minimize the sort of people who might shoot up a mall, sell crack, or blow themselves up. It's not about exonerating or excusing the person who does this, it's about helping or stopping the next guy who makes this bad decision.

Bryant
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