Is anyone keeping tabs of all these shooting sprees

[Juche]

So not long ago 12 people were shot and killed in NY, and my understanding is they were immigrants taking a citizenship exam.

I haven't been following the news as close as I should, but isn't this like the 3rd shooting in a couple of months that, at least on the surface, seems to have right wing intentions?

Why did this guy choose to shoot at immigrants trying to become US citizens if not for right wing intentions? Could he have other motives, or is this just the beginning of this kind of violent behavior?

[Deep13]

1. Yeah, that's bizarre.

The most obvious possibility was that it was a hate crime against immigrants, even obviously lawful ones. Reminds me of that idiot who rammed one of the few local mosques here with his minivan shortly after Sept. 11.

To answer your question, yes, the FBI tracks violent crime including mass murder.

[cali]

15. The gunman was a Vietnamese immigrant. n/t

[Deep13]

16. Then I have no idea.

:wtf:

[Bicoastal]

2. The problem with that is that it appears the gunman may have been an immigrant himself.

At any rate, he doesn't seem to fit the "angry white male" model that often commit these crimes.

[SoCalNative]

3. Considering the man's name was Jiverly Voong

and according to another poster he was just laid off from his job at IBM, doubtful he had "right wing intentions."

[Juche]

6. Well thats good

I assumed because of our current political climate and the fact that the victims were immigrants that it was an angry white male attack.

Its good because I was worried we were entering a pattern of angry white conservative males going on shooting sprees all over the country, esp against target groups (immigrants, gays, leftists, the poor, etc).

[MrPerson]

4. The law will never change. People will never change.

The NRA will come out with their talking points.

Right now their fax machine is working overtime.

Expect nothing to change.

[ZombieHorde]

5. Your understanding matches the news stories.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/04/03/ST2009040302457.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090403/ap_on_re_us/hostage_shooting

What were the other two shootings?

[MrPerson]

8. Nursing Home and a Church.

[slackmaster]

10. The only thing the three have in common is a concentration of defenseless, innocent victims

Just like Virginia Tech and all the other school and workplace shootings.

[MrPerson]

14. They're coming faster and faster.

[Mojorabbit]

19. Same thing happened in the 80's.

People snap when the economy is bad.

[cali]

17. precisely. sheesh. this idiotic insistance that this has to do with the right

wing is just the mirror image of what freepers do.

[timtom]

27. I'm with you on this one, Cali!

A similar thing happened on the bullying thread.

[malaise]

7. Months?

This is the second one for the week.

[depakid]

12. Third one this week

The nursing home violence simply overshadowed the other mass shooting.

5 killed, 2 injured in Santa Clara shooting

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/29/MNUG16P9DS.DTL

[malaise]

25. You're right

and the week before we had the man who killed nine on the Florida-Alabama border. Guns are so harmless. :sarcasm:

[slackmaster]

9. I don't see any sign of political intent

I just heard that the latest nutjob recently got laid off his job at IBM.

He was angry, and sought an outlet where he could victimize as many defenseless, innocent people as possible.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Sort of.

There is an NRA page on the Truthiness Encyclopedia, with a section called "Tour" (http://www.wikiality.com/NRA#2009_Tour ).

I started it because of the NRA's refusal to reschedule their national convention in Colorado following the Columbine shootings. At first, the page was just going to be a regular joke page about the NRA, but in 2008 there was a period when it seemed like there was a shooting in some mall every week. That's when I decided to start the "tour" section.

You're welcome to add to it if you want, just log in first so no one can see your IP address.

[cali]

13. WRONG.

There is NO evidence that this had anything to do with the right wing. And the shooter was an immigrant himself.

[Juche]

20. Yes, I'm aware that my assumption was wrong

Which is why I replied to someone saying as much long before you posted that about how I was wrong in my assumptions.

egg on my face

[Juche]

21. double post

delete

[SsevenN]

18. Pass out the tin foil hats!

The disgruntled conservatives are coming! :crazy:

Jeez get a grip, economic hardships, lack of compassion, and social alienation create angry whiny losers who are willing to end lives.

Mass murderers are self pitying losers, political affiliation is just a stigma attached by the press to sell stories.

The only thing the Killing sprees have in common is that they are almost all committed in 'gun free' zones, where honest law abiding citizens are turned into helpless victims by the laws they choose to follow.

[Juche]

22. You think thats so hard to fathom?

The secret service has said that threats against the president have skyrocketed. When Palin was giving speeches last year the FBI said threats went through the roof. There has been an explosion of angry white rage lately, and I wouldn't be surprised if it boils over into violence.

Granted threats against the president do not translate into threats against the public at large, but I do wonder if there will be spillover.

[ColbertWatcher]

23. I agree, just wait until the weather starts to heat up. n/t

[EmilyAnne]

29. Hmm. There always seems to be a particular type of mass murderer that reflects the era.

The disgruntled postal workers.
The angry white men of the Killeen shooting in Luby's, the man who stormed into a McDonald's.
The 90s teenage misfits of Columbine, Springfield, Jonesboro, Deming etc.

Then again, I just looked at wikipedia's list of mass murders/ spree killers and it doesn't seem that there is too much of a pattern to any of it.
So, you may be right about it all being a matter of perception.
Hate speech on the public airwaves has seemingly incited violence in the past, though was it really a cause or simply a part of an already violent wave?

The one constant, of course, is that the people who commit these crimes, regardless of their pet issue, tend to all be "angry, whiny losers."

[JVS]

24. Yes

http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=7948&IBLOCK_ID=35

This guy follows each one.

[steven johnson]

26. The Associated Press: " Forty-seven people dead in the past month in American mass shootings

and their aftermaths...Even in a media-saturated nation that encourages short memories, these numbers are conversation-stopping: Forty-seven people dead in the past month in American mass shootings and their aftermaths. It's to the point where on Saturday, dizzyingly, the mayor of Binghamton found himself offering Pittsburgh its sympathies."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NUMBED_NATION_ANALYSIS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[EmilyAnne]

28. This breaks my heart. I teach English to a groups of refugees from Rwanda and one of them called me

tonight to talk about this.
He was afraid that I may have known some of the people because I do have friends in NY who assist immigrants and new citizens.
How anyone could take out frustration on these people is simply beyond me.
Of course, no demographic deserves such fury. This man was clearly insane.
So sad.