There’ve been cases where bored teenagers killed someone without a gun. I recall a case near here where I was a bit aggravated that they spent, well, any time at all determining exactly which kick by which foot delivered the killing blow so they could give that guy murder and the rest assault or some crap.
I think this is one of the first times where one of them admitted that “boredom” was the reason, though.
Maybe it was omitted because it is completely not relevant?
5 Likes
We’ll have to change physics so teens can’t build guns and bombs from commonly available components. Call your congressman!
2 Likes
Well, I have no idea what really happened, but if it is as we are being told it is monstrous.
Of course, it is also a handy shorthand for all manner of ‘the kids are nihilistic lunatics because CHANGE!’ We can expect much handwringing, maybe a gratuitous mention of Grand Theft Auto or two.
The reason race is not a major part of the story is because the kids are white. In most cases like this a white murderer is an anomaly and not worthy of mention, a non-white supports the default assumption and is therefore worth highlighting.
1 Like
But they weren’t white. So not mentioning the kids’ races is an anomaly and a good thing, actually.
The Australian press has posted their names and identities – even though they are under-aged.
As a citizen of the U.S., I’ve got to say how ashamed and disgusted that this happened. Can we have gun control now, please?
1 Like
Because we have a long history of putting innocent men to death in this country. I am an innocent man. Therefore, I am at risk of being put to death for a crime I didn’t commit. The only way to make certain that I don’t get put to death for a crime I didn’t commit is to make sure nobody, no matter how positive we are that they commited a crime, is put to death.
It becomes an unfortunate thing that to protect innocent men, we must allow the guilty to live. Once you can prove to me that a capital punishment can be implemented with 0 mistakes, with 0 prejudice, then we can talk.
5 Likes
What? Who the fuck cares?
Oh, right. Racists.
5 Likes
For starters, if you’re in it for revenge (as you clearly are), I’m not sure why you’d want to give the bad guys a quick, painless death over long decades of soul-grinding horror in prison.
1 Like
My friend Pedro’s dad is an international arms dealer.
He really, really wishes that people would stop using these two words in this order: “Gun Control”.
Because every time that happens he sells another gun, and right now it’s very hard for him to keep up with the demand. He simply can’t keep a “black gun” on the shelf at this point, and every person who uses that phrase contributes to the number of ill-considered gun purchases that will eventually result in another gun on the street.
If you only care about playing to the audience, and results don’t matter to you, then sure - the phrase does let you declare allegiance to a team, and most American political activity consists solely of choosing a team. But if you actually care about kids having access to firearms, you should switch to talking about “gun safety” or “firearm regulation” or really pretty much any phrase other than the knee-jerk code-phrase “Gun Control”. To millions of people, that phrase specifically means forcibly removing the right of self-defense from law-abiding citizens, and it makes them want to run out and make a stupid and unnecessary gun purchase that they would not otherwise make.
Not trying to castigate, but rather enlighten. I realize most BB readers aren’t arms dealers and have no reason to know this.
3 Likes
Australian here. I read about this murder all yesterday in the Australian and US news. There was no mention of the accused offenders race until I read it here in boingboing.
There was no mention of the accused offenders race until I read it here in boingboing
That’s because it doesn’t matter unless one needs confirmation of one’s racist belief in the “ganster [sic] mentality of black youth.”
5 Likes
The third (and oldest) of the three looks white, and doesn’t appear in the DM article. (His photo is here though). He says was the one driving and Luna (who looks Latino rather than black) was the one who shot Chris Lane. While he’s only been charged with the lesser crime of using a vehicle to facilitate the discharge of a weapon, morally he would seem to be at least as culpable, especially as he seems to be speaking for the others.
It comes as Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford said he had secured the confession of the 17-year-old who summoned investigators to his jail cell and claimed he and the younger boys were bored “so they decided to kill somebody”.
“He said he was the driver of the car,” Chief Ford said.
"They saw Christopher jog by the house they were at, they chose him to be the target, they got in the car, drove up behind him and shot him in the back.
“He said the 16-year-old fired the shot.”
I have not noticed any such “mentality” in my daily interaction with “black” youth.
Yes, this is a very racist culture, at least if you judge by what reporters consider newsworthy or by what society actually cares about trying to stop.
He could have just said “gangster mentality” and stopped. It is not something that is limited to black kids.
And yes, continuing to frame the discourse that way gets us with wrongly convicted black kids, and a sense that it doesn’t matter because they were bound to go rogue some time anyway so it’s best they be put down ahead of time.
For those who think that sounds nasty, consider how you approach the subject. People are out there looking for excuses to commit genocide, after all, really.
1 Like
Also…I need to read the daily fail article more closely; in as much as I can believe the DM; It seems the guy was shot at a upscale neighborhood and the kids followed him in a car. And No, thuggery is not limited to black youth. We need to figure out why this happens black on black crime, black on white crime, white on black crime and a pop-culture that glorifies thuggery and prison time instead of education.
IF they weren’t white then my assumption of their race was wrong. I’m glad I was wrong about my assumption of journalistic bias, though of nothing else related to this story.
No, no, dude, when I call you a racist you’re supposed to pretend that you’re not a racist.
4 Likes
The problem with that is that if you use another phrase like “firearm regulation” or “gun safety” (where the safety is anything other than a vague agreement with the notion that people who buy guns should take safety classes), even if you don’t say “gun control”… the people against any kind of gun control, will. They’ll say it loudly and repeatedly. They’ll scream that you’re trying to take away every single gun even for the mildest proposed change.
So, if we’re to believe you, the only solution is to not attempt to do ANYTHING to curb the excessive gun culture.
Funny how that ALSO seems to play into the hands of those who want guns free and constantly accessible. And considering you recently posted that, if you had your way, every child would be taught to use and maintain guns as soon as they were physically mature enough to do so safely… I’m inclined to believe you might be in that category. Maybe I’m wrong.
But in any case, your ‘helpful advice’ doesn’t ring particularly true. I’d rather people speak the point of view they actually believe and, if hearing that causes idiots to behave like even BIGGER idiots, that’s on them.
2 Likes
I see you did not understand the point so you resorted to name calling. That’s fine; I can help you out.
See, we just finished up with a high profile case where the fact that the killer was white and victim black was made out to be a very big deal. Along with that were accusations that the killing was race-based.
Now we have a white man killed where the race of the assailants is ignored but the motive of “thrill killing” is played up.
That might lead people to make some dangerous inferences:
-
Whites killing blacks is worse than blacks killing whites
-
The report is glossing over the race of the suspects because blacks killing whites is commonplace and unnewsworthy
-
The report is glossing over the race of the suspects because the news organization doesn’t want to portray the suspects’ race in a bad light
-
Given that there will no widespread outrage at this killing as opposed to Trayvon Martin one might wonder if hate killing is worse than thrill killing.
So no, it’s not “racists” who care. It’s people who think when they read and are left wondering if an agenda is being pursued by a news organization. All this story required to maintain the semblance of objectivity was a picture of the suspects. It’s a pretty common practice in journalism to include photos of the principals in a crime story.
4 Likes
