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I’ll only disagree with Malamud in that we do have to contemplate why people would vote for a greasy and sweaty booger-eater like Cancun Cruz again and again, and why an organisation as corrupt and morally bankrupt as the NRA continues to exist in a mutual support relationship with him and his ilk. I don’t think it’s a big mystery, but the corporate media and political establishment are reluctant to state the obvious.
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The cops don’t even want to deal with someone with an AR-15, why do the rest of us have to? Ban them, ban them now.
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I mean, an armed teacher would probably be just a little more effective - since he or she would actually be a target and scared for their lives and thus have reason to defend themselves… still a bad idea for the obvious reasons.
And while I can’t understand the cops’ hesitation to enter as anything but cowardice, from an outsider perspective, taking into account cops’ tendency to shoot bystanders they “mistake” as threats I would be hesitant to send in the cops myself lest they kill more kids…
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I’m going to hazard a reckless guess, and suggest that even hitting him in the armor is going to, at least, slow him down and/or distract him.
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Without a doubt.
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The NRA and its state affiliate have contributed more than $700,000 to state elected officials and candidates since 2000. That’s a drop in the bucket in Texas, where there are no limits on political giving.
Paywalled.
Thanks to @VeronicaConnor for a link that works:
Yes and.
I suggest the possibility of mass psychosis.
Y’know, like when a grasshopper gets this one parasite that drives them to suicidal behavior.
Texas is as gun-friendly a state as they come. So how much money is the national gun-rights group giving Texas elected officials?
Not as much as you might expect.
The Washington Post reports that members of the Texas congressional delegation have received $427,800 in donations from the NRA since 1998. In total, 27 members of the Texas delegation, including one Democrat, have reported getting money from the NRA. U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, has received nearly $52,000 since 1998 — the largest chunk of money donated by the NRA to a Texas lawmaker. U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, comes in second after getting around $34,000 from the group.
This might sound like a lot of money on the surface, but in the grand scheme of fundraising, it hardly makes a dent.
Take Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who has an ‘A’ rating from the NRA, indicating a pro-guns voting record. The Post reports that the NRA has given the Texan about $28,000 over the past decade, with the most recent donation of about $10,000 reported in 2014.
In 2014, Cornyn raised around $14 million. His top five contributors from 2013 to 2018 were companies such as AT&T Inc., Valero Energy and Chevron. The NRA was nowhere near his top 15 biggest contributors.
Meanwhile, the NRA and its affiliated groups gave $500 contributions to at least 13 state legislators in 2017 — not an insignificant amount, but not nearly enough to make it one of the top donors in the state. The group also gave $1,000 to Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
But don’t think the NRA or other gun groups play a small role in Texas. A spokeswoman for the Texas State Rifle Association put it bluntly: It’s not about the money; it’s the votes.
The TSRA, which calls itself a grassroots firearms organization that advocates for the lawful possession and use of firearms, has 37,000 members, said Alice Tripp, the group’s legislative director.
“Our power and influence is our membership, not our money. That’s really what grassroots lobbying is,” Tripp said.
Ye gods how does this human sleep at night?
ETA: removed bad link; thanks @VeronicaConnor
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I can’t speak to her individual case. Speaking generally, though, sociopaths sleep very well. Often on expensive mattresses.
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Protect and Serve. Unless It Puts Us At Any Risk Whatsoever.
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That kproxy link doesn’t work, but here’s a non-paywalled copy of the link:
https://archive.ph/eQ3UT
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Remember kids - the police are under ZERO obligation to protect you. They don’t really serve you either, so we should be crossing out any “serve and protect” labeling we see on their cars.
I grew in a town of 10,000 people, so a little smaller than this town. Small town cops are donut eaters who rarely have to deal with any sort of serious crime. And when they do, they often have to ask a larger police force to come in and help sort it out, as they aren’t equipped for it. It sadly doesn’t surprise me they “froze” when confronted with a real crisis.
Also, on the news it said a Sheriff’s officer lost a child, and a Border Patrol Officer lost a grandchild. Is that thin blue line going to stand firm that they did “nothing wrong”, or are they going to start pointing fingers that they fucked up?
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- If and when the cops do enter they would be likely to immediately shoot anyone they saw holding a gun. It’s not like teachers wear uniforms to easily distinguish them from suspects.
- The one teacher I had in High School who often talked about how important it was to have guns to defend oneself (and was widely rumored to illegally have one on campus) was absolutely the last guy I thought should have a gun. He was an emotional wreck who broke down several times during class telling us how his ex wife didn’t love him and how his son was distant. Also liked to find excuses to talk about bestiality in class. Later sued the school saying that other teachers were conducting a conspiracy of character assassination against him when clearly he was doing it to himself. I’m sure there are guys like that in most schools, so allowing teachers to bring guns to school would definitely be a net negative.
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Part of my job is to respond to emergency situations in a very timely fashion, not to wait until it occurs to get my shit together. If your child is dying and I tell you you need to wait until I get some extra equipment and the guys from across town to help, I am pretty much useless. Much like these guys were. It is their fucking job to enter into dangerous situations. That is what we keep being told. Until they happen. Then “Nope, I am not going in there.”
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And he wasn’t wearing armor.
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I’m sure that one of the spins on this by ammosexuals will be “see, this is why we need moar gunz in the hands of civilians. The cops won’t protect you.” As if the idea of police reform and proper training to actually do their job is impossible.
Again, this is a small town that spends 40% of its budget on the cops, a place where “everyone knows everybody”. Don’t tell me the police are helpless when it comes to preventing and dealing with a situation like this, and that we’re all better off just arming ourselves.
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They also controlled the gunman by trapping him in the classroom so he could finish all of them off.
It’s been since confirmed that the SRO was armed.
Also, who fucking cares!?! Your job isn’t to measure potential risk against saving lives, it’s to save fucking lives. Get your ass in there and deal with the situation or hand in your badge.
The timeline at this point makes clear that A) they knew there was an active shooter, B) the SRO has checked the fuck out and therefore was clearly not going to disable the shooter from inside and C) that a significant amount of time (at least 30 mins) elapsed between initially exchanging fire with the shooter and when LEOs finally decided to move in. They waited for the fucking Feds to show up.
Exactly. This isn’t an MCU film. Getting hit with a bullet is the equivalent of getting hit with [quote=“7lions, post:43, topic:222098”]
.5*.01kg400m/s)^2 = 800 Joules
[/quote], but in an area the size of your thumb.
Again, he was engaged by THREE DIFFERENT OFFICERS before entering the classroom. They could stop him. They didn’t. It’s that simple.
*Edited to correct calculations. I’ll be sending my apology to the Uvalde Leader News forthwith.
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Right?
There’d be even more school shootings and gun deaths, not fewer.
Maybe these same old rants from Republican pols about now “The solution is moar gunz!” will show even more voters what a dangerous bunch of shitheads they are.
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They keep saying you only need a good guy with a gun to stop a bad one. These cosplayers with real guns have shown how good they are.
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There is an entire group of politicians that campaign on the idea that the county should be an unsafe hellscape that requires everyone to constantly be on high alert ready to deal with or deal out a deadly outcome. Sometimes they’ll even reminisce about not having to lock their doors in the past. Presumably because back then, every house was ready to defend itself with deadly force at a moments notice.
The politicians that run against them seem to be incapable of pointing out this stance.
Because who in their right mind would vote for the guy saying we need to live with constant vigilance ready to meet death at a moments notice instead of the guy who says we should create a society where it’s safe to walk around with no cares in the world.
Politician A: You should be able to carry any gun anytime. (Because I’ll make society super dangerous.)
Politician B: Please don’t carry guns everywhere. I’ll solve problems.
Politician B seems incapable of pointing out the implied danger that Politician A is advocating for, leaving it unsaid. 
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