nafod wrote:I agree with your argument for ending the war on drugs. Denver and Colorado has shown a remarkable decrease in violent crime, for example. Stoners aren't shooters.
But your old "just as easy to kill someone with a bomb" bullshit, well, that's just bullshit. The Happy Land guy got lucky because it was a social club and there were no available fire exits or sprinklers or etc., ala Rhode Island nightclub fire. Kind of embarassing for a mass murderer when a tier 2 rock band can kill more with their pyrotechnic display.
For every one of those, how many are there where the prospective 87 victims just walk out the door wet from the sprinklers?
Sure, it happens.... in the case of the Happy Land massacre there were repeated complaints about blocked exits. His GF probably bitched to him about it over and over. People at work discuss shit like busted sprinklers and blocked exits. "We could die in a fire, mi jo". The killer knew the victim, she worked there, so he knew how to get it done.
He picked the only exit poured gasoline into it and then struck a match.
You know about luck, preparation and opportunity, don't you?
nafod wrote:How many months of planning did it take for the Bath School guy to pull off his shit? Ten months.
How much access did he have to the attack site in order to plant his upwards of 700 pounds of explosives? He had total access as he worked there as an electrician.
Seven hundred pounds of explosives. That's World Trade Center conspiracy theory levels of explosives he "snuck in".
Sounds to me like a methodical plan. Kind of like how Holmes shot up that theater in Aurora Colorado. He selected the proper weapons, put on body armor and then found a theater that forbade concealed carry. He had several to choose from but picked one that posted "no concealed carry". He methodically selected a pool of victims, disarmed by the State of Colorado.
He ordered bomb making materials then booby trapped his apartment.
nafod wrote:With a bombing, you can fuck it up designing it and getting it wrong, building it and getting caught because you are breaking the law, killing yourself accidentally while assembling it (happens all the time), getting caught placing it, having it not go off, or having it go off but the victims aren't there. Low probability of success, although chance for great glory.
Except how many people around the world use bombs, Nafod?
How many of our guys died in Afghanistan and Iraq from roadside bombs, planted by people who were hunted from the air and ground by US forces? US forces in Vietnam lost about a quarter to a third from "mechanical ambushes", mostly small explosive charges.
The Tamils, Taliban, Uighurs, Palestinians, Iraqi Insurgents, all of them have used vests and time bombs. Roadside IEDs.
The Chechens and and Dagestani use roadside IEDs. Russia has a vastly tighter control on explosives than we do in the US.
In China, another police state, bombings are a frequent way to settle disputes. China has a lot of construction and mining going on so people have access to industrial explosives.
You make it sound like a firearm is an instrument of passion while a bomb requires calculation. Holmes shows otherwise. The puke who shot up that Church picked a place full of victims, disarmed by South Carolina law. I challenge you, Nafod, to find a mass shooting where many people were armed. A gun show for example.
Israel is a police state with a very effective security apparatus. Far more effective than here in the US. The Palestinians buy their explosives from.... Israeli soldiers. They get some smuggled in from abroad. They have little trouble getting Israelis dead in large numbers.
The few times that Palestinians tried to use firearms they got shot in the street, by police and by private citizens carrying concealed. The Palestinians gave up using firearms.
The reason American people don't fuck with bombs is because, probably, they can shoot someone. As you say, Nafod, "The market has spoken". Eliminating firearms will not eliminate violence.
Lots of places in the world prove that if people cannot kill in one way they will kill in another way.
nafod wrote:With a couple of assault rifles and and some magazines, sure you may not achieve Bath School levels of glory, but unless all your weapons jam, those elementary school children, government employees, church patrons, or couples out on their movie night are going down. Period. You get to pick the time and the place. Act while the rage is hot if you feel like it. Minimal prep required. Smaller numbers but guaranteed numbers.
The market has spoken. Guns, it is.
The market has spoken - Gun Free Zones work. Every mass shooting in recent times has been in a gun free zone. Elementary schools. Theater that bans concealed carry. A Church where law abiding won't carry a gun because it's forbidden by the Pastor.
When someone shoots up a gun show come on back and let us know how well firearms work, Nafod. Scum bags don't shoot up gun shows. They shoot up people in gun free zones.