A 14-year-old boy killed two fellow students and two teachers and wounded nine others in a shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday, jolting the United States with the first mass campus shooting since the start of the school year.
The suspect, who had been interviewed by law enforcement last year over online threats about committing a school shooting, was taken into custody shortly after the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, investigators said.
He was identified as Colt Gray, 14, and will be charged and tried as an adult, Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told a press conference.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the gunman, armed with an "AR platform style weapon," or semiautomatic rifle, was quickly confronted by deputies assigned to the school and that the suspect immediately got on the ground and surrendered.
Once under arrest the suspect was speaking with investigators, who believe he was acting alone, but they declined to say if they knew what motivated him.
Officials identified those killed as two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, and two teachers, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53. All nine of those hospitalized were expected to recover, Smith told reporters.
"Pure evil did what happened today," Smith said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation later issued a statement revealing that it had investigated online threats to commit a school shooting in 2023 and local law enforcement interviewed a 13-year-old subject and his father in nearby Jackson County. The statement did not identify the teen, but Georgia officials said the statement was in connection to the subject in custody.
"The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them. The subject denied making the threats online. Jackson County alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject," the FBI said, adding that there was no probable cause to make an arrest.
The shooting revived both the national debate about gun control and the outpouring of grief that follows in a country where such outbursts occur with some regularity.
People in Winder, a city of 18,000 some 80 km northeast of Atlanta, gathered in a park for a prayer vigil later Wednesday night.
Some leaned on each other or bowed their heads in prayer, while others lit candles to honor the dead.
"We are all hurting. Because when something affects one of us it affects us all," said Power Evans, a city councilman who addressed the gathering. "I know that here tonight, all of are going to come together. We're going to love on one another. ... We're all family. We're all neighbors."
BIDEN CALLS FOR GUN SAFETY LEGISLATION
The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting "and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information."
"Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed," Biden said in a statement, calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to pass "common-sense gun safety legislation."
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee for president, called the shooting a "senseless tragedy."
"We've gotta stop it. We have to end this epidemic of gun violence," Harris said at the start of a campaign event in New Hampshire.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, wrote on social media that "Our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, GA. These cherished children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster."
Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp, asked at a press conference what could be done to prevent shootings, said, "Today is not the day for politics or policy. Today is the day for an investigation, to mourn these precious Georgians that we have lost."
The shooting was the first "planned attack" at a school this fall, said David Riedman, who runs the K-12 School Shooting Database. Apalachee students returned to school last month; many other students in the U.S. are returning this week.
The U.S. has seen hundreds of shootings inside schools and colleges in the past two decades, with the deadliest resulting in over 30 deaths at Virginia Tech in 2007. The carnage has intensified the pitched debate over gun laws and the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which enshrines the right "to keep and bear arms."
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
160 Comments
dagon
Thoughts and prayers, good guys with guns, mental health issues; i guess they went with the latter response.
Tragic example of aptronym.
Lets see what the other MAGA reactions are.
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/trump-jr-ripped-liking-conspiracy-theories-parkland-survivors/story?id=53265618
Brian Trout
Firearms are now the No. 1 cause of death for U.S. children.
More “Thoughts and Prayers”?
banger
It’s heartbreaking to read this news. The U.S., as a society, seems increasingly oppressed and morally degenerate. There’s no real freedom if you can’t feel safe among your fellow human beings. It’s no longer safe even in schools, malls—you name it. How the mighty have fallen… following the same path as the Roman Empire, if we think broadly. Rest in peace to those lost; it’s just too hard to comprehend.
Bob Fosse
Georgia. No minimum age on owning a rifle or shotgun. No safe storage regulations. No red flag law.
This needs to change.
stormcrow
Will we ever learn?
Seemingly not.
DaDude
Where is your sympathy for the families as you go straight for someone that has ZERO to do with this? What has Joe/Kamala done to change gun laws except use the same copy and paste message each mass shooting?
lincolnman
MAGA-world and Repubs want to give children guns before their first book...and this is the result...
Red States run red with blood from easy access to guns...
Underworld
DaDude
Biden signed into law a gun bill intended to prevent dangerous people from accessing firearms and increase investments in the nation’s mental health system.
What did Trump do? Nothing.
What stops more progress on gun control? The GOP.
Bob Fosse
This should bring you up to speed.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/apalachee-shooting-georgia-biden-guns-b2607203.html
DaDude
So how did that work out here instead of the usual if something bad happens, blame Trump?
DaDude
Did this piece of paper prevent this tragedy or any other gun crime in the U.S.?
Strangerland
Well this one is on decades of the GOP blocking any meaningful gun reform more than it is on Trump. He’s just the latest one.
Underworld
DaDude
So how did that work out here instead of the usual if something bad happens, blame Trump?
I think we blame the GOP in general. They are the barrier to sensible gun reform laws.
Brian Trout
It’s hard to have sympathy for those who repeatedly repeat the very same mistakes again and again and again.
Georgians embrace their guns, and this shooting is the byproduct of the society they desire.
Bob Fosse
If you read the article it will explain simply why it didn’t.
John
More dead kids.
More dead teachers.
More parents whose lives are functionally over.
But as long as the cult of guns gets to own any weapon anywhere anytime, it’s all good in the land of the free and the home of dead kids.
factchecker
Still too early to talk about gun control no doubt.
JboneInTheZone
No. This is only true if the selected age range is 1-19 years old. Capping the age range at 17 (instead of 18 or 19) alters the result as children age 17 and below have a great risk of dying in vehicle accidents
DaDude
So you feel nothing about DEAD CHILDREN? How are gun laws working out in States like Cali, NY, Illinois and Michigan?
Yubaru
American's do not care! Wash-rinse-repeat! (Oh they only care when they are the victim!)
Time to check on Mom and Dad too!
JboneInTheZone
We don’t have any information yet on how the shooter got their weapon. Gun control won’t work if they received their weapon illegally, no?
dagon
Trump campaign immediately went to calling a 14 year old child 'sick and deranged' to take the focus off firearms.
This is a failure of a society, not even necessarily the family, they are probably not monsters.
That is what needs addressing.
And it is not the first time Trump has gone after kids involved in school shootings, remember Parkland and others.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/parkland-school-shooting-trump-emma-gonzalez
DaDude
Vote for me because I acted like I attempted to do something knowing full well it would never happen. Then go and blame the past guy.
Mr Kipling
This is a serious problem. I think it calls for some serious thoughts and prayers, and some serious hand wringing too.
If this doesn't work, it hasn't so far, they could actually make an effort to prevent the "crazies" from getting guns.
But I suspect it will be another dose of thoughts and prayers.
wallace
Another tragic school mass shooting.
Guns R US.
Bob Fosse
In Georgia no, because there is almost zero gun control.
In other states the parents could be prosecuted for failing to secure firearms and ammunition.
The argument “why have laws if criminals break them anyway” is neither an intelligent or common sense position.
Bob Fosse
No. In This case I blame Kemp, the current guy.
Cards fan
That's a fascinating theory you've got there, Alfie. But it doesn't explain you seal-clapping Russia raping and pillaging Ukraine. Pathetic.
iraira
DaDude....stop trying to jump from talking point to talking point regarding attempts at legislation regarding gun control. And stop finally landing on "So you feel nothing about DEAD CHILDREN?" faux hysterics when your other talking points fail.
The GOP has shown it prefers thoughts and prayers as the sole form of gun control.
kibousha
Lost of lives
WhiskeyGalore
It's protected under the Second Amendment, so it's okay. You know, the one that allows American citizens to arm themselves against dictatorial government.
lincolnman
This might help explain how completely preventable tragedies like this occur in Red States...
"After four people were shot and killed at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday, Governor Brian Kemp said he was “praying for the safety of those in our classrooms. But what has the Republican governor done to actually keep Georgia students safe from gun violence? Not a lot. And his critics were quick to point that out."
"In 2022, Kemp signed a bill into law that expanded gun rights, allowing Georgians to carry handguns in public without a license or background check. A “lawful weapons carrier,” or any person who is eligible to purchase a firearm, can now concealed-carry a handgun."
"When he campaigned for governor of Georgia, Kemp ran on expanding access to firearms. This included a nearly unbelievable ad where the then secretary of state sat with a shotgun in his lap, surrounded by even more guns".
https://www.yahoo.com/news/georgia-governor-gets-harsh-fact-202754986.html
Once again, we're reminded that Repubs love their guns more than their children...
And they call themselves "pro-life"....
Bob Fosse
Kids shooting other kids is not protected under the Second Amendment.
JboneInTheZone
It is illegal for 14 year olds to purchase firearms in Georgia. If he purchased the gun illegally then it isn’t a lack of gun control as the gun control measures were circumvented.
Okay but we don’t know how he acquired the weapon
I never made that argument
iraira
Forgive me if you are being sarcastic, hard to tell these days. To generally quote the Jim Jefferies line regarding well-armed citizens defending themselves against a dictatorial government, "You know you are bringing guns to a drone fight, right?"
NCIS Reruns
Suffice to say, in an election year, the candidates of both major parties will be walking on eggshells to avoid knee-jerk reactions from the National Rifle Association, its members and the gun industry.
NOMINATION
No, Democrats are anti-NRA I am told by comments here. They attempt to pass gun laws so they have zero to do with this.
collegepark30349
Tears me up that this happened in my home state, but unfortunately it isn't the first and won't be the last. Sad history here. Guns, unfortunately, have been used twice at my own high school.
In 1991 (I was a sophmore), a student came in with a shotgun and help the principal and front office staff hostage for a while. Thankfully that is all that happened. Kid was allegedly upset his sister was being bullied. In 2018, on was injured and one was killed in a shooting dring a fight in the parking lot.
Nothing was done then, nothing will be done now. Unfortunately, it will happen again.
Bob Fosse
There is no minimum age on owning a rifle or shotgun In Georgia. Legal guardians may buy any firearm without restrictions and face no penalties for insecure storage. With legal guardian consent children under 18 may carry a handgun in certain situations.
It is entirely within the boundaries of current Georgia law for children to easily acquire firearms.
Peter Neil
here is the text passed by congress and used by the supreme court in district of columbia v. heller.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
two ways to interpret law, textual and purposive. purposive is to consider the intended purpose or remedy that law was meant to achieve, and textual, simply the literal parsing of words.
i've always believed the supreme court interpreted it incorrectly. the court interprets things differently at different times in history, for example roe v. wade. first one way, then another way.
the well regulated militias were the state national guard at the time the amendment was written.
the militia repelled indian attacks and also formed posses to capture criminals.
this extraordinarily important concept and reasoning is rarely addressed. those 13 words at the beginning were truncated in the district of columbia v. heller case and every other case since then.
the massive lobbying by the firearms industry and the nra has successfully squashed the purpose of the 2nd amendment and turned it into everybody gets a gun.
you get a gun, he gets a gun, she gets a gun, they get guns.
if the arms industry spent enough on lobbying, i'm sure hand grenades and tactical nukes would be just dandy.
DaDude
Stop changing User IDs to make a point. The typical Liberal playbook- Students die, it is their fault and I have no sympathy for them because "they(under 18 year olds)" voted for this. When people are killed by illegal guns in Democrat-run/supposed gun control States, blame the Republicans then move on.
JboneInTheZone
Nothing in this paragraph contradicts anything I posted.
I clearly stated “purchase” not, own. We don’t know yet how he acquired the firearm so we don’t know whether or not the gun control measures currently in place failed. The point I’m making is that there are gun control measures in place that he could have illegally circumvented in order to acquire the weapon.
Bob Fosse
The typical maga playbook. ‘The majority of people disagree with me, therefore I must be right and there’s a conspiracy behind it.’
NCIS Reruns
Peter Neil@ I think the wording of the 2nd Amendment can be distilled down to mean that gun ownership is a collective, not individual, right. It was added to the Bill of Rights in reaction to the British proactively disarming the colonists. That amendment probably made sense in the 18th century; now, not so much.
diobrando
It will never stop, even in Mexico its safer to live than the US!
Rip to the victime.
JboneInTheZone
Mexico has more than double the homicide rate of the US
JboneInTheZone
What do you mean by collective right?
iraira
Got some proof of that? No, you don't. So stop deflecting.
You're the only one bleating "No sympathy". The fact that many are trying to get the government to take multiple steps to stop this slaughter seems lost on you. Sympathy minus concrete steps to resolve the situation so that it does not reoccur is just meaningless "thoughts and prayers".
browny1
Bob FosseToday 08:32 am JST
There is no minimum age on owning a rifle or shotgun In Georgia. Legal guardians may buy any firearm without restrictions and face no penalties for insecure storage. With legal guardian consent children under 18 may carry a handgun in certain situations.
Not being up with current gun laws across the states, this just amazes me. Or more to the point just shocks me.
What kind of society in the most "developed" country in human history would allow that???
And Geogia, led by Gov Kemp, that virtuous upholder of conservative rights and freedom - coff, coff - really needs to cut with the prayers and thoughts malarkey and get a grip on his Frankenstein.
DaDude
Typical liberal playbook: you disagree with me so you are in the cult and are delusional. I am always right and you are always wrong. Face it!
Gene Hennigh
Every time I go out anywhere I wonder if I'm going to be able to get home alive. Nothing like this has happened around me, but that doesn't mean it won't. The US used to be my home. Now my home is. The country is just too dangerous to love much anymore.
Bob Fosse
Plenty of people disagree with me and I am more than willing to accept when I am wrong.
Except when interacting with maga. In those cases you are right on the money with “you are in a cult and delusional” being the only reasonable approach. And ridicule because they hate that.
dagon
Right on Dude give it to the libs!
How about my question to your query about why the Trump campaign just goes to calling a 14 year old 'sick and deranged' instead of addressing the systemic issues that create this epidemic of mass shootings?
bass4funk
Easy, it wouldn't matter what he would say, the media would distort his words. Secondly, what do you want Trump to do? He can't do anything about it, Biden and Schumer can't, Johnson can't, and none of these politicians can and will do anything that undermines the Second Amendment, just like the right won't be able to ban abortion either.
Bad Haircut
Why is this happening so often now when it was basically non-existent before the 1980s?
Guns might be a tool, but they aren't the source of the problem. I think family breakdown, fatherless homes, the need for both parents to work to afford the cost of living, the massive drugging of kids (especially boys) with medications like SSRIs, the sense of hopelessness, the anti-male bias in the public school system--all tragedies in themselves--contribute heavily to the problem of mass shootings.
At the same time, the media and politicians basically ignore the ongoing gang violence/shootings in poor neighbourhoods that happen mainly in Black and Latino areas. They don't seem to care about the tools used to carry out that violence, so what gives?
M3M3M3
Given that the US has barely made any progress in 'the war on drugs', what makes people think a repeal of the 2nd amendment and a war on guns would be any more successful?
I'm not saying don't do it, but without an underlying shift in political attitudes towards border enforcement, policing, civil liberties and racial discrimination, it's naive to imagine that meaningful gun control is even possible.
Unless everyone is willing to impose harsh 20 year prison sentences on the 'urban youths' who would be the most likely to keep buying and using illegally imported guns, any repeal of the 2nd amendment is meaningless and purely symbolic.
dagon
Strawman or slippery slope? Take your pick with the MAGA logical fallacy train.
GOP:Dems will send stormtroopers to confiscate anything with gunpowder from lawful citizens.
Having gun licensing at least like what we have with specialized vehicle licensing is not an option.
Peter Neil
of course, i agree.
the militia was referred to many times during the crafting of the bill of rights and always in the context as being general common defense of the state against rebels and attacks from outside. most of the states were originally against a standing army, calling it a danger to liberty.
remember, tactical nukes don’t kill people, people kill people.
NOMINATION
How about the rest of his message of his sympathy instead of being the first to rush to comment to blame Trump for everything bad that happens and his finger was on the trigger? Have you ever noticed that you talk about Trump constantly? Why?
Bob Fosse
Mass shootings were non-existent before the 1980s? Really? There were far less certainly but far from non-existent.
How many guns were there in the US in the 1970’s compared to now? Care to take a guess?
Did more guns make The US safer and decrease mass shootings?
u_s__reamer
The country sorely needs cure for its chronic GDS (Gun Derangement Syndrome). Unfortunately, cure by "gun law" hasn't worked so far because there is a deeply-rooted "glorious" tradition of gun violence in American history that some of the many stressed-out individuals have always resorted to and government, too, relies on with its deployment of police forces militarized to the gills shooting first and asking questions later.
JboneInTheZone
This is true though. A tactical nuke will literally just sit there unless a person launches it
Eastmann
just another normal day in USA...
Klaus D. Orth
Donald, guess who the sick and deranged monsters are! The ones who still don't support a weapon's ban!
WoodyLee
Here we go again.
14 YO with a killing machine ending the lives of 4 souls .
You can have all the toys in the world at your finger tips but why a 14 yo is capable of getting his hands a killing machine is beyond CRAZY.
Who ever allowed this kid to obtain this weapon is just as GUILTY.
Bad Haircut
Nice try, Bob. I said basically non-existent. They did happen but were exceedingly rare. And yet guns were readily available.
Clearly you and plenty of others here aren't interested in the root causes - including those I listed in my previous post - only the end result. But isn't it blatantly obvious that if we sufficiently resolved the underlying causes, these shootings would rarely if ever happen?
WoodyLee
""Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed," Biden said in a statement, calling on Republicans to work with Democrats to pass "common-sense gun safety legislation."
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee for president, called the shooting a "senseless tragedy."
"We've gotta stop it. We have to end this epidemic of gun violence," Harris said at the start of a campaign event in New Hampshire.""
SURE, we hear ya.
Bob Fosse
No. Because your ‘root causes’ exist all over the world.
The difference is readily available guns or not.
mrtinjp
Well this one is on decades of the GOP blocking any meaningful gun reform more than it is on Trump
In power for 12 out of 16 yrs and still it's GOP/DT problem, so confirmed Trump is back, that's a start...
JboneInTheZone
Access to guns isn’t the sole determining factor when it comes to the levels of violence and homicide in a country. There are countries with stricter gun control laws but higher levels of violence and homicides. For example, Mexico.
sunfunbun
The USA has by far the biggest military in the world, and praises those who serve, often giving them accolades at events such as sports and big gatherings which draw huge televised viewership. Primarily, the military is said to keep the USA and the world free in its voice, but it also is a major money maker, and a purveyor of violence, accepted by Americans as necessary, and the people are brainwashed by flyovers, and the flair of being capable of as the world's most advanced killing machine. Nobody will mess with us, the bigger the military is, which has some truth to it, unfortunately.
Because of this, and the history of the gun, along with an obsolete constitutional right, the gun culture will always exist in America.
There are always comments about how laws for one side will make a difference, while the other wants little to no control of guns and blames the mental state of Americans. The gun culture allows for believers in gun ownershi, which is both sides, and gun usage to enable problematic people to have guns.
Mass shooting and killings are the obvious result.
Thoughts and prayers are often the stamped reaction, but it's insanity to repeat it over and over, and many of us believe the thoughts part but prayer is a silly belief for a representation of good, which is what belief in God and religion is supposedly about, but a gun culture makes 'prayer' completely hollow, and a God fearing culture and guns hypocritically go hand in hand in the United States.
John
WhiskeyGaloreToday 08:13 am JST
Yeah, because a bunch of beer-gutted goobers are going to take down the U.S. army, lol.
Bad Haircut
But they're in overdrive in the US. Kids still had easy access to guns in the past, but the social problems have ramped up.
wtfjapan
What has Joe/Kamala done to change gun laws except use the same copy and paste message each mass shooting?
Biden tried legislation in congress, blocked by republcans, even tried to use an exectutive order for stricter backgorund checks, blocked by Trumps supreme court.
make no mistake Republcans are doing nothing to stop gun violence, get this Trumps executive order after the Las Vegas massacre was blocked by the supreme court
bass4funk
Most public schools
But they expose the left, thank God for them
Because there hasn't been a change at public schools concerning their curriculum
Bad Haircut
A key privilege of being a left-winger is that you never have to be accountable for anything you say or do.
opheliajadefeldt
The vast majority of Georgians and other Americans will have forgotten about this by tomorrow, the truth is, they just do not care, unless it happens to them. The USA is a very sick country controlled by maniacal gun nuts and a military style police force. It is the one country I will never visit, even if if it was on a paid holiday with a $5,000 a week spending money, why, because no one living there knows if when they leave home in the morning for work...etc....they may never return, that is the level of this out of controlled, rampant, gun violence.
bass4funk
The Dems don't care and did nothing either back when they controlled the executive and the legislative branch, and they did nothing.
And Dems will do nothing either.
JboneInTheZone
You should really get off the internet for a bit, your perspective is based in 0 sense of reality and reeks of someone propagandized by the internet. Your chance of being shot in the U.S. is incredibly low
stormcrow
It sounds like now that the parents were negligent. If so, then they should be punished as well. This won’t eliminate all future school shootings from happening, but it may prevent some.
theFu
Winder is an upper middle-class town at the edge of "metro Atlanta", but before you are "in the sticks" and surrounded by ranches, forests and mountains.
There are existing Georgia laws against minors using any firearm unsupervised, but I don't think any of them punish the parents - certainly not sufficiently if a 14 yr old can gain access.
Most types of gun control is dead in Georgia before it ever gets out of committee, but maybe this will be sufficient to get the Governor and State Congress to finally strengthen penalties and mandate firearms be locked so that only the owner can gain access.
Section 16-11-132 - Possession of handgun by person under the age of 18 years
Ref: https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-16/chapter-11/article-4/part-3/section-16-11-132/
First offense is $1000 fine and/or up to 1 yr in prison.
Second offense is $5000 fine.
The fines are against the minor, not the person(s) enabling them. I think we need to add a 0 to those fines, for $10,000 and $50,000 to make them more serious AND hold the person who allowed unsupervised access accountable for the same amount. Handguns are legally different than longguns - i.e. rifles.
There are exceptions for a number of reasons, some are good like at a handgun training course and others are foolish, like being inside the house of a parent, guardian, grandparent, even if there isn't direct adult supervision.
I wasn't able to find any law about minors owning long guns (i.e. not handguns). If a parent allows a rifle to be given to a minor, that seems to be fine. It is only the handguns which carry some legal ramifications.
Lots to be fixed in the Georgia firearm laws. More than "thoughts and prayers", that is certain.
theFu
The US Army won't act against residents of the US on US soil. It doesn't happen and won't. That's the job of police, FBI, State BIs, and perhaps the State Guard which is under control of the State Governor, not the feds.
wallace
All politicians are responsible for the gun massacres and homicides and the lack of sufficient gun laws. Shame on them all.
Ricky Kaminski13
And here we go again. Before the dust settles and not even a second of reflection and mourning for the latest victims before the dems and republicans launch into their usual political screaming match and finger pointing. Harris chirps in making untenable promises to end something that she cannot possibly have any real impact nor control over.
And round and round we go, the circus once again in full swing and show.
RIP to the victims and families of yet another senseless death at the hands of another troubled youth with a gun.
Hawk
More details coming out: An "AR-platform-style weapon," so, a rifle.
Also, as is sadly often the case, "(t)he suspect had been on the radar of law enforcement officials more than a year ago in connection with threats of a school shooting posted online, the F.B.I. said. He and his father were interviewed by local law enforcement officials; he denied making the threats, but the authorities alerted local schools."
I'm not sure what else the authorities could have done though. Georgia doesn't have red-flag laws, and can they even be applied to a minor?
Hawk
Oops, link for above quote:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/09/04/us/georgia-shooting-apalachee-high-school#mass-shootings-2024
Yumster100
So this murderer didn’t end his life after his rampage? What a pathetic loser.
Bad Haircut
In what way? Allowing him to access the gun?
Wasabi
No never too early or do you want to wait for next time?
wallace
How does any child get a firearm or knife into a school? Something needs to be done about that.
Wasabi
Sorry but wrong question. It's should be : How does any child get a firearm or knife?
The USA big problem? Gun and Education.
Suisse have gun and good education and what happen? Nothing. But no gun and good education is better.
Chabbawanga
kid kills people at school with a gun. nothing happens. another person kills people at a school with a gun. nothing happens. another person kill more people at school... you see where im going with this?
There is no round and round, it is a straight line of school shooting with zero intervention. What do you suggest "libs" do about it? If nothing changes then the discussion needs to continue.
MontiePieThong
Very sad news and I have so much empathy and pity for the victims and their loved ones but it's hard to feel anything but contempt toward a society that allows this to happen time after time and that refuses to make the changes necessary to eliminate these mass killings.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Charge the parents. Love guns? Have kids? Be prepared for a new regime of personal responsibility or else.
Gene Hennigh
There a lot of good arguments here. Not so many good comments, though. The subject, for me, is this particular article. It's a shame that kids kill kids and for some the right to guns is more important than the kids killed here. The ones wounded. The families' grief. Think about the dead and wounded HERE. I really can't imagine what it would be like if my daughter were among the dead. Gun rights be damned for a few minutes. It's these particular kids I think of. Argue about gun rights in a gun rights article.
Underworld
bass4funk
make no mistake Republcans are doing nothing to stop gun violence, get this Trumps executive order after the Las Vegas massacre was blocked by the supreme court
And yet Tim Walz passed red universal background checks and flag laws.
M3M3M3
How many of you would support a law banning all guns and imposing a mandatory minimum 15 year prison sentence for all violators caught with one? I would.
...But if it later turned out that a single racial demographic made up 80% of convictions under this new law, would you still support it? Serious gun control in America is not only impossible because of rightwing gun advocacy groups. If given carte blanche, the Democrats would also not follow through on meaningful gun control. It's a classic wedge issue used to excite gullible voters.
Seigi
Very sad news and RIP to the victims. Georgia along with Maryland were the only BLUE state from the south during the last election.
Hawk
Generally, in cases like this, I believe the parent(s) can be held somewhat accountable. Letting your 14-year-old get their hands on a semi-automatic firearm and take it to school is extremely negligent.
However, in this case, the suspect "will be charged and tried as an adult," implying he had agency over his own actions. Given that, can you also hold parent(s) accountable? The obvious parallel is the Michigan school shooting in 2021, in which the shooter was charged as an adult, and the parents were also tried and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. I guess I am answering "yes" to my own question, however, I just don't think it's right. When do we say a parent stops being responsible for their child's actions? At 14? 24? 34?
You either charge the suspect as a minor, in which case you can go after whoever was responsible for him obtaining a semi-automatic rifle and taking it to school, or you charge them as an adult, transferring the blame solely to the offender. Unless the parent had prior knowledge of the shooter's intentions etc. Just a thought.
Cephus
"Georgia high school student, 14, shoots and kills 2 students, 2 teachers, and wounds 9."
What a tragedy? But before turning this issue into a political football match. We need to ask ourselves the most pertinent question. What made a 14 years old kid into such murderous rage, mercilessly gunning his fellow students and teachers?. Based on this incident arguing about gun control doesn't help at all. We need better management in behavioral issues when comes to guns only then we can comprehensively address the root cause in gun violence.
itsonlyrocknroll
A tragedy indeed, heart felt sorrow for the families.
Change to gun ownership will only happen when a vocal US majority, at the ballot box, decides to reach out.
The companies/customers we visited in New York all offered employees access to firearms club membership.
Example...
https://westsidepistolrange.com/
funkymofo
Every. Single. Time.
bass4funk
Now? He's not even President.
Underworld
bass4funk
And yet Tim Walz passed red universal background checks and flag laws.
But he's a Dem.
bass4funk
That makes it worse
Strangerland
We can't talk about this now!
...and we won't talk about it later.
Hawk
When does it help? When entire families are shot to death?
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/woman-3-children-found-shot-death-car-utah-113385715
When 8-year-olds accidentally shoot themselves to death?
https://apnews.com/article/utah-boy-dies-shoots-self-6a0b5ac49bd95ec7976d8ecf578e13aa
When 4-year-olds are shot to death by themselves or a sibling?
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/4-year-boy-fatally-shot-inside-st-louis-113349163
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/4-year-old-child-dies-after-accidentally-shooting-himself/ar-AA1pSvAa
Hawk
^^^All this week, by the way.
Underworld
bass4funk
make no mistake Republcans are doing nothing to stop gun violence, get this Trumps executive order after the Las Vegas massacre was blocked by the supreme court
And yet Tim Walz passed red universal background checks and flag laws.
But he's a Dem.
Fighto!
The intelligent nations of the world have learnt. The US never will.
Rest in Peace to the victims.
There will be another gun massacre of innocent people within a few days in America.
carpslidy
t's the modern version of human sacrifice,
In ancient times they would offer human sacrifices to appeasethe gods
Now Americans offer child sacrifices to appease the gun lobby
Madness
John
It’s a cult of guns by people who want a gun because it makes them feel powerful and masculine.
Dead kids be damned.
And I am a 40 year gun owner, but not a gun nut job.
bass4funk
Not always, for most Americans including myself, it gives me a sense of Protection and the right to protect my livestock as well as my family.
The gun can be the equalizer, not the left talk about kids.....
Almost the same, not a nut either, but I do collect them, and I love them.
kohakuebisu
RIP to the victims and condolences to their families.
It feels very strange seeing a story use the word "gunman" for a fourteen-year-old child.
nickybutt
What was the defininition of insanity again?
lincolnman
Firearms enthusiasts know how dangerous firearms are and support common sense gun control measures like background checks, red flag laws, and waiting periods...
Gun-nutters only keep their firearms because they are weak, scared, and lack self-esteem - their guns give them their only sense of power...and refuse any gun control measures...
Nonsense...
Gun-nutter...not firearms enthusiast....
TorafusuTorasan
@bass--would like to hear what you have shot to protect your livestock. Rustlers? Varmits? Ghost riders in the sky?
And did you do it without taking out a few head of cattle as collateral damage?
bass4funk
Yes, I can kill invasive animals that kill my livestock and I can keep my family safe because if an illegal or some criminal thug has a gun and I have one, that changes the field a lot
To gun haters perhaps
And the Dems talk and still will never do anything, there's your nut right there.
EvilBuddha
The kid was probably being bullied and fought back.
Bullying is a big problem in schools everywhere.
J101
Kim Wilde should write a new song: Dead Kids in America
John
You need an AR for none of those purposes.
bass4funk
Depends. When im shooting feral hogs, absolutely
Hawk
It really is. For example, Japanese schools have a huge problem with bullying. Workplaces, too. Mass shootings...not so much.
EvilBuddha
It really is. For example, Japanese schools have a huge problem with bullying. Workplaces, too. Mass shootings...not so much.
In the US, bullies run scared because the weak and the vulnerable whom they are fond of bullying can simply arm themselves legally.
US is therefore a model nation which enables it's weakest and most vulnerable citizens to live with freedom and without fear.
Those who wish to twist these tragic incidents to fulfill their own agenda of taking away the freedoms of their fellow Americans are the real coward bullies.
Kabukilover
The gun lobby takes school victims again .The Second Amendment should either be modified or crossed out altogether.
bass4funk
None, just enforce the gun laws already on the books
plasticmonkey
You tune out the facts.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-focuses-migrants-crime-here-is-what-research-shows-2024-04-11/
TokyoLiving
Thank God I don’t live in that depressive gun hell hole thirdworldish country..
Hawk
By your logic, there wouldn't be any bullying in the States. However, you just said, "Bullying is a big problem in schools everywhere."
So perhaps this guy was standing up to his bullies, but guess what? In another school tomorrow, some other kid is going to get bullied. And another kid the day after that. It's such a pathetic argument.
TorafusuTorasan
Okay, as a Texan, you should be able to explain what gun laws in your adopted state have been strengthened after the Uvalde tragedy.
bass4funk
Not buying what the globalists say. The crime stats say a different story
lincolnman
Gun-nutter. Doesn't know what type of firearm to use and only keeps guns to protect his toilet paper stockpile.
But really worships them because it gives him his only sense of power. Little man with a big gun...
Huh?
Gun-nutter talk...
Japantime
It is only after some kids are shot that people claim to care about gun control. If you really want to make America great again, please consider important things like the lives of little innocent kids who trust their parents and teachers to keep them safe.
plasticmonkey
I gave you the crime stats and you refuse to accept them.
If there are stats that show there is a massive "migrant crime wave", please post them. (Anecdotes and opinion pieces don't count as stats.)
bass4funk
You don’t know what I need or anything about me, sit down and relax
No, because I can as an American
Ok. lol
plasticmonkey
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank with connections to Koch Industries. Your kind of people. They say there is no "migrant crime wave".
bass4funk
Yes, because the murder and crime rates from the police stats are different
Ok, Plastic you buy into that crap. Lol
bass4funk
They are not the police or FBI so….
plasticmonkey
Just as the Founding Fathers wrote in the 2nd Amendment.
plasticmonkey
The police and FBI don't back your narrative either.
EvilBuddha
By your logic, there wouldn't be any bullying in the States.
3 out of 5 Americans don't own firearms because they have fallen for the anti-gun agenda.
So perhaps this guy was standing up to his bullies, but guess what? In another school tomorrow, some other kid is going to get bullied. And another kid the day after that.
Because kids who follow rules can't bring guns to school. It's the rules which are the problem. Change those rules and it will end the problem of schoolyard bullying as well as school shootings. No potential school shooter who wants to create mayhem will choose schools where everyone potential victim can fight back.
lincolnman
That's the gun-nutter tipoff tight there - no knowledgeable sportsman would use an assault rifle to hunt - too much muzzle velocity.
Anyone who brags about his/her AR15 is a poser - a gun-nutter who props up their self-image and esteem with a "big gun".
They're scared, frightened, and feel powerless....a big gun makes them think they're bigger than they are...
They shouldn't have guns - they don't have the emotional maturity to own a firearm...
bass4funk
Actually, they do, but Congress…
bass4funk
You do you and I do what I want. Simple
Well, that is your personal opinion.
Again, you think for yourself, but not for others.
You don’t get to make that call.
Maybe you don’t, don’t speak for me. Thanks.
John
Absolutely not. The hide of feral hogs is too thick to reliably penetrate with a .223 round so you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about unless winding animals and allowing them to suffer is your thing.
More likely, the AR does for you what it does for every non law enforcement person: It makes up for whatever insecurities you have and makes you feel like a tough guy.
Hawk
And 2 out of 5 Americans do own firearms because they've been duped by the gun industry and its commercial interests.
There were guns in the school. The suspect was taken into custody by an armed law enforcement officer. Despite the propaganda, that shooters target gun free zones is a myth.
plasticmonkey
Well, no they don't.
But you're not really interested in statistical facts anyway. As you said, they're "crap".
You're more interested in a story that confirms what you want to believe.
Huh?
Nibek32
‘Merica
Glad I moved my family to Japan.
wallace
Only about 48% of Americans homes own a firearm. Exact figures are difficult because of the lack of gun registration. None of my American family own a firearm.
Bad Haircut
This is the problem almost nobody here wants to talk about. Why not? And bringing it up just gets you loads of downvotes from people who hate guns but don't seem to give a damn about why people are using them to carry out these shootings in the first place.
John
Imagine being so scared that you have to carry around your big man boom stick everywhere to protect yourself from the imaginary hoard of “others”?
I came of age when crime rates were much higher and men weren’t such wimps that they needed to get Rambo-ed up to buy a quart of milk.
Of course this was before Faux “news” told their viewers that the bad people with different colored skin were coming for their women.
Bad Haircut
I think you're mostly right, in that victims have the right to fight back against bullies. However, the victims are often in such a poor state of mind, with their problems probably compounded by other issues on top of or related to the bullying in some way, that people unrelated to the bullying are injured or killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Schools need to deal really harshly with bullies with strong punishments instead of the wet lettuce leaf they get. I get it that teachers are probably overworked and under-supported their schools, so there must be some other measures put in place to deal with the bullies. Is there even detention these days?
Fighto!
Wallace -
Only?
That is an absolutely enormous number - and pretty much why the nation will never be safe for anyone there.
Daniel Neagari
...what should we say when this type of things happens?... o yeah
"thought and prayers", "derange white dude was mentally stressed", "more guns to protect people form evil doers"... right?
John
I’ve yet to see an AR owner who didn’t reek of “compensating for SOMETHING syndrome.”
NOMINATION
Neither does mine but I don't object to anyone wanting to protect themselves from people with illegal firearms intending harm. Stop acting like firearms won't exist if they are banned.
carpslidy
Nomination
Guns are banned or very strictly controlled in every other developed country in the world.
And in every other country mass
school killings are once in a generation tragedy
Hawk
To a point. Unless their lives are actually in danger, or they reasonably conceive them to be, they don't have the right to shoot them dead.
wallace
NOMINATION
Only about 48% of Americans homes own a firearm. Exact figures are difficult because of the lack of gun registration. None of my American family owns a firearm.
Where and when did I ever post on JT about banning guns? Never once.
wallace
How many guns are in the US?
400 million.
How many guns are registered?
6 million.
How many homes are in the US?
144 million.
48% of homes have at least one gun.
69 million homes have 400 million guns. Average of about 6 firearms per home.