Police unsure why man went on shooting spree in West Texas

Because he could?

Because people whose brains are still frozen in the 18th century allowed him to.

People will always be searching for an excuse or reason for the seemingly meaningless slaughters that continually occur in the US, but they will never find an answer.

There is no answer other than the culture of violence that breeds in the US and the lack of moral will to stop it!

Everyone has their "rights" and until people are willing to give up some of them in the name of safety, get used to this question being asked over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...for infinity!

If he did not have a gun, this would not have happened.

It’s the guns, stupid.

America is sick... it has a partial cure but won't use it. Like idiot parents who won't inoculate their kids America won't ban the sale of firearms. I wonder what it'll take for US lawmakers to grow a collective pair and do what that country needs? Some things are more important than spurious constitutional rights.

I mean it's still legal to kill a Scotsman inside the walls of York with a bow and arrow... but no-one does it. Why? Because it's a STUPID law/right and everyone knows it... it's never been repealed because everyone knows it's stupid.

America's right to bear arms is equally archaic... ban the sale and ownership of guns (unless for sporting clubs and held on club premises) and farmers for pest control. That way anyone with a hand gun or semi automatic rifle (or even fully auto) will be a villain and can be dealt with in the appropriate manner. By and large those carrying out the mass killings are using legally held weapons... you don't see many street gangs attacking schools, churches, shopping centres or offices. They tend to use them on each other or for armed robberies.

Get. Rid. Of. Guns!!

Defendind oneself is a God-given right

Do you think the right to carry military-grade weapons came from god?

Contrast this shooting: 7 deaths and 22 wounded with the knife attack in France: one death and 9 wounded. Very indicative of which is deadlier.

The local police are hamstrung by the need to avoid pointing fingers and stir up their fellow townies, but one clue being reported by the NY Times is the shooter was fired from his trucking job hours before the rampage. Might be worth looking into.

52 people have died in Mass shootings in the United States in August alone.

This is an access problem not a mental health problem.

The Republican answer is more useless “Thoughts and prayers” while continuing to loosen any existing gun laws, thereby flooding our streets with guns.

Do you think the right to carry military-grade weapons came from god?

Yep. 

Do you think he is in favour of those magazines with loads of bullets so you can really let rip and mow people in droves down?

I’d love to read your bible. It sounds like a Tarantino script.

Hong Kong people will wish they had military grade weapons.

No. They. Won't. And even if they were so equipped, how long do you think they'd last against trained military units backed by armored vehicles and helicopters? This is the ludicrous fantasy that comes from watching too many Rambo movies.

the answer is because even kids can buy guns there, the police know that more than anyone they don't need to play dumb lol this is will never stop unless you change the law about guns or more people will be killed every month in the same way

Guns were just as ubiquitous when I was growing up in the 1950's, but any kind of mass shootings were unheard of. So what is causing them in the last decade? Probably due to the growing individual despair and constantly being told the system is rigged and you cannot get ahead. Grow up!

You think a good stern talking to about individual responsibility will stop people going berserk with firearms?

Guns were just as ubiquitous when I was growing up in the 1950's, but any kind of mass shootings were unheard of. 

I doubt there were any ARs.

I know why. Because he was a deranged hayseed who communicated through his guns.

It's terrifying that some think that a deity has given them the mandate to gun down innocent people.

I've read your book cover to cover and there's nothing about assault rifles. Or any manner of gun, come to think of it.

It would seem that many gun haters would never be satisfied until the 2nd amendment is abolished and guns are all gone and the rights of law abiding citizens are stripped away.

I think most people would be happy to see proper checks and banning of mass weapons of slaughter. Don't the victims have a right not to be massacred in the classroom, or in a diner or place of work?

. A fantasy not anywhere near the dimension of reality.

Segregationists used to make similar arguments but America ended that practice.

rights of law abiding citizens

Your law abiding gun loving haters need to stop shooting innocents.

Even in the '90's the number of mass killings did go down the years the assault rifle ban was in effect but these mass events were extremely rare. Why have the five most deadliest shootings in US history all been in the last 3 years is the real question.

@theFu

Amendments are hard to change on purpose.

To non-Americans like me, there is some irony in that sentence (thinking of the meaning of amendment)

Nobody can tarnish those happy, family, memories.

I'm not sure what to make of that. I live in a place with very strict gun laws. Yet on many Saturday mornings I hear the sound of gunfire from nearby, a bunch of guests on a local farm firing shotguns at pheasants. I'm sure they're acquiring happy memories such as yours, and I've no wish to stop them doing what they do. At the same time, I can be pretty sure (not perfectly sure) that I won't encounter a gun-toting individual anywhere on the streets I generally frequent. I think it's possible to make things better in the USA. (And I also know I can learn many great things from the USA too.)

Because he's nuts. If he couldn't get a gun he probably would have sliced up people with a knife.

So why did he choose a gun instead of a knife?

Because guns are better for killing people with.

If you want to chop a tomato, get a knife. You want to kill people, get a gun.

YubaruSep. 2 02:08 pm JSTPeople will always be searching for an excuse or reason for the seemingly meaningless slaughters that continually occur in the US, but they will never find an answer.

There is no answer other than the culture of violence that breeds in the US and the lack of moral will to stop it

Guns have become a religious cult in America. It's our gods. And Wayne LaPierre the greedy loudmouth terrormongering head of the NRA is raking in the money, supporting politicians who kowtow to him and laughing his butt off at all the Pavlov dogs who believe his hysterical shrieking he has belched for decades and decades. He laughs very day when someone dies from gunfire in America. He is a Robespierre of today.

They can be used to kill a person but so can a car, a hammer, a piece of rope, a kitchen knife, illegal and prescription drugs, and many other things.

Hammer, knife, pencil etc. CAN NOT kill a number of people in a minute or a very short period of time, but a gun CAN

this is where liberals lose the argument every single time, if that many people were shooting innocent people, I just might agree with you, but it doesn’t support your argument, in fact, seems like the people are safer with more firearms.

Lots of safe people dying every day in your gun paradise.

Shame on the gun lovers.

First it's bang-bang-bang-bang-bang.

Then it's blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

Repeat forever, nothing will change.

As the Soviet poet wrote after JFK's assassination, "The stars in your flag, America, are bullet holes."

Noidall@your solution for everything that happened in history seems to be grabbing a blunderbuss and blasting away. But an uprising of Russian civilians with guns didn't cause the collapse of the Soviet Union, did it?

Until the spineless government breaks away from the NRA and stops depending on it, or ruled by them these shooting will carry on, so is it not time this happened?

What I don't understand is how this guy could have killed seven people in Texas - how was he able to kill more than one? I thought everyone in Texas had guns? Why didn't anyone take him out sooner?

And some of the fools here will think that the deep state had nothing to do with this, believing their fake-news MSM that the police had "no idea" why he did it, ignoring the false-flag operation that's right there in front of everyone's eyes.

....Anyone?

Other than hunting or law enforcement or another job that requires gun possession gun owners simply enjoy having guns. They do very little to stop mass shootings.

For some of these it feels like the Devil makes them do it.  That is, no rational explanation, just a loss of control or rush of blood to the head or whatever.  The numbers this year in the US alone are frightening.

52 people have died in Mass shootings in the United States in August alone.

This is an access problem not a mental health problem.

Has there been a sharp rise in access this year?

Anyway, considering the authorities were not able to protect an important prison inmate like Epstein, how can any American count on them for protection...

not sure huh? i,m pretty sure; because he had a gun.

having a broken mind and being ridiculously easy to get (all kinds of) guns - they complement each other. the USA is the only (first world) country in which these two result in massacres(!)

Blame Trump! His rehtorics has caused the El Paso shootings! Now here is another one motivated by racial discrimination or hatred!

I'm pretty sure one reason why he went on a SHOOTING SPREE is he literally could.

He could do it.

Because he could get his hands on a gun that shoots faster, and more accurately than the one used by my father in the Korean war, and my grandfather in WWII.

Yep. I can walk into my neighborhood Big FIve and, in three days, have more firepower in my hands than most the GI's in WWII.

Over 600,000 registered users and law abiding citizens, this is where liberals lose the argument every single time,

What the blood thirsty, gun loving , people hating nutties don’t understand is that one death is one death too many.

Their blatant disregard for human life is astounding.

Thoughts and prayers. There needs to be mental health care in America.

Donteventhinkabouttakingourguns

I can't say I have much fear of the US military "invading" me. At least not enough to think that kids getting shot up on a regular basis is justifiable to calm those fears.

It would also take a coordinated effort by millions of military and police simultaneously deciding to go after everyone. Seems so remote that having easy access to guns turns into the bigger problem.

Educator60

This article has the suspect in a gold car and then later has the police ramming a mail truck with no explanation. Did the suspect steal the mail truck? Was it the same one in which a mail carrier was killed?

Yes. And, most likely.

"This is my street instincts: When a car is approaching you and you see a gun of any type, just get down," said Munoz, who moved from San Diego about a year ago to work in oil country. "Luckily I got down. ... Sure enough, I hear the shots go off. He let off at least three shots on me."

He said he was treated at a hospital and is physically OK, though bewildered by the experience.

"I'm just trying to turn the corner and I got shot — I'm getting shot at? What's the world coming to? For real?"

Says it all.

I'm just trying to turn the corner and I got shot — I'm getting shot at? What's the world coming to? For real?

Certain parts of the world are dangerous - Syria, Afghanistan - but most developed countries are not. One might wonder why.

Hmm, seems we can't use hashtags.

Guns were just as ubiquitous when I was growing up in the 1950's, 

My dad gave me a Remington. 22 rifle for my 8th birthday. Most long guns back then were bolt action. I never saw anyone with an AR-15 or AK-47 modified for full auto with a 50-round clip.

@Laguna: WWII surplus M1 carbines (w/30 round clip) were readily available.

Ya never know what would set off seemingly regular people - but if they already have a gun before getting set off, then you're already playing catch up

He would've passed any background checks - maybe that says more about how strict the background checks are

My dad gave me a Remington. 22 rifle for my 8th birthday. Most long guns back then were bolt action. I never saw anyone with an AR-15 or AK-47 modified for full auto with a 50-round clip.

The first 'modern' mass killing case in 1949 used a semi- automatic Lugar pistol. There was still decades between incidences whereas today it is a matter of weeks. There are clearly factors other than the availability of high grade weaponry.

albaleo - Did I mention Japan? No. Japan doesn't have the 2nd Amendment and has a very different culture. Think practically.

Amendments are hard to change on purpose. The USA could outlaw cars easier than firearms. There is no right to own or drive a car/truck. None.

Restrictions will come, but the 2nd Amendment will stand for at least the next 100 yrs, probably longer. As long as there are more guns than 50% of the citizens, the 2nd Amendment will stand.

For the record, I do NOT own a firearm and have no plan to acquire one. There isn't one in the house. For my shooting pleasure, a few pellet air rifles are plenty of fun. I grew up with firearms. Hunting was something our family did together, ages 8 to 80. Nobody can tarnish those happy, family, memories. I've never seen a gun kill another human without a human involved. Guns are a tool, just like a knife, hammer, car, or spoon are tools.

To non-Americans like me, there is some irony in that sentence (thinking of the meaning of amendment)

Changing any law that isn't part of the US Constitution is trivial next to changing any Amendment, especially when 66% of the citizens aren't anti-firearm.

Changing any law outside the Constitution just takes the majority legislatures and the executive where the law was made (city/state/federal). That is easy.

Amending the US Constitution requires 2/3 of both houses of Congress AND 3/4 of the State legislatures to ratify it. The President has ZERO say in it. None. There is another method, but it has never been used. https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution/article-v.html

The ratification process isn't population based, so North Dakota and California have equal pull though their populations are drastically different. 13 states of the 50 can prevent any amendment.

Altering the 2nd Amendment cannot be done. Any restrictions will need to come from US statutes and pass the Supreme Court, which has been difficult. Challenges for restrictive state and city gun control laws often fail if they are too broad.

Nobody alive made the rules in the US Constitution about amendments. It was supposed to be hard to change. They succeeded.

The question is why are so many more people alienated from society now than before?

The good news whatever manifestations of social dislocation that you refer, both violent and property crime rates (and employment) are near 1950's/1960's levels. So just out of curiosity why do extremely rare high profile events like mass shootings reflect broader societal problems more than homicides overall ?

Thoughts & prayers!

Ask Colin Kaepernick why.

Another day, another American shooting.

Another American shooting, another day on JT where everyone's entrenched opinions get repeated.

And the cycle just goes on and on.

Are there easy answers to this problem?

No.

But as long as those in favour of guns insist that their 200+ year old 'right' to their guns supercedes the right of others to live, more Americans will continue to die.

And as more Americans continue to die, those same gun lovers will keep insisting that the problem isn't the guns that are killing their fellow citizens and that their right to own those guns is most important and so nothing will change.

America is constantly making the same mistake but somehow expects there to be a different outcome. It's simultaneously bewildering, mind boggling and utterly sad.

Nothing is more important to the US than constitutional rights.

Clearly, human life is less important. That simple fact ought to be enough to make you reconsider but clearly, this is not the case

Defendind oneself is a God-given right that no other person or government can take away.

This sort of sentiment illustrates exactly the problem with America. What the actual F is a 'God given right'? That is nothing more than a fantasy that bears NO relation to reality and is demonstrably false. This 'right' was given by those who drafted the law. God (whatever that is) had nothing to do with it. If you believe your right to own a firearm comes from some sort of divine edict, prove that to me. Show me when and how you were given this right by your mythical celestial being. You can't? So you do NOT have any sort of God given right. You only have your belief that your right to own a gun is more important than another person's life.

Seriously, anyone who mentions the word God in their claim to be allowed to own a gun should NEVER be allowed a weapon. American is chock full of these people. They are exactly the same as ISIS, believing that their God is giving them the right to behave as they do. It's nothing less than pathetic.

The reason we have this problem is because of BRIBES from the NRA, one politician got over 4 million for his campaign money. This buys a lot of "not caring about dead people" and these conservatives think this is all about values, the second amendment. Posh. These reptiles care only about the money and as long as the NRA pays and fills the coffers of both parties this slaughter will never end. Amazing how conservatives are just fine with that, never taking a slight loss in Freedom (regulating assault weapons of mass destruction) which might allow 50 people a month to like... Live! Why? Because they are selfish!

It's not the devil, it's smartphone hypnosis, which is a real thing. Look it up! Someone is trying to disrupt America.

It's amazing in today's world where nobody trust the government and most know that the government does lie to them constantly, therefore few now even trust the government. Even so, for a little Security some still trust the government to deliver on Security at the cost of liberty and Freedom, even though they also know the government will abuse this as it always does everything, and give zero Security in return. In the end the only person that can protect your family and friends is you yourself, and by taking away any of your rights you limit even this.

As Gerald Celeste stated a few years ago: "When people lose everything and have nothing else to lose, They lose it...

Guns were just as ubiquitous when I was growing up in the 1950's, but any kind of mass shootings were unheard of. So what is causing them in the last decade? Probably due to the growing individual despair and constantly being told the system is rigged and you cannot get ahead. Grow up! The system is rigged in all countries...

What hasn't been mentioned (here) is that: (1)he was fired from his job in the morning

(2) one of the people that he shot was his wife, in her car

... and more facts will come out in the coming days.

The 2nd Amendment won't be changed. It is a non-starter from a will-of-Americans standpoint. There are almost 400M firearms in America. They are owned by Americans. Politically, regardless of the NRA, having them collected isn't possible.

Shooting another human is already illegal.

Converting a semi-automatic into an automatic is already illegal.

Buying or owning a firearm if you are found mentally unstable is already illegal.

A tiny, tiny, tiny, subset of guns are used illegally in the USA. By far, the majority are used for perfectly legal reasons, by residents who legally own and use them. Would you collect all cars because someone tried to run over another person with it? almost 4x more people are killed in auto-related incidents in the USA than by firearms every year.

Things now defined as mass shootings make up a tiny, tiny, tiny, number of firearm killings. The media frenzy, social network trending, and constant publicity isn't helping.

America is forever spiraling down this same hole. Identify a problem, come up with a solution - then find that there are ever more problems as a result that require more solutions that in turn create more and more problems. America has always been awash in guns but the increase in mass shootings is a relatively new phenomenon. The question is why are so many more people alienated from society now than before?

What we are seeing now is a symptom of a greater problem of social alienation that has been accelerating in every generation since the baby boomers. Go ahead and change the Constitution and take all the guns. The suffering will continue because of a sickness in American culture. Guns will be replaced by something else that will cause the same or more carnage. Illicit drug or prescription drug abuse. Increasing affiliation with gangs and groups with extreme ideological views. Maybe something else altogether unanticipated.

The family is broken, religion is nearly irrelevant, the government has been attempting to take the place of civic life for 60 years. But it cannot bring purpose to peoples lives. Only families, meaningful work, spiritual fulfillment, and social and community cohesion can accomplish that. America is more interested in tearing those things apart than buttressing them for the common good.

Americans will fight over guns because they cannot face the bigger problem that their corrupted culture has created. Alienation. Young men are the earliest manifestation because they are more likely to be the more numerous outliers among those displaying aggressive behavior. It’s not just White males either. Black male participation in mass killings is actually proportional to their representation in society. Scores of women are also alienated from their families, from friendships and their communities.

Lack of meaning in people’s lives. Confusion over common notions of community that were learned over eons of human evolution. These problem has never been more acute in America than it is in modern times. Americans have only themselves to blame for the sorry state of their culture.

“The New York Times reported that he had just been fired from his job a few hours before the shooting spree took place.”

just “no idea at all” why.......

That’s good. Now do why “every weekend in Chicago” next. Aren’t they communicating with guns too? But they wouldn’t be hayseeds, what name would you call them?

@Nobnaga: the answer is because even kids can buy guns there, 

No one under 18 can purchase a firearm in the US. I don’t know how you came to believe that but it is not true.

@zichi: But he could have also used a bus but guns have a single use, to kill. Knives and buses have many uses.

Guns have many uses. They are not used solely to kill people. Saying that killing people is the sole purpose for a firearm sounds like you are regurgitating propaganda.

They can be used to kill a person but so can a car, a hammer, a piece of rope, a kitchen knife, illegal and prescription drugs, and many other things. Yes, I understand that law enforcement and the military use guns and they can be used to kill people. Yes if the goal is to kill people, guns are the most efficient method that is widely available.

But if guns are banned then some other method would take over the mantle of most efficient method of killing. Then I suppose that thing would also need to be banned until all risk is removed and we are all walking around in bubble wrap to avoid injury. Freedom requires a culture that is pluralistic and respectful of individual rights. Those that violate the rights of others should be punished. Gun ownership is in fact a civil right in the US. Taking away someone’s civil rights isn’t to be taken lightly.

Segregationists used to make similar arguments but America ended that practice.

Those darn Dixiecrats.

 

Your law abiding gun loving haters need to stop shooting innocents.

Over 600,000 registered users and law abiding citizens, this is where liberals lose the argument every single time, if that many people were shooting innocent people, I just might agree with you, but it doesn’t support your argument, in fact, seems like the people are safer with more firearms. 2 crazy nut-jobs out of 600,000....yeah right....

Lots of safe people dying every day in your gun paradise.

Then start in the minority communities run by Democrats where gun violence is most prevalent.

Shame on the gun lovers

The criminals, yes and the liberals that are too cowardly to clean up their cities and towns that they preside over.

The reason we have this problem is because of BRIBES from the NRA, one politician got over 4 million for his campaign money.

Probably, Planned Parenthood and the teachers unions do the same, so what’s your point?

This buys a lot of "not caring about dead people" and these conservatives think this is all about values, the second amendment.

It happens.

Posh. These reptiles care only about the money and as long as the NRA pays and fills the coffers of both parties this slaughter will never end.

What?

Amazing how conservatives are just fine with that, never taking a slight loss in Freedom (regulating assault weapons of mass destruction) which might allow 50 people a month to like... Live! Why? Because they are selfish.

That comment was absolutely ludicrous. It doesn’t matter conservative or Democrat, we’re any of these socialists Presidents, they would do the exact same thing Trump is doing even with the best intentions which the President has, he has to walk a fine line. The Democrats know that as well. You have a lot of gun holders in the mostly blue States Midwest, a lot that may not like the President overall, but support him on gun rights and the 2nd amendment. Democrats want to get back into power and attacking full on the NRA is a political death sentence for any party trying mess with the 2nd amendment.

The media writes they just have “no idea” because the have not found even a loose connection to Trump (yet). Well other than “white male”,

the ones that have no use as political attacks just disappear from the liberal and media radar. Vegas, Dayton, black kid at the football stadium.

Because people whose brains are still frozen in the 18th century allowed him to.

It would seem that many gun haters would never be satisfied until the 2nd amendment is abolished and guns are all gone and the rights of law abiding citizens are stripped away. A fantasy not anywhere near the dimension of reality.

Because he could?

Because he's nuts. If he couldn't get a gun he probably would have sliced up people with a knife.