pulse shooting in orlando, FL

[Neo Emolga]

It's shocking to think that anyone could harbour so much hate for a group of people that they actively attempt to destroy them. The fact that this happened during Pride is the worst part, as it's a time LGBT+ people should be embracing who they are, not living in fear. Normally I feel quite removed from mass murders (even ones in familiar places, like Paris) but this one really hit home.

From a UK perspective, where guns are very strictly regulated, the only thing I can blame it on are the guns. I've seen people claiming that they'd "find a way to kill regardless", but the fact is that having no access to powerful weapons really limits the damage a person can do. The US has 10.5 deaths per 100,000 due to guns (including accidents and suicides) compared to Canada's 2.0 and UK's 0.2, yet the problem is denied over and over.

It reminds me of an Onion article headline from a few years back. "‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens". While the US is far from the worst for gun crime/death in the world, it's definitely the worst among developed countries.

It's not right to say "the only thing I can blame it on are the guns" because there's several factors at stake here. Owning a gun will not automatically drive someone to go shooting up everyone in town. Trust me, I know from personal experience and I try to be EXTREMELY careful with loading a gun with live ammunition, always be aware of what it's pointing at, and making sure that safety stays on until it's ready to fire down range. Most people around PXR know me quite well and they know I'm not a nutcase that would go shooting up innocent people. Like I said before, a gun for home protection is like a fire extinguisher. You don't get one hoping you have to use it, but it's there in case of an emergency. Sorry, but I just don't trust a 10-15 minute police response time with my life (and that's even if you can get to the phone and use it).

There were definitely mental and bigotry issues here. And there were radical Islamic issues in addition to that (at least from what I read). The guns were the means of the crime, I will not deny that, but they do NOT reflect the thoughts that were running through this guy's head or his background. It takes a LOT of deranged mental thinking to suddenly decide you're going to take those firearms, pack up enough ammo, drive all the way to the nightclub, and not ONCE along the way stop and think about how what you're about to do is totally wrong and just outright monstrous. That is where your mental issue lies. He could have loaded that car up with explosives, fire bombs, poisonous gas bombs, or whatnot and still could have done just as much damage.

Second, those statistics can't really be counted because for one, correlation does not equal causation, and two, you need to analyze WHY the gun was used in those cases, and if you're only looking at numbers, you're not getting the whole picture. A person who commits suicide with a gun could have jumped off a bridge or dive in front of an oncoming train instead. Meanwhile, a gun accident is caused by negligence, misuse, and lack of education, which is a fatal outcome possible with many other machines and tools like cars, power tools, and things that could involve fire, electricity, and chemicals.

id rather not turn this into an argument about gun control because i feel that rather detracts from the issue at hand, which is the homophobia that caused this in the first place. but i will say that in this particular case, the gunman owned his gun legally and was in fact a security worker. the majority of gunmen in mass shootings acquired their guns legally, too. the argument that "theyll do it anyway!" is unfounded, i feel, when the fact remains that a lack of strict gun control allowed these particular men -- the men who commit these horrible monstrosities -- to acquire the weapons they used to kill women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and so on. if mass shootings were primarily done by people who had illegally obtained their weapons then i would see where people are coming from, but statistically speaking thats not the case, and in countries with strict gun control these mass shootings simply do not happen or happen significantly less often.

i guess my point here is i dont care if you like your guns and your outdated government-sanctioned document that gives you the right to own them. they are weapons of murder with no other purpose. the very weapon you own or could easily and lawfully acquire was used to kill 50 people like me last night. this was not because the gunman was a "psychopath" or "crazed" or anything similar; mental illness is not the issue and was not what motivated him to do this. he was bigoted, and hateful, and angry, and happened to own a gun, which was legally given to him, and he knew where to go to find a large number of the type of people he hated, because the club which was attacked was one of the most popular in the orlando area and represented the history of the queer community there.

pretty much anyone can purchase a gun in this country. which means that pretty much anyone, inspired by this event, could easily walk into the same clubs that i frequent and shoot me or anyone i know. nothing is stopping them if theyre motivated by enough hatred. i live 30 minutes away from aurora, CO, where another mass shooting occurred not too long ago; its not even an unreasonable fear to have. so i ask you: why would you want to fight for the right for them to do that with so little trouble? why not make that a little more difficult for men so bigoted and violent? all i hear is that you like your guns too much to acknowledge that making weapons like this easily accessible makes mass violence more accessible, too.

thats all i have to say on the matter of guns.

Eh, don't mind me saying, but I don't know why you would say you don't want it to turn into an argument about gun control, but then write three paragraphs exactly about that. I don't agree with your statements, hence why I feel this rebuttal is necessary...

Strict gun control may lead to less shootings, but not necessarily less murder (Again, correlation ≠ causation). Case in point, the bombings in France, Belgium, Turkey, and 9/11 all didn't involve the killing of innocent people with firearms. Omar could have used a bomb, arson, or poison as an alternative (all of which can be done with household items), which is why I'm saying the mental and murderous intent issue behind this incident is way more of a factor than the guns. Your argument seems to bend toward the bias against guns and makes it sound like anger + guns will always equal mass shootings. I have guns. I have been angry. Have I gone out and shot people because of it? Heck no. Anger is only temporary, and I know this. It fades off and I, like many other gun owners that experience this, know WAY better than to use a weapon out of anger or hate. The ones that can't do this and have acted out of anger or hate are definitely the kinds of people that shouldn't have guns. Hence, why we don't let anyone with criminal records, mental issues, or violent backgrounds get their hands on a firearm.

And please, please, please don't say the constitution is an "outdated government-sanctioned document." Ugh, reading that just made me cringe, because that's like saying the right to free speech, freedom of press, and religion is outdated also, along with the things that give us equal rights, rights to vote, and so on. Also, you're quite wrong in saying that "pretty much anyone can purchase a gun in this country." Heh, heck no. In NJ, you have to go through quite a heck of a background verification process and slipping up on just one point (mental issues, criminal records, etc...) will stop you from getting one. I'm not sure what is involved in other states, but there are laws in place to some degree. As long as the laws are reasonable, I'm fine with complying with them, but there are anti-gun activists that would either want them to get to the point of being completely unreasonable (which some gun laws have gotten to that point in some cases) or just ban them altogether.

Instead of being anti-gun, be pro gun education. I'm not asking you to buy one, join the NRA, and go all crazy for them, but at least please agree with me that instead of relying on media to educate people about guns, people should be made more aware of the nature of guns, what owning one entails, safety precautions, and how to prevent misuse (and yes, I did take training classes before owning any guns myself). It may not prevent all incidents, but if it prevents at least some, then it was all worth it.