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Group: Administrators
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Sound Off: What effect do mass shootings have on the national psyche?
The story on Fort Hood: An Army psychiatrist set to be shipped overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post Thursday, authorities said, a rampage that killed 12 people and left 31 wounded in the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the United States.
The gunman, first said to have been killed, was wounded but alive and in stable condition under military guard, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said. Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot four times and was in critical condition.
The man was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old from Virginia.
President Barack Obama called the shooting at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, "a horrific outburst of violence."
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," the commander in chief said. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."
There was no official word on motive. Hasan had transferred to Fort Hood in July from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas. Retired Col. Terry Lee, who said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox News he was being sent to Afghanistan.
Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said he spoke often with Hasan about how Hasan wanted to find a wife. Hasan was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayers regularly, often in his Army uniform, Khan said.
The shooter used two pistols, one of them semiautomatic. Neither were military-issued, Danner said.
Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover.
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Group: Forum Members
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| I think they used to have more of an effect, but it seems like anymore, I'm not left wondering 'why', so much as I am left wondering when/where the next one will be. The 'why' doesn't even matter anymore, it's always the same...someone got mad about something, and rather than deal with their anger rationally, they decided to go kill people who probably had nothing to do with their problems. To be honest, I don't care why these people carry out these shootings. What's going through their mind at the time is immaterial...I'm more interested in what's going through their mind when they leave this world (hopefully a few hundred thousand volts).
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| Mass shootings bring a myriad of emotions to me. First of all, sorrow that innocent people who were going about their daily business were mowed down, and all the lost potential and grieving for their families that this causes. Secondly, anger - it always seems that there were clues leading up to the incident, and no one cared enough to act on them, or else they felt it was futile to try, because our laws prevent acting on them. Federal legislation should be tightened in the subject of threats - threats to family members, disputes within the community, etc. How often have we heard of a tragedy, but the law could do little to protect the victim because no crime had actually occurred previously? A threat IS a crime, and should be treated as a serious one. My anger also includes our too-liberal "patient rights" laws, which allow mentally unstable people to carry out harm to others, because they're not in their right minds. We've all seen in the Nebraska news examples of (not exclusively, just as an example) schizophrenics who are off their medicine (and a hallmark of this condition is that they don't want to take their medicine, as they think it's everyone else who has a problem) harm or kill someone. If prevention is disallowed and all we can do is mourn after the fact, we have a situation that needs remedied. Mass shootings are more common than in the past, because of today's mobility, greater population, gun culture, and general violence. No one likes intrusion of privacy, but these crimes merit having the law's ability to monitor, control and prevent such clues, threats, etc. that are usually present before a mass killing.
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Group: Administrators
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| Well, I always get a feeling of insecurity ... what if it happened to me or someone in my family? I bet it's the same for many folks. The random nature of these tragedies makes them more scary than if you hear about someone getting taken out in a car accident, which is of course far more common.
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Honestly, it doesn't do anything to me. It sucks, but worse things happen every day. Our broken-ass health care system scares me more than people that I never would have met getting killed by somebody whose cheese slid off their cracker.
I'm bracing myself for the torrent of "RAWR! HE WAS A TYPICAL MUSLIM" ignorance over the next few months. That **** gets old in a hurry.
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Group: Forum Members
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| I agree with Nina that my initial reactions are sorrow for the victims and their families. And I, too, have anger...but my anger isn't directed at people who MIGHT have been able to stop it, my anger is directed solely at the killer.
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Well, most of the time I can't help but wonder why. What did the perpetrator think this would accomplish? Did they not consider their victim's familys?
In this case, I hate to say it, but anyone who knows anything about the area, who's ever lived there, or known anyone who lived there, might have to admit that it's sadly surprising it doesn't happen more often.
I cannot even imagine the horror and loss felt by the friends and familys of the vicitms.
Does anyone remember the shooting at the resteraunt in Killeen I think it was about 10 or 13 years, or so ago?
I lived there for 5 years as an army wife, in the 80's.
The entire area, Killeen, Harker Heights, Copperas cove, Nolanville, pretty much wouldn't exist without Ft. Hood. Not unlike other military towns.
But this area inparticular, is predatory towards the military personel.
Nolaneville ( which was refered to as No-No ville) was notorious for it's speed traps. One didn't dare go even 1/2 mile over the speed limit, no exageration. At one time they were in the guiness book or records for having the highest number of police for their population.
I think the feeling of hopelessness, helplessness are all too common in these kind of predatory areas. Eventually someone's going to snap.
Not saying it's right, or justified, it's absolutely not. But it sadly happens when people feel preyed on and have no place or no one to turn to.
whether or not this was the what set this guy off, we may never know.
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| Anger is understandable toward a killer, and is righteous anger when plain selfishness, meanness, or similar emotions are behind the deed. But when a people go psycho because of over-stress, they are ill, and not responsible for their actions - in other words, they are insane. It happens in war, and in other traumas. It does no good to hold anger against an insane person or one without the mental capacity to realize the difference between right and wrong. I don't know which scenario this Ft. Hood killer represents, but I still think rethinking the way we handle threats might save some future innocents.
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| After blaming President Bush for everything negative that happened, shouldn't this terrorist attack be blamed on President Obama?
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Revolter (11/9/2009)
After blaming President Bush for everything negative that happened, shouldn't this terrorist attack be blamed on President Obama?
Why?
First...we don't know that it was an actual terrorist attack yet.
Second...are you conceding 9/11 should be blamed on Bush? After all, he was President as long by the time of 9/11 as Obama has been for this attack in Ft Hood.
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