domestic terrorism/tragedy: florida nightclub shooting

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Approximately 20 dead inside Florida nightclub after mass shooting , another 42 taken to hospital, "Orlando authorities said they consider the violence an act of domestic terror"
"Police have shot and killed the gunman"

Let us hope/pray/whatever that the 42 injured all pull through.

When they say "possible link to terrorism", am I the only one thinking it is code for "suspect not white"?

Remember, this is no time to talk about gun control, during emergencies, it is too political!

/s

Or to criticize the racist media.

Paleocon wrote:

When they say "possible link to terrorism", am I the only one thinking it is code for "suspect not white"?

While investigators are exploring all angles, they "have suggestions the individual has leanings towards (Islamic terrorism), but right now we can't say definitely," said Ron Hopper, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Orlando bureau.

Seems they are confirming the shooter as Omar Mateen. Resident of Port St Lucie, born in NYC. That was just on NBC.

Other conflicting reports on twitter about where his parents are from, etc.

apparently current death toll is around 50 with 53 injured now

Yeah the mayor just had a press conference and updated the death count.

pyxistyx wrote:

apparently current death toll is around 50 with 53 injured now

f*ck guns

damn it

Just a tragedy. I am heartbroken.

Dude had a firearms license and had held two security officer licenses in recent years.

Robear wrote:

Dude had a firearms license and had held two security officer licenses in recent years.

If that's in reply to me I'm not arguing for gun control. I literally mean f*ck guns. I don't use them, have never used them. I don't like them. I don't see the point of them outside of narrow cases and they only cause pain and suffering and death. Constantly.

Indeed RNG, although I don't think they have, or even can since the shooter is dead, clarify that the club's audience motivated the choice of it as a target

edit: Per the below posts from pyxistyx, RoughneckGeek, and Rubb Ed it would appear I was wrong in this statement. I apologize and humbly stand corrected.

Apparently the shooter's father has apologised publicly and remarked that his son "got angry" when he saw two men kissing months earlier. Going by a couple of news stories I've read anyway. So, yeah - if the fact it was a LGBT club wasn't the primary reason for it being targeted I'd be VERY surprised.

His father seems to think so... (note: link is to Towleroad, so if you're behind a firewall it may get caught)

karmajay wrote:

Remember, this is no time to talk about gun control, during emergencies, it is too political /s

Yes (I caught the /s, just wanted to acknowledge it). You make me think: I wonder if the people who say "too soon" when one incident like this happens admit the conversation started "too late" when the next one does.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:
karmajay wrote:

Remember, this is no time to talk about gun control, during emergencies, it is too political

I wonder if the people who say "too soon" when one incident like this happens admit the conversation started "too late" when the next one does.

It'd be nice if that happened, but as friends of mine are saying, if 40 kids dying at the hands of a gunman isn't enough to get the conversation going, 50 queer folks sure as hell won't.

Yeah that's been covered in the Gun Control thread here. If Sandy Hook didn't change things, nothing will.

Let me look into my crystal ball. Oh crystal ball what will fox news say about this horrible crime. They will say this is no time politicize guns. They will also say Islam is a religion of hate. They will in fact call this act of terror. They will use this to fuel Trump campaign.

BOOOOOOOOOM

God dammit my crystal ball exploded.

Really though the way the news will be spun is very predictable. Keep in mind the differences in the way this will reported compared to any white Christian guy mass shooting. I'm interested in seeing if fox news sympathize or demonize the club. To attack all Muslims or Islam they might have to sympathize with the victim of the gay club. Or will they find a way to demonize the club and attack all Muslims.

Anyway a very sad day for the victims and their family. A sad day for everybody really. I really hope this doesn't inspire more attacks.

So we just give up?
Swallow the bitter pill and move on?
It will be interesting to see if the gun proponents will take their regular tack and say that if the club goers were allowed to arm themselves or open carry , it would have prevented this or limited the tragedy with the guns inherent ability to sprinkle magic pixie dust.

Texas Lt Governor Dan Patrick tweets out "reap what you sow" bible verse in response to this shooting. Even if he believes that how stupid is the guy for tweeting that. Well I guess it might not matter in Texas.

When guys that believe it is ok to murder people for loving the same sex keep getting voted into office how are things going to change.

fangblackbone wrote:

It will be interesting to see if the gun proponents will take their regular tack and say that if the club goers were allowed to arm themselves or open carry , it would have prevented this or limited the tragedy with the guns inherent ability to sprinkle magic pixie dust.

I just read an article a few days ago about how the stocks of gun manufacturers were down because a drop in demand. I'm sure the NRA will happily do its job and use this tragedy as an opportunity to try to sell more firearms to the LGBT community (and a lot more to all the white people who are afraid that ISIS is in their town).

The NRA is already trying to use the LGBT community to defeat a California proposal to require background checks on ammunition sales using ads depicting a woman and transgender actor who is accosted, draws their gun, but can't fire because the gun isn't loaded.

Of course this comes a few weeks after the NRA's annual meeting where the NRA's leadership actively blamed the LGBT community for destroying their version of America (with a classy side of deadnaming as well).

The America we know is becoming unrecognizable. Everything we believe in, everything we’ve always known to be good, and right, and true has been twisted, perverted and repackaged to our kids as wrong, backwards and abnormal...Who are our kids supposed to respect and admire? The media tells them Bruce Jenner is a national hero for transforming his body, while our wounded warriors, whose bodies were transformed by IEDs and rocket-propelled grenades, can’t even get basic healthcare from the VA.

Interview on the Washington Post with the shooter's ex-wife; she says the guy wasn't religious, beat her, and was just generally unstable. Because his parents were from Afghanistan it's going to become official Radical Islamic Terrorism instead of "crazy dude with gun".

I just wish they'd tell us if he's white so we know whether this is terrorism or not.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Texas Lt Governor Dan Patrick tweets out "reap what you sow" bible verse in response to this shooting. Even if he believes that how stupid is the guy for tweeting that. Well I guess it might not matter in Texas.

When guys that believe it is ok to murder people for loving the same sex keep getting voted into office how are things going to change.

for a fraction of a second, I thought he meant that this was the result of putting off gun control. Sigh.

Prayers and thoughts for everyone in Orlando.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

I just wish they'd tell us if he's white so we know whether this is terrorism or not.

It does say the man appeared to be white in the article.

President speaking live now.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Interview on the Washington Post with the shooter's ex-wife; she says the guy wasn't religious, beat her, and was just generally unstable. Because his parents were from Afghanistan it's going to become official Radical Islamic Terrorism instead of "crazy dude with gun".

Well, he said he was ISIS

This sucks. Terrorism has no borders or limits.
My prayers go out to the victims.

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