There is nothing much that I want to add about the shooting at the Trump rally. As is often the case in the immediate aftermath of such an event, there is a lot of confusion and we just have to wait until there is more information and greater clarity.
But it is just another sign of how out of control guns are in the US.
It’s not the guns that are out of control, it’s the Republican culture of violence and hate. I’m all in favor of gun control, but we need to stop talking about “gun violence” as if it’s the guns that have agency.
And some information we really don’t need to wait for: prominent Republicans are already blaming Biden for this, and we know they’ve been calling for violent retribution against all the people they consider “enemies.”
Pareto principle -> handguns kill >90% of those shot dead, so priority should be to reduce handguns.
Trump will make hay out of this, and already got off to a good start with the bloody defiance. Biden’s chances just got worse.
#1 RB
Ah yes, changing the wording to ‘violence involving guns’ will do the trick…
I am angry because they will not learn the lesson they should learn from this. I’m also flashing back to just a few years ago, when the usual suspects went parading around through Walmart and the Piggly Wiggly with their assault rifles because they believe (and the courts uphold) it’s their 2nd Amendment rights to threaten people.
A good friend from Holland said there, if they see someone in public with a gun, they think the person is mentally ill and needs to be under locked supervision. My friend is not wrong.
Shooter was 20 years old, and used an AR-style weapon.
Realistically, that’s the election decided I think. The only way trump isn’t winning now is if someone who can shoot properly has a go. Depressing.
sonof @6: My first instinct was to ask you how the hell you come to that conclusion, but I trust my second instinct more: to stay as far away as possible from the inevitable, impotent, depressing whittering that will be rife until at least November whatever-the-fuck.
sonofrojblake@6,
This was, by your estimate, an unpredictable event which has made a big difference to the presidential election. Is it not possible that in nearly 4 months, there might be another -- even several other -- unpredictable events which make a big difference to the presidential election?
Every time a conservative brings up this incident , we need to show them pictures of innocents killed due to the conservatives absolute refusal of implementing reasonable policies of gun control. And end with the biblical quote of “As you sow, so shall you reap…”
It wont of course may make any difference to them , shameless ghouls as they are ,- may convince a few voters who feel any sympathy towards Trump due to this.
@8 -- well, yes. I kind of said that. I’m just sticking my neck out and suggesting that nothing that happens between now and then is going to be as consequential as this, or tilt it in the other direction. I really, REALLY hope I’m wrong, but Trump was in front in the polls before this -- I’d be interested to see how he’s polling this time next week…
In the meantime, two funny things I read today:
1. I do hope someone who was there shouted “Donald, duck!”
2. The main question is, was Jodie Foster impressed?
One other observation: the guy was a *terrible* shot. Apparently he engaged semi-auto at a range of approximately 120 metres, in broad daylight and favourable weather conditions. Under those circumstances and with that weapon it should be possible to reliably hit a target the size of the palm of your hand, over and over and over again. At about that range and in pouring rain with a 30mph sidewind I was regularly able to hit a “running” target (i.e. moving fast laterally) centre-mass 36 times out of 40 (albeit with a considerably more accurate rifle and presumably better sight, but still) and I was NOT a good shot by the standards of those around me. If you’re going to point a rifle at a US President, surely you practice first? Even a bit?
This is the insanity I’m seeing here -- not the having of the gun or the pointing it at the President, but the sheer lack of any apparent preparation. At that range an AR-15 should be a guaranteed kill with the first shot. The way this amateur performed I’m forced to wonder whether he’d ever fired that gun -- or even any gun -- before, even at a range. Strikes me he probably played too much COD.
Um, from BBC:
sonofrojblake, on a different blog, people living in ‘red’ areas say that offline people (even very MAGA Republicans) are treating this as ‘nothingburger’ -- another shooting, Trump didn’t die, who cares?
Oh, sonofrojblake @11: The story is that people in the audience noticed the man on the roof and pointed him out to law enforcement. A local cop climbed to see what was going on and Crooks pointed his gun at the cop. Cop retreated, Crooks immediately started shooting, then Crooks was killed -- pretty shortly. So the reason he missed was that he realized he was seen and didn’t have much time.