Shootings, Gun Violence & Gun Control Discussion

[Coremodels]

jackoh wrote:

While I appreciate your approach here, it needs to be pointed out that there is no “ Constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

you mean other than the 5th and 14th Amendments.

[jackoh]

Coremodels wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jackoh wrote:</div>
While I appreciate your approach here, it needs to be pointed out that there is no “ Constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

you mean other than the 5th and 14th Amendments.

The right to “life, liberty, and property” articulated in the 5th amendment and incorporated to the states by virtue of the 14th amendment applies to government actions and intrusions. Individual private acts that deprive others of these “rights” are supposed to be covered in the criminal or civil statutes, and if those acts are not addressed in those statutes they cannot be prosecuted.

[Coremodels]

jackoh wrote:

The right to “life, liberty, and property” articulated in the 5th amendment and incorporated to the states by virtue of the 14th amendment applies to government actions and intrusions. Individual private acts that deprive others of these “rights” are supposed to be covered in the criminal or civil statutes, and if those acts are not addressed in those statutes they cannot be prosecuted.

And yet both of those amendments qualify them as Constitutional Rights…which was what you claimed they weren’t.

Which is the point.

[Bear]

Actually, with all due respect, the point was that bearing arms and remaining alive are both *individual* rights. Portraying the ready availability of guns as a victory of individualism over collectivism makes no sense unless you devalue the lives of the victims.

As I wrote some time ago, policies typically boil down to how we want to make a tradeoff between two things that we value. In this case, while I believe in gun rights, their valuation relative to the right to life in this country strikes me as profoundly warped.

[heresthecasey]

Absolutely horrific story out of VA this morning, where two reporters were shot and killed live on the air while delivering a story for the morning news. There is video of it out there on the internet, but I would really recommend not viewing it. So awful and disturbing. I wish I hadn’t.

The suspect was apprehended and has now also died. A third victim, the interviewee, is recovering after surgery.

Live updates from The Guardian here, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2015/aug/26/virginia-reporter-cameraman-shot-dead

[WJT]

heresthecasey wrote:

Absolutely horrific story out of VA this morning, where two reporters were shot and killed live on the air while delivering a story for the morning news. There is video of it out there on the internet, but I would really recommend not viewing it. So awful and disturbing. I wish I hadn’t.

The suspect was apprehended and has now also died. A third victim, the interviewee, is recovering after surgery.

Live updates from The Guardian here, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2015/aug/26/virginia-reporter-cameraman-shot-dead

And he was black, gay, and per his 23 page faxed screed to ABC, evil and crazy to the core. The rightwing response to this has been particularly awful-if you want to be disturbed any further, read the comments section on any conservative news story on this.

[Nancy H]

I liked “the news” much better when news stations had the decency not to show this kind of film footage. Twitter and Facebook did pull the plug on the shooter’s accounts fairly quickly. But, not before the film was retweeted and ended up on youtube. Both the shooter’s and the station’s broadcast are still readily available.

Now we will have lots of copycats who film their 15 minutes of fame as they murder other people.

[Author]

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