Tim Walz says he's 'sick and tired' of prayers after Georgia school shooting
Tim Walz says he's 'sick and tired' of prayers after Georgia school shooting
VP pick Tim Walz has said he’s “sick and tired of hearing about thoughts and prayers” following the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia.
Tim Walz has said he’s “sick and tired of hearing about thoughts and prayers” following the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia, which left four dead.
Walz, who was named as Kamala Harris’ running mate in the race for the White House in August, spoke about the Wednesday (4 September) shooting at a campaign rally at the Highmark Amphitheater in Erie, Pennsylvania on Thursday.
He told his supporters: “We believe in the freedom to send our kids to school without being shot dead in the hall.”
“The news cycle moves on within a day,” he commented of the incident, adding that kids had returned to school feeling excited and “now we have four dead”.
This shooting in particular shows major society-level failures. The parents were victims of the opiate crisis. Society failed to treat that problem at an appropriate level when it first cropped up and they failed to claw back the profits pharmaceutical companies made off creating addicts. We failed to fund school mental health services that could have helped a child who everyone knew was struggling. Society failed to recognize and address the domestic violence situation, failed to intervene when the child was being raised by addicts, and failed to remove guns from such a volatile situation. There are so many levels on which any significant intervention could have prevented this chain of events.
This kid was already reported for threatening a school school shooting last year and the investigation stopped after they asked him if he did that and he said no. It's a fucking joke.
This is the real takeaway. The Republicans want to do nothing, and the dems want a quick fix in gun control. Neither addresses the root of the problem. The world as a whole needs to invest more in social services, education, and public health. It should be where the majority of money goes really.
I've heard plenty of arguments from Dems for mental health care at various levels. Those things need to be funded, and who do you think keeps trying to defund government agencies and services for social/mental health issues? Usually not the Dems. The Dems have plenty of faults, including their lack of spines (in at least some cases), but the lack of funding for social services is not usually one of them.
On the other hand some of those "quick fixes" are actually modernizing our gun laws to be like other countries that allow gun ownership. We should put all the work in but calling Universal Background Check and Red Flag quick fixes is like calling a highway lane expansion a quick fix. Yes we need a bus system, but the 2 lane road built in the 1950's isn't cutting it anymore either way.
Yes. We need full societal fixes. But gun control is part of that.
14 year olds have no business having unsupervised access to weapons. We need better storage laws. We need better red flag laws, national licensing laws so that everyone with a gun has to take a basic safety course, and we need universal background checks where ALL branches of law enforcement share info with each other.
Start there and you will significantly cut gun violence while we spin up the mental health infrastructure to deal with the rest. Which is going to take time. And money. Neither of which the current government wants to spend.
I don't want to argue against mental health services, i think mental health services could be helpful. However, i do want to point something out here: saying this is a mental health problem really doesn't make sense. You know a group that has mental health problems? Women. You know who else? Black people. You know who barely do any mass shootings? Either of those groups. We're not (just) talking mental health issues, we're talking about people who view "shooting up a school" as an appropriate way to resolve their social grievances. You can help that with mental health services, you can take their power away by blocking easy access to guns, but that's a pretty big component here as well.
The expression of mental health problems varies widely based on the cause. Societal and cultural pressures are vastly different for different groups. Men in general are 4 times more likely to commit suicide than women for example. Women are twice as likely as men to suffer major depression.hormones also impact the expression of mental illness. Men experiencing depression are more likely to exhibit irritability, sudden anger, increased loss of control, risk-taking, and aggression. Men are also more likely to feel social pressure to deal with their problems alone and are more likely to turn to drugs or alcohol.
This may be the first coherent analysis I've ever seen on Lemmy. Every other take on shootings are always 100% asinine comments about guns.
I'm not going to pretend that I don't have asinine opinions on guns, but there is very little anything but the most authoritarian gun control can do about school shootings without first addressing the social problems behind it. We would be just as likely to get kids building bombs or driving cars through crowds.
‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens
Walz's response to this is in very stark contrast to his rival Vance here. Vance gave a shockingly tone-deaf, "It's a fact of life" response that spits in the face of the victims and their families. It shows a fundamental lack of empathy that borders on cruelty (which might be the point).
Thots 'n Pears can only go so far, in this case not far at all.
Rich weird guy which I bet has his kids in private schools.
Feels like that bulletproof glass is infringing on my 2nd Amendment Rights.
What this says to me is "I am rich enough to deal with the reality of mass shootings. Get fucked plebs. This is your problem, not mine."
I used to be lukewarm on the issue of gun control, ya know.. "Yes, it's a tragedy.. but, we've got a second amendment, just increase security in schools or something."
But... eventually it got to the point where I realized I felt nothing hearing about the dead kids and the constant shootings. I was just completely numb to it, and that's when I realized "Oh shit..."
When I found that the death of children wasn't something that even made me flinch anymore, I realized.... That even if we have to destroy every gun in the West, something has to be done.
"They'll just use knives"
And when you can kill as many people with a knife in as short of a time as an AR-15, that's when I'll give a shit about knives.
PS: I totally call it the Assault Rifle 15. I know it's the "Arma Rite 15" or whatever, but it pisses conservatives off when I get it wrong intentionally.
It's really fun to call it an "assault weapon". That pops them off to an astonishing degree.
we’ve got a second amendment
Which very clearly states itself as being relevant to citizen militias, and somehow says nothing about a fundamental right to murder children in large numbers.
Knives are easier to defend. That's why the gun was made. If it didn't make warfare cheaper and quicker, they would have stayed with knives and swords.
I'm torn on this issue. I want the sort of gun control that you're describing, but I really don't know if it would be constitutional, and defying the constitution is a slippery slope that could cause more harm than even gun violence. The problem in my view is the second amendment itself - it's vague, outdated, and in desperate need of clarification. The fact that it deals with possession of technology but hasn't been updated in 250 years is insane.
I'm with anyone calling for gun control, but we really ought to be demanding constitutional revision to address this issue.
One thing that really made it hit for me was when Australia had a mass knifing so bad the fucking pope commented on it and the numbers felt low for it to be such a tragedy of violence. It felt like it wouldn’t hit the state level news in America with a gun.
But also you were lukewarm and other people are now because someone who is making millions and is spending millions on lobbying so that children continue to be killed so that they keep making millions. Even though the additional millions they'll make won't change their net worth by any significant amount...
Whoa buddy, too soon. Now is not the time to talk policy. Trans kids are playing soccer.
It's those damned books fault. Better ban them all to be safe
I have an idea... shoots books
Problem solved.
I don't know if anyone needed a harmless (slightly dark) laugh on the subject, but I recently played an indie PnC game called "3 Minutes to Midnight" with a joke around this. You open a wall medical kit, and there are sheets of paper inside, which read "Thoughts and prayers".
easy: strict gun control. look at Europe.
Sadly that won't happen because Americans are special - and I say 'special' in that Midwestern-US, 'bless their heart' way
The US government tries to pass (or enforce) any meaningful gun legislation, a third of the country stamps their feet and tells 'NO!' and the gov't backs down. Rinse & repeat
shiiiii it doesnt even get to us s'more like 2/3 of the country asks for (x) regulation, the govt starts making noises about regulating (x), a bunch of political ads come out to convince public (x) regulation is bad, contributions come from the (x) companies to the politicians regulating (x), business (x) is added to the commitee deciding rules for (x), regulation is watered down or outright defeated.
at almost no point in the process is the public will treated as anything other than a problem to solve.
Yeah but people always bring up the talking point "but over in Europe only the criminals have guns now! How can they defend themselves?"
However I really have to wonder... Where do criminals get those guns? 🤔
it's almost like they're pulling it out their asses
America has a gun culture though. While Europe doesn’t. In plenty of European countries you can get a gun license if you are willing to go trough the process and fill in the paperwork. It’s not super hard. Yet almost no one owns or wants a gun in those countries. And if they have one it’s usually a hunting rifle and not weapons for personal protection or target practice. If the US had the same gun rules as in Europe the demand for guns wouldn’t drop. Americans would still want a gun.
Europe doesn't have 434 million guns already in the hands of civilians.
Buying and owning a gun should require a lot more than it does now, but this isn't going to solve this problem. It will, at best, slightly mitigate it.
you have to start somewhere
Germany wants to get tough on knife crime with stricter laws
shrug Definitely better than people being able to walk out of a 7/11 with a pair of 9mms, I suppose.
But at some level, this is a people problem, too. Social anxiety inflamed by fascist social media. A 24-hr news cycle that tells people they are being immiserated by evil foreigners. School bullying in buildings where you've got 40-60 student class sizes and teachers with barely more than a six-month certificate expected to manage the room. Rising rates of malnutrition, homelessness, and general poverty. And this endless deluge of people telling one another "The civil war is happening any day now".
You're going to have people freak out as a result. This is a pressure cooker of a social system and climate change is only going to make things worse. Whether its gun crime or knife crime or people just trying to bite one another in fits of rage, the volume of hate we've ingested combined with the commercialized scapegoating of anyone we're told its okay not to like means... Violence. You're going to get more violence.
Whether its gun crime or knife crime
How to defend yourself when attacked with a knife: https://youtu.be/kvlrnc7hlQI?si=DhxdyaCoE0qJPa7g
Yes, root causes need to be dealt with as well, but when violence does happen there's a world of difference between how much damage someone can do with a knife vs someone with a gun.
Europe also has things like universal healthcare and much less of an opioid crisis and whatnot. Without those, this wouldn't have been prevented -- the kid would've just used a knife or explosives or something instead.
i agree with specific point you're making about the cause of shootings being lack of healthcare access in the US. You are also correct in my opinion that all three things are necessary for a healthy society. I think you might be missing your own point here with a typical assumption i see thrown out by the media, that asking for one of those 3 things precludes our ability to have the others. In other words, that we can't advocate equally for all 3 at the same time!
The idea that it is impossible for the US govt to work on these things in tandem over DECADES (these issues are DECADES in the making) is pervasive, effective, and inhibits progress on any. So why does it persist?
Somehow while we know we should have them all, we are convinced to argue we cannot have one without the other first. Should not ask for one without the other more important issue first.
The thing i'm trying to say is, yes we can. The government is (yaknow, hypothetically) able to tackle multiple issues at once and anyone who gets tricked into arguing which one we should pick allows the big G to have an excuse for not working on ANY of them.
As you say, without all three the problems will not cease, they'll just change shape. All the more reason to advocate for each, always, until they're tackled, one by one.
no better indicator that prayer doesn't work then the fact that there's a new school shooting almost every day after republicans do a new thoughts and prayers.
I don't think they believe it works.
I think they just believe that shootings are bound to happen, because why else would they be happening on such a regular basis?
It's the constant deflection of responsibility, from our choices as a society, to some indeterminate outside force.
Poverty and increasing cost of living? It's all those darn immigrants.
Your job not paying you enough? Must be overseas industry.
They don't think their prayers will prevent a school shooting, they just don't think there's other options to prevent it that will actually work without "taking away their freedom" (-to own a gun that's more likely to harm them than protect them)
Survivor bias. Republicans think “thoughts and prayers” are protecting their own kids. They don’t give a shit about other kids they don’t know.
Worse, they don't actually think it works. They just care about the NRA's blood money more than the lives of your children. THEIR children are in private schools with procedures in place to prevent this from happening.
No see, if we have bible studies in school, that would turn all the bad students good because teenagers are known for being very receptive to religion. Just ask Reddit!
(I'm being sarcastic as fuck)
I think everyone sick of being in this time loop of the same result happening over and over. Action is the only solution.
But the action is "ban guns" and the American populace does not want that.
Majority in U.S. Continues to Favor Stricter Gun Laws - Gallup.com
- Fifty-six percent of U.S. adults say gun laws should be stricter, while 31% believe they should be kept as they are now and 12% favor less strict gun laws. (2023)
- Overall, 64% say they favor stricter gun control laws, with 36% opposed, little changed since a survey taken last summer in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. (2023)
Polls show a solid majority of Americans want gun control | Vox
- Nearly three-quarters of Americans think that gun violence is a big or moderately big problem, according to a survey last year by Pew Research Center. And a majority of Americans think that the epidemic of school shootings could be stopped with drastic changes in legislation, according to a poll this week by YouGov. (2022)
Most Americans support these 4 types of gun legislation, poll says
Would be a lot more helpful to name politicians who are against gun control than the 'American Populace" who continues to be shot everyday.
TBF, American gun manufacturers don't want it because that would slow sales and line might not go up
I also think this. But now that I've thought it, what's the next step?
Gray, 14, used a riffle to kill the victims in the hallway outside his algebra class. He will be tried as an adult. His [sic]
I hate the terrible proofreading/editing of online articles.
Are you saying he didn't use a riffle?
I’d say it’s highly unlikely, at best. I’ll be damned if I can figure out how he managed to riffle in a deadly fashion.
Riffles have ridges
I'm sure Fox News is already spinning it out of context as "Tim Walz is sick and tired of prayer and is planning on banning public & private prayer!"
somebody pray for this man.
/s for the fellow tone deaf people out there.
🙏🙏🙏
thank god, he might be ok now.
Look how far you've let this charade go, republicans... You know you have quiet moments where you are fully aware that you're just trapped in this irrational hate machine. This is literally a child named after a gun shooting other children to death. And you still just sit there, hiding in your full cowardice and not admitting outwardly that you chose the wrong path. You're a fucking disgrace.
In the meantime, Trump is shrieking to his MAGA idiots about the completely fake "danger" of letting your kids go to school and returning home with a sex change operation
I have relatives that I shit you not fear this and believe it is 100% real. It's so extremely fucking stupid
God, if only that's how it worked when I was a kid.
I was totally that guy who was "just kidding" and "just thinking aloud" about what it'd be like to be a girl.. but.. like "Not really, cause I'm totally a straight dude. I just wanna grab my own tiddies."
Now I'm a woman, and I just grabbed my own tiddies for fun.
There is literally no way to do less.... Than hopes and prayers
It is a total abdication of responsibility for fixing a problem
These sicko republicans, they have no idea what the second amendment means, which means they are messing this up for all of us. I’ve always believed in a strong 2nd amendment which means I want a legal tank with ammo in a secure location in my back yard. These republifucker weirdos don’t even know what the second amendment means. If I have to park my tank downtown so be it, but I want to have a tank with ammo in a secure location, same should go for these assault rifles, etc. we need a well regulated militia which means we don’t get to keep weapons unlocked in our homes willy nilly
The term 'arms' also refers to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Where's my McNuke, McAnthrax, McSarin?
Oh Tim, there's nothing that can be done!
Now where did I put my AR-14 tie pin so I can stand in solidarity with the real victims...
So they want to ban handguns, right?
People are tired of thoughts and prayers for school bombings too Timmy
Are those happening weekly as well?
Hell, I'm all in favour of restricting access to bombs, can we restrict access to guns to match?
They happen daily.
