Ongoing gun violence/injury thread

Point still stands guys, Pink Floyd had a bird dearth.

what's the best bird band? The Byrds? Black Crowes? Gulp, The Eagles?

Some will say the Eagles but I submit the Yardbirds.

Never thought bird talk would take over the gun violence thread days after a huge school shooting but here we are.

bym051d said:

Seems to me we need to revisit at what age children become adults.

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How did we come up with 18 anyway? Isn't the brain still developing at 18? You have to be 21 to buy a beer, but that isn't even a federal law, per se, just that states have to mandate that age limit or they lose part of their highway funding. But we know the Republicans would never agree to such a law to mandate a 21 year old minimum to buy a gun.

PhDeac said:

Never thought bird talk would take over the gun violence thread days after a huge school shooting but here we are.

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I blame the media for refocusing the conversation on birds.

greekdeac2011 said:

How did we come up with 18 anyway? Isn't the brain still developing at 18? You have to be 21 to buy a beer, but that isn't even a federal law, per se, just that states have to mandate that age limit or they lose part of their highway funding. But we know the Republicans would never agree to such a law to mandate a 21 year old minimum to buy a gun.

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I'm guessing because the military wants those 18-20 year olds and it's more difficult to justify if those people joining can't legally buy a gun.

PhDeac said:

Never thought bird talk would take over the gun violence thread days after a huge school shooting but here we are.

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I think it’s music/bands talk. But I agree. I tried to refocus the discussion by comparing republicans flailing attempts to distract from gun control to school security policy to loons walking, but I failed.

birdman said:

There is a disappointing lack of birds in Floyd's lyrics....but their songs are so critical of society that birds simple don't fit as metaphors because they are all beauty and light.

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Except geese. F those things.

I’ll also say this. The world is a shitty depressing place and lately it’s increasingly hard to fight off feelings of despondency. A little light hearted Pink Floyd or bird lyrics distraction is not harmful and may even be helpful to some.

I found that Richard Scary parody very depressing (not criticizing you ph for posting it), because other than the satirical labels of the different characters in the picture, it is pretty spot on. I talked with my kid this weekend about the safety drills that they do at school and they are “trained” in how to use books other other heavy objects as makeshift defensive weapons and they are “trained” in how to hide in parts of the room where it would be hard for a shooter to see you or shoot you from the window in the door. I mean that parody was a parody only in the sense that it used Scary’s characters, everything else was quite realistic.

It is so fucked up what republicans are doing to our children. My wife laments often at how my younger kid is becoming increasingly serious and anxious in general, and some of that is maturation and become if a teenager, but some of it has to be learning and practicing that pressing up against the wall next to the door is the least likely place to get shot.

Increasingly serious and anxious describes my soon to be 10 year old as well. He's a very thoughtful kid but sometime he puts too much on himself. I think the school drills and such have a lot of do with it.

My 9 yo is very serious at times but he also loves to make people laugh so it feels like he's striking a balance. For that i am grateful.

We just had a moment by our mailbox (surrounded by pollinating plants). He was concerned about how many bees there were. So I stood with the bees and we talked some about wasps/hornets that can sting more than once - some of those are real a holes - and bees can't. I explained hornets can sting more than once feeling relative safety with their weapon. Those bees have to be more careful because the only get one chance to protect their hive and have to give their life to do so. The thought occurred to me that it's thr same with humans. If you only have one less deadly option for protection (smaller, less powerful, fewer rounds etc) you have to stop and think before you use it judiciously. AR-15 toting republican cosplayers can feel powerful and that makes them reckless and far more dangerous. I include LEOs because that power sure looks like a pretty powerful aphrodisiac to some of those assholes.

PhDeac said:

Increasingly serious and anxious describes my soon to be 10 year old as well. He's a very thoughtful kid but sometime he puts too much on himself. I think the school drills and such have a lot of do with it.

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Right. Since second grade my kid has known that if you are in the bathroom when the school goes in to lock down, stand/crouch on the toilet seat so that if the shooter looks under the stall door, he'll be less likely to see you in there and then shoot you. She has full well known since she was 7/8 that her life is at risk at school and they practice how to minimize the risk. It. Is. Incredibly. Upsetting.

More like the shrinking violet line.

They learned the important lesson that you never talk to cops.

Could be anything from there being evidence that the cops shot a kid, that they had prior knowledge of an impending attack on the school and did nothing, the cops chased the gunman into a classroom, etc.

The reality is probably something more boring along the lines of their insurer's lawyers telling them to shut the fuck up and stop making definitive statements like "the shooter definitely shot everyone".

What an absolutely vile piece of shit. Good fucking riddance.