Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. � A gunman barricaded the back door of a community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a citizenship class Friday, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide, officials said.

Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the massacre, which was at least the fifth deadly mass shooting in the U.S. in the past month alone...

A string of attacks in the U.S. in the last month left 44 people dead in all.

A gunman killed 10 people and himself in Samson, Ala.; a traffic stop shootout in Oakland, Calif., left four police officers and the gunman dead; an apparent murder-suicide in Santa Clara, Calif., left six dead; and a gunman went on a rampage at a nursing home Sunday, killing seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. "

NY gunman kills 13, commits suicide
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/hostage_shooting;_ylt=AhfDL_IfCEZNoaqkplsQP96s0NUE;
_ylu=X3oDMTJoZjI5MmVwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNDAzL2hvc3RhZ2Vfc2hvb3RpbmcEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2F0bGVhc3QxMmtpbA--

(mod edit: link split to correct page formatting)

5 in a month. The nuttiness seems to be increasing. My first reaction is that the spike in violence is somehow related to the economic mess. I just finished reading 'Public Enemy' about 1933-35 and the horrendous spate of violent bank robberies. Then the public anger at Wall Street was focused on banks. This time around the violence is too unfocused to be easily attributed to the economy, but it seems right.

Anyway, another tragedy.

[pkang0202]

If it was a Korean guy, this thread would be blowing up. I'm sure many people on this board would blame "Korean culture" or "Korean psychology" on the murders.

But, since its a Vietnamese guy that shot up a lot of people no one cares. After all, its only the KOREANS that are evil.

[Beej]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[RJjr]

[canuckistan]

3 more police officers, that makes 7 in 2 weeks, along with all the others:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/04/pittsburgh.officers.shot/index.html

There are too many guns in this country, it's too easy for nut cases to get their hands on them, and it all needs to be reigned in.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I was still groggy with sleep when I saw the report about the Pittsburg killings. At first I was confused until I realized it was another incident separate from yesterday's.

Awful.

Here's a thoughful piece with no answers:
"Put aside for a moment the debate over guns. This isn't about policy. It's about asking the urgent question: What is happening in the American psyche that prevents people from defusing their own anguish and rage before they end the lives of others? Why are we killing each other?

This is not an era of good feeling in the United States. We have under our belt eight years of pernicious terrorism angst, six years of Iraq war weariness and, now, months of wondering how bad the American economy's going to get and when � or, worse, whether � it's going to come back. People are tense. There's less inclination to help out your fellow human being.

Meanwhile, anchors and analysts and witnesses and bloggers cast about in an information-age fog trying to make sense of something that is, in the worst way, nonsensical."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090404/ap_on_re_us/numbed_nation_analysis

"They wanted to know why I did what I did
Well sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world" (Springsteen, 'Nebraska')

[Ya-ta Boy]

Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn't clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said. An officer who tried to help the two also was killed.

Poplawski, armed with an assault rifle and two other guns, then held police at bay for four hours as the fallen officers were left bleeding nearby, their colleagues unable to reach them, according to police and witnesses. More than 100 rounds were fired by the SWAT teams and Poplawski, Harper said...

Poplawski had gunshot wounds in his legs but was otherwise unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, Harper said. He was charged with three counts of homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons violation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/04/police-several-pa-officer_n_183130.html

I wonder where he got that idea? Couldn't be Fox News, could it? [/quote]

[catman]

From the Violence Policy Centre:

-About 10 percent of the adult population owns 77 percent of the total stock of firearms.
-There are about 65 million handguns in the United States. Handguns make up 34 percent of all types of firearms.
-Since 1962, more than one million Americans have died in firearm homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings. Handguns were used in more than 650,000 of these fatal shootings.
-In homes with guns, a member of the household is almost three times as likely to be the victim of a homicide compared to gun-free homes.
-From 1990 to 1997 89,000 handgun homicides.
- In 1997, 54 percent of all gun deaths were suicides, and 42 percent were homicides. (That's like 96%!)

-For every time a gun in the home is used in a self-defense homicide, a gun will be used in�
*1.3 unintentional deaths
*4.6 criminal homicides
*37 suicides

In 1997 (the worst year on record) Among handgun homicides, only 193 of 8,503 (2.3 percent) were classified as justifiable homicides by civilians.

For every time in 1997 that a civilian used a handgun to kill in self-defense, 43 people lost their lives in handgun homicides alone

And lastly, for every gun death, there are 3 non fatal shootings.

[canuckistan]

[canuckistan]

....and now 5 children have been killed:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/04/washington.children.shot/index.html

[Ya-ta Boy]

I saw that about the kids, too but I didn't read anything that lead me to believe it's the same kind of incident the others were. It could just be the 'normal' craziness of a parent. (I know it's weird to use 'normal' in that sentence.)

Awful.

[bacasper]

[catman]

[it's full of stars]

Should look at the number of 'suicides' by jumping out of windows in Thailand.