School shooting in Germany leaves 16 dead

[Fincuan]

Bild now says the Police shot him.

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/2009/03...winnenden.html

[Schroeder]

@Fin
Forget Bild! it's yellow press on lowest level.

I always love it when 17 year olds have access to the weapons and amunitions of their parents.

At least 16 dead. Nice going, weapon fetishists.

[Larry U-136]

Unbeliveable this stuff has to stop

[Happy Times]

Well it wont stop by taking away legal guns, these are mental issues, these people have used knives, spears, flamethrovers and bombs also.
I could kill ten in a mall with fork if i wanted to.

[Enigma]

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by OneToughHerring

At least 16 dead. Nice going, weapon fetishists.

How does a fetish have anything to do with this

[Schroeder]

@HT
Actually massacres like this have always been carried out with firearms in Germany (at least I don't recall any massacre with more than a dozen fatals that was carried out with knives). Usually parents made their weapons accessable to their kids or the kids found out were the keys were. Without those weapons such deeds can't be done.

[Thomen]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

@HT
Actually massacres like this have always been carried out with firearms in Germany (at least I don't recall any massacre with more than a dozen fatals that was carried out with knives). Usually parents made their weapons accessable to their kids or the kids found out were the keys were. Without those weapons such deeds can't be done.

True, but then the parents are at least partially at fault for making the weapons accessible in one way or another.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Thomen

True, but then the parents are at least partially at fault for making the weapons accessible in one way or another.

How do you make weapons inaccessable for 17 year olds? If you store them in your house they will sooner or later find out how to get them.
It would take a safe in a bank that can only be opened with a personal key and a member of the bank`s staff together to really deny access to others.

[Thomen]

Damn, that totally sucks. Why allways schools..
Wonder how he got his hands on the weapons in the first place.

As morbid as it is, I wonder on whom or what they (especially the media) try to pin it this time. As far as I remember, last time they tried to blame video games and stuff.

Originally Posted by Thomen

Damn, that totally sucks. Why allways schools..
Wonder how he got his hands on the weapons in the first place.

As morbid as it is, I wonder on whom or what they (especially the media) try to pin it this time. As far as I remember, last time they tried to blame video games and stuff.

Some say that the media should be quiet about these things, media coverage in a way glorifies these things. Not sure if that's true. I think the media together with the schools could act to prevent these things. Unfortunately it would probably take money and not everyone is willing to put more money into making schools better. Some politicians even have connections to weapon companies, I doubt they will see guns as a part of the problem.

[Thomen]

Originally Posted by OneToughHerring

Some say that the media should be quiet about these things, media coverage in a way glorifies these things. Not sure if that's true. I think the media together with the schools could act to prevent these things. Unfortunately it would probably take money and not everyone is willing to put more money into making schools better. Some politicians even have connections to weapon companies, I doubt they will see guns as a part of the problem.

While you have a good point, I do not think weapons are the problem. People are the problem. In Europe and US they use guns, in the Middle East explosives and a mixture of both plus blades in Asia (with Japanese, AFAIR, predominantly using knives and sword for suck acts) .
Personally, I am all for strict laws regarding weapons and Germany has some very strict laws. Unfortunately, and that goes for every country, if you want to get your hands on some weapons: There is always the possibility of getting them. Either steal or buy them on the black market.

Unfortunately massacres like this are great selling points for the media and offer great opportunities for politicians to crawl back into the public eye and blame it it on whoever they like or brings the most votes.

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by Thomen

Damn, that totally sucks. Why allways schools..
Wonder how he got his hands on the weapons in the first place.

As morbid as it is, I wonder on whom or what they (especially the media) try to pin it this time. As far as I remember, last time they tried to blame video games and stuff.

Haven't read the whole thread but was just watching 'BBC World News' here and the German Police stated they think they know why he killed so many ppl, when searching his computer they found violent computer games. Not saying they are wrong in that statement but come on, I don't think for one second that violent computer games caused him to kill.

[NeonSamurai]

Caused no, but it may have contributed to the of triggering the final event.

As I keep saying, if you want to deal with the issue, deal with the root cause of the problem. Which is the toxic social environment virtually all (if not all) these teenage mass murderers came from. Then look at the contributing factors as well such as the media, the treatment of violence in mass entertainment and the messages they send, and easy access to the means to carry out these mass killings, guns and/or IEDs.

One should also pay attention as to the reasons why these shootings have become so prevalent in the last 15-20 years, and by in large didn't happen before that.