He who lived by the sword.

Sad stuff. I hope we all sleep easier now.

Age 24....what a waste of a life! What's happening to our young people?

Good riddance. One less mouth to feed in prison.

No loss. Too bad he didn't do that before sending off those bombs to others.

I'm relieved. Hopefully, he didn't leave any other surprises out there. They've released a name and a picture now. He was apparently home schooled and then went to Austin Community College.

I think the police are very concerned that he may have left behind more "surprises".

These cowards always end up killing themselves rather than face trial and prison.

I won't shed any tears for him.

My only "concern" is for his victims and his family.

They seem to have had no clue.

Darwin award winner.

The idiots just can't stop themselves from going on social media and professing their agenda and beliefs.

Stupidity

I thought Darwin Awards were for people who involuntarily take themselves out of the gene pool, as for instance by doing something stupid that unintentionally leads to their death.

The story I read said the bomber deliberately committed suicide by triggering an explosive as authorities approached him.

While such issues that most likely went by with us not being aware in an earlier generation, due to less complicated media and means of communication, isn't it strange that there are so many instances recently of people doing damage to others, often quite a few others, and in many cases, themselves?

While it may have been "suicide by cop" in some cases, surely not in a large proportion of the situations.

And how come such a large proportion of these situations have been happening in the United States?

ole joyful

Buh bye, bomber. I admit that I do have some struggle saying that, as I wish that he could've been identified as a psychological challenge earlier and perhaps helped. I wish traumatized death on no one. However, the "bad" in me feels that we are better off with him gone.

Elmer, you are being rude and Ill informed. You have apparently taken your patriotism to the next level. This issue shouldn’t be about nationalism but a very sad state of affairs that can happen anywhere. Your comments about Canada are offensive to me.

Ole Joyful makes a good point, and I don't think we should avoid it or chalk it up to schadenfreude. Although these sad killing situations are found throughout the world, there do seem to be a lot of them reported here. If we could think together and figure out why, we could save a lot of people's lives in the future.

"For the umpteenth time, I'll ask that you cease with the schadenfreude
comments. These comments say more about you (and your dissatisfaction
with your own self and country) than the subject matter you think you're
sharing observations about."

With the exception of the two words "and country", I wager this paragraph could have been written about you - for the umpteenth time.

Yet again it appears that some comments have been deleted. It's so hard to follow a thread when that happens.

Joyful, you don't miss an opportunity to slap the US, do you? You've been doing that for years.

susieque, it looks like someone zinged my admonishment to joyfulguy. I owe a thank you to schoolhouse for quoting the essential part of that deleted comment so that others can understand what I said. My "deleted" comment is visible to me when I log in as a user but not to others.

And a thank you to you and a few other participants here who have recognized and understand what this guy has a habit to do and why. It's obnoxious and his intent is thinly veiled.

It's cowardly when people anonymously delete what someone else has said simply because they dislike or disagree with it.

Elmer, I thought you would be too busy grading papers or lesson plans to respond to this thread.

louise, my comments were said in retaliation, somewhat lightheartedly, to a person who has a recurring pattern of repeating cross border insults, usually concerning tragedies here. You can see that others are tuned-in to that too. I agree completely when you said "This issue shouldn’t be about nationalism but a very sad state of affairs that can happen anywhere." Tell that to your bozo fellow-countryman.

I'm not an overly patriot person. I am a person who recognizes the nature of a rude insult when one is expressed.

Grading papers and lesson plans? No, that's not me and anyway, I'm retired. I had a different occupation but have a few teachers in the extended family.

Ole joyful is simply asking a question that most intelligent, well-read Americans ask of ourselves. Why why why so many shootings in this country? In schools, in churches, on the streets, by hardened criminals, by the emotionally disturbed, by childen, by friends, by accident.

I have never noticed the mean spirited motive from Ed that you seem determined to assign to him. He has every right to voice a concern.

And since when do you get to dictate what someone says in this forum? Surely you don't expect him to kowtow to your orders? Come to think of it, you have been asked umpteen times by umpteen people to cease and desist with your special brand of behavior in the forum and yet you continue.

"how come such a large proportion of these situations have been happening in the United States"

is a rhetorical question, with an obvious answer, from a repeat schadenfreudist in Canada who never misses an opportunity to slime what he thinks happens here and not there. It has nothing to do with his concern about gun control because he's done the same thing with many other topics. Criticisms about the US in his comment history, remarkably more and more biting than about his own country, if any. If you haven't seen the pattern, fine. I have and others have too. See susieque's comment above. I won't share with you the attaboy messages I've received with past incidents but I received them all the same.

My comment, still visible to me, got 4 "likes" before it was made invisible to others.

You're welcome to your opinion about me or anyone else or anything else, rhizo, just as I am allowed to have mine.

So bickering aside, why does the U.S. seem to have a lot of this destructive behavior?

When they're not prevaricating, US politicians like to speak as if issues or problems we face are somehow unique and different from what happens elsewhere. And so solutions are so very hard to imagine or even consider approaching. That's baloney, we're more like many other countries than not.

With that in mind, there are dozens and dozens and dozens of developed countries like the US that don't have the mass murder and shootings problem we have. Pick one, any one. If we were to do what they do in their laws, our problem would be remedied.

Constitutional right to own guns? That's not an obstacle. When the Constitution was written, there was also a constitution right to own slaves. We figured out a way to eliminate that, the same solution would work for guns. Sadly, it will never happen.

It's been a few days, time for another mass killing event.

I don't think your comment was deleted, I can still read it, Elmer.

I see it also. I typically enjoy OJ's stories but I too have noticed the recent statements that appear to me to be from a superior stance (as in: what a crappy country you live in, we don't have issues like that where I live). OJ's last few jabs at the US have irritated me also.

I have noticed also and if he (OJ)didn't mean it the way it was interpreted , he never came back with a reply as to just how he meant it.

Hmm. I tried it a few times with a different browser and didn't see it. Fine with me either way. I appreciate those who indicate their agreement with me on this fellow's consistent and rude habit and also appreciate those who don't agree but read what is said with an open mind.

Elmer, I still see it.

Oh Elmer, why are you picking on OJ? He is never rude and on the contrary, has always been kind and considerate, with his own brand of humor. It appears you don't care for the proliferation of guns in this country but cannot stand for OJ to express his opinion on the subject. I admire Canadians and their more peaceful existence and I especially admire OJ. Please don't be so quick to criticize our beloved member, especially over something you agree with.

There's no need to repeat what's already been said. Please note the number of people who concur with my sentiment vs the number who don't.

Well, Elmer, I am definitely one more who does NOT agree with you on this issue!

Rusty

The more time we spend bickering, the less time we have to discuss an issue that could end up killing us or our families and discuss why it does seem to happen more here in the U.S. Do you want to discuss the problem and who knows maybe solve it, we are all smart people here, or do you want to run the risk of remembering if this issue touches you or your family, that you preferred to tally up popularity?.

Commenting on the process of "disappeared" posts. From stuff said on the Hot Topics forum, AND I MAY BE WRONG HERE, I think what's going on is that if an individual post is tagged sufficiently, it is removed until the moderators review it. A whole thread can also be tagged and removed. Then, at such a time as the moderators review things, the post and/or thread can re-appear. MAYBE that's what happened to Elmer's post of Thursday 1:45 pm. Maybe, not definitely -- I'm not an admin and have never flagged a post.

Perfectly stated, Lucille.

I don't know what the reason is for the huge number of killing sprees is. I would be interested in a discussion about what the real motivation is behind that sort of action.

One problem is that the media gives these pyschos the fame they seek. I remember a few years ago, there was some push-back, and they didn't show the face or publish the name of killers. That idea didn't last long, though. These losers see others go out in a blaze of glory, and they want to emulate them.

As for the Austin bomber- On TV, they referred to him as 'challenged'. How bad does someone have to be before we stop being so PC?

I saw someone on a show this morning comment that he would like to see a large tax on guns and that money be used to work on this problem. Great idea. I would love to see a huge tax, especially on assault weapons (if we can't ban them). Maybe, like cigarettes, it may be a deterrent, at least to young people, to be able to buy guns.