Shooting at Oregon college; 10 dead

I just saw the UCC President on the news saying the last bus of students was on its way to county fairgrounds to be reunited with family members. Grief counselors are on site to assist those who do not have a student come off the bus .

Believing what?

No. nononononononononononono....

Daughter following this on twitter:  she said the shooter asked what religion a person was. If they were Christian, they got shot in the head, if they weren't, they got shot in the leg.

It's all over the media.

So well articulated.  And full of the sad truth.  We need to look at your country's solution.

Unfortunately things often make their way all over the media before anyone checks that they are 100% accurate, so I will wait before taking this as absolute truth.

What does an atheist look like?

Another who agrees with Dotty. My prayers go out to all those involved and to your whole nation that a solution is found for this.

No, I truly don't know what you mean. I'm an atheist and I'm unaware of anything about my physical appearance that would tip someone off to that fact

Also, there have been many more murders committed in the name of Christianity in America than in the name of atheism.

One of those shot in critical condition is the cousin of a friend of mine.

I'm so sorry for your friend's family.

The Onion (a satire site) absolutely nails it:

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

ROSEBURG, OR—In the hours following a violent rampage in southwestern Oregon in which a lone attacker killed 10 individuals and seriously injured seven others, citizens living in the only country where this kind of mass killing routinely occurs reportedly concluded Thursday that there was no way to prevent the massacre from taking place. “This was a terrible tragedy, but sometimes these things just happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them,” said Ohio resident Lindsay Bennett, echoing sentiments expressed by tens of millions of individuals who reside in a nation where over half of the world’s deadliest mass shootings have occurred in the past 50 years and whose citizens are 20 times more likely to die of gun violence than those of other developed nations. “It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this guy from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what he really wanted.” At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past six years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”

And yes, it is possible to vastly reduce the frequency of these horrific, violent rampages. Is it possible to eliminate them completely? No, of course not. But is that any reason to give up completely, to declare helplessness and hopelessness in the face of a powerful corporate gun lobby, to meekly submit to living in constant fear (Which campus?! Which school?! Is my child okay?!). Is there a parent alive in America today who doesn't feel a heart-stopping sense of dread at the report of yet another school shooting? who doesn't feel a guilty sense of relief upon learning that it was some other school, in some other city, some other state? Not my child, thank God. Well, not this time.

An analogy:

Speed limits save lives. This has been too well-documented and well-proven to allow for any serious, honest objection. And yes, of course speed limits are a form of regulation, a curtailment of absolute freedom, a form of driver and vehicular control (as are driver's licenses in the first place, after all). But obviously, speed limits do not prevent all speed-related traffic injuries and fatalities. It is simply not possible to prevent and eliminate all possible bad outcomes. But does this mean that we give up on the idea of speed limits altogether? that we throw up our hands in despair, and turn the nation's highways and byways into an unregulated, no-holds-barred, Hobbesian 'war of all against all' free-for-all? Because we cannot completely eliminate speed-related traffic incidents, we should just give up on speed limits?

Well, obviously that would be irrational and stupid, and that way would lie madness...

When will enough sane and decent Americans (the majority of Americans, I hasten to add) finally stand up and say: 'Enough is enough, and we're not going to take it anymore'? What will it take, I wonder?

I hear you loud and clear, Mystie. If the innocent, cherubic faces of those 6-year-old children who were massacred at Sandy Hook weren't enough to galvanize support for sane and sensible gun control, I'm not sure what would; and I almost despair.

Almost. I'm still not ready to give up completely. I guess I'm too angry to give up without a fight.

I am so sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with your friend and all her family. 

I am so very sorry.