"Until we control the ease of access to guns in this country, this is going to happen again, and again, and again."
~~ Reader Comment in the Washington Post, screen name, VegasDale
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Considering the shooting problem, two historical examples come to mind because of specific aspects:
1) the "jazz murders" in Chicago during the 1920s, and
2) civil rights debates in the 1950s and early 1960s
Senator and Mrs. Strom Thurmond
|| civil rights -- The last argument, or "talking point" for not extending normal civil rights to all Americans regardless of race or skin color was, "It's too soon." "Not yet; you need to wait. You need to be patient." "This is not the time." "We're not ready." "It's too soon to talk about it."
Sounds familiar, with each mass shooting -- "We cannot discuss easy gun access for murderers, bullies, and insane people; we have to be respectful to the victims' families." "Not yet." "It's too soon." "This is not the time." "We have to wait..."
|| the Chicago "jazz murders" -- Like with today's mass shootings, there's the "copycat" aspect: somebody does it, it's reported in the media, then somebody else comes out and does the same thing -- and now you've got a template for the next one and the next one after that... They see an "example" of horrible behavior and say, "Hey, I could do that" -- monkey see, monkey do....
------------------ [excerpt from The Free Encyclopedia, "Chicago" (musical)] -------------- History -- The musical Chicago is based on a play of the same name by reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins, who was assigned to cover the 1924 trials of accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the Chicago Tribune.
In the early 1920s, Chicago's press and public became riveted by the subject of homicides committed by women. Several high-profile cases arose, which generally involved women killing their lovers or husbands. These cases were tried against a backdrop of changing views of women in the Jazz Age,
and a long string of acquittals by Cook County juries of women murderesses (jurors at the time were all men, and convicted murderers generally faced death by hanging). A lore arose that, in Chicago, feminine or attractive women could not be convicted.
...The press covered several of these women as celebrities.
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly in the 2002 film version of the musical
Annan, the model for the character of Roxie Hart, was 23 when she was accused of the April 3, 1924, murder of Harry Kalstedt. The Tribune reported that Annan played the foxtrot record "Hula Lou" over and over for two hours before calling her husband to say she killed a man who "tried to make love to her".
She was found not guilty on May 25, 1924.
Velma Kelly is based on Gaertner, who was a cabaret singer, and society divorcée. The body of Walter Law was discovered slumped over the steering wheel of Gaertner's abandoned car on March 12, 1924.
Two police officers testified that they had seen a woman getting into the car and shortly thereafter heard gunshots.
A bottle of gin and an automatic pistol were found on the floor of the car.
Gaertner was acquitted on June 6, 1924.
Lawyers William Scott Stewart and W.W. O'Brien were models for a composite character in Chicago, "Billy Flynn". -------------------- [end, Free Encyclopedia excerpt] ----------
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More Reader Comments from WaPo story, "Las Vegas Shooting: Police say gunman Stephen Paddock had a 'secret life' before..."
----------- ^^ I suspect the note the shooter left has the answer. But, the FBI knows that it cannot be made public for fear of consequences.
^^ Why do I get the feeling that Sheriff Lombardo is a little off the rails himself. I wonder if the FBI thinks the shooter "had help" too?
^^ I have exactly the same concern -- those comments were ill-founded and irresponsible....
^^ Lombardo also appeared to suggest that he thought Paddock had lived a secretive life for the purpose of making himself difficult to investigate when he committed mass murder at age 64.
^^ I don't think this guy had help.
^^ Everyone is looking for a reason or motive. Maybe there is no reason or motive he did this.
Obviously, there is no good reason he did this.
Obviously, there is no good reason he did this.
The fact that there is really no reason could be the scariest thing of all
^^ I don't need to know why this guy shot people. I just know to stay away from as many humans as possible for the rest of my life.
^^
Shooter: this is why I shot these people.
Me: I don't care at all and you're a lunatic
^^ I think this guy was trained by somebody. Maybe black ops gone wrong.
^^ Another Jason Bourne, huh?
^^ ...Holmes, like quite a few other recent American mass murderers, suffered from a serious addiction to cannabis & other substances. We have yet to hear any information about substance abuse or a history of recreational drug consumption, or alcohol dependency, in the case of the LV killer. ...
^^ Wow, now we are blaming weed...stop.
^^ This could have been prevented if we had laws like the Swiss or Australia but just like health care where many excellent examples of universal coverage are available to follow as long as representatives pockets are lined with NRA and Drug company money nothing will happen.
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