YET ANOTHER school shooting (well, university shooting, at Northern Illinois University that is) but I'll bet you dollars-to-doughnuts it was a kid who had the recent experience of being a socially-outcasted, picked-on nerd (just like that little Korean national psycho-geek at Virginia Tech last year.)
What makes these kids social rejects? Most likely, "de novo"
(not inherited, but spontaneous) mutations either in themselves,
or inherited from their parents. In the case of Virginia Tech, the shooter was the proud bearer of full-blown schizophrenia.
Thanks to our modern society in which it is easy to get food due to a
massive agricultural surplus, people who would have died young
by starvation or being killed by their parents/fellow villagers are now
surviving - and in some cases, reproducing. Also, laws protect these misfits, which is how we get more and more of them every generation. Why are they socially rejected? Because there is SOMETHING WRONG WITH THEM (unlike what the "self-esteem" gurus say) and the "bullies"
are simply acting as GENETIC POLICEMEN by marginalizing them.
What is/are these defect(s), you ask? Likely mutations affecting their
SOCIAL INSTINCT - the core of our humanity! The genes controlling this are likely so exquisitely tuned, that even the most minor mutations of  can send them of whack (the mutations associated with nearsightedness might be involved here, as well as obesity and non-athleticism.)
Wahtever the cause, these misfits - protected by society's laws and kept alive by its food surpluses and medical technology, have time to develop enough frustration and rage that when we're lucky, they off themselves and when we are UNLUCKY - they go on a violent rampage.
Maybe we need specialists to identify bullied/marginalized kids early
on, and send somebody to give them a painless injection. This will
accomplish 3 things... the misfit's suffering is ended, the danger he/she
poses to society is ameliorated (not to mention the removal of bad
genes from the gene pool) AND the normal kids don't learn that torturing others is fun, thus perhaps  improving the collective "moral quotient" of society over time. (Without easy victims providing cheap-and-easy victories, bullying becomes an activity with LOTS of better alternatives!)
And the problem REALLY DOES lie with the "victims" and not the "bullies." After all, the bullies are almost ALWAYS normal and healthy... but chronic victims AREN'T. (Who's got the problem here?)
Perhaps this is the answer to school shootings? After all, psychotherapy
doesn't work, drugs just make the affected kids even worse, and we are many thousands of years away from therapeutic genetic engineering. Contrary to what the "self-esteem movement" has to say, these kids really ARE defective, and really DO have something wrong with them! (REALLY! Otherwise, why would normal, healthy kids reject them?) Meanwhile, could it be that our collective gene pool is being destroyed by what we mistake for "compassion" and being "civilized"?
I believe it behooves us to answer this question..!

B-eugenicist

Hey, B-man, wassup? Long time no hear!

I can't help but notice that your post is not quite as relevant to the afterlife as some others on this site.  So let me politely correct that problem with a softball question: Brendan, do you think these "genetic defectives" go to a spiritual plane that is the equivalent of an asylum?  Or are they snuffed out (annihilated) like an oversmoked cigar?   What do YOU think SHOULD happen to  them after their suicide?

Yours in the sweet incense of the prayers of the saints,
Don

[quote author=Berserk2 link=1203039474/0#1 date=1203039999]Hey, B-man, wassup? Long time no hear!

I can't help but notice that your post is not quite as relevant to the afterlife as some others on this site.  So let me politely correct that problem with a softball question: Brendan, do you think these "genetic defectives" go to a spiritual plane that is the equivalent of an asylum?  Or are they snuffed out (annihilated) like an oversmoked cigar?   What do YOU think SHOULD happen to  them after their suicide?

Yours in the sweet incense of the prayers of the saints,
Don
*****************
I say give them the choice of reincarnation (get the genetics RIGHT
the next time around) or oblivion. (That's what I'd want if I were in
their shoes. Imagine what it would be like to be a misfit FOREVER...
which is what they'd be under the no reincarnation/unconditional
immortality regime of Western religions!)

B-man

Oh yeah... this should be in the Off-Topic section......

But I want to say that "IF" kids weren't able to get they're hands on guns we wouldn't have these mass killings.

I'd like to see an emotional kid go crazy and have to kill people using a blade. Yeah, not going to happen.

It is so easy to pull a trigger.....

I am not saying we need to get rid of guns or anything. Just stating the obvious facts.

Wussy kids use guns.
Real kids use machete's

Oh, yes, Terethian, machetes are fun. So are stun guns. So are pistols that go off by accident. So are blah blah blah blah....

Ooops. I forgot. It's our right to own.........

Sorry.

love, blink :)

Brendan,

You actually pose an important dilemma. On the one hand, what is the relationship between genetic defects and character development? On the other hand, how does our spiritual postmortem body affect the flawed and limited character we developed on earth because of our genetic defects?  The latter question raises others. The "higher self" is presumably unaffected by genetics.  Do we need to posit a higher self to explain how we elude the mentally crippling affects of certain genetic disabilities?   Or are genetically induced character flaws quickly removed by the shift in self-focus to a spiritual body? Of course, one immediately thinks of the relevant role for spirit hospitals commonly reported in Focus 27.  

The relevance of genetically induced character flaws raises a more basic question.  How, if at all, does a spiritual body affect anyone's personality, character, and mental capabilities?  Most of us imagine that we would do whatever it takes to reassure our earthly family after our passing.  But so many families hear nothing from their deceased loved ones.  We have often speculated about possible reasons for this: e. g. an inability to communicate from one's current spirit plane; unharmonious vibrational compatibility; fear of contact due to the danger of spirit impersonation.  But perhaps this postmortem failure to communicate is due to a fundamental change in character and priorities created by the replacement of physical genetics with the unique concerns prompted by a spiritual body or at least a body of a certain type on certain spirit levels.  

I have recounted my experience of praying for Russ whose mother was dying in the last stages of Alzheimer's Disease.  Right before her passing, she became totally lucid and rational for 45 minutes as mother and son reconciled after a lifetime of alienation.  I'd like to believe that her newfound lucidity and "restored intelligence" was facilitated not only by my prayers, but also by her developing detachment from her physical body.

Don  

[quote author=Terethian link=1203039474/0#3 date=1203043269]Oh yeah... this should be in the Off-Topic section......

But I want to say that "IF" kids weren't able to get they're hands on guns we wouldn't have these mass killings.

I'd like to see an emotional kid go crazy and have to kill people using a blade. Yeah, not going to happen.

It is so easy to pull a trigger.....

I am not saying we need to get rid of guns or anything. Just stating the obvious facts.

Wussy kids use guns.
Real kids use machete's
*****************
And the real BADA$$ES, use bombs.
And if you s**t, you can use it to make a
bomb (if you know a bit about making
ammonium nitrate from manure.)
So maybe we need to outlaw anuses, or
something..?
I think that outlawing inanimate objects
(guns/machetes/what have you) won't work.
We need to identify and deal with the PEOPLE
predisposed to commit such acts (if we want the acts to
stop, that is.)

B-man

I am tempted to go out and kill some people using very basic methods simply to prove your posting wrong.

Wow... human nature at it's finest.

The point to that load of crap above that I just typed is you cannot stop humans from killing humans.

Better you try to stop the sun from rising.

(This topic really REALLY has nothing to do with the afterlife and should NOT be here at all. It's driving me bonkers.... Should have worded it different if you wanted the topic to stay here... someone is gonna get Bruce to move it.)

[quote author=Terethian link=1203039474/0#7 date=1203053398]I am tempted to go out and kill some people using very basic methods simply to prove your posting wrong.

Wow... human nature at it's finest.

The point to that load of crap above that I just typed is you cannot stop humans from killing humans.

Better you try to stop the sun from rising.

(This topic really REALLY has nothing to do with the afterlife and should NOT be here at all. It's driving me bonkers.... Should have worded it different if you wanted the topic to stay here... someone is gonna get Bruce to move it.)
*****************
Won't be the first time I got a post bumped/moved...
But what the hey, it lasted long enough to get noticed.
I guess that makes it a success, for what it's worth.
Anyway - in a way, my post has to do with spirituality. (Might
people be more inclined to treat each other better,
if they didn't get any practice in being bullies - because
the easy torture targets were removed from the population at
an early age? Might society be less violent then?
Might this lead to more people getting
a better afterlife..? *There you have it!*)

B-man

This is an important topic, although at first blush it seems like B-man's typical antibully, life's a b$@^ rant.   First of all, I am not aware of any medical study showing the ability of genetics to absolutely dictate the free will of any human being.  It is true that certain genes may have an effect on: intelligence, anger/rage, depression - but the person is not dictated to in an absolute fashion.  Indeed, I hate the excuse "my father was depressed/an alcoholic/etc, so what chance did I have?"  

Life is about using our free will wisely.  From an early age, kids are shown the laws of cause and effect; reward or punishment; praise or disdain.   Essentially, they know good/right behaviour from bad.  Some will choose to act in a negative manner despite these laws of society/karma/heaven.  However, let's get one thing clear - the choice is theirs.

Did the soul choose the parents, the gene pool, etc.?  Or did like attract like and was that gene pool the only one they could have been born into?

I firmly believe that we see evidence of a person's spiritual nature/soul from the time they are born.  I have seen it in my now five year old wonderful son.  Certain actions, tendencies, etc. that no one could have taught him.  I no longer believe in tabula rasa (the idea that we are all blank slates coming out of the womb).  

So there are several issues to discuss.  It is clear from scientific surveys that genetics gives predispositions toward behaviour, without acting with absoulte certainty.  Free will is still in play.

Do we choose our families, as some new age reincarnationists postulate?  Are we limited in our genetics depending on our spiritual development (in other words, does our spirit only find an incarnation in an earth family with certain genetics tuned to our current spirituality)?

Matthew

You are all starting to sound like a bunch of Nazi's. Killing people because they have genetic differences from you. Next you will be saying that the crippled should also be killed off. My stomach is in knots over these posts. It really shows how you think. An you Berserk2, don't you call yourself a man of God? Yet I hear no defence for the week . No offer of love or forgiveness. Are there no posting restrictions regarding hate and the desire to openly say you want to kill other people. I am sickened! My consideration is to vacate the board. I feel no desire to be part of this sort of behavior nor the transmission of this hate out to other who come here to learn or ask question of/about the afterlife, etc. Not this verbal diarrhea. Lets talk about the killings at the schools. Cause and effect. No problem but injections to kill them off as kids...Moderator please.
Joe  

Hi Hawkeye,

Don't take it too seriously. B-man/Fubar is very much against bullying and his posts have shown that despite his sarcasm, he is not in favor of violence.  Terethian made some jokes with a dark slant - neither of these guys wanted to really put forth a killing agenda - just trying to vent after the shootings and some dark sarcastic joking slipped out.


M

This shooter was a "revered" member of the body of that university and a campus leader in the area of criminal justice.  He was a "good" person.

He went off of his medication.

He was mentally ill because he went off his medication.

He had a license to own firearms.

You do the math.

love, blink

M, It seams like hate of a sort. Having a crippled mother, and a nephew who has ADD, the post are at least to me, somewhat offensive. Perhaps if they had said Jews or Blacks, Arabs. Would that have made a difference? No problem Matthew, it was my buttons that were pushed.
Joe

Hi Joe,

I'm not sure if we choose our families or diseases pre-birth.  I tend to think that would be too much to plan.  How we express love under the hard knocks of the earth school is what matters most.  I see patients who bear their diseases nobly, who are upbeat, creative, loving and functional.  I also see patients who are bitter, angry and resentful.  Its a mixed picture.  I've always thought that those who manage to manifest love under the most trying of life's burdens are very special/blessed indeed.

I wouldn't condone negative comments against any individual, disease or ethnic group.  B-man's rant is more a sign of his anger and being upset at the school shooting than anything else, if you get past the sarcasm.


Matt

Yes, this is an interesting issue..which continues to arise. How can we have freedom of expression which does not offend?

Sarcasm and humor are difficult to define sometimes. What offends one may not offend another.

Personally, I find B's subject matter "strong" and often hilarious -- others might find it "smelly" and dangerous. But, I admit, it requires a certain twist of the mind to appreciate.

Carry on..... outta here, love, blink

Matt, I asked my mother about her life... Let me explain. Mom picked a hell of a life to live. Born in the thirties, four month premature due to my Grandmother attempting to abort her. She was born with CP. PPhysicaly crippled from birth. Fed through a eye dropper for her first year. Hated by her own mother because she lived and kept her from going out to the gin houses. For the next few years and up untill she was about ten she was in and out of hospitals getting her legs broken then healed, then onlt to be broken again in some twisted experiment in healing in the thirties and forties. Then they wanted to make sure she woulden't have kids so they wanted to fix her like a dog with bad breeding. Thank goodness they didn't because where the heck would I be then. Next they cut off her big toes to attempt to help her walk. All the time keeping her druged up and in a state where she could be molested by one of the interns at the hospital. I went to see her as she is in long term care now as she getting on. She was extremely close to death and had been moved to the room by the nurses station to die. Most of the staff had allready said their good byes to her. I went in and by chance she came to and came back to reality and to this day is somewhat on the rebound. When I was there, I asked her about her life. I said to her.. what a hell of a life she had had. She told me in no uncertain terms that she had had a great life. That she would not have changed anything. She felt satisfied and filled with love. What a lesson about love and understanding she taught me that day. Truely the biggest lesson of my life. I have her to thank for it. When I hear of people, jesting or not about killing of others with disabilities, mental or physical, it bothers me. Like I said, its my button. I know no real harm was ment or intended. In the case of this shooter, I feel sorry for him and his family. Of course I also feel for all the people he killed and theirs also. But really, no more or no less. There all victims of a sort. In my personal belief, he know now what he did was wrong. He will get help on the other side. He will learn from this event. Whats needed is love and forgiveness along with a good dose of understanding. Just like my Mom finally helped me understand.
Joe  

Joe,

Nothing retards spiritual growth more than overdosing on a toxic form of Christianity or other faith during one's youth.  Brendan is just such a victim.  But his continued presence here over the years displays a muted but very real spiritual hunger.  I don't want all his threads to be deleted because, though off topic, a genuine afterlife issue lurks behind many of them.  Each of us has a unique window to our souls.  Brendan is no different.  But peering through that window requires a major adjustment in one's rhetoric.  An eloquent poetry is often implicitly expressed in B-man's sarcasm and it can be a real challenge to alter one's own rhetoric in an attempt to go with his flow.  So don't misunderstand my reluctance to play it straight with B-man; we have a long history together.  He is the wrong guy to sermonize on ethical treatment of "the weak" and oppressed.

Don

wrote on Feb 14^th, 2008 at 10:56pm:

Oh, yes, Terethian, machetes are fun. So are stun guns. So are pistols that go off by accident. So are blah blah blah blah.... Ooops. I forgot. It's our right to own.........Sorry. love, blink :)

Yeah Blink - right on track...Its our right to own...
....own up to the consquences of such a society.
;)
Hugs,
Nanner

Don, I have no desire to have this Brendan, or anyone else, including yourself, from being able to post here, or to have their posts removed. Perhaps moved to an area that is more appropriate to what is being said. Flaged with a warning perhaps. Or to be informed of the guildlines of posting. Surely not all comments are appropriate. The desire to inflict death, hate, torture, and the sort upon others should be addressed perhaps, but in an area better suited for its discussion. Should it now be allowed to post a desire to do hate crimes here? I don't want Brenden bared from this forum. Nor any poster who communicated a desire to kill others because thay are not the same as the poster. But have the coments moved to the appropriate place. Should a poster be pushing an agenda of hate or murder, for an example, then they should be informed that the posts are not OK and by continuing to do so could result in them being no longer allowed to post. Its happined to you and things you have posted, has it not? If I was here posting about going out and killing priests or Jews, or Black, etc, you can bet your bottem dollar I would be gone. What differance does it make if the target is disabled. As for his indoctrination as a child.. it is unfortunate that many faiths have been infiltrated by those wanting to do more harm than good. In a number of cases they are doing much more harm than good. Not all of course.  I suspect this Brendan will also heal. It must be remembered that not everone needs or wants to be saved or healed though. My feeling have not changed..I still love you, Brenden, the shooter at the school. I don't need to know you personally to feel this love. None of you need to change in order for me to continue to send love to you. It dosen't change my disappointment in the comments.
Joe  

As a card carrying member of the National Rifle Association, and the California Rifle and Pistol Association- Both! - I'd like to point to the underlying issue in terms of what a lot of other members are saying. The US Constitution tells us essentially that a well-regulated militia being necessary to the preservation of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (Misquote, but close) - On the basis of concurrent state legislation of the same days, this makes clear the idea that the people are expected to be able to defend themselves, their homes, and their country, for which purpose they must be able to keep guns and to use them (appropriately).

"Appropriately" is of the nature of the "well-regulated" part. The counter example is that we sent many men to WW I who did not know how to load and fire their weapons. Their survival time was in question. However, the old frontiersmen were well versed in shooting skills, and their arms were always a threat to British tyranny against the Colonies. The number of arms owned by the public were a critical part of Japan's decision not to follow up Pearl Harbor by an invasion of California.

However, the best example is Switzerland, whence came the concept of "equal arms", requiring the able bodied man to own a spear, a sword, armor, or a halberd, or at least a bow. Nowadays it's a 7 mm fully automatic weapon that is kept, together with ammunition, in every household closet. And with which the owner has to qualify every so often. It kept the Nazis away in WW II. Not bad for not firing a shot!

The idea of the "well-regulation" phrase suggests that anybody who requires the perpetual use of psychotropic medication in order to function on a quasi-normal level is not well-regulated. We have a Brady bill to prevent criminals or people in the heat of rage from buying firearms. All other citizens are presently allowed to buy, own, and operate them. It would be a trivial matter to add use of medication for serious mental illness as a disqualifying factor, because those folks are not well-regulated.
California gunners in particular have been wondering about this.

Incidently, in California, if you want a handgun, you also have to possess a Handgun Safety Certificate, which requires study and both written and practical testing oriented to safety factors, every 5 years.

That having been said in the light of a good "fix it solution", it is also useful to recall Jesus words when talking about those who killed or abused children, that these things must happen, but woe to the perpetrators of the acts. That sounds to me like a suggestion that karmic factors are involved. Like anything else, it's never totally cut and dried simple.

On the other hand, there have been times that I would have been happy to give people the option of reincarnation now. In fact, aside from target shooting, isn't that what handguns are for? We offer the bad guys a chance to reform - in the next incarnation.

Go to God. - BANG!

dave

Gee Dave.. I'm not sure if the hand guns are offering that option of reincarnation or is it the death penalty. And your right about those hand guns.....there ony good for killing people. We don't have a lot of them up here in Canada. Far less crime that way. When I go down to the US, I am always a little freeked out about everyone and their grandmother having a gun. People getting killed for less than $5.00. Then of course you also need one of those 50mm anti aircraft rifles and a machine gun just in case some poor deer just happins to come on to your land, or a bird flies over your head. Kill, kill, kill. Is it the American way? In Canada the difficulties and loops you have to go through, including training and licencing with a police check, makes it almost impossible to purchase a hand gun. Not that there not around if you really want one. We manage to have lots of surplus ones smuggled up from down there. We get your extra hand guns and you all think you get our extra terrorists in exchange.
We also have had our run of school killings up here. I don't know anyone who understand what behind these events but some gun control might help. This last guy was on some sort of medication. The way it is being reported it looks like there may be a emotional or mental instabillity issues. It is also reported that others new he was off his drugs. Are they to blame also for the killings? Could they have done something. If your not mentaly stable then you should not be able to go out and buy three guns in a week.
Joe  

Good question, Hawkeye-
When I was a teen I used to be a hunter, living in the Midwest, and popping off pheasants in the backyard. I got so tired of pheasant that I preferred chicken any old day. However, I was honest about killing. What we have today is more like the hamburger mentality - obviously Big Macs must grow on trees, because we certainly wouldn't want to terminate Old Bossie.

Later on I decided that I liked critters, and stopped eating them. That produced a quandry, as a vegetarian diet is difficult in the US, the beefeaters don't plan for it. No prob, I also eat fish, because often that's the only option - and very interestingly, being a good Buddhist (well, maybe not so good after all, but I pass) I offer to take their pain. So it's Halibut steak tonight, and something bites me back tomorrow.  And it does! - Or perhaps they bite me back just for the "halibut" (Do I go to hell for too many puns?)

When I was 12 and learning how to hold a .22 I encountered the NRA. All they seemed to talk about was safety. I think that this is the bottom line to anything that proposes to be a protective measure. But safety means protection of everyone, not just one or two misguided kids, or a couple unlucky college students who know a nutter whose major claim to fame is that he can express his lack of love.

Nowadays, as an adult, I shoot a lot more. I have some of the world's most powerful handguns and enjoy letting off steam after a tough therapy session by going to the range and blowing away the center of a target. At home, however, we have a herd of about 20 deer who come through the yard in the morning and trim my wife's plants. She fusses, but not too much - and then there are the 40 turkeys that live nearby and often visit us. They're  pretty clever birds. One pecked at the door and stared at me, and when I waved it away it look really annoyed. No like the domestics at all - and by repute they're so tough you need a chain saw to cut them up.  Not interesting any more. There's also this week's paw print from a mountain lion who lay in the flower bed about the same time as we heard some major turkey squabbling.

So actually, I still enjoy wildlife. Even more, in fact.

The big issue with firearms is that in all the major nations inwhich they have been severely restricted or outlawed, violent crime has increased, including murders etc. And somehow the seriously bad guys always seem to have a black market line on things like Uzis. On the other side, the price of ownership is to learn and practice safety - and that stance comes not from violence, but from humility, the tremendous obligation that is attached to anything lethal, including that greatest of all killers, the automobile.

Back to the point of the matter - whether it's in the area of drugs that cause people to see and learn wonderful things - or drive people crazy - depending on their spiritual preparation, or the more infrequent abuse of meditation as an escape  from reality - or the willingness to allow our revered ancestors to return to us - and the attendent risk of picking up a few entities hitch hiking their way through life - or ...  All these cases require proper understanding and preparation. The first step of the Eightfold Path is Right Understanding. It isn't until all the intermediate steps have been handled that we  go after Right Samadhi.

Just because a person is mentally unstable under certain circumstances is no reason to view them as dangerous, or even inferior. The cyclothymias, such as bipolar disorder, have also been the motivators of great depths of insight. The work of Georg Cantor in transfinite cardinals ended in suicide. But it is in  use today, by me among others. We have schizophrenics who are in extreme states of confusion and suffering, but some of the less confused ones have also given us major works - like Vincent Van Gogh, and I'd guess Nietsche (but he might have just been narcissistic).

Personally, I've lived 70 years with fibromyalgia, a syndrome of five major bothersome states incuding catecholamine dysregulation which causes me to become emotionally unstable under prolonged stress. (Causes depression, if you're curious.)  After Basic and Air Traffic Control training in the Air Force I withdrew for fear of becoming upset and killing someone. That's damn costly! - As a tower operator I would have had a great career - but I might have crashed your brother in law's plane. - This is the type of regulation we really need. Know yourself, and set useful limits.

So we have a trade off here. To take a palliative, or to pursue potentially dangerous paths, like deep meditation and kundalini yoga, both of which have a record of wrecking lives when people are unprepared. (I occasionally treat them in my practice.) Who is ready to go where gentle Juditha goes, into a world where we surrender our mind to be used by another spirit that needs to express itself? She's pretty ballsy, in my estimation.

If you look at Bruce's writings you'll notice that he doesn't tell us to immediately go out and rescue stuck spooks. What he says is that this requires preparation, and may not be suitable for everyone at this time. You'll find the same from Swami Sivananda, and all the Tibetan teachers, and doubtless other places as well.

In all honesty, I have no solution. (Boy, that's a change!)  But at least I feel that we're beginning to understand the nature of the problem. Reminds me of Shakespeare, "The fault, dear Cassius, lies not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings." - And there's nobody else to blame for that. - Like it or not, we have to be responsible.

PUL
dave

As I said earlier, these people are typically only able to kill people because they can take the easy way out and pull a trigger.

I'd like to see how many people could murder other people if they had to do it with a club and repeatedly beating the victim while blood spatters and bones break. Let's see how many "KILLING  SPREE'S" Happen when all that the killer can use is a club. Guess what? We won't have killing like we do now. Plain and simple. Guns are such a wussy way to kill people. Pathetic.

If I ever decide to go on a killing rampage I think I'll do it with the good silver. All will fear my SPOON!!!!!!!

[quote author=blink link=1203039474/0#12 date=1203096998]This shooter was a "revered" member of the body of that university and a campus leader in the area of criminal justice.  He was a "good" person.

He went off of his medication.

He was mentally ill because he went off his medication.

He had a license to own firearms.

You do the math.

love, blink
*****************
You bring up a good point.
Psychotropic drugs are a recurring theme in these incidents, as
far back as Kip Kinkel in 1998 and Columbine in 1999.
And why should that be a surprise? 21st-century man doesn't
have a CLUE how the brain works, and here we are pumping
millions of people (some as young as 2 years old) full of
"antidepressants", neuro-leptics, lithium, ect.
MODERN BRAIN SCIENCE, IS ABOUT AT THE LEVEL THAT GENERAL
SURGERY WAS IN ANCIENT SUMER OR EGYPT.
We are THOUSANDS OF YEARS away from, really being able to cure
mental illnesses, or being able to truly repair brain malfunctions.
KNOWING that, should we really be messing around with people's brain chemistry???
These compounds should not be used outside of mental
institutions, IMHO. (If we should use them at all. Who
knows what brain damage the NIU shooter suffered as a
result of those "meds" he was on? And when he went off
them - well, if he wasn't crazy before he started taking them,
he sure as heck was after he became dependent on the "meds"
to function and then went off them! That speaks volumes, or
so it would seem...)

B-man

As I said earlier, these people are typically only able to kill people because they can take the easy way out and pull a trigger.

I'd like to see how many people could murder other people if they had to do it with a club and repeatedly beating the victim while blood spatters and bones break. Let's see how many "KILLING  SPREE'S" Happen when all that the killer can use is a club. Guess what? We won't have killing like we do now. Plain and simple. Guns are such a wussy way to kill people. Pathetic.
*****************
Actually, gang-stomping attacks by groups of hooligans (a surprisingly common means of murder world-wide, and a problem we've been having in my town) are wussier than guns. (How much guts does it
take to have your friends helping you? At least shooters go it
ALONE...)
Don't generalize so much! (You're starting to sound like someone who
got his politics from Hollywood movies.)

B-man

Gee Dave.. I'm not sure if the hand guns are offering that option of reincarnation or is it the death penalty. And your right about those hand guns.....there ony good for killing people. We don't have a lot of them up here in Canada. Far less crime that way. When I go down to the US, I am always a little freeked out about everyone and their grandmother having a gun. People getting killed for less than $5.00. Then of course you also need one of those 50mm anti aircraft rifles and a machine gun just in case some poor deer just happins to come on to your land, or a bird flies over your head. Kill, kill, kill. Is it the American way? In Canada the difficulties and loops you have to go through, including training and licencing with a police check, makes it almost impossible to purchase a hand gun. Not that there not around if you really want one. We manage to have lots of surplus ones smuggled up from down there. We get your extra hand guns and you all think you get our extra terrorists in exchange.
We also have had our run of school killings up here. I don't know anyone who understand what behind these events but some gun control might help. This last guy was on some sort of medication. The way it is being reported it looks like there may be a emotional or mental instabillity issues. It is also reported that others new he was off his drugs. Are they to blame also for the killings? Could they have done something. If your not mentaly stable then you should not be able to go out and buy three guns in a week.
Joe
*****************
I suppose you think that cops should have them though.
And the military.
Never mind that cops blow away lots of innocent people
every year (not to mention the military!)
So, you're really pro-gun after all, eh?

B-man

Dave-

We have some things in common, I'm also an NRA member (Lifetime) and learned to shoot at an NRA range when I was 13.

Contrary to the myth generated by the media, the NRA is not some gun crazy bunch of nutcakes.   They stress, time and again and in many respects, gun safety above all else.  Well, including keeping the 2nd Amendment alive and well.

I suppose any group that is misunderstood will become targets of those who want to dismiss it with misinformation.  Including those who believe in the afterlife and especially retrievals.

Can you imagine the ridicule that would come our way if we went around proclaiming that we retrieve souls who are "stuck"?  

Probably about the same ridicule that we NRA members get for our stand on the 2nd Amendment.  

Ironic that those who proclaim how much they love "diversity" have no problems trying to silence those with whom they disagree.

Anyway this is now lurching into the Off Topic Territory.  And that's ok as long as I don't get stuck there....lol.

R

Life can be interesting and strange.

I also was a member of the NRA but only did target shooting, not hunting. I was a very very good shot and somewhere if they haven't been tossed out  >:(, I have numerous awards, patches and certificates for my achievements. I started at 10 but stopped somewhere in high school.

I am now thinking even though many years before,  the same concentration skills necessary to be a good shot - and it is impossible to be one without being able to concentrate - had been beneficial in my learning meditation later which is also impossible to do without being able to concentrate. Following breath, heartbeat, relaxing, concentrating -- all there.


- u