Why No Sandy Hook in Detroit

[Wesley Mouch]

With nothing but sympathy to those who lost loved little ones in the senseless massacre in Sandy Hook...

I ask why these massacres seem to happen in suburbia, not in Americas urban cores. Yet image of Detroit for many is gangs and guns. Sandy Hook, Columbine not so much.

[Hermod]

Because out there, the boys are trained to "hold it back" and when the unstable ones can't, it comes out in a massive burst. In urban areas, they can waste somebody every now and then and the pressures do not build up.

[Dexlin]

Oh, I don't know; maybe it's because there is a Sandy Hook-equivalent body count in Detroit every single month for, oh, the past decade, and then an even higher body count per month before then?

Seriously, let's put a bit more thought into things before we ask silly questions. This is a stupid comparison, to be frank. People can make their own judgement value on which is worst, but there is no comparison between these two things [[maladjusted, well-off kids shooting up innocents at school because Mommie didn't love them like he wished she did & a decade's-long drug war in the streets) beyond both being examples of gun violence.

[Meddle]

Because out there, the boys are trained to "hold it back" and when the unstable ones can't, it comes out in a massive burst. In urban areas, they can waste somebody every now and then and the pressures do not build up.

Yeah, sorta that. I remember Cerveny and Cooley in the 60s and the long lines of DPD TMUs parked out side on most days.

[Bham1982]

I ask why these massacres seem to happen in suburbia, not in Americas urban cores. Yet image of Detroit for many is gangs and guns. Sandy Hook, Columbine not so much.

They happen to happen more often in suburbia because that's where most people live and where most guns are held.

Not even 15% of Metro Detroit is in the City of Detroit, and gun ownership rates are often higher in suburban areas than in urban areas [[not sure if it's true around here, though).

And Detroit pretty much has a constant, slow-moving Sandy Hook. I don't think the pain is any less if people are killed by ones and twos rather than all at once.

[cla1945]

Michigan isn't exempt from that kind of carnage:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103186662

In my opinion, there isn't any explanation for why these unstable people do what they do. They are evil, pure and simple.

My question, especially at this time of year, is why would a loving God allow something like this to happen in the first place? What is the purpose, what will be learned, what good comes from killing innocents? Am I not supposed to question this?

[Scottathew]

I have no idea why this all happened.

Although, a couple details seem to be emerging. A woman with a mentally unstable son kept guns in her house.

I will never have guns in my house while I have children. I support people's rights to have them, but I exercise my choice to not have them.

[canuck]

Michigan isn't exempt from that kind of carnage:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103186662

In my opinion, there isn't any explanation for why these unstable people do what they do. They are evil, pure and simple.

My question, especially at this time of year, is why would a loving God allow something like this to happen in the first place? What is the purpose, what will be learned, what good comes from killing innocents? Am I not supposed to question this?

I read the story about farmer Kehoe and what stood out was that he was a caretaker at the school. Imagine if the same individual were allowed to carry guns in school today.

I also look at the number of massacres that happened over the past quarter century and many of them happened in schools didnt they? Even in relatively peaceful Montreal [[in terms of gun violence) we had three shooting sprees in schools. In 1989, a guy shot his way through École Polytechnique and killed 14 female students wounding 14 others. In 1992, a mechanical engineering professor shot and killed 4 colleagues and wounded another. In 2006, a 25 year old man walked into Dawson College's main campus and fired his gun killing one and injuring 19 others.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/École_P...nique_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord...rsity_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_College_shooting

[Gannon]

Yeah, some additional information IS coming out...

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...r-Mass-murders

[Tig3rzhark]

As I see the news of Sandy Hook on TV, it reminds me of when I was in high school, at Cass Tech.

During the time, there was the Littleton shootings in Colorado. Those shootings didn't shock me at all. Considering the guys that did the shootings and killed themselves when they were done, were "social outcasts".

While I was there, I was an aide to Cass Tech school's social worker, Ms. Bailey. She was a very nice person who was concerned with how I felt. I had a support system, family, friends and a few associates.

We never had anything like that happen at Cass because there was security at the door. In other schools in the district, you had to be searched before u even went to class and go through a metal detector.

Cass was the exception. We didn't have to worry about that problem and like a college prep school like this one, those that wanted to go to Cass, had to take a test to get in.

There's no easy solution to this problem of random shootings.

What I can suggest, is that we hold our children a little tighter, teach them that violence doesn't solve everything and lead by example. We keep a sharper eye on the communities that we live in, and take responsibility for keeping them safe.

[louis]

as far as im concerned what Detroit has isworse than sandy hook. The only difference is that Detroit's murders were spreadout over time. Could you imagine what it would be like if Detroit didn’t have asingle murder all year and then suddenly a mass murderer kills 300+ people? not even the NRA could stop anti gun legislation at that point.

[iheartthed]

We never had anything like that happen at Cass because there was security at the door. In other schools in the district, you had to be searched before u even went to class and go through a metal detector.

Having rent-a-cops at the door is not the reason why there has never been a shooting rampage at Cass Tech.

[louis]

Having rent-a-cops at the door is not the reason why there has never been a shooting rampage at Cass Tech.

gonna follow up on the real reason then?

[Bham1982]

gonna follow up on the real reason then?

99.999% of schools don't have school massacres. It's so rare and random that I don't think it's productive to look on an individual level.

[Islandman]

Yeah, those security guards at Cass wouldn't have stopped anything, they were beyond useless.

And while there may have been a lot of shootings at urban schools, they haven't been on a level of premeditation like Columbine and Sandy Hook, and the motive certainly wasn't to take out as many people as you can.

[coracle]

99.999% of schools don't have school massacres. It's so rare and random that I don't think it's productive to look on an individual level.

It won't be looked at. When the Media has extracted every little last Ad value out of the massacre it will be forgotten until the next one [[except for "celebrating" it's annual date); and we'll go back to the pure insanity of selling guns.

[RO_Resident]

Unfortunately, this sort of thing has happened in Detroit. Back in 1998, Wayne State Professor Andrzej Olbrot was shot by a grad student. The professor was adminstering an exam at the time.
http://www.exemplar.wayne.edu/fall-2010/up-front/Remembering-AndrzejWOlbrot.php

There is a sculpture at the corner of Warren and Anthony Wayne Drive dedicated in Prof. Olbrot's honor.

[louis]

My problem isn’twith guns. It’s with the gun show loop hole [[this loop hole allows people tosell guns from their privet collection without having to do a background check,age check, hell! the gun doesn’t even need to be registered). I understand thatif a bad man wants a gun he’s more than likely to find one but that doesn’tmean that we should make it this easy to get said gun, the gun show loop holeis like trying to combat theft by leaving your doors and windows unlocked. Its simply child logic

[canuck]

99.999% of schools don't have school massacres. It's so rare and random that I don't think it's productive to look on an individual level.

99.999% of street corners don't have drive-by shootings either, so let's just drop the whole discussion, maybe?


There is a disproportionate amount of these massacres occuring in schools, it probably has to do with the resentment prepetrators have concerning early life, their lack of social or learning skills, bullying, outcasting, whatnot. But they somehow have easy access to guns, and are not easily neutralized when the cuckoo clock decides they should do their deeds. We dont fuss over the multiple knifings and aggressions in school hallways and grounds since they cannot yield as many victims.

I hope senator Feinstein gets a foot in the door, but I think it is more likely to get crushed.

[iheartthed]

gonna follow up on the real reason then?

Because no one has ever come to Cass Tech with an automatic rifle and tried to shoot up the school.

[GPCharles]

I really don't think the problem is guns, although there are way too many in our society. Get rid of 90% of them and there is still way too many.

The problem, as I see it, is the lack of mental health solutions. Was it really a good idea when we emptied and closed our state and county mental health facilitities in the 70s, 80s and 90s. What are the realistic alternatives that are now available? Keeping the patients on long-term drug care doesn't seem to work, particularly when they don't take their meds. Admittedly, I don't know the answer.

[iheartthed]

I really don't think the problem is guns, although there are way too many in our society. Get rid of 90% of them and there is still way too many.

The problem, as I see it, is the lack of mental health solutions. Was it really a good idea when we emptied and closed our state and county mental health facilitities in the 70s, 80s and 90s. What are the realistic alternatives that are now available? Keeping the patients on long-term drug care doesn't seem to work, particularly when they don't take their meds. Admittedly, I don't know the answer.

The shooter was from an upper-middle class background and he was identified to have had a development disorder. I don't think his problem was lack of access to mental healthcare.

I think the problem is that a person who was identified as being high-risk for mental instability was allowed to have easy access to lethal weapons. He wouldn't have been allowed into the military because of his mental health background, yet nobody saw a problem with giving him easy access to military grade weapons at home.

[poobert]

I can't really see many common themes with our domestic terrorists. There does seem to be a history of mental problems or an axe to grind with the US government. For example, the Virginia Tech shooter was a disturbed loner, while Timothy McVeigh seemed like a pretty smart guy but a violent traitor. History, of course, is littered with them, some successful, some not.

This latest killer appeared to have a healthy dose of insanity, along with some survivalist claptrap and an arsenal from his mother. What a time bomb.

Mental health issues still seem to be taboo in this country. Even if one doesn't seek proactive treatment - as we should - these guys seem often pushed over the edge through total isolation.

As for the suburban/urban question, I don't know? If I may be colloquial, but you sure can blow off some steam by drinking and fighting and fucking. Bruises and busted lips heal. The isolation of kids in suburbia does scare me, and certainly doesn't help if you're already mentally unstable. Just playing first-person shooters all day with an M-16 in the next room, yikes.

[Honky Tonk]

I really don't think the problem is guns, although there are way too many in our society. Get rid of 90% of them and there is still way too many.

The problem, as I see it, is the lack of mental health solutions. Was it really a good idea when we emptied and closed our state and county mental health facilitities in the 70s, 80s and 90s. What are the realistic alternatives that are now available? Keeping the patients on long-term drug care doesn't seem to work, particularly when they don't take their meds. Admittedly, I don't know the answer.

There are multiple States that have more legal gun owners per capita then MI. So one of three things are going on. The reports have flawed data, there are more illegal then legal gun owners in MI, [[unregistered, obtained illegally), OR, there are social or mental issues here, putting Detroit in the #1 spot, again, for murders and gun violence.

[JVB]

If I may be colloquial, but you sure can blow off some steam by drinking and fighting and fucking.

Pretty sure they do plenty of that in the suburbs too. Seems like he was just a nutcase that snapped. Not sure how you prevent that.