Comments on: 'Revenge' Shooting At Amish School

Four Girls Killed, Six Others Hospitalized; Cops Say Gunman Killed Himself

[rudy654-2009]

I wish articles like this would not start of with things like the following quote: "The gunman...was an ordinary man and a devoted father..." Excuse me, but no he wasn't and it doesn't help the grieving to be told such nonsense. The man was a cruel and evil man who shared no sense of compassion for anyone, least of all poor innocent children. Ordinary man and devoted father? Give me a break!

[inlancaster]

you should have stopped at, Oh

[fixerkitty]

I meant 'softer,' not harder targets. Oops.

@CBS mods: is it possible to rewrite the coding for the comments so the author can edit them if neccessary?

[fixerkitty]

@Billpl: I think it's because suburban and rural schools are harder targets. Inner city schools assume kids are going to try to kill each other and so they have more surveillance tools at their disposal. That and the kids inside are used to weapons. When they go after each other, there's a reason. Usually it's a stupid one, but it's still a reason. If someone in the ghetto pulls something like this, usually 'street justice' kicks in and the person is taken care of quickly and discreetly. That's my opinion, anyway.

[inlancaster]

http://cbs3.com/video/?id=[e-mail]
http://cbs3.com/video/?id=[e-mail]

[fixerkitty]

Oh, those poor families. Words fail here, I'm afraid.

I used to go to Amish country a lot when I was a kid. They're good people, quiet people, and I cannot imagine why someone would do this to them. The sad part is not only the deaths and woundings of those poor children, but the loss of innocence for the entire community.

As for the monster that did this, I cannot imagine why society doesn't have the tools to root out and eliminate this sort of people. If it takes the technological and possibly genetic control of society, so be it. We're heading there anyway so we might as well use the tools we have and those on the horizon for the common good.

As to the commentary on the CBS news, that man gets a "***?" award. Madness and murder have been around since the dawn of humanity. The question we should be asking is not 'what causes this?" but "how do we prevent this from happening again?" The two sound like the same question but really aren't. And prayer in schools, abortion, etc. have nothing to do with this case. If anything the perp is an argument FOR abortion, not against. *facepalm*

[debbiels1979]

Ofcourse, this is a terrible thing that has happen and that man will surely rott in hell. I just kinda wanted to correct one thing CBS said about the Amish's non-use of technology. CBS stated that the Amish do not use tractors. That is incorrect because many Amish families infact do use tractors. I know it's besides the point but I thought I would mention it.

[cbbaughn]

The Amish are peaceloving individuals. What a horrible tradgedy to befall them or anyone or any nation. What can we do to stop this maddness. Maybe if we give the killer to the family to deal with instead of the court system, this type of killing might stop.That is if the coward who does this henious crime doesn't kill themselves first.But them would we be any better than the killer?? I am a believer in "an eye for an eye". Yes I am a christian, but something is seriously wrong for this type of crime to keep on happening.God MUST be kept in our minds and hearts.We can only pray there is a hell and that these type of killers are paying for their sins.

[inlancaster]

most of these comments make me want to puke

there are still eight children in critical condition

[jumkey]

The "social issue" EllenRouse is that a madman aquired a gun and executed 3 children. Another important "social issue" is that people like yourself believe their quick and easy access to firearms is a more important issue than the violent deaths of schoolchildren.

I don't know from liberal judges or decay or whatever you're on about. Regardless, I'm pretty sure your rant about social disorder and crack dealers run amok doesn't apply to the Amish in rural Pennsylvania.

I'm sorry you had to wait a whole 48 hours to get your precious, precious handguns. But I guess the upside is that these parents had their children for 16 years, so it's all good, eh?

[lucee2]

billpl
Unfortunately, most of the inner city tragedies take place on the streets, not at the schools.
Drive by's and gang related incidents. These situations don't usually occur in the "burbs".
I guess if they survive the streets of the "inner city" the school is the safest place.

[lucee2]

Dougsridehom
I agree but along with most ignorance in this country there is no respect. The media does not care - it is all about the publicity. Unfortunately these people will probably never know that their beliefs have been violated. I would like to think that the media had been advised against these actions by officials from the area who are aware of this. This country is so worried about offending everyone else it just doesn't make any sense. So sad.

[anne1224]

"I doubt things will change until they get much much worse; the dumb Americans who run the nation, the real dumbos with c+ averages in charge of church, business, industry, goevernment, just are resistant to change and too thick and stupid to see what needs to be done." Posted by SharnCedar

How much worse do you think things have to get?
What does this have to do with the dumbos with C averages? There are over educated idiots everwhere that do not have common sense. Everyone can be resistant to change until they fully understand the impact of what is happening in this world. It is up to the people who truly want things to change to get the point across that it is time to do something about it.

[sharncedar]

"He told his wife that he was acting out in a way to achieve revenge for something that happened 20 years ago"

How could he slip through the cracks for 20 years? No social support, no psychological help, no counseling at his job, no one to talk to about it, typical modern American scenario of forcing someone to live in isolation and deal with deep disturbing pains and given nothing but smug disrespect, threats, and blame.

That's how we manage our nation - disrespect, threats, and blame. Then we celebrate the "winners" who are the most aggressive and greedy people who step on everyone else.

How about some universal mental health care available to people? We don't have communities anymore, thanks to the greed of the super-rich.

[chicagojohn4]

Seems like every week there is another tragedy like this. At the same time, we are constantly reminded what a great country this is. I'm not convinced.

[billpl-2009]

I was just looking over the map with all the latest school shootings. I noticed that not one of them was in the so-called "inner cities" where all the so-called "bad" people live and do all kinds of "bad" things. Does that mean our inner city schools are safer? Maybe these urban folks have the answer we're looking for.

[sharncedar]

Terrible, terrible tradgedy.

didn't I post it two weeks ago that we need to change fundamentally as a culture to recognize that we can't isolate and exclude "weird" individuals anymore, it is just too dangerous. Majority rules, the in-group out-group culture of America doesn't work. In our current world, we can't afford even one "have-not" to be punished and ioslated at the fringes of the society. We have to start bringing people into the culture, finding ways to include all voices, both here and globally, or we will keep dying.

We want to play this sick game of winners and losers in America, but no one is totally a "loser" when there are serious new kinds of weapons floating around, and such a complex society with so many vunerable spots. A bitter "loser" of a nation or a person can make us all lose way too much.

I doubt things will change until they get much much worse; the dumb Americans who run the nation, the real dumbos with c+ averages in charge of church, business, industry, goevernment, just are resistant to change and too thick and stupid to see what needs to be done.

[lucee2]

Dougskelly, you stated "I have control over what I watch but thats about it. If my kids want to watch a show on their own theres not a whole bunch I can do about it." and go on to say "there are SOME steps you can take. watching and limiting internet access. I have a program
called INET Protector which I would reccomend to all parents. Also we have our TV in a central
location and dont do the cable thing. We went back to rabbit ears and they work just fine." Why is it that you cannot control what your children watch on TV when it is in a centralized location, rabbit eared location - Who is in control here?? You or your children? That is the problem. There are no parents in these families. People are too worried about being "friends" with there children and taking on the parenting responsibility. Try, You are not watching that go read a book.

[dougsridehom]

I wish you'd respect the Amish enough to not take pictures of their faces. They consider facial pictures to be "graven images" and forbidden by scripture. We may not understand or agree, but respect their peace loving way of life and don't intrude. Thank you.

[anne1224]

roedmel,

Well said! I live 1 hr. north from Lancaster.
My husband grew up there. We are so saddened by all of this.