Chattanooga

[bcartervol98]

I am sure it is not a secret to anyone not living under a rock that an Islamic jihadist murdered 4 Marines and seriously injured a Naval Officer, a police officer and another Marine yesterday only about 75 miles from my home. Maybe this should be in "Rants" but since its news I am gonna post it here and throw a couple talking points out there.

First what is it in the human condition that could make someone do this? Was it truly "for their religion" or was it something different? I mean in their religion they gain rewards in heaven for the act of killing infidels right? Is that just rhetoric or true? I am not very religious at all and do not understand. Is it mental illness and religion is just a scapegoat? I mean when the guy shot up the Church in South Carolina and the kid in Colorado in the movie theater and I never heard about their religion.

Now I will say what I think the answer is to the above, First I think that 99% of Muslims in America are peace loving people chasing the same dream we all are. Lets talk about the 1% though whom I will refer to as extremists. It is obvious that the extremists see their destiny to be the destruction of freedom and the American dream of true freedom. What they fail to realize is event after event like this only hurts the 99% that are peace loving because lets be frank, we know our enemy is not named "Steve" or "John". Events in the last few years have made me turn my back on my total disdain for profiling to a certain extent. There were signs ignored about this killer and if we have the surveillance capabilities we tout ourselves to have there is no reason he was not at least on the radar after seeing some of his social media and Islamic Extremist blog.

I think these terror groups will prey on others like him, those that have never been in trouble for anything but are looking for meaning and may be depressed or even suicidal and shower them with promises of a better afterlife. Its really kind of scary because I do not think this will be an isolated incident not repeated. The Fort Hood shooting that is still classified as "workplace violence" even though Hassad was yelling Alla Akbar as he was killing US Soldiers on US Soil it is not classified as domestic terrorism and even this federal government says a domestic terror plot is discovered and thwarted an average of every 33 days or something close to that.

The last point I will make about this are these damn "Gun Free Zones". WTF is that about? Do these supposedly intelligent people somehow think men and women in uniform that are trained to handle a weapon should not have one? To me a "Gun Free Zone" is like a HUGE neon sign that says "Hello, welcome, we cannot defend ourselves".

I have tried to support President Obama and his administration since voting for him in 2008 but have steadily lost confidence over the last 7 years and if he wants to do the right thing in the wake of this event, then IMMEDIATELY issue an executive order lifting the Gun Free Zones when dealing with our military bases, recruitment offices and schools. Let those trained to protect us protect themselves.

For any Marines or any other soldier out there I shed a tear for you today.

 

[Kevo88]

This was an absolutely terrible event, and my prayers go out to the victims and their families. 

As to whether this was a terrorist attack, I'd like to see more information released. It seems, imo, like this guy may have been depressed or had some form of mental illness. Maybe he was talked into it by others with ties to terrorism. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he lived here for nearly 20 years, attended high school, college, got a degree, all for the long con. 

Whatever the case or motive, I agree whole-heartedly that it is ridiculous to restrict military personnel from carrying weapons in gun free zones. It's like having designated peeing areas in a public pool, and scares the hell out of me.

[bcartervol98]

Kevo his father was on the terror watch list, he had traveled to the Middle East recently and just two days ago posted on an Islamic Radical blog the following:

Mr. Abdulazeez maintained a blog where he posted about Islam, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks international terrorist groups. A July 13 post stated that “life is short and bitter” and that Muslims should not let “the opportunity to submit to Allah … pass you by.”

 

I am not sure what we are watching but if I am having to give up some of my rights to privacy the government surveillance  they could damn well have done a better job here I think.

 

People like him are the ones the radicals will prey on since they are here and have no record.

 

 

[Kevo88]

I was not aware of the blog or the fact that his dad was in the watch list. That definielty changes my perspective a bit.

[BirdDog]

The man from Colorado was found guilty on all counts yesterday. The penalty phase starts next week. He will never see the outside world again. He thought that by murdering people it would increase his self-worth. Reminds me of video games, kill and earn points. Doesn't sound to far off from the those that follow an extreme religion.

I am not currently caught up on what happened yesterday with the shooting in Chattanooga. Family left yesterday, it was busy and I only caught bits and pieces of everything. Will have to get caught up before I can really understand the current situation.

Edited July 17, 2015 by BirdDog

[FXRich]

The 2nd Amendment was put in place so we could protect ourselves, and our freedom. It seems like the only people that are allowed the right to keep and bear arms are the nut cases, and the religious fanatics. People refer to the wild west as a violent time in our history, but in fact there was less crime then. When law abiding people are armed the criminals think twice. I never hear about shootings at a NRA convention or any place else where people are armed. Almost always in a so called gun free zone. I will not enter a store that has a gun free zone sign posted, plenty of other places to do business.

[Bebop]

Tragic. My heart goes heavy at these tragedies.

I don't care what excuse or "reason" any perpetrators use to justify these actions. You can't commit this kind of crime on any level unless there is an underlying mental defect. I hesitate to call it mental illness because I don't believe it is an illness in a medical sense. I don't think it's any more complicated than a small percentage of the population is just flat out destructive. Some perform headline grabbing mayhem and some chip away at others around them with intent to destroy them. Whatever the "reason" they lack basic human virtues, compassion, responsibility, accountability. 

In my opinion there are ALWAYS warning signs. They are explained away, or ignored, or sometimes exploited. But they are always there.  I think there is some merit in having others, including the government, play a role in trying to predict this and help protect us from it but that doesnt mean we don't have our own responsibility and  common sense in seeing that we protect ourselves.  We lose our freedom when we completely give up that right to protect ouselves or unwittingly assume someone else can be fully responsible for protecting us.  And sometimes that takes a little foresight and some *** kicking.

[Jeffb]

I was encouraged by the response of the local mosque.

 

 

On Thursday night, the mosque was in mourning for the Marines Mr. Abdulazeez is accused of killing. To honor them, Dr. Sheikh said, the center had canceled the Eid al-Fitr celebration planned for Friday, signifying the end of Ramadan. About 1,000 people normally attend.

But Dr. Sheikh, interviewed in the center’s near-empty parking lot Thursday night, said it would have been wrong to celebrate this year. “We have canceled out of respect and remembrance for our fallen Marines,” he said.

Dr. Sheikh said he had “minimal interactions” with Mr. Abdulazeez upon his return, and “didn’t notice anything different in his demeanor.” He said that the center’s leaders had met with F.B.I. officials and offered their “full support” to the investigation.

The mosque and center, he said, normally draw about 200 or 300 people for Friday Prayer, and serve a diverse community with roots in Pakistan, Africa, India, the Middle East and the United States.

The bellicose interpretations of jihad, he said, were not preached at the mosque, and he said that parents were sensitive to the way that the Islamic State and other radical groups had used the Internet to entice and recruit young American and European Muslims to violent causes.

“We certainly do not want to be part of that demented ideology,” he said. “That is not the message we preach here. What people do on the Internet or the World Wide Web or in their own homes, we can’t control that.”

[FXRich]

Trouble is warning signs usually cannot be acted on. With the freedoms we enjoy in this country usually a crime has to be committed before the police can act. It will remain that way unless we give up some of our rights which I am not willing to do. 

[blucavvy]

As a service member and gun enthusiast I'm glad i live in Kansas. Open carry has almost always been legal and as of july 1st concealed carry with no permit is legal. 

 

I'll leave my opinions on muslims to myself. They're not the friendliest.

[bcartervol98]

As a service member and gun enthusiast I'm glad i live in Kansas. Open carry has almost always been legal and as of july 1st concealed carry with no permit is legal. 

 

I'll leave my opinions on muslims to myself. They're not the friendliest.

Living in Tennessee we do not have the strictest gun laws and I am a gun enthusiast as well. As far as the bolded I would caution anyone to not "throw the baby out with the bathwater" and generalize, just my 2 cents. I pretty much keep my mouth shut about all religions because I am not religious and see fallacies in about all sects of any religion.

 

EDIT to add I am not looking for a debate on the Muslim religion as a whole except will add they are entitled to the same Constitutional protection as Baptists or Catholics. I have several friends that are devout Muslims and even have one in my Scout Pack I am the leader of that are more normal than most people I know from other religions.

Edited July 22, 2015 by bcartervol98