This is very sickening news. If someone has a problem with their government and goes to this extreme, why do they take it out on civilians?
Out of a desire to do something to make a statement but lacking the conviction to die for their belief. Civilians are soft targets that don't usually shoot back.
Gunmen like this are either mentally unbalanced (read crazy), or cowardly kittens (I would have used another word instead of kittens but the language filter would have edited it).
While I don't disagree with your general sentiments, I disagree totally with your conclusions.
Terrorists, by definition, perform their acts to create fear in the population and anger at the authorities for "failing to prevent" the acts. This is done in order to advance the terrorists political objectives. Keeping this in mind, any action which inspires terror in the general population, weakens the established government, and creates doubt in the ability of the authorities to protect the population is worthwhile - in the minds of the terrorists.
Children are an especially good target to the terrorist because their deaths and injuries strike at the heart of the parents' basic love for their children and inspire appropriate fear in the hearts of other parents. It also generally inspires calls for "more action" on the part of the government, which, if it has not carefully considered its actions - or sometimes, even if it has considered them, begins to take repressive measures for "prevention". Eventually, the population gets more angry at the preventive measures than at the terrorists - which is a goal of the terrorists. Does anyone see a parallel between this scenario and our situation here in the US? We've already reached the point of rebellion at the actions of the TSA - the most easily visible of the "preventive" actions being taken to protect our population. Imagine how things might be after a series of similar attacks on our children. Of course, the difference between us and Norway is that large numbers of _our_ citizens have the means to protect themselves.
A gunman who opened fire on an island teeming with young people kept shooting for 1.5 hours before surrendering to a SWAT team, which arrived 40 minutes after they were called, police said Saturday
A gunman who opened fire on an island teeming with young people kept shooting for 1.5 hours before surrendering to a SWAT team, which arrived 40 minutes after they were called, police said Saturday
Norway's maximum penalty is 21 years in prison. That's the most that he can reasonably be expected to get, from what I've read on their system.this guy may be a ****-poor example of a human being. Anybody who does what he did needs the chair. However, this is a coordinated attack that was carried out very effectively. I don't know of any other example where a lone man was able to kill 80 people with a firearm in such a short amount of time. This is why we carry our own firearms, not everybody that poses a threat to us is going to be some jackass holding his POS pistol sideways.
I agree with your post, however I consider those who commit terroristic acts as the "cowardly kittens". There is no honor in killing children, for any reason.
The left is going to be in orgasm. Right wing Christian fundamentalist who loved guns and spoke out against multiculturalism. Big Sis has to be thinking, see my profile is right.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/world/europe/24oslo.html?_r=2&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065