Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › News in U.S… more crime
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April 16, 2007 at 12:00 am #182697terrycookMember
Just today a tragic example of the difference of crime in C.R. and the U.S.
33 people killed at Virginia Tech today by a lone gunman (and untold more injured and status unknown!. The worst killing spree in U.S. History. It could happen in Costa Rica but I doubt it very much.
Practically every sector of our country is becomming more and more unsafe with drugs, unhappiness and the general ill will of so many people over what the U.S. is and has become. And WE have the right to tell other countries how to run their affairs????
Terry From Texas
April 16, 2007 at 7:41 pm #182698freddymMemberTake a look at Hollywood and our entertainment where violence is glorified for our children to watch 24 hours per day.
Remember that ‘Bowling for Columbine’ movie where Michael Moore is interviewing someone from the defence company Lockheed in the town where another massacre took place?
The spokesman for Lockheed is standing in front of a missile that has to be 100 feet long probably capable of killing thousands of people and he’s saying with a straight face that he can’t imagine where kids get these violent ideas from…
Like duh!
April 16, 2007 at 9:21 pm #182699terrycookMemberNot to mention the Hollywood show that showed kids laying down in the middle of the road at night on the double yellow line stripes to see if they could play chicken and win…..yes our across the street neighbor was crushed to death playing that t.v. game
…can’t wait to get there and only watch “football” and spanish singing dvd’s on the box…at the most.
Terry from TexasApril 17, 2007 at 6:32 pm #182700maravillaMemberHe was on psychiatric drugs, just like every other shooter was going back to 1966. Mess with your brain chemistry and this is what you get.
April 17, 2007 at 7:58 pm #182701AndrewKeymasterDo we now know that for a fact Maravilla?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comApril 17, 2007 at 8:05 pm #182702namvetMemberWas this on CNN or do you have another source? I had not heard anything (at this point)about him being on any mind altering substance.
April 17, 2007 at 8:52 pm #182703maravillaMemberOf course he was on mind-altering drugs — who else would have done this? Now it’s just a question of which one. I have my bets on Paxil or Effexor. Now all the brouhaha is about gun control. What about outlawing these stupid drugs that are the cause of all these massacres here in the US? Here’s a link to the latest report. Bet those Pharma crash teams are hard at work trying to suppress the name of the medication he was taking. It had to be an SSRI — they all come with suicide and homicide warnings now. This is one of the reasons I want out of the States. It’s a looney bin without walls.
http://www.dailymail.com/story/News/2007041636/His-creative-writing-
raised-alarm-he-was-on-medication-and-he-left-a-note/
His creative writing raised alarm, he was on medication and he left a
note
by The Associated Press
Charleston Daily Mail
Tuesday April 17, 2007
BLACKSBURG, Va. — The gunman suspected of carrying out the Virginia
Tech massacre that left 33 people dead was identified today as an
English major whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was
referred to the school’s counseling service.News reports also said that he may have been taking medication for
depression, that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic,
and that he left a note in his dorm in which he railed against “rich
kids,’ “debauchery’ and “deceitful charlatans’ on campus.April 17, 2007 at 9:02 pm #182704PegMemberDrugs or not, quite a few lives could have been saved, if this SFB Prez had not let the assault weapons law expire 2 years ago. The Shooter would probably not have had access to extender clips on that 9mm Glock that could fire 15+ rounds without reloading. At the very least the victims may have had time to react and run for cover before he had time to reload. Of course no background checks, no waiting time, might as well just sell guns over the counter at the 7-11.
April 17, 2007 at 9:26 pm #182705terrycookMemberMaravilla, when do you plan your escape from this nut house..I amplanning on July or early August. what part of the country do you live in?
terry from TexasApril 17, 2007 at 9:50 pm #182706maravillaMemberI’m dividing my time between Colorado and Costa Rica right now, but hopefully our house in Colorado will sell this summer and then I’m outta here . . . for good. This place is just too violent and unsafe for me.
April 17, 2007 at 9:53 pm #182707maravillaMemberIt’s all so stupid — the legal drugs that are rampant in this country, the ability to buy assault weapons. . . all of it, it’s just plain stupid, and look what we get as a result? Pair psychiatric drugs with weapons and this is what you get, and this is what we’ve been getting since 1966 when Charles Whitman shot 14 people from the clock tower of the U of Texas (he was on Ritalin, Dexedrine and an antidepressant.) UGH!
April 18, 2007 at 9:27 am #182708AlfredMemberSorry Peg, The assault weapons ban would have done little to prevent this massacre. Some victims did have time to react and run for cover, barricade room doors, and one professor, or I should say hero, held the door while students jumped out of the window. The problem was no one shooting back at this psycho.
Just as outlawing illicit drugs totally, has done nothing to curb drug use in this country. When a criminal wants anything, drugs or guns, he or she can get it. The real crime is the campus police not having the ability to carry firearms, as voted by the university last year. Maybe they would have stopped this madman. Possibly an armed professor could have done the same. The university administration also has to bear responsibility by their lack of action in warning and protecting the students by letting two hours go by from the first shooting.
We must realize we have to take responsibility for our own safety, and not rely on police or security agencies for our protection from the loonies. This is a different world than many of us are willing to admit. The fantasy of utopia is nowhere to be found. Government can do little, if anything, to protect us from this type of insanity.
Maravilla was also correct as heard on the news this morning about the use of prescription medications by the killer. We may have thought her remarks premature, but she was right.April 18, 2007 at 12:48 pm #182709maravillaMemberI’m always right when it comes to the connection between the use of legal drugs and these kinds of massacres. All the signs were there, if you know what you’re looking for. The massive drugging of our citizens with mind-altering substances masquerading as drugs that have suicide and homicide as a side effect are undermining the very fabric of our society. My greatest fear is that one day, with the help of CAFTA and the unholy influence of Big Pharma, these kinds of incidents will start happening in Costa Rica, where, until now, there has never been one of these incidents. But the more expats who take these drugs who move there will up those chances greatly. I have dozens of articles archived now on the shooters behavior, etc. The groups I belong to are putting pressure on the media to release the name of WHICH drug he was taking, which is whta we always do when this sort of thing happens. I’m curious as to how our govt will use this incident to impose firearms restrictions (which would be a good thing) but they are definitely NOT connecting the dots.
April 18, 2007 at 3:00 pm #182710AlfredMemberMaravilla, The dots have been connected. And we will lose more of our civil liberties. This will be another reason for a call for the disarming of US citizens. Restrictions on firearms are one thing, but all these things add up to a want of total disarmament. Fact is, all of the states and districts with the most restrictive firearms laws, have the highest gun violence and crime rates, like Washington DC. Washington DC, for example, was found to have been unconstitutional in its firearm ban recently. They now realize a legally armed citizenry might prevent crime as it does elsewhere. Where I live it has been shown most homes are not broken into. One reason, pointed out in the local newspaper a few years back, is one out of every four homes in our county has at least one gun. Criminals know this and don’t want to walk in on an armed homeowner. New York City on the other hand has very restrictive gun laws and most people on this website have called it very unsafe. If a criminal knows he has a chance of losing life or limb he moves on to an easier target. Kind of like houses with big dogs and bars vs. non-barred and dog free homes in Costa Rica.
Many people feel safer with guns and should have the right to own them as guaranteed by the constitution of the US. Providing they are not felons or mentally ill. People have a right to self preservation and defense of their families and property.
The drug connection has me a little concerned. Is the tail wagging the dog on this one? Are all serial killers and mass murders antidepressant users, or are all antidepressant users serial killers and mass murderers? I’m sure a case can be built for these drugs causing this type of violence. But just maybe, the reason these people were on these drugs in the first place is that they had these tendencies all along. It seems someone, a physician, a parent or the person themselves had to notice some behavioral problems to get them on these drugs. So, I’m not so sure if it is only the drugs causing these problems. Breakdown of the family unit, societal changes, stress induced by everything from consumerism to educational overachievement could have contributed. Now they are starting to blame video games for the shooters behavior.
Also I cannot believe this teacher of his who had to tutor him out of class because the other students were afraid of him. She had to have a code word with her assistant, to be used if she felt threatened by him to call the police. Then she reported this to the school and the authorities and they said he hasn’t broken any laws so we can’t do anything. She was not able to talk to his parents about it because that would be an invasion of his privacy. Well, he just invaded over thirty persons privacy with extreme prejudice.
What kind of politically correct, afraid of being sued at every turn, sheepish morons have we become in this country?
Maravilla I too would also like to know what drugs he was on and why he was prescribed them as well. But I think this guy was a time bomb way before the introduction of prescription medicine. And no one, not his parents, the faculty, the administration, or his doctors seems to have read the signals, or chose to ignore them for one reason or another.
This is a sad situation and commentary on our society today. We have recently begun to slide down the slippery slope as a nation, and I believe it us up to all of us to try to return some semblance of reason and normality to it.April 18, 2007 at 3:45 pm #182711maravillaMemberHe was likely a psychic landmine BECAUSE of the drugs. I’ve investigated more than 1000 events involving these drugs. In a majority of cases the person was rx’d them for some other reason besides a mental illness — i.e., back pain, headaches, PMS, stress, insomnia, you name it. A perfectly normal person can become a mass murderer if they are given these drugs and they have the usual typical reactions of mania, psychosis, depersonalization, auditory hallucinations, etc. One report said he was on Zoloft. That’s an SSRI and in 1993 bore a warning of suicide until the head lawyer for the FDA told Pfizer to remove the label because it would misbrand the drug. Through lots of effort, we forced Daniel Troy to resign. This event will be used to promulgate all kinds of dracoinian measures such as gun restriction, etc. This could happen anywhere at anytime given the millions and millions of people who take these drugs. One only has to miss a dose or two to be catapulted into a homicidal rage. I just pray it never happens in Costa Rica, or I will have to find another sanctuary.
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