Doomsday Preppers

[Calzone Lord]

One of my guilty pleasures when it comes to TV shows.

Apparently, the mother of the kid who snapped was one of those crazy Doomsday Preppers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ssed-guns.html

[GenuineRisk]

This woman fell right into the statistics- statistically speaking, a person is more likely to die in a homicide if they live in a house containing guns, and women are more likely to die in gun-related violence at home (as opposed to men, who are more likely to die in gun-related violence away from home). Women are also most likely to be killed by a spouse or close family member.

Gun(s) in house: check
Shot at home: check
Killed by family member: check

No studies to date have been able to show a reduced risk of break-ins or assaults due to gun ownership.

http://skeptikai.com/2012/07/30/does...ience-answers/

The Second Amendment is the Second Amendment, and I'm certainly not arguing rights. But statistically speaking a house becomes less safe when a gun is brought into it. That's the way it is. People have the right to make choices, and if they choose to make their home less safe and increase their own risk or their children's risk of dying by gunshot, that's their business. But it's sheer fallacy to think that gun ownership makes a person safer; it does just the opposite, and it's a shame that our media whips some people into such a frenzy of fear that they make choices that put them in actual danger, rather than perceived.

As my statistician brother says, everything in life comes with risk, and we make choices all the time that make us less safe because we have to balance risk with reward. That said, he also says people should take time to understand what the actual risks are, not what the perceived risks are, in order to make informed decisions.

This woman brought in several guns to make herself feel safer and she ended up a statistic.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

This woman fell right into the statistics- statistically speaking, a person is more likely to die in a homicide if they live in a house containing guns, and women are more likely to die in gun-related violence at home (as opposed to men, who are more likely to die in gun-related violence away from home). Women are also most likely to be killed by a spouse or close family member.

Gun(s) in house: check
Shot at home: check
Killed by family member: check

No studies to date have been able to show a reduced risk of break-ins or assaults due to gun ownership.

http://skeptikai.com/2012/07/30/does...ience-answers/

The Second Amendment is the Second Amendment, and I'm certainly not arguing rights. But statistically speaking a house becomes less safe when a gun is brought into it. That's the way it is. People have the right to make choices, and if they choose to make their home less safe and increase their own risk or their children's risk of dying by gunshot, that's their business. But it's sheer fallacy to think that gun ownership makes a person safer; it does just the opposite, and it's a shame that our media whips some people into such a frenzy of fear that they make choices that put them in actual danger, rather than perceived.

As my statistician brother says, everything in life comes with risk, and we make choices all the time that make us less safe because we have to balance risk with reward. That said, he also says people should take time to understand what the actual risks are, not what the perceived risks are, in order to make informed decisions.

This woman brought in several guns to make herself feel safer and she ended up a statistic.

..media, imo, would be largely right wing..

[Calzone Lord]

A stay-at-home Doomsday Prepper mom who lives by herself with an Asperger kid ...

That seriously had to be the single greatest Reality TV show idea of all-time.

Unfortunately, we have probably just lost the only mother/son combo in the entire world that fits that comically toxic criteria.

Even though the final act of the Lanza boy was unbelievably deranged, disgusting, and low (I mean nothing is lower!) ... I would have to set the line of the odds of 'undiagnosed mental illness' at:

Lanza's Mom: -400

Lanza Boy: +250

Odds they both were: +300

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

A stay-at-home Doomsday Prepper mom who lives by herself with an Asperger kid ...

That seriously had to be the single greatest Reality TV show idea of all-time.

Unfortunately, we have probably just lost the only mother/son combo in the entire world that fits that comically toxic criteria.

Even though the final act of the Lanza boy was unbelievably deranged, disgusting, and low (I mean nothing is lower!) ... I would have to set the line of the odds of 'undiagnosed mental illness' at:

Lanza's Mom: -400

Lanza Boy: +250

Odds they both were: +300

Have you seen the "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother" piece circulating the intertoobs? Written by a blogger with a son with mental disorders of some sort. There might still be hope for the reality series:

http://gawker.com/5968818/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother

I actually found it pretty moving, but the backlash against the blogger has started up pretty hard.

I do really wish the media would stop harping on the Asperger's thing, as whatever other mental issues Adam Lanza had, being on the autism spectrum does not increase one's propensity for violence. People with autism are absolutely capable of feeling empathy; they have difficulties perceiving it in other people, but that doesn't mean they can't feel it once they do understand. As opposed to a sociopath, who is perfectly capable of reading other people's emotions and exploiting them for to own benefit, because he doesn't have the ability to empathize. He can perceive it, but he can't feel it.

And non-autistic people have difficulty perceiving what people with autism are experiencing, so it goes both ways. But either way, it doesn't lead to violence.