Mass shooting in San Bernardino

[Brooke]

JQP: I was probably better off without one.

I don't understand why you would say this if you were properly trained in the use of a gun you owned. What is wrong with having a weapon to defend yourself and your home? What if someone invaded your home in the middle of the night or tried to hijack your car? Wouldn't you feel better knowing you could defend yourself and your property?

I don't get why people want to be helpless rather than in a powerful position to defend themselves if they need to. I just want to know the why? We live in dangerous times.

[Vilepagan]

We live in dangerous times.

No, actually we don't. Crime rates are down. Wars are down. In fact, you are enjoying one of the most peaceful times of our species existence. If you have 20 minutes or so, this guy gives an interesting talk.

[BBvideo 560,340]https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker ... anguage=en[/BBvideo]

[Brooke]

I am aware that crime rates are down and if radical Islamic extremists would stop committing terrorism and illegal aliens would go back to their home countries then there would be much less to fear for ourselves and our families.

[John Q. Public]

I don't understand why you would say this if you were properly trained in the use of a gun you owned.

I'm trained to use a variety of weapons. Same for the Foreign Babe, except for the machine guns, hand grenades and land mines, We're both comfortable not owning any because:

1. The odds of somebody breaking into my house while I'm home are very, very slim, as are the odds of being selected as some psycho killer's next victim or some cholo mistaking me for a rival cholo.

2. When you pull out a gun you change the rules of the game and you're as likely to be shot as the guy you're "protecting yourself" from. Chances are even pretty good that he might be better with his gun than you are with yours. I don't want to shoot anybody and I don't want anybody to shoot me. I'm probably safer without one.

[Troglodyte]

John, the whole trick is not letting the bad guy know you have a weapon until you pull the trigger.
Too many self protectors end up getting shot with their own weapon. If you're gonna stand there and make speeches, like Roy Rogers, chance are you're gonna get shot.
The only time you break out a gun is when you're ready to use it, because there's no other option...

[John Q. Public]

But speaking of the actual, like, topic here, I heard some interesting things the FBI is investigating in the case. One was, incidental to the terrorism issue, why were his coworkers targeted? Unless there were some kind of problems at work, it isn't something even a terrorist would do. It could have been because it was a Christmas party, but generally people like coworkers on their same level and people don't usually shoot their friends.

The second is that they're looking at the wife as some kind of operative. Zayed grew up here and had a Mexican-American friend from high school that he worked on cars with. Sounds like he was a pretty normal American kid. But he met his wife on a Muslim dating site - which is also pretty common, I guess. People who don't drink aren't going to be to big on the bar scene. They're investigating whether she might have put herself on there as part of a plan and that Zayed might have just been the sap who fell for it.

[John Q. Public]

John, the whole trick is not letting the bad guy know you have a weapon until you pull the trigger.

But when was the last time you were in a situation like that? For me it was probably 30 or 40 years ago. For the vast majority of average suburban folks it was probably never.

[Brooke]

I want to know where the money came from to buy the guns, ammo and all the material to make bombs.

[Wabash]

He made a good salary. From all accounts they didn't live extravagantly. I do have a suspicion there is more to this plot than the two of them.

I'm sure bank records are being reviewed.

[MDDad]

He made a good salary.

He made $49,000 a year. With a wife and baby to support and rent payments to make, that's not really a good salary at all.

[Wabash]

He made $49,000 a year. With a wife and baby to support and rent payments to make, that's not really a good salary at all.

I'm just speculating since I don't know all the facts.

Gun stores take credit cards.

I'm sure the money trail will be investigated.

[John Q. Public]

He made $49,000 a year. With a wife and baby to support and rent payments to make, that's not really a good salary at all.

Remind me where that post is when we're talking income inequality. It's just a touch below the US median.

[Wabash]

MDDad, this might explain how they were able to afford their weapons and bullet supply.

California terrorists got a $28k payment two weeks before attack

Terror investigators have found a suspicious $28,000 deposit was made into the bank account of the San Bernardino gunman, just two weeks before he and his wife gunned down 14 and injured 21.

The latest finding raises the chilling possibility that Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik had outside help in their attack on the Inland Regional Center.

It is becoming more and more obvious (to me) that this goes beyond these two individuals.

[Troglodyte]

AHA!!! The plot thickens... $28,000 mysterious deposit 2 weeks before. Maybe Obama will have to admit there was an actual terrorist incident on US soil during his watch. No more work place violence BS..

[Parrotpaul]

Wow...I wonder if there will be a conservative movement to deport Obama.... he is a Muslim, right?

[Wabash]

AHA!!! The plot thickens... $28,000 mysterious deposit 2 weeks before. Maybe Obama will have to admit there was an actual terrorist incident on US soil during his watch. No more work place violence BS..

Didn't he admit that Sunday night?

They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs. So this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people.

[Brooke]

Wow Wabash, it took the PC President seven years to call an act of terrorism - terrorism! But he didn't identify who committed the terrorism did he?

If Obama had the guts to really tell the truth, I would be tempted to send him a combo thank you/congratulations card!

[Wabash]

He also called the attack on the Benghazi consulate an act of terrorism.

What your statement proves is that no matter what he does or says you will criticize it.

[Brooke]

Stop it Wabash, he blamed Benghazi on a video for God's sake.

What good does it do you to misrepresent the circumstances of the topics under discussion on this forum? It makes you wrong and everybody knows it - so why do you do it?

[Wabash]

Regardless, you still criticize him when he does what you want.