School shooting in Austria

I think it's occasionally happened in European countries, it's almost coomon place in the US. Thank God since the awful Dunblane massacre, firearms are not allowed in Britain. I agree though awful.

I think it was a disgruntled ex-pupil, who hadn’t been allowed to graduate.

He legally owned the pistol and shotgun used in the attack, police said.

Nine students were killed, 12 people injured, a teacher dying later in hospital from her injuries.
Just horrendous.

Thinking of those poor families.

Hunting remains popular in Austria...

Hunting remains popular throughout Europe, including in the UK, and lots of people legally own guns too. I think it’s virtually impossible to stop these isolated massacres, unless schools become fortresses. So often it is people with serious mental health problems, although I don’t think that has been confirmed in this case. So very sad, such a waste of young lives.

Of course he had mental health problems Casdon - he was white and Austrian .

Usually serious mental health problems exacerbated by drugs.

growstuff

Of course he had mental health problems Casdon - he was white and Austrian .

What is wrong with being white and Austrian that it might cause MH problems?

The days of Hitler are long gone.

Well exactly, growstuff. Look, everyone's first thought is, was it an incomer, a migrant, and all that then happens socially/politically ? But Austria are so strict, it was unlikely.
So we turn to the "why" and really "I think it was a disgruntled ex-pupil, who hadn’t been allowed to graduate" from Georgesgran.

I am so, so glad, too, about our UK gun policy, and long may it remain that way! Something to be very proud of.

I am so, so glad, too, about our UK gun policy, and long may it remain that way! Something to be very proud of.

Me too, although some do seem to slip through the net and obtain a licence when they should never be allowed near a firearm of any kind.

The British don’t have many guns but we have knives and machetes.

Allira

growstuff

Of course he had mental health problems Casdon - he was white and Austrian .

What is wrong with being white and Austrian that it might cause MH problems?

The days of Hitler are long gone.

Nothing to do with Hitler. Mental health is the usual speculation if a perpetuator turns out to be white, as opposed to a terrorist with a brown face.

Just pointing out that the gun laws are very,very strict in Australia,ever since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. Most people do not own guns unless they have a special permit for hunting or on a farm. No one has the sort of guns they sell in the US, they are prohibited. Our police are armed which they certainly need to be these days.

Austrian gun laws are strict too, but not for hunting which remains an almost national sport. I am led to believe the murderer's guns were fully licensed and legal.

Both the gun laws and the issue of bullying in schools are part of this. Not sure how far schools can be expected to go but maybe there needs to be more work done on how some individuals are driven to this point. I’m not trying to excuse the actions of the murderer. People who go through hell at school may think if they had a gun they would been tempted to use it as they are so desperate, but it’s nothing more than a thought. In reality they wouldn’t do anything like that. It must be the rare person who feels that way and then, due to mental health, deteriorates down to acting out those thoughts.

Not sure how far schools can be expected to go but maybe there needs to be more work done on how some individuals are driven to this point.
That's a good point. I think the teenage years are very difficult for schools to control, what with hormones, bullying, all kinds of pressures etc. A code of acceptable behaviour needs to be instilled in pre-school children and worked on throughout the formative years. I don't care whether they have brown, black, white or yellow faces - there are rules of correct behaviour to which every child should conform.

Presumably this man had left school at least three years ago though, as he was 21. I don’t think that other than tightening security so that nobody could enter the grounds, that there is much the school could have done to prevent this incident?

Indeed, yet if he had been taught to be empathetic over the past dozen or so years, then he would have been unlikely to do such an inhumane thing.

I presume he was a psychopath, I can’t believe anybody else would do that in cold blood.

TerriBull

I think it's occasionally happened in European countries, it's almost coomon place in the US. Thank God since the awful Dunblane massacre, firearms are not allowed in Britain. I agree though awful.

But we did have a killing of 2 little girls at a dance class..

Parents allowed this child not only to have the weapons, but to take them out

On Tuesday this week in France, a 14 year old boy drew a knife and killed a young teacher because he had been told off for smooching with his girlfriend in school. The knife was from his parents' kitchen drawer.
I despair.
Macron said that France can't wait say longer to any longer to ban social media for children under 15, but I'm not sure that even measures like that will have any effect. It's far more complicated, no one has the answer.

*any longer

We have just banned machetes here but I doubt it will make much difference. There are plenty of other knives around and you can’t ban kitchen knives. Like many other countries, we are very soft on crime when committed by under 18s. Sometimes I think we should look at places like Singapore, it wouldn’t happen there because they wouldn’t dare.

No one cares about the children anymore...