Discussion: Police Responding To Active Shooter At Virginia Greyhound Station

Just another day in Donald Trump’s America.

Are we great again yet?

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Ya know, it’s a shame to say, but if something happens predictably every day, it is no longer breaking news.

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As opposed to a “passive shooter?” I mean, what’s up with that phrase, anyway?

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I think that means it’s still ongoing?

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There is another story in the news today about a 15 year old who killed his 18 year old brother with a shotgun, because he (the 15 year old) was “romantically interested” in his brother’s girlfriend.

American Expectorate-ism.

The NRA wants to know: Were any Guns injured in the incident?

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Corrected: Four shot. Suspect is dead. One trooper with life-threatening injuries.

It’s psychobabble. Meaningless. You’d have to be active to be a shooter. There’s a lot of that shit. “at the end of the day” is irksome as was “in a perfect world” when it was en vogue.

As much as I loathe Drumpf I think it would be much more accurate to call it “Wayne LaPierre’s America.”

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In law enforcement terms, it means the shooter is still actively pinging away at people, as opposed to a situation where the shooter killed his intended target and fled, was immediately killed or committed suicide.

The “active shooter” language came into widespread use following the Columbine massacre, but could be accurately used today to describe the Charles Whitman University of Texas shooting spree in 1966.

Per the US Department of Justice, “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area. In most cases, active shooters use firearms and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims.”

Just another happy day in Trump’s America.

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I think the point is that there is no difference in shooter or active shooter. Shooter is an active noun. It doesn’t need the redundant active put before it. But that kind of shop talk is common with Cops, the Military and folks like that. And I suppose we should ask why not after the active shooter stops shooting do we not refer to him as a passive shooter?

Because at that point they just identify the presumably as yet unidentified individual as the “shooter,” hence why they add “active” when the situation is ongoing to more readily distinguish between the two distinct situations?

Edit: To elaborate if the headline says “Police responding to shooter at Virginia Greyhound station” that just tells you there was a shooting at a Greyhound station in Virginia and the police are responding, the headline “Police responding to active shooter at Virginia Greyhound station” tells you the shooter is still shooting at people and the situation is still going on. Adding “active” in this context concisely adds additional information on the event.

So it is basically a concise way of saying the “situation is ongoing” in one word instead of three.

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Greyhound Bus stations are gun-free zones, no surprise that criminals chose one.

No, I think we refer to him as ‘suspect shot and killed’ at that point.

… at this point, if I walk out the door without a target painted on my back, I feel naked…

It means we are all shooters, but only some of us are pulling triggers at the moment. 2A, baby!!

Okay the Good Guy with a Gun WAS there this time, but he was getting a latte at the Starbucks across the street!

The only way to stop a romantically interested brother with a gun is another romantically interested brother with a gun.

See…It worked