I think it's important to differentiate. The term "mass shooting" implies someone who takes a gun and sets out with the purpose of killing/harming as many people as possible. It carries frightening connotations of randomness and anarchy. That's not what happened here.
Yes, it's bad that two people were killed and eight more were wounded, but there has to be a better term for it than mass shooting. Some of the people who were injured were accidentally hit by police bullets as they took down the shooter, after all, so the shooter isn't even responsible for all of those numbers.
I'm not trying to lessen or minimize it, but I'm also trying not to inflate it. Even if it hadn't been a case of one person trying to target a specific other person, even if it had been a lunatic out to kill random people, said lunatic only killed one person and wounded some percentage of eight others (what percentage that was, I'm not sure). Since that still wouldn't meet the definition of a mass shooting, I don't think that's what it should be called.
You could call it a shooting. BBC calls it a "deadly shooting". You could call it a wild homicide, I don't know. But I think that "mass shooting" should be reserved for things big enough to fit its definition.
Yes, it's bad that two people were killed and eight more were wounded, but there has to be a better term for it than mass shooting. Some of the people who were injured were accidentally hit by police bullets as they took down the shooter, after all, so the shooter isn't even responsible for all of those numbers.
I'm not trying to lessen or minimize it, but I'm also trying not to inflate it. Even if it hadn't been a case of one person trying to target a specific other person, even if it had been a lunatic out to kill random people, said lunatic only killed one person and wounded some percentage of eight others (what percentage that was, I'm not sure). Since that still wouldn't meet the definition of a mass shooting, I don't think that's what it should be called.
You could call it a shooting. BBC calls it a "deadly shooting". You could call it a wild homicide, I don't know. But I think that "mass shooting" should be reserved for things big enough to fit its definition.
Warder to starry_nite
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Chapterfish — Nate's Writing Blog
http://chapterfish.wordpress.com
This message last edited by Nate on 24/08/2012 at 11:08:51 PM
*EDIT* Another mass shooting in America...no big deal, another day another drama....
24/08/2012 08:34:52 PM
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Could you link to a serious article?
24/08/2012 08:38:37 PM
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serious link
24/08/2012 08:44:42 PM
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Huffington post isn't serious either.....it's a biased rag. Please try again! *NM*
25/08/2012 04:42:57 PM
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That wasn't a mass shooting. That was a disgruntled coworker killing his boss
24/08/2012 08:46:45 PM
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9 people shot and 2 dead isnt a mass shooting?
24/08/2012 10:44:40 PM
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Funnily/Horribly enough, the additional casualties are apparently NOT from the original shooter...
25/08/2012 12:32:36 AM
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Noticed that, too; hopefully some folks lose their badges over it.
26/08/2012 02:17:35 AM
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No. 9 people were wounded from the shrapnel. 2 killed were the shooter and his 1 victim.
27/08/2012 03:11:16 PM
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+1 - What happened in Norway was a mass shooting/killing.
25/08/2012 04:39:57 PM
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Re: +1 - What happened in Norway was a mass shooting/killing.
25/08/2012 05:12:20 PM
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There is no "threat" of the DP in America.....except perhaps in Texas! *NM*
25/08/2012 10:22:10 PM
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And VA, and FL and all the other states executing people (incidentally including CO.)
26/08/2012 02:27:52 AM
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Technically I think it takes six deaths to be a mass shooting.
24/08/2012 08:54:34 PM
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whatever it statrted out as...it ended with 9 people shot in front of the Empire state building *NM*
24/08/2012 10:48:01 PM
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Re: Terminology
24/08/2012 11:08:03 PM
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The "shooter" shot his ex-boss, then cops shot him and hit 7 others with shrapnel *NM*
25/08/2012 10:36:33 PM
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300 people die in this country every hour, so actually it isn't a big deal
24/08/2012 11:22:33 PM
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