Senate Misogyny, Entitlement, and Pop Culture

Ladies be gaming. Amiright?

 

like at least half of the "gamers" i know are women. admittedly this may be because the male variety, while surely more numerous, skew even more wildly towards "hikikomori" when you hit my age range

 

The latest study from the Entertainment Software Association lists women over 18 as the largest demographic currently involved in gaming.

 

Front page of today's edition of the New York Times (scroll down)

 

wtf

also:
"And under Utah law, she
was told, the campus police could
not prevent people with weapons
from entering her talk"

wtf

 

r guns

 

if it were a private venue they could screen for guns but since its a public university, "r guns" applies

 

Those earrings Anita Sarkessian wears are pretty much a danger. Someone could grab onto one of those suckers and rip her earlobe off.

Just saying.

 

Utah law has strong provision for preemption with regards to firearms. No state agency or local government can make, enforce, or otherwise impose any firearm-related restriction that is not specifically authorized by state law. That means that they can't restrict where a permit holder can carry on public property, including in public schools and universities. (On private property, the decision is up to the property owner.)

Utah allowing permit holders to carry in schools has never been a problem. Since 1900, there have been only 3 "school shootings" in Utah. One happened by permission in 1919 during a school assembly (six students were authorized to fire guns during the assembly, thinking they were loaded with blanks. At least one had a standard load and a teacher got hit in the foot.) Another happened in 1920 when a night watchman shot a 10-year-old boy who was cutting through campus. (The watchman claimed he fired into the air.) The last one happened in 1989, when a 12-year-old boy shot a 22-caliber pistol at the Vice Principal of his school, and missed.

According to the statement released by USU, they worked extensively with federal, state, and local law enforcement and determined that there was no credible threat. As a result, there was no basis for the school to go through the increased expense of bringing in metal detectors or the intrusiveness of having police do pat downs of everyone who attended the event, as she requested that they do. They had already arranged to bring in additional police for the event.

 

wtf

also:
"only 3 school shootings"

wtf

 

Three shootings in 100 years? With one of them being by a security guard dealing with a trespasser, and another being from an authorized use of firearms during an assembly? That's better than pretty much every country out there with restrictive gun control. Australia has had at least 4 school shootings in the last 15 years. China's also had at least 4 in the last 15 years. Mexico has had 3 in just the last 3 years. Canada has had 8 since 1999.

 

dude. it's on one of your 50 states. don't you think something might be wrong when you actually think that 3 shootings in schools in a state with less than 3 million people is something to be proud of?

 

I presented the "worst case" numbers for Utah (including two cases that don't fit the usual definition of "school shooting"), and even then it's better on both a raw number and a per capita basis than places with far more restrictive laws.

For example, Australia has about 24 million people and has had 4 school shootings in 15 years. Canada has about 35 million people and has had 8 school shootings in 15 years. You have to go back 25 years to get even one school shooting in Utah with a population of 3 million, and you have to go back 93 years to get to a second one. Even by the broadest definition, Utah has fewer school shootings per capita per year. For Canada, you are looking a 0.015 per million people per year, whereas for Australia you are looking at 0.011 per million per year, and Utah (using the broadest definition of "school shooting") comes in at 0.01 per million per year.

Any way you look at it, that's pretty good overall. You certainly can't say that Utah's permissive gun laws make it more dangerous than more restrictive places like Canada or Australia.

* A security guard firing his weapon after hours certainly doesn't fit the usual definition of a "school shooting", and the authorized discharge of firearms during an assembly doesn't either. If we use a tighter definition, the number drops to 0.003 per million per year.

 

You know, when somebody actually threatens to shoot up a school at an event where somebody is speaking. Actually makes the threat... I'd say that's good grounds for making an exception and allow police to search people for firearms.

 

Except you are neglecting that the school worked with state, federal, and local law enforcement to evaluate the threat, determined it wasn't credible, and still offered increased security by bringing in additional uniformed and plainclothes officers. To add the additional measures that Sarkeesian demanded would have been prohibitively expensive and intrusive to those attending, not to mention at least somewhat legally questionable. (For example, there are limits to when the government can require you to undergo a pat down.)

I don't see what the problem is, unless you are claiming that the FBI, state, and local police were all not doing their jobs when they helped determine the threat wasn't credible. The university did and offered to do everything it could within the limits of the law.

Incidentally, Sarkeesian's own comments about why she cancelled don't really match reality. For example, she requested the pat downs and metal detectors to have the police identify who was carrying concealed, but then she claimed that she cancelled because of Utah's "open carry law". Utah doesn't actually have an "open carry law". Utah simply regulates the carrying of a loaded weapon without a permit (regardless of whether it is open or concealed), and defines a loaded weapon as a gun with a bullet or cartridge in firing position. Open carry without a permit is allowed as long as the chamber is empty, because the gun is not legally "loaded". As is the case with most "open carry" states, there is no specific law authorizing open carry. It is simply not prohibited by any law.

EDIT: I should also probably add for full disclosure that both of my parents as well as one of my sisters graduated from USU. My mom and sister both did undergraduate work there, and my dad got his PhD there.

 

Of course it wasn't credible. These guys don't shoot people in real life. They shoot people in video games. They are a serious threat to anyone composed entirely of pixels.

 

In other words, the FBI, state, and local law enforcement didn't do their jobs, right? All of the claims that they investigated the threat were really just a whitewash.

Do you have any actual evidence that the threat was credible and was being ignored by the school and law enforcement, or are you just making wild accusations based on your own biases?

 

Hmm I wonder why Utah has such a low rate of school gun violence. Could it be a high level of homogeneity, significant public faith in the state's institutions, strong family ties, strong religious values, and excellent social support networks?

Nah, must be the state's draconian firearm laws.

 

May be of interest

 

There's always a first time, though.

 

.

 

I like it. It's sensible and tries to appeal to the right sensibilities in some Gamergate people(don't know if there are any)

...and she still got dox'ed for it