Anger Shootings - Can we No Longer Control Our Anger?

There have been 2 incidents in the past few days that have me scratching my head.

One was here, in my state. A four-year-old girl (Lilly Garcia) was shot and killed because someone got mad at the way her dad was driving, and decided the best thing to do would be to start shooting into his truck. The bullet missed the dad and hit his daughter in the back seat, killing her, while her older brother beside her watched the whole thing.

Four-Year-Old Girl Killed over Road Rage

Alan Garcia, Lilly’s father, had just picked up her and her brother from school in Albuquerque on Tuesday when a car forced him out of his lane on the freeway.

Annoyed to have missed his exit, Mr. Garcia gestured and swore at the other driver. Then the confrontation turned deadly. A man in the other car opened fire on Garcia's truck, hitting 4-year-old Lilly in the head.

Today, in the news, we read about a game of dice that turned deadly when one player got angry and started shooting people, killing one and injuring three others.

Fatal Tennessee State University Shooting Started Over Dice Game, Police Say

“We do not believe this was an incidence of a random shooter on campus,” Metro Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron told the Tennessean. “This was an isolated incident resulting from a dispute over a dice game.

My questions: What is causing people to turn to their firearms when they get angry? Do people think they have the right to control other people's behavior, by force, if necessary? Does "getting angry" mean something to some people, but something else to others? WHY do people think it's OK to reach for their guns when things don't go their way? Do people know there's a difference between cursing and gesturing and whipping out a gun???

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
My questions: What is causing people to turn to their firearms when they get angry? Do people think they have the right to control other people's behavior, by force, if necessary? Does "getting angry" mean something to some people, but something else to others? WHY do people think it's OK to reach for their guns when things don't go their way? Do people know there's a difference between cursing and gesturing and whipping out a gun???

I think it goes beyond firearms an extends to all types of violence. To me people seem to, within the past two decades or so, to have become more confrontational, often to the point of resorting to violence.

Sometimes I think it is a disconnect due to daily life becoming more impersonal and hence a greater proclivity to not recognize that there is an actual person on the other end of your unnecessary rage.

There are just a lot of crazies in the world. Sometimes it only takes a small incident to set them off. There are times I've been cut off in traffic or seen someone do something extremely inconsiderate. Yeah, I might fantasize about blowing their car up or pounding their face in for being an inconsiderate jerk, but I'd never do it. Most people won't. However, there are people who simply cannot control their emotions and react on impulse.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
I think it goes beyond firearms an extends to all types of violence.

I do, too. That's why I'm focusing on the anger aspect of the situation and what is different today from years ago.

To me people seem to, within the past two decades or so, to have become more confrontational, often to the point of resorting to violence.

Exactly.

Sometimes I think it is a disconnect due to daily life becoming more impersonal and hence a greater proclivity to not recognize that there is an actual person on the other end of your unnecessary rage.

That's a great point. Instead of communicating face to face, person to person, we're basically talking to devices, which deliver the message to the receiver on the other end. And a lot of the messages people leave on social media are meant to hurt and probably wouldn't be delivered in person, just because it would be so uncomfortable to say some of that stuff to people's faces. There are no consequences to texting something hurtful, not even discomfort. In fact, I think mean people feel GOOD when they say something nasty under the cover of the internet...

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

A very sad story about the little girl losing her life because some idiot can't control his anger. It's not worth taking a risk today to stop your car and engage in an argument over road rage. Just ignore it, and if the person starts following you, call the police immediately! The dice incident is also ridiculous and of course related to someone who can't control their anger.

I can understand both sides of the gun issue. However, when people have a problem controlling their anger and carry a gun, they're absolutely a walking time bomb. When they get so worked up, they no longer think logically and lash out with anything they can get their hands on, even their fists. It's really temporary insanity.

I can bet if you sat down with these people after they had a chance to cool down, they probably can't believe they did such a thing. This is why it's so hard to identify who can or should not own a gun. When people decide to buy a weapon, they should seriously think if they have uncontrollable bouts of anger. If they do, for their sake and the sake of the public, for God's sake don't buy one!!!

originally posted by: Edumakated
There are times I've been cut off in traffic...

Get out of the left lane with your left blinker on and I wont cut you off anymore. You make my blood pressure go up.

There would be a lot less anger shootings if there were less guns.
It's kind of basic logic... I know. Lol.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic

That's a great point. Instead of communicating face to face, person to person, we're basically talking to devices, which deliver the message to the receiver on the other end. And a lot of the messages people leave on social media are meant to hurt and probably wouldn't be delivered in person, just because it would be so uncomfortable to say some of that stuff to people's faces. There are no consequences to texting something hurtful, not even discomfort. In fact, I think mean people feel GOOD when they say something nasty under the cover of the internet...

I totally agree.

I am not one to blame television for people's ills but I often think that many of the programs have zero socially redeeming qualities and between the murder porn shows, reality television and other programs showing people behaving badly I often wonder how this changes someone's paradigm towards reality.

Is it okay to s*** talk people because so and so on the tube does it? Do you get stupid ideas from watching 'how I whacked my ex' on ID? Who knows. I have just felt that people have become more impersonal in some ways because I think that they think they can do these things without repercussions.

a reply to: Iamnotadoctor

It is pretty obvious you aren't a doctor...

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor

There would be a lot less anger shootings if there were less guns.
It's kind of basic logic... I know. Lol.

Try to pay attention to her Original Post, this is not about firearms. It is about uncontrollable anger.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

I think that people have become so thin skinned that they take offense at any and everything. It's a symptom of a societal weakness. It has nothing to do with guns but it has everything to do with how people respond to others.

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor
There would be a lot less anger shootings if there were less guns.

That may or may not be true.

But if the problem is the inability to control one's anger (which is what I mean to concentrate on), then there would still be anger stabbings, anger beatings, anger killings. These people would use whatever tool available to exact their revenge for making them angry.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Couple that thinned skinned attitude with the entitlement mentality and you have a recipe for disaster.

People are snapping when they don't get their way. It has been building for years and will only get worse. Pretending that everyone is a special snowflake and deserving of a participation trophy is very counter productive. The whole "I'm owed" mentality has taken a very strong foothold.

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor

There would be a lot less anger shootings if there were less guns.
It's kind of basic logic... I know. Lol.

But there would be a lot more anger stabbings, strangulations, and suffocations.

Uncontolled anger is the issue. It's just another example of how the alienation from what we really are (via technocracy) is making us all kinda looney.

Can we No Longer Control Our Anger?

People have grown up never getting coping skills to deal with ordinary emotions. Instead of releasing anger in healthy ways (like telling people what pisses us off) some store it up. The tantrum types periodically release it, the really dangerous ones are the quiet ones. They store it all up for years, never resolving or releasing it until one day…

budda boom.

Building anger to dangerous uncontrollable pre portions is a result of building an anger brick wall over a protracted period, one little resentment at a time.

originally posted by: KawRider9
a reply to: DBCowboy

Couple that thinned skinned attitude with the entitlement mentality and you have a recipe for disaster.

People are snapping when they don't get their way. It has been building for years and will only get worse. Pretending that everyone is a special snowflake and deserving of a participation trophy is very counter productive. The whole "I'm owed" mentality has taken a very strong foothold.

That mentality justifies their over the top responses. Very true. Our culture has fomented this behavior. Rewards it with social media exposure and a kind of fame that gets attached with it.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor

There would be a lot less anger shootings if there were less guns.
It's kind of basic logic... I know. Lol.

Try to pay attention to her Original Post, this is not about firearms. It is about uncontrollable anger.

Maybe you are feeling a little more dense than usual today, but it's kind of intrinsically linked to the problem/cases.
Have a think about it...

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor
[
Maybe you are feeling a little more dense than usual today, but it's kind of intrinsically linked to the problem/cases.
Have a think about it...

My cranial density is fine. Perhaps you should follow along with what the Original Poster just said in regards your post and then evaluate yours:

But if the problem is the inability to control one's anger (which is what I mean to concentrate on), then there would still be anger stabbings, anger beatings, anger killings. These people would use whatever tool available to exact their revenge for making them angry.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor
[
Maybe you are feeling a little more dense than usual today, but it's kind of intrinsically linked to the problem/cases.
Have a think about it...

My cranial density is fine. Perhaps you should follow along with what the Original Poster just said in regards your post and then evaluate yours:

But if the problem is the inability to control one's anger (which is what I mean to concentrate on), then there would still be anger stabbings, anger beatings, anger killings. These people would use whatever tool available to exact their revenge for making them angry.

I'm still tipping it has something to do with cranial density on both your parts if you cannot understand the link between feeling far more powerful holding a gun than you would if you just had your fists.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

IMO, it is due to the fact that this country is no longer a place of opportunity for most people. The government has become so oppressive that people don't feel like they are in control of their own destiny any more. By oppressive, I mean all forms, from the overbearing laws that regulate every iota of our lives, to the weariness that comes from being at war forever, to being conditioned to live in fear of "terrists" and whatever else. People can't be themselves without worrying about "offending" someone with the wrong word of phrase when some kind of legal consequence is entirely possible.

I think a lot of people are wanting to fight back against the oppression, but they are misdirecting that aggression. Some people are scumbags and have no regard for human life, like the POS who fired a gun into that truck, but you see it everywhere - people are pissed off in general.

Not to steer this political, but that is what Trump is tapping into, and why he will win the Presidency if the elites haven't already rigged the election. You want a solution to the problem? Stop the government overreach, stop the race-baiting BS from the left, stop the warmongering from the RINO establishment, get rid of the welfare dependency and give people a sense of purpose and a chance to make something of themselves. And for Fs sake, get rid of the illegals. All of them.