Current Events Quiz 12/3/14

1. What did downtown shooter Larry Steven McQuillians have written on his chest when he was killed? Page A1 "'Hate' drives gunman…"
"Let me die."

2. Why did Bill Cosby step down from his Temple University board position? page A2 "Cosby resigns…."
Because of sexual assault allegations.

3. How much did Cyber Monday sales increase this year? Page B7 "Cyber Monday shoppers…"
8.7 percent.

4. What is Alyssa Kuykenall's favorite animal? Page C5 "Faces off the field"
Elephants.

5. Of the 24 movies listed here, what is your favorite? Page D1 "24 ways to stay home…"
A Christmas Story.

Short Answer:

Read the entire story about Larry McQuillians shooting rampage downtown on Page A1 - "Hate drives gunman..."

1. Does this kind of situation make you nervous? Why?

2. If he had survived, what kind of punishment should he have had?

3. What should society be doing to help stop this kind of activity?

4. Do people have the right to believe as they want, but as long as they don't act on it, it is okay?

5. Should the state and federal government be involved in trying to keep this kind of thing from happening again?

5A. If you said yes to question 5 - what do you think some of the problems might be if they are involved?

5B. If you said no to question 5 - why do you think they shouldn't be involved and who should be in control of trying to stop these kinds of activities?

Yes, it does make me nervous because these kind of attacks are often random and near-impossible to stop beforehand, which makes them even more dangerous. If he had survived, I think he certainly should have been imprisoned but also given help in terms of his mental illness. 
Technically, people do have the right to believe what they want. They can't really be stopped from doing so. However, I think that the societal structures that create people with beliefs like McQuillians' need to be examined and deconstructed. 
The federal government getting involved could be a slippery slope. I think that groups that can be classified as hate groups, like the sect that the shooter apparently belonged to, should be at least watched by the feds, because they can easily create situations like this. However, I feel like the federal government could easily end up policing things like religion and such, and not the kind of dangerous sects that McQuillians belonged to either—giving them permission to watch people because of their religious affiliations could easily become an outlet for the racial profiling of Muslims due to the post-9/11 hostility directed at them.