>

Your lack of critical thinking skills is what I’m judging you for. You seem to have some questionable views about things that you haven’t really thought out all the way. You stopped at “I think” and somehow that’s all the justification you need.
Looks like its most likely gang related.  I'm already not seeing much about it on the national news.  It'll be gone by Thursday. >

I wish we didn't have this attitude of "oh, it's okay because it's gang related." >

You and me both.  In my job, and my 22 year career, I'd say roughly 80-90% of the shootings that I've handled have been gang related.  People don't really seem to care about those, or see a reason to prioritize it as it happens A LOT more than the other types of shootings do.
If you want an example of systemic racism, well, that's it. >

It’s fucking impossible to look at the news and NOT see another fucking mass shooting. >

It seems to be escalating a lot. I recall just a year or so ago thinking "Dayum, it's almost every week." Now it's a daily item. >

I'm pretty sure it's more or less on par for the past few years.
647 mass shootings last year.
44,000 dead to gun violence in 2022. >


647 mass shootings last year.

1.77 mass shootings per day.
And we're at 51 so far this year, or 1.70 mass shootings per day. >

An improvement! >

I'd suspect the numbers are lower in the winter >

I feel like you have to be pretty fired up on the way to a mass shooting and weather isn’t going to stop whatever mission they are on.
I feel like maybe there would be more shootings in the winter because lack of sun can mess with mental health but the number of people per shooting would be higher in the summer because there’s more people out and about. 
Debating semantics of mass shootings makes me feel gross though >

It's not really that winter weather deters mass shootings, it's more that higher temperatures make people quicker to anger or resort to violence. It's why when you're hot and sweaty during the summer, you're more likely to be pissed off by an inconvenience that you'd normally shrug off. High temperatures make you more irritable, while low temperature often have a depressive effect. >

That also makes sense. If I’m too cold or too hot I’m pretty irritable though. Basically any discomfort does >

For me if I'm too cold my mind goes blank and I think of nothing except getting warm. When I'm too hot sometimes my mind races and I become more irritable so I can see what the commenter is getting at. I think there's more to it than just the weather affecting us psychologically though. In summer months there's way more social interaction, good and bad social interaction. Violence being one of those bad kinds. The psychological effects play a part too I'm sure. But if a lot of the violent crime occurs at night that wouldn't be a huge factor I would think. >

I think literacy in general is the culprit at this point. >

I think you mean illiteracy >

Pretty sure that their statement was sarcasm. >

This happened in my home town.    The area of town has long been riddled with gang violence, drugs, and prostitution.  It also has the highest crime rates of the area.  This was a drug related shooting, possibly gang related.  
The city has for a long time done nothing to help this part of town because it’s the poor part of town,  predominantly black and Hispanic.  The city counsel fought to not remove a confederate state that was put up in the 1930s and put more effort into finding a home for the statue so it wasnt destroyed than they have in helping the people of this area the shooting occurred.   The police largely stay away unless they are doing stings or patrolling with the cars that have automatic plate scanners.   
I’m not excusing what happened just giving insight to how this community has been shoved aside by racism and how crime has ran rampant and leads to this.    Years ago some kids like 14 were involved in a home invasion and killed someone that was also gang related.   It’s not a good area and the decline started when the city mall moved from this area to a more affluent area.   I’ve lived in this area and have had deal with cops always around because of break ins, attempted robberies at stores, and drug busts.    
The police are purely reactive and not proactive and not for a lack of funding.  There’s not public outreach in the area, no action to end the gang violence.   This is the result of systemic racism. 
Anything north of hwy 98 as been ignored by the city council they only care about down town and the south side.  If you’ve ever been here you know the night and day difference of crossing one road. >

From Winter Haven. I came back to FL 1.5yrs ago for a funeral and Lakeland wasn’t looking that great up north. >

They gentrified Massachusetts up to memorial but that was all private Investors buying cheap properties because of the local crime. >

How is every comment on this already "controversial "? >

Brigading.  Every mass shooting news story gets brigaded. >

It’s always good to remember that foreign governments run PsyOps on Reddit as well. Anybody who was around during the Hong Kong protests or the beginning of the Ukraine war saw the obviousness of some of what was going on.
It’s well known China and Russia use social media to sow discord in the west.
My favorite was all the brand new accounts with shitty English posting video of the US lead invasion of Iraq right when Ukraine kicked off lol >

Also the state department too lol
A hashtag went viral on twitter a few years ago but the location they were all accidentally tagged in was… Langley, Virginia lol 
An airforce base was also the #1 Reddit city in the world at one point, although I forget which one. Do not trust Reddit at all, and if you only get your news from here… congratulations, you’re being propagandized >


Do not trust Reddit at all, and if you only get your news from here… congratulations, you’re being propagandized

I try my best man, every news site wants a piece of my credit card because they are angry the digital era took away their real life paper bucks. >

It sucks but would you write news articles for free. I'm not sure how much ads generated in Revenue would making people watch an ad first before looking at the article help I don't know. >

I run an online magazine and Adsense is our smallest revenue component >

It’s been a while since our last mass shooting. >

Good half an hour or so at least. >

I almost had time to consider maybe not taking the words of dudes from almost three hundred years ago who had no idea what future firearm technology would look like as the final say on about what we should do with the modern firearm environment.
Luckily I can now go right back to saying how we shouldn’t politicize this tragedy while trying to politicize this tragedy into less gun laws and more gun sales. >

If only we could have slaves... Let the states decide...
/s >

It wasn't about the slaves, it was about state's rights! ^(to own slaves) >

No no no you see that's just a part of it. It was about the oppressed southern Farmer being bullied by the big bad federal government. /S >

"This doesn't happen in Lakeland".
Uh, yes it does. 
And I like the line about lots of weed in scene. Clearly an indicator of the reason this happened. /s >


Police found a “quantity” of marijuana at the scene, which indicates to police that “there was a narcotic sales or sales of marijuana going on at the time,” Taylor said. “Whether that is significant or related to this is unknown.”

The full quote seems contradictory, but I read it as there was enough marijuana at the scene to determine the targets of the shooting were dealing marijuana. Police just don’t know if they were shot for being rival dealers, or it was just a rival gang that happened to dealing weed. >

It's Polk county. If they find half a joint they are going to claim distribution >

Everytime I buy weed I shoot up the whole place.
Pow pow pow!
Potheads sofa king trigger happy. >

My dad worked at a hospital near that street (couple blocks over)  he said you would hear gun shots regularly. >

Yeah. It’s a bad area that the city refuses putting money towards to help.   Downtown and south side where wealthy family’s live if city councils priority >

Sounds like a drug deal or gang thing.  It was drive by and four shooters were in the car.  All non life threatening wounds. 
For those not wanting to read the article.
Resume your jokes and political whatever is going on in here. >

They also found a lot of marijuana at the scene. >


Police found a “quantity” of marijuana at the scene, which indicates to police that “there was a narcotic sales or sales of marijuana going on at the time,” Taylor said. “Whether that is significant or related to this is unknown.”

Where did you see “a lot”? >

It's not a direct quote. Connotations. The sum was enough to indicate that a sale was taking place. A lot is a relative term anyway. Do really want to have a semantic argument about how much "a lot" is? >

A “quantity” doesn’t mean anything. A dime bag? A pound? Not enough info. >

Not enough info for what? They qualified the amount already. Enough that made them think a sale was going on. That's as specific as you're going to get. Not sure why that's so hard for you to grasp. >

Again, what the hell is “a quantity”?? You don’t know. It’s speculation. A guess. Not enough info available until there is an ACTUAL number. I mean damn what is it tonight that people are not very good at thinking? >

Not enough info available for what?
You're the one that keeps demanding an amount. I never claimed a specific amount.
Wtf does it matter to you so much? Maybe go smoke a bowl and chill out. >


I never claimed a specific amount.

YOU said "a lot" when the article specifically states a "quantity" (which doesn't mean a damn thing. Maybe a tiny amount, MAYBE a lot) and then made assumptions from there. Goddamn it's not complicated. >

DeSantis probably gonna call any efforts to stop the shooter "woke" nonsense >

By giving them more guns with constitutional carry? >

Gym Jordan is already unsure that anything would help. >

Suddenly events that are clearly gang related are making the news as "mass shootings". >

Is there a reason they shouldn’t, if it fits the definition? >

It does fit the definition, without a doubt. I just find it interesting that until recently, gangbangers doing gangbanger shit never got the same labeling as crazy white boys losing it on school kids and the like. >

Almost like somebody wants to muddy the water. >

CNN is seeing that they're getting a lot of outrage traffic about "all the mass shootings recently" so they're pumping up the number of mass shooting articles to get more clicks. >

Craaaazy idea … but legalize marijuana and then drug deals don’t have to go south and end like this. But nooooo we just need to lock them all up, right? >

Nobody wants more shootings but surely having drugs more accessible to society is a bad thing, right? >

Canada isn’t exactly suffering. >

Yeah about that, I live there and I hate the fact that I can’t turn a corner without smelling weed off someone. >

Oh no not a smell! Wow just... I’m so sorry for you. >

Come on, it’s disgusting. >

So hold on.. it should be illegal because it smells disgusting to you? How have you convinced yourself that is a good enough reason for no one else to smoke it? Move to Lakeland, Florida if you don't like it. Oh jesus fuck.. you're a "true christian". I get how you can't form rational thoughts now. >

It should be illegal because it’s a mind altering substance, simple as. Why bring more mind altering substances into society? Alcohol is already there and that causes enough problems as it is.
Ah yes, insult me on my faith. I guess this is Reddit, shouldn’t have expected anything different.