Sad. I cannot believe that there are people with this train of thought still out there. Well, they are out there. For one of them to commit such a heinous crime is beyond me. He made the statement that he wanted to start a Race Riot. That sounds like something Charles Manson wanted to do. There are those on both sides who wish to see this, Blacks and Whites. I wasn't raised in that kind of environment. My dad was in the Army. We grew up predominately on Post. I didn't see "Segregation".We didn't live in the Civilian world in the Late 60's. When we went off post, that's when we'd see the "Segregation". And don't let yourself be found in one of those Segregated Neighborhoods after dark whether you're Black or White. If someone thinks that it has gotten better in Vidor, TX, think again. East Texas is a HOT Spot for White Supremacy Groups. I know that in the town of Rising Sun, MD there are no Black Families as far as I know. It's our Leaders and other so called "Political/Reverends" who keep that Segregation alive and well. They want this agitation between the Races to continue and spiral out of control.
For him to pick a Church to do this is beyond me. I thought we were beyond killing in Churches. It looks as though he took that straight from the M.O. of ISIS killing Christians. It was an easy pick. No one had a Weapon for Protection of that Church and the Congregation. Now, their using this as another reason to take away our weapons and abolish the 10th 14th and the 2nd Amendments. I never saw a Soldier in Combat leave his Weapon at his Vehicle or Tent during Religious Services. Why should we have to leave Our Weapons at home or in the car? Why do we need a Permit or CHL to carry that weapon for Protection of Self, Family, Friends and Society as a whole? We shouldn't have to get the Governments Permission to Carry a Weapon. Especially for those who have been properly trained on how and when to use a Weapon.
The boy used the wrong Symbolism (Confederate Flag). The Confederate Flag stood for States that were fighting for State Separation from the overpowering of the Federal Government. Slavery was not a major issue. The Klan and other White Supremacy Groups all use that Flag for the wrong symbolism. They are abusing that Flag.

The purpose of the 2nd amendment was to protect US from our government in case the government got out of hand. No wonder Obama wants guns outlawed !!

I think that violence IS increasing as people are more stressed out and the economy gets more flaky. Probably the percentage of nut cases roaming the streets hasnt changed, but the overall population has increased, yielding more nut cases in total out there. Stress them out as I noted, and more of them go off the deep end. Plus our media makes them famous now. If I was a nut case, I would enjoy the media attention and I would realize I needed to "top" the last nut case killing(s) to get on the news.

It has to be a false flag. Time is running out for 0 to provoke an "uprising" sufficient to justify promoting himself to Dictator for Life.

Tragic lone nut phenomenon. It is not worth more thought than that imho except to utterly and with contempt crush those that would disarm everyone to ensure the occasional violent disturbed person has to use some other means other than guns.

Immediately, this incident is used for another call for gun control, as if that would help. The thought of the President's ire, had the killer used an "assault" rifle, is too frightening to consider.

"Easy" access to guns was NOT the motivating factor in this case...the killer didn't stand up and say "I'm exercising my Second Amendment right" before opening fire. He said he was there to kill black people.

The deaths of these people are tragic (and make me think the gas chamber should make a comeback), but this incident is no worse than the numerous other similar shootings that have happened in the past several years. Nobody mentions the shooting of 4 white cops by a black ex-con, in Lynnwood, WA, with as much emotion, yet, though it happened in a café and not a church, it was the same thing. Regardless of the reason, killing cops, killing blacks, killing just for killing, should be punished, rapidly and finally.

I've heard, time and time again, that capital punishment is not a deterrent...I disagree. Capital punishment will deter at least one person from doing such a thing (again). Let's move forward with punishing law breakers and leave the law abiding citizens alone.

All the gun control laws on the books, and any new ones the anti-gun freaks can come up, would have made any difference in this case or any of the others in the past. The shooters were all nuts and determined to do what they did. Laws do not mean anything to the insane nor the criminals in our society.
The insane do not care what the laws are, they are on a mission of their own making and could care less what laws they break.
The criminals will break laws to get what they want without working for it, taking it from the folks who work for their stuff.
Laws mean nothing to either group. The insane because they don't live in the real world, they live in the one inside their heads. The criminals because they don't care what laws they break as long as they can get away with whatever it is they want to do.

Yet another mass murder in a gun-free zone. Maybe I'm oversimplifying things, but places where the public is banned from carrying sure seem like easy targets.

Having been born in Greenville (the upstate, whereas Charleston is in the "low country" as Carolinians refer to it), my heart was broken when I heard the news of the tragedy in Charleston. Nine families lost loved ones due an act of pure evil. My thoughts and prayers go out to those families who lost loved ones, and to the Charleston community.

Michael Shermer has pointed out in retrospect it is easy to see the signs of impending nutty action by an individual. But not all these signs lead to nutty action and to follow up on all these possibilities is not only infeasible but would lead to an overwhelming police state---something we Objectivists oppose. And, as loud and often as these terrible events seem to be, the statistics show violent crime has been deceasing, which is good news in general although it does not help the victims of a particular crime.

Apparently he was taking Suboxone (I read that on NaturalNews). Omnce again, SSRI drugs.
Guns aren't the problem, it's BigPharma. But, the FDA isn't going to stop this. Could you imagine the lawsuits that would fly. BigPharma is too big to fail.

Dude should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I am coming off capital punishment by governments as they seem to be able to screw this up as they do anything they deal with. We also need to make it clear to everyone that there are no races in our species based on biology/genetics. Race is a social construct based on self identification. This was not just a cold blooded premeditated multiple murder but also for absolutely no reason.

Its Charleston SC.
(Not Charlestown in MA, NH, WV and others)

I fear that instead of focusing on the mentally ill/ insane it will trigger a new round of threatening our Second Amendment. Our Gov, so LOVES their smoke and mirrors. My question is his father bought him this weapon for his 21st Birthday. In my mind the father is as culpable as the son. Should they not be bringing in the father as well? Guns do not kill people, People kill people...we have to do a better job of keeping weapons OUT of the hands of those who have no business having them. Not taking them away from Law Abiding Citizens. What is happening across our nation is an aberration

I fear that instead of focusing on the mentally ill/ insane it will trigger a new round of threatening our Second Amendment. Our Gov, so LOVES their smoke and mirrors. My question is his father bought him this weapon for his 21st Birthday. In my mind the father is as culpable as the son. Should they not be bringing in the father as well? Guns do not kill people, People kill people...we have to do a better job of keeping weapons OUT of the hands of those who have no business having them. Not taking them away from Law Abiding Citizens. What is happening across our nation is an aberration

I fear that instead of focusing on the mentally ill/ insane it will trigger a new round of threatening our Second Amendment. Our Gov, so LOVES their smoke and mirrors. My question is his father bought him this weapon for his 21st Birthday. In my mind the father is as culpable as the son. Should they not be bringing in the father as well? Guns do not kill people, People kill people...we have to do a better job of keeping weapons OUT of the hands of those who have no business having them. Not taking them away from Law Abiding Citizens. What is happening across our nation is an aberration