"Freer"? The number of citizens in prison has vastly accelerated in the last 20 years [1]. This alone is proof that we are not freer. No need to shoot someone in the head when you can throw them in jail for a joke on facebook [2], and best of all, hand the bill back to taxpayers.
That kid doesn't deserve what happened to him. That being said, what do you think the response should be for publicly threatening to kill school children? Remember, threats of violence have never been protected speech.
Yeah, but thats the weird thing. Sarcasm is obvious, until it isn't. In 2013, is it reasonable to systematically ignore someone who says "i think imma shoot up a kindergarten?" I guess what I'm asking is what's the criteria you and I are using to determine he wasn't serious? I intuitively know he almost certainly wasn't going to act on that statement, but assuming I'm a law enforcement officer, how do I justify ignoring it?
The sarcasm was obvious from the comment alone, the sarcasm was doubly obvious when the statement is taken in the correct context, and the sarcasm is particularly obvious since the kid fucking said he was joking.
Discretion and basic human intelligence is a vital part of the system, and in that case it is not being used.