The Gun Story You Didn't Hear About
By Erick Posted in Policy — Comments (25) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Two days ago in Omaha, NE, tragedy struck in the form of a mentally unbalanced high schooler, craving the fame that only the headlines of the drive by media can give him, walked into a shopping mall and opened fire.
There are those out there who want to end the lawful possession of guns by citizens. And privately, I suspect, while they are disturbed by what happened in Omaha, they probably think it plays right into their message. How tragic it was, but how helpful it is to remind the Supreme Court of the need to neuter the Second Amendment.
Not getting anywhere near the national media attention because, well, no one was killed, is this story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that happened the same day.
A crew of brazen thieves stole an arsenal of nearly 80 weapons from a Fayette County gun shop early Wednesday after using a stolen pickup truck to rip burglar bars from the front of the store.Security video showed that the six suspects were inside Autrey's Armory on Bethea Road at West Fayetteville Road for only about 70 seconds during the 4 a.m. burglary, Fayette sheriff's Lt. Belinda McCastle said.
McCastle said the suspects, all wearing hooded sweatshirts that covered their faces, were very organized.
"It appeared that each individual had an assigned task," she said. "They did not fumble over each other, they went in, crashed the counters, swiped the weapons and boom, they were out of there."
Most of the 75 to 80 guns stolen were handguns manufactured by Glock and Sig Sauer, McCastle said.
The thieves also stole a Springfield .308 semiautomatic rifle with a collapsible stock and bipod, she said.
This goes to the heart of the matter before the Supreme Court. While well meaning groups and the District of Columbia insist that private citizens should not have the right to keep and bear arms, criminals still stockpile weapons. Does anyone really think that a criminal is going to obey the law? If so, please look at Washington, D.C., at one time the homicide capital of America, despite it being against the law to possess firearms inside the District.
The tragedy in Omaha, NE is a reminder of what can happen when evil or crazy or both wraps fingers around a trigger. The crime in Atlanta should remind us that, however much we would love to confiscate all guns to avoid another Omaha or Columbine, the people most likely to gun us down when we are unable to defend ourselves are also least likely to surrender their own guns.
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Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
Something also needs to change with the culture in this country, specifically for at-risk young men. Of course, the culture generally is a liberal sewer, so there's a lot to clean up before it gets better...
This makes (yet another) case for concealed carry (without all those restrictions they have now). An armed man or woman in the same store could have stopped the shooter. Criminals will always have guns (just look at Mexico, where guns are "illegal"). The answer is to arm (and train, of course) more people. As the old saying goes, an armed society is a polite society.
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Recently these shooters have been targeting malls because they know the people there are sitting ducks. They choose those locations precisely because of that massive imbalance. That, combined with the "passivity" effect that all human beings can succumb to and Paul Cella was talking about yesterday gives them the ability to march in and perform their nihilistic Final Acts without much resistance.
on the 2nd Amendment case. Europe has much more stringent gun laws than the United States and we know where Justice Kennedy gets his jurisprudence from (in ain't the U.S. Constitution). Will Justice Kennedy find that the 2nd Amendment right is akin to "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.". I am afraid not. He will not want to face the stings and criticism from his dear European friends on his '08 summer vacation.
Thomas has gone on record talking about the 2nd amendment in past decisions. Has anybody else?
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
a bit. I think the hardcore anti-gunners rejoice when these things happen just as I think the hardcore anti-war crowd rejoices on the death of each soldier. IT SERVES THEIR PURPOSE!
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
Hey Tbone - You're wrong. I'm very anti-gun, and I'm very anti-war. And I prayed for the victims of that shooting yesterday, just like I pray for the fallen soldiers this Administration works so hard to hide from us. So your comment is naive, narrow-minded and insulting. I think you owe me an apology.
I do not believe that hard-core gungrabbers are happy when people die (I do give them that much credit), but I do believe that the incidents themselves encourage them because it gives them a greater opportunity to push their lunacy.
Don't waste your prayers on the dead, their fates are sealed. Pray for the living that your liberal hogwash doesn't result in their lying dead in a school, mall or along a Baghdad road. If you are insulted, be insulted by the gross stupidity, narrow-mindedness and naivety of your fellow anti-gunners and anti-war hypocrites.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
all that is required is for you to remove your hat. Sissy boy.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
I pray for the fallen soldiers this Administration works so hard to hide from us.
Really? So did your buddies in the Press Corps make up the numbers when they were celebrating the 1000, 2000 and 3000 "milestones"?
The point of his post wasn't that these sorts of incidents help one side or the other. He was arguing that some liberals actually hope that shootings like this and soldier deaths actually happen. That's vile, and it's a total cheap shot to distract people from real debate.
As for being "encouraged" by incidents like this, well, I don't think that's the right word. Again, it connotes that we "gungrabbers" are happy the incidents took place. That said, I don't see anything wrong with using the incident as proof that it is far too easy for a 19-year-old to get an AK-47 (just like one person posting above is arguing that it's proof more people should have CHPs).
Did you know that the AK-47 that the killer used for the murders was stolen from his stepfather? How would any further regulations stop someone from stealing a gun from a law abiding citizen?
...Take semi-automatic assault rifles out of society. Oh wait - you need them for hunting. I forgot.
PS And don't bother coming back at me with "if we outlaw them only the criminals will have them." When was the last time someone defended his/her house with an AK-47?
Not surprising based on where you are coming from. Liberals aren't real big on actually obtaining some knowledge about something before they call for government "fixes."
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
1) You are a gun-grabber leftist. It's not hard to come to that conclusion from your postings. You don't exactly hide it.
2) Sure. Now what exactly does an AK-47 do that a .30-06 can't do? And what is so scary about semi-automatics in general? What can you do with a semi-automatic that you can't do with a freakin' lever gun?
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
Haven't I cautioned you about this type of behavior before? And, an astonishingly ignorant one as well this time. tsk.
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
for this reason - many of the real anti-gun people don't care about crime. They care about controlling our lives, and gun control is one of the best ways to go about that. I am not referring to the misguided folks who actually believe that gun control would help crime (go read Erick's and Repair Man Jack's diaries, respectively), but those in high positions who push for this stuff.
It's going to be ok. The black helicopters aren't coming today. So while we have a chance to talk, know this: Us "anti-gun people" really don't care about what you do. But we do care about the innocent people in that shopping mall. That's the difference. I never met any of those people. Yet I care about them - they're brothers and sisters of mine. You've never met them either. But to gun nuts like you, their deaths are less important then your ability to own a pistol. And to think your party has an alleged monopoly on the "Christian" vote in this country. Sad.
Look "encourage", "hope" may not apply, but capitalize on tragic events to promote a LIBERAL agenda....100% for sure!!!!!!
Apologies ..nah.
But isn't that central to all politics - left AND right? Bush capitalized on 9/11 (a tragic event if there ever was one) to give us Iraq. Right? How is this any different?
Again, hoping for something like this to happen in order to benefit politically is gross, but it's a straw man. Never happens. But once the event takes place, it's perfectly legit to point to it as an example in political debate.
and exactly right.
"Thou Comest to me with a Sword, with a spear and with a shield, but I cometh to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts who you have defied"