I went & looked. Yes, they are that stupid.

That’s what I’ve been thinking — that I sincerely wish the rapture happens, so every one of those nutcases will be ferried off to wherever they think they’re going and the rest of us can clean up their mess and live the rest of our lives without having to hear from them again. The stupidity just gets tedious.

Turns out that the person the police are looking for is Maurice Clemons. He is another felon from Arkansas who had his sentence commuted by former Gov. Huckabee. We all know what a radical leftist Huckabee is. TPM has the story. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/huckabee.php?ref=fpblg

Ha ha, Rachel Corrie, “the pancake,” they called her.

Yes, Gomer, it is a fucking co-inky-dink. But you managed to bring it up anyway. Congrats!

And Evergreen State? Why not call Virginia Tech a hot-bed of leftism, while you’re at it?

Actually, that’s a pretty conservative area (close to the base) and probably has more guns per square inch than most places in Western Washington…

It is probably a total coincidence…

My favorite disclamer in teh entire world evah. Also.

Huckabee is now trying to wash his hands that he had anything to do with Clemmons. Meanwhile, CY commenters are saying that Huckabee is a “RINO” and a liberal. Can’t wait to see how FauxNews is going to spin this! Maybe put a (D) next to his name!

Yes, please, dear god, rapture up the stoopids so the rest of us can grab a mop and start cleaning up the shit they left behind. I can’t take much more of the inanity.

Love this part from John “Deadeye” Derbyshire:

Handguns aren’t very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can’t hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren’t bad.

I plugged this into Babblefish’s translator, Chickenhawk to English, and this is what came out:

The pellet gun I keep hidden under my Rush Limbaugh autographed hemmoroid donut in the back of my closet isn’t very accurate, especially when I shoot at the dusky looking kids that walk down my street. I shot myself in the leg once, and I cried a little, but my mommy put bactine on it, and I could walk again after two months convalescence. But I tell you, if I was at that coffee shop, I would have taken those guys out. Unless there was a baby nearby that I could grab and hold in front of me.

Fuck, what is it about these people? (I know, stupid question). Do they think Obama’s just gonna go on teevee and announce he’s taking everybody’s “rights” away?

On the other hand, sometimes I’m pretty stupid so maybe the rapture can take the stupid people and leave the batshit crazy ones behind.

More than a few low blows in those observations. First, conflating Rachel Corrie with cop-killers. Nasty shit, that.

Next, his “radical leftists” have only one thing in common beside killing police–they were both college students, so, I suppose that anyone attending college is now a radical leftist, which would come as a huge fuckin’ surprise to the College Republicans. One of them sounds like a proto-teabagger, or a Timothy McVeigh in training (lots of bombs, three years in the 101st Airborne, leaving “Don’t Tread on Me” flags at the scene). The other was big on jury nullification, which is a theme common to the Freemen.

Yup, no doubt about it–”radical leftists,” one and all. That’s got some real truthiness to it.

Shit. I’m a combat veteran and a reasonably accomplished pistol shooter: I go to the range at least once a month. When it’s not at the range, the pistol stays in a gun safe. Despite being able to hit what I’m aiming at (With a .40 S&W Glock) I’d no more open fire in a public space than I would try to shoot off a hangnail. When these people go from talking politics (Which they know little about) to talking packing heat (Which they know nothing about) they move from stupid to dangerously stupid.

Or, to quote from Snatch, “That five pound piece of shit you’ve got stuck in your pants would do more damage if you threw it at them.”

Do they think Obama’s just gonna go on teevee and announce he’s taking everybody’s “rights” away?

Yep, many of them think exactly that…

They’ve forgotten Fort Hood already, a mass shooting on an ARMY BASE where, presumably, most people are well trained in the use of firearms and there are plenty of weapons around, but that it was a COP who shot the gunman? Apparently even on a military base, they don’t let everyone walk around armed and ready to go at all times. The idea that we’re safer if a bunch of untrained civilians walk around loaded for bear all the time is completely wacked!

They sure do. I get a coupe of forwarded emails a week from an old Navy buddy who is now a right-wing loony. More than half of them have “proof” that Obama is gonna’ take away our guns and our rights. Apparently, the fact that Obama doesn’t wear a pair of nickle-plated six shooters in public proves that he’s fixing to disarm all red-blooded Americans.

I’m sure you could carry your weapon around with you on Fort Hood. The question is why would you? It’s the ultimate gated community — nobody gets in without an military ID or a visitor’s pass.

Apparently these folks think that, if everyone is armed, then someone has to hit the bad guy, due to sheer numbers. Of course, everyone else will be killed in the crossfire, too, but you know, omelettes and eggs and so forth.

Had it been easier for common citizens to get a carry permit, the odds would be greater that someone in the place would have dropped the shooter.

Yes. And the odds would also have been greater that someone else in the place would have been hit by a badly-aimed gun, and that someone else else wold have been hit by the shooter shooting back at the carrier, and that someone else else else would have been hit by richocets from all that firing, and that someone else else else else would have shot at the carrier, in a panic, thinking that he, too, was one of the bad guys, prompting the carrier to shoot at HIM, turning a single gunman’s shots into a gun battle between two furious/terrified amateurs shooting at each other, prompting a third amateur to pull HER piece and, to protect herself, shoot at the first two…

(Continue until the scene resembles that in the Night Owl in L.A. Confidential.)

My thought exactly: it’s all Showdown at the OK Diner for these trigger-happy morons. That their vigilante efforts at law enforcement would leave a bunch of innocent bystanders dead seems to be irrelevant. Damn, if they had it their way, every minor traffic altercation would instantly be escalated into something from a Tarantino movie… which I guess is their idea of a good time had by all.

FWIW, unless folks are in actual training and on the firing range, the only folks armed on the military installations are the cops (whether civilian type or active duty types).

Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are not walking around post armed at all times. In fact, IIRC, most civilian weapons owned by someone (handguns, rifles, and shotguns) have to be registered if the owner lives on base.

And this is the GOP plan for party growth.

Hey Joe

And it’s not out of greed for their stuff that we’d wish for them to be Raptured. Most of their stuff either guzzles gas or was cheap-ass toxic crap that they bought at Wal-Mart, because God forbid that they actually pay good money for something made well and safely by unionized labor.

In one of the mall shootings a couple of years ago, an off-duty cop who was carrying his gun did indeed get involved — but ONLY after he had his wife call up the police dispatcher and provide his name, his badge number, plus an accurate description of his physical appearance and clothing. He still nearly got shot by the other cops as they hit the scene.

Moral of the story: There is no magic light available to cops that instantly identifies good shooters from bad in a situation like this. If they see someone shooting, the shooter is a bad guy unless shown to be otherwise.

Couldn’t we make a rule that they have to take their Wal-Mart stuff with them?

I figured it as something like that. TY

It is, and has always been, about how big your penis gets when you are the dispenser of righteous justice. So, if you are the “correct” party in a traffic altercation and some punk gets smart, killing him with your lovingly polished hand penis makes that erection lasting more than 4 hours warning seem like a tiny joke. It’s all about the ego (and by extension, penis) inflation.

Maybe the rapture has already happened and the blessed souls of the believers have gone to heaven and what you have now is all their stooped that’s been left behind to torment the unbelievers for eternity. Sounds like hell to me.

I have an idea – get all of those righteous tough-guy gun-toters into one room, then set off some firecrackers. Hilarity ensues, but not the kind you’d expect… it could make the “Guinness Book of World Records” for largest gathering of chickenhawks to simultaneously shit their pants.

Actually, unless things have changed, the military is much more sensible–they do NOT allow soldiers to wander around with loaded guns unless there is a reason for doing so. Why? Presumably for the same reasons that giving every yahoo a carry permit is a bad idea: carrying a gun and ammunition for no good reason greatly increases the likelihood that the weapon will be used for no good reason.

Training is not the same as good sense. When my brother was in the service, his range-trained roommate almost killed one of their neighbors by showing off with a personal weapon in their off-base housing. He was trying to impress a girl, forgot to check the chamber, and pulled the trigger, sending a 9-mm bullet through three walls and the headboard of the neighbor’s bed.

In a crisis like the coffee-shop shooting, having more guns in a location means there will be more bullets in the air. It does not mean that more bullets will hit their intended target. Vigilantes are just as likely to hit each other or the victims. I can’t say if it is true or not, but a guy I used to know in Texas claimed that during the UT Austin sniper shootings back in the ’60s, stray bullets fired by volunteer marksmen with hunting rifles were at least as dangerous as shots aimed by the sniper.

Evergreen State College also produced that DFH Matt Groening, destroyer of American moral fiber. Also three of my sisters.

Well, I suppose that it’s possible that the Rapture already happened, but since none of the well-known self righteous conservitards disappeared (or even shut up), nobody noticed.

But perhaps the Rapture is just imminent, not past. Get ready! Our conservitard neighbors should be made aware that very few will be Raptured, the tiniest little transgression can leave them behind. But they shouldn’t give up hope, they might make it in by using the ‘wake’ effect: if you think someone just disappeared, act fast! Go up to the top of a really tall building, flap really, really hard and jump.

If their faith is strong enough, it’s guaranteed to work or their money back.

OK, far be it from me to defend the “arm everyone” brigades but…

If, in fact, several citizens had been armed, then the shooter would be entering the establishment to shoot his cop targets, who he KNOWS are armed but figures he will get the drop on them via surprise, and shoots them and then figures easy-weasy-peasy, just walk (or run) out of there without any scratches. Home free! I did it!

Except…citizen gun toter, not being expected or known, pulls his/her piece and shoots the shooter as he makes his run/walk.

Alternative alternative: if it is considered a given that MANY people are armed (but it is not obvious who they are) then a shooter cannot assume good chances of going anywhere and spitting bullets because people anywhere around him could end up drawing theirs, in which case he is cooked (and depending on the skillz of the armed citizens around him and their positioning, you may end up with several said citizens with a few holes too but that is another argument).

Just playing devil’s advocate here. Playing What-if.

Alternative alternative: if it is considered a given that MANY people are armed…

Under those circumstances all you need to do is fire a shot into the floor, drop, and then watch them shoot each other.

It’s just a matter of time until someone brings up the Swiss (and not about banning minarets.) The fact is that the weapon issued to the Swiss reservists takes ammunition that is not available to the general public and is issued in a sealed box which is inspected regularly. If the ammo has been used, it better have been against an invading army.

Actually, a good revolver or pistol in any caliber is likely to be far more accurate than the shooter. I have to think that ol “deadeye” does not only not own any guns, but that he has in fact never gone to a range. Being sanctimonious about being a non gun owner is simply being silly. There are in fact many nations whose citizens have more guns than ours(Switzerland for one, where everyone has an Army assult rifle in his closet) and in none of them have I ever seen a story about a licenced law abiding gun owner going out and killing people. Of course you bring up the Ft Hood shootings where the good major bought his handgun legally. True. He did. Yet that is not a failure of our gun laws, but a failure of the majors superiors who did not take any action which would have put him on the can not buy list. OTOH, I have read-but only in local papers-many stories over the years about how a CCW holder saved lives by shooting, or even just holding a criminal. One story even told how a CCW holder even saved a police officer by killing the man who was shooting him. I know, I am now one of those “gun nuts” that is keeping the US from being a perfect country. However, my eyes were opened many years ago about what exactly the place of police in society is. The police are not there to protect you as an individual, sure they will try and catch your killer-and have about a 40% chance of doing so-but you are still dead. The ave. time it takes for police to respond to your 911 call is about 12 min. providing that the area car is not on another call. In 12 min, with someone in your house, what you gonna do? How about being mugged? While liars always manipulate stats, I have found that armed robbery and mugging have gone down quite a lot in those states that have the “shall issue” CCW permits(shall issue simply means that you do not need any reason to apply to carry a gun, and the state has to issue the permit) I carry a revolver(a .357 Magnum, as does my wife(a .38 hamerless). Against fear of mugging or robbery? Not really. Mostly in case of attack by feral dogs(we have a major problem with dog packs here, people just put them on the street, shameful) and rattlesnakes. We like to walk and unfortunately our area has both snakes and wild dogs. What would you do? Not leave your house? Sorry, my mindset is very different. As a matter of fact our sub has not had any breakins since the castle docrine became law and a petty crook got himself killed trying to steal a neighbors TV, oh and the fact that when we heard the gunshot we came out with our guns and held the other 2 young men for the cops.The CD means that you can shoot anyone trying to steal your stuff, even stealing a radio from your car, or your neighbors house or car.

Your “what if” rings true to me. I hear stories on the ranges about cases like this all the time. It is what one practices for. BTW, Armed robbery and muggings(just as an example) in the state of FL. dropped quite a bit after the CCW permit law came into effect. Now the majority of states have CCW permit laws, any bloodbaths?(now I know you bring up the Ft Hood major, I still have not heard if he was licenced to carry a concealed weapon)

You people are very amusing. Just don’t mess with the Second Amendment.

alternative alternative alternative: if it is considered a given that MANY people are armed…

… then your hypothetical psychopathic mass shooter would have to think ahead and purchase an automatic weapon and just let the bullets fly to prevent any hypothetical gun-toting Murkins from shooting him during his spree. Or better yet, just use an explosive device! There’s no three day waiting period for them!

Solving gun crimes by adding more guns is absurd. Everyone of these multiple shooters is either mentally ill, or believes they are doing God’s work (also a mental illness).

Actually studies have been done. the vast majority of police do not practice with their assigned weapons and are usually pretty bad shots. The NYC case where(was it 3 or 4) cops fired over 80 rounds at the man trying to unlock his door and hit him less than 10 times. Or how about the cops a few years ago who pulled up in front of a college dorm and fired off over 200 rounds and not only did not hit anyone, the majority missed the 2 story building they were right in front of. I have hundreds of examples. In most cases people who do have CCW permits do spend quite a bit of time at the range, shooting. Police don’t.

Well sure. But I wasn’t going to get to that. I figured it would come up automatically.

If someone is INTENT on shooting some cops in a coffee shop, and they assume that there are armed people all over the place, then they will either give up the idea OR obtain a spraygun (MAC10, UZI, etc) and go in and spray the entire place down. It would still be difficult to pull off if there are armed people about but not impossible. In any case, it would be a much bigger and nastier mess.

Actually, having spent 5 years in the Army, the “presumed” reason by you is incorrect. Everyone in a war zone carries a weapon. Why not in US? Better question would be, Why? All firearms are kept locked up in the arms room. Issued when necessary. And yes, I had a weapon issued to me at times when I was in the US. Just as when I was in Korea. There are a great many reasons why weapons are not carried in the US, but your “reason” is not one of them. In fact that “reason” is pretty much an insult to all soldiers don’t you think?

Typical right-wing gun-as-substitute-penis view on the US Constitution:

USA: We will search your home, emails, banking account transactions, and library book borrowing records without warrants to make sure your not some evil terrorist.

RWGASP: That’s OK – I have nothing to hide.

USA: We will also check your name against our records of gun registrations and purchases to make sure you’re not buying automatic weapons or caching guns and ammo as a potential terrorist.

RWGASP: You can’t do that! That’s a violation of my rights!

Except for the fact that these “civilians” are trained, and CCW laws have been in effect for many years and nowhere have I heard about any “bloodbath”

Sanctimonious, arn’t you?

I wont address the military-issued arms thing (as timr did) though I am military myself. I also live in a CCW state and have the paperwork filled out for a CCW myself. I have a military-type rifle and a handgun, by the way.

There is zero chance of me shooting anyone, not myself, not my wife, not my dogs, not my horses, not my neighbors because 1) I don’t treat them like toys to show off with; 2) they do not sit around loaded – EVER (though there are loaded mags nearby); 3) I’m not religiously crazy or crazy in any other way; and 4) I’m military trained and level-headed.

If/when I send in the paperwork and money for the permanent concealed carry permit, I still wont carry. Not at this point at any rate. I don’t feel any threat or need to do so but 1) I would simply like to have it IF ever I did feel threatened or the need (I’m out in the sticks so I doubt there will unless there is a zombie apocalypse or repeat, and worse, economic poopdidoo with deserved civil unrest). Second, I wanted to get it because there was some talk of the permanent permit going away and having to pay to re-up every few years. No thanks. I’ll take the grandfather clause that has me pay ONE time and never again. Finally, I don’t go to areas (on purpose) where I feel I might actually want to carry a weapon.

Oh hell, I agree wholeheartedly.

I’m a LIBERAL with guns, by the way. I just cannot abide the eliminationist, christianist, reichwing being the only armed people in the woods.

Well, yeah.

The fact is that shooting when someone is shooting AT you is an entirely different universe from shooting at a range where no one is shooting at you (except for the stray idiot by accident). The entire situation, and your response and abilities change when you are taking fire while trying to fire yourself.

A room full of gun toters, regardless of how good they are at the peaceful range shooting passive paper, are not going to be deadeye shots and calm in the face of return fire. Accuracy will take a hit and so will bystanders as a result.

Is TBogg charging extra for paragraph breaks or what?

There’s a phenomenon known as “panic fire” where everyone begins firing wildly in the direction of what they perceive as the threat. If you’re out in the jungle it usually just lights up the night for a few seconds. If you’re in a McDonald’s…

Amazing, also very sanctimonious. Looking down your nose at all of us “gun nuts” are you? the majority of you seem to have gotten all your ideas about guns(are you all afraid of them?) from the movies. In the 50 states over 1/2 have Concealed Carry permits, they also mostly have laws that say that the CCW permit must be issued to a law abiding person. These laws did not just come into effect yesterday. Some states have had them for over 20 years. And yet, I have never heard(and THAT story would be all over the TV, wouldn’t it?)of any CCW holders getting into gunfights or blasting away at traffic accidents . Then again, except in local papers(never anywhere on the networks) there have been many cases over the years where an armed citizen has saved innocents and in fact in several cases have saved the lives of police officers or other law enforcement people(judges, court reporters, etc) Yet you all look down your noses at us, smug in your belief that the police will always be there to save you. So, do you all also believe in the tooth fairy? The police are not there to protect you, and nowhere will you see anything that says that they do, they are there to protect society from lawbreakers-those they can catch. Not to protect you, even if you have a court order, even if the person you have a court order on has stated that he is going to kill you.(which in fact happend to the daughter of a friend, the police-local, county and state said that it was not their problem)She died. It also happened in Co where a woman told the police that she had a PPO against her ex husband and that he had taken their children. She even told them where he was. Yet they did noting until he had crashed his truck into the police station with his dead kids in the back.You all just keep living in that dream world. I prefer reality.

yes

Gun Counter Gomer is right – it is complete coincidence that this happened 22 miles down the road Evergreen College. Lakewood, where the shooting took place, is smack in between two military bases. It has consistently elected Republicans as its mayor since it was incorporated. In short, it’s full of the sorts of people who love to carry guns and use them to defend themselves.

What a dumbshit.

and don’t even get me started on that idiotic “assult weapon” ban of the Clinton years. So congress banned some long guns-rifles-purely based on the way that they looked. How…fraught. So because my gun-a semi auto rifle-looks scary to congress, even tho, except for cosmetics, it is identical to hundreds of other long guns, they banned it. Wow. Lewis Black could do an entire hour, just on that alone. I knew that our(bought and paid for)congress were not the smartest people around-I doubt that many have even read(or understand) the constitution-ACORN and the establishment clause anyone? but to ban weapons based on how they looked, not on how they worked is simply..beyond words. Yep, we will have more unconstitutional laws (like we did when bush/cheney were da leaders)come 2010-oh, I forgot, right now because we have such spineless dem leaders-(see ACORN above)when those who voted in 2008 decide to sit out 2010.

If you read my other comments then you know that I’m clearly not afraid of guns. The statistical truth is that you are way more likely to shoot your self, a friend, or a relative than you are to shoot a bad guy. That’s reality.

The rifle I have is “pre-ban”. Funny thing is, it was possible to buy essentially the very same rifle even during the “ban” – it just had slight modifications. Mainly, the difference between my pre-ban and a ban version is the flash hider on mine is removable while the flash hider on the ban weapon was welded on. The rest of it…not much different. Oh yeah, you got an UGLY combo stock PLUS hand grip to replace the clean lines of the stock and separate hand grip. Other than that, no difference.

High capacity mags? Available before and during the ban. I bought 8 high capacity mags plus a few extra-high capacity mags just in case it was decided to bring back the ban with even more restrictions. But any “fears” of them bringing back the ban are gone. That would be a fools errand and I think they know it. Now if they’d focus on what they were elected for: public option healthcare reform, getting OUT of Iraq and Afghanistan, shutting down Gitmo, stop spying on Americans sans warrant, repeal the PATRIOT Act, etc, we’d have something.

What we need is stricter guns control in this country. Like healthcare, we lag way behind other Industrial countries who have outlawed guns and have universal healthcare and no how to take care of their citizens!

What is inherently wrong with this country?

Yup, because making sure the FBI couldn’t have more than a 24-hour window to do background checks (and thus allow guys like Major Hasan to buy his murder arsenal unchallenged) is what makes America so wonderful!

Good grief, what’s that stench in here?!? Oh, testosterone and cordite… “Eau de Chickenhawk”. I’ll see your high capacity mags and raise you one dead kid.

According to Gun Counter Gomer,

It is probably a total coincidence, but Parkland is 22 miles down I-5 from Evergreen State College, the radical leftist school that helped create Rachel Corrie and Andrew Mickel, the later of which (sic) ambushed a police officer in Nov 2002, and is now on death row. Another radical leftist shot and killed a police officer on Halloween after firebombing four police cars on Oct. 22, and was in turn shot earlier this month.

Not “probably a coincidence,” it is a coincidence. The Lakeland and Parkland areas are next to McCord Air Force Base on the south side of Tacoma. Both areas consist of low income housing and have high crime rates. The population is mixed and transient, people are poor, and unemployment is high. The economy is predominantly of the black market variety because that’s the only way people can survive. Drugs are ubiquitous to the environment and a few years ago, seemed like every other house in Lakeland featured a meth lab and everybody carried a gun. Due to the next-door presence of McCord Air Force Base and nearby Fort Lewis, a sprawling Army base, the sleaze coefficient is in the stratosphere and prostitution is common. I believe Lakeland has the highest concentration of registered sex offenders in the state. In short, it’s the perfect neighborhood to raise kids.

The suspect is a parolee from Arkansas and new to the area. He was recently arrested for assaulting a police officer, I believe, and was out on the street after posting a $150,000 bond.

Evergreen State College is located in a forest in Olympia, the state capitol, and might as well be on the Moon as far as this discussion is concerned. It’s an excellent academic school that emphasizes independent study for juniors and seniors. Sports are not emphasized. I know about it because my daughter went there and I wish I had too, instead of the Big Ten school I attended. Last I checked, the college doesn’t allow guns on campus, have a shooting range, or offer a course teaching students how to shoot cops. My daughter doesn’t carry and neither do I.

BTW, the college was former Governor Dan Evans’s idea and he was a moderate Republican.

BTW, anybody can buy a gun off the street in Lakeland, the place where everything, including people, is for sale.

You beat me to the McCord AFB “coincidence” but did a better job than I would have in my relevant comment about its proximity.

What you missed is that Maurice grew up in Washington and is likely very familiar with the area where he was raised.

He spent most of his time in Arkansas locked up in the Stripey Hole.

another moronic convergence (thanks Gary Trudeau)

Sounds to me like you’re a fan of “Circular Firing Squads!”

The fact is that the weapon issued to the Swiss reservists takes ammunition that is not available to the general public [...]

No that is not a fact. The Stgw 90 is chambered in bog-standard 5.56x45mm, which is wildly available in Switzerland (it’s even subsidized by the federal government for this very reason).
Would be awfully hard to shoot the Obligatorische Bundesprogramm without privatly purchased ammo, wouldn’t it?

And I’m not quite sure how the rifle ammunition availability for military rifles in Switzerland is pertinent to the problem of concealed carry in the USA, though.

FWIW concealed carry is heavily restricted in Switzerland.

Interesting coincidence Mr. TIDOS Yankee notes. Here’s another one: the suspected shooter is on the street thanks to Mr. Huckabee.

Coincidence, I’m sure.

I am a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, mental health professional, who has publicly supported homosexual rights and abortion rights and I also believe in licensing for concealed carry and the right to own a gun is an individual right, not a collective one. My wife was a good shot (she was murdered five years ago, and having a gun in the house made not one whit difference, so I know having a gun available is not a panacea) and all of my children know how to shoot. As a psychologist, I believe criminals make calculations about the success of their crimes, as most are not crimes of passion or impulsive. When they factor in a greater likelihood the victim or others around may be armed, I believe the probability goes down of committing the crime.

I would add in, what happened at VT could not have happened when I was at UT-Austin. On my dorm floor alone, there were three of us who kept pistols in our rooms, one of whom carried his in his backpack. I have to add, the Whitman example, which someone will inevitably bring up, is completely irrelevant to Virgina Tech.

Ok, I was mistaken about the availability of the ammo. I am informed by a Swiss immigrant that the rifles and issued ammo are regularly inspected, however. As to pertinence, some gun control opponent always brings up Switzerland, as though it is parallel to random Americans carrying guns wherever they go.

Okay timr. I’ll bite and give you your chance, but I’m gonna need more than a few generalizations.

There are in fact many nations whose citizens have more guns than ours(Switzerland for one, where everyone has an Army assult rifle in his closet) and in none of them have I ever seen a story about a licenced law abiding gun owner going out and killing people.

Really? There are many? Name a few more and if they have concealed weapon laws. And nice cherry picking of Switzerland (addressed well later in the link).

I have found that armed robbery and mugging have gone down quite a lot in those states that have the “shall issue” CCW permits

You “have found” how? Do you have a reputable link with the statistics? Is there a proven link between CCW if there is a reduction? And I want to see the statistics for the same time period in non CCW states, to see if it was just a general drop in crime.

I have read-but only in local papers-many stories over the years about how a CCW holder saved lives by shooting, or even just holding a criminal.

Really? I’ve been reading local papers for 44 years and have never seen one. Seen a lot of accidental death stories, drunken spousal killings, etc.

Look, I have nothing against you having guns in your home if that makes you feel better, or shooting feral dogs, snakes etc may be a legit concern. Could really care less. But that “many say” “studies show” generalization bullshit doesn’t fly in this neck of the woods. And as far as your observations on cops and robberies and such. Well, I don’t live my life in fear. In fact, I lived in NYC for 26 years and never had one problem. We have a ridiclous amount of gun violence and gun accidents in this country in comparison to Europe, Japan, etc. Adding more guns to the equation is asinine IMHO. Personally, I would rather live in a country where I can go to a McDonalds where no one is packing, rather than everyone. But hey, it’s a free country. Sort of.

I would rather live in a country where I can go to a McDonalds where no one is packing, rather than everyone. But hey, it’s a free country. Sort of.

First they came for my Big Mac, and I said nothing, because the guy was packing heat…

Sagra @ 16: I was an MP for the last part of my four years in the Marines, and off duty, you sure couldn’t walk around strapped then, and I don’t think you can now.

This may be a coincidence, but I have found that the gun-loving-right-wingers I know are mostly all obese. Most of them are breathing hard after climbing a flight of stairs, even the young ones. I watch them drop things all the time, stand there staring at whatever they dropped and I know this is going through their heads: “How the fuck am I going to get my fat ass down to pick that up.”

But yet they’re convinced they can protect themselves (and others) in a moments notice, given they have a gun.

Just the type of stupid you want packing heat….

It’s no coincidence. Most of them haven’t seen their feet or their dicks for years. A gun serves as a surrogate penis that they can look at any time.

How many surrogate penis’ does one really need? I’d start freakin’ right the fuck out if I was dealing with a wall o’ penis’ to choose from! Jebuz, which penis would be King Penis? If I’m going to wax my monster truck which penis do I wear while I wax my other surrogate penis?

Thanks DennisSGMM, I think I’m beginning to understand!

Golly, the things you learn on the internetz!

If these police officers were trained and armed, this whole thing would have never happened. Snark off.

-G

I am informed by a Swiss immigrant that the rifles and issued ammo are regularly inspected, however.

Of course — they’re reservists in a well regulated army.

As to pertinence, some gun control opponent always brings up Switzerland, as though it is parallel to random Americans carrying guns wherever they go.

This would be a thread-jacking discussion, but I think that parallel is very flawed.
For one the Swiss gun culture does not include the I’m-packing-heat-to-be-the-hero-of-the-day fantasy which is the topic of this post.

Why yes I am! Please see the corresponding comments at 72, 73, and 74; apparently I am not the only one!

And if we’re going to toss around the Swiss example, please note that the guns are issued to men only by their government, because the men are their well-regulated militia.

Moderate Republicans went extinct in the PacNW in the 1980s and 1990s – Evans wouldn’t recognize his party these days.

Just remember one thing: After the Rapture, we get all their stuff.

Four armed policemen were killed, but oh, boy…oh, boy if only Gun Counter Gomer hadda been there!

That shooter woulda been sorry then!

Is it a coincidence that every single human being EVAR has died within 250,000 miles of home? No, because HOMES KILL YOU!