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Mass Shooting In San Bernardino Kills At Least 14 (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Authorities say 14 people were killed and 14 others were injured in a mass shooting in San Bernardino today. Police have mounted an intense manhunt for the gunmen who fired into a conference hall where county employees had gathered at a service center for people with disabilities. CNN reports: "The suspects were armed with long guns, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters. 'These were people that came prepared. ... They were armed with long guns, not hand guns,' he told reporters. Most of the victims were 'centrally located in one area of the facility,' Burguan said. Police didn't exchange gunfire with the shooters, he added."

45 of 1,134 comments (clear)

  1. Cue the flamewar... by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The debate over such shootings rages every time (ban guns, stop banning guns, make more gun-free zones, have fewer gun-free zones, teach everyone to shoot and give out free guns, have better mental health care, etc, Did I miss anything?).

    But I am yet to see anyone change their pre-existing opinion as a result of these discussions.

    1. Re:Cue the flamewar... by Carewolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Whatever your opinions on gun control are, we (the US) have managed to box ourselves into an unpleasant corner. There are way too many guns out there to have any effective method of restriction work. And way too many gun nuts.

      It really is an ugly situation. Nobody is going to win here.

      Except the loonies and terrorists.

      Australia used to have the same problem, but a conservative government managed to introduce gun restricts at the cost of the next election, and gun violence and accidents dropped sharply.

    2. Re:Cue the flamewar... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      You could mostly fix it with free mental healthcare, but judging by the opposition to Obamacare that probably isn't going to happen.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Cue the flamewar... by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Separation of Church and State. There's fear that allowing same-sex marriage could result in people suing churches for refusing to perform them. Obviously, it would be a serious Constitutional violation if the courts did so, which should make those fears irrational, but the courts have been known to ignore the Constitution now and then, so maybe it isn't.

      The correct (morally, legally, ethically) solution is to ban all government recognition of marriage. Require a complete separation between religious ceremonies and civil ceremonies, and completely revoke churches' rights to perform the latter. This properly ensures that A. churches cannot be sued for refusing to perform a now-strictly-religious ceremony, and B. churches that wish to perform gay marriage ceremonies would be allowed to do so. It also ensures the same legal rights (tax-wise, for example) for all couples, regardless of whether they are same-sex, because those would be based on the civil union rather than the religious marriage.

      Like most political issues, there's no middle ground because both sides are arguing over one aspect of the issue when the real flaw is an entirely different aspect. Any solution that satisfies both sides must completely throw away all the existing assumptions and start from scratch. Otherwise, you end up with a solution that everyone is equally dissatisfied with, which is entirely the wrong way to govern a country.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    4. Re:Cue the flamewar... by jwdb · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Seriously? Do you live in a place so violent that you feel a need to have deadly force constantly at your side? Are you that risk-averse?

      Your grandmother may be a good shot, but does she have the reflexes to go with it? If she can't actually get a bead on a young, fast mugger before he gets within arm's range, then she's defenseless with or without her gun. You're probably younger, and therefore have those reflexes, but that means you probably can also defend yourself without having a gun, assuming your attacker doesn't have one either.

      Yes, if you make guns illegal, some criminals will still have guns, but it will be fewer. Gun control is not about the rich with bodyguards, it's about the rest of us not wanting to get shot in anger by some hothead, by accident by a child, or by some nut who never should have been given a weapon. That other forms of violent crime will go up is beside the point, as you're still more likely to survive a beating than a shooting, and a criminal can only beat one person at a time.

    5. Re:Cue the flamewar... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 5, Funny

      Statistics on Australian homicide show that the number of all homicides went from 355 in 1997 to 297 in 2012. So about a 16% reduction.

      Statistics on US homicides over that same time period (1997 to 2012) show the number dropping from 21,606 to 14,827. About a 31% reduction - about double that of Australia.

      Seems that eliminating firearms in Australia might have actually slowed the drop in the number of homicides (assuming that Australia would have normally followed the reductions in the US), leading to a relative GAIN in the homicide rate as compared to the US over the same period.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    6. Re:Cue the flamewar... by SandmanWAIX · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It was actually an extremely proud moment watching people voluntarily handing their guns in to their local police station for destruction. No questions were asked by the police about the legitimacy of the gun, they just said thankyou and went about destroying them.

      There is no question that our community is safer as a result of this. We also have the mentality that guns are very out of place in general society and if you actually ever see one it is definitely an uncomfortable feeling that you have. I can't imagine what it must be like to just accept that guns are part of your every day life or how that affects your own insecurities.

    7. Re:Cue the flamewar... by Cyberax · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except during that timeframe Australia grew from 18 millions to 24 millions. So that's 35% reduction. Meanwhile US grew only slightly from 274 millions to 319 millions.

      Also, Australia is a poor example - it has never had significant gun-related violence.

    8. Re:Cue the flamewar... by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 5, Informative

      See GP - who used Australia as an example of eliminating guns works. And the population increases of the US means it still had a bigger drop in homicides as compared to a gun-free Australia.

      Er you might need to check your maths.
      Australia's population grew by 33% (from 18 mil + 6 mil), whereas US only grew 16% (274mil + 45mil)
      So punch in the numbers:
      Australia 1997, 18 mil, 364 homicides = 2.02 deaths per 100k
      Australia 2012, 24 mil, 297 homicides = 1.24 deaths per 100k
      A reduction of 38.6%
      USA 1997, 274 mil, 18208 homicides = 6.65 deaths per 100k
      USA 2012, 319 mil, 14827 homicides = 4.65 deaths per 100k
      A reduction of 30%

      So the US still has a homicide rate over 3x that of Australia.
      Also worth noting, Australia isn't gun free. People still own guns, but regulations ensure the firepower is limited, and that the owners responsible people.

  2. Re: Another reason to ban rifles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, if only California had gun laws, this could have been averted.

  3. Re:Not a mass shooting, that is a terrorist attack by Rei · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't rush to the "terrorism" label so fast, it could just be some mentally disturbed individuals.

    Once we find out their race and religion we'll be able to make the distinction.

    --
    I hate to bring up our imminent arrest during your crazy time, but we gotta move.
  4. Why is this one in the news? by mejustme · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So everyone is talking about San Bernardino CA. Here is a twist: Did you know this was the 2nd mass shooting in the U.S. for today?

    Not kidding. Earlier today in Savannah GA was another mass shooting. Another twist: This is not unusual!

    On many days in the U.S., there is more than 1 mass shooting. U.S. mass shootings (meaning 4 or more people shot in an event or related events) are a daily occurrence. Starting today, we'd have to go back to November 10 to find three consecutive days without a mass shooting.

    As a Canadian looking at the news flowing across the border, this boggles my mind.

    Source 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/GunsA...
    Source 2: http://www.theguardian.com/us-...

  5. Re:So why is this here? by barc0001 · · Score: 4, Informative

    American "gun control" laws are the equivalent of dumping a coffee cup on a forest fire. An actual gun control law is what was passed in Australia, which worked pretty much as intended. Which even suggesting in the US would probably cause another civil war. And there is a huge part of the problem.

  6. Re:14 is bad, but doesn't seem 'mass' by jrumney · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is how far America has come? 14 dead is no longer considered a "mass" shooting, just a plain old everyday event?

  7. Re: more guns needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, It was Ronnie Reagan who started shuttering mental heath facilities strictly to cut spending.
    He used deplorable conditions within as an excuse. Living on the street so much more attuned to
    freedom of expression and libertarian damages

  8. Re:more guns needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was born in India. Some of the tightest gun control laws, similar to what the British have. There is no such thing as 'gun culture' in India. Assault weapons are impossible for civilian population to own (for instance, .223, .303, 7.62mm, these calibers are banned for civilian ownership), while cartridges of permitted firearms are difficult to come by, and expensive. Usually, assaults for robbery etc. are carried out using knives and fists and sticks and so on. But India does see at least a few mass casualty gun attacks by terrorists every year. And every few years, there is a 'terror spectacular' that creates headlines the world over. The left and the right will both trot out their tired ideas without taking any reality into account.

    Terrorism is a de facto accepted mode of warfare now. The West/Nato supports irregular warfare in Russia, Syria etc. based on whether that particular regime is strategically liked or not. Without taking into consideration the ideas of the people they are supporting.. The idea of a nation state itself is a fairly modern idea, compared to what the likes of ISIS and AlQaeda want. Yet, we replace modern entities with positively antediluvian entities. Even a communist state, or a military dictatorship like in NK is preferable to ISIS/AlQaeda. At least, you can talk to NK.. If someone in ISIS/Talbn/AlQ tries to reach a compromise with us, his followers will cut his head off.

    There are hundreds of thousands of foreign fighters in these places now.. whose only marketable skill is War. I am afraid, mass casualty gun attacks are here to stay and we will see some for years, punctuated by people going postal or attacks by people who are just plain nutjobs.

  9. Well then clearly... by tlambert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not a mass shooting, that is a terrorist attack: "1 to 3 suspects on loose"

    Well then clearly, we should get an international coalition together, and begin bombing strategic targets in San Bernardino.

  10. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Insightful

    AK-47 Type meaning "scary" rifle that is functionally the same as a hunting rifle, but "Scary" looking.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  11. Re: 14 is bad, but doesn't seem 'mass' by tlambert · · Score: 5, Funny

    The definition of a mass shooting is an event where 3 or more people are shot.

    We should do it by total weight, instead.

  12. Re: Another reason to ban rifles by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm sure that worked in France.

    In 2013, the US had 3.55 gun homicides per 100k residents. France had 0.22. That's 94% less. So whatever France is doing seems to work pretty well.

  13. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm happy the cops here have guns;

    He isn't against guns. He is only against civilians having guns. He also doesn't understand the reason for Amendment #2 is precisely because government tyrants love their own guns.

    In a nutshell, he is the reason I want to have guns.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  14. Number seems low by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Informative

    In a typical year, just over 300 people are killed by those things in the US.

    Huh? That number seems low. As of October 1, according to the Washington Post, there were 294 mass shootings so far in 2015, and that was still with three months left in the year. That accounted for 380 deaths so far, with well over 1,000 injured.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com...

    Even the conservative Wall Street Journal claims "the US leads the world in mass shootings." http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-...

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  15. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by bobbied · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, moron, it's a reason to ban guns. Less guns means less gun violence. I'm tired of living in a country where idiots continually respond to gun violence by saying "We need more guns."

    We don't need 250 million guns. We need less guns. I'm happy the cops here have guns; it's pretty clear I have less to fear from them than I do from the civilians who commit literally hundreds of mass shootings every year.

    Ban guns.

    That pesky 2nd amendment will need to be changed before you can just go out and collect all the guns... And don't be fooled, you will need to collect ALL of them... But I fear that your biggest obstacle will be modifying the constitution and until you do, NOTHING will really change here, Private ownership of guns will continue.

    Assuming you get the constitution changed and remove the 2nd amendment, Welcome to Utopia. (NOT!).. Sure, some will willingly turn in their weapons once you get the laws changed, but others will not. What are you going to do? Grab the jack boots and literally search every nook and cranny of everybody's homes, cars, properties and persons.... Oh, wait, you are going to need to change that pesky constitution again and remove another couple of amendments....

    So, do you understand how your idea is naïve and unworkable? How you will need to trample on the vary legal foundations of the country? How stupid this whole idea of yours really is?

    I'm open to debate what we can do about this kind of craziness, but eliminating all guns is a non-starter. It's not possible with our current constitutional framework. Outlawing guns doesn't solve the problem and there is evidence it actually makes the situation worse.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  16. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by SillyHamster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess it could minimize fatalities, but I'm thinking of a bunch of armed people firing at each other in a relative small place and wondering if as many people would end up struck by "friendly" bullets as by the mass shooters.

    Your imagination doesn't match reality.

    Given how media favors gun control, every single incident where a citizen killed bystanders with "friendly fire" would be widely reported on as evidence for guns causing more harm than good.

    Instead, there is silence on that topic because citizens using guns in self defense save lives.

  17. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by Snotnose · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm happy the cops here have guns

    You sound white.

  18. No need for more gun control.We need media control by Trachman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We really need media control.

    I would say, that 1st amendment has limits. If shouting "fire" in the theater will get you in jail, because of the potential psychosis and stampede, the same way mass hysteria channels CNN, NBC, FOX and MSNBC, would have a right to report only statistically representative events. This should not apply to real mainstream news - Facebook, etc, because that is how many of the people get news, and Facebook is, in a way, glorified gossip club. All television does is promotion of a cheap way to get publicity.

    Before one mass shooting is reported on television, there would be a forceful reporting automobile accidents, suicides, drownings, medication overdoses, cardiac arrests, hospital errors. Statistically, death from violent terrorist attack is so statistically rare that in a year there would hardly any re-portable event.

    At the same time, this would be eradication of advertising, and an incentive, for those potential mass shooters/terrorists.

    For they want nothing else, but fame, glory, to be shown and talked about on the news. This needs to be stopped.

    __________
    I am praying for the victims tonight.

  19. Re: Another reason to ban rifles by Squiddie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And Mexico had more than that, amd they have gun laws. The US has always been more violent. Blame the drug war, which is where the killings come from.

  20. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If these are actual AK-47s, they're considered Assault Weapons under California Law and, if unregistered, are illegal. They were banned by name in 1989.

    If they're AK-47 "clones" (since AK-47 is an actual trade name, not a rifle description), then out of the box, they meet the Assault Weapon criteria established in the 2000 ban, and must have been registered at that time, or they're illegal.

    To have a legal, modern rifle based on the AK-47 platform, they must remove specific features that make them an Assault Weapon. Typically this is done by mounting a 10 round magazine in a fashion that can only be removed by a tool.

    If they're using a modern, AK-47 pattern rifle, with removable, 30 round magazines, the rifles are illegal, and the magazines are likely illegal (magazines greater than 10 rounds were grandfathered in in the year 2000, after than they're illegal to purchase or manufacture). Rifles like this are banned already in California.

    So, very likely this attack was perpetrated using illegal rifles and magazines.

  21. Re: Business is Booming by Squiddie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So you are hoping that people who try to defend themselves are shot simply because they don't fit your ideology. It's nice knowing what people like you think of the value of human life. Must be why you are so quick to stand on corpses before they are even cold to give your terrible message.

  22. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  23. Re: Another reason to ban rifles by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 5, Funny

    Chuckle. Because being in compliance with the law is certainly at the top of any mass killers list :D

  24. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by Rob+Y. · · Score: 4, Funny

    Donald Trump knows how to make 11 million living, breathing Mexicans 'go away'. I'm sure he can get rid of a few hundred million guns...

    --
    Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
  25. Re: Another reason to ban rifles by Squiddie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or you can compare one nation against itself, before and after. Of course, that would require you to be intellectually honest.

  26. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by Enigma2175 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I guess it could minimize fatalities, but I'm thinking of a bunch of armed people firing at each other in a relative small place and wondering if as many people would end up struck by "friendly" bullets as by the mass shooters.

    Your imagination doesn't match reality.

    Given how media favors gun control, every single incident where a citizen killed bystanders with "friendly fire" would be widely reported on as evidence for guns causing more harm than good.

    Instead, there is silence on that topic because citizens using guns in self defense save lives.

    When "highly trained" police officers shoot nine innocent civilians when trying to shoot a suspect, what are the chances that Joe Blow (who hasn't been to the range since he got his concealed carry permit) will avoid collateral damage?

    --

    Enigma

  27. Re:more guns needed by nytes · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Carrying a gun in this state will get you arrested (or shot) by the first cop who sees it, and CCP's are pretty hard to come by (impossible to get in Los Angeles, despite court orders to issue them).

    You can be arrest for carrying a chair leg here. All the officer has to say is that you looked like you might hit someone with it.

    About the only lethal weapon you can legally carry here is a fingernail clipper.

    --
    -- I have monkeys in my pants.
  28. Re:more guns needed by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    As a California County Government building it was a "gun free" zone.

    It was a social center for the developmentally disabled. You think the developmentally disabled should be armed? Like in Texas?

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  29. Re:It was a "gun free zone" that got hit. Again. by CauseBy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yawn. That argument has been total bullshit since the day it first oozed out of someone's ass. Shootings happen in all kinds of places, and good guys with guns never, ever stop bad guys with guns. It's a fantasy, and we should stop basing policy on fantasies.

  30. Re:you're safer unarmed by 4.5x by SillyHamster · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, a University of Pennsylvania study (DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.143099) examined over 600 incidents in the Philly area, and found that carrying a gun actually increases ones chances of getting shot and killed:

    False conclusion. The data can't reveal the claimed relationship.

  31. Re: Another reason to ban rifles by Harlequin80 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Firstly I'm not actually arguing that Australia's gun laws aren't too strict. As a competitive pistol shooter they are seriously annoying around things like the number of shoots per pistol. Especially since I like to use different 22s for different comps and this means I have to do a stupid number of matches a year to be compliant. I also have a pistol that can be chambered for two different rounds so it counts as two separate pistols for compliance (BLERGH).

    That said this whole thing started with a comment about comparing the US to Mexico. Mexico is fucked up in all kind of ways that will skew crime figures an absolute mile. I would be kinda depressed if I was living in a first world country and trying to use a developing country as a way of arguing my system was ok. Australia does not have its system perfect, and whether it made a difference is always arguable because we don't know what Australia would look like without the laws.

    In the end the US has a crazy level of gun violence. That gun violence might just be a symptom of a society that has issues, or it might be an issue with firearms. I think, though, that there are limited arguments against making it harder for guns to end up in the black market, or making it harder for people to own guns. Christ they are talking about making them register flying a fucking drone, but making people register their guns and to have a valid reason to own them is too far?

    As for Australia

    Mass shootings in Australia since the 28-4-96 Port Arthur Massacre.
    21-10-2002 - Huan Yun Xiang - 2 people killed at Monash university
    29-4-2011 - Donato Anthony Corobo - 3 people killed, 3 injured
    9-11-2014 - Geoff Hunt - Murder Suicide - Killed his wife and 3 kids before killing himself.

    Please let me know if I've missed any.

    There was a downward trend in firearm related homicides prior to 1996 but there is a significant vertical step in the trend line that occurred in 1996. See here - http://www.gunpolicy.org/firea...

    Licensed gun owners in Australia:
    2001 - 764,518
    2010 - 873,625
    2012 - 730,000

    Number of registered firearms per 100 of population
    2012: 12.499
    2010: 12.44
    2001: 11.22

  32. Re:more guns needed by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So you have the attackers running around causing carnage. Then you have a bunch of citizens trying to "help" take out the attackers. How do the citizens know who is an attacker and who is another good guy?

    Armed US civilians have a track record of getting it wrong less often then police officers. Like by a factor of 5 1/2.

    I can see carrying be useful if ...

    We know all these things. And more. And the well-researched and legally-vetted (sometimes different) "correct" answers to a number of such questions.

    Find an NRA-certified instructor. Take (first the "basic pistol" then) the "Personal Protection" classes. Then you'll know the answers, too.

    I won't try to summarize the courses here. I'm not certified to give them (my wife is), and you're not paying me for them. They're inexpensive and only take a couple weekends or so.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  33. Re:Another reason to ban rifles by cfalcon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Bullshit! A long gun is:

    - Difficult to conceal
    - Much more powerful than a gun that isn't a long gun
    - Much less powerful than crew served weaponry
    - Not generally capable of projecting explosives at range
    - Less able to be maneuvered at close range or in buildings
    - More capable of punching through light cover
    - Able to fire more powerful rounds, and at longer ranges, than other weapons

    The long gun could be a rifle or shotgun. It's not obvious which from long distance glimpses, so to claim it's a "semi automatic rifle" might be wrong- it could be a shotgun.

    It's tactically useful, it's descriptive, and unlike bullshit media fuckstick terms, it's *correct*. It's also common parlance among anyone who deals with guns.

  34. Re:It was a "gun free zone" that got hit. Again. by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or you live in any developed country other than the USA...

  35. Re:speaking of war by schnell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The jews were disarmed before they were rounded up during WWII. How did not having a way to protect themselves work out for them?

    Are you seriously suggesting that the German Jews of the 1930s, if they had not had gun ownership restrictions, would have been able to successfully resist the Gestapo, SD, SS and Wehrmacht? Or that the above organizations would have said to themselves, "Whoa. Our political ideology is based on blaming 'international Jewry' for the economic woes of the Aryan German volk. Since the early '20s we've been very clear in saying we'd like to see them out of Germany entirely... one way or another. But some of them have rifles or handguns, and AMG (Ach Mein Gott!) concealed carry permits! Let's back off and not implement the Final Solution."

    And, by the way, the majority of Jews killed in the Holocaust were from Poland, Soviet territories or otherwise outside Germany. How did not being subject to Germany's confiscation of Jews' guns work out for them? How did the Warsaw uprising work out for anyone?

    There are plenty of valid reasons for responsible people to own guns. To claim that one of them is because it will prevent tyranny by one's own government in the modern era is totally fucking batshit insane. Find a real justification.

    --
    "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
  36. Re:It was a "gun free zone" that got hit. Again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    good guys with guns never, ever stop bad guys with guns. It's a fantasy

    A recent CDC-commissioned report found that defensive gun use happens *at least* as often (if not more often) than criminal gun use. But let's see a list of things that "never ever" happened:

    In Chicago earlier this year, an Uber driver with a concealed-carry permit “shot and wounded a gunman [Everardo Custodio] who opened fire on a crowd of people.”

    In a Philadelphia barber shop earlier this year, Warren Edwards “opened fire on customers and barbers” after an argument. Another man with a concealed-carry permit then shot the shooter; of course it’s impossible to tell whether the shooter would have kept killing if he hadn’t been stopped, but a police captain was quoted as saying that, “I guess he [the man who shot the shooter] saved a lot of people in there.”

    In a hospital near Philadelphia, in 2014, Richard Plotts shot and killed the psychiatric caseworker with whom he was meeting, and shot and wounded his psychiatrist, Lee Silverman. Silverman shot back, and took down Plotts. While again it’s not certain whether Plotts would have killed other people, Delaware County D.A. Jack Whelan stated that, “If the doctor did not have a firearm, (and) the doctor did not utilize the firearm, he’d be dead today, and I believe that other people in that facility would also be dead”; Yeadon Police Chief Donald Molineux similar said that he “believe[d] the doctor saved lives.” Plotts was still carrying 39 unspent rounds when he was arrested.

    Near Spartanburg, S.C., in 2012, Jesse Gates went to his church armed with a shotgun and kicked in a door. But Aaron Guyton, who had a concealed-carry license, drew his gun and pointed it at Gates, and other parishioners then disarmed Gates. Note that in this instance, unlike the others, it’s possible that the criminal wasn’t planning on killing anyone, but just brought the shotgun to church and kicked in the door to draw attention to himself or vent his frustration.

    In Atlanta in 2009, Calvin Lavant and Jamal Hill broke into an apartment during a party and forced everyone to the floor. After they gathered various valuables, and separated the men and the women, and Lavant said to Hill, “we are about to have sex with these girls, then we are going to kill them all,” and began “discussing condoms and the number of bullets in their guns.” At that point, Sean Barner, a Marine who was attending Georgia State as part of the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program, managed to get to the book bag he brought to the party; took out his gun; shot and scared away Hill; went into the neighboring room, where Lavant was about to rape one of the women; was shot at by Lavant, and shot back and hit Lavant, who then ran off and later died of his injuries. One of the women was shot and wounded in the shootout, but given the circumstances described in the sources I linked to, it seemed very likely that Lavant and Hill would have killed (as well as raped) some or all of the partygoers had they not been stopped. This incident of course involves a member of the military, not a civilian, so some may discount it on those grounds. But Barner was acting as a civilian, and carrying a gun as a civilian (he had a concealed carry license); indeed, if he had been on a military base, he would generally not have been allowed to carry a gun except when on security duty.

    In Winnemucca, Nev., in 2008, Ernesto Villagomez killed two people and wounded two others in a bar filled with 300 people. He was then shot and killed by a patron who was carrying a gun (and had a concealed-carry license). It’s not clear whether Villagomez would have killed more people; the killings were apparently the result of a family feud, and I could see no information on whether Villagomez had more names on his list, nor could one tell whether he would have killed more people in trying to

  37. Re:speaking of war by NoImNotNineVolt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How did the Warsaw uprising work out for anyone?

    The Warsaw Uprising worked quite well. The German occupying forces were significantly weakened by Polish insurgents just prior to the arrival of the advancing Russian forces, exactly as intended. That the Russians decided to pause their advance just outside of Warsaw, allowing the decimated Germans to slaughter the remains of the Polish insurgency before capturing Warsaw for mother Russia, is no fault of the Poles.

    While the Warsaw Uprising has nothing to do with confiscation of arms, this transparently dickheaded move by Russia is but one of countless reasons why Poles, generally speaking, hate them.

    --
    Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.