A Cautionary Tale

You may have heard about the guy that killed someone at the Empire State Building today.  Ho hum, another murder...but there is one thing that interested me about this story:

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - An out-of-work fashion designer fatally shot a former co-worker near the Empire State Building on Friday and was then killed in a blaze of gunshots by police, stunning tourists and commuters outside of one of New York's most popular landmarks.

Nine bystanders were wounded, possibly all of them by police bullets..."

Nine wounded by police, shooting in broad daylight.  Now, imagine that this shootout had taken place, say, in a dark movie theater in Colorado, and that the people who returned fire were not trained policemen but violent, infantile jackasses living out their fantasy of being Dirty Harry.

Boy those people that want to see lots more idiots wandering around with loaded guns (read Republicans) are really on to a good thing here, right?

Comments

Magpie said…
Shooting an unidentified target in a room full of moving panicking people in darkness is an extraordinarily difficult task for even someone of SAS level training and mental and sensory fitness - even when they are expecting to have to do it. This is why so many hostages are killed by friendly fire during organised rescue ops.

The incidents where a bystander has successfully shot a criminal during the progress of the offense usually come down to a combination of ideal conditions in a static well lit environment and the criminal being a fucking idiot.

Gun ownership is nothing more than a hobby. All else – that it makes you less of a target for crime… etc – is nothing but an obscene myth.
August 25, 2012 at 2:00 AM
the yellow fringe said…
There was an experiment done, you may have seen the video. A college lecture hall situation, they identified some so called "experienced hand gun owners and marksmen" in the class and got them on board for the experiment, gave them hand guns equipped with lazer pointers activated by trigger, told them sometime in the next few classes someone would enter and create a crime or threat. The thing was filmed to identify where any shots were fired. When it did occur, and with great tension and surprise by the actor "criminal", in every case these gun experts shot numerous people in the class, in no case did they ever shoot the "bad guy", one women even shot herself taking the gun out of her purse.

Arm the public, throw in some panic, a crime or percieved threat and you have increased the chances of your kids being killed by a bullet. Crossfire, wannabe heros, scared gun slingers = your kids dead in the mall.
August 25, 2012 at 7:51 AM
mastercynic said…
Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns. Works for me.

On the other hand I have no problem with armed idiots shooting each other.
August 25, 2012 at 5:19 PM
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