Mall Shooting
Nutjob, gun-free mall, rifle. Same as last one, only it’s a crazy white guy instead of a crazy olive-skinned guy. Soon, the press will again be in All AK-47 All The Time mode. I was going to write about it but everyone else already did:
PGP: Is violent death from lax gun laws around every corner? Or am I probably really safe and shouldn’t ever have to worry about violent death from a crazed attacker who is either a complete stranger or a person I know in the community?
Sebastian is angry.
John Lott on the media coverage notes what’s missing.
Me? I say the usual. Expect calls for banning weapons that look like assault weapons. And calls for the other gun control pipe dreams, none of which would have stopped this.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:30 am
I live in Omaha. Fortunately, I was not directly affected and do not know of any friends or acquaintances that were directly affected by this.
The mall this occurred in is in a “good” area. “This type of thing doesn’t happen around here”.
Nebraska’s CCW law went into effect Jan 07. From what I understand there has not been tremendous demand for CCWs. Maybe that will change.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:33 am
The shooter said he “wanted to go out in style” – I thought it would’ve meant doing a backflip on a motorcycle off Angel Falls with a bomb strapped to your chest set to go off halfway down…
I read on another forum that Westroads had a ‘no-weapons policy’, but that there was an exemption for CCW holders. Don’t know if this is true or not (I couldn’t find anoything on their site).
December 6th, 2007 at 11:01 am
I was amazed at comments at WOWT or some such news channel
People blames President Bush, The 94 assault rifle ban (SKS were not on the list)
Many called for stricter punishments for those that misuse a gun, uh he had decided to kill himself, what you gonna hang him after he’s dead?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:16 am
That’s the sad thing about events like this, The Duck. People are always calling for more stick. How about ‘sharing a carrot’ so that maybe the stick never has to show up in the first place?
The people blaming Bush for this are just ignorant of what the ban covered and did not cover.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
CNN reports an AK-47 was used.
Fox and NPR report an SKS was used.
Did anyone come across any photos of the gun?
December 6th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
“CNN reports an AK-47 was used.
Fox and NPR report an SKS was used.”
Does it really surprise anyone that CNN got the facts wrong? When it comes to firearms when has CNN EVER gotten it right?
December 6th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
There are a huge number of outlets reporting it was a Russian SKK, rather than an SKS.
December 7th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Does the news media want to reduce these tragedies?
The answer is SIMPLE!
Make a policy (and state it) of never mentioning the name of the shooter in these tragedies. Report the story but always refer the the shooter as gunman, shooter nutjob disturbed individual, etc.
This nut yesterday left a note with the statement “I’ll be famous” that is the biggest reason these spectacular things happen.
I frankly doubt that yours or any other news organization has the integrity to do the right thing.
Richard Lovett