David Berkowitz, 'Son of Sam' killer: "Society has to take the glory out of guns"

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

David Berkowitz during an interview with the Associated Press at Sullivan Correction Facility in Fallsburg, N.Y., in May 2009.

/ AP Photo/Mike Groll

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - Convicted serial killer David Berkowitz, also known as the "Son of Sam" killer, says "society has to take the glory out of guns."

Police arrested Berkowitz 35 years ago today, outside his Yonkers, N.Y. home on Aug. 10, 1977, ending a 13-month shooting spree that claimed six lives. Since then, according to the Daily News, Berkowitz appears to have gone through a personal and spiritual transformation, and developed an all-consuming passion to discourage youth from lives of crime.

Berkowitz spoke to the newspaper in an interview at the maximum security Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, N.Y.

Berkowitz, now 59, is serving 25-years to life. He lamented the recent fatal shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin and on New York City streets, including that of a 4-year-old boy in the Bronx.

He said gun control was for legislators to work out. His hope is for young people to realize "just how terrible this violence is."

Said Berkowitz: "When they use a gun ... they ruin their lives too."

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by Verascity August 13, 2012 12:25 AM EDT: Interviewing Berkowitz, as if his opinions mean anything, was loathsome.; Reply to this comment


by judymar3 August 12, 2012 10:01 AM EDT: If the first couple had a gun, there might not have been four more murders by this nut case.; Reply to this comment


by 1stlttightwad August 11, 2012 6:11 AM EDT: WOW!! I'm really going to listen to anything from a nutcase that said his dog told him to do it. Chit!; Reply to this comment


by marx_marvelous August 11, 2012 3:38 AM EDT: does the nra send out posting alerts to its members?; Reply to this comment


by nohater August 11, 2012 3:04 AM EDT: this man should have been executed long ago. it's a shame that he is given a spotlight to utter his beliefs after killing innocent people. he is alive, fat and happy while his victims have long turned to dust. if it were my call, he would be executed today. fortunately for him, it's not my call. everyone forgets the victims.; Reply to this comment

by Laggmonster8 August 11, 2012 1:52 AM EDT

He does have a point. In the great southern states, gun ownership is a common thing. People do not prance around feeling they have power over others because they own a gun. Everybody has a gun. Here in NJ, if you pick up a sharp stick walking down the sidewalk people call in the swat team. Phil Collins sings a song about "another day in paradise" where a young man says that his gun gets him respect. If everyone around him had a gun as well, he wouldn't feel so special. The antigun nuts seem to think there'd be gun battles in the streets. That's like saying golfers could be running around the golf course beating people with their 9 irons.

I have a theory. Many races, the europeans in particular, have a history of combat and conquest. It is human nature, particularly in young males, to have tendency towards being physically rough. Current estrogen driven society tries to suppress any and all forms of physical challenges, lest someone get hurt. By suppressing this basic drive of human nature, to physcially tussle about, this drive has no release and builds till it finally explodes. Sometimes this release results in things like school shootings. Our society needs to stop being so effeminate and give young males some room to let that aggression out. I'm all for women's rights. I'm also all for telling women to sit down, shut up, and let a man be a man. THAT is a big problem with our world today. Ask yourself, "What would John Wayne do?"

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by marx_marvelous August 11, 2012 3:23 AM EDT: have a lung removed? die of cancer?


by 1stlttightwad August 11, 2012 6:09 AM EDT: To Marx guess you're not old enough to remember the Kent cigarettes with the Micronite filter touted as safe by doctors..The true scope of smoking was not "revealed" till many years later..Keep in mind, the US Gov provided cigarettes in a soldiers daily combat rations..


by ahendryx819 August 13, 2012 10:40 AM EDT: Really??? You're gonna blame the recent outburst of school shootings and other violence on WOMEN??? You think that our society is going soft because women want it to be that way? Please....I have no more use for today's soft, politically-correct men than you do. Quite honestly, I go for men who can protect me. That means, yes, they have to be able to fight. Believe it or not, there are places in this country where the people can still fight and protect themselves. How about, instead of blaming women for this change in our society, focusing on the other groups that want equality, and don't want you to say certain things in public? Like the different racial groups, the gay rights groups, just for example....


by rwsmith29456 August 11, 2012 1:41 AM EDT: It took him long enough to figure out that killing is bad. Now if he would just bring back his own victims.; Reply to this comment

by Jaylah54200 August 11, 2012 12:16 AM EDT

Interesting. When a mass murderer says that there's a problem with society glorifying guns, the only thing the gun nuts have to say is "Why should we listen to this guy?"

Oh gee, I dunno. Maybe because he, unlike the rest of you, actually knows what he's talking about?

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by Well_You_Aint_Me August 11, 2012 7:58 AM EDT: The guy was/is antisocial personality. He was/is a nut-case. Now he is on his meds and willing to say anything to be released from prison. This isn't so much that he "knows what he's talking about". It is an attempt to get parole. When he was doing the "Son of Sam" killings if he didn't have a gun the psycho in him would have likely used a knife, bat or club. He was commanded by a demon to kill. That isn't a sane or stable person.


by ahendryx819 August 13, 2012 10:35 AM EDT: Wooowww. You, unlike the rest of US, are willing to be so easily manipulated by a serial killer??? You've been writing him letters in prison, haven't you? Maybe you can start a cult for him similar to the Manson family....


by tigrissupinus August 11, 2012 12:02 AM EDT: This beady eyed little psychopath shouldn't be given the attention. Let him rot.; Reply to this comment


by opedanderson2 August 10, 2012 10:50 PM EDT: Here's a hard fact.

Less gun control in the 70's would have gotten this guy's ass shot dead before he could have done the damage he did....

Law abiding citizens need guns to protect themselves. Clearly, the people cannot rely on the police in every instance.; Reply to this comment