Comments on: Gunman Kills Hostage, Self At NASA

One Wounded As Hostage Drama Ends At Johnson Space Center In Houston

[randalds]

Besides it's not like I'd be alone with my shotgun against the whole military. I have no doubt that IF pushed into that corner then the bulk of Americans will be right beside me. There are still enough people in this country who still believe in what we're really supposed to be about to stop those that don't.

[jscribe58]

When are people going to wake up and realize that gun control would not stop the bad guys from having guns? It's so simple, an idiot can see it. If you really believe violent crime went down in England, you are truly an idiot.

[randalds]

How much good will your shotgun or my guns be against mortar shells or bombing runs? Can you say nada? People think guns are the answer to the government--nope. Free thinking is the answer to the government--if you taught your children that, then when a President or anyone else tries to make them turn on the citizens--they recognize who the true enemy is--but if you taught them blind obedience....then we all may well live to see the day, when a child can kill his parents in the name of a leader--and think he did a good thing.
Posted by toldyouso21 at 01:42 AM : Apr 21, 2007

Of course free thinking is what, in a more perfect world, would be the answer. This is not that more perfect world and won't be in time to stop Bush and his minions IF they do turn on the citizens. There's not enough time to raise that generation of children that it would take in the next few years. Personally I believe a large number of the troops will rebel and refuse to follow orders and even if there still are tanks and planes attacking, then a shotgun is better then no gun at all. And it always better to go down fighting when you know you're in the right then to give up and wait for a more perfect world.

[toldyouso21]

They are so far to the right that fascism is just around the corner and I want to be armed when they turn that corner, because I and others need to be ready to stop them.
Posted by RandalDS at 01:31 AM : Apr 21, 2007


If and when they round that corner, individual guns being fired will do very little to stop them..Because at that point, the government can have the military turn against the citizens with all of those weapons our taxes have been paying for. And if this just sounds too far fetched, never forget that from 2005 and at least twice in 2006, Bush again and again petitioned Congress to allow him to use the Civil Defense and the National Guard against ordinary Americans in case of panic or emergency (and we know how he interprets emergencies). Each time he was denied--but he tried it pointing to Katrina, then to the bird flu and again to the flu and panic conditions--he desperately wants his own private forces--now go figure. Now...think. How much good will your shotgun or my guns be against mortar shells or bombing runs? Can you say nada? People think guns are the answer to the government--nope. Free thinking is the answer to the government--if you taught your children that, then when a President or anyone else tries to make them turn on the citizens--they recognize who the true enemy is--but if you taught them blind obedience....then we all may well live to see the day, when a child can kill his parents in the name of a leader--and think he did a good thing.

[toldyouso21]

If you were successful in eliminating every single gun from the U.S., what will you do next, when the same criminals and nut jobs blow up five thousand people with a bomb?? You can't legislate safety by banning THINGS. Posted by veteran71 at 09:45 PM : Apr 20, 2007


I'm not sure our criminals and crazy people have the know how for those kinds of bombs. If you remember, even our military had never experienced anything like it and the insurgents keep adapting. They use cell phones to detonate and they are a country with weapons and ingredients caches everywhere in Iraq. I don't think it is the same here. We had the unibomber and a few others and then there was the OK bombing--but we would know if someone was moving that amount of bomb making ingredients. (I hope)

[randalds]

I agree. The NRA doesn't represent my gun views any more than the Repugnican party represents my political and fiscal views. I too, own several guns, for sport and for protection. I don't hunt and don't have a desire to hunt. But I do have a desire to exercise my right to own guns.

Posted by down-ndirty at 01:13 AM : Apr 21, 2007

I used to hunt as a kid, but never really was into it. I only have the one shotgun for home defense, but I'll be dam*ned if I give it up. The strange thing is that I might have during the Clinton years, but ever since 9-11 I have watched this government chip away at right after right after right and right now I honestly believe they are the most dangerous administration in US history. Not just the most dangerous to other nations, but even more dangerous to the American people. They are so far to the right that fascism is just around the corner and I want to be armed when they turn that corner, because I and others need to be ready to stop them.

[toldyouso21]

Much like a schizophrenic and multi personality person--we hear voices and they tell some Bush is god and they tell other Americans that they are the saviors of people they bombed, but we have a lot of blood on our hands. Now, I don't know if this man copied Cho, or the accountant, or someone else--but I do know something is very, very wrong in our country right now--and law enforcement cannot fix it--it goes far deeper than that. Consider that the law cannot do anything until a person "acts" or gives off warning signs. Consider that the nut cases know this--so they stop blogging, emailing, writing plays or letters or making threats-- and just show up and start shooting. Sort of like terrorism. You do not know who they are, or when they started hating so much they were willing to kill themselves and us--and there is no way to tell if they don't use the phone, or traceable bank accounts or credit cards (and everyone knows the gov. is monitoring now) even in Iraq--there is no way to really know friend or foe--or on what day, they changed their mind and now they want to work with us---or now they really hate us. Terrorism is an idea--and face it--we are under domestic terrorism with all of our own citizens--and we do not even realize it, but the results are just the same. paranoia, paralysis, fear--and death coming out of nowhere.

[down-ndirty]

It is very unlikely that the United States government will be able to control the access to handguns; the reality is that even the law-abiding population resists gun control; the use of severe mandatory sentences for gun control violations is merely a reflection of the unwillingness of the citizenry to have their right to self-preservation taken away by the government. Studies reveal that only twenty-five percent of handgun owners complied with registration, and a that seventy-three percent would not comply with handgun prohibition. Other studies have noted that gun laws have created an entire class of new criminals--normally honest, law-abiding citizens who elect to keep a gun in full knowledge that they are in violation of certain local and state laws. The reality is that even the most Draconian measures could not hope to remove guns from the hands of people who were determined to get and keep them.

Criminals either steal their guns, or they buy them on the black market--either way, the guns are untraceable. The DoJ and the ATF have estimated that ninety percent of violent crimes are committed without handguns, but of those crimes which are committed with handguns, ninety-three percent of the guns used in those crimes are obtained through unlawful purchases.

Source: See my 12:50 AM post

[toldyouso21]

The copycat loony tunes are out in full force. It was only a matter of time before they started crawling out of the woodwork. ...Posted by RandalDS at 04:16 PM : Apr 20, 2007

This was not the first and neither was Cho. Just last week an accountant entered a building and killed members of his company before turning on himself. I think there was also an incident just prior to that one. The point is--we are coming unglued as a society--all our secret vices and closet ugliness/rage and frustration is being exposed like an huge ugly mirror held to our faces and we are required to take a long look at what we are becoming.
We have a rogue government and no one seems able to stop or cope with them. We have an illegal war which we won't stop fighting but which we probably cannot win. We have country after country challenging our authority and right to police the world, we have our double and triple standards on wealth and race and gender and how we treat our children being exposed. Before Cho, or the accountant, there was the man who went into an Amish school held 8 girls, raped some--and didn't he kill some, then himself? that was this year also. There were several cases of men killing themselves and their families and the brother who set fire to his sister's home and killed her 5 kids (last month)

[down-ndirty]

"I won't join the NRA because I think their leaders are lunatic right wingers, however as a far left liberal I strongly support the right to bear arms, so you shouldn't lump everyone in together as NRA supporters." Posted by RandalDS

I agree. The NRA doesn't represent my gun views any more than the Repugnican party represents my political and fiscal views. I too, own several guns, for sport and for protection. I don't hunt and don't have a desire to hunt. But I do have a desire to exercise my right to own guns.

And yes, I have used a gun in self defense. Fortunately the aggressor realized how serious I was and left the scene unharmed.