April 16, 2007
University Of Texas Tower Sniper Recalled
1966 Rampage Was Deadliest Campus Shooting Until Virginia Tech
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Smoke rises from the sniper's gun as he fired from the tower of the University of Texas administration building on crowds below in this Aug. 1, 1966, file photo. (AP (file))
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A photo of Charles Joseph Whitman, the University of Texas student who went on a shooting spree, dated May 1, 1966. (AP)
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Photo Essay
Virginia Tech Massacre
Gunman opens fire in dorm and classroom, killing at least 32 before killing himself.
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Photos
Shooting Sprees
Images from some of the more notable cases in recent years.
Until Monday's carnage at Virginia Tech, the Aug. 1, 1966, sniping rampage by Charles Whitman from the Austin school's landmark 307-foot tower had remained the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history.
Whitman, 25, a Lake Worth, Fla., native and former university student, opened fire from the 28th-floor observation deck, shooting people on the streets 231 feet below.
Sixteen people were killed and another 31 were wounded before police killed him about 90 minutes later.
In 2001, a Fort Worth man died of what physicians said were complications from a gunshot wound inflicted that day by Whitman, bringing the death toll to 17.
The school marked the tragic anniversary last year with a low-key observance, flying flags on campus at half-staff.
Then this past January, university officials added a bronze plaque to a garden near the tower as a memorial "to those who died, to those who were wounded, and to the countless other victims who were immeasurably affected by the tragedy," according to an inscription on the plaque.
Among Whitman's victims was a receptionist near the top of the tower who was fatally beaten and two tourists from Texarkana were shot to death.
Besides his murderous attack from the top of the tower, Whitman earlier had stabbed to death his mother at her Austin apartment and his wife at their Austin home.
Notes that Whitman left behind indicated he killed his wife and mother to spare them the embarrassment of what he planned to do.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 56 CommentsThose rifles carried by The Police sure look good on TV and in pictures, but didn't do a bit of good.
Fact : Fascist Countries breed Dissent.
How much longer until we go into Civil War??
As an aside I'm glad that CBS stopped the comments on the Virgina Tech massacre. It had devolved into people preaching about their version of god or their politics on gun control. Time enough for that later.
To all you people who are against some form of gun control.
Have an honest look at what happened in Australia, as a result of fairly stringent gun control laws.
Australia has never since had even a hint of any radical form of militia attempt to take over.
That claim is the claim of those desperately wishing to keep their deadly little toys in the U.S.
My heart goes out to the families etc of those killed and injured.
How many more times are Americans going to have to say just that.
I did suggest that you and others should have an honest look at Australia, you obviously have chosen not to.
That reasoning of course is your perogative.
I made no statement concerning the total elimination of such events, and can not say that a similar event could not happen again in Australia, but I feel the number of such could be greatly reduced, resulting in the saving of many innocent lives.
Maybe you would do well not to resort to insults, that certainly does not enhance any logical argument you could put forward.
You are so right.
Australia did something abaout the result of one person out of the norm [Port Arthur], and achived a good result.
You think if you bomb your own ships and blow up your own buildings, it's not going to rub off on the rest of the people? A capitalist society that relies on being godless, lying, swindling, de-humanization, and sadistic... what do you expect?
I believe the U.S. is probably the worst for gun related crimes.
For the person that said that everybody should have a gun-get a grip! That would mean even more deaths.
Take this shooting for instance, you can look at it two ways: one, if everybody had a gun (and all being inexperienced in handling the gun) there would have been panic with everyone shooting at once and more people would be killed.
two, if there were strict laws, people would have less access to a gun and the chances are, this would not have happened.
Yes, there are other weapons, like knives , but again I don't think it would have happened if they had to resort to knives.
There are some people who live in denial about EVERYTHING.
I am all for gun control! If you can't control the gun you will never hit your target. Everyone should have a firearm and know how to shoot it safely and accurately. It would deter more crime than you are willing to admit.
Posted by lawandorder6 at 07:33 PM : Apr 16, 2007
Ok, Atheism is fun!
So if a murderer can't spell murder, he gets to go free?
That gunman should have killed himself, just should have held up a sign: "I am shuter."
Let 'em go, he can't spell it right...lol
Your stupid societal laws are a wonder to behold.
How do you explain that your country has way more gun related crimes that most other countries?
If everyone had a gun there would be more shootings. There would be trigger happy people who just because they didn't like what someone said, would pull out their gun and shoot. There are a lot of angry and mentally disturbed people out there.
I do not have to be willing or unwilling to admit anything.
As I said have a look at the result of the gun control laws enacted in Australia.
What's gun control going to do? They'll find something else. Explosives, poisons, swards, maschetti....
Fix your brains!
I don't live in Australia! Why would I want to look at laws that have no effect on me? Why would someone from Australia be concerned about the laws of The United States of America? The laws of one do not apply to the other.
If this offends your sense of right and wrong you don't have to come here. It makes no difference to me. I am quite happy without you being my neighbor.
I will continue to own and shoot firearms. I have never shot anyone, I hope I never have the need to shoot anyone. But, if it is required to defend myself or my family I DO have the ability to defend us against armed assailants.
Posted by erasmus6 at 07:42 PM : Apr 16, 2007
The hunting weapons in Canada could be used on humans.
Anyway, the Middle East has the lowest murder rate and the run around with Galils and AK's.
Texas murder 2000-2004 = 6,000
Indifada- Israelis and Palistinians 2000-2004 = 4,000
Is there a war in Texas? US murder rate = 50,000 - 70,000 per year. You just might be safer in Iraq?
As I have found from previous posters,most pro gun are unwilling to even look at the figures in Australia, or if have done so, prefer not to let on such.
The reason is bleeding obvious.
You are so right.
If you would post a link I would be more than happy to take a look, not that it will change my mind or anything... I'm sort of set in my ways. You know, as an American, my feelings should be "bleeding" obvious!
Posted by newster1 at 08:10 PM : Apr 16, 2007
US elite are masters in de-humanization. Rather easy with a society that will go for any excuse to hate and kill. Questioning it will spoil their fun.
I am not sure of the link, I tend to disregard many of the so called statistics posted on various sites, however I do try and evaluate a consensus of them all if possible.
My reasoning being, as we all have a bias to our own particular leaning, we will by nature prefer sites that agree with our line of thinking.
As you may well be already aware, I am an Australian, and as such it could be said that I have no right to be posting on an American internal problem.
However it pains me and makes me so sad, to see these and so many other unnecassary deaths of totally innocent persons.
We had a series of similar events here, culminating with such an event at Port Arthur in Tasmania in which 35 persons died.
We have had nil such events since our gun control laws were enacted, Irealize that proves nothing necessarily.
I f you and others care to find the particular sites, you will find those laws are not archaic.
As best you can, enjoy your evening/night.
You may never have shot anyone and would only do so to protect your family, but there are many who wouldn't hesitate to shoot for the smallest of reasons.
No offense but I would be quite happy without you being my neighbour also. It is like I told didntinhale, I like to keep up with what is going on in your country because you have so many enemies that if they should decide to blow you out of the water, we would go with you!
(rheola, I tried to say it nicely!)
I am sure that Bhappy2 is a sensible and logical thinking person, and is very well entitled to His/Her point of view, maybe that point of view is the correct one, I and you may well differ, but that is our right to do so, as does bhappy2 and others have their right.
However you hang in with that point of view of yours, you do yourself or nobody else any harm by doing so
A previous poster Randalds suggested we should all wait, before stating our views, in part he/she is correct, however I feel that debate must be started quickly, to hopefully find a way of averting such an attrocity in the future.
If your country had gun laws, we would have even less gun crime, because then the guns wouldn't be coming in from your country.
I have looked at several (12-15) sites concerning Austrailia and the gun laws there. They were about 50/50 as to the violence increasing or decreasing. Of course, whoever wrote them could easily fabricate numbers to fit their argument regardless of which side they argue for. I wish you and yours all the best in life, but I still prefer to keep my firearms and my family safe.
I haven't sent any guns to your country. I respect your desire to keep track of what goes on here and your right to have a different opinion than mine. Different opinions don't necessarily mean incorrect opinions. Just the same, I will continue to keep and bear arms as long as the laws of America permit me to do so.If the laws are changed I will make every effort to comply, but I would not bhappy2-2.
You are right, everyone has a right to their point of view.
I believe people can learn a lot from the views of others, good or bad.
Our countries can learn a lot from other countries, like Canada has learned from the U.S., that more people die needlessly from lack of gun control.
Our countries can learn a lot from other countries, like Canada has learned from the U.S., that more people die needlessly from lack of gun control.
That is below the belt Erasmus, what we call a back handed compliment.
i.e. With a sting in the tail.
Sure wish we could try this experiment.
I know, I can be VERY bad sometimes! It just kind of sneaks up on me sometimes, and before I know it, I have gone and said something that isn't nice. :)
It is always nice to hear from another person with some common sense.
Unfortunately your wish could well be an impossibility, but surely ne clear thinking rational person could disagree.
I am sure if we here in Australia were given the opportunity to vote on the relaxation of the gun laws or not, the answer would be an overwhelming NO NO NO.
Of course we have here a similar organisation as your NRA , They would not in any way want such a vote, but fortunately it does not have so much control over politicians.
Welcome to that day.
Your Government is FASCIST.
The POLICE DID NOTHING TO STOP THE SHOOTER.
NOTHING.
Nobody said YOU had to carry a Gun. Take your chances. JUST DON'T TAKE MINE AWAY.
THEY WANTED TO TAKE OUR FREE SPEECH
WE GOT TO STOP THIS FREE SPEECH BEFORE
''' T H E Y '''
NUKE A CITY
FYI, I THINK ''' THEY ''' ARE NEWT GIGRICH and
HIS CRIMINAL GOVERNMENT FRIENDS
And, my prediction to you is that either before we lose a city, or if we are truly stupid, after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that use every technology we can find to break up their capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech. ... Newt Gingrich
oh for our own good...
Newt Gingrich on his ANTI-AMERICAN FREE SPEECH Tour...
NBC = MEET THE PRESS
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16153676/print/1/displaymode/1098/
oh for our own good...
Gingrich Says Terror Threat May Necessitate Changes In Freedom Of Speech Laws
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/free_speech_terror_threat_need_changes_in_free_speech_laws.htm
oh for our own good...
Gingrich Lies To Assault Free Speech Again
Unrepentant, arch Neo-Con crafts deceptive Ahmadinejad boogeyman argument to con Americans into First Amendment regulation
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/gingrich_lies_to_assault_free_speech_again.htm
Your government did the right thing by inacting tougher gun laws and Australia is safer today because of those tough laws.Unfortunately here our government cowers in the face of our own terrorist group called the NRA and refuses to confront these murderous thugs.If the founding fathers of our country visited 21st century USA and seen the bloody carnage created by the
2nd amendment,they would be so appalled that they would retutn to 1787 and promply remove that terrible amendment from our Constitution.
I am embarrassed as an American that my nation has the highest murder rate then any other democratic nation on Earth.
Yes we are indeed fortunate, that we have rational thinkers here, maybe one day in your country, that will happen also,and as you so very correctly named them, that murderous NRA, will not be listened to so readily by your Leaders.
Our equivalant here is the very inappropriately name "Sporting Shooters Association" what an oxymoron, they tried their damnest to stop the present gun laws, and are forever trying to overcome them, I think generally our people would go up in arms [ no pun intended ] if they were in any way successfull.
Iam amazed at the ignorance of some of the recent postings.
Maybe I should move to your country,but then again I love America too much to leave her so will stay and do all I can to make my country
an even better place to live.Despite all the horrible things you may see from where you are,
the vast majority of Americans are just like the vast majority of Australian,kind amd decent people who only want the best for their country.
Please don't give up on us,we are certainly not a perfect nation but most of us still try to do what is right for our country.
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