Gun Control talks

[Moose]

if guns are outlawed, only outlaws would have guns.....and i don't like those odds

gun control would only create an EVEN LARGER weapons black market which in turn would increase crime and violence.

Even if guns are controlled people will still get a hold of them illegally if they really wanted to. I mean the USA is the worlds leading consumer of illegal drugs....ILLEGAL DRUGS!! With the resources in this country there is no doubt that if you desire something bad enough it will come to fruition; whether drugs, guns, good, or evil, we can access all these things through various channels in the US.

The answer is in better security at schools etc.....and if there is ANY form of legislation that would limit access to firearms i would like it to be a psych evaluation of the individual applying to own a gun....like the armed forces and police forces..

[swordfish]

To add to Agonzales... I would have no issue with a small percentage of teachers, or even office aids etc, hell principals being trained and allowed to carry throughout the school system... Dude, they had no chance... I'd give 10 years off my life to have had one of them carrying and having a damn chance... This is just beyond sad... As far as gun control, ummm... Assault rifles I can see being an issue, however I guarantee you that even when you ban them you will still be able to buy them, you will simply make the cartels as well as the gun runners richer, and put more of those ARs in thugs hands...

Anyone remember the shootout with the two bank robbers in California? Where they were wearing kevlar and the cops were severely out gunned? You think them two idiots got those rifles legally? We need to get TOUGHER on people ILLEGALLY owning Assault rifles and I am definitely for having to go through a psychic evaluation before owning a gun... However, no matter what we do short of armed security in every school, this will always be tough to stop...

-swordfish

[BEOWULF]

Guns don't kill people... but they make it a helluva-lot easier!

God bless the innocents.

[CubanExpress]

None of this would've happened if Nancy Lanza had her firearms locked and secured.

She paid the ultimate price, and her guns cost the lives of many others because of it.

[jezratty]

i agree that it is not guns that kill people, it is people who kill people... so completely heartbroken for all families involved and many opinions on where to place the blame.. gun control, video games, poor parenting, imho mental health care needs to more readily available and less expensive to those who need it! suffering from a mental illness can be just as debilitating as any other disease... and just as deadly.... gun control is just the tip of the ice burg.... i believe if we really want to see changes we need to invest in education! educate on topics such as gun safety, educate parents on how to spot signs of withdrawal and depression in their kids... ignorance is a killer

[migs24]

I do believe that armed QUALIFIED guards should exist in every school. I dont care how big or small the school, what age group you're dealing with, it obviously does not matter as anyone can just barge in out of nowhere and blow you away while you're doing your job or trying to earn an "A" in class.

I find it almost comical that we can place armed police to protect and serve our SHOPPING MALLS yet, at schools where the children -the future of america grow, youll be lucky to have 2 security guards. At the most. Unfortunate that security is needed at schools, but in todays world.. It is what it is. It's sad and makes you wonder where all of our money for resources go and where they should really be going. Sad that it has to come to this to wake people up.

This is going to place a huge impact on gun restrictions... People have the right and should* to protect themselves and taking that away will only empower criminals. I'm glad to already have my concealed weapons permit and for anyone who is thinking about getting one, you should act sooner than later.

[fixed80]

has anyone thought that if guns were banned.... more jobs would be lost. well it seems to me it would be or maybe im just wrong. and one other thing I'll say too. just suppose if guns were illegal like it is in many of the most dangerous countries. people would die very hard like, knifed to death, beaten, burned, basically tortured and etc. so yeah lets keep them guns legal.

[Xpierrat]

it is no question another tragedy and my prayers go to all the families who have lost loved ones and the survivors along with the responders that will have nightmares for a very long time......

the sheep will scream and some laws will be passed and nothing will be safer as far as guns go...... the killer will just have a illegal gun or illegal magazine that holds 30 rounds or will just have 3 ten round mags instead....as others have said if guns were to just disappear ( fat chance ) then it would be illegal guns, knifes, bombs, or poison in the food...( fill in the method of choice )....when someone decides to kill they usually will find a way.... yes if a knife was used the loss would probably have been less....but that would make no difference to the ones that were still dead. there are just not enough good guys ( LEO ) and way to many bad guys.... so yes I have made the choice and have taken classes and secured a proper permit to better protect myself and family.

it was mentioned that if the weapons were locked up .... we don't know that they weren't...the kid could have gotten moms keys while she was asleep and still carried out this sick deed.... but unsecured guns do cause tragedy every year..... so do lock them up when they are not on duty

teachers with guns probably not... armed security guards you bet especially if they were well selected vets that have great instincts and are properly retrained....

Here is the biggest problem...
if the school used to have armed security and it was dropped then that is a shame.... (probably budget cuts in the poor economy ) even worse the glass at the secured doors was not bullet proof.... wanna bet there are plans in place to correct that security fault in a lot of places public and private....not just schools.

I am with Jess on the education, and mental health help needed....
there lies the real key to finding out why these tragedies are becoming all to frequent....not the tools used.

hug your loved ones tonight.... the world is always changing.... the western settler in the early 1800's lost family members for all sorts of reasons.... and learned from those losses.... today we still have terrible losses... and we are still trying to learn how to protect against these but can not always do so...we can only try to do better.

[CubanExpress]

What they need to do is crack down on the Food and Drug Administration, not the guns.

Prescription SSRI drugs are the real killers when it comes to mass shootings.

[CubanExpress]

I disagree that having armed personnel will combat mass slayings. Gunman are just going to bring bigger guns, or go to locations where there's a slighter chance of getting return fire. I also disagree about the violence of today being greater than the violence of yesterday. There was just as much violence, if not more violence in 70's-80's media, than there is in the media content of 2012. The problem lies with SSRI prescription drugs. That's what's fueling the 21st century shootings. If you were to check massacres such as Aurora, Columbine, Sandy Hook, and others, you're going to see that the shooters all had SSRI antidepressant drugs in their bloodstream. In most cases the drugs themselves amplify conditions that lead to abnormal thinking, paranoia, hostility, and psychotic behavior. If you think I'm lying check it out for yourself.

[Poseidon10/31]

There is no scapegoat. There is no one industry or culture to blame. As populations grow so will the frequency of these incidences. If anyone is to blame, it's the parents for allowing access to their firearms. I hate to think that a tragedy like this will restrict my fredoms (I own multiple firearms) and the freedoms of other law abiding citizens. It's a part of life, terrible things do happen. I don't think there is any quick fix to the issue. The last thing we should do is give these occurrences the airtime they are getting on the news. These people are seeking the attention and notoriety. If the negativity was banned from the media maybe some would be deterred from crap like this. It's unfourtunate but the good in humanity is rarely publicized anymore.

[fixed80]

I also disagree about the violence of today being greater than the violence of yesterday. There was just as much violence, if not more violence in 70's-80's media, than there is in the media content of 2012.

i believe ya. oh and lets not forget about the massacre of jews and the people of rwanda also. that all happened back many years ago. but the truth is even from a hundred... all the way to a thousand years ago was real violent. people would try to conquer other tribes and nations and that lead to massive genocides. people were just as awful during that time as it is now.

[Xpierrat]

I disagree that having armed personnel will combat mass slayings. Gunman are just going to bring bigger guns, or go to locations where there's a slighter chance of getting return fire. I also disagree about the violence of today being greater than the violence of yesterday. There was just as much violence, if not more violence in 70's-80's media, than there is in the media content of 2012. The problem lies with SSRI prescription drugs. That's what's fueling the 21st century shootings. If you were to check massacres such as Aurora, Columbine, Sandy Hook, and others, you're going to see that the shooters all had SSRI antidepressant drugs in their bloodstream. In most cases the drugs themselves amplify conditions that lead to abnormal thinking, paranoia, hostility, and psychotic behavior. If you think I'm lying check it out for yourself.

as far as arming someone in the school you kinda refute your disagreement in your own post.... I am with you on the side effect of some of the drugs in use......

check this list out as far as thinking things have just recently gone to he!!

also not the foreign location of some of these where if I am not mistaken the gun laws are even more restrictive than ours.....

then read the last article and what the result was when a administrator was able to get to his weapon....also note that he might have saved more had he had his weapon on him instead of in his vehicle....food for thought.

Time Line of Worldwide School and Mass Shootings

The following table lists the worldwide mass and school shootings from 1996 to the present. Find the date, location, and a short description of each incident.




Feb. 2, 1996
Moses Lake, Wash.

Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.



March 13, 1996
Dunblane, Scotland

16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others wounded in attack.



Feb. 19, 1997
Bethel, Alaska

Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.



March 1997
Sanaa, Yemen

Eight people (six students and two others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.



Oct. 1, 1997
Pearl, Miss.

Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.



Dec. 1, 1997
West Paducah, Ky.

Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.



Dec. 15, 1997
Stamps, Ark.

Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot.



March 24, 1998
Jonesboro, Ark.

Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.



April 24, 1998
Edinboro, Pa.

One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.



May 19, 1998
Fayetteville, Tenn.

One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis.



May 21, 1998
Springfield, Ore.

Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.



June 15, 1998
Richmond, Va.

One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.



April 20, 1999
Littleton, Colo.

14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.



April 28, 1999
Taber, Alberta, Canada

One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.



May 20, 1999
Conyers, Ga.

Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.



Nov. 19, 1999
Deming, N.M.

Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.



Dec. 6, 1999
Fort Gibson, Okla.

Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.



Dec. 7, 1999
Veghel, Netherlands

One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student.



Feb. 29, 2000
Mount Morris Township, Mich.

Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.



March 2000
Branneburg, Germany

One teacher killed by a 15-year-old student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since.



March 10, 2000
Savannah, Ga.

Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.



May 26, 2000
Lake Worth, Fla.

One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.



Sept. 26, 2000
New Orleans, La.

Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.



Jan. 17, 2001
Baltimore, Md.

One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.



Jan. 18, 2001
Jan, Sweden

One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19.



March 5, 2001
Santee, Calif.

Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.



March 7, 2001
Williamsport, Pa.

Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.



March 22, 2001
Granite Hills, Calif.

One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman.



March 30, 2001
Gary, Ind.

One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.



Nov. 12, 2001
Caro, Mich.

Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.



Jan. 15, 2002
New York, N.Y.

A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.



Feb. 19, 2002
Freising, Germany

Two killed in Eching by a man at the factory from which he had been fired; he then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself.



April 26, 2002
Erfurt, Germany

13 teachers, two students, and one policeman killed, ten wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself.



April 29, 2002
Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina

One teacher killed, one wounded by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who then killed himself.



October 28, 2002
Tucson, Ariz.

Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself.



April 14, 2003
New Orleans, La.

One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related.



April 24, 2003
Red Lion, Pa.

James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.



Sept. 24, 2003
Cold Spring, Minn.

Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15.



Sept. 28, 2004
Carmen de Patagones, Argentina

Three students killed and 6 wounded by a 15-year-old Argentininan student in a town 620 miles south of Buenos Aires.



March 21, 2005
Red Lake, Minn.

Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead.



Nov. 8, 2005
Jacksboro, Tenn.

One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators.



Aug. 24, 2006
Essex, Vt.

Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had killed the ex-girlfriend's mother.



Sept. 13, 2006
Montreal, Canada

Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself.



Sept. 27, 2006
Bailey, Colo.

Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself.



Sept. 29, 2006
Cazenovia, Wis.

A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal John Klang.



Oct. 3, 2006
Nickel Mines, Pa.

32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died.



Jan. 3, 2007
Tacoma, Wash.

Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School.



April 16, 2007
Blacksburg, Va.

A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded.



Sept. 21, 2007
Dover, Del.

A Delaware State Univesity Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge.



Oct. 10, 2007
Cleveland, Ohio

A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims' injuries were not life-threatening.



Nov. 7, 2007
Tuusula, Finland

An 18-year-old student in southern Finland shot and killed five boys, two girls, and the female principal at Jokela High School. At least 10 others were injured. The gunman shot himself and died from his wounds in the hospital.



Feb. 8, 2008
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.



Feb. 11, 2008
Memphis, Tennessee

A 17-year-old student at Mitchell High School shot and wounded a classmate in gym class.



Feb. 12, 2008
Oxnard, California

A 14-year-old boy shot a student at E.O. Green Junior High School causing the 15-year-old victim to be brain dead.



Feb. 14, 2008
DeKalb, Illinois

Gunman killed five students and then himself, and wounded 17 more when he opened fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007.



Sept. 23, 2008
Kauhajoki, Finland

A 20-year-old male student shot and killed at least nine students and himself at a vocational college in Kauhajok, 330km (205 miles) north of the capital, Helsinki.



Nov. 12, 2008
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

A 15-year-old female student was shot and killed by a classmate at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale.



March 11, 2009
Winnenden, Germany

Fifteen people were shot and killed at Albertville Technical High School in southwestern Germany by a 17-year-old boy who attended the same school.



April 30, 2009
Azerbaijan, Baku

A Georgian citizen of Azerbaijani descent killed 12 students and staff at Azerbaijan State Oil Academy. Several others were wounded.



Feb. 5, 2010
Madison, Alabama

At Discovery Middle School, a ninth-grader was shot by another student during a class change. The boy, whose name was not released, pulled out a gun and shot Todd Brown in the head while walking the hallway. Brown later died at Huntsville Hospital.



Feb. 12, 2010
Huntsville, Alabama

During a meeting on campus, Amy Bishop, a biology professor, began shot her colleagues, killing three and wounding three others. A year earlier, Bishop had been denied tenure.



March 9, 2010
Columbus, Ohio

A man opens fire at Ohio State University, killing two employees and wounding one other. The shooter had recently received an "unsatisfactory" job evaluation and was going to be fired on March 13.



Jan. 5, 2011
Omaha, Nebraska

Two people were killed and two more injured in a shooting at Millard South High School. Shortly after being suspended from school, the shooter returned and shot the assistant principal, principal, and the school nurse. The shooter then left campus and took his own life.



Jan. 8, 2011
Tuscon, Arizona

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in an assassination attempt. At least 17 others are shot by a gunman, identified as Jared Lee Loughner, who opened fire on the congresswoman's constituent meeting outside a local grocery store. Six people are fatally wounded, including U.S. District Court Judge John Roll, and a young girl.



Jan. 5, 2011
Houston, Texas

Two people opened fire during a Worthing High School powder-puff football game. One former student died. Five other people were injured.



April 7, 2011
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A 23-year-old former student returned to his public elementary school in Rio de Janeiro and began firing, killing 12 children and seriously wounding more than a dozen others, before shooting himself in the head. While Brazil has seen gang-related violence in urban areas, this was the worst school shooting the country has ever seen.



May 10, 2011
San Jose, California

Three people were killed in a parking garage at San Jose State University. Two former students were found dead on the fifth floor of the garage. A third, the suspected shooter, died later at the hospital.



July 22, 2011
Tyrifjorden, Buskerud, Norway

A gunman disguised as a policeman opened fire at a camp for young political activists on the island of Utoya. The gunman kills 68 campers, including personal friends of Prime Minister Stoltenberg. Police arrested Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian who had been been linked to an anti-Islamic group.



Dec. 8, 2011
Blacksburg, Virginia

A Virginia Tech police officer was shot and killed by a 22-year old student of Radford University. The shooting took place in a parking lot on Virginia Tech's campus.



Feb. 10, 2012
Walpole, New Hampshire

A 14-year-old student shot himself in front of 70 fellow students.



Feb. 27, 2012
Chardon, Ohio

At Chardon High School, a former classmate opened fire, killing three students and injuring six. Arrested shortly after the incident, the shooter said that he randomly picked students.



March 6, 2012
Jacksonville, Florida

Shane Schumerth, a 28-year-old teacher at Episcopal High School, returned to the campus after being fired and shot and killed the headmistress, Dale Regan, with an assault rifle.



March 19, 2012
Toulouse, France

Mohammed Merah, a French man of Algerian descent, shot and killed a rabbi, two of his children, and another child at a Jewish school. Police believe he had earlier shot and killed three paratroopers. Merah said he was a member of Al Qaeda and that he was seeking revenge for the killing of Palestinian children.



April 2, 2012
Oakland, Calif.

One Goh, a 43-year-old former student at Oikos University, a Christian school populated by mostly Korean and Korean-Americans, opened fire on the campus, killing seven people and wounding several others.



July 20, 2012
Aurora, Colo.

During a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises, a gunman opens fire on the crowded theater. At least 12 people are killed and 38 others are wounded. The suspect, James Holmes, set off a smoke device in the front of the theater before opening fire. Directly after the incident, Holmes, age 24, was arrested in a parking lot behind the theater.



August 5, 2012
Oak Creek, Wis.

A gunman opens fire at a Sikh temple, killing six people and wounding three. Police shot and killed the suspect, Wade Michael Page, after the attack. Page, a neo-Nazi, served in the U.S. Army from 1992 to 1998.



December 14, 2012
Newtown, Conn.

Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six others at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. He killed his mother, Nancy, at her home prior to the massacre at the school. Lanza committed suicide after the rampage. The shooting was the second deadliest in U.S. history, behind the 2007 shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute that claimed 32 people.

then this result....

A principal and his gun
by Wayne Laugesen


Oct. 15, 1999. More from the Independence Institute on school attacks and armed resistance.



Vice Principal Joel Myrick held his Colt .45 point blank to the high school boy's head. Last week, he told me what it was like. "I said 'why are you shooting my kids?' He said it was because nobody liked him and everything seemed hopeless," Myrick said. "Then I asked him his name. He said 'you know me, Mr. Myrick. Remember? I gave you a discount on your pizza delivery last week."

The shooter was Luke Woodham. On that day in 1997, Woodham slit his mother's throat then grabbed a .30-30 lever action deer rifle. He packed the pockets of his trench coat with ammo and headed off to Pearl High School, in Pearl, Miss.

The moment Myrick heard shots, he ran to his truck. He unlocked the door, removed his gun from its case, removed a round of bullets from another case, loaded the gun and went looking for the killer. "I've always kept a gun in the truck just in case something like this ever happened," said Myrick, who has since become Principal of Corinth High School, Corinth, Miss.

Woodham knew cops would arrive before too long, so he was all business, no play. No talk of Jesus, just shooting and reloading, shooting and reloading. He shot until he heard sirens, and then ran to his car. His plan, authorities subsequently learned, was to drive to nearby Pearl Junior High School and shoot more kids before police could show up.

But Myrick foiled that plan. He saw the killer fleeing the campus and positioned himself to point a gun at the windshield. Woodham, seeing the gun pointed at his head, crashed the car. Myrick approached the killer and confronted him. "Here was this monster killing kids in my school, and the minute I put a gun to his head he was a kid again," Myrick said.


True humanitarian
I've been intrigued by Myrick ever since that day. Most have never heard his name, because the mainstream press barely reported how the massacre was stopped. I've become more interested in Myrick's story with every subsequent mass murder. If only someone like Myrick had been at Columbine, I've pondered.

A few months ago, Soldier of Fortune Publisher Bob Brown asked me if I had any suggestions as to whom should receive his magazine's Humanitarian Award of 1999. In the wake of Columbine, the answer seemed clear: Joel Myrick. Brown talked it over with his staff, gave it some thought and went with my choice. Brown and I will present Myrick with his award Friday in Las Vegas, at the annual Soldier of Fortune Convention and Expo.

Myrick and his gun, no matter how one looks at it, saved lives. His actions saved the lives of waiting victims at a nearby junior high. He may have kept Woodham from shooting police, who would have arrived at the scene disoriented, without Myrick's home turf frame of reference. Arguably, Myrick and his gun even saved the life of the killer, who likely would have killed himself or been shot by SWAT cops after spilling more blood.

Although Myrick saved lives, beyond question, some treat him as a leper. After the shootings, and the relatively peaceful ending to something that could have made Columbine pale in comparison, Myrick was in exile. He'd held a gun to a student's head, and his colleagues simply couldn't accept that.

"Nobody wanted to dog me, but nobody wanted to side with me, either," Myrick says. "I felt like I was being betrayed by everybody."

And that was Mississippi. This summer he studied at Harvard, where he'd been awarded a prestigious education fellowship. That's when uppity intolerance and mass stupidity took on new meaning for Myrick. "Once people found out my story, I got a lot of dirty looks and strange stares," Myrick said. "A few people confronted me."

Myrick shouldn't feel bad. Only goofy losers gave Myrick funny looks, and such people never learn. Myrick's gun, and his ability and willingness to use it, saved lives plain and simple. Yet somehow, in the minds of the anti-intellectual gun control crowd, he's a bad man who did an immoral deed.

By any sane, rational view, Myrick is a life-saving humanitarian. Even in my view, however, his heroic act will be marred by an asterisk in the annals of history. Despite the presence of this brave man, two students still died. Therefore, the footnote of far off history books will read something like this:

*The late 20th Century was an era of crude polemics, in which some people believed hardware items, such as handguns, caused mass murders.
Therefore, ineffective laws that reflected this view made it illegal for this legendary hero to have his gun on campus. The gun was in a truck, giving the killer valuable time as Myrick ran to retrieve it. In modern society, of course, responsible adults have better access to hardware than killers do.

Arguing with a moron
Myrick is as much of a hero as the law would allow. He was only seconds away from the shootings, yet the law had him far away from his gun. Federal law precludes anyone but a cop from having a weapon in or near a school. The modern spree of school shootings began sometime shortly after this law was enacted. In most places, state and local laws needlessly duplicate the federal law, serving only to accommodate political grandstanding.

In Pearl, federal, state and local laws helped Luke Woodham shoot nine students. The deer rifle had to be reloaded after every shot. To hit nine students, Woodham needed time. The moments it took Myrick to reach his gun are what allowed Woodham to continue shooting and almost escape. Gun laws, and nothing else, gave Woodham that time.

But talking to gun control advocates is like talking to five year-olds. Tell a five-year-old it's time for bed, and he'll say "No." Ask why not, and he'll say "because." Likewise, I've told a few gun control advocates about Myrick-telling them how he would have saved more kids had it not been for gun laws-and they've said "guns kill." Or, "we have too many guns." Or, "Woodham killed his victims with a gun."

At which point I say, "Woodham violated several gun laws by having his gun on campus. The law did nothing to deter him, but plenty to deter the man who set out to stop the killings." To which a gun controller replied: "But guns kill."

Sucked in and trapped by this bizarre logic, I attempted to address it. I said: "But Joel Myrick's gun didn't kill. Rather, it allowed children, including the deranged killer, to live."

"Yeah, but all of these school shootings are done by guns," he told me.

So I pounded my head against a wall. Politics and sociology are complex. But if any socio-political issue should be a simple, exact science, it's gun control. All honest modern studies show that gun control, in this culture, benefits criminals while leaving law-abiding victims defenseless.

In his book More Guns Less Crime, Yale law professor John Lott ran the numbers every which way possible. He set out to write a book about guns being bad, and found that every gun law ever enacted in this country has resulted in more violent crime. I saw him on TV recently, debating a gun control advocate. Lott cited numbers and anecdotes. His opponent, in essence, said "but guns kill."


Politics of nothing
Right here in Boulder, a city of self-proclaimed enlightenment, city council members are hard at it trying to enact more gun control in the light of Columbine. Weird. Today in Boulder, it is absolutely illegal in every way, shape and form for a student to walk onto, or anywhere near a public school with a gun of any kind. Remove all state and local gun laws, and you still have a federal law that clearly forbids firearms of any kind within 100 yards of public schools.

Anyone who shoots up any school, anywhere, is violating gun laws. So what does the Boulder City Council think up to address the very real concern of school massacres? Hey, let's pass some gun laws. Duh. "If we can save one life," it would be worth it, Councilman Dan Corson told the Daily Camera.

If the city council manages to craft a gun law that isn't redundant to the Nth degree, it will serve only to make victims of future massacres more defenseless-guaranteed. Some politicians know this, but they don't care. What matters is how the public perceives the headlines their words garner. Guns kill. Duhhh. "Let's outlaw guns."

Gun control was essential to Hitler and slave owners in the Old South. Proven fact: Gun control oppresses and kills. Proven fact #2: Responsible adults, such as Joel Myrick, save lives. When unencumbered by bizarre gun laws, they can save even more lives.

So let's appeal to the Boulder City Council and the Boulder Valley School Board to explore ways of empowering law abiding adults. Perhaps it's time for the school district, with the full support of city hall, to establish a voluntary defensive weapons training course for teachers and administrators. Politicians who find a way to balance the firepower between forces of good and evil, by arming some teachers and administrators, might not get re-elected. But they might preclude a future disaster like Columbine, where SWAT teams sat helplessly in a parking lot while a teacher in the building prepared to fire at the shooters with a fire extinguisher.

Have a good laugh at this idea, on me. Then ask yourself whether it's more important to be re-elected, or to cut short a future school massacre.

We will never rid society of guns unless we eliminate the natural phenomenon of internal combustion. A gun is a crude instrument and nothing more than a controlled explosion. America is home to about 250 million of them, and they're with us to stay regardless of law.

If you want to save lives, the answer is simple. Stop keeping guns from the hands of would-be heroes-the only people who obey gun laws. Joel Myrick had a gun, legally in his truck. Myrick and his gun saved lives, but they could have saved more. The lesson: Some guns save lives.

[CubanExpress]

Studies have also shown that once these people were engaged they ended up taking their own lifes.. so this shows that they never wanted to confront a person with a gun.. They are after the defenseless and the only way to fix it right now is "Armed personal" and thats already happening...with some schools...

Then the people doing the studies are morons. Most gunman in these types of shootings come prepared for exchanged gunfire. Both Cho from Virgina Tech and Lanza from Sandy Hook were wearing bulletproof vests. I don't know how it is up in Orlando, but every school I attended had armed police on campus. At one of the schools my teacher was shot and killed by a student. Shootings are going to happen regardless. The cops and armed personnel can't be everywhere at all times. And even then, a shooter can create a decoy to lure all the cops and armed personnel to one location where he or she can open fire on another location.

[CubanExpress]

Damn Denny

Great example of just how loaded you can go in without raising suspicion. Awful to say the least.

In the vid you posted up he has enough to kill plenty.

I stand by my opinion that guns are no good period. Guns are dumb but humans are insane.
Pair that and something is bound to happen. Psych deficiency or not --> guns are ultimately built to kill.

The guys/girls buying or already owning a gun are the ones that need super duper strict rules / tests etc....

Just a bad mood moment can nowadays make the finger pull the trigger.

Look at FF73 sig. Says it perfect.

Ron, The video does show what can happen in a worst case scenario. But our state needs lax gun laws for law abiding citizens along with it's castle doctrine. Without it, the streets and neighborhoods would be a bloodbath in areas like south florida.

[ikaika]

Both Cho from Virgina Tech and Lanza from Sandy Hook were wearing bulletproof vests

false
Neither were wearing BP vests, but over-the-counter tac-vests. Nothing bullet-proof about them other than the idiots in the media automatically assume a Tac-vest = Bullet Proof.

The AR-15 in the recent shooting never made it out of the car.
Four handguns were used and none of them had extended capacity magazines.

Connecticutt already has an "assault weapon ban" similar if not more stringent than the Clinton Ban that we are now being told "worked wonders".
If you think Assault Weapon and capacity bans do any good, then by all means, pay a visit to Newark, Camden or Trenton New Jersey and tell the Coroner that those aren't bullets he's been extracting from cadavers.

According to the FBI, each year over 200,000 crimes are thwarted by armed citizens.

Making firearms more restrictive for law abiding citizens will not prevent massacres.

The common denominator in all of the massacres seems to point to mental illness.
Not video games and not scary looking fireams.

The "new narrative" by certain media types and politicians is that 2A exists to preserve hunting rights. Baloney.
It is a lie of the highest order to ignore the constitution and fabricate an underlying meaning to suit an agenda.

[CubanExpress]

Are any of you guys getting server errors when posting or viewing on the site.

I tried replying to fixed's and xpierrat's post and got an error?

[Xpierrat]

Yes the armed responders ( police resource officer, private security, armed staff, or even a legal CWP holder ) are rarely going to stop or prevent the initial killing.... the hope would be to end the threat and keep the number killed and injured lower than if no response was available until the 5 to 15 minuets needed for local LEO to arrive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... -iFnNDRLqg
tried adding a tube link but appeared to not work....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... -iFnNDRLqg[/youtube]

lots to think about and discuss that is for sure...

[CubanExpress]

Both Cho from Virgina Tech and Lanza from Sandy Hook were wearing bulletproof vests

false
Neither were wearing BP vests, but over-the-counter tac-vests. Nothing bullet-proof about them other than the idiots in the media automatically assume a Tac-vest = Bullet Proof.

The AR-15 in the recent shooting never made it out of the car.
Four handguns were used and none of them had extended capacity magazines.

Connecticutt already has an "assault weapon ban" similar if not more stringent than the Clinton Ban that we are now being told "worked wonders".
If you think Assault Weapon and capacity bans do any good, then by all means, pay a visit to Newark, Camden or Trenton New Jersey and tell the Coroner that those aren't bullets he's been extracting from cadavers.

According to the FBI, each year over 200,000 crimes are thwarted by armed citizens.

Making firearms more restrictive for law abiding citizens will not prevent massacres.

The common denominator in all of the massacres seems to point to mental illness.
Not video games and not scary looking fireams.

The "new narrative" by certain media types and politicians is that 2A exists to preserve hunting rights. Baloney.
It is a lie of the highest order to ignore the constitution and fabricate an underlying meaning to suit an agenda.

Cho from VT was wearing a bullet proof vest and it was confirmed by police. All the news sources are stating that Lanza was wearing one also. If you can prove that Lanza wasn't wearing one post the info. Holmes from the aurora shooting was wearing a tactical vest, but I didn't mention him because I knew for sure he wasn't wearing a bullet proof vest.

[CubanExpress]

And no need to preach gun laws to me. I'm all for guns if you're a law abiding citizen.