Sunday, July 19, 2009

Family Squabbles in Tenn. / Ala. - 6 Dead (updated)

UPDATE as pointed out by several commenters, there was no mention of his using a gun. And in fact further reports confirmed none was used.

A man accused of fatally stabbing and bludgeoning six people in Tennessee and Alabama was targeting his wife and first killed her father and brother so they couldn't stop him, authorities said Tuesday.

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Yahoo News reports on the latest high profile shooting, this one in Tennessee and Alabama.

A 30-year-old man was charged with homicide Saturday in the slayings of six people, most believed to be from the same family, in two communities about 30 miles apart in Tennessee and Alabama.

Investigators said the victims were four adults and two juveniles, but their names and ages were not being released until they are identified and next of kin are notified.

Five people were found dead in two neighboring rural homes near Fayetteville in southern Tennessee Saturday, and a sixth body was discovered at a business in Huntsville, Ala., authorities said.

Jacob Shaffer of Fayetteville, who officers found sitting on the front porch of one of the homes, was taken into custody and charged with homicide. He was jailed without bond in Lincoln County, which borders Alabama.

The story contains few details except that "the motive of the killings is domestic." Unfortunately there was no mention of the weapon or weapons used or whether Shaffer was already a prohibited person.

What's your opinion? How could we keep guns out of the hands of people like this without infringing on the rights of law-abiding citizens? Is such a thing possible?

Please leave a comment.

12 comments:

  1. MikeB,

    Why do you never highlight the NON-FIREARM crimes?

    Why do you not show the continued use of knives, bathtubs, cars, bats, beatings that end with death?

    It's almost as if you have an agenda that is unrelated to the actual facts.

    Guns aren't the only thing that can kill, yet you insist on only talking about guns.

    How come you never highlight the interesting cases of self defense where firearms are used to save lives?

    It is almost as if you have an agenda to demonize firearms.

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  2. "How could we keep guns out of the hands of people like this without infringing on the rights of law-abiding citizens? Is such a thing possible?"

    No, it isn't.

    If you can't keep guns from criminals already inside prison walls...

    http://crimesift.com/2007/01/01/cagy-criminal-and-their-investions-to-cope-with-challenges-in-the-prison/

    ...how do plan to even start keeping guns from criminals outside of prison walls?

    We gots more guns in America than we do people, that horse has already left the barn, made some babies, lived a full life and died 200 years ago.

    Ya ain't gettin' that toothpaste back in the tube.

    I like my fancy guns all right, but just for one second, consider what a gun actually is.

    A closed pipe on one end and open on the other with an explosive charge which when detonated, sends a projectile down range from that open end.

    Do you know how easy gun powder is to make?

    The recipes have changed ratios from time to time, but the recipe is simple.

    1. Charcoal
    2. Sulfur
    3. Saltpeter(homemade by boiling down animal turds)

    Not exactly rocket science.

    While were getting to know each other better, I'm a chemical technician by trade.

    Standard disclaimer: I am not advocating the following in any way shape or manner, simply aknowledging what I know to be a true statement.

    Most people with a basic cursory knowledge of chemistry would be able to walk into any bathroom in America and produce some very nasty reactions, both explosive or poisonous gas out of the basic cleaning products.

    Seeking to avoid being labeled a braggard, I could make some very interesting items being confined to any kitchen in America. The results would be quite impressive and most would be completey edible.

    Kick me out of the kitchen?

    Give me little more than a heat source, a bucket of piss and a large quantity of ants and I can make an explosive.

    Once something is invented by mankind, it can not ever be uninvented.

    Next question please.

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  3. Bob,

    Not so fast. If you notice how he words it, the story mentions nothing of firearms or shooting, only six people slain. It is Mikeb who calls this "the latest high profile shooting." Of course, without any other information, that seems rather dishonest does it not Mikeb? Don't you think it would be nice to actually know that a firearm was used before you start talking about limiting the availability of firearms?

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  4. I checked 3 seperate news sources, none of them mention anything about a firearm or shooting.

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  5. Reputo asked about my calling this a shooting, "that seems rather dishonest does it not Mikeb?"

    The fact is I honestly didn't notice it, I just assumed it was a shooting, but you and kavaman are absolutely right it's not mentioned.

    This proves I'm obsessed with guns, something I never really denied. But calling it "rather dishonest" is not only excessively critical but very simply wrong.

    And what of my accidental assumption? Do you guys think he may have killed all those prople with something else, really?

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  6. It's not impossible to kill that number of people with something other than a gun. Japan is well known for 3 high profile knife incidents that killed at least 6 people each.

    However, it is odd that the manner of death in this Tennessee case isn't being shared. Especially considering how anti-gun the media is in general.

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  7. mikeb,

    Care to take a guess at when the largest school yard killing happened in the US and what instrument of death was used? (Hint, it wasn't a gun and it didn't happen within the last 50 years).

    Bob S asks a very good question. Why are you obsessed with guns? You seem hell bent on decreasing gun crime with no regard to any other crime. Hypothetically, let us say that there are 10000 gun crimes each year and 90000 other violent crimes. If by limiting the availability of guns decreases gun crimes by 5000, but has a subsequent increase of violent crimes by 10000 (gun criminals using another tool and law abiding citizens now becoming victims because of low availability of effective tools to combat crime in progress), would you consider your actions a success? Do you really advocate sacrificing 5000 to stabbing, strangulation, and bludgeoning so that 5000 won't be shot?

    I stand by my comment. You are being dishonest when you classify this as a shooting even though no news report shows it as such. The rest of us are outraged because he murdered people, we couldn't care less what tool he used to do it. It doesn't make it any worse, and the people aren't any less dead if he used a knife or a gun.

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  8. Reputo: Care to take a guess at when the largest school yard killing happened in the US and what instrument of death was used? (Hint, it wasn't a gun and it didn't happen within the last 50 years)."

    I give up.


    "I stand by my comment. You are being dishonest when you classify this as a shooting."

    What is wrong with you? I explained that I'd made an accidental assumption that a gun was used. There's no dishonesty in something like that. Do you know the meaning of the word? Are you following some pro-gun dictum which suggests you call gun control people "dishonest" and "liars" at every opportunity?

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  9. 1927 in Bath, Michigan. A school board member planted bombs at the elementary school that killed 45 and wounded another 60. Can we not trust are school board members? Do we need to regulate everything that can be made into an explosion. In fact, none of the worst mass killings (outside of war) involved guns. They invariably involve explosives.

    Mikeb, the reason I still say you are a liar is you haven't bothered to change the first sentence of your post. "Yahoo News reports on the latest high profile shooting, this one in Tennessee and Alabama." In the past, you have been more than willing to update a post with information when you thought it supported your cause. However, every time I have seen that we have shown you the information in your post is incorrect, you didn't bother to update your post.

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  10. Oh look, he used a knife... and none of his victims had a gun. Why don't you post a follow-up with that fact? Does it fly in the face of your theories?

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  11. Anon - MikeB is blatantly dishonest and he cares only about GUN CRIME.

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  12. Right you are Anonymous and Reputo. I just updated the post.

    I guess I can't use this one to support my gun availability theory, huh?

    ReplyDelete