Monday, November 9, 2009

Mass Shooting in PA: 1 Dead, 6 Wounded

WGAL.com reports on another tragic shooting, this time in Reading Pennsylvania.

Police in Berks County are investigating a shooting that left a person dead and wounded six others.

Reading police said officers were called to an illegal speakeasy in the 500 block of Schuylkill Avenue just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday for a report of shots fired and several people running from the scene.

When officers arrived, they found one man lying on the floor shot to death. Five others were taken by private vehicles to Reading Hospital with gunshot wounds and another person showed up at St. Joseph's Hospital, police said.

Did they call this place "an illegal speakeasy?" I thought they went out with the roaring twenties. What do you suppose it is an after-hours club or something like that?

I've been to Reading PA. It didn't seem anything like Newark or Camden, at least the section I visited. What do you think could have been behind a shooting like this? Has the gun culture become such a part of American life that we no longer find shock and surprise in these reports? Is your solution to continually arm more people based on that tired old argument that armed victims would put the shooter out of action before he does so much damage?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

9 comments:

  1. "Has the gun culture become such a part of American life that we no longer find shock and surprise in these reports?"

    You need to get a mirror.

    http://www.freep.com/article/20091105/NEWS07/911050388/1001/NEWS/11th-body-found-in-Ohio-suspects-home

    Why is it one dead body excites you so much, but 11 doesn't even make the needle twitch.

    I know the answer why.

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  2. "Has the gun culture become such a part of American life that we no longer find shock and surprise in these reports?"

    Of course it has. We Americans have become dumbed-down and anesthetized to the news of gun violence because it occurs so often in this nation.

    When I was in Germany for two in September, there was not one gun-death. Not one.

    Where is the civilized nation?

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  3. "Did they call this place "an illegal speakeasy?"

    No.

    The article calls it a speakeasy, you added the word illegal.

    "Has the gun culture become such a part of American life that we no longer find shock and surprise in these reports?"

    There is a culture of legal gun ownership and a culture of illegal ownership.

    The fact that you can't differentiate between the two is amazing.

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  4. Which culture do you think the shooter (and possibly his victims) were part of--The law-abiding gun culture that I am part of, or the "armed criminal" culture that are the reason many of us in the lawful culture carry?

    Combining them into one group is pretty much the same as talking about the gun show loophole in the context of the Virginia Tech shooting.

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  5. I heard about this on the radio this morning, and they reported it as an "illegal speakeasy." I looked it up on the internet to figure out what that could possibly mean in 2009, and found your article. Good questions.

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  6. kaveman, I'll gladly accept your admission now that you were mistaken. I added nothing to the article I linked to.

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  7. Meghan, Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Come again.

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  8. There really needs to be a standard for what can be called a mass shooting.

    One dead, six wounded is a slow night in the hood. Not a mass shooting.

    I propose that there be at least 5 people dead or wounded numbering in the double digits before you can call something a mass shooting.

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