Thursday, January 14, 2010

Shooting in Georgia - 2 Dead

Fox News reports on the deadly shooting in Georgia in which another deranged man shot up the work place and his colleagues.

Police arrived quickly on the scene of the deadly shooting -- a Penske truck rental on Barrett Lakes Boulevard -- and apprehended a suspect, a former employee according to the Penske corporation.

The truck rental group also said that of the five people shot, four were employees and one was a customer.

Police said the shooting in suburban Kennesaw happened inside the business Tuesday afternoon, just before 2 pm.


It seems like the disgruntled employee syndrome is flourishing in America. The economy probably has something to do with it, and the job market. What about gun availability? What about the ever-increasing attitudes in the country that the gun is the answer. Seemingly normal people will not leave home without a gun, even in circumstances where little or no danger exists. That's not to mention the folks who keep guns at home, "just in case." Some of them have never had the slightest reason for doing this.

Others, admittedly, have reason for being armed, folks who live in bad neighborhoods or whose work takes them into dangerous places. But I don't think this applies to most gun owners. The problem is the borderline lunatics, when they crack up they too often have a gun handy.

After the shooting, the suspect, dressed in camouflage attire, left in a pickup truck.

Little information exists about the killer at present, described by the policeman as "an older white male, in good condition, in police custody."

What's your opinion? Do you just shrug your shoulders and say, "what law could have prevented this?" Is that your response?

I say gun owners need to take responsibility for incidents in which one of their own does something like this. I don't think it's right for the larger body of law-abiding gun owners to continue writing off these guys who get caught committing crimes with guns as if they belong to a different group.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

16 comments:

  1. Another shooting in a victim disarmament zone? Say it ain't so.

    Considering the guy was breaking the law by just having a firearm within 1000ft of a school (thanks to a ridiculous GA law), what law additional law would have stopped this? That's assuming this guy legally acquired his guns to begin with.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I must ask, how is that man like me? Isn't it because of people like that, as well as the other "10% members" that lawful people carry arms?

    I mean, if it weren't for criminals, us gun owners would really be paranoid, wouldn't we?

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Seemingly normal people will not leave home without a gun, even in circumstances where little or no danger exists.
    That's not to mention the folks who keep guns at home, 'just in case.' Some of them have never had the slightest reason for doing this."


    The same type of normal person that would take a gun to a movie theatre or a convenience store. I doubt the customer that was shot dead expected that to happen at the truck rental place yesterday.

    I don't carry a gun because I live in a bad neighborhood or do business with shady characters or places. I carry a gun because of the things and people I don't know about.

    My wife once asked me as the family was preparing to go to dinner and shopping if "I really thought I needed that gun to go to Wal-Mart?" My answer was, of course, no. "If I thought I needed it I wouldn't go and I sure wouldn't take you and the kids there." When we returned home and she saw a story on the news about a man shooting his wife, a customer and a store employee at a Walmart in another state, she realized what I meant. I was not armed because I really believed we would be attacked but rather I was armed because of the unknown.

    There is a difference between paranoia and preparedness.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry, FWM, that's paranoia. It is also mixed with ignorance. Those are the facts.

    I'm also sensing a bit of authoritarianism; it appears you wish to project power over those you don't know--as well as those you do.

    Preparedness is not about outfitting for the unknown; it's about equipping oneself for the known and likely. Given the fact that most gun violence--particularly where a woman is the victim--occurs between people who know one another and/or are intimates, your treatise on preparedness collapses.

    --JadeGold

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mikeb says:

    I don't think it's right for the larger body of law-abiding gun owners to continue writing off these guys who get caught committing crimes with guns as if they belong to a different group.

    Imagine! Gun owners who don't go shooting people thinking they're in a group separate and distinct from the group of gun owners who do go shooting people.

    Sounds to me as if you're dividing the world into two populations: gun owners, and non-gun owners, and that differences among gun owners (such as murderous behavior and lack of such behavior) are less important than the point of commonality (gun ownership).

    And you're the one who is so contemptuously dismissive of the idea that there is prejudice against gun owners.

    I'm "belong to a different group" from those who murder because I don't murder. How anyone can manage to be confused by that is unfathomable.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "I'm also sensing a bit of authoritarianism; it appears you wish to project power over those you don't know--as well as those you do."

    I don't know where you come up with this nonsense but I have no desire to project power over anyone I know or don't know. Unless you believe owning a gun puts you in a position of power which would explain some of your phobia anyway. As to my family, I am the one charged with protecting them and I will do so as I see fit because I am not a slave.

    Preparedness is about being prepared for as many things as possible including the known and unknown no matter how likely or unlikely. As demonstrated by Sebastion in his comments on a prior post, he believes in carrying pepper spray as another tool to rely on should he need it, no matter how unlikely that will be.

    You wear a seatbelt don't you, even though it is unlikely you will be in an automobile accident [car analogy for you MikeB :) ].

    When I built my house, I wired a smoke detector into every room so that if one detects, they will all alert. Is that also ignorant? Is that paranoid? Perhaps. Prepared? Most definitely. In the very unlikely event that we would suffer a fire, you can call me all the names you want. As long as my kids get out safely, I won't care.

    "Given the fact that most gun violence--particularly where a woman is the victim--occurs between people who know one another and/or are intimates, your treatise on preparedness collapses."

    Ok, that one is just plain dumb. I don't see how a treatise is collapsing. Do you just randomly pull phrases from books or something?

    ReplyDelete
  7. "
    I'm "belong to a different group" from those who murder because I don't murder. How anyone can manage to be confused by that is unfathomable."

    Oh my. The thinking isn't very good, here.

    NRA hero, Timmy McVeigh didn't belong to a group who murders right up until he detonated his Ryder truck.

    --JadeGold

    ReplyDelete
  8. JadeGold says, in between mouthfuls of lead-based paint chips:

    Oh my. The thinking isn't very good, here.

    NRA hero, Timmy McVeigh didn't belong to a group who murders right up until he detonated his Ryder truck.


    Having one's thinking criticized by JadeGold is a bit like having one's fashion sense criticized by Lady Gaga--a very sweet compliment, in other words. Thank you, JadeGold.

    Are you prepared to present any evidence of McVeigh being an "NRA hero"? I'll wait--for rather a long time, I suspect.

    By for your "logic," it would seem that everyone is just like McVeigh as he was at one point--if they haven't killed anyone, they're just like him before he did so; if they have, then they're just like him afterward.

    Spin it any way you like, but the fact remains that the vast majority (actually, by MikeB's definition of "vast majority," even "vast majority plus the vast majority of the remainder" would still be a lowball figure) of gun owners--combined have caused fewer innocent deaths than Ted "Best Use of Brain Cancer Ever" Kennedy has.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jade, your posts keep losing logic. I'm not even sure what you're trying to refute.
    Are you trying to say "He wasn't a murderer until he murdered people, so that means gunowners are murderers too"?

    Well, he used ammonium nitrate fertilizer to make that bomb, so everyone with a garden is a murderer?

    No, Timothy McVeigh chose to harm others, we (the law abiding) choose to help others. There is a big difference.

    ReplyDelete
  10. JadeGold: NRA hero, Timmy McVeigh

    Someone who QUIT the NRA, in anger and disappointment, is an "NRA hero"?

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Seemingly normal people will not leave home without a gun, even in circumstances where little or no danger exists. That's not to mention the folks who keep guns at home, "just in case." Some of them have never had the slightest reason for doing this."

    Waiting until you have a reason means you've waited too long.

    ReplyDelete
  12. But, isn't it true that Timothy McVeigh is a hero to some? Who do you think they are? How numerous are they?

    Zorro, You are one sweet guy, from your avatar to your Ted Kennedy remark.

    ReplyDelete
  13. FWM said, "Preparedness is about being prepared for as many things as possible including the known and unknown no matter how likely or unlikely."

    But even you draw the line at meteorite preparedness, is that right? Which means there is a line beyond which you think it's not necessary to prepare yourself, correct? And anyone who did prepare themselves for one of those extremely unlikely happenings would be foolish, no?

    ReplyDelete
  14. But, isn't it true that Timothy McVeigh is a hero to some? Who do you think they are? How numerous are they?

    I suppose some think of him that way, although I've never heard of any. For that matter, I imagine some think Charles Manson is a hero, and we know that many idolize Osama Bin Laden. What I'm curious about is what do any of these people with lousy taste in heroes have to do with me?

    Zorro, You are one sweet guy, from your avatar to your Ted Kennedy remark.

    Well heck, Mikeb, if anyone is offended, I'll just say it's a joke; stop taking things so literally; lighten up.

    Isn't that what you tell people who object to something you've said?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Zorro said, "Well heck, Mikeb, if anyone is offended, I'll just say it's a joke; stop taking things so literally; lighten up."

    I don't do that and I think you know it. I say it was a joke only when it was and I think you're a sharp enough guy to follow my silly attempts at humor. You just pretend no to in order to break my balls about it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This may surprise you (and perhaps disappoint you), but I have no interest in doing anything with your "balls," Mikeb. Furthermore, your sense of humor, such as it is, truly is opaque to me.

    Anyone who actually intends to be taken seriously with the idea that he has established a compelling reason to believe that "10%" of gun owners shouldn't have guns has, in my view, established his entire thought process as being a joke.

    Finally, how do you know I wasn't kidding around when I called Dead Ted Kennedy "the best use of brain cancer ever"? In point of fact, I think a much more suitable death for him would have been a very slow, agonizing drowning, hopefully caused by some drunken, lecherous, born-with-a-silver-spoon-up-his-ass punk who had designs on screwing his brains out that night.

    Ah, well--can't have everything.

    ReplyDelete