The tragic incident at Santa Monica College Friday has revealed details about a man with mental problems who killed four people. It’s another situation when bullets were flying, and the NRA will keep lying.
Friday, Sergeant Richard Lewis displayed the cache of weapons and ammunition the gunman brazenly brought to the scene of the attack. He carried a duffel bag full of ammunition magazines, a revolver and an assault-style rifle. He had an estimated 1300 rounds in his possession.
His first victims were his father and brother. He then set their house on fire. Dressed all in black, and carrying the assault rifle, he shot a woman, took her vehicle, and drove towards the College. He shot one woman near the library. As he stood on the corner of Pearl and 17th Streets, and shot at a city bus and other passing vehicles, he killed one man driving by, and wounded five more persons, before police shot him multiple times. He died from his wounds.
Trena Johnson, a longtime administrative assistant working in the dean’s office, heard gunfire and looked out the window around noon Friday. Students were jumping out of windows of nearby buildings to get away. A man in black with a “very large gun” shot a woman in the head outside the library.
“When I saw her shot in the head and she fell to the ground we ran out the back door,” Johnson said. “I haven’t been able to stop shaking.”
The man shot while driving by, has been identified as Carlos Navarro Franco. The 68-year-old man was driving his 25 year old daughter to the school where she is a student. He was off from his job Friday. He was a groundskeeper at the College for 30 years. His daughter is on life support.
The NRA was correct about one of its many ludicrous “ism’s.” Guns don’t kill people, but crazy people with guns do kill people.
The shooter at Santa Monica College had been hospitalized previously for two years because he demonstrated violent tendencies. He was still able to have an assault rifle, hand guns, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his possession.
Adam Lanza who killed 20 small children and six faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, had an assault rifle, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, and shot himself in the head with a handgun to avoid capture. He had a history of mental illness.
James Holmes planned for months to carry out an attack on movie goers in Aurora, Colorado. While a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight” was beginning, he stood on a stage and began firing an assault rifle at those in their seats. He killed 12, and wounded another 58, as patrons ran screaming out of the theater. When he was captured, he had the assault rifle, pistols, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. A search of his apartment revealed more ammunition and weapons. He had been under the care of a psychiatrist.
In 2011, Jared Lee Loughner killed six and wounded 13, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords on a Tucson street. He used a handgun. When he was arrested, he had two more high output magazines, containing 31 bullets each, on his possession, as well as a knife. Friends say that in the weeks previous to his attack he seemed unusually agitated. Records of his mental state have been sealed by the court.
The bullets keep flying, and the NRA keeps lying.
There have been far too many cases of children being killed in the past several months due to negligent gun owners. There have also been cases of guns left in an accessible place where children could get hold of them. There have been instances when children shot and killed siblings and other children.
The most recent was a case in Las Vegas, the story of which is reported Garth Baker, special reporter for the Guardian Express.
On June 4, 2013, a 13 year old juvenile, Brooklyn Mohler, was the victim of an accidental discharge of a firearm. Should the parent’s lack of responsibility be a chargeable offense in a court of law?
This tragic and unnecessary loss of a young life will have other repercussions. Family and friends will have emotional difficulty for the remainder of their lives.
But the ultimate responsibility of any gun owner is that safety of his or her family, as well as neighbors and visiting friends. Parents inform their children regarding the danger of many items around their homes. “This is not a toy” is a common parental phrase. Guns are not toys. Garth is a gun owner.
Disagreements about the vague and undefined meaning of the archaic second amendment will go on for a very long time. Gun ownership will never be removed as a right of an American citizen. But it should be considered more of a privilege than a right.
A very large number of Americans believe that assault rifles and high-output magazines should not be legal to purchase. There is no need for them unless you are a member of the military or law enforcement. I believe changes in the ability to purchase these should be a state by state decision, and the matter has become just that.
Universal background checks have no relation to a single word in the second amendment. Not everyone should be allowed to purchase a weapon capable of mass destruction. Those with criminal backgrounds, or mental disabilities should be prohibited from acquiring weapons from any venue.
The discussion here is mostly about internet sales and sales at gun shows. The right of the people to feel safe supersedes the right of gun manufacturers and gun sellers to make money. And the truth of the matter is, that the NRA is all about the money, not public safety or Constitutional rights.
The NRA used to stand for something. Now it is merely another lobby for the wealthy. They will continue to be happy as long as the bullets keep flying. The NRA will continue to keep lying.
James Turnage
The Guardian Express
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11 Responses
“Disagreements about the vague and undefined meaning of the archaic second amendment will go on for a very long time. Gun ownership will never be removed as a right of an American citizen. But it should be considered more of a privilege than a right.”
You seem confused about the difference between a “Privilege” and a “Right”.
Remember Concord? The British Imperialists considered firearms ownership a “privilege”, so the locked up American firearms in an armory, the keys to which were controlled by the British Masters.
Americans revolted against Imperialism, regained their firearms, and in a fiery battle started the war which drove foreign invaders from our shores. Had they not done so, we would not only have NOT had the Second Amendment to guide us, but all of the other amendments to the Constitution which … do not “guarantee”, but “acknowledge’ .. our rights as a free and independent citizenry.
We are NOT “subjects”; we are “citizens”. This is an important difference.
Subjects are required to speak only when spoken to, adhere to a state religion, shut up when they deign to address important public issues, accept the foreign troops into their homes without rights of redress, accept search and seizure without judicial redress, accept confiscation of property without judicial redress, and many other civil wrongs which are typically imposed upon “subjects”, but are not permitted to be imposed upon “citizens”.
No article or amendment of the U.S. constitution is more important than any other. Except, that the Second Amendment allows us, America’s Citizens, to revert to the force of arms when all of our other rights are threatened.
That you do not recognize the importance of this right speaks volumes for your misunderstanding of our Civil Rights. Your opinions, and the value of your words, demonstrates that you take all rights for granted .. except for the right to enforce the Rights of The People.
My only question is how this could happen in California, a state that is the model for gun control and received the second highest rating from the Brady Campaign?
I’m not trying to petulant, I’d just appreciate a reasoned explanation.
AP, You have provided your own answer…gun control does not work. Don’t believe those who would tell you otherwise.
I don’t believe them.
I was being completely sarcastic and obviously no one could explain to me how the utopia called California could suffer such tragedy.
Forgot to say kudos on the nick. Thornton Melon was the best.
I like how the first picture is of the rifles from Halo
“Bullets Are Flying and the NRA Keeps Lying”
Catchy phrase that means nothing since you presented several cases where a nut-job hurt people but not one example of this supposed lying done by the NRA. Does the misspelled word get blamed on the pencil? Does the arson get blamed on the lighter used? Does the vehicle get blamed in the accident or the intentional crash? So why does the gun get the blame?
Maybe the author should listen to what the NRA is actually saying and doing. It would have only taken one CCW person in this place. If you want to blame someone, blame the politician that thought p the idea of a Criminal Protection Zone, that is sometimes called a No Gun Zone
And get your facts straight about background checks on internet sales and gunshow sales. Those are already required.
When was the last time you were at a gunshow? The last two I went to, they had a large table set up in the middle of the gun show, dedicated to doing the federal paperwork and the background checks.
If you buy a gun on the internet, you have to send it through a Federal Firearms Dealer, who has to run the background check on you before you can pick up that gun.
Get your facts straight !
Another kook with a gun. He’s the kook. He’s the problem.
You keep saying that the NRA keeps lying. When and where did they lie? Show me the lie, and show me the result of that lie. You gave no substantiation for your statement.
You said the NRA only represents the rich. Let me tell you something brother; They represent me, and I am about as poor as they come. Get your facts straight before you are charged with making false statements.
And get your facts straight about gunshows and internet sales; which already require background checks.
When was the last time you were at a gun show? The last two I went to had large tables set up in the middle of the gun show, dedicated to doing the federal paperwork and the background checks.
When was the last time you did an internet sale/purchase? Any idiot would already know that the only way you can send a gun, after a sale, is through a Federal Firearms Dealer. You can’t pick up the weapon until the paperwork and the background checks are completed. Most sellers won’t even send the gun, until all those checks are done.
And get rid of the politically correct jargon. Universal Background Check —–
We already have that. The background check that we all go through, is mandated by the federal gov’t. It is exactly the same, from state to state.