Looks like banning all trucks won’t be enough. The attack that took place in London used a car.
OK, so leaders get details, but if he hadn’t been there the whole field would have been gunned down? I can’t tell if there was additional security there or not.
Initial reports also indicate that the officer that got the shooter was wounded, as well as the one that was assisting Scalise.
Quote of the moment. “Are those Republicans or Democrats practicing”, shots fired 3 minutes later.
I’m living in hope that we won’t get the anti-gun lobby being crass and using this for their political agenda.
Okay, I’m lying. I’m expecting that the idiots will be out in full force for this one as well 
Looks like there was a shooting today at UPS in San Francisco. 
The rifle used was an SKS, we’re lucky he was a bad shot. And this confirms that magazine restrictions are just silly.
I had a Facebook friend post something saying if any of his friends made this about politics he’d unfriend them in real life as well as Facebook. I almost asked him what he would think if a white dude walked up to a ball field asking if it was Greeenpeace or the NAACP out there practicing if it would automatically be about race.
This was the ultimate political act here. Yes, not all Democrats, not all progressives, all that. And since I’m one of the ones frequently saying not all men, not all white people, not all gun owners, I get it. Everyone I’ve seen comment on his political affiliation start off with a no true Scotsman statement and go from there, but still somehow have this guy illustrate all gun owners.
Preaching to the choir here I know, this is what happens when you dehumanize the opposition. This is the next step from “Punch a Nazi”. This is what they’ve been asking for.
And I think the shooting in San Fransisco proves that most of these people are cowards, as soon as resistance shows up they have to make sure they keep control and kill themselves. Dudes like the one in Virginia, he was a holy warrior fighting evil and was going to take as many with him as possible.
There are nut-jobs in all walks of life, do they honestly think Democrats are immune to that?
Okay, we can’t say with 100% certainty that it was politically motivated. But we convict murderers on “reasonable doubt” grounds. I think that any reasonable person would say that if someone checks first that it’s members of a particular political party before shooting, then it’s very probably politically motivated.
I’m a little less certain that it was a Democrat. It could be a disillusioned Trump supporter, or even a fanatical Trump supporter who was royally pissed off about the Republicans are not supporting Trump enough. But those two are a bit of a stretch.
Given the two-party nature of American politics, the most likely scenario is a Democrat nut-job.
His Facebook page is all Bernie for God Emperor and Trump is teh Debil stuff. He’s members of multiple big talk anti Republican groups. Unlike the Portland dude, it’s not very confusing. That dude was a dissapointed Bernie Bro who went for Trump because Never Hillary, and was a leftist White Supremacist.
This dude seems like Joe Blue America. Small business owner, home inspections, white mid western, 60 years old. I’d say he was spending too much time on Facebook and got angry enough to grab his rifle and head to Virginia. Wouldn’t be surprised if he had some liquid courage in him either.
Okay, given all of that, it’s even more obvious that this was politically motivated.
Your (now ex?) Facebook friend is delusional.
Most of the progressives I know personally are much farther along their axis than I am along mine. One friend of mine likes to shut me down by saying I’m cis-male and white and don’t know what I’m talking about. Even if her cis gendered lilly white ass is talking about black gay men or something, as if either of us has some special lens that lets us see into that mess. I don’t have any moderate left friends. I suppose if they know what’s good for them they keep their mouths shut, since since the sin of moderation is worse than the sin of conforming, unless you are conforming wiht all the other non-comformists.
The particular individual is someone I know from college, and he’s been a music teacher for 20 years. He’s teaching in an inner city school up near Gary… but still thinks Republicans are the problem despite all the little Democrats he’s dealing with that have left him injured multiple times this year. I didn’t challenge him on it, it wouldn’t have done any good and I would have looked like an asshole.
Great take by the only NRA rep I know anything about. Pasted from his Facebook page.
Mr. Colion Noir (@MrColionNoir)
June 20 at 2:47pm ·
Philando Castile Should Be Alive Today My Open Letter
“What the fuck! What the fuck! What the fuck!”. We were four black teens in a shitty station wagon looking for a place to play basketball until we realized we were lost. All I can hear is my best friend in the backseat yelling over and over again, “What the fuck! What the fuck! What the fuck!” and the cop outside of the station wagon with his gun pointed directly at me yelling, “Don’t fucking move, roll the window down, don’t fucking move!”
We pulled up next to a parked cop car to ask him for directions. When we realized there was no one in the car, we reversed to leave, but before my friend could put the vehicle in drive, a cop jumps out of a van next to the police car with his gun pointed right at me. To this day I still feel a little guilty about the relief I felt when the cop made his way from my side to the driver side of the car and pointed the gun inches away from my friends head instead of mine.
My friend’s eyes were closed, and his hands were straight up. I could see the gun inches from his temple. My friend rambled, “we’re lost, we’re lost, directions, directions, we just wanted directions.” My friend in the back seat was still yelling. I just stared at the gun waiting for my life to change forever.
Eventually, everything was sorted out, but the whole ordeal messed me up. We were good kids who never got in any trouble. All we wanted to do was ask for directions. I couldn’t understand why the cop felt so threatened by us. I remember asking myself, If we were four white teens would he have acted the same way? I don’t know, but the fact that I have to ask that question at such an age should tell you something.
I despise race baiting. Race baiting cheapens and undermines every legitimate cry of racial injustice and breeds a sense of apathy in people who would otherwise be sympathetic to such cries but feel the discussion of race is a zero-sum game they can never win.
However, there is also a problem with some people in this country dismissing racism wholesale when it isn’t overt racial slurs or crosses burning on front lawns. Covert racism is a real thing and is very dangerous. Covert racism works the same way anti-gunners use coded language to push gun control. They say common sense gun measures, but we know what they really mean. We gun advocates spend our time trying to prove to the people that they don’t just want background checks they want to ban guns. The problem is, they don’t come right out and say,“give me all your guns” so no one believes us, but we know the effects are incredibly real. That’s what covert racism is and does.
In The case of officer Jeronimo Yanez, I don’t feel he woke up that day wanting to shoot a black person. However, I keep asking myself, would he have done the same thing if Philando were white? As I put on my Monday morning quarterback Jersey, it is my opinion that Philando Castile should be alive today. I believe there was a better way to handle the initial stop. If he suspected Philando was a suspect in a robbery, there were ways to conduct that stop in a way that would have completely avoided the shooting altogether, but Yanez neglected to do so.
Beyond that point, things get a little fuzzy for me. Other than Yanez’s testimony, there is nothing I read about the trial or any newly revealed facts to suggest that Philando was going for his gun. However, I don’t know what Yanez saw that made him think Philando was going for the gun, I wasn’t there, and I only have his words to go by. Sadly, Philando isn’t here to tell us other than his last dying statement of, “I wasn’t reaching for it”.
Personally, I feel because Yanez pulled Philando over under
The suspicion that he was a robbery suspect coupled with the presence of a gun, it put Yanez in a heightened state. I feel he lost control of his wits and overreacted. This now brings me to the question of race. Do I think Yanez felt threatened by the fact that Philando was black? It’s very possible Yanez was indifferent about Philando’s race. However, because of the negative stereotype reinforced in the media about black men and guns, it wouldn’t completely surprise me if Yanez felt more threatened by Philando because he was black. This is the same negative stereotype that I’ve been trying to combat for years now.
Legally, I’m left asking myself, was Yanez failing to conduct a proper felony stop reckless or negligent enough to warrant a Second Degree Manslaughter conviction? As a lawyer, I’m hard pressed to think so. But the young black male in me says hell yes. Admittedly, I don’t have all the facts the jury had; I didn’t hear the testimony the jury heard. Maybe after hearing his testimony they believe Yanez honestly felt his life was in danger and justifiably so. However, I have to be honest and say, he shouldn’t be able to just walk away freely without legal consequence I just don’t know what that consequence should be.
I so badly wanted to keep race out of this. There are so many professional race baiters who thrive on and become rich from increasing the racial divide in this country. Because of this racial opportunism, it makes it hard to call out the more insidious elements of racism in this country vs. the isolated incidences where race doesn’t play a factor. Then again, considering other examples where “race” was legitimately a factor In previous shootings, I think it would be irresponsible not to consider race as a possible motive in this shooting.
All that being said, Philando Should be alive today. In my eyes, Yanez screwed up big time. I don’t feel he was out to take a black life that day, but it doesn’t matter because his actions cost Phliando his life. My legal mind can see why they couldn’t get to Manslaughter in the Second Degree based solely on the facts at hand, but Yanez walking away from this case a free and clear man is just wrong.
It’s hard to disagree with that one. I’m even struggling to see how he got away without a manslaughter conviction. Admittedly, I don’t have the same information that the jury had, but fact is that he cocked up and a man died as a result.
If I go and rob a store with a gun and someone dies in the robbery then I am guilty of either murder or manslaughter, regardless of the actions of the person who died.
I see the Philando Castile situation as at least as bad as that.
Castile did all the things he was supposed to do (informing the officer about the gun, and that he was complying with the officer, not reaching for the gun) but he still ended up dead. The officer should have a hell of a lot more consequences than just losing his job.
Yes and no. And I think this is how the jury looked at it. Especially if they had the toxicology information, he supposedly was under the influence of something. So, freaked out cop walks up, hears dude who supposedly looks like a bank robber say “I have a gun” then yells at dude to do whatever, and the guy keeps reaching for something.
now…
That being said, people shouldn’t have to be terrified every time a cop pulls them over. And the police shouldn’t be so scared either. And from the audio I’ve heard on several of these shootings the last couple years, the cop shooting sounds panicked, and after they shoot they are like OMG I’m sorry oh shit. Or he wouldn’t stop doing “X”, when X isn’t anythign dangerous.
I saw a shooting in NYC where an officer pulled the trigger on their gun because they heard a taser pop. You see the one cop fire the taser, and the other one flinches and jerks the trigger. Saw another where a female officer did almost the same thing out west. We need to get some stress and frankly fear management training into these cops.
That or put them through the Gom Jabbar.
I’ve seen the videos of cops getting shot in the face walking up to a car window, or when they turn to walk away, or when they are just talking to someone, I get it as well as I can. I don’t know how you prepare for that without being so on edge when something is off that you end up shooting someone for passing gas.
I really don’t like the way this sounds, but I think there should be more police shot than innocent people accidentally shot.
Yep, I know exactly what you mean there - and I agree. Yes it does sound bad, but I can’t think of any better way of putting it.
I can sort of see your point about what the jury saw, but by the same token, if I was going to shoot a cop I sure as hell would be telling them I had a gun. If anything, that should put the cop more at ease.
Of course I’m saying that from the comfort of my office, not out in the field. It’s so far out of my experience that I have absolutely no idea what they go through.
The stress and fear management training sounds like a good idea.
I’ve been browsing sites showing home made firearms for ages, some of the stuff people come up with is outrageous, and others are pieces of fine blacksmithing. From some rubberbands and a piece of pvc pipe and a nail to a revolver that you can barely tell wasn’t machined. Not to mention a million different machine pistols.
Anyway, I’ve always thought the next step in preventing firearms was to control ammunition more, and it seems some countries have done that… and homemade ammo is horrific. I’d rather be shot with something store bought please. Bad enough to be shot, but with a rusty bullet too? Or one that shatters inside me, or one that won’t compress but has painful looking milled edges on it? Not to mention the hand made grenades and sticky bombs.
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Being shot with a bullet that had milled edges on it would just be the worst.
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I don’t know if it would actually be worse, but it just seems like it would. I mean if a machete takes your arm off does it matter pain wise if it was serrated or not? Your damn arm is off, I think that pegs the pain meter at OMGWTFBBQ.
Though after looking on the net some, it appears long distance target shooters use them. Solid copper milled bullets.
It’s just a flesh wound.
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Exactly, didn’t matter if that sword that watery tart gave him was sharp or jagged, it’s still just a flesh wound.
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Too late. Now we all get to argue about whether white people accept enough blame for people like this. As if there were some monolithic bloc of white people out there that are all the same.
It sounds like we’ll never know exactly what was up, but it looks like all the guns were illegal since he had a felony arrest and conviction.
His girlfriend may be able to shed a bit of light on it, but who really knows what is going on with people like that.
It’s at times like these that you can see the best and worst of people.
Among the worst is this woman
A (now former) lawyer for CBS who said she wasn’t sympathetic to the victims of the massacre because "country music fans often are Republican gun-toters’’