Fort Hood Shooting - TEXAS

[weary1969]

I failed to see the correlation between Texas and the gun culture as it pertains to this guys. This guys lived( Silver Spring, MD) and worked in the DC area(Walter Reed Hospital). Let's wait and see what evidence the authorities have gather, before we say anything.

Deeks if u live in a society where these shootings are d norm whether he is a 5 star general really have no bearing. D culture of gun violence in d US is my issue. Y is only in US these shootings occur. So u get deploy and u eh want to go u shoot up d  place. If a similar scenario had played out in d UK a man get deploy and eh want to go would his response be the same? I doubt it.

Is only in d US these shootings are d norm. It is such a non issue now hat last night MSNBC had normal programming/Nancy Grace talk bout d sicko serial killer. Prieviously this would have been d lead story last nite/today. When Columbine happen it was carried 4 a wk. I guess these shootings eh headline news any more well at least not for Nancy Grace.

[ribbit]

early reports mentioned a possible second shooter - did they rule this out?

[TriniCana]

early reports mentioned a possible second shooter - did they rule this out?

CNN.com said this morning that it was a lone gun man and the 3 previous suspects were released! But then again, yesterday they said that the killer was killed too - so your guess is as good as mine oui.

Also heard that a woman officer who was also shot, is the one that basically 'saved' more from being killed.....hmmm!


Still, the head they pushing is the fact that the man was VEX he was being deployed mid November to serve....

steupses!!

[Bakes]

Baked you go sour vomit boy.... whey sah, Yuh is ah pest.

Well, I'm no biologist but I'm pretty sure that "pest" is still somewhere higher up the evolutionary chain than "nannyhole"... your idea of stimulating interaction is giving yuhself de finger, so worry more about yuhself than me.

[fari]

on npr they were mentioning too that in the army there are not many people who counsel the counselors..this man has heard all sorts of traumatic experiences recounted god knows how he feels inside.    i also heard that supposedly he gave a lecture a few years ago about islam in which he spouted some real hardcore beliefs and one of the guys afterwards told his colleagues "is this guy gonna go postal some day".   again we dont know what set this man off but somehow i feel this kinda ting could happen any time any place, is not like the army is extremely selective about who it accepts.

[TriniCana]

Allyuh bear with me eh, but I'm one for CNN and nobody else except when TMZ came out with MJ news first.

But farseness hit me just now and I went into Foxnews.com just to hear what them maccomere men saying
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572448,00.html

The Army psychiatrist suspected of being the lone gunman in a horrific massacre at Fort Hood in Texas took a "very calm and measured approach" to carrying out the mass shooting, the commanding general said Friday.

Survivors of the rampage that killed 13 and wounded 30 said the suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is great!" in Arabic — before opening fire, base commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said.

************************
People will forget that all of this is just speculation, especially those who still have Sept 11th fresh in their minds - those who still seeking revenge for the killing of the innocent, ain't really care that this man is a born american citizen. "He's a terrorist!" and all hell will break loose!

[weary1969]

Allyuh bear with me eh, but I'm one for CNN and nobody else except when TMZ came out with MJ news first.

But farseness hit me just now and I went into Foxnews.com just to hear what them maccomere men saying
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572448,00.html

The Army psychiatrist suspected of being the lone gunman in a horrific massacre at Fort Hood in Texas took a "very calm and measured approach" to carrying out the mass shooting, the commanding general said Friday.

Survivors of the rampage that killed 13 and wounded 30 said the suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is great!" in Arabic — before opening fire, base commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said.

************************
People will forget that all of this is just speculation, especially those who still have Sept 11th fresh in their minds - those who still seeking revenge for the killing of the innocent, ain't really care that this man is a born american citizen. "He's a terrorist!" and all hell will break loose!

Doh get domestic CNN and since I eh gone digital yet I watch MSNBC dey want 2 say y he eh call a teroist yet. D family say he was being tauted 4 bein a muslim so it is a 911 spin 4 sure.

[D.H.W]

Kimberly Munley praised for ending Fort Hood rampage
Police officer confronted gunman and shot him four times despite being wounded herself


Kimberly Munley, the police officer who shot the Fort Hood gunman, with the country singer Dierks Bentley. Photograph: Twitter

The civilian police officer who shot and "subdued" the gunman responsible for the Fort Hood killings was today hailed as a hero.

Sergeant Kimberly Munley was praised for her "amazing and aggressive performance" by the top commander at Fort Hood, Lieutenant General Bob Cone, who credited her with stopping the shooting rampage that killed 13 people at the Texas post. Munley shot the gunman four times despite being wounded herself.

Cone said Munley and her partner responded within three minutes of reported gunfireyesterday afternoon. Munley had been directing traffic moments before she confronted the gunman, the New York Daily News reported.

Munley, who had been trained in active-response tactics, rushed into the building and confronted the shooter as he was turning a corner, Cone said.

"It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer," Cone said.

Munley was only a few feet from army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan when she opened fire.

Munley was reported to be in a stable condition at a local hospital.

She was well enough to spend last night phoning fellow officers to find out about casualties in the attack, the New York Daily News reported.

Cone said Munley's aggressive response training taught her that "if you act aggressively to take out a shooter you will have less fatalities".

"She walked up and engaged him," he said. He praised her as "one of our most impressive young police officers".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/06/kimberly-munley-fort-hood

[Bakes]

on npr they were mentioning too that in the army there are not many people who counsel the counselors..this man has heard all sorts of traumatic experiences recounted god knows how he feels inside.    i also heard that supposedly he gave a lecture a few years ago about islam in which he spouted some real hardcore beliefs and one of the guys afterwards told his colleagues "is this guy gonna go postal some day".   again we dont know what set this man off but somehow i feel this kinda ting could happen any time any place, is not like the army is extremely selective about who it accepts.

Nah, yuh wrong about dat one there... he went de Officer route he was never just some enlisted man, where they take any and everybody... no disrespect to the enlisted servicemen.  Officer Candidate School is a very rigorous process used to weed out those who not up to par.  Plus you have to consider his medical training (in Psychiatry no less... one of the harder professions).  No amount of pre-screening woulda ketch he if he made it this far.  Likely this was something that wasn't latent, but which manifested itself later on in his career as the disgust with the war and trepidation about deployment became more real.

----------------------

I curious as to how civilian police responded so fast (how about the fact that they were involved at all?) instead of the Military Police.

[fari]

i hear what u saying bredda...but reports say his record wasn't sterling, he got bad performance reviews in the past... and some sources claimed he was 'lazy".  also supposedly since he was an intern he had problems that required counseling and extra supervision.    anyhoo, we ent know all the facts yet so i guess all we can do is speculate.   real sad story though.

kudos to that police woman, me ent know if i coulda be a hero like she nah.

[elan]

Baked you go sour vomit boy.... whey sah, Yuh is ah pest.

Well, I'm no biologist but I'm pretty sure that "pest" is still somewhere higher up the evolutionary chain than "nannyhole"... your idea of stimulating interaction is giving yuhself de finger, so worry more about yuhself than me.

Hahaha WikiBakes   


You is the only person who could build and argument on assumptions while trying to belittle another person for the same thing.   

[Bitter]

'Cop Killer' Gun Used In Ft. Hood Shooting, Officials Said
Suspected Massacre Weapon Purchased Legally At 'Guns Galore' Shop in Texas

By MATTHEW COLE, PIERRE THOMAS, JASON RYAN, and RICHARD ESPOSITO
Nov. 6, 2009 —
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cop-killer-gun-thought-ft-hood-shooting/story?id=9019521


The gun thought to be used in the Fort Hood massacre packs so much firepower, it's known as 'the Cop Killer,' federal law enforcement officials said.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly packed a FN Herstal Five-seveN tactical pistol, which according to federal law enforcement officials, was legally purchased from the "Guns Galore" shop in Killeen, Texas in Aug. 2009. The store's manager, David Cheadle, said that particular firearm can hold 20 rounds in a standard clip and take a ten round clip extension. Cheadle said with one clip and one round in the chamber, one could fire 31 rounds before reloading.

Hasan may have used an expanded clip in the shooting.

On FN Herstal's webpage, the benefits of the Five-seveN pistol note that it can "defeat the enemy in all close combat situations in urban areas, jungle conditions, night missions and any self defense action."

The second gun he had with him was a .357 S&W Magnum revolver, federal law enforcement officials tell ABC News. Ballistics are still being run to determine if he used the revolver in the shooting.

Federal agents, military investigators and Texas Rangers had been investigating whether the gun allegedly used by Hasan was purchased at "Guns Galare," Cheadle told ABC News.

"They called last night and asked about a specific name and gun purchase, but the name was not Hasan," said Cheadle.

Three investigators, including one wearing a Texas Rangers badge, were seen entering the store just before noon Friday. The manager said they were interviewing all of the store employees.

They declined to comment as they left Guns Galore in a car with Department of Defense markings.

The manager said he recognized a photo shown to him of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, identified by authorities as the suspect shooter at Fort Hood. But he said Hasan would have had to show identification if he had bought the gun in his name.

Cheadle said the agents were interested in a FN pistol that uses 5.7 caliber ammunition.

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.
Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

[Quags]

Wonder if this swine flu vaccine driving ppl crazy .I just give birth to a monster conspiracy theory lol.

[weary1969]

Wonder if this swine flu vaccine driving ppl crazy .I just give birth to a monster conspiracy theory lol.

 

[ribbit]

apparently dis eh de 1st mass shooting in kileen, texas. in 1991 george hennard kill 23 people with a pair of handguns. wtf.

[Dutty]

 

[just cool]

Weary 1969 yuh know yuh do have an agenda! first off, you iz one of the ppl who feel that yuh could compare TNT wid the good ole US of A, and BTW good luck wid that comparison, BC there is so much land, life styles and culture to cover, that it's mind boggling.

while TNT is just ah small town wid oil campared to the hundreds of thousands of square miles where the culture could change drastically from city to city , town to town , state to state here in the USA where there is so much diversity. to me it's a crazy idea to campare the two.

believe it or not, legal guns in the U.S. barely kill anyone, it's the illegal ones that do. so a citizens right to bare arms has very little effect on gun crime,it's the guns that slip through the cracks that does be responsible for gun violence and street crimes.

in most major cities in the united states, to own ah gun legally is damn near to impossible, places like houston dallas forth worth, oklahoma city, billings and saltlake city might be the exception, but in big cities up north, perchasing ah gun for the average joe is like getting ah loan wid no collateral, no job and bad credit.


right there in TNT there is ah gun culture growing slowly but surely! and yuh want tuh know something, just like the U.S. the guns that's responsible for street crimes and lost of life, is not on account of the legal fire arms, but the illegal ones.

i remember when i was ah yute, my dad had ah gun, ah don't know if it was legal, but i remember it well, and he used tuh rub shoulders wid nuff white ppl there in trini and them fellas had they guns and they used tuh go to the target range and practice regularly.

same for barbados, when i go there i does visit the range and indulge in recreational shooting, if yuh could only see the unsuspecting, skeet shooting and target shooting, yuh would never know bados have so much ppl who own guns.

my point is, gun does barley kill ppl, but ppl do. i believe in gun control, and i believe guns should be left in the hands of responsible ppl, and even sometimes responsible ppl does trip and ignore their responsibilities and abuse the trust that was bestowed on them.

the countless police officers world wide who does lose it and kill their significant other is testemony to that. let me ask yuh this, would you blame that on the countries gun laws, or on the unfortunate inevitability that occurs, when law enforcemant agents betray their trust, which happens to occur now and sometimes then ?

[weary1969]

Weary 1969 yuh know yuh do have an agenda! first off, you iz one of the ppl who feel that yuh could compare TNT wid the good ole US of A, and BTW good luck wid that comparison, BC there is so much land, life styles and culture to cover, that it's mind boggling.

while TNT is just ah small town wid oil campared to the hundreds of thousands of square miles where the culture could change drastically from city to city , town to town , state to state here in the USA where there is so much diversity. to me it's a crazy idea to campare the two.

believe it or not, legal guns in the U.S. barely kill anyone, it's the illegal ones that do. so a citizens right to bare arms has very little effect on gun crime,it's the guns that slip through the cracks that does be responsible for gun violence and street crimes.

in most major cities in the united states, to own ah gun legally is damn near to impossible, places like houston dallas forth worth, oklahoma city, billings and saltlake city might be the exception, but in big cities up north, perchasing ah gun for the average joe is like getting ah loan wid no collateral, no job and bad credit.


right there in TNT there is ah gun culture growing slowly but surely! and yuh want tuh know something, just like the U.S. the guns that's responsible for street crimes and lost of life, is not on account of the legal fire arms, but the illegal ones.

i remember when i was ah yute, my dad had ah gun, ah don't know if it was legal, but i remember it well, and he used tuh rub shoulders wid nuff white ppl there in trini and them fellas had they guns and they used tuh go to the target range and practice regularly.

same for barbados, when i go there i does visit the range and indulge in recreational shooting, if yuh could only see the unsuspecting, skeet shooting and target shooting, yuh would never know bados have so much ppl who own guns.

my point is, gun does barley kill ppl, but ppl do. i believe in gun control, and i believe guns should be left in the hands of responsible ppl, and even sometimes responsible ppl does trip and ignore their responsibilities and abuse the trust that was bestowed on them.

the countless police officers world wide who does lose it and kill their significant other is testemony to that. let me ask yuh this, would you blame that on the countries gun laws, or on the unfortunate inevitability that occurs, when law enforcemant agents betray their trust, which happens to occur now and sometimes then ?
[/quote

Where I compare USA 2 TNT. All I am sayin d fact dat your country of residence constitution say all yuh could own a gun if u want to. D British constitution which eh written and other so call 1st world countries constitution doh say so. When compared the amt of incidents that happen thu and fri in d US is minimal in d others. Is it merely a coincidence dat all yuh peeps does go postal while yuh fellow 1st worlders don't.

I say it eh a coincidence neva do a psycholgical study because guess what it eh a psychology class in UWI is a General Discussion page in a football forum. I doh need to come here to show how much I know or don't know. My emplyer pays me for my knowledge.

[ribbit]

I still waitin 4 your expert conclusion dat y is only in d USA that such a problem exist where peeps does go postal and shoot up d place.

yuh go wait a long time for an answer. de statistic doh lie - america gun violence is off the charts with respect to the rest of the world. maybe is cause michael moore discuss this in bowling for columbine that man pretend it eh so. if it eh on fox and come from o'reily mouth, it eh true.

[weary1969]

I still waitin 4 your expert conclusion dat y is only in d USA that such a problem exist where peeps does go postal and shoot up d place.

yuh go wait a long time for an answer. de statistic doh lie - america gun violence is off the charts with respect to the rest of the world. maybe is cause michael moore discuss this in bowling for columbine that man pretend it eh so. if it eh on fox and come from o'reily mouth, it eh true.

Nah dis 1 doh count because d fella eh buy d guns in a gun show.

[just cool]

I still waitin 4 your expert conclusion dat y is only in d USA that such a problem exist where peeps does go postal and shoot up d place.

yuh go wait a long time for an answer. de statistic doh lie - america gun violence is off the charts with respect to the rest of the world. maybe is cause michael moore discuss this in bowling for columbine that man pretend it eh so. if it eh on fox and come from o'reily mouth, it eh true.

No worst than these countries.

jamaica.
columbia
venezuela
pakistan
brazil
trinidad and tobago
pueto rico
mexico
afganistan.
russia
czhech rep.
bagdad. and i'm sure there are other places that i forgot to mention, i still maintain the notion that guns in the wrong hands iz ah recipe for disaster, which in turn creates plenty havoc.

[Quags]

I still waitin 4 your expert conclusion dat y is only in d USA that such a problem exist where peeps does go postal and shoot up d place.

yuh go wait a long time for an answer. de statistic doh lie - america gun violence is off the charts with respect to the rest of the world. maybe is cause michael moore discuss this in bowling for columbine that man pretend it eh so. if it eh on fox and come from o'reily mouth, it eh true.

No worst than these countries.

jamaica.
columbia
venezuela
pakistan
brazil
trinidad and tobago
pueto rico
mexico
afganistan.
russia
czhech rep.
bagdad. and i'm sure there are other places that i forgot to mention, i still maintain the notion that guns in the wrong hands iz ah recipe for disaster, which in turn creates plenty havoc.

So America worst or no worst than 3 rd Worlds countries

[Bakes]

So America worst or no worst than 3 rd Worlds countries

The point isn't whether America is better or worse than these countries... from the sheer number of incidents it's pretty clear that the problem is severe in America.  The issue is whether this could attributable to the 2nd Amendment as that dumbass Weary trying to assert.  If the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms is the cause of gun violence in the US how do you explain the gun violence that we see in some of these "third world" countries that just cool list?  Dumbass weary sheself say none of these other countries have the right to bear arms written into their constitutions... but people bearing arms anyways, why? 

People using illegal handguns to kill each other in these countries and only using legal handguns to kill in the US... clearly only an idiot would assert that, but then again, Weary is well-qualified as such.

[Quags]

The right to bear arms ,The home of brave and the land of the free baby .Gotta love it ,the second best Country in the World after Canada.whooooo

[verycute1]

on npr they were mentioning too that in the army there are not many people who counsel the counselors..this man has heard all sorts of traumatic experiences recounted god knows how he feels inside.    i also heard that supposedly he gave a lecture a few years ago about islam in which he spouted some real hardcore beliefs and one of the guys afterwards told his colleagues "is this guy gonna go postal some day".   again we dont know what set this man off but somehow i feel this kinda ting could happen any time any place, is not like the army is extremely selective about who it accepts.

Nah, yuh wrong about dat one there... he went de Officer route he was never just some enlisted man, where they take any and everybody... no disrespect to the enlisted servicemen.  Officer Candidate School is a very rigorous process used to weed out those who not up to par.  Plus you have to consider his medical training (in Psychiatry no less... one of the harder professions).  No amount of pre-screening woulda ketch he if he made it this far.  Likely this was something that wasn't latent, but which manifested itself later on in his career as the disgust with the war and trepidation about deployment became more real.

----------------------

I curious as to how civilian police responded so fast (how about the fact that they were involved at all?) instead of the Military Police.

Bakes, from what I understand they were in the area already for something else. There's several different versions of just why they were in the area, The partner of  PO Kimberly Munley said in an interview that they were pulling up near that building just around the time that the shootings began, some other news reports claim that she was outside directing traffic when the shootings began, and I've just read a report that they were in the car on the way to the repair shop which was nearby, when they got the call about the shootings. It was just a matter of luck, being in the right place at the right time I guess. Also want to re-emphasize something that you said, which is that this man was a Major and that is not a title that is handed out overnight to just any and anybody. Also as some have mentioned, just because you are on a military base, doesnt mean you automatically are allowed to have guns, or even access to them. This man bought these outside, brought them back onto the base for this specific purpose.

Now a question. Yes the gun problem in the US is severe. But when you break it down and crunch the numbers, is it really as severe as some make it out to be? Or is it because there is a larger population? Do you have a statistic somewhere along the lines of per 100 gun-related deaths or something like that that can be compared to a 3rd world country? I would be interested in seeing the breakdown, and I know you might have that kind of info.

[Bakes]

VC1 yeah... I subsequently read that these are actually police stationed on the base.  I'm not sure why they are there to augment the MP force, but this is a civilian force stationed on the base.

As for handgun related deaths here are some stats:

Total gun-related deaths (including suicide) per 100,000 people in 1994 by country were as follows:

•U.S.A. 14.24
•Brazil 12.95
•Mexico 12.69
•Estonia 12.26
•Argentina 8.93
•Northern Ireland 6.63
•Finland 6.46
•Switzerland 5.31
•France 5.15
•Canada 4.31
•Norway 3.82
•Austria 3.70
•Portugal 3.20
•Israel 2.91
•Belgium 2.90
•Australia 2.65
•Slovenia 2.60
•Italy 2.44
•New Zealand 2.38
•Denmark 2.09
•Sweden 1.92
•Kuwait 1.84
•Greece 1.29
•Germany 1.24
•Hungary 1.11
•Ireland 0.97
•Spain 0.78
•Netherlands 0.70
•Scotland 0.54
•England and Wales 0.41
•Taiwan 0.37
•Singapore 0.21
•Mauritius 0.19
•Hong Kong 0.14
•South Korea 0.12
•Japan 0.05

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=6166


This list is gun-related murders:

Rank   Countries    Amount   
# 1    South Africa: 31,918   
# 2    Colombia: 21,898   
# 3    Thailand: 20,032   
# 4    United States: 9,369   
# 5    Philippines: 7,708   
# 6    Mexico: 2,606   
# 7    Slovakia: 2,356   
# 8    El Salvador: 1,441   
# 9    Zimbabwe: 598   
# 10    Peru: 442   
# 11    Germany: 269   
# 12    Czech Republic: 181   
# 13    Ukraine: 173   
# 14    Canada: 144   
# 15    Albania: 135   
# 16    Costa Rica: 131   
# 17    Azerbaijan: 120   
# 18    Poland: 111   
# 19    Uruguay: 109   
# 20    Spain: 97   
# 21    Portugal: 90   
# 22    Croatia: 76   
# 23    Switzerland: 68   
# 24    Bulgaria: 63   
# 25    Australia: 59   
# 26    Sweden: 58   
# 27    Bolivia: 52   
# 28    Japan: 47   
# 29    Slovenia: 39   
= 30    Hungary: 38   
= 30    Belarus: 38   
# 32    Latvia: 28   
# 33    Burma: 27   
# 34    Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of: 26   
# 35    Austria: 25   
# 36    Estonia: 21   
# 37    Moldova: 20   
# 38    Lithuania: 16   
= 39    United Kingdom: 14   
= 39    Denmark: 14   
# 41    Ireland: 12   
# 42    New Zealand: 10   
# 43    Chile: 9   
# 44    Cyprus: 4   
# 45    Morocco: 1   
= 46    Iceland: 0   
= 46    Luxembourg: 0   
= 46    Oman: 0   
 Total: 100,693   

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_wit_fir-crime-murders-with-firearms


This one (below) is very interesting... as it shows several European countries ahead of the US... but of course, you never read about their stories.

Interesting that 50% of households in Finland own guns... not sure if  the rate of legal gun ownership is that high in the US.  The one caveat I have with this site is that it is a pro-gun ownership site... but that said, not sure what that means for the stats.

http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcgvintl.html

[verycute1]

Thanks much, I knew you would come through with the info 


SO essentially, while the US had ( in 94 anyway) the highest total gun related deaths, there weren't as many murders as there were suicides. And If I'm not mistaken, suicide by firearms is the no 1. method in the us even to this day isnt it?

[weary1969]

So America worst or no worst than 3 rd Worlds countries

The point isn't whether America is better or worse than these countries... from the sheer number of incidents it's pretty clear that the problem is severe in America.  The issue is whether this could attributable to the 2nd Amendment as that dumbass Weary trying to assert.  If the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms is the cause of gun violence in the US how do you explain the gun violence that we see in some of these "third world" countries that just cool list?  Dumbass weary sheself say none of these other countries have the right to bear arms written into their constitutions... but people bearing arms anyways, why? 

People using illegal handguns to kill each other in these countries and only using legal handguns to kill in the US... clearly only an idiot would assert that, but then again, Weary is well-qualified as such.

When dis become an issue of legal and illegal guns. D issue is y yankees luv 2 go postal. We neva was talkin bout gun violence every country have an issue wit gun violence. But the good ole USA is the place where a man loose he wuk and 2 yrs later go shoot up d place stop changing the goal post. D gun use in Fort Hood as legal as dey come. But would a Canadian muslim in d same situation do the same ting. U are d intellectual what is d answer.

[JDB]

So America worst or no worst than 3 rd Worlds countries

The point isn't whether America is better or worse than these countries... from the sheer number of incidents it's pretty clear that the problem is severe in America.  The issue is whether this could attributable to the 2nd Amendment as that dumbass Weary trying to assert.  If the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms is the cause of gun violence in the US how do you explain the gun violence that we see in some of these "third world" countries that just cool list?   Dumbass weary sheself say none of these other countries have the right to bear arms written into their constitutions... but people bearing arms anyways, why? 

People using illegal handguns to kill each other in these countries and only using legal handguns to kill in the US... clearly only an idiot would assert that, but then again, Weary is well-qualified as such.

That is not a fair argument. Weary was referring to this type of event and not attributing the 2nd ammendment as The Cause of all gun violence in teh US. The "causes" for high rate of gun violence will be multiple and can (and most likely will) be different for each country. Clearly a lot of US gun violence is crime related and committed using illegal weapons. However the rate of crime and lawlessness in these “embattled” countries like Jamaica, Colombia, Trinidad and Brazil is a lot higher than in the US.  So the question would be why is the US even in the same neighbourhood with those countries in terms of numbers.

More to the point though, comparing total gun-related murders conceals the phenomenon surrounding this particular type of crime where a disturbed, heretofore, non-criminal individual legally purchases semi-automatic weapons, weapons whose only purpose is to be as deadly as possible. It is reasonable to suggest that those types of killings can be curtailed by better gun control.

To question the effect of gun control on US gun violence a better comparison for the US would be similarly developed, affluent countries like Canada and other G7 nations that do have stronger gun control. Even accounting for economic differences and general crime statistics the comparison is stark from the numbers you posted below. The US is 3 times the rate of Canada and France, 7 times that of Italy and more than ten times that of Germany.

However you guys want to parse it weary was not too far off. Her statement was about the gun culture in the US facilitating these types of tragedies and that the cost of life has to be borne by the society that “loves their guns”. Such a society cannot have it both ways. Just as the parent whose child discharges a family weapon, accidentally or on purpose, has to bear responsibility. In this instance this was a weapon obtained as a civilian.

There will be disturbed people everywhere but these cases will always be more prevalent and more costly when there is easy access to weapons that do the most damage in the least amount of time. I would think that with the litany of similar incidents people would not be questioning the role of legalizing and promoting these weapons in these events.

On a sidenote it would be interesting to know whether this weapon could have been as easily obtained in MD/VA.

[Bakes]

When dis become an issue of legal and illegal guns. D issue is y yankees luv 2 go postal. We neva was talkin bout gun violence every country have an issue wit gun violence. But the good ole USA is the place where a man loose he wuk and 2 yrs later go shoot up d place stop changing the goal post. D gun use in Fort Hood as legal as dey come. But would a Canadian muslim in d same situation do the same ting. U are d intellectual what is d answer.

Wait... is NOT YOU who start with de 2nd Amendment talk???  The Second Amendment refers to the right to legally own guns.  YOU attributed this shooting to the Second Amendment right... your very first comment in factessentially said Americans love they right to bear arms to this is the result.   Now you saying is about "y yankees luv 2 go postal"... and yet you have the cheek to talk about me changing goalpost?  Look yuh even bringing "Canadian muslim" into the talk as if the man religion had anything to do with him shooting these people.  I am sure it have people in Canada who shoot up their workplace as well but incidents like that don't make international news.  For good or bad American media is globally pervasive, so anything that happens here becomes readily available around the world.  Everyone around the world knows of CNN, FOX and MSNBC... and readily go there for 'news'.  Ask those same people to name international news sources on par with these from other countries and the most they'll volunteer is the BBC or Al-Jazeera.  It takes something exceptional happening in other countries to make news internationally, but if America only fart people like you could not only describe the smell, but diagnose what America had fuh lunch as well.