Post: #1

http://news.yahoo.com/3-shot-dead-pa-tow...53829.html

A gunman blasted shots through the wall of a Pennsylvania municipal building during a meeting on Monday and then barged into the meeting room and killed three people before being tackled by a local official and possibly another person and shot with his own gun, a witness said.

State police in Lehighton confirmed the three deaths and said the gunman, identified as 59-year-old Rockne Newell, had an ongoing dispute with township officials over the possible condemnation of his unkempt property. They said about 15 to 18 residents and town officials were at the meeting place, a short drive from Newell's property, when the gunfire erupted.

The shooting, which injured at least two other people, happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. during Ross Township's monthly meeting, Monroe County emergency management director Guy Miller said. The gunman, who appeared to be "shooting randomly," was captured and was treated at a hospital, he said.

Two people died at the scene, and a third person died after being flown to a hospital. Police confirmed that at least one of the dead was a township official but declined to give additional details. A fourth person, a woman, was in surgery with undisclosed injuries.

Investigators said Newell began shooting as he approached the building and continued as he walked into and through it. He then went back out to his vehicle in the parking lot, retrieved a handgun and went back into the building, firing more shots, police said.

Pocono Record reporter Chris Reber said he was at the township building when a man armed with a long gun with a scope shot through a wall into the meeting place, in a rural area of northeastern Pennsylvania about 85 miles north of Philadelphia.

Three Shot Dead at Pennsylvania Township MeetingPlay video."Three Shot Dead at Pennsylvania Township Meeting
"The thing that got my attention: plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls. Witnesses would later tell me they saw pictures exploding away from the walls," Reber said in a first-person account told to his editors Marta Gouger and Chris Mele. "I heard more than 10 shots."

He said he crawled out to a hallway, exited the building and took cover behind a vehicle.

"The gunman was this guy wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt," he said. "I saw him go back out to his car, a silver Impala, and get another gun.

"It wasn't real to me until I went back inside and saw people bleeding."

A local official at the meeting grabbed the shooter and subdued him, Reber said.

"(West End Open Space Commission executive director) Bernie Kozen bear-hugged the gunman and took him down," Reber said. "He shot the shooter with his own gun."

View gallery."A Pennsylvania State Police Trooper guards the dilapidated …
A Pennsylvania State Police Trooper guards the dilapidated home of alleged shooter 59-year-old Rockn …
State police said they believed two people may have subdued the gunman, who was shot in one of his legs.

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, who represents the state's 17th District, said he was "appalled at the atrocities that claimed the lives of innocent citizens in Ross Township." He said he had heard about what Kozen did to prevent more bloodshed.

"Mr. Kozen is a true hero tonight," Cartwright said in an emailed statement.

Kozen's wife, reached by telephone at their home Monday night, said he wasn't there and she was unsure when he'd be back.

Newell had been in a long-running dispute with township officials over the dilapidated condition of his property, state police Capt. Edward Hoke said. The township supervisors voted in February 2012 to take legal action against Newell for violating zoning and sewer regulations, according to meeting minutes posted online.

The ramshackle property includes an old camper in the front yard filled with wooden pallets, pieces of what appear to be old railroad ties and trash. A garage leans and appears close to collapse, and a propane tank sits inside an old dog house.

View gallery."Emergency crews respond to a reported shooting at the …
Emergency crews respond to a reported shooting at the Ross Township building that left two people de …
State police, who guarded the property early Tuesday, were awaiting a search warrant so they could enter it.

In June, the Pocono Record wrote a story about what it said was an 18-year fight between the township and Newell over his property.

Monroe County Court in August 2012 sided with the township and ordered Newell to vacate and never again occupy or use the property unless he had the permits to do so. The report said Newell had been living out of a car and in abandoned buildings since being ordered to vacate.

Newell told the newspaper he was unemployed for years after an injury from a crash and had nowhere else to go.

"They have no right to kick me off my property," he told the newspaper. "They call my property an eyesore. When I bought it, it was one of only three properties on the entire road that didn't have what they call junk."

Newell was in police custody after being treated at the hospital Monday night and couldn't be reached for comment, and there was no telephone number listed for his property.

Ross Township has about 5,500 residents. According to its website, the board of supervisors meets at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month

Post: #2

Most people are saddened by this news.

Anti-gun activists are elated.

Post: #3

(08-06-2013 12:05 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  Anti-gun activists are elated.

Why would anyone be elated about people being killed? Your logic is illogical.

Post: #4

(08-06-2013 12:08 PM)JayMillz Wrote:  

(08-06-2013 12:05 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  Anti-gun activists are elated.

Why would anyone be elated about people being killed? Your logic is illogical.

Highly politicized people are inclined to celebrate whenever a tragedy a. confirms their pre-existing bias and b. provides fodder for propaganda.

For example, there's an article in the Guardian today about a polar bear which supposedly starved to death on the island of Svalbard.

Quote:"Starved polar bear perished due to record sea-ice melt, says expert

A starved polar bear found found dead in Svalbard as "little more than skin and bones" perished due to a lack of sea ice on which to hunt seals, according to a reknowned polar bear expert.

Climate change has reduced sea ice in the Arctic to record lows in the last year and Dr Ian Stirling, who has studied the bears for almost 40 years and examined the animal, said the lack of ice forced the bear into ranging far and wide in an ultimately unsuccessful search for food.

"From his lying position in death, the bear appears to simply have starved and died where he dropped," Stirling said. "He had no external suggestion of any remaining fat, having been reduced to little more than skin and bone."

Link

Why in the world would they publish an article about the death of a single wild polar bear? Because they see it as confirming their belief that climate change is endangering polar bears and by extension all life on the planet and that stories like this could help sway public opinion.

Post: #5

(08-06-2013 12:08 PM)JayMillz Wrote:  

(08-06-2013 12:05 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  Anti-gun activists are elated.

Why would anyone be elated about people being killed? Your logic is illogical.

Because this reinforces whatever misguided agenda they wish to push.

Post: #6

Well anti-gun activists don't want people shot with guns. I doubt "elated" is the right word, probably "sombered" is more appropriate in the english language.

Post: #7

For crying out loud, just stop. Stop with these threads. We get it, there are idiots with guns.

Stop trying to take away rights from law abiding citizens. These threads accomplish nothing.

Post: #8

(08-06-2013 01:04 PM)NY Digital Wrote:  For crying out loud, just stop. Stop with these threads. We get it, there are idiots with guns.

Stop trying to take away rights from law abiding citizens. These threads accomplish nothing.

What do you think the odds are that the guns were legally owned and that the shooter had no criminal history or diagnosed mental disorders?

Post: #9

(08-06-2013 04:19 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(08-06-2013 01:04 PM)NY Digital Wrote:  For crying out loud, just stop. Stop with these threads. We get it, there are idiots with guns.

Stop trying to take away rights from law abiding citizens. These threads accomplish nothing.

What do you think the odds are that the guns were legally owned and that the shooter had no criminal history or diagnosed mental disorders?

Probably high. But. This incident is an outlier and not representative of the vast majority of gun crime. My problem with posting this ariticle under a gun focussed premise is that it gives credence to the false argument that gun crime is likely to spontaneously erupt at any place in time in America. It simply isn't true.

It is a similar phenomenon to people letting their kids get fat in front of video games because they're afraid letting them play outside will result in sex predator abduction. Such things do happen but they are exceedingly rare. Shark attacks, fatal bee stings and lightning strikes are amongst the more common occurrences.

Post: #10

(08-06-2013 12:08 PM)JayMillz Wrote:  

(08-06-2013 12:05 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  Anti-gun activists are elated.

Why would anyone be elated about people being killed? Your logic is illogical.

Your thread title says it all - "Another Idiot With a Gun". That's the only reason you posted the thread.

Post: #11

Hey I think we need another gun thread.

And maybe a couple more race threads while we're at it.

Post: #12

(08-06-2013 12:08 PM)JayMillz Wrote:  

(08-06-2013 12:05 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  Anti-gun activists are elated.

Why would anyone be elated about people being killed? Your logic is illogical.

Take an example from the anti-smoking side of the house.

Big tobacco does not want anyone to get cancer from smoking. It is bad publicity, in the past has cost them millions of dollars in lawsuits, and at the very bottom line they are losing a customer.

Anti-tobacco not only wants, but they need smokers to get cancer. It makes them think their positions are justified. It makes them feel better in the "I told you so" kind of way. It makes their budgets go up and gives them lobbying material. Every smoking related cancer victim becomes a customer of their organization, without them they would be out of a job.

A teenage boy with cancer is negative cashflow to big tobacco and positive cashflow to anti-tobacco.

A mass shooting is negative cashflow to pro-gun and positive cashflow to anti-gun.

Simple as that.

Anti-gun activists and Anti-smoking activists are essentially the same. They feed on the misery of others in order to push their political agenda.

Post: #13

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-5759...4-wounded/

Dallas-area shooting spree leaves 4 dead, another 4 wounded

Four people were killed and four others were wounded Wednesday night in two separate but related shootings, one of which involved an explosive device, not far apart in Dallas and a nearby suburb, police said.

The suspect has been identified as Erbie Bowser, who identifies himself on his Facebook page as a former Dallas Mavericks dancer, CBS Dallas station KTVT-TV reports. Bowser was arrested at the second crime scene in DeSoto, Texas, outside Dallas. Charges against the suspect are still pending. Family members said that Bowser was looking for his ex-girlfriend at both of the houses.

The first shooting happened around 10:30 p.m. at a Dallas home. Two people there were shot and killed, and two more people were wounded, Dallas police Sgt. Warren Mitchell told media outlets.

The gunman then moved about 7 miles to another home in DeSoto, Mitchell said. There, at around 10:45 p.m., he tossed some type of explosive device into the home, police told KTVT-TV, before opening fire again.

Another two people were killed and two others wounded, DeSoto police Cpl. Melissa Franks said

Neighbors of the DeSoto home described the loud boom from the explosive device.

"We thought it was coming from upstairs because the kids are always upstairs making noise," said Tommy Johnson. "I went up and asked, 'Did y'all hear anything?' and one of my daughters said it came from outside, so I peeped out the front, and that's when I saw a bunch of officers walking down the sidewalk about 10 houses up."

Franks said police took Bowser into custody without incident at the house where the second shooting occurred. She said no charges had been filed yet.

Victims that survived the Dallas shooting were taken to Parkland Hospital and Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Their current conditions are not known.

The conditions of the two surviving DeSoto victims - an 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy - are also not known. They were transported to Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

Post: #14

After all that has been said on this thread, you keep posting more of this shit?

Post: #15

This guy is an anti-gun nut. He's just spamming at this point. How about you start posting about drunk drivers huh? How many people died yesterday from being run over by drunks? More than were shot. How many drowned? How many people were stabbed, ran over, etc.? Every product has risks, firearms are no different. Stop being a moron.

Post: #16

(08-06-2013 11:04 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  A mass shooting is negative cashflow to pro-gun and positive cashflow to anti-gun.

Simple as that.

Anti-gun activists and Anti-smoking activists are essentially the same. They feed on the misery of others in order to push their political agenda.

I'm sure pro-gunners get more funding when an incident happens, they're scared that Barry Soteoro is going to take their guns away. Obama is the best gun salesman in history, after something happens...gun sales skyrocket.

Wasn't there an Arkansas congressman that fed on the misery of Bostonians during the bombings a few months back?

Every issue has two sides, and both sides range have moderate to extremist representation.

Post: #17

Glad I don't live in US. I would be so paranoid 24/7 if I were there.

Post: #18

Post: #19

What's your endgame with this thread? Are you just pointing out that guns, legal or not, in the hands of people will sometimes be used to kill others? Do you want guns banned outright? Do you think a specific piece of legislation being proposed will curb gun violence? Are you interested in discovering the reasons why people are killing each other?

Between the title and just quoting the story without weighing in with your own opinions, you come off as passive-aggressive, which isn't going to accomplish much, especially in this forum.

Post: #20

This scenario reminds me of something else...

Let's outlaw bulldozers. For the women & children.

Post: #21

How many people here are anti-gun, but also pro-Snowden?

I would bet that a large number of people who want to get rid of guns also support Snowden, and believe the US government has too much power and control. Is this a correct assumption?

For me, it seems like it would be difficult to want to ban guns, but also support Snowden. If you support Snowden, and think the US government has gone too far in spying on its own citizens, wouldn't you WANT citizens to be armed? How else could we stop an oppressive government that is abusing its power?

Post: #22

Post: #23

Yeah, a lot of anti anything people love hearing stories that confirm their beliefs. Sort of like crazy , feminist, college chicks and rape stories. Its strange.

Post: #24

I bet the Syrian people are laughing about this right now. Stupid Americans and their guns, who needs em?