Lando 
Posted on 02/24/2005 7:37:04 AM PST by Lando Lincoln
On Sunday, February 13, 2005, a young man with a history of alleged emotional disturbance got his moment of fame without killing anybody. Had he performed his stunt without a gun, it is questionable that Google would have listed about 1,000 articles on this incident within three days. Nor would the gun banners have used this unfortunate tragedy to grab for their own moment of fame, using other people’s pain and suffering to promote their flawed agenda.
Initial Media Response
Almost all media reports called the gun an “assault rifle.”1,2,3 One exception to this label was from a television station’s web site, which called the gun an “automatic rifle.”4 They all agreed that after the shooter ran out of ammunition, he was subdued by bystanders.
One of the people involved in the citizen’s arrest said he decided to follow the shooter, and when shooter ran out of ammunition, he “lunged for the gun and two of his co-workers tackled the gunman.” A second witness said: “He was standing there with his hands in the air and we just grabbed him and sat on him until police came.”5
The Story Behind the Story
The total number of casualties ended up being two wounded. How could a person with an “assault rifle” and 60 rounds of ammunition not kill anybody? One witness noted: “He was just shooting, he wasn't even aiming.”6 What was his motive, if not murder?
News reports began to surface that the shooter had a history of alleged psychological troubles, and that there were earlier warnings that intervention was needed. In one article, a cousin was quoted as saying: “My stepfather told police that he was trouble and needed help” and that “nothing came of the calls for help.” Another person corroborated this, claiming: “he, too, was told the family had asked police for help.”7
In another article, one neighbor said the shooter was “the typical invisible kid” and “one of those kids who was on the fringe.” A second person stated: “someone would have known [the shooter] well enough to see the attack coming.”8
Police investigators turned up a “shrine” containing “news accounts and other information” to the 1999 Columbine massacre.9 The local district attorney said: “Information is being gathered that would demonstrate that the defendant had a lurid fascination with the April 1999 shooting.”10
Adding to this history was the discovery of a “videotape depicting the manufacture and detonation of pipe bombs” in which the shooter participated.11
Gun Banners Use Tragedy for PR Opportunity
The next day, Violence Policy Center came out with a short report on the gun used, stating it was “apparently the predecessor to Minnesota-based Vulcan Arms.”12 This use of self-admitted lack of fact checking to create a press release condemning another gun manufacturer indicates a curious standard of journalistic integrity.
The same day, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, calling the mall shooting “Just another day in America.”13 Brady uses this tragedy to launch into a discussion that equates the ownership of a semi-automatic weapon with machine guns being purchased by an antagonistic government.
The Washington Times article cited by Brady was dated four days earlier. It reported Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is buying “more than 100,000 AK-47 rifles that U.S. officials believe could be used to aid left-wing uprisings in Latin America.” The article further states:
The protests come at a time when U.S. intelligence reports say that Mr. Chavez is working behind the scenes to prop up left-wing revolutionary movements in the region while retrenching from democratic principles at home.
Mr. Chavez is a vocal supporter of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and other revolutionaries, and has encouraged the Iraqi insurgency.
And:
Mr. Chavez appeared on Al Jazeera in December and called the station “a symbol of courage, principles and dignity.” He added, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.: “It always tells the truth.” He expressed support for the Iraqi insurgents attacking American forces.14
Two reports noted: “Venezuela will receive 100,000 Russian AK-103 and AK-104 assault rifles and 10 attack helicopters by mid-2005…”15,16 A third report states the guns are AK-101 and AK-103 assault rifles.17
Regardless of model, they are all fully automatic machine guns.18 Brady does not disclose that the U.S. government effectively banned civilian ownership of machine guns decades ago.19 Whether Brady Campaign is incapable of telling one gun from another or they are deliberately misrepresenting legal U.S. firearms commerce, these errors make their entire press release suspect.
Finally, Brady has failed to show how a foreign leader who supports communism and terrorism is equal to a troubled young man who wounded two people.
Senator Chuck Schumer also weighed in on the tragedy:
“(Sunday's) horrific shooting is the latest example of a military-style assault weapon being used to shoot large numbers of people,” said Schumer, D-N.Y. “And we need to renew the assault weapons ban so that (Sunday) doesn't repeat itself over and over again.”20
In the same article, an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms stated: “The 10-year ban on certain assault weapons would not have made it illegal to buy the gun that police say [the shooter] used.” Senator Schumer must know this, since he was one of the coauthors of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.21
While he wants to disarm law-abiding citizens for the actions of a troubled criminal, Senator Schumer benefits from an armed security force “charged with maintaining security in the Capitol and all Senate buildings, as well as protection of the members themselves.”22
Will banning “assault weapons” make us safer?
A 2002 report from the Centers for Disease Control found that laws banning specific firearms had “inconsistent” results.23
A 2004 report from the U.S. Department of Justice concluded: “Should it be renewed, the [Assault Weapons] ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”24
It is sad, yet interesting, to note that the mall shooting, where nobody died, generated hundreds of news articles and press releases from all the gun control advocates, while a local woman, stabbed to death four days later, received no press releases and little media coverage.25
Conclusion
A young man with a reported history of instability was collecting memorabilia about a tragic massacre that happened over five years earlier, and had been exploding illegal pipe bombs.
The gun banner’s solution? Law-abiding gun owners should be disarmed and forced to seek protection from the very government whose failure to intervene may have increased the tragedy’s likelihood, and whose help didn’t arrive until after unarmed citizens subdued the shooter because he ran out of ammunition.
Meanwhile, a gun-banning politician enjoys the safety of his private security force, and a woman’s murder warranted little attention because of the choice of weapon.
Yep, just another day in America.
Endnotes
About the Writer: Howard Nemerov is a Bay Area freelance writer who has a special interest in the preservation of the Second Amendment. Howard receives e-mail at hnemerov@netvista.net.
Lando
Most of the MSM would not know an assault rifle from a BB gun.
bump
They had a stolen full-auto AR-15 clone (or so it seems from the press reports). The "lady" who did the shooting only managed to cause one minor injury--
--BTW, thanks for a great set of references---
Outstanding, `top-drawer' post.
Hate to point it out, but that's an oxymoron.
--I stand corrected--
So the shooting was caused by newspapers!
We're going to need more newspaper control if we're going to stop this kind of violence.
rubber bands in Florida schools are assault weapons now.
FR's posting function appears to be a bit dodgy today.
bookmark
Wrote this letter to Nemerov:
I read your article on Gun Control: It’s an Assault Weapon with some interest. In fact, I read it twice, looking for the identification of the weapon the young man used.
It looks to me like you’ve done the same thing you accuse gun-control critics of doing, but in reverse—You haven’t identified the gun at all. This leads me to the belief that the article was duplicitous because you didn’t want the gun to be identified.
PS. I've owned lots of guns and am an avid hunter.
The Second Amendment...
America's Original Homeland Security!
Whether it was an "assault weapon", an automatic rifle, or a squirt gun is irrelevant. "The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms shall not be infringed"!
Bust the criminal, not the crime tools.
After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.
I would hate the thought of having to WAIT for the guy to run out of ammo...
Surprisingly enough, the local media didn't make too much of the "machine gun" incident--I suppose because of the lack of injuries and the fact that the weapon was stolen--also perhaps that, due to the rain, all of the talking heads were jabbering about flooding--
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