Lincolnite

It’s always hard to grasp, no matter where it happened. Listening to accounts of this young man make him sound like a very disturbed kid, with lots of equally disturbed friends. How can you claim on TV that “he was a good kid” ???  Many youth are troubled, but they don’t strap on the weaponry and go on a killing spree at the mall.

Thoughts and prayers to the victims, their families, those who had to witness it, etc. I hope no one tries to out-do his “going out in style” routine.

This massacre hits me hard.  I go to that store at least every couple of months, and at one point I knew a few people that worked there. My thoughts go out to the eight victims and their families.

I’m not surprised by the response time of OPD.  If I’m surprised by anything, it’s that they didn’t have officers there.  I normally see officers at Westroads, but maybe that’s because I’m there at busier times, not in the early afternoon of a weekday.  I’m a little disappointed that this was a story point in the early coverage.

A couple months ago, I read a story on the World Herald website linked via The Drudge Report about Omaha having 40-something shootings in 30-something days.  People should have learned from Jonesboro, Littleton, Salt Lake City, etc. that these massacres can happen anywhere in America.

A big deal will be made about the first reports of ‘the shooter’, and people will be called racists.  But if there is a stereotype for the shooter in these public massacres, it is of a young white male.

I followed the coverage of this story pretty much from when it started. It’s been disappointing to see the focus of the story shift from the victims to the shooter (I’m not surprised, just disappointed).  It seems like someone always refers to the mass murderer as ‘a good person’.  No matter what you do before you walk into a public place and start shooting people, you are not ‘a good person’. 

I hope the victims’ families can find peace.  I hope Robert Hawkins is enjoying his ‘fame’ in the burning fires of hell.

Oh, and I wouldn’t call this a tragedy.  It’s a massacre.  A tragedy is a flood, fire, hurricane, epidemic, play, etc.

My sympathies to the families of the victims also. 
On the “he was a good guy” let me just say this.  Had someone said they guy was a jerk, mental or anything derrogatory it would never have been included in an interview.  If it had, the family would have sued for something because they ruined the name of the person.
Too bad the world has so little respect for life.  Some days I’d love to go back to the “olde days”.

An important point—these murders happened in a ‘gun-free zone’.  Remember, the CCW law gives property owners the right to ban weapons from their premises.  You have to wonder that if people were allowed to carry concealed weapons in the mall then maybe the damage would have been limited (a main purpose of CCW). Better yet, maybe the shooter chose Westroads because he knew he wasn’t going to get any return fire.

Even if Westroads didn’t ban concealed guns, it’s a stretch to claim that anyone else with a gun on them would have had time to react, much less take out the shooter, before it was all over.  Just as you don’t bring knives to a gun fight, you don’t bring handguns to a (depending on the source) SKS or AK-47 fight.

remember that God is Sovereign, and through His Sovereignty these things happen for the greater good. the world is full of evil, and God allows these evil things to happen in order to use them for His Great Good ... Nothing that happens that God hasn’t planned ... and if we could see the “Big Picture” it would simply crush us.

I live in Lincoln, but I work a few blocks from Westroads. I am praying for all of your families.

Do not harden your hearts toward God, but instead look to Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, for His Grace and Mercy.

PSALM 150.

So what if someone had a handgun with them that just would have raised the possibility that they would have over reacted missed and or shot the wrong person.  Guns of any place have no business in public.

It’s no more of a stretch than saying banning all guns would eliminate gun crimes.  That argument was all the rage in the 90s, but I’m not sure it is anymore.
It’s also no more of a stretch than saying a CCW law would result in more gun crimes.

Say what we will about how the LJS manages its online presence, I’ve never heard (or read) anything as scathing as this denouncement of how the World-Herald handled yesterday’s events.

Put yourself in that situation.  If someone was shooting at you, would you want someone to be shooting at that person? I would.  I guess you’ll have to decide if the risk of someone being shot by the return fire was greater than the risk posed by someone shooting open and freely.

I always hope for an awesome James Bond-esque gunfight whenever I go to the mall.

If one gun is causing a problem, adding additional guns isn’t any kind of solution. Unless you want to add 10 or 20 more people to the body count.

I was thinking the same thing.  Omaha.com was unresponsive for me until 8 or 9 last night, and it is unresponsive again.  It’s unfortunate that they were not there when they were most needed.

I must have missed the James Bond movie where a guy walks into a public space and starts shooting people randomly.  In all the movies I’m seen, it’s usually a few people shooting at a few specific people for a reason.

Luckily for you, I’m not naive enough to believe in those things either.  You can never expect to eliminate undesirable behavior, but you can find ways to minimize it.

However, along the lines of “I can’t legally own all sorts of things because I might hurt myself or other people with them” I see no reason why handguns and automatic rifles, which aren’t used for hunting and are designed for use on people, can’t be added to the list.

To preempt the inevitable future rebuttal, yes I’m aware that some criminals will always have guns, despite whatever gun restrictions we may pass. An imperfect solution, yes, but the likely 50% - 80% reduction in gun homicide rates (if our laws were along the lines of other developed countries) would be worth it.

It doesn’t exist. Neither does the scenario that some armed person will shoot the assailant dead before he opens fire on innocent people. It hasn’t happened. It’s a figment of your imagination.

Because guns are always banned in those scenarios!

The good olde days? You mean the days of slavery or lynchings, or big angry mobs? I don’t believe there has ever been a time in history when there weren’t people around that were just plain evil.

The difference now is that they can kill people much more efficiently thanks to easily accessible guns (I’m not saying that banning guns would prevent this), and we can watch coverage of the event 24/7.

So instead of a scenario where guns are heavily regulated and A LOT less people die in gun related deaths (Europe), you’d favor a scenario that’s never happened? And in order for that to work you’d need pretty much everybody packing a gun to narrow the odds that people aren’t caught unprepared.

I don’t think 6 mins should be a shock.  There was a quote in the LJS or OWH said that with the president in town that it actually helped with police preparedness.  I don’t know if the pres. wasn’t in town that it would have taken longer.  But I think its very unrealistic to expect anything more from them.  None of us really knows how long police response time should take, but 6 mins. sounds just fine to me.

Everything about this situation is sad, but what bugs me the most is the mindset of more guns could of made this bad situation better.  It seems LJS deleted all the CCW laden replies, but wingnuts love gun violence news as a vehicle to get their points across.

Dave K I respect you even though we could not possibly be more opposite on probably everything, but cannot fathom why you would even bring the CCW issue up here.

I am so saddened that some think they need a gun with them at all times.  What a dim and fear filled view of the world one must have to think they need a gun with them always.

Last night I dropped a dish, if only I had a gun everything would of worked out 😉

As usual with any incident such as this gun control becomes a topic along with blaming the culture of violence in media and our administrations actions around the world, but that is besides the point.  We need to come together and support each other.  I do realize my post does not do that though.  I have typed a retort to this thread many times just to delete it, but darn I just cannot help myself.  I am just so saddened at what this tragedy has done to conversations about it and all those directly impacted by this senseless incident.  Hopefully we can learn and grow from it.

It would appear that you think “Bobby” gunning down 14 unarmed Americans is morally superior to armed American stopping him before the body count gets that high.

Why do you think all of these mass shootings happen at schools and Malls? Because they are “Victim Disarmament Zones”. They know that the government and/or the business has insured that the law abiding citizens have been unarmed and CAN NOT FIGHT BACK.

Westroads Mall has “Criminals and Psychos our Customers have been disarmed to provide you a safe working environment” signs.

If you do not wish to carry the tools necessary for you to protect your loved ones from robbery, rape and carjackings, then don’t. But do know ever presume you have the Right to make that choice for me.

Crime in the UK has gotten so bad, since they banned guns that NYC is safer than London. Many intelligent adults in the UK are petitioning the House of Lords for their firearms Rights back.

It must be noted that gun control in the UK is so strict that the UK Olympic Shooting Team has to train in another country because their firearms are banned.

Crime in Australia has risen at an unprecedented level since that country enacted strict gun control.

That by the way is not NRA talking points, that is information from News publications in those Countries and available on-line.

Why would you even infer that any one here thinks “

Why would I want more guns being used when someone is already shooting at me with one?  All it is going to do is raise the risk that I or my loved ones will get shot if there are twice as many bullets flying around the mall.  The chances that they will react fast enough to shoot the guy are slim and none.  Plus I don’t care how good a person is at shooting a hand gun on a shooting range trying to shoot a guy when you are in that situation is completely different.

I’d wager “Armed America” would run and hide 99.9% of the time. Unless it’s a law enforcement officer or someone in the military.

I doubt John Q. Public has the training or the instincts to pull a weapon and return fire in this situation.

Paper targets and clay pigeons are one thing.  A living breathing human being is quite another.

It’s an idealistic fantasy to assume “Joe Hero” is going to take the crazed gunman out.

Why would I infer that?

Because;

Duffman posted - So what if someone had a handgun with them that just would have raised the possibility that they would have over reacted missed and or shot the wrong person.  Guns of any place have no business in public.

Swid posted - Even if Westroads didn

A agree with West A Dad.

And for the accusation that I don’t love my family HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!  I would gladly lay down my life to save my wife and someday my children but what I will not do is pull a gun and try and fire back on that person in a crowded busy mall where I am more likely to take the life of someone else then the gunman him self!!  I have no problem with people who want to keep guns in their homes to defend themselves that is their right and I will not take that away but you have no right to possibly kill innocent people in you illusions of being a hero. 

Once again I want to to say that how dare you say we would not stand up for our families!  I would gladly fight to the death to keep my wife from slightest bit of harm and I am sure that ever man here would do the same we just don’t agree that more guns is the answer was the answer in this situation!!!!!