Mr. Pardo decides to dress up like Santa Claus and exercise every single word of his 2nd Amendment rights...A man stinging from a bitter divorce went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party dressed as Santa, opened fire and methodically set their Covina house ablaze, killing at least eight people, authorities said Thursday.
The gunman killed himself hours later. Police identified him as Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, a Southern California aerospace industry worker who may have recently lost his job.
[...]
The frenzied shooting occurred late Wednesday night at a two-story house on a cul-de-sac in Covina, about 22 miles east of Los Angeles. An 8-year-old girl ran to the door to answer Pardo's knock, police said. He shot her in the face, stepped into the house and began to fire indiscriminately with a semi-automatic handgun.
People who escaped the house got out by smashing through glass and jumping out of windows. One woman broke an ankle when she leapt from a second-floor window.
Police said Pardo later killed himself with a single gunshot to the head at his brother's home in Sylmar, a community in Los Angeles about 40 miles from the house in Covina.
This might be a prime time to once again discuss how guns don't kill people.
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12 comments:
I guess you missed this article in the Sun-Sentinel this morning:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/west_park/sfl-1226westparkfatal,0,7439404.story
Rare case of Slantinel failing to overlook a lawful incident of self-defense with a gun, usually one has to read about those in the Herald.
Gluttony and lack of self-discipline do not make people fat...forks and knives do.
Drunk drivers don't kill, automobiles do.
But as a progressive blogger, I'm sure logical appeals mean nothing to you. You'll advocate the policy that *feels* right.
Thanks, A.
Next time just provide a link [a hyperlink, please] to the NRA website. It's a lot quicker.
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Wow, anonymous, 8 innocent people killed to one bad guy...it's sooooooo worth it.
You are such a Republican.
Ok then. Propose your gun control policy and exactly how it will make you safer.
If possible, support your policy with citations to countries where your or similar policies have succeeded in reducing violent crime.
In case you didn't know, terrorism is illegal just about everywhere. So banning terrorism has not had much success. Please explain how your gun control policy would be successful.
Or do you also believe that terrorists did not topple the Twin Towers and kill 6000 people? Airplanes did it?
Then go for a drive on I95 in S.Florida and decide where our priorities should be in terms of saving lives. The odds of being involved in an event like the OP are astronomically small. Your chances of being killed or maimed on S.Florida roadways are much higher.
But again, its a progressive blog, so feelings and intuition matter more than logic, reason, and historical precedent.
So because two people had guns, one is dead.
If the robber in the sun sentinel story didn't have a gun, he might not of even held up the guy. Even if he did, the other guy would have lost what, his wallet? But because he had a gun also, now there's a guy dead.
Yes, he was a mugger, or robber, thief, whatever you want to call him, but it was a human life. That's gone.
And all because of the gun.
Anonymous is right. Guns DON'T kill people. Bullets do.
What is it about this time of year that encourages these kinds of maniacal outbreaks? (I refer to the gunman here, not Anonymous, whose expressions on this issue occur year-round.)
"Guns don't kill people. People kill people. With guns." - Walt Kelly, Pogo.
I dont know why everyone is flocking to gun shops to load up on guns. They arent going to be banned. It might be harder to get automatic weapons like M-16s and such, but firearms are not going to be banned.
Anon is right that guns dont kill people, people kill people. However, he is only correct in the literal sense of that argument. Guns give people a faster and more effective way of killing other people.
Anon: Let's see here. Should I compile an essay with footnotes for a commenter named Anonymous on a blog or do I just tell him to Google "Bowling For Columbine" and watch the movie for himself?
I think it's the latter. Have fun Anon.
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Rick, please don't quote the Fat Man (Moore, not Claus) as any authority on the subject. You can do better with not much effort.
BM is right. Bans on automatic weapons are all fine and dandy. And as a matter of inconvenience, the less of them around, the better. However, no argument in favor of gun control has ever effectively answered the question of how the policy actually keeps weapons out of the hands of those in our society who are most inclined to use them.
No argument that in this particular case, lives may have been saved by the absence of the killer's access to a gun. But there are big assumptions being made to arrive at that conclusion. Remember, bans and other regulation only address lawful access to firearms.
Regulate bullets. Or tax them out of reach. Same problems, less constitutional friction.
I'm not quoting Moore, Noone. I'm referring the very sure-of-himself-but-not enough-to-use-his-name Anonymous to a source of information that has all the stats, studies and quotes he needs to enlighten him enough that it would shake him out of his conservative stupor.
You know, we're all very fortunate, I guess, that those tobacco farmers back in the day didn't have the foresight to write in a "right to smoke cigarettes," or something that sounded like it, into the Constitution. Otherwise we would all be standing around with our hands in our pockets and acting like Stooges, held hostage by moronic Neanderthal ideologists and lobbyists, as our friends and family continued to drop dead from lung cancer.
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Then, you will be leading the repeal effort? C'mon.
And as for Moore having all the statistics, well, must I remind you of the three lies? Hint, statistics are one of them.
Look, I'm not saying that some attention shouldn't be paid to making deadly weapons less accessible to the wrong hands. But I assure you, it is an effort that cannot be perfected. It is one more version of the good fight.
My cynicism usually peaks around this time of year, so think about this: Your desired outcome needs tragedies like these to be remotely possible.
I know, sick.
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