I'm sick and tired of hearing, right after another massacre, that "it is a time for healing, a sad time".
President Bush was in Omaha on Wednesday to attend a fundraiser and left on Air Force One an hour before the shootings.
A White House statement said Bush was "deeply saddened by the shootings in Omaha."
He's saddened? Saddened? How 'bout "He's angry, furious that the citizens of this country, yet again, have been victimized by the anti-gun zealots"?
But no, his statement said,"Having just visited with so many members of the community," the statement said, "the president is confident that they will pull together to comfort one another as they deal with this terrible tragedy."
Right, 'pull together to comfort one another' - it's a done deal, put it behind us, move on. To Hell with that. How about a time to be angry, outraged that these now relentless killings go on, week after week, month after month, year after year, while the Brady Bunch denies that we have a right to defend ourselves.
Always the officials say the same thing -"it's a time of sorrow, of healing, of putting this behind us" - right after the senseless massacres. They never show outrage. Nope. What we hear right after the call for comforting one another, is what was in the "shooters" mind - oh, he left a suicide note.
"the youth was 'an introverted, troubled young man who was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted.' She said that in addition to losing his job, Hawkins had recently broken up with a girlfriend. She said he phoned her about 1 p.m. Wednesday, telling her that he had left a note for her in his bedroom. She pressed for an explanation, but he hung up without elaborating."
How touching. Another tragic youth. I'm thoroughly disgusted.
Here are two accounts of the Omaha Mall massacre:
One is by a police officer who arrived on the scene moments after the killer shot his own brains out.
h/t Alphecca.com
A Cop Speaks About the Von Maur Mall Killer
And he knows thereof because he was there:
Right after the shootings at Von Maur last week, Channel 6 News received message after message about the issue of gun control. We talked to a deputy on the scene who says no law on the books would have stopped the gunman.
Sergeant Shawn Millikan, with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, calls it the most surreal moment of his career inlaw enforcement.
“I made entry with a couple of Omaha officers,” he said. “First thing that struck me, I didn’t hear shots. Everything was quiet.”
The only noise was the Christmas music as the deputy secured the scene of a horrific crime.
Sergeant Millikan says, “You never expect it to happen but in the back of your head you know it could.”
Robert Hawkins murdered eight people with a weapon originally intended for military use. He then shot himself to death.
“It’s not commonly used for hunting but some people use it that way,” Sgt. Millikan said. Various people collect. Some people like them.”
The government banned the sale of some assault rifles from 1994 to 2004.
“My personal opinion is, the criminals are still going to have them,” Sgt. Millikan says. “Gun control usually just affects people who follow the laws. There are so many guns out there in society — so saturated — it would take years and even if there’s gun control from this point on it would take years for them not to be in society.”
Sgt. Millikan says people shouldn’t point blame at a weapon but rather at the man who pulled the trigger.
Sgt. Millikan says, “He had to sit there and load every round into that magazine. He even walked into that store before he even started shooting; unarmed. He had plenty of chances to say he wasn’t going to do it so the blame rests on him.”
The next account is from Joe's Crabby Shack: Firsthand account of the Von Maur shooting
"I took a later lunch that day because I had a noon phone meeting with a company out of New York, apparently we’re not on the same lunch schedule. I also planned to take a one-hour lunch that day, instead of a 30-minute lunch, so I could go to Van Maur and pick up some gifts for my wife. We were both there on the evening of Dec 03 with my 1-year-old daughter, and my wife tried on some coats and showed me some bath robes she liked, so I knew exactly what I was going for that day. I asked a co-worker (named K for this story) for directions to Van Maur from my place of business. as she knew a faster route that would get me there quicker.
I left work around 1:15 to 1:20 and arrived at the front doors of Van Maur at 1:35 (shooting -7), I remember specifically looking at my watch as walked in. I came in the south entrance to Van Maur, right by the elevators." (read the rest at Joe's Crabby Shack.)
I want ever man and woman who passes a background check to be able to carry a weapon. Some would even say that the background check violates our right to defend our own life, and I can't entirely disagree. People who carry are generally more responsible, more considerate citizens who will attempt to avoid a confrontation.
I'm no scholar on gun rights, I just know we have to do something to fight back, not become victims just because Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer and their ilk think we should run away. I'm certain that the mall victims, and all the other victims of these massacres, would have loved to be able to run away, given they had no means of self-protection. But they didn't get the chance to run away.
They were gunned down by some dirt-bag who "wanted to go out in style, be famous". The last thing family members of the victims need is some putz in Washington "commiserating" with them. What they need, and we all need, is for Washington to remove the shackles from our hands - if they do that, we can take care of ourselves. The police obviously can't protect us - they show up with yellow tape to "secure the area" - so we insist on the right to protect ourselves. If your local and state politicians won't cooperate, then show them the door, post haste.
Thanks for nothing, Brady Bunch.
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