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Ten People Shot, Two Fatally, Outside Empire State Building: How Do We Stop Mass Shootings?

JoeMaggety 2012/08/24 18:00:00
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Another day, another mass shooting. Do we need gun control or is there another solution? I have heard all the arguments around the second amendment, and the fact that citizens need to defend themselves, etc., but the clear fact is that regular people -- not career criminals -- who become disgruntled or unstable go on mass shooting sprees with legally purchased weapons. It is a common occurrence. How do we stop this alarming trend?

NYTIMES.COM reports:
Ten people were shot, at least one fatally, after a gunman opened fire outside the Empire State Building on Friday. The shooter was identified as Jeffrey Johnson, 53.
opened fire empire building friday shooter identified jeffrey johnson 53

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/nyregion/several...

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  • Fef 2012/08/24 18:11:52
    Other
    Fef
    +34
    Arm citizens and let them defend themselves.

    New York City has some of the strictest gun laws in America, yet this shooting occurred.

    We could do more to recognize mental illness since the recent mass-murder shooters showed signs of mental problems. And, once recognized, we need to have law enforcement take action.

    Maybe we could have prevented the "Dark Knight" Aurora, Colorado murders, the Gabby Giffords attack (six murdered), and Columbine if we allowed the process to incarcerate or detain the murderers instead of acting politically correct and letting them back into society. Law enforcement or psychologists knew of these murderers before they went on their murder spree.
    james holmes psychologist
    loughner

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  • Ben 2012/08/31 13:20:31 (edited)
    Other
    Ben
    The main thing that needs to be done is for politicians and police to stop looking for a quick fix. After incidenets like these, politicians look for what they can blame so they can look like they 'understand' the issue and know how to solve it.

    A proper study needs to be done to look at the people who perpetrate these shootings and actually find out WHY they did what they did and see if anything can be done to remove the triggers for these events. Next, you need a politcally neutral group to look at evidence and statistics in full for the country and for other countries too. The task to discover whether more or less gun control would change anything, whether police numbers of tougher prison sentences would actually make a difference and to look at what actually works rather than just everyone looking for a simple solution to give politicians a nice soundbite.

    It'll take a bit of time and effort but it'll be a lot more effective than the kneejerk reactions we get from those in charge to these events.
  • jas wats 2012/08/30 01:11:00 (edited)
    Other
    jas wats
    More Guns.
    Oil based liquid takes out oil based stains,
    Protein takes out proteins,
    armed citizens take out armed scumbags.
    Clean.
  • jackolantyrn356 2012/08/29 23:43:10 (edited)
    Other
    jackolantyrn356
    I resent the half cut item I said. 1st The Public should be armed everyday. 2md the Police should either be eliminated or at least take their "wild west" Gun action habits from their hands

    Remember men in uniform with guns tend to over do it just becaus they cam Empire State is a case in point.
  • Temlakos~POTL~PWCM~JLA~☆ 2012/08/29 21:06:03
    Other
    Temlakos~POTL~PWCM~JLA~☆
    If the first target had been armed, he might still be alive, and those other nine people would not even have been wounded.

    Let the populace arm itself.
  • S. Gompers 2012/08/29 15:10:28
    Other
    S. Gompers
    Looks like it is time to outlaw police.
  • mk, Smartass Oracle 2012/08/29 12:28:04
  • Fashionable60s 2012/08/28 06:02:24
    Other
    Fashionable60s
    Jeffrey Johnson was a stalker and a nut case. He had threatened the Steve Ercolino, his former co-worker several times after being laid off from his job. Nobody ever guessed that Johnson would carry out his threat. The pressure on Johnson increased after he was also being given an eviction notice by his landlord. He blamed everything on his victim. A gun in the hand of a nut case is difficult to control. Johnson was carrying a .45, that he obtained many years ago when he lived in Florida. It was a rather large caliber gun, one bullet would have killed and he pumped 4 bullets into poor Steve Ercolino. I think there should be a mental health check as well as criminal record check before one can obtain a gun. NYC has a very tough anti gun law and this shooting still happened.
  • Cleaver62 2012/08/27 18:36:55
    Gun Control
    Cleaver62
    Round them up and melt them down. If no one has guns there will be less and then no more gun violence. There are too many crazy out there with access to guns so no one should have them except the police.
  • Fef Cleaver62 2012/08/27 18:41:03
    Fef
    +1
    uh.... except the NYPD did the "mass shooting" -- not the murderer. He shot only one person. The NYPD hit the 9 bystanders with their gunfire.

    Do you want to take away guns from police?
  • Cleaver62 Fef 2012/08/27 18:57:51
    Cleaver62
    Gun nuts and the NRA are pusing for more guns in the ds of more people so they can defend themselves. Can you imagine if 15 or 20 idiots all started shooting at this lone gunman. The police are even trained and look at the damage they did. Another 15 or 20 untrained people pretending to be some type of law enforcement officer would have killed dozens.
  • BEN Cleaver62 2012/08/29 01:12:04
    BEN
    guns dont kill people do
  • Cleaver62 BEN 2012/08/29 19:22:12
    Cleaver62
    Poeple use guns to kill people. Take away the gun and you will take away a lot of the murders. Maybe not all of them but a knife is a little harder to use to slaughter a large number of people than a gun is. Why not just give everyone a nuclear bomb. Bombs don't kill people either.
  • BEN Cleaver62 2012/09/05 01:58:26
    BEN
    if I misspell words do we out law pens or if your fat we can out law forks
  • Cleaver62 BEN 2012/09/05 08:16:27
    Cleaver62
    A pen is designed to write or draw. A fork is made to eat with. A gun is made for only one purpose... to kill. And assault weapons are made to kill a lot of people in a very short amount of time. Looks like they work.
  • Chuck Cleaver62 2012/09/12 07:16:31
    Chuck
    Guns are made for a myriad number of reasons: Trap and skeet, target shooting, home defense, Olympic competition, and yes to kill. But the killing of an armed burglar is a valid reason for a citizen to own the means to allow him or her to do so. If you think by outlawing guns you will remove them from circulation you need to take a few courses such as logic and introductory psychology. Criminals will not turn their weapons in to the police, rather they will escalate their activities because they know the law abiding people have no means of protecting themselves. In England the statistics show that home invasions where the homeowners were home increased exponentially after the British people had their weapons confiscated. You also should look up the definition of "assault weapon." An assault weapon must be capable of automatic fire, that is you press the trigger and the gun keeps firing until you either release the pressure on the trigger or the magazine is empty. These are class 3 weapons that require special licensing, very few people own them and no registered class three weapon has ever been used by its owner in a crime. What you call an assault weapon is in fact a semi-automatic weapon that only fires one shot when the trigger is depressed. You need to educate yourself.
  • Cleaver62 Chuck 2012/09/12 08:50:52
    Cleaver62
    You sir need to educate yourself. People might use guns for sport but they were invented and are made to kill.
  • John Wa... Cleaver62 2012/08/30 23:20:09
    John Walker II
    And criminals... but since when did criminals pay attention to the law?

    Laws that control guns do nothing to assist the public, and do more to make easier targets for the criminals in question.
  • cheshirewayne 2012/08/27 18:26:28
    Other
    cheshirewayne
    Since the cops did most of the killing, I vote we disarm them.
  • harry abram 2012/08/27 18:24:41
    Other
    harry abram
    +2
    Guns do not kill people, deranged people kill people. We need to inculcate 10 commandment type values that appear to be lost from our daily lives. Also, we need to care about each other instead of being indifferent to people. We need to report people who show strange behavior or a predisposition for doing something terrible. We need to be more responsible one for another.
  • Hawkeye 2012/08/27 18:10:14
    Harsher Pentalties
    Hawkeye
    It has NOW come out that NINE of the people injured,, that is to say,, ALL of the injured parties besides the shooter and his intended victim,, were most probably injured by the POLICE.. Either they were shot directly or they were injured by bullet fragments from bullets hitting Buildings,, etc..

    In OTHER words,, what we REALLY have here is a typical New York City ONE ON ONE Murder that the POLICE turned into a Mass Shooting..
  • firelooker 2012/08/27 17:58:24
    Other
    firelooker
    Less gun control, more people trained in how to use a firearm to defend themselves, stiffer & swifter penalties & lastly fewer politicians making stupid gun control laws!
  • Tom 2012/08/27 17:55:20
    Other
    Tom
    +1
    Arm the sane people.
  • ART 2012/08/27 17:43:55
    Harsher Pentalties
    ART
    THE TYPE OF PERSON WHO DID THIS WILL CONTINUE DOING ACTS LIKE THIS. GUN CONTROL WON'T HELP, MORE COPS CAN'T HELP AND PENALTIES WON'T WORK BECAUSE THE KILL THEMSELVES MOST OF THE TIME. IT IS ACTUALLY A SIN PROBLEM THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED
  • TheMayor 2012/08/27 17:09:22
    Other
    TheMayor
    +2
    less media coverage!
  • David (oYo) 2012/08/27 16:59:20
    Gun Control
    David (oYo)
    What more shootings? You Americans never learn.
  • Fef David (... 2012/08/27 18:42:08
    Fef
    Please teach us again
    england riots
  • David (... Fef 2012/08/27 18:51:42
    David (oYo)
    Nobody was killed. They didn't have guns. If we let people have guns like sweeties like you do Christ knows how many would have been shot dead.
  • BEN David (... 2012/08/29 01:15:31
    BEN
    responce time for 911 15 munits 45 simiauto 1700 fps
  • David (... BEN 2012/08/29 10:41:26
    David (oYo)
    Sorry mate non comprende.
  • SiliconSorcerer 2012/08/27 16:51:37
    Other
    SiliconSorcerer
    +2
    Mass shootings? Most were shot by the police.
    Gun Control - use both hands if they need to???
  • IOWA 2012/08/27 16:43:09
    Other
    IOWA
    +2
    Funny you include a pic of the Empire State Building shooting. The shooter only shot 1 person. The other 9 were all shot by police, killing the shooter. The best way to stop mass shootings? Disarm the police. You ever hear the phrase "freedom isn't free"? Your freedom means allowing me to be free. Being free means taking the chance something bad may happen. You're more likely to be killed in a car crash than murdered by someone using a firearm, but no one is calling for more "car control". You know why? People are accepting of the risk.
  • firelooker IOWA 2012/08/27 18:00:26
    firelooker
    +1
    Exactly!
  • Sumātogai 2012/08/27 16:30:16
    Gun Control
    Sumātogai
    get rid of the guns. i said this before,violence will never serve you. guns solve nothing.
  • IOWA Sumātogai 2012/08/27 16:44:12
    IOWA
    +1
    But using violence to remove the guns is ok?
  • auxarc 2012/08/27 16:29:55
    Gun Control
    auxarc
    +1
    We do what the nations who don't have mass shootings (i.e. Japan, most of European nations) do. We control the machines designed to kill.

    Allowing that the 2nd Amendment originally written to assure the state of New York they could keep their "well regulated militia" even after the new constitution created a free-standing federal army, has been interpreted by the supreme court as implying the right of citizens to possess firearms, there is nothing to say what those "arms" can and can't be. The constitution does not preclude state governments from being allowed to regulate, license and control those firearms. What will prevent Gary Holmes from creating a dirty nuke to go inside a movie theatre next time? Or Jared Lee Loughner to release Anthrax into the punch being served at the next Congressional rally?

    Why should we put less restrictions on machines designed to kill than we do on machines designed to transport? Does the 2nd Amendment gurantee our right to be irresponsible?
  • wgossett99 2012/08/27 16:17:43
    Gun Control
    wgossett99
  • OhSoNiceMe 2012/08/27 15:57:27 (edited)
    Other
    OhSoNiceMe
    MAKE BULLETS REALLY EXPENSIVE!!

    they'd think twice before smoking a mofo.
  • Fef OhSoNiceMe 2012/08/27 18:43:07
    Fef
    at least teaches people to aim better.

    In this case, it could teach the NYPD to aim better since they hit the 9 bystanders.
  • Heisenberg 2012/08/27 15:55:13
    Gun Control
    Heisenberg
    +2
    Stricter gun control laws and making the Brady Bill a constitutional amendment.
  • firelooker Heisenberg 2012/08/27 18:06:57
    firelooker
    +2
    NYC has the toughest gun control laws in the nation but that didn't stop this from happening. All gun control laws do is affect the law abiding gun owner the criminals will always have access to the weapons they want. All gun control laws do is enable criminals to have unarmed targets. A survey done several years ago at several prisons where they interviewed inmates revealed that the criminals always chose their victims from those they felt were unarmed because there was less risk of them getting harmed. But politicians and feel good liberals don't believe in listening to the facts.
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