Update (3:50 p.m. Pacific): the gunman is confirmed dead. One hostage, a male, is confirmed dead. A female hostage had been taped up, but left the scene relatively uninjured. The crisis is over, but the fallout remains to be seen.
Update (3:20 p.m. Pacific time): KHOU.com is reporting two people at JSC are dead. I’m not sure if one of them is the gunman is not. The gunman is one of the dead.
5-9 shots have been reported fired, but no injuries. Most people have been evacuated from the building (Bldg 44) and are OK. There is an unconfirmed rumor that one person is being held hostage, but again that is unconfirmed. There is an intermediate school nearby that was in lockdown but that has been lifted and parents are getting their kids. Police are there, and so is a SWAT team.
UPDATE: I am updating my Twitter page with info as I hear it.
MSNBC is reporting that a person with a weapon may be holed up in an office at Johnson Space Center, where NASA controls manned spaceflight missions. I have no other news at this time, but when I get it I will update here and on my Twitter page.
Thanks to Keith Irish for the heads up.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I haven’t heard anything official beyond what the media is reporting.
News2Houston (channel 2) reports someone has barricaded himself in an office, and Houston police and SWAT are on site with JSC Security. There are reports of possible gunshots, but the building in question has some loud equipment and reports may be confused.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/12633862/detail.html
This is unsettling.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Thanks for the Twitter updates! They are great.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
How quickly could they switch control of the ISS over to the site in Russia if they had to?
April 20th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Irishman: This is unsettling.
Yes, it is. I’m waiting to hear the names of these two men, especially since I know a few people who work there. At least the woman hostage was OK, but there’s not much specific information yet. ~sigh~
April 20th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
And this in the wake of the VAT shootings? Some week… I wonder if this might have been inspired by that, even. If so, it just goes to reinforce the notion that violence propagates violence. What can we do about it? I wish I knew.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Tired of living, want to be famous?
Well, news media helps you.
If events like this were mentioned in small news pieces hidden in local news section instead of international headlines, people wouldn’t do this. As often, at least.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Just relax folks. This spate of news mongering murderers will be gone soon. It’s just a shame that the news media eagerly offers just what these crackpots want. I am just worried that this particular onslaught will be worse and last longer as the wierdos attempt to match the loony at VT.
This kind of stuff will only be curbed when the news media stop offering national exposure and detailed tutorials on this kind of thing. As if….
But, as we all know, it will never happen. Too much money is involved to allow the news ghouls to exercise common sense morality and human ethics to enter the equation. On with the killings. Watch the sales soar.
In the meantime, my heartfelt feelings of empathy go out to the victims families and friends of the VT killings and all of the others being spawned by the news frenzy.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Kullat Nunu Says: “Tired of living, want to be famous? Well, news media helps you.”
Cruel, but accurate.
- Jack
April 20th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
This is terrible. I wonder what this is about. I hope it’s not anything like the VTech massacre.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Blaming the media is a mug’s game at best; the only—ONLY— reason they show this stuff is because we eat it up wherever and whenever we can like starving gluttons. If we stopped, they wouldn’t show it anymore.
The media don’t suck, we do.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Crap! Words unsuitable for these pages! The names have been released. The murdered engineer is Dave Beverly. I’ve worked with him. He was a nice guy. He’ll be missed.
I’m deeply saddened.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/12635494/detail.html
April 20th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
I’m sorry, Irishman.
What the blazes is wrong with people?
April 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
April 20th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Jeez, I’m so sorry Irish.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Irishman, my condolences.
And as for the media, they can hardly be to blame here. The gunman never sought media attention. He was clearly focused on his goal, terrible as it was.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Yes, if we boycott news coverage -show our displeasure by turning off the TV the minute they broadacst it may have some effect .. But then we don’t do we? Not enough of us at least.
Then again a more reasonable step again would be tougher gun laws – little things like NOT allowing mentally disturbed pyschopaths to buy guns but that’s obviously too crazy a notion for a society that’s gone so gun mad it allows almost anyone to bear arms almost anywhere and is now, sadly paying the price …
What will it take before the NRA is made accountable or ceases to dominate your nation’s politics? How many more massacres, do you need before saying “Hey! You know handing out guns like lollipops and not having some reasonable steps to control their usage?
Japan has 125 million people & some of the toughest gun laws around. It has seen two fatal shootings in about five years if I recall a statistic I heard on the news the other night correctly.
America population is comparable or, indeed, is it a bit less? It boasts (though why it’d want to is beyond me!) some of the world’s wekest gun laws just about and, surprise,surprise that’s two massacres in a few days – 33 dead on one day, a couple the next and who knows how many tomorrow?
Mind you the 33 dead at VAT are one-sixth or less of the death toll in Baghdada on the same day – 183 killed inbombings and a civil war createdby the illegal and totally counter-productive invasioon butnever mind .. But then I suppose Arab lives just aren’t worth the same attention and heartache to you are they ?
& now, of course, I must expect to be savagely attacked and abused for merely pointing out frankly – with sadness, disapointment and, yes, considerable exasperation – what is blindlingly obvious to most sane people on the planet… Sigh.
Sad days folks & my sincere condolences to the victims of violence everywhere.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:06 am
I am very sorry to hear this. Seems to me a no-brainer that stricter gun laws are needed (+ enforcement). The argument that it won’t work because of the American culture is nonsense. That’s what PR campaigns are for.
By the way, twitter seems to break the ability to scroll using (page-) up/down keys in Firefox. I would very much like it if you removed it, because it makes reading this page difficult.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:11 am
Wish I could edit here! Please Phil Plait isn’t there away we can edit these posts!?
————————–
I meant to write :
What will it take before the NRA is made accountable or ceases to dominate your nation’s politics? How many more massacres do you need before saying : “Hey! You know handing out guns like lollipops and not having some reasonable steps to control their usage is pretty goshdorned downright stupid!?”
But, of course, I accidentally left that last bit out.
——————————————————–
A few useful and positive steps I really believe your nation needs to take :
1) Tough gun laws – don’t let nutters get hold of guns & where theyhave got guns already find some wayof getting rid of them. People with guns kill innocent people. Mad people with guns that the gun lobby is too unprintably blind to let sane people take away from them kill people. Simple as that.
2) Take out that silly clause in your constituition. You don’t live in the 1776 anymore – the days of militia fighting a revolutionary struggle are long, long over. Times have changed and, largely, for the better. Its not the wild west anymore, you dont need towalk the streets with guns holstered but hands alreways ready to grab the trigger – and least it doesn’t have to be.
While your changing your constitiution you need to seriously consider adopting the “No attacking anyone else ever again – military to be used only in very strictly defined self-defense” which you imposed on post WWII Japan. Imagine if every nation had that as its law and stuck to it how peaceful the world would be!
3) Work hard to change your cultural near on religious idolisation of guns and the use of brute force to solve disputes into something that’s more enlightened, saner and fitting of a nation claiming to be the greatest and claiming to be peace-loving. Guns aren’t good or smart, they’re not “peace-makers” but dangerous tools that need to be respected and treated with care and concern. Imagine having having Rambo gun down Einstein – it doesn’t make Rambo right just a murderous thug. Murder and force is NOT the best way to resolve conflict. So stop making movies and TV series and having Fox news among others keep saying that it is. Take a leaf out of Japan’s book, or Sweden’s or Holland’s or Eire’s. Or practically anywhere except your cowboy past …
If you take those steps on board then I bet you can make massacres llike this at least fifty times rarer if not more. All this may sound Utopian and too optimistic to think you could ever become that way – but while we may not be able to quite attain Utopia, we can surely get closer than we are now if we try!
April 21st, 2007 at 12:45 am
Umm.. BA I hate to disagree with you but the gunman _did_ seek media attention. From what I gather he stopped shooting and made / posted images of himself with the guns launching a rambling bitter tirade in which he blamed everyone else for “making” him go on the killing spree and posted it to a TV news network.
They, naturally, granted his sick wishes and honoured his choice of their station by publicising him and giving him the airtime instead of his victims. Ithink there is acasefor saying this exampleof “free speech” should be curtailed abit to respect the victims and deter copycats. Such material as the killer sent should – I think -be made available – by request to victims or relatives thereby and criminal pyschologists tohelp them understand while otherwise being kept off the front pages and limited to abriedf summary not using their words : eg. The Killer blamed bullies for abusing him and claimed that & rejection by girls as his pathetic excuse for murder.
BTW. To make a non-violent pre-emptive strike I’m NOT anti-American at all. I love Yellowstone, think the Grand canyon is marvellous and the US landscpe generally inspirational .. As for the people
well ..
Martin Luther King, Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan all Amercians (and at least one Jewish-American) are perhaps the three greatest people in the last century IMHO. I know and like many Amercians and believe that most of them are decent, caring, worthwhile individuals.
Which makes me all the more puzzled as to how they ended up being governed by a party of neo-fascists like the Bush Administration – now them and their policies (apart from a renewed space exploration mission!) I really DO oppose. But not because they’re American – rather because they’re stupid, counter-productive, cruel, arrogant, ignorant, dangerous and hypocritical!
Americans deserve better than them -and anyone who is really anti-Amercian would wish to support them because no-one does America more harm than its current excuse for a President and his party of fundamentalist neo-cons!
America is
April 21st, 2007 at 2:37 am
SCR, I think you confuse the Nasa gunman with the VA Tech kid. As far as we know, the guy in Johnson did not seek media attention.
April 21st, 2007 at 6:48 am
Saudi Arabia has a total prohibition against citizens owning guns, buying Amonium nitrate or the components for ANY explosive materials,,,yet they must still contend with whackos who blow themselves up and terrorists who somehow manage to acquire the means to kill, be it by gun, sword or baseball bats. All this in an absolute monarchy,,,,
Weapons don’t kill,,,people do. Weapons just make it a little easier.
The real reason America has freedom to own guns is, quite frankly, because our founders didn’t trust anyone to have total power. A balance of terror keeps the top dogs,,, uneasy,,,and rightly so.
Ah, the price of freedom,,,leaves us open to a bit of chaos.
Humans have no natural enemies, so to cull the whackos from the gene pool, we do it to ourselves.
How far would any of these killers have been able to go if their victims had all been armed?
I know most of my fellow humanists are upset over the availability of powerful personal weapons, but it’s not the weapons fault. It is the lack of compassion that drives violence. It is extremely difficult to kill someone/something with which we are able to identify. I expect these psycos are severly lacking in the development of their mirror neurons. To them their victims are mere objects, targets to be dealt with as they see fit,,,and we should have some way to detect such neurological deficiencies before they become lethal.
Japan (and England) have often been touted as being peaceable because they have little access to personal weapons but people still stab, beat, strangle and poison one another in these countries. Fix the people and the murdering will go away,,,
GAry 7
April 21st, 2007 at 7:43 am
How many do you think he would have managed to kill with a baseball bat or a knife?
April 21st, 2007 at 7:51 am
My Condolences, Irish.
Two things that sort of bother me with these things:
1. Can the pro-gun, anti-gun, anti-videogame, pro-videogame, anti-bullying, pro-harsh-punishment and all the other political interests who think they have the solution to this sort of thing please just shut up for a while and not use such events to further their cause when the facts are not entirely known and when people are grieving the deaths of loved ones.
2. I dislike blaming the media or society or whatever. The media may have given this guy attention, but it was definitely newsworthy and people were interested. But lets stop blaming the media or society or video games or whatever else. These actions are not excusable and the blame lies solely with the person who perpetrated these downright evil acts. Many of these psychos want to be remembered as some sort of victim of world around them or someone who was forced to do this. Don’t give them that. It’s the gunman’s fault and nonone else’s.
I have to say when this first happened I was kinda joking about this with some friends. I said “It looks like nasa’s biggest problem is not creating a new launch system but getting rid of the crazies.” I was not aware anyone had actually been hurt or killed. At the time it looked like the gunman had been isolated and everyone was safe.
Despite the fact that the death toll was very light, with only one other fatality, as Irish reminds us: numbers do not matter when you knew that one.
And can we please get off of the anti-American BS on this? Please? The US is not really a dangerous place where you live in fear of being shot. If you think that, then you’ve probably never been here.
It’s a large and complex society and I don’t find it tasteful for all the enlightened Europeans to use something like the recent events as their opportunity to take cheap shots at the second amendment or American mentalities.
April 21st, 2007 at 9:02 am
Yes, SCR, I meant the gunman at JSC, not VT.
April 21st, 2007 at 10:04 am
Thomas: How many did he kill with a gun?
Gary 7
April 21st, 2007 at 10:29 am
Well, go watch a movie at the theater sometime people. They spend up to an hour making the villian out to be one and then the “hero” will go over near the end and kill him in cold blood. It’s not like the villain always gets killed in self-defense. Then some people in the theater whoop or clap.
When a cop murders a criminal in cold blood for a heinous crime, someone will stand up for him, purporting the villainy of the victim. The fact is we have made homicide justifiable in this country. All you need is someone villainous enough, and in someone with skewed perception, if they imagine an affront, then they will take justice into their own hands, just as society condones.
It’s not the media and it’s not guns. It IS society, and society isn’t the guy next door, it’s you and me. This isn’t about how we consume, it’s about WHAT we consume, and what we enjoy. We are the same human beings who built the Colosseum and burnt people at the stake in large numbers. Look at what we are capable of doing to people we perceive as out-groups. When you’re the sociopath everyone is an out-group. Then watch a movie and think about how it’s divided melodramatically into people you’re meant to hate and people you’re meant to root for. Get rid of guns, and someone will go to the store and make a homemade bomb. I’m sure there is a chemist here- tell me it’s hard.
April 21st, 2007 at 10:39 am
Ibrahim: Not hard at all. I had a Canadian friend in Arabia who had a peculiar hobby: using household cleaners/reagents, etc. to make explosives. It was great fun to him to set off several small charges in the back wall of his condo in Ras Tanura, then sit around laughing as the Aramco security personnel went nuts trying to find the source. He it was who explained how his dad would blast a 50 foot hole in the ground to make a watering hole for the cattle, using amonium nitrate, diesal fuel, a shot gun shell and a car battery,,,lots cheaper and easier to obtain than dynamite.
Gary 7
April 21st, 2007 at 10:40 am
drbuzz0, check out Cosmic Variance for reasons why we should be outraged. After the school shooting in Dunblane in the UK in 1996, a public outcry forced parliament to introduce stricter gun laws. There hasn’t been anything like this since.
If you want to rally against taking political advantage of a tragedy, you should go after the Bush administration for exploiting 9-11.
April 21st, 2007 at 11:42 am
Sorry I didn’t make it clear that I wasn’t referring to the NASA shooting in particular, but other incidents like the Virginia Tech shooting.
Like PK’s example with Dunblane in the UK, Australia had the Port Arthur Massacre 1996 that lead to more strict gun control all over Australia.
When an incident like that occurs outside the US, action is taken to restrict the circulation of guns. When it happens in the US it’s: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”.
In the words of Homer Simpson when he went to buy a gun and was told to wait for the gun to be registered: “Five days? But I’m angry now!”
April 21st, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Then again a more reasonable step again would be tougher gun laws – little things like NOT allowing mentally disturbed pyschopaths to buy guns but that’s obviously too crazy a notion for a society that’s gone so gun mad it allows almost anyone to bear arms almost anywhere and is now, sadly paying the price …
Strict gun control doesn’t seem to stop them in Canada (google: +”Marc Lepine”, google: +”Patricia Allen” +crossbow) or the UK.
You can’t legislate away lunacy.
It’s not a matter of that old “guns don’t kill people…” saw. Crazy people are startlingly industrious. Take the guns away and they’ll use explosives, or knives, or poison or any of a zillion other things to wreak their insanity.
There are plenty of excellent arguments for gun control… but the existence of crazy people is not one of them.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:42 pm
While it is true that since Dunblane, the UK has had strict gun control and no yahooery, is the lack of yahooery because of the gun control, or because the people of the UK are less disposed to go on deadly rampages?
The problem in the US, as I read it, is not that people have guns. The problem is a culture where people regularly form the idea that the solution to all their problems is to go out with a bang and take as many others with them as they can. Gun control won’t solve that, and I guarantee you, it hasn’t solved it in the UK. Your next raving maniac will pop-up, it’s just a matter of time.
April 21st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Of course, we did have this in London…
April 21st, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Sword control!
April 21st, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Good thing he didn’t have a gun, but then again, where would he have kept the spare ammo?
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:44 am
I do not dare venture a guess…
April 22nd, 2007 at 6:27 am
“2) Take out that silly clause in your constituition. You don’t live in the 1776 anymore – the days of militia fighting a revolutionary struggle are long, long over.”
Really? Care to explain what’s happening in Iraq, then?
April 22nd, 2007 at 7:58 am
“Really? Care to explain what’s happening in Iraq, then?”
Certainly. We created a power vacuum and now trbal factions are killing each other.
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:30 am
Wow, I didn’t think this was real when I first read it, being wacky and so soon after VT…I think some changes are in order…
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
“Certainly. We created a power vacuum and now trbal factions are killing each other.”
Howdy there, Mr. Cheney. Let me run that through my Neocon->English translator: A brutal military occupation and Negroponte(R) brand death squads are committing genocide, and some Iraqis are fighting back.
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:55 pm
“Howdy there, Mr. Cheney. Let me run that through my Neocon->English translator: A brutal military occupation and Negroponte(R) brand death squads are committing genocide, and some Iraqis are fighting back.”
“Mr. Cheney?” I don’t want to hijack the thread, so let me just say that you couldn’t have misunderstood my point more if I had written it in native Barsoomian. For the record, I was vocally opposing our misadventure in Iraq long before we even invaded. For exactly the reason I already gave. Cheers.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Finally, someone had the balls to stand up to NASA. I hope he follows through and releases some of original, un-airbrushed photos of the Face on Mars and other anomalies throughout the solar system.
April 22nd, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I guess it really boils down to his getting a bad performance review, as in,
“Whadaya mean, I’m an incompetant twit? I’ll fix you, mister smarty pants,,,bang,,,” I’m glad he was so incompetant, he couldn’t figure out how to blow up himself and half of NASA.
(,,,just looking for something positive there, but it may be too soon,,,)
All it really takes for one human to destroy another is to be able to convince oneself that the object of our rage is just that, an OBJECT, or a demon, or,,,well, you get the idea. Dehumanising the opposition has been the way of war making for at least 10,000 years. It’s why we called the Japanese gooks, the NAZIs square heads, and why terrorists the world over refer to US as the GREAT SATAN.
It’s also why many psychotics can’t look people in the eye. That would be an admission of the enemys humanity and we don’t kill humans,,,.
GAry 7
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:53 am
Some more details have come out. The Houston Chronicle had some good coverage. Bill Phillips was a single man with no hobbies and basically only had his job. He hadn’t even gone to visit his family for Christmas for a couple years. He was under a “Performance Improvement Plan” for some criticisms of his work performance. David Beverly was his NASA technical monitor, who had written up some weaknesses as part of the contract approval process. Those weaknesses were appropriately documented and followed the proper protocols for documenting contract performance. The Jacobs management was trying to work with Phillips.
There has been some speculation from parties not involved as to whether Bill Phillips performance was the issue, or if there was some management decisions causing the weaknesses of being late to meetings and such. If he was overburdened with work, that makes it hard to get to all your activities on time. It is true that the work force is currently understaffed in a lot of areas. This certainly could have been a factor. However, there appear to be indicators that workload was not the cause, because of the performance review process and the documented improvement plan status. This indicates it was personal performance related.
Apparently Bill Phillips thought his job was at stake, that he was going to be fired. Jacobs management states firing was not currently in consideration. The first stage of performance complaints is to create a plan to work with the employee to improve their performance, and retain them. For some reason, Bill Phillips decided that he was going to lose his job, that he didn’t have anything else to live for, and that he was going to kill the person responsible, whom he felt was David Beverly, his NASA technical monitor. Bill smuggled in a gun illegally (guns are not permitted on JSC property because it is federal property and thus not subject to Texas concealed carry laws). It appears his intent was certain already.
Regarding the possible effects of someone else being armed, I believe these two shooting incidents are very different in nature, and the value of other people having firearms can be contrasted.
In the Virginia Tech shootings, you have a person on a rampage. In that situation, if someone else had a gun, they might could have taken him down early and reduced the overall casualty rate.
However, more guns create more confusion. There could have been injuries or deaths due to that person having accidents, or having multiple people trying to “solve the situation” and not knowing who is whom.
In this situation, if Fran or David had had a gun there might have been an opportunity to defend themselves after the first couple shots when Bill stepped out of the office. Dave had tried to barricade the door with a desk (while injured), but Bill returned and shot him again, fatally. During that time access to a gun might have changed the results.
But other people hearing the shots and coming in with guns would likely have increased the damage. Trading gunshots could have gotten another shooter dead, and Fran injured or killed as well. In this situation, the best solution for outsiders was what happened. They evacuated, and the police established a perimeter and tried to establish contact to negotiate.
As far as the societal issues of guns, I’m of a mixed mind. I do agree there is a widespread culture of using guns to solve your own problems. Gang-bangers aren’t the only ones running around shooting people. At the same time, there is something to be said for the ability to defend yourself. Also, liberty versus security is an ongoing conflict that does not have a perfect solution. The issue is debatable, with strong arguments and justifications from both sides.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:42 am
A serious question for you NRA-types. Where does the right to bear arms end? Are we each entitled to a tactical nuclear warhead? This is a serious question: no matter what new killing toy is developed (including “cop killer” bullets, plastic pistols that evade metal detectors, and the like), the NRA insist we have a right to have it. Where does it end? I am quite serious: what would go too far in your opinion?
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 pm
RE: Daffy
in theory there is no end to that right. it was written that way on purpose. this is so the people can overtake the government when they need to. of course, that’s now impossible because the government does not let the people have weapons anywhere near as powerful as it’s own to make sure the people can’t overthrow it. the constitution is in shambles, but that’s nothing new. also, if you take away the guns, when these nuts decide to go on killing sprees, they will be using bombs instead. that will surely kill many more innocent people (imagine the building full of people blowing up instead of just 1 person being killed). guns are not the problem, killers are the problem. when guns become illegal, the only people left with guns in these situations are the nut jobs who are crazy enough to murder people, so obviously they aren’t concerned with following gun laws.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Thanks, Chris. I appreciate the insight. While I see validity in some of your points, I have to think that if citizens had the same firepower as the modern government our society—civilization, even—would not last long. I don’t think the framers foresaw these technological advances.
I also think that by opposing even sensible gun legislation, the NRA may be setting us up for a future situation where the government is forced to use utterly draconian measures to control an increasingly unstable culture.
Don’t misunderstand me, please! I do not trust the government on anything…and I do not want to eliminate all guns. But the situation as it is—no real control with ever more frightful advances in technology—simply cannot continue on indefinitely.
April 24th, 2007 at 3:11 am
In Canada, they ban guns that look “military”, and automatic weapons. They force pistols to have pinned magazines (10 shots max). And all firearms must be registered.
The problem is, none of those things prevent any crime or detect any criminals. Sure, they create a lot of administration to keep some civil servants employed, and they annoy the bejeezus out of gun owners, but where is the crime prevention? How does it help the police prevent a crime when they know I have a shotgun, but the loner next door has a glock he bought illegally from Guido down the street so it’s not registered and is planning to go shoot up the neighbourhood school?
And that’s the real problem with gun control. Gun control legislation doesn’t target the problem of criminals with guns… it targets regular folks with guns.
April 27th, 2007 at 7:23 am
Daffy,
Quick correction: There are no “cop killer” bullets. There are also no ‘plastic pistols that evade metal detectors’. The logical deterant for the average person owning a nuclear weapon is simply the price, followed by the maintenence, followed by the health hazards of living with one under the bed.
As far as gun laws, we already prohibit the mentaly ill from owning guns, as well as ex convicts. We also limit the ownership of true military firearms with the class 3 licence (difficult to obtain, expensive to maintain, allows ownership of sub/machine guns, silencers etc) Most of the gun masacres have involved people breaking the laws already in place, as in this example.
The framers in the constitution wanted a well armed militia to prevent the government from growing too large and taking away our civil liberties. With the crushing economic poverty at the bottom of the american dream, I cant help but fear that these kooks might be the presure relief valves venting a pressure cooker of discontent and violence.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
[...] I first heard of Twitter, I thought it was useless. Then a gunman held two people hostage at Johnson Space Center, and I tweeted info as I heard it. People really liked that, so I started tweeting Shuttle launches [...]