Shooting at Columbia, Md., mall leaves 3 dead

[Gerald]

As throngs of patrons strolled and browsed at the Mall in Columbia on a gray, cold Saturday, shotgun blasts rang out and bodies fell as a familiar tragedy — homicidal lunacy in a crowded public place — brought terror to a suburban Maryland shopping complex.

It happened just after 11 a.m., about 25 miles northeast of Washington. A gunman opened fire on the mall’s second level, killing two employees of Zumiez, a clothing store for skateboarders and snowboarders, Howard County police said. Minutes later, when officers arrived, they found the shooter dead of an apparently self-inflicted wound.

Unpleasant news.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...b90_story.html

[Tango589]

What the hell is wrong with these people?

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by Tango589

What the hell is wrong with these people?

They're bloody friggin crazy!
This is the result you get by closing mental health facilities.
Plus all the other societal pressures that push these people over the edge.

IIRC we can thank Ronald Reagan for that idiocy.

[Tango589]

What a great combination: the mentally unhinged walking round with easy access to firearms. I'm surprised this is not a more regular occourance.

[Gerald]

In the late 90s,(In Sweden) so shut down the institutions where patients had lived for decades, but now would it saved money, they vast majority who had lived there were psychologically unable to fend for themselves, but many had no choice and they then moved into "regular" neighborhoods, and it had consequences among ordinary citizens.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Tango589

What a great combination: the mentally unhinged walking round with easy access to firearms. I'm surprised this is not a more regular occourance.

Sounds like my local city centre on a weekend evening

[Tango589]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Sounds like my local city centre on a weekend evening

You should move to the Medway area of Kent, it's live a lively night in Bhagdad high street!

[Platapus]

It is a good thing that Maryland has all those restrictive gun laws to keep the public safe. It prevents stuff like this from happening......oh.

I guess criminals, by their very nature, tend not to care much about laws.

Very sad news about the victims. The last I heard the police are still looking for a motive.

Why can't these nutters start with themselves when they go on a killing spree?

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Tango589

You should move to the Medway area of Kent, it's live a lively night in Bhagdad high street!

And that's just Gravesend.

Originally Posted by Platapus

It is a good thing that Maryland has all those restrictive gun laws to keep the public safe. It prevents stuff like this from happening......oh.

Ok, I'll bite.

It's not the laws alone, it is the availability, legally or illegally - doesn't matter.
If the whole US would have effective gun restrictions as the UK or Germany for example, things would look different.

I know, I know, "dey durkin' ur gurns!!1"

I mean just look how bad all the countries with strict(er) gun laws are doing. They are post-apocalyptic war zones of anarchy, cause no one can proturgd durr furmuleys anymore from all those bad criminals who are everywhere... oh.
And don't forget that the UK and Germany are both a dictatorship again. They first durk urr gurns, then they oppressed us. I can only write this message because of l33t haxX0r skills from a secret resistance camp...

Sarcasm aside, I understand both sides, gun/shooting-enthusiast and anti-gun-leftist-commie-hippie alike. I am just not biased enough to not see that the easy availability does indeed create a problem in combination with the apparently high rate of nutcases in that country*.

*Subjective yet honest opinion.

[Wolferz]

M K Ultra anyone?

Nothing drives gun sales like your friendly neighborhood murdering lunatic.

At least most of them are so distraught over their actions that they deprive us of a costly court case and lengthy incarceration.

We appreciate it ya crazy basums!