No mention yet about if by spraypainting "NOW" on the sidewalks, the alleged shooter was acting in the name of the National Organization for Women?

Hm, with all that ordinance in his truck, one imagines the shooter having something bigger in mind. One also imagines him cursing out loud upon finding out that Better Off Undead was literally 200 feet from the East Precinct station.

Hey, has anyone at THE STRANGER yet heard about the shootings on Cap Hill? You really ought to think about starting a SLOG comment thread for people to touch on the subject.

Hey, slip mahoney, you're an unfunny douchebag.

Yeah, Wendy, you and your apparently funny douchebag are correct. SLOG really should ignore the rest of news and run another dozen all-shooting-all-the-time threads ASAP to satisfy your morbid sense of importance.

If you don't like what's going on, then get the fuck out and go post on douchebag.com...cheers!

Wendy - that was far better, I needed a chuckle, than heavy posting about gun control and Josh's theory that the city will outlaw house parties.

We are grieving, each in his / her own fashion.

Best idea of the night - go find a bottle of OK whisky, drink it with several friends, cry a bit. Old Irish remedy. That famious line --- I need a drink --- is for these moments.

Your Mormon and Baptist family will say nothing. That is what they did if they could afford it.

Plus, who wants to be the cocksucker who posts something about transit inbetween two bodycount reports?

I notice that you have "massive arsenal" and "Could it have been worse? With the way this suspect was armed, the answer is yes” in bold.
As tragic as this is, I'd like to point out that there are several households that have a good number of firearms - mine included - that are only intended to be used for target practice and defense against an intruder.
Owning multiple weapons doesn't make you a potential murderer - at least not anymore than owning multiple knives or swords.

oh christ, another gun nut looking for something to be offended by. get off it, jackie. this guy killed 6 people, and as evidenced by his method of attack he would have taken out a lot more people if he'd gotten the chance. the incredibly large stash of weaponry he was CARRYING AROUND IN HIS TRUCK kind of points to that. had he not offed himself when the cop found him, he most likely would have gone back to his truck to reload, then taken out some more terribly unlucky people. you still feel like being offended by the description of a psycho killer's arsenal?

i personally don't give a flying fuck what you have in your house. i only care if you take your large arsenal out of your house and start mowing down innocent bystanders.

Of course it does. It may not make you more likely to go on a spree, but it sure as hell makes it alot easier to kill a whole bunch of people. If he'd gone in there with a switchblade he'd have maybe stabbed one person and then gotten the crap kicked out of him. Having a gun doesn't make you kill, but it sure makes it alot easier.

I get a little sick feeling every time I read another one of these "hey, I got a lot of guns too!" posts. I'll take this a step further and say I don't care what your gun-control position is -- I just want you all to stay far, far away from my city.

This isn't about guns or gun control.

It is about anomie.

This is clear to anyone who takes a moment to realize that a person with a motor vehicle is ultimately much more potentially dangerous than a person with a handgun. One press of the foot on the accelerator towards a crosswalk full of people could equal as much destruction as this young man accomplished... and this could be repeated again and again before capture could be accomplished.

Do you want all people driving motor vehicles out of your city?

A better question might be, "What about our society or culture or way of living or this individual made this happen?" And more importantly, "How can we keep it from happening again?"

And for the record, to forestall the inevitable accusations, I do not own nor have I ever owned any firearms. I am not philisophically against them, either. They are tools, as good or bad, as careful or reckless, as those that carry them.

But he didn't have a handgun. He used a pistol-grip shotgun, which used to be governed by that assault weapons law that was allowed to expire.

And a pistol-grip shotgun is not a tool to hunt animals, it's a tool meant to kill people, innocent or otherwise. It has a hell of a lot of stopping power.

I'm not anti-gun. I don't have a problem with handguns so long as they're handled safely and not brandished like this is the Old West. But I have a real problem with a guy riding around town with something out of a Peckinpah-directed version of Heat. This is an offensive weapon that is absolutely useless for taking down a deer or a quail or peppering a VP donor/hunting partner. If Cheney had been using a pistol-grip shotgun, there wouldn't be a Harry Whittington left to report on.

But he didn't have a handgun. He used a pistol-grip shotgun, which used to be governed by that assault weapons law that was allowed to expire.

My guess is that he used a Mossberg 500. These types of shotguns (w/ a pistol grip instead of a stock) were not regulated by the Clinton AWB. The law: A shotgun must have a barrel of no less than 18" and a total length of not less than 30."

And a pistol-grip shotgun is not a tool to hunt animals, it's a tool meant to kill people, innocent or otherwise. It has a hell of a lot of stopping power.

Bullshit. The newest and best turkey hunting shotguns from Italy all have pistol grips.

I'm not anti-gun. I don't have a problem with handguns so long as they're handled safely and not brandished like this is the Old West.

You're right - if you see that it's time to call the cops. How many times has this happeneed to you?

But I have a real problem with a guy riding around town with something out of a Peckinpah-directed version of Heat. This is an offensive weapon that is absolutely useless for taking down a deer or a quail or peppering a VP donor/hunting partner. If Cheney had been using a pistol-grip shotgun, there wouldn't be a Harry Whittington left to report on.

Let me get this straight - you're saying that the mere presence of a pistol grip on a shotgun actually increases its velocity / spread / range / power? Good grief man, get a hold of yourself. A cosmetic change to a weapon doesn't affect its function.

Thanks Mike L.

This attitude bothers me that anytime a disaster like this happens, some action *must* be taken by politicans to show they've 'done something about it'. Ban parties, ban guns, either way it's stripping freedoms away from innocent people. Like the old Onion article said, "One stupid kid chokes on a toy and now nobody can play with it."

I'm very glad the Stranger has jumped in quickly (at least on their blog) to stop Nickels from banning all-ages parties such as this. I don't go to them, but I used to, and have many great memories.

Pistol grips are ergonomic improvements to firearms. They do nothing to increase a weapon's lethality. They do make shooting more comfortable, which we all strive for, in all our endeavors. I know dozens of people in Western Washington with large collections of firearms in all configurations, simply because they enjoy a wide variety of shooting sports. There is a large community of people in our area who compete in shooting contests in everything from black powder to service rifles to all out, custom-built race guns.

They don't take arsenals to parties with them, unless it's a shooting party.

If you ban guns, you take away your means of self defence. The scumbags will get them, or they'll be back with bombs or machetes or poison. But they will be out there, and they will strike again.

No matter how hard we try, there will be people who choose to destroy themselves and others with them. It's part of the human condition.

We are all aware that there are weapons that by design seem to be primarily anti-human both in existence and more in use by people that behave in anti-human ways than we would wish. Even the most vehement 2nd amendment protectors will agree to this, I think.

But it still isn't the choice or availability of the weapon that truly matters. Hands, knife, sword, gun, explosive, vehicle, poison, disease, airplane. People are relatively fragile, and can be killed in all kinds of ways by a determined individual that plans ahead. What should concern us is the question of motive, not method.

Why would someone that was described as a nice, kindly individual that assisted people with their shopping do this? How was he broken? What made his life and the lives of other people either meaningless or an anethema to him? Why does this seem to be happening more and more often in our society? And how can we get it to stop?

Just how hard are you fellows's dicks right now, talking firepower? It's really charming.

disgusting guns.

*oh christ, another gun nut looking for something to be offended by. get off it, jackie. this guy killed 6 people, and as evidenced by his method of attack he would have taken out a lot more people if he'd gotten the chance. the incredibly large stash of weaponry he was CARRYING AROUND IN HIS TRUCK kind of points to that. had he not offed himself when the cop found him, he most likely would have gone back to his truck to reload, then taken out some more terribly unlucky people. you still feel like being offended by the description of a psycho killer's arsenal?*
Hmm. I've never been called a gun nut before. At any rate, I wasn't offended. I was merely pointing out that oftentimes when people highlight what weapons a sick, sadistic killer had, people say "Oooh! Bad weapons!" The fault lies with the man, not the tool.
*I get a little sick feeling every time I read another one of these "hey, I got a lot of guns too!" posts. I'll take this a step further and say I don't care what your gun-control position is -- I just want you all to stay far, far away from my city.*
So, if an intruder breaks into your home, or a man pulls a gun on you in the street, do you think the cops could make it there before you're dead?