A LAKE DISTRICT SHOOTING SPREE, 12 DEAD, 25 INJURED

[charliechaplinfan]

The beautiful Lake District has been torn apart today by one lone gun man who has gone on a killing spree. No one knows why, he started off in Whitehaven, then went to Egremont, then Seascale and finally to the hamlet of Boot where he shot himself in some woodland. He shot and killed indiscrimately, a woman on a bike, a man climbing over a stile, a farmer's son, it sounds like everytime he saw someone he stopped his car and aimed, many didn't stand a chance. the area of Cumbria that he has decimated is a tiny community, the scale of the spree is so dreadful, we don't allow individuals to own firearms, so where he has got this from is anyone's guess. This comes a week after a dreadful coach crash in the area and a few months after the area was devasted by floods.

The fact that this has happened in the most beautiful and peaceful part of our country makes it all the more devastating. Please say a prayer and keep in your thoughts all those involved.

[movieman1957]

Sometimes there is no explaining things. Like the people in China who went into a kindergarten and started stabbing people to death this sounds like something where they just snapped. All anyone can know is there are families that must now deal with a tragedy that will shape the rest of their lives.

[phil noir]

It's such a horrible shocking story. I didn't hear the news until six o'clock, and could hardly believe it when I switched on the radio.

I've just been reading about it on The Guardian website, and the details of the people who were shot are so poignant - one moved to the area so his girlfriend could go to university locally, another ran a bird sanctuary with her sister, one had a disabled daughter and so on. Amongst the early victims were the gunman's twin brother and their family solicitor; it's said that they were embroiled in a dispute over a family will.

On the news last night, a psychological profiler said that when men go on such shooting rampages, it's really an extended suicide bid (since if they survive, they always say they planned/expected to die), and also an act of defiance to the world: you ignored me, but this is what I can do.

[jdb1]

A very interesting point, Phil. In these cases I always wonder, and not facetiously, how come it's rarely women who do things like this? Are we not pushed to the breaking point just like anyone else? And it's not just the gun thing -- I wonder what it is in us that precludes us from wanting to "take out" other people in such situations. These days, women are not nearly as willing to take it quietly as they used to be, but it seems to me we act out our defiance in very different ways, and it's generally in a much more specific manner than randomly shooting up the place. Not calling anyone superior to anyone else here -- just musing about the difference.

And how did this guy come to have a weapon in the first place? Aren't UK gun laws rather strict?

[charliechaplinfan]

The UK gun laws are some of the strictest ones in the world. Applicants have to reapply for gun licences every few years, a full medical check is then done on them along with a check on the police computer, the licence is signed by the chief of police. It seems Derrick Bird the man who commited the atrocities, had a criminal record for theft, his medical record was clean, he was a quiet member of a community, nothing it seems would have picked him out to do something like this.

Reading the reports that have come out in today's paper, he knew his first three victims and might have had an axe to grind with them, after that links can't be made. He fired at however came into his path. He killed a woman coming home with her shopping, another woman delivering catalogues, the local molecatcher was gunned down as he was doing his job, a grandfather on a bike, a farmer's son mending a fence, an estate agent driving past in a car, a married couple both killed at different spots in the same village. No one knows why, there are 30 scenes of crime to investigate. Cumbria is a small police force, it's has the lowest crime rate in the country. It's such a beautiful place and so peaceful.

In the last twenty five years we have had 3 such incidences, the last which led to the toughening of the gun laws. Maybe they need reviewing again but how you legislate against someone who's gone crazy I don't know.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

So sorry to hear about this.

When I was in England and Spain in '06, one of the first "debates" I was asked about wherever I went concerned the liberal gun laws in our country.

Texas is especially liberal, and I know things are not going to get any better. There are so many illegals of all nationalities here in Texas, and what is frightening is that they have so much access to firearms, legally and illegally.

I'm a six hour drive from the border between Texas and Mexico, and violence is starting to spill over. No matter what
anyone says. A legacy of secrecy that began with the Republic of Texas has continued. Whether or not some family man is crossing over to "make a better life for his family" is the purpose or not, the conspiracy of secrecy continues.

People, per se, are not fearful here and business as usual continues, but the cloud of violence is floating ever near.
A large cache of weapons discovered in Higueras, Mexico, is featured in a popular email forwarded by Texas natives, and it is daunting to see the magnitude of the number and the dangerousness of their firepower.What is discovered is obviously only a fraction of the holdings, like the reality of the census. What's "under the radar" will eventually come to light, but it will probably take the seriousness of an incident like the one you describe in the Lakes District for anything to be acknowledged, let alone attempted, as far as containing the power and viciousness of the drug lords.

The Narcos are having a field day in Mexico, and it is indeed "spilling over." They have amassed all kinds of weapons of the caliber that are only necessary in war.

Horror stories I've heard from students in the past are frightening, much like the Guatemalan stories of terror recounted by Rigaberta Menchu in her bio of the war crimes in Central America.

[charliechaplinfan]

Guns are an anathema to me, they were banned here in 1996 after a shooting at a school in Dunblane, a special licence is needed to have a shotgun, these are limited to clubs but even with such measures unfortunately this shooting spree happened. I don't think we'll ever know why all we can do is pray for the bereaved.

I hope the situation is controlled soon in Texas.