I’m very angry about this. The man’s suicide note apparently said he wanted to “go out in style.” What kind of sick and depraved person thinks that killing 9, and probably more by the time this is all over, innocent people is going out “in style?”
Of course, the media is giving him exactly what he wants. He’s a celebrity now! His name will be spoken far and wide for weeks. If he was desiring notoriety, he’s got it now.
Keep your skills up folks, and pack this holiday shopping season. There are bound to be copycats. Make sure the next loser’s headline is “Mall shooter killed in a hail of gunfire after only getting off two shots.”  I’m sick of this crap.
in a comments section I saw people crying for stricter guns laws, if the guy was hellbent on killing himself, laws would have done nothing, the laws they have did nothing.
But that’s why I avoid no gun zones
Nebraska just became a CCW state this past Jan 1 but Omaha is allowed preemtion by this new Nebraska law, so no CCW in city limits. You ARE allowed open carry, but only if it doesn’t offend anyone.
Of course there will be calls for more laws. This is the hoplophobes we’re talking about. I’m betting by tomorrow morning I’ll have received a Brady Alert e-mail asking for money.
I’ve also already seen it referred to as an “automatic rifle”.
I think Sebastian has it right. How many people would have died if 50 percent of the mall goers were armed? I’ve heard of CCW states where the bad guy goes into restaurant with a gun & 5 patrons pull out their pieces & the bad guy leaves, no money, nobodys hurt. You will get the morons calling for stricter gun laws, there is absolutly nothing that can be done about their stupidity except attempt to educate them. This is a holiday tradgedy that did not need to happen. Maybe eventually the Supreme Court will allow law abiding persons to protect themselves & we can get a Federal CCW law. Many people can’t bear to think about touching a gun much less owning one. Thats great, you need to know your limitations, just don’t imagine that your limitations are someone elses limits. Maybe eventually we can move beyond the criminals having guns & the good people just standing & dying. Shine on, Randy
how does this guy walk into a crowded mall with a rifle and not be noticed?
If Omaha wasn’t a gun free zone this guy would have thought twice before he went on a shooting spree and if he didn’t he would have been taken out rather quickly. Unless we allow carry permits throughout all 50 states this stuff will unfortunately and sadly continue.
I absolutely agree that gun free zones like Omaha virtually promise that no one stops bozos like this. But I’m skeptical of the notion that mass shooters choose their venues based on the likelihood that they’ll meet armed resistance.
I believe they choose their venues based on the public perception of how horrific the act. Schools are where our children dwell. Malls are the 21st century public common; the universal place to hang out. The fact is, society has deemed these places gun free zones in the mind is a reflection on our society.
And no, it doesn’t say something good about our society. The fact that people abhor the idea of violence in these places is exactly part of the emotional appeal of these monsters doing what they do.
The problem in our society is that many of us have come to believe the idea that we can somehow overcome the darker side of human nature by ignoring it, and pretending it doesn’t exist.
One of the big differences between people like us, and people that make malls in Omaha gun free zones is, we understand human nature, and prepare for it. More and more of humanity, in a bitter irony, is strangely removed from the true nature of itself. It would like to believe the wolves will respect the shepherd. We know better. The sheep don’t. I’m not sure how to fix that.
I agree Sebastian. If someone goes loony in an Arizona mall he’ll be taken out post haste by the armed populace. I’ve heard estimates that about 1 or 2 in 100 is carrying a weapon in Arizona either open or concealed, so with hundreds of shoppers there should be 3 to 10 of us ready to take the bad guy down at any given moment without needing to dial 911 & wait for the Police to show up while the perp keeps on shooting. In our case we’ll just call the Police to ask them to bring a body bag for the bad guy and perhaps one or two defenseless victims that he was able to mow down before he was taken out by the armed citizens.
how does this guy walk into a crowded mall with a rifle and not be noticed?
Most people aren’t on the lookout for anything unusual, and when presented with this kind of threat, don’t immediately react to it. The truth is, we have no idea how a crowd would react to someone open carrying a rifle in this kind of setting. At best, I think most people would alert security, or call the police. Generally, I believe they’ll quickly beat a path back to their cars, or some kind of relative safety.
But what else are they going to do? Even me, who carries a firearm, is not going to automatically shoot anyone I see with a gun. Once he starts firing, he’s a bit of a handfull. And while I’d like to think I’d try to get off a shot, that’s armchair bluster. Very few of us have ever been put to that test, and know how we’ll really react.
copied and pasted here from WoG, my comment.
I lived in Omaha and environs for quite a few years. My wife used to work literally across the street from that mall. My youngest daughter still lives in Omaha and works a few doors down from my wife’s former employer and literally across the street from that mall. I have been in that mall many times. Fortunately my daughter did not take this afternoon as planned to cross the street and go Christmas shopping in that mall.
I talked to her tonight and asked her if the mall was still a victim disarmament zone, she said it was.
When I lived in Omaha they had the absolute worst law enforcement community of any place I had ever lived and I have lived damn near everywhere in this country. HOwever, credit where credit is due, there isn’t much room for improvement in their response to this atrocity today. They did about as well as can be reasonably expected and did a damn good job after arriving on the scene. It is the largest mall in the entire state. They acquitted themselves well.
But that doesn’t change the fact that the shooter was in complete control of when the shooting would stop and his own fate. When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. In this case, it was all over before the first cop pulled on the lot. And the cops did as well as could be expected.
Gun Free Zones are not gun free if the criminally murderous element is taken into account, but the criminal’s success is guaranteed by such idiocy as signs telling killers that they have a target rich environment full of defenseless prey.
Helplessness is not a security measure.
Lawsuits against mall management should be filed severally and in class action, due to the policy of victim presentation to monsters. They deny the right of self protection under the guise of property rights, but do not fill that vacuum in power with responsibility for the lives and health of their patrons.
This is no different than if they had painted all the walls and covered all the floors with coverings which included known virulent carcinogens and were granted immunity from providing recompense to their patrons who subsequently developed cancers.
Their policy is just as irresponsible as if they had knowingly exposed their patrons to fatal diseases, for that is just what they did.
I encouraged my daughter tonight to form a group of the professional people she works with and neighbors to attend every city council meeting and meet the hysterical control mongering of the blood-dancers with fact when they start calling for more restrictions on firearms.
Lincoln is only 45 minutes away and I warned her that she could expect the state legislature, or at least some of them to try to profit by this atrocity and snatch even more freedom and security from all those people who didn’t do this.
I hope while she is still angry and heartsick about what happened that she develops a network to fight the call for more victim disarmament we know is coming.
As I told her, the real problem is not that were were too many guns in that mall, but that there were way too few.
“. But I’m skeptical of the notion that mass shooters choose their venues based on the likelihood that they’ll meet armed resistance”-Sebastian.
That would explain why so many of the people who want to “go out in style” and be famous/notorious, etc. are always shooting up police stations and rifle ranges, right?
You wanna rethink that? Especially in light of the actions of a reaaalllly baaaad man who shot a 7 year old girl about the face and head six times in Detroit, but gave up without a struggle or resistance when faced with armed men.
I think the likelihood that they will wield all the power, if even for just a little while, is paramount in their selection of venue. I think if you thought about it a little more you might think so too.
That would explain why so many of the people who want to “go out in style†and be famous/notorious, etc. are always shooting up police stations and rifle ranges, right?
Actually, there have been these types of shootings in police stations. Bryan Miller’s brother was killed in a police station mass shooting. I doubt most mass killers are aware of CCW policy. Most people have no idea what the law is, and most malls post that stuff in fine print.
A criminal I might buy thinks about which victims might be able to fight back. The murder-suicide guy only wants to go out with a bang.
That said, there’s no earthly reason why malls should ensure that there’s no possibility of armed resistance. I’m just skeptical that nutballs like this are thinking about what the CCW policy is at the mall when they go to shoot it up.
Municode says CCW is O.K. in Omaha since 1/1/07:
Sec. 20-192. Carrying concealed weapon.
It shall be unlawful for any person except an authorized law enforcement officer purposely or knowingly to carry a weapon concealed on or about his person. On or after January 1, 2007, any person possessing a lawful permit issued by the State of Nebraska authorizing the carrying of concealed handguns shall be permitted to carry such a concealed handgun in the City of Omaha as permitted by state law.
(Code 1980, § 20-192; Ord. No. 37432, § 1, 7-18-06)
Help me out guys…
CNN reports the little shit bag used an AK-47.
FOX and NPR reports an SKS.
Not surprisingly, all networks labeled it “an assault rifle.”
We should get this little shit bag out of the news, and slap the media at the same time.
No Sebastian, I am not purporting that these guys are legal scholars, merely that they choose places where they stand to gain the most satisfaction of their perverted fantasy. In a society where it is an endemic condition that people will be unarmed, these dimbulbs have enough awareness to know this and choose the venue where they get the most bang for the buck.
Were our society to be armed as a matter of course, no license, no permit, no registration, no restrictions, just the exercise of citizenship as was intended by our founders, these dimbulbs would also be aware of that. And their bang for the buck would be a discouraging prospect, indeed.
No Sebastian, I am not purporting that these guys are legal scholars, merely that they choose places where they stand to gain the most satisfaction of their perverted fantasy.
I agree with you there, which is how I think a healthy shooting culture helps deter these fantasies. I do think CCW matters, I just don’t think it factors into the killers conscious decision making process.
Sebastian, this whole Mall shooting story is a fake. That mall was and is a “gun-free” zone. Therefore this story could not have happened.
Check for yourself.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315563,00.html