Timeline of mass killings since Columbine. Enough is enough but it is time for what?

 










I was researching the subject of mass killings in the United States since Columbine,  I know it does not matter but I guess there is no consensus as to what is a mass killing. "11 mass shootings since Tucson" 70 says the Brady campaign" 37 mass shootings in Gun Free Zones" 60 mass killings, 61, what to do?

April 1999 - two teenage schoolboys shot and killed 12 schoolmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, before killing themselves.

July 1999 - a stock exchange trader in Atlanta, Georgia, killed 12 people including his wife and two children before taking his own life.

September 1999 - a gunman opened fire at a prayer service in Fort Worth, Texas, killing six people before committing suicide.

October 2002 - a series of sniper-style shootings occurred in Washington DC, leaving 10 dead.

August 2003 - in Chicago, a laid-off worker shot and killed six of his former workmates.

November 2004 - in Birchwood, Wisconsin, a hunter killed six other hunters and wounded two others after an argument with them.

March 2005 - a man opened fire at a church service in Brookfield, Wisconsin, killing seven people.

October 2006 - a truck driver killed five schoolgirls and seriously wounded six others in a school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania before taking his own life.

April 2007 - student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and wounded 15 others at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, before shooting himself, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the United States after 2000.

August 2007 - Three Delaware State University students were shot and killed in “execution style” by a 28-year-old and two 15-year-old boys. A fourth student was shot and stabbed.

December 2007 - a 20-year-old man killed nine people and injured five others in a shopping center in Omaha, Nebraska.
December 2007 - a woman and her boyfriend shot dead six members of her family on Christmas Eve in Carnation, Washington.

February 2008 - a shooter who is still at large tied up and shot six women at a suburban clothing store in Chicago, leaving five of them dead and the remaining one injured.

February 2008 - a man opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, killing five students and wounding 16 others before laying down his weapon and surrendering.
 
September 2008 - a mentally ill man who was released from jail one month earlier shot eight people in Alger, Washington, leaving six of them dead and the rest two wounded.

December 2008 - a man dressed in a Santa Claus suit opened fire at a family Christmas party in Covina, California, then set fire on the house and killed himself. Police later found nine people dead in the debris of the house.

March 2009 - a 28-year-old laid-off worker opened fire while driving a car through several towns in Alabama, killing 10 people.

March 2009 - a heavily armed gunman shot dead eight people, many of them elderly and sick people, in a private-owned nursing home in North Carolina.

March 2009 - six people were shot dead in a high-grade apartment building in Santa Clara, California.

April 2009 - a man shot dead 13 people at a civic center in Binghamton, New York.

July 2009 - Six people, including one student, were shot in a drive-by shooting at a community rally on the campus of Texas Southern University, Houston

.November 2009 - U.S. army psychologist Major Nidal Hasan opened fire at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas, leaving 13 dead and 42 others wounded.

February 2010 – A professor opened fire 50 minutes into at a Biological Sciences Department faculty meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, killing three colleagues and wounding three others.

January 2011 - a gunman opened fire at a public gathering outside a grocery in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people including a 9-year-old girl and wounding at least 12 others. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was severely injured with a gunshot to the head.  

April 2 - A gunman kills seven people and wounds three in a shooting rampage at a Christian college in Oakland.July 20 - A masked gunman kills 12 people and wounds 58 when he opens fire on moviegoers at a showing of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado.

Aug. 5 - A gunman kills six people during Sunday services at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, before he is shot dead by a police officer.

 Aug. 24 - Two people are killed and eight wounded in a shooting outside the landmark Empire State Building in New York City at the height of the tourist season.

Sept. 27 - A disgruntled former employee kills five people and takes his own life in a shooting rampage at a Minneapolis sign company from which he had been fired.

Oct. 21 - Three people are killed in a Milwaukee area spa including the estranged wife of the suspected gunman, who then killed himself.

Dec. 14 - A shooter opens fire at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing several people including children. 

 

It is high time we do something but what?You can be sure the wrong thing will be done because the issue is politicized and all sides want their so called solution to hold sway. It should be a combination of actions but I still do not see an end to it even if societies plight was remedied.

Regardless of the size of a clip or power of a weapon, regardless of the care of everyone with a so called mental problem, regardless of curing all societies ills and ensuring a so called "fantasy life" for everyone, the killing will go no.

 The genie has been let out of the bottle. The disenfranchised now know a sure fire way of getting attention as to their perceived plight.

The media wittingly or unwittingly has glorified mass killings as a way to serve justice in the perpetrators eyes. Because of our lack of action it has become acceptable to go out and kill people and be happy about it. Nothing is going to stop this now. It is too late to have a weapons ban of any kind. 

* The weapons are out there and IF YOU WANT GUNS YOU WILL GET THEM. The disenfranchised which number in the multiple millions are everywhere. Just what will set them off and when?  We are in for a rough ride. The only thing that will stop it is the all focusing advent of another world war and we can do without that.

James Joiner

Gardner, Ma

http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Illinois governor abolishes death penalty: joins the club

Illinois governor abolishes death penalty

Sates now without the death penalty, STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY (YEAR ABOLISHED IN PARENTHESES)

Alaska (1957)
Hawaii (1948)
Illinois (2010)
Iowa (1965)
Maine (1887)
Massachusetts (1984)
Michigan (1846)
Minnesota (1911)
New Jersey (2007)
New Mexico* (2009)
New York (2007)#
North Dakota (1973)
Rhode Island (1984)**
Vermont (1964)

West Virginia (1965)
Wisconsin (1853)

ALSO
- Dist. of Columbia (1981)

Remember this? Gardner chooses death by firing squad Execution by firing squad? That is not wise especially in this environment. Death by firing squad is a bit much in today's environment. It is also too much like the wild wild west. This is 2010! This is Utah the Mormon State. I know in Utah death by firing squad is not an option as it was outlawed. However anyone that requested it prior to the law change in 2004 can still have their execution by firing squad. That is the case with Ronnie Lee Gardner. I do not like this period!

I remember almost 5 years ago when then Gov. Jeb Bush suspended executions in Florida after a medical examiner said that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week. Separately, a federal judge in California imposed a moratorium on executions in the nation's most populous state, declaring that the state's method of lethal injection runs the risk of violating the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

I have always had my doubts about the Death Penalty unless it is an open and shut case but I just don't know any more in light of the latest fiasco's. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said the case in question with him raised the question of whether a three-drug cocktail administered by the San Quentin State Prison is so painful that it "offends" the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The judge answered in the affirmative and in light of what I am reading I am afraid he is right and I for one feel terrible.

He said the case raised the question of whether a three-drug cocktail administered by the San Quentin State Prison is so painful that it "offends" the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. At that time Fogel found substantial evidence that the last six men executed at San Quentin might have been conscious and still breathing when lethal drugs were administered. that is just horrible to me. I can understand an eye for an eye but torture is just inhumane to me especially sanctioned as I know many of you feel the same
.
In response He ordered anesthesiologists to be on hand, or demanded that a licensed medical professional inject a large, fatal dose of a sedative instead of the additional paralyzing agent and heart-stopping drugs that are normally used. But no medical professional was willing to participate. man I can't really say I blame them. This just sounds too inhumane. It sounds crass but we have to find a better way to do this and only when "dead" sure!

In Florida, medical examiner Dr. William Hamilton said the execution of Angel Nieves Diaz took 34 minutes -- twice as long as usual -- and required a rare second dose of lethal chemicals because the needles were inserted clear through his veins and into the flesh in his arms. The chemicals are supposed to go into the veins.

Later after the autopsy Dr. Hamilton refused to say whether or not he suffered and deferred answers about pain and suffering. However, Missing a vein when administering the injections would cause "both psychological and physical discomfort -- probably pretty severe," said Dr. J. Kent Garman.

Anyway, I was relieved myself when I heard 2 states were putting an end to lethal injections for now, but then I hear this. A federal judge's ruling that California's lethal injection method is unconstitutionally cruel will have little impact on most of the state's death row inmates, legal experts said Saturday.

Four times as many condemned prisoners in California have died of natural causes, suicide or murder after their cases meandered through the appeals courts for decades. Texas, by contrast, has carried out 380 executions in roughly the same period. The leading cause of death on death row right now is old age," said Gerald Uelmen, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law. How does that make you feel? are you supposed to feel better?

Then I got to wondering how many States have the death penalty and what is their methods? In the 38 states and federal government that currently have death penalty statutes, five different methods of execution are prescribed: Lethal Injection, Electrocution, Lethal Gas, Firing Squad, and Hanging.

The vast majority of jurisdictions provide for execution by lethal injection. 20 jurisdictions provide for alternative methods of execution, contingent upon the choice of the inmate, the date of the execution or sentence, or the possibility of the method being held unconstitutional. Only one state does not have lethal injection as a primary or optional method of execution. Nebraska is the only state that provides for electrocution as the sole method of execution. No states provide for Lethal Gas, Hanging, or Firing Squad as the sole method of execution. Please look at the link for the accepted method of execution by State.

I am beginning to get a real bad feeling about this and wonder if there is a humane way of killing or if there is one method that is fail safe why isn't it made to be universal. Something is not right about this and something has to be done. Please give me your 2 cents!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

synthetic marijuana spurs State bans: end all the lying and needless arrests and costs, Legalize marijuana!

I remember when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s pot cost $10 an ounce then it went to $20 and to increase potency we were lacing it. I do not remember what with but I am sure someone can tell me. We were always warned of the threat of death as they were in the 20s and 30s when you had posters on the trains that smoking marijuana could make you a deviant and anti Societal monster and would kill you.

This has been going on for a century now and has cost 100s of millions of dollars if not Billions. The desire to find ways around the growing expense and needless illegality of marijuana will never stop. This is just the latest! Seated at a hookah lounge in the Tower Grove district, Albert Kuo trained his lighter above a marbleized glass pipe stuffed with synthetic marijuana. Inhaling deeply, Mr. Kuo, an art student at an area college, singed the pipe’s leafy contents, emitting a musky cloud of smoke into the afternoon light.

Mr. Kuo, 25, had gathered here with a small cohort of friends for what could be the last time they legally get high in Missouri on a substance known popularly as K2, a blend of herbs treated with synthetic marijuana. “I know it’s not going to kill me,” said Mr. Kuo, who likened the drug’s effects to clove cigarettes. “It’s a waste of time, effort and money to ban something like this.” He is right, legalize marijuana!

On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, signed a bill prohibiting possession of K2. Missouri is the nation’s eighth state this year to ban the substance, which has sent users to emergency rooms across the country complaining of everything from elevated heart rates and paranoia to vomiting and hallucinations.

Investigators blame the drug in at least one death, and this month, Gov. Mike Beebe of Arkansas, a Democrat, signed an emergency order banning the substance. Similar prohibitions are pending in at least six other states, including Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Ohio, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“It’s like a tidal wave,” said Ward Franz, the state representative who sponsored Missouri’s legislation. “It’s almost an epidemic. We’re seeing middle-school kids walking into stores and buying it.”

Often marketed as incense, K2 — which is also known as Spice, Demon or Genie — is sold openly in gas stations, head shops and, of course, online. It can sell for as much as $40 per gram. The substance is banned in many European countries, but by marketing it as incense and clearly stating that it is not for human consumption, domestic sellers have managed to evade federal regulation.

synthetic marijuana spurs State bans

We are hearing all kinds of crap to counter the positive reasons for legalization. Legalize, tax and control as we do alcohol is the way to go. Sure there will be people growing there own, a black market. History and reality shows us how little the alcohol market as affected by those who can will and do brew their own.

Legalizing pot may drop the price of a marijuana cigarette to as little as $1.50 in California, but taxing weed may create a whole new black market, according to a new RAND Corp. study. The six-month study by the renowned Santa Monica-based think tank provides fuel for both sides of the debate over whether California should legalize marijuana for recreational use.

The study didn't take a position on either the November ballot initiative -- Proposition 19 -- to legalize recreational marijuana use or proposed separate state legislation to impose a $50-per-ounce pot tax. The study said legalizing marijuana in California would drop the price of pot by more than 80 percent and increase consumption. Okay great! Would a $1.50 joint bring happiness to California? I'd say so!

Honest marijuana reviews from real marijuana fanatics.

The Hypocrisy! Did you know that for 30 years the US has been growing and distributing Marijuana? This is really hypocritical and outrageous especially with what is happening on the Mexican Border and with the fact that some one million people are arrested in the US every year for possession. WTF? Am I the only one that did not know the Government was growing and distributing marijuana to a select few while telling everyone else that could benefit from it to suffer. This is insane! Are they purposely doing this to feed their economy and agenda? In light of what has been happening on the Border and around the country I think it is time to take the Government to task on this!

The program was started 5/10/78 after President Jimmy Carter was forced by the courts to supply marijuana to a Glaucoma patient. What amazes me is that it only took the Government 6 days to send him his first shipment of 10 ounces of pre rolled marijuana cigarettes in a canister, that was some fast growing stuff. The Governments official line is that in one regard or the other marijuana poisons you even if their excuse is that it is a gateway drug leading to harder stuff.

Well, the list of patients the Government was poisoning grew to 34 before Daddy Bush shut the program down in in 1992. Those that were already enrolled in the program were allowed to continue until they died. Gee what a surprise, the Government controlled 34 users for thirty years with no negative side affects and they never mention that. There are still 4 of the original 34 left alive receiving 10 ounces of Government grown marijuana pre rolled in a canister every month. The rest of the MS, cancer, glaucoma, and myriad of other patients that may benefit from marijuana are merely left to suffer and or die. Why? Meanwhile while the Fed continues to supply the surviving 4 patients with marijuana they continue to raid legal growers of medicinal marijuana in California. The hypocrisy, why?

30 years of medical marijuana and Federal Hypocrisy

We know they do not but you want to say don't they ever think? They are purposely feeding the violence on the border they are supposedly very concerned about? If you buy marijuana in the US you are fueling the cartel drug wars in Mexico. Are they doing this on purpose? Last year there was 7,000 killed there. So far this year another 400 have been added to those Butchered, beheaded, murdered, for what? Juarez, New Mexico on the Border with El Paso, Texas is a battle zone. It is the hot spot in the cartel's fight for smuggling routes. The drug cartels and those officers and military not bought off by the cartels are in a full blown war

Of course there are big fears of our drug war that spilled South to Mexico now spilling back to our side of the Border as violence. The violence is only there and fed by our insatiable hunger for marijuana and other drugs. We can end this! We can control the border as we still are not and put our military on the border. That is where they should be not on 733 US bases around the world.

* I was stupefied, stunned, amazed, to find out the Government for thirty years has been growing, supplying, and distributing marijuana to a few whose life they know they are changing for the good maybe even saving while leaving the rest of the users that may benefit to their own demise! The unnecessary money spent, arrests, violence, murders, mayhem, here and in Mexico is asinine. It is all for naught. If not why? This is all hypocrisy! It makes no sense. The Government unbeknown to me already has 30 years of experience growing and distributing marijuana. Legalize it! Open their own proven program up for the good of the country! Stop all this needless crap, legalize it!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com