“As soon as he walked in, he just automatically started shooting quickly,” said the employee named Kendra Carrizales. “And we hear two shots and we just automatically started running. We ran all the way to the back.”
A Homeland Security special agent heard the gunfire and confronted the suspect. He fired at the suspect at the same time the man shot himself in the head, according to HPD.
“We just saw the dude walking in, and he was already suicidal because he put the gun to his head,” Carrizales said.
The suspect was taken away in an ambulance, but he didn't survive.
What happened to America over the past 12 years? At this time of year in 2001 citizens had a new set of marching orders to protect themselves after the September 11 terrorist attacks on American civilians. The advice was logical – especially to anyone with a CCW permit:
Taking personal responsibility for the safety of my loved ones and myself was one of the most simple decisions of my entire life. The second I learned to look at the world this way I knew there was no choice but to ensure their safety to the very best of my abilities. What's the alternative?
Hide in your home (ideally disarmed) and wait it out while you hope that the bad guy doesn't choose your home to seek cover, transportation, or victims.
OR
Make sure you have a firearm within reach and stay alert. If you're at home keep vigilant and prepared to defend your loved ones.
There are thousands (millions? oh I hope not) of uninformed voters in America who believe what they read and hear about firearms because they don't know any facts about firearms. Even worse is that many Americans believe what they see in movies and tv – try counting the shots you hear in a show or movie and see how that aligns with reality. It won't take long before you can understand why the uninformed fear “hi-capacity” mags– on tv they last forever without a reload!
The POTUS is getting cagey as public support wanes for his Gun Control Civilian Disarmament agenda. Remarkably he addressed the nation today and asked America to focus on its feelings. At kR-15.com we serve up FACTS Not Feelings on the regular. For this reason I am compelled to respond to you, Mr. President, with some facts lined up against your feelings. Thanks to the Constitution of the United States of America and the fact that it does not provide but rather Protects certain rights I can respond with any words I choose…and I choose facts.
Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. If there is one thing I’ve said consistently since I first ran for this office, nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change.
FACT: I haven't forgotten the kids either – the 1500 children who are murdered each year in the United States by water. Tell me again why we can't all focus on better background checks for pool owners- there are a lot of negligent people out there who could let these backyard murderers – (responsible for the murder of 829,000 children worldwide EVERY YEAR) strike at any time.
And that’s why it’s so important that all these moms and dads are here today, but that’s also why it’s important that we’ve got grassroots groups out there that got started and are out there mobilizing and organizing and keeping up the fight.
It’s going to take moms and dads and hunters and sportsmen and clergy and local officials, like the mayors who are here today, standing up and saying, this time really is different, that we’re not just going to sit back and wait until the next Newtown or the next Blacksburg or the next innocent, beautiful child is gunned down in a playground in Chicago or Philadelphia or Los Angeles before we summon the will to act. Right now members of Congress are back home in their districts and many of them are holding events where they can hear from their constituents, so I want everybody who is listening to make yourself heard right now.
FACT: The biggest impact you can make to defend our Second Amendment Rights (other than showing up at an event to talk to your CongressCritter) is leaving a personal phone message for your Senator by calling the US Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or checking the list of Senators who pay for 1800 lines to their offices. Congress resumes on Monday, April 8, 2013. Guidelines for calling a Senator's office are here.
If you think that checking someone’s criminal record before he can check out a gun show is common sense, you’ve going to make yourself heard. If you are a responsible, law-abiding gun owner who wants to keep irresponsible, law-breaking individuals from abusing the right to bear arms by inflicting harm on a massive scale, speak up. We need your voices in this debate.
If you’re a mom like Katarina who wants to make this country safer, a stronger place for our children to learn and grow up, get together with other moms like the ones here today and raise your voices and make yourselves unmistakably heard. We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said at that time wasn’t just a bunch of platitudes, that we meant it.
FACT: Making this country a safer, stronger place for our children is a good goal. How about we focus lawmakers on keeping the people in prison who are already there for committing a violent crime?
And the desire to make a difference is what brought Corey Thornblad here today. Corey grew up in Oklahoma, where her dad sold firearms at gun shows. And today she’s a mom and a teacher. And Corey said after Newtown she cried for days for the students who could have been her students, for the parents she could have known, for the teachers like her who go to work every single day and love their kids and want them to succeed. And Corey says, “My heart was broken and I decided now was the time to act, to march, the time to petition, the time to make phone calls because tears were no longer enough.” And that’s my attitude. Tears aren’t enough. Expressions of sympathy aren’t enough. Speeches aren’t enough. We’ve cried enough. We’ve known enough heartbreak. What we’re proposing is not radical, it’s not taking away anybody’s gun rights. It’s something that, if we are serious, we will do it. Now is the time to turn that heartbreak into something real.
FACT: Senator Feinstein says pretty clearly that she wants to take away everybody's gun rights. Also consider New York and California.
It won’t solve every problem. There will still be gun deaths. There will still be tragedies. There will still be violence. There will still be evil.
FACT: Those are all facts Mr. President! Nice work.
But we can make a difference if, not just the activists here on this stage, but the general public, including responsible gun owners say, you know what, we can do better than this. We can do better to make sure that fewer parents have to endure the pain of losing a child to an act of violence. That’s what this is about. And enough people like Katarina and Cory (ph) and the rest of the parents who are here today get involved, and if enough members of Congress take a stand for cooperation and common sense, and lead and don’t get squishy, because time has passed and maybe it’s not on the news every single day.
If that’s who we are, if that’s our character, that we’re willing to follow through on commitments that we say are important, commitments to each other and to our kids, then I’m confident we can make this country a safer place for all of them.
FACT: Willing to follow through on commitments is a key element of integrity- for example promising GMO labeling on our foods immediately upon being elected in 2007 so Americans know which ones are genetically modified……
Read ’em and weep compadres. It looks like we have a grand total of 4 Gun Control Bills that passed out of the Judiciary Committee. We have to make noise once again to make sure our elected officials hear our voices. Sign up now for my Call to Action list and I will send you a one-click method of contacting your Senators to ask them to demand that they oppose these bills.
I will even offer Facts, not Feelings to explain why none of these bills should be supported if you want to use them when making your voice heard in DC (S.146 MIGHT be ok but it’s not safe to judge legislation by the names of Bills).
Good interview in The Atlantic today– (I know, I know: The Atlantic is a tiny bit anti-gun according to everything I have read until this one- look at the banner image above to remind you where you are and trust me) covering Dan Baum’s new book, Gun Guys: A Roadtrip. Like too many other Americans to count Dan is a firearms enthusiast who is not the stereotype the Antis would have you think all those ‘dangerous and reckless gun owners’ are. The interviewer asks some predictably ignorant questions but the responses are great and its a breath of fresh air to see some press like this. Here is a sample of the fare for your consideration:
(Interviewer) We do have one of the highest homicide rates of all developed countries.
So if we could convince our elected officials to spend their time making some laws that keep criminals in jail it would have a substantial impact on all violent crime, including gun murders? I better stop writing before I eschew more Factual common-sense legislative ideas….
Keep talking to people- especially the uninformed. Remind people that gun owners don’t fit the stereotypes that the media would have them believe. And make your voice heard in your state capitol…April will be the time to contact our Senators in D.C. Watch the Call to Action section here for one-click access to write Congress and phone numbers to call if you don’t have time for an email. Stay sharp & keep your front sight up amigos.
Congress is seriously considering Universal Background Checks Gun Registration as a “common-sense” gun control measure. I contend that there is nothing “common-sense” about this legislative proposal. Here are 8 documented Facts- Not Feelings that explain why.
Myth: Universal Background Checks Gun Registration will help police find suspects
FACT: Registration is required in Hawaii, Chicago, and Washington D.C. Yet there has not been a single case where registration was instrumental in identifying someone who committed a crime.(Gun Licensing Leads to Increased Crime, Lost Lives, John Lott, L.A. Times, Aug 23, 2000) Criminals very rarely leave their guns at the scene of the crime. Would-be criminals also virtually never get licenses or register their weapons.
FACT: There are more guns in the U.S. than cars (228,000,000 guns and 207,754,000 automobiles). Yet you are 31 times more likely to be accidentally killed by a car than a gun according to the National Safety Council (Automobiles estimates: Federal Highway Administration, October 1998. Firearm estimates: FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1996) … despite cars having been registered and licensed for almost 100 years.
Myth: Universal Background Checks Gun Registration will make it more difficult for criminals to get guns
FACT: Criminals do not typically use legally purchased guns. The FBI reports: According to the 1997 Survey of State Prison Inmates, among those possessing a gun, the source of the gun was from –
a flea market or gun show for fewer than 2%
a retail store or pawnshop for about 12%
family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source for 80%
Myth: Universal Background Checks Gun Registration would have prevented mass shootings over the past year.
FACT: Most mass murderers do not have criminal records or a history of psychiatric hospitalization. They would not be disqualified from purchasing their weapons legally. Certainly, people cannot be denied their Second Amendment rights just because they look strange or act in an odd manner. Besides, mass killers could always find an alternative way of securing the needed weaponry, even if they had to steal from family members or friends. ( The Chronicle of Higher Education , December 2012 )
Myth: Universal Background Checks Gun Registration will keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of these madmen.
kR-15: info and resources for firearms enthusiasts 