Pro-Gun Activist Says James Holmes Could Have Killed 12 People with Snow Cones

During the past week, pro-gunners have been eager to share their opinions about the gruesome mass shooting perpetrated by schizophrenic James Holmes in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012. Using an AR-15 style assault rifle with a 100-round drum magazine and three other guns, Holmes was able to shoot 71 people in an Aurora movie theater in a span of just two minutes, killing 12, including a six-year-old girl. Had his AR-15 not jammed, the casualty total would likely have been even higher.

Pro-gun activist Lee Gaines was kind enough to send us this little missive:

Does it seem okay to you, to use the horrible events in Aurora, Colorado to advance a lie? You would exploit the deaths of a dozen innocent people, for the satisfaction of imposing your world view on each of us? The fact is, the firearms used that night were legally purchased, (not at a gun show), by a man with no criminal record. Yet, you use the deaths of these poor people to try to convince the "useful idiots" within your influence, that "guns came from a gun show and were purchased without background checks." My dear misguided zealot, the "Joker" would have killed those people, even if he had only snocones to throw at them. Your brand of gun control is only punishing the law abiding among us. You need only examine Canada's failed, and now abandoned gun control laws, to know that criminals will find their guns, without the obligatory background check. Your "control" has no effect. Your flawed cause, is without merit. I ask you, who has been more deceitful? The killer didn't lie on his federal gun paperwork. Yet, you lie when you convience people that he purchased those guns without a background check. It must be difficult for you to have to lie, to try to gain a following. The good thing is that people have learned that about you, and every other freedom hating group, like you ... and, should I die before I wake, I pray my guns my sons to take.

Snow cones, huh? And perhaps Mr. Gaines isn't aware that James Holmes was seeing a psychiatrist who specialized in the treatment of schizophrenia and had alerted her that he was going to commit mass murder. Or how about the fact that Canada has a gun death rate that's more than four times lower than that of the United States (and an overall homicide rate more than three times lower)? OK, OK, we know that a healthy dose of reality can be an inconvenience...

Reality was also an issue for pro-gunner Jesse Vankurin. You might recognize him as the vocalist for Dark Kingdom. Or not... Anyway, Jesse came to our Facebook page to tell us an interesting conspiracy theory about Aurora that's quite popular in pro-gun circles:

Oh and he picked all of that up at a local k-mart with his platinum credit card. Give me a fucking break. this has black op written all over it.

Never doubt the ability of a pro-gunner to blame everything on the government. And it's so much more convenient than taking responsibility for your role in personally lobbying for laws that allow homicidal maniacs to legally stockpile arsenals of guns!

Finally, there was pro-gun activist Jason Scarbrough, who posted on the Facebook Wall of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence to express his disappointment in Holmes' inability to kill more innocent Americans:

If the kid were using a proper rifle that doesn't shit where it eats and magazines that did their jobs properly, he probably could have broken the high score instead of only getting twelve.

After we posted a photo of a 100-round drum magazine like the one Holmes used, Scarbrough also told us why he feels such devices are so important:

We need these high capacity magazines because one of these days we're gonna have to shoot all of you gun grabbers to death and reloading is inconvenient.

Give him some credit, folks. At least he's honest about why he needs assault weapons.

Pro-Gun Activist on Murder-Suicide: "He killed his children out of love."

On the fourth of July this year, a gruesome murder-suicide took place in Dundee, Oregon. That afternoon, Randall Engels, 37, shot and killed his estranged wife Amy Engels, 35; their daughter Bailey, 13; and son Jackson, 11. Amy Engels had filed for divorce just weeks earlier on May 29, 2012, citing an "immediate danger" to her children. "My husband has threatened to steal them and not return them," she told a Yamhill County judge. "He has threatened to hurt them. He yells at them and makes them feel nervous and upset."

The Dundee community was shocked and saddened by the unspeakable tragedy, but one Oregon pro-gun activist saw the murders as evidence that Randall Engels "loved" his family.

"FancyJack," a prolific pro-gun commenter at the KVAL.com website, had plenty to say about the murder-suicide. When gun violence prevention blogger "Baldr Odinson" responded to an article about the incident by writing, "It's not the gun I oppose, it's the ease of which people like Mr. Engels are able to get them and use them," "FancyJack" was outraged and replied:

You squeeze a trigger, a nice steady pull, so as not to interfere with the aim, everyone is dead so his use of the firearm was proficient ... He did not flip out, he was methodical with the destruction of his family, again everyone is dead. Suicide is a tool, just like a firearm, it has its place in humanity, that you fear it as you fear firearms is not surprising. Once he made the decision, he would have been at peace, he took his family with him, he loved them and could not leave them to the mercies of the type people who exploit the dead to pursue a liberal social agenda, I'd bet Mr. Engels would have echoed my sentiment that he was protecting his family from people, people who think like you.

When another commenter facetiously pressed "FancyJack" to indicate whether it would be OK for parents to seek out an abortion to protect a child from the "liberal social agenda," "FancyJack" replied:

Yes, provided that we killed the mother when we killed the baby as she would not be here to protect the child. He killed his children out of love, liberal women kill their children out of selfishness, if abortion was fair, we would kill them both, but as we both know, abortion is a liberal social agenda whose intent was to clean up the gene pool, from my perspective, killing a mother that would kill her child is a just act and protects the family.

"FancyJack" also recently found time to leave his thoughts on the shooting deaths of young black men at the KVAL website. "Live by the hoody, die by the hoody," he wrote.

Pro-Gun Activists Applaud Shooting of Unarmed Teenagers Over Loud Party

Members of a pro-gun online forum are applauding the shooting of two unarmed teenagers at a late-night party on July 1, 2012. The shooting occurred in Springfield, Oregon, where a group of teenagers were hanging out, listening to music, and dancing. A neighbor across the street—who has yet to be identified by police— came out of his house carrying a gun and got into a confrontation with the teens. He pointed the gun at one teen's chest and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired. As the teens scattered, he successfully fired multiple rounds at them, shooting Christopher Carson, 14, in the buttocks and April Hamilton, 15, in the thigh. Hamilton said, "I think he was coming out to tell us to be quiet, but I have no idea why he brought a gun."

Carson and Hamilton were treated at a hospital and are now home recovering from their wounds. They were not among the 10 teens at the party cited for underage alcohol consumption. The shooter, a concealed handgun permit holder according to the detective handling the investigation, has yet to be arrested or charged with a crime. It is reported that he "sustained injuries consistent with having been assaulted" during the altercation, but it's unclear what treatment he underwent, if any. Oregon has a "Stand Your Ground" law that removes an individual's duty to retreat from a confrontation in public even when he can safely do so.

This is all fine and dandy with pro-gun activists at NorthwestFirearms.com, who are describing the incident as a "good shoot." The online forum lists the following three goals as part of its mission statement:

1) Provide a family friendly online community for firearm enthusiasts of the Northwest to meet other enthusiasts, discuss various topics, share news, buy, sell, & trade, organize events, and much more.

2) Provide a resource for firearm owners to organize themselves for the purpose of protecting the second amendment and our firearm rights, as well as defeating gun-control legislation and anti-gun candidates.

3) Spread the message of safe firearm use and ownership, while promoting self defense, shooting sports, hunting, and collecting.

It's difficult to see what is "family-friendly" about the comments at the forum, however (you can see them all here). After "parallax" of Eugene, Oregon posted an article about the shooting on July 3rd, pro-gun activists jumped in to applaud the shooting of the two teens.

Senior forum member "eldbillbo" of Clackamas, Oregon wrote, "a armed society is a polite society maybe next time those boys will turn down volume when asked to do so."

"punk kids," replied "lv1986" of Southwest Oregon.

Senior member "JackThompson" of Vancouver, Washington commented, "Guns. The magic equalizer that gives a single old man the "Right" to ask 10 rowdy drunk teenagers to please be quiet at 2:00am without fear of getting curb stomped in return. Guns for President."

"Flyingswords" of Salem, Oregon stated, "Kids got what they had coming to em. You mess with fire and your liable to get burnt. They played with fire and 2 got burnt. The parents of those kids that were there should be cited and or jailed. The homeowners where that loud party was at should be cited and jailed.."

"Good shoot," said Redcap of Lewis County, Washington. "mjbskwim" of Sequim, Washington agreed. "Yeah, good shoot," he replied. "bkb0000" of Northwest Oregon also chimed in, saying, "He was probably aiming for legs, but he wasn't necessarily a good shot for doing so- He probably emptied the mag. Whatever the case, good shoot."

"Stomper" of Woodburn, Oregon was fired up. "I'm down with donating to his defense fund if he gets tagged with any kind of criminal or civil suit. Not only would they have been digging bullets out of their legs, but they would have had to extricate my shoe from one of their arses, and my empty pistol from the other arse," he commented. "In gerneral, I flippin' HATE teenagers! It truly is the most dangerous time/phase of their lives."

Stomper's auto-signature is a good summation of the forum's attitude toward non-members. "You walk the path of a coward," it reads, "taking shelter behind those who are unafraid to stand AND fall; counted among those who live as nothing more than dross in the eyes of your betters... Enjoy your freedom."

If you haven't been shot unnecessarily by Stomper or some other gun-toter with an itchy trigger finger, that is...