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...
Have you been harrassed by pro-gun activists? Email us at csgv@csgv.org!
July 9, 2012
Pro-Gun Activists Applaud Shooting of Unarmed Teenagers Over Loud Party
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Notice something missing from the comments at that site? Nowhere is there any mention of concern for the kids or any question that, just maybe, the shooter was over-reacting. The gun is god to these guys, and anyone holding it is holy in their eyes. All others, teens or not, are immediately suspect. Makes me sick. If the teens were guilty, wouldn't they have been arrested?
ReplyDeleteMy blog post on this case:
http://newtrajectory.blogspot.com/2012/07/pro-gun-extremists-jumping-to.html
You need to be submitting these to Reddit. Let the Internet take care of sites like this.
ReplyDeleteNo one should be shot for making noise, least of all kids in summer.
ReplyDeleteThis is what the police are for, not old crabby and flabby NRA types who act like vigilantes.
The story appears to be one where the old possibly drunk guy just walked up to kids, and tried to kill them.
How could ANY organizatoin call this a good shoot, when the rules for firearm safety require you to avoid shooting where bullets could hit another person, or a house. This is clearly a developed area, from the video; there is no way that those shots fired were not a danger to the people inside those homes.
There also does not appear to be any record mentioned of this man calling the police, either as a non-emergency or emergency complaint. Why? Is that not the very definition of being a vigilante - taking the law into your own hands?
I would hope that the kids who were shot, and the neighbors, will sue his sorry wrinkled old behind, for their medical care, pain and suffering. With luck, the costs and hostility from neighbors might force him to move away, making the community a safer place without him and his damned gun.