So a convicted felon managed to get a gun anyway and went to a school board meeting with the idea of shooting himself some people. Only his plans were thwarted by someone else with a gun and he decided to shoot himself before someone took away all his glory:
District security chief and former police officer Mike Jones ran in and shot Duke, ending his shooting spree. At that point, Duke pointed the gun on himself and committed suicide. SWAT officers stormed the room soon after.
And yet we’re constantly told a gun wouldn’t have mattered at Virginia Tech. But I forget, this is a highly trained police officer with magical gun powers the rest of us can’t possibly possess. Apparently Jones is pretty torn up over shooting the guy. It’s understandable. But I’m glad he was there, and did what he did. Superintendent Husfelt acted valiantly too, trying to calm the gunman down, and buying time. Also valiant was Ginger Littleton, who tried to disarm the man (though quite ineffectively).
Littleton would have been more effective if she had grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, or some other object, and bashed the guy’s skull in, but what she tried to do is commendable. In the end what was needed was someone else with a gun. Most of these murder-suicide types are acting out a fantasy, as soon as that fantasy gets interrupted by a gunfight they didn’t expect, they usually give up and off themselves before someone else gets to do it. These types aren’t fighters. I have no doubt our opponents will latch on to this, but it proves our points more effectively than it does theirs.
In this instance, people didn’t behave the way the shooter wanted, and refused to play the part in the fantasy, and in the end only the shooter was the dead guy. Resistance works. Passivity is what racks up the body count for these whack jobs.
I’ve seen the video(s). Little Ms. Pursensmaken came up on his blind side and he was completely oblivious to her presence. She could have easily ended it right there with a round to the head from a .38 snubbie at less than 5 feet.
This is a prime example of how ‘reasonable, common sense’ gun regulations affected ONLY the law abiding, sadly leaving them defenseless in the face of evil.
I guess if a hijacker tries to take over an airliner and ordinary citizens jump in and stop him, that’s a good thing.
If a gunman tries to commit mass murder and an ordinary citizen jumps in and stops him with a purse, that’s a bad thing.
If that ordinary citizen stops him with a firearm — well, that’s a terrible thing.
http://noisyroom.net/blog/2010/12/15/woman-saves-ohio-police-officer-after-attack-during-traffic-stop/
Hear is another woman who needs to upgrade her arsenal.
A firearm would probably not helped here, except as a club, but pepper spray beats a fist.
Imagine if several of the school board members were armed? I am sure it would have ended sooner.
“…SWAT officers stormed the room soon after.”
Yeah. Once it was safe and the guy was dead, they came in and pointed guns at everyone else.
What a waste of oxygen!
What’s the difference between a battle and a massacre? A massacre is when only one side is armed. As nasty as battle is, it is far preferable to being massacred.
The anti-gun zealots will never appreciate this truth.
Careful observation will suggest that he only intended to scare the board members. After holding a bead prior to the first shot, he obviously moves off-target (to the right) and completes the squeeze. Follow-up shots are only in the others’ general vicinity. He said that he would die, and he did accomplish that.
+1 for the Ginger’s bravery!
I read in an article somewhere with quotes from the widow of this Florida school board shooter, Clay Duke. She said that he was a good shot with the pistol he fired during this incident. She also said that her late husband intentionally missed the men that he shot at, since he did not want to hurt them – just scare them. After watching the video several times, what this guy’s widow said about her late husband seems quite plausible to me.