Massacre In The Mall ... Oregon!

Gunman opens fire in Portland mall; 3 dead | General Headlines | Comcast:

PORTLAND, Ore. — A masked gunman wearing camouflage opened fire Tuesday in a busy Portland mall, leaving the gunman and two others dead and forcing the mall's Santa Claus and hundreds of Christmas shoppers and employees to flee or hide among store displays.

Austin Patty, 20, who works at Macy's, said he saw a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. He heard the gunman say, "I am the shooter," as if announcing himself. A series of rapid-fire shots in short succession followed as Christmas music played. Patty said he ducked to the ground and then ran.

His Macy's co-worker, Pam Moore, told The Associated Press the gunman was short, with dark hair. Witnesses said he started firing his military-style weapon just outside Macy's in the food court of Clackamas Town Center.

Brance Wilson, the mall Santa, said he heard gunshots and dove for the floor. By the time he looked up, seconds later, everyone around him had cleared out. Merchandise was scattered in some stores as he made his way to the door.

"Santa will be back," Wilson said. "It's not going to keep Santa away from the mall."

Jacob Roberts (26) entered a food court and started blazing away with a stolen AR15.   Killed two people, wounded a young woman, then shot himself in the head.  (See also the OREGONLIVE profile, where his age was given as '22', not '26'..)

The Chicago Tribune has a video:

(temporarily deleted because it's really obnoxious December 23, 2012)

The Clackamas Town Center is just a little bit smug because they recently performed some training for exactly this scenario.   Their solution?  Run, and hide.  There was apparently no effort to explore the possibility of an aggressive defense.

The Media is working hard on the "WHY?" issue.  His 'mother' (actually his aunt ... his mother died of Hodgkins Disease when he was 2 years old) said he wanted to be a Marine, but he had broken his foot when he was seventeen an after that " ... he just changed ...".  Apparently, he was REALLY disappointed that he didn't qualify to be a member of the Marines, so he decided to be a sick fuck instead.

The latest bit of Media Blarney (because I'm too polite to say "BULLSHIT!" online) is that he may have been influenced by a video game;  the scenario is reminiscent of "Grand Theft Auto".  That is where the "player" dons a white hockey mask and attacks the customers of a mall food court with a rifle.

Please.

The answer to the question:  "WHY?" is ...   because he could.

We don't have to do any research.  It has been 20 years since I've been to the Clackamas Town Center Mall, but I will guarantee you that at all the entrances there is a notice to the effect that "This Is A Gun-Free Zone".

(sigh)

You can buy 'em the books, but that don't mean they're gonna learn nuttin'.   Remember ... this (Portland, Oregon)  is the geopolitical center of a state which (among others) voted overwhelmingly to re-elect Barack Obama to a second term.

[Okay, "WE" re-elected the man who in a single term built a national debt of fourteen TRILLION dollars.    {update: it's now $16.3 trillion dollars, an increase of  $5.7 trillion since 2008.}  My understanding (I got this from the Internet, so it must be true), is this is more money than actually exists in the world today.   If we can believe that this is not a 'problem', then it probably seems reasonable that re-electing this economic genius would be a reasonable thing to do.   He'll fix it ... we HOPE!   In the meantime, mister, can I bother you for a little spare CHANGE?   The point is ... gee, our national consciousness has changed from one of individual freedom and responsibility to dependence on our 'rulers' and confidence that 'someone else' will take care of us.   Read Alexis de Tocqueville]

No, no, I'm not saying that the state and people of Oregon "deserved" this.  Nobody deserves to be subjected to the predations of madmen.   (It's just that Oregon is a "Liberal" state, and Liberals tend to expect "The Nanny State" to take care of them; generally speaking, they have no concept of the need to provide for their own well-being.)

The fatal victims, Steve Forsythe and Cindy Ann Yuille, and the wounded 15-year-young woman Kristina ("... just trying to catch a train ... ") Shevchenko deserve more attention.  But they aren't going to get it because the world is more focused on "guns are bad" and "guns kill people" rather than acknowledging that "people deserve to exercise the right to defend themselves and protect others, without being seen as 'paranoid' if they choose to exercise their rights".

We won't list 'the madman' as a victim.  He chose his path.  The victims .. did not.

What I AM saying is that ... well, you already know what I'm going to say.

• "Gun Free Zones" are the moral equivalent of "Please Shoot Me .. You KNOW I'm Not Going To Fight Back!" Zones.
• If the madman had thought that the Christmas Shopping Mob at the Clackamas Town Center mall included a lot of people who were armed .. he would have gone somewhere else to act out his sick fantasy.
• Go look at The Hobo Brasser's blog for December 7; his comments are something that we should live by, and they are directly applicable to THIS situation.
• People who carry concealed weapons in public do so for the same reason as other responsible people wear their seat belts while driving or riding in a car.  They don't HOPE for a disaster; they merely wish to be prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.
• And the iconic best quote of all?  "When an emergency occurs and a defense is needed in a matter of seconds, the police are only minutes away.

Yeah, that last one is so obvious that it's almost trite.  Still, I noticed that among all of the quotes being published by the MSM, not ONE person said: "I had my gun with me, even though the signs said it was forbidden;  I'm glad I did, because I shot that sick fuck before he had a chance to hurt anyone else."

Apparently, none of the potential victims at the mall came forward to say that he (or she) was armed, although he/she may not have been in the vicinity of the shooter during the time unarmed people were being shot murdered,

On the other hand, comments from readers of various articles included:

"Whether it is an accident while cleaning a gun, a loaded gun left out where a child finds it, or a stolen gun from family or others, guns kill people." 

Well, somebody had to say it.  We all have a talent for being trite.

Trite?  I'll give you trite.

The massacre stopped when the madman shot himself in the head.  Our question is: why didn't he START with that action?  Even if he chose to go to the mall to do it, and even though it would have been 'traumatic' for people to watch him blow his own damned head off ... it would have been a LOT less traumatic for the people who were actually shot before he chose to take his own life.

Here's a video dated 12/12/12 (is the date significant?) .. before much information was available:


I've talked about this before .. actually several times.

But I'll say it again.

This kid was a sick f*ck and I'm glad his dead.
I only wish he had followed Kipling's advice to "The Young British Soldier":

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

Real American Sick F*cks .. do that FIRST.

Please.