# Multiple gunshots in Alexandria Virginia at the Congressional Baseball Practice. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930 "2017-06-14T12:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/121 "2017-06-14T18:18:01Z")
Would 93 million a day change anybody’s stand on gun control? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/122 "2017-06-14T18:18:38Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Would 93 million a day change anybody’s stand on gun control? We’d all be dead by day 4, so our stand on gun control wouldn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/123 "2017-06-14T18:18:53Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Would 93 million a day change anybody’s stand on gun control? Sure it would. We would know that the problem would disappear in 3 days or so. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/124 "2017-06-14T18:20:17Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > that works out to an average of 33,880 per year, or 92.8 per day We got it. He said something stupid then he retracted. Enough with this derailment. > [@Skywatcher](#): > > [The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/who-is-james-t-hodgkinson/530295/) evidently doesn’t believe him, either, as they use “who is James T. Hodgkinson?” rather than “who was”. They also note that the head twit didn’t use the guy’s name. Given his track record, it’s likely he was thinking of someone else. We get it you don’t like Trump. It’s ridiculous to continue to argue that the gunman might be alive because he said he was dead. This is a hijack and continue at your own peril. Stop with the insulting nicknames in this thread. This goes for everyone. So far I have only handed out one warning for what I felt was the most egregious political hijack. I am very unlikely to hand out just notes from now on. There are other threads and forums where you can vent your spleen. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/125 "2017-06-14T18:20:23Z")
Sorry, I didn’t mean to derail this thread into a gun control discussion. McAuliffe’s comments were related to the shooting, and so I thought they were germane, but I don’t think we should pursue further discussion on the general topic of gun control in this thread. ETA: Ninja’d by a mod :eek: ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/126 "2017-06-14T18:24:46Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Very, very thankful there were no other fatalities, and that (at least from what I’m hearing) the injured should be okay. Also grateful to the quick-acting teammates on hand and of course the police. > > I despise the Republicans’ agenda, and feel nothing but contempt for Trump. But an attack like this is utterly unwarranted and serves no good purpose–and will, I hope, be decried by everyone as a heinous, wanton act. > > I’m curious to hear about the shooter’s mental health history, if he has one. He had to be insane to think he was doing his ‘cause’ or ‘side’ or whatever any good through such violence. There are some who believe in promulgating fear and applauding violent means as a way of proving their point. Bernie Sanders sure as fuck isn’t one of them. > > (As an aside, a friend of mine lives in Belleville IL, and what she’s told me has always made the town seem like the one in Shirley Jackson’s _The Lottery_. It appears to be just a… really weird, insular community with religious families who can be really sweet but find themselves consumed by infighting and secretive bitchiness. Also a surprising number of RSOs.) What is an RSO? I Googled it and found definitions ranging from cannabis oil to Range Safety Officer to the Robert Stigwood Organisation. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/127 "2017-06-14T18:28:04Z")
so I guess that the Bernie Bro, he has now insured that Trump will not be impeached. These fringe violence people, no matter the political color, they always achieve the opposite of their mentally ill intentions. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/128 "2017-06-14T18:28:08Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > What is an RSO? I Googled it and found definitions ranging from cannabis oil to Range Safety Officer to the Robert Stigwood Organisation. Sorry… “registered sex offender.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/129 "2017-06-14T18:44:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > We get it you don’t like Trump. It’s ridiculous to continue to argue that the gunman might be alive because he said he was dead. That’s not it at all. Point is, _nobody_ else is claiming the gunman is dead thus far. Even if Bernie Sanders was the only one saying the gunman is dead, it would be prudent to wait for independent verification. > [@](#): > > Stop with the insulting nicknames in this thread. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/130 "2017-06-14T18:46:42Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > so I guess that the Bernie Bro, he has now insured that Trump will not be impeached. These fringe violence people, no matter the political color, they always achieve the opposite of their mentally ill intentions. Well, not _always_… Jody Foster never did really give a shit about John Hinckley Jr., one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/131 "2017-06-14T18:51:04Z")
This was bound to happen sooner or later with the past level of speech from the left with politicians, the media and then the recent activity level at Universities. Not too far a distance from letting rioters break windows on a collage campus cause they not like who the speaker is that night is to seeing the politicians you not like shot down. IMHO ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/132 "2017-06-14T18:56:21Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > This was bound to happen sooner or later with the past level of speech from the left with politicians, the media and then the recent activity level at Universities. > > Not too far a distance from letting rioters break windows on a collage campus cause they not like who the speaker is that night is to seeing the politicians you not like shot down. IMHO > [@Donald Trump](#): > > Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick --if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day, if – if – Hillary gets to put her judges in > [@Sharron Angle](#): > > Angle:I feel that the Second Amendment is the right to keep and bear arms for our citizenry. This not for someone who’s in the military. This not for law enforcement. This is for us. And in fact when you read that Constitution and the founding fathers, they intended this to stop tyranny. This is for us when our government becomes tyrannical… > > Manders: If we needed it at any time in history, it might be right now. > > Angle: Well it’s to defend ourselves. And you know, I’m hoping that we’re not getting to Second Amendment remedies. I hope the vote will be the cure for the Harry Reid problems. We got some fucking Second Amendment solutions now, don’t we? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/133 "2017-06-14T18:56:57Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > This was bound to happen sooner or later with the past level of speech from the left with politicians, the media and then the recent activity level at Universities. > > Not too far a distance from letting rioters break windows on a collage campus cause they not like who the speaker is that night is to seeing the politicians you not like shot down. IMHO I didn’t see it as _inevitable,_ but no, not surporsed. It’s not just the Left, either - political incivility has been steadily rising the last decade +. But this wasn’t some shiftless punk - this was an established, mature, productive member of society, well-past the heedless recklessness and impulsivity of youth. NOT the sort of person you’d expect to snap. Look for serious stressors elsewhere in his life - I suspect this was a suicide, with an accompanying ‘grand gesture.’ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/134 "2017-06-14T18:57:15Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > That’s not it at all. Point is, _nobody_ else is claiming the gunman is dead thus far. Even if Bernie Sanders was the only one saying the gunman is dead, it would be prudent to wait for independent verification. My apologies. Not one source has of yet disputed the information put out by Trump. Unless there is anything out there saying otherwise it serves no purpose other than as a political jab. If you find any source that refutes his death feel free to post. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/135 "2017-06-14T19:00:10Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > I didn’t see it as _inevitable,_ but no, not surporsed. It’s not just the Left, either - political incivility has been steadily rising the last decade +. > > But this wasn’t some shiftless punk - this was an established, mature, productive member of society, well-past the heedless recklessness and impulsivity of youth. NOT the sort of person you’d expect to snap. > > Look for serious stressors elsewhere in his life - I suspect this was a suicide, with an accompanying ‘grand gesture.’ So many sources read it’s hard to keep them straight. One of the stories I read said his home inspection license expired a few months ago. That could mean he retired, the business tanked, or he was too depressed to do anything. Or something else. But it does point to some possible big change in his life. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/136 "2017-06-14T19:01:55Z")
I just want to say as a vocal anit-Trumpian that I absolutely condemn this action. There is NO excuse for violence. (And we need better gun control). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/137 "2017-06-14T19:03:29Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > so I guess that the Bernie Bro, he has now insured that Trump will not be impeached. These fringe violence people, no matter the political color, they always achieve the opposite of their mentally ill intentions. Doubtful. Maybe if Trump himself was attacked there might be some rallying of sympathy but I can’t see where shooting a House Rep translates into Trump being immune from impeachment. I don’t think Trump will ever be impeached, mind you, but that’s for completely non-related reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/138 "2017-06-14T19:10:56Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Not one source has of yet disputed the information put out by Trump. Unless there is anything out there saying otherwise it serves no purpose other than as a political jab. If you find any source that refutes his death feel free to post. [Now](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/law-enforcement-officials-identify-shooter-at-congressional-ballgame-as-illinois-man/2017/06/14/ba6439f4-510f-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f_story.html?utm_term=.197ff62b3e16) we have a report that does not rely on any one person. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/139 "2017-06-14T19:13:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > So many sources read it’s hard to keep them straight. One of the stories I read said his home inspection license expired a few months ago. That could mean he retired, the business tanked, or he was too depressed to do anything. Or something else. But it does point to some possible big change in his life. That would be consistent with a “grand gesture” suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930/140 "2017-06-14T19:18:15Z")
Appalling and unAmerican. I’m glad his victims will recover. I wish he was alive to answer for this. > **[Man Who Attacked GOP Politicians Was A Bernie Supporter With A Violent History](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/james-hodgkinson-history_n_59414028e4b003d5948c6f50?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009)** > > James Hodgkinson regularly weighed in on political issues on social media. Huffpo said the guy was arrested in 2016 for various assault charges: > [@Huffington Post](#): > > Online court records suggest Hodgkinson had a history of violence. He was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of battery with intent to cause bodily harm. He was also charged with domestic battery, criminal damage of property and reckless discharge of a firearm during the incident. > > Hodgkinson was accused of punching a woman in the face with “a closed fist,” according to a police report. When confronted by the woman’s boyfriend, Hodgkinson allegedly “walked outside with a shotgun and aimed it at [his] face” before hitting him over the head with a wooden stock. As the man fled, Hodgkinson fired a round in his direction, the report reads. > > The incident was over Hodgkinson’s daughter, who had been at the home with the two victims when the incident occurred. After demanding she return home with him, Hodgkinson “became violent” and “grabbed [her] by the hair and pulled her off the floor” and began throwing her around the room, police said. > > When another female in the house tried to leave, Hodgkinson allegedly turned off the woman’s car ignition, took out a pocket knife, and cut her seat belt as she tried backing out of the driveway. His wife, Suzanne Hodgkinson, then began “striking her arms and pulling her hair” to get her out of the vehicle. > > “I’ll just call police and put you back into foster care,” Suzanne allegedly said before leaving the area. > > Meanwhile, “James was choking [redacted] as she was holding on to the steering wheel of the vehicle,” the report reads. James then punched her in the face with a closed fist. > > Hodgkinson was arrested, and his charges later dismissed. It’s astonishing to me that attempting to murder three people is perfectly excusable if it’s a domestic violence event. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-gunshots-in-alexandria-virginia-at-the-congressional-baseball-practice/788930.md?page=8)