# Reporter shooting in Virginia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 26, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942 "2015-08-26T13:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Nobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Corporal\_Nobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Nobbs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/81 "2015-08-26T21:39:08Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Didn’t you get the questionnaire that the U.S.A. voters sent to all foreigners? It was the one asking them if the U.S. voters should ban firearms and overturn the 2nd Amendment. No? I’m shocked. Little wonder that the U.S. voters still reject your position. I am entitled to an opinion, I presume you think that US gun laws are fine (Two young idiots have just been prevented shooting up a Pokemon convention, great that) Crack on mate. Darwinism in action. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/82 "2015-08-26T22:09:47Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The cameraman’s fiancée watched it live as it was her last day at the station. I can’t imagine how she made it through the day. I imagine they cancelled the going-away party and that she went home pretty much right after it happened. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/83 "2015-08-26T22:11:47Z")
> [@Corporal\_Nobbs](#): > > I am so glad I live in a country which is sensible about guns… I can not see how any Americans can think their gun laws are sensible. Europe, Canada and most of the world have managed to not spiral into lawlessnes and rape without millions of guns kicking about. You might want to try it someday. > **[Man dies after crazed random knife attacks](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-331834/Man-dies-crazed-random-knife-attacks.html)** > > A man arrested over a stabbing rampage which left one person dead and five others seriously injured has 'a history of mental illness', police said. A police chief said the attacks in north London appeared to have been 'a completely random... [http://gatesofvienna.net/2014/12/a-non-jihad-event-in-nantes/](http://gatesofvienna.net/2014/12/a-non-jihad-event-in-nantes/) [http://www.thelocal.se/20150810/triple-stabbing-at-swedish-ikea-store](http://www.thelocal.se/20150810/triple-stabbing-at-swedish-ikea-store) Shootings get airtime because of all of the people who are afraid of guns, not because crazy people don’t go on spree killings in other places. [Homicide (y-axis) as a factor of gun ownership (x-axis)](https://www.dropbox.com/s/no9ocpf4fa049ph/gunsvhomicide.png?dl=0) The reason that people don’t like guns is because it’s the only method of killing people that we can get rid of. Knives we’re stuck with because they’re needed for cooking. Clubs we’re stuck with because almost everything is a club. Explosives we’re stuck with because chemistry is useful for many other things. But guns we don’t need for anything except killing. People like to think that if we got rid of guns humans would stop killing each other, just like they like to think that if you make drugs illegal, everyone will just become sober and free of chemical impairment. But that’s not how it works. When people want to kill each other, they kill each other. We did it before the invention of the gun, we did it before the invention of the sword. As I’ve said before, in other threads, the human body is closer to a water balloon than it is to a block of wood. It just doesn’t take that much to kill us. Better weapons equalized our ability to kill - a little girl can threaten a grown man with a gun - but that’s if they’re both paying attention. If she’s willing to be sneaky, a knife or a big heavy object will do just fine. The Heavenly Creatures girls used a brick in a stocking to kill a grown woman. It’s unfortunate, but the day that stuff like this stops happening is when we find cures for mental instability, and no sooner. If it makes you feel better to blame guns, then I suppose all the power to you, but if you’re going to donate money and time to anything, it should be to psychology research initiatives, not political parties or lobbyist groups. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/84 "2015-08-26T22:16:05Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > No, my colleague was just expressing the revulsion we decent people feel when confronted with folks who watch real murders for entertainment. I’ve read the post above yours at least three times to see where entertainment was the motivation, but can’t find it. I’m sure you can point that out to the class though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/85 "2015-08-26T22:27:11Z")
Where was the Good Guy with a Gun? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/86 "2015-08-26T22:35:50Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Where was the Good Guy with a Gun? Probably away defending his homestead on the frontier from the Injuns or guarding an Army recruitment office. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/87 "2015-08-26T22:36:53Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Probably not, but he/she is damn sure within their rights to comment about it. It’s in one of those other pesky amendments - the one right before your favorite. > > There is no such thing as a private conversation in a crowded elevator. Which is why there was an awkward silence after the strangers realized they were trapped in a small room with an odd character who could not restrain themselves. Talk about a creepy experience! And I’m sure they did. 😉 There are private conversations in a polite society. Or in one that makes medication available to those who might require it. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/88 "2015-08-26T22:40:31Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Where was the Good Guy with a Gun? Are reporters and cameramen allowed to carry firearms? I don’t think the media outlets allow their personal to prevent the theft of their very expensive recording equipment, or to defend their lives. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/89 "2015-08-26T22:43:19Z")
> [@Corporal\_Nobbs](#): > > I am entitled to an opinion, I presume you think that US gun laws are fine (Two young idiots have just been prevented shooting up a Pokemon convention, great that) Crack on mate. Darwinism in action. Did I say you weren’t entitled to an opinion? Did I say you couldn’t be trusted with firearms? No, your government said that. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/90 "2015-08-26T22:43:46Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > ABC has begun publishing [bits and pieces from the murderer’s 23-page suicide note](http://abcnews.go.com/US/shooting-alleged-gunman-details-grievances-suicide-notes/story?id=33336339). > > Lots and lots of anger. Anger over the Charleston church shooting… Anger over “discrimination” he had faced as a “gay black man”… Anger over “bullying” at work… Plus sympathy for the Virginia Tech shooter and the Columbine shooters. > > So sad. ☹ And the moron forever writes his name in the history books as a nut job bent on proving that he was a…nut job. He needs an ignominious burial beside the road leading to the local dump. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/91 "2015-08-26T22:46:20Z")
> [@Corporal\_Nobbs](#): > > I am entitled to an opinion, I presume you think that US gun laws are fine (Two young idiots have just been prevented shooting up a Pokemon convention, great that) Crack on mate. Darwinism in action. You mean there are countries where terrorists are unarmed? Awesome, where are they? ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Nobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Corporal\_Nobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Nobbs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/92 "2015-08-26T22:50:02Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > You mean there are countries where terrorists are unarmed? Awesome, where are they? There are countries without weekly mass shootings lots of them… When was the last time a terrorist was stopped from an act by an ARMED CIVILIAN in the US? ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Nobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Corporal\_Nobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Nobbs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/93 "2015-08-26T22:54:29Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Did I say you weren’t entitled to an opinion? > > Did I say you couldn’t be trusted with firearms? No, your government said that. Im sort of thinking that the amount of gun deaths in the USA (deny its higher than any developed country should have) Prooves no one should be trusted with firearms… Least of all Americans. Im happy our goverment doesnt trust me with guns (It does actually but thats a different thread) I dont have one in my personal life. I dont see why I would need one. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/94 "2015-08-26T23:00:03Z")
> [@Corporal\_Nobbs](#): > > There are countries without weekly mass shootings lots of them… When was the last time a terrorist was stopped from an act by an ARMED CIVILIAN in the US? [June 5, 2015](http://www.rockdalenews.com/archives/22290/) [March, 2015](http://krqe.com/2015/05/08/albuquerque-police-to-release-new-info-in-skate-park-shooting/) [April, 2015](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-uber-driver-shoots-gunman-met-0420-20150419-story.html?reddit) [May, 2015](http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Man-Shot-in-the-Chest-Inside-West-Philly-Barbershop-297176271.html) [July, 2014](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0725/Doctor-shoots-armed-patient-in-Philly-hospital-A-gun-rights-case-is-born-video) That’s just the recent ones. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/95 "2015-08-26T23:03:53Z")
> [@Corporal\_Nobbs](#): > > There are countries without weekly mass shootings lots of them… When was the last time a terrorist was stopped from an act by an ARMED CIVILIAN in the US? Just read about a 14 year old boy, with a rifle, who protected his younger siblings from a home invasion while calling 911. That was about a week ago. Does that count? [http://bearingarms.com/north-las-vegas-teen-thwarts-home-invasion-rifle/](http://bearingarms.com/north-las-vegas-teen-thwarts-home-invasion-rifle/) ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Nobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Corporal\_Nobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Nobbs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/96 "2015-08-26T23:04:32Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [June 5, 2015](http://www.rockdalenews.com/archives/22290/) > > [March, 2015](http://krqe.com/2015/05/08/albuquerque-police-to-release-new-info-in-skate-park-shooting/) > > [April, 2015](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-uber-driver-shoots-gunman-met-0420-20150419-story.html?reddit) > [May, 2015](http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Man-Shot-in-the-Chest-Inside-West-Philly-Barbershop-297176271.html) > > [July, 2014](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0725/Doctor-shoots-armed-patient-in-Philly-hospital-A-gun-rights-case-is-born-video) > > That’s just the recent ones. Were they terrorists or merely nutters with guns? who maybe wouldnt have had guns had they not been so readily available? ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Nobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Corporal\_Nobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Nobbs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/97 "2015-08-26T23:06:26Z")
You also cite the ‘Christian Science Monitor’ in one of those links, I didnt bother with the rest, he wasnt a terrorist… ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/98 "2015-08-26T23:07:09Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [June 5, 2015](http://www.rockdalenews.com/archives/22290/) From this link, the first in your list: > [@](#): > > Jeffrey Scott Pitts, 36, committed suicide during a shootout with Rockdale County deputies Sunday, May 31, according to an autopsy report. Is that really a terrorist act stopped by an armed civilian? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/99 "2015-08-26T23:38:31Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > The fact that this video is available and people are watching (and presumably sharing) it is just deeply disgusting. What the fuck is wrong with them? I’d advise against watching it. > > Apparently the producer at the station and the reporter were engaged and this was her last day on the job. I am very interested in watching it. So, yes: according to you and a lot of other people, I am a ghoul. 😛 OTOH I don’t even like horror movies or violent video games. I’m just interested in unusual real life occurrences of various kinds. If the link to the video is not going to be posted, will someone please PM me with it? TIA! ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942/100 "2015-08-26T23:46:00Z")
> [@Corporal\_Nobbs](#): > > I am so glad I live in a country which is sensible about guns… I can not see how any Americans can think their gun laws are sensible. Europe, Canada and most of the world have managed to not spiral into lawlessnes and rape without millions of guns kicking about. You might want to try it someday. After the Holocaust happened here in the USA I thought sensible gun laws would be passed too. Or after the Gulags were closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reporter-shooting-in-virginia/728942.md?page=6)