# Shooting Outside U.S. Capitol **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 3, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291 "2013-10-03T18:56:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/21 "2013-10-03T23:23:30Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > I have a bad feeling about this. Lets all hope this was a real security threat, not just a lost or confused driver… The video I’ve seen doesn’t show the reaction of an innocent and normally-functioning person who makes a wrong turn. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/22 "2013-10-03T23:39:05Z")
I don’t approve shooting crazy people either, but I can understand how they might easily have over-reacted. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/23 "2013-10-04T00:36:08Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I don’t approve shooting crazy people either, but I can understand how they might easily have over-reacted. You’re at the White House/Capital Hill, there’s not much room for under-reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/24 "2013-10-04T01:25:14Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > At this point I’m going to guess she was disturbed in some way, (Divorce trauma? Postpartum depression?) but this was not any kind of political act. Right because as a woman, it clearly had something to do with losing a man or having a child. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/25 "2013-10-04T01:34:27Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Right because as a woman, it clearly had something to do with losing a man or having a child. :rolleyes: Sorry for offending you. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/26 "2013-10-04T01:52:21Z")
Maybe she was a Jehovah’s Witness? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/27 "2013-10-04T01:54:36Z")
OK. OK, so maybe she got dumped by her man, had a baby or lost her mind. Happy now? _Sheeesh_. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/28 "2013-10-04T03:45:49Z")
The wife and I were in Washington last year. We hailed a cab near the White House after dark. As we were passing the White House, the driver informed us President Obama was in Colorado that day and due back in. When we were neared an intersection by the White House, his entourage may have been on the way, not sure exactly what was happening, but all sorts of big, beefy authorities were suddenly out in the street commanding cars away. One car in particular seemed to be having a little trouble, maybe stalling out, and one BIG agent was right there on it, screaming – we could hear him clearly through closed windows – “GO!!! NOW!!! NO-O-O-O-OW!!!” I would not have wanted to cross any of these guys. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/29 "2013-10-04T03:57:41Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Right because as a woman, it clearly had something to do with losing a man or having a child. :rolleyes: How offensive to [suggest such a thing](http://abcnews.go.com/US/miriam-carey-capitol-suspect-suffered-post-partum-depression/story?id=20465157). ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/30 "2013-10-04T04:07:59Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > How offensive to [suggest such a thing](http://abcnews.go.com/US/miriam-carey-capitol-suspect-suffered-post-partum-depression/story?id=20465157). If you’re in an argument with your SO (a woman) and you say, “Jeez, are you on the rag or something?” it doesn’t make it any less offensive if she happens to actually have her period. **Euphonious Polemic** ’s original quote stuck out to me, as well. If it was a guy acting crazy, would most people’s first thought be “Must have something to do with a woman”? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/31 "2013-10-04T05:08:41Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > If you’re in an argument with your SO (a woman) and you say, “Jeez, are you on the rag or something?” it doesn’t make it any less offensive if she happens to actually have her period. **Euphonious Polemic** ’s original quote stuck out to me, as well. If it was a guy acting crazy, would most people’s first thought be “Must have something to do with a woman”? Well, I’m so sorry. Occam’s razor. We had a woman driving a car, acting completely irrational. There was a one year old baby in the car. I made a guess. I guess I’m even more sorry I was right. I suppose I should have restricted my supposition about what happened to “Maybe she was sad because her Womyn’s Mechanical Steam Engine club had been shut down by the city council” What pisses me of is the crap about “well, even if he was right, it was offensive to even suggest it.” Political correctness gone stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/32 "2013-10-04T05:25:18Z")
And another thing… Postpartum depression is a serious mental illness. It is something that SHOULD be fucking taken more seriously. But I guess we should not talk about it though, because we might insult someone or offend them by implying that women might suffer from this. Christ on a crutch! ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/33 "2013-10-04T05:50:38Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > You’re at the White House/Capital Hill, there’s not much room for under-reaction. Fuck that. This isn’t the 16th century. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/34 "2013-10-04T05:59:27Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Think more along the lines of a homing beacon, if you’re passed out in a smoke-filled building so that people can find your unconscious body. “. . . and I can’t get up!” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/35 "2013-10-04T06:01:19Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I don’t approve shooting crazy people either . . . Agreed. Let **them** do the shooting, as tradition demands. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/36 "2013-10-04T07:15:28Z")
Wondering how it is, given the ravening attention generated by this thing, that we still know so little about her. Getting that “somebody’s hiding something” feeling. Course, I usually do… ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/37 "2013-10-04T08:23:08Z")
There’s some information about her here in this NYT article about the whole event: > **[Car Chase, White House to Capitol, Has Fatal End (Published 2013)](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/us/gunfire-reported-outside-the-capitol.html)** > > A woman with a young child was shot to death after turning her vehicle into a weapon, ramming her way through barriers at the White House and on Capitol Hill. Her name was Miriam Carey. She lived in Connecticut and worked as a dental hygienist. She was born in Brooklyn and her family still lives there. They said she seemed fine. Her friends thought highly of her. A former employer said she had a temper problem and fired her for that reason. I don’t think anyone knows why this happened or even why she was in DC. We may never know. Or we might, in another hour or two, when the morning editions come out. It’s only been twelve hours or so, after all. It is in fact offensive to assume that the source of her behavior is her reproductive system - not because reproductive systems never go haywire, but because it assumes that she might not have other pressures in her life. It’s true that post-partum depression is a serious illness but it’s sexist to assume that she’s more likely to be suffering estrogen-induced post-partum depression than testosterone-induced anger management issues ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/38 "2013-10-04T10:54:28Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > …It is in fact offensive to assume that the source of her behavior is her reproductive system - not because reproductive systems never go haywire, but because it assumes that she might not have other pressures in her life. It’s true that post-partum depression is a serious illness but it’s sexist to assume that she’s more likely to be suffering estrogen-induced post-partum depression than testosterone-induced anger management issues Well it’s a good thing Euphonious Polemic didn’t assume any of those things then, isn’t it? Here is what he actually said: > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > …At this point I’m going to guess she was disturbed in some way, (Divorce trauma? Postpartum depression?) but this was not any kind of political act. “I’m going to guess”, not “assume”. He later listed a couple of his guesses (we can tell by the question marks). More on that soon. “She was disturbed in some way”, not “the source of her behavior is her reproductive system.” “Divorce trauma? Postpartum depression?” So postpartum depression wasn’t even his first guess. He didn’t assume “that she might not have other pressures in her life.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/39 "2013-10-04T11:43:00Z")
The cops shot an unarmed woman with a child in the car. Looks like an overreaction to me. Of course they may not make the assumption that she could have been an armed psychopath if it wasn’t so fucking easy for unarmed psychopaths to get guns. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291/40 "2013-10-04T11:45:13Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The cops shot an unarmed woman with a child in the car. A car is a deadly weapon. You are not unarmed if you are aiming it at people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-outside-u-s-capitol/670291.md?page=3)