This isn't the time for political positioning, but the demented right-wing mucker who walked into a UU church during a children's play and killed two appears to have given off a lot of signals that he had some pretty serious problems.
The Adkissones' marriage disintegrated eight years ago after Adkisson had been drinking heavily and then put a gun to Alexander's head, said Carol Smallwood of Alice, Texas.According to Anderson County Court records, as their marriage went awry, Jim David Adkisson said he had an option.
That choice was to blow his wife's brains out and then do the same to himself, an order of protection in Anderson County Chancery Court shows.
Alexander filed for the order of protection against him on March 1, 2000, records show.
The legal action was taken in response to an incident that occurred Feb. 22 of that year, according to the petition for the order. Two days later she filed for divorce.
If you own guns and you're acting like this, please give someone your guns and go get help. If you know someone who owns guns, and you're seeing things like this, do something about it.
I deeply believe in people's right to have guns. But responsibilities come with those rights - and when you show that you can't deal with those responsibilities - as this guy obviously did - you cannot claim the rights. This guy should have been disarmed. One strike, and you're out.
I'll have more to say later, but today it is all about those who have lost loved ones or been wounded. If you make issue comments in this thread, I'll delete them.
['Mind', did you actually read and understand AL's last sentence in the entry? "Hate Crime" musings in this particular thread are inappropriate, though the entire concept merits discussion at another time & place. AL wrote:
It's his thread, and his call. Please respect that.
[Edit] Cute email address, by the way. If you're looking to get banned, keep it up. --NM]
[Spam. Sockpuppet. Deleted. This is your only warning. Do it again and you'll be banned --NM]
If he is convicted of even a misdomeaner for domestic violence, under Federal law he is not legally permitted to own a weapon.
While a divorce is pending, at least in California, there are automatic restraining orders against possession of weapons.
I don't approve of such "automatic" actions, but I do understand why they are attractive to legislators.
My prayers for those who suffer tonight.
["Issue" comment; three copies. Deleted. --NM]
"If you know someone who owns guns, and you're seeing things like this, do something about it. "
If you see someone acting like this, whether they own guns or not, do something about it.
Here's more about one of the brave heroes.
"Greg McKendry was a very large gentleman, one of those people you might describe as a refrigerator with a head," said member Schera Chadwick, whose husband, Ted Lollis, arrived at the church just after the shooting. "He looked like a football player. He did obviously stand up and put himself in between the shooter and the congregation."
Demented certainly describes this man, but not right-wing.
You are quite right, this is not the time for political posturing.
You could ascribe the brutal rape-murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsome, also in Knoxville, TN, by three black men and one black woman as "left-wing" since the crime was racially motivated black on-white, and showed extreme violence and cruelty. [The families of the victims hold it to be a hate crime.]
And it would be similarly wrong to do so.
This crime and the man were demented. But not right wing. Any more than the brutal rape-murders of Christian and Newsome were left-wing. It is, IMHO cheap political posturing by yourself.
Politics is left-right. Murder is murder. That's two different things, and ought to be called by it's proper name to get a proper understanding.
Prayers with the families, of course.
As a policy measure, orders of protection are as useless as a UN Peacekeeping force. Also, as a policy measure civil liberties absolutism (not committing people with serious mental problems as this man amply indicated) has its cost. One that is clearly measured now.
Again my prayers with the families.