Saturday, July 07, 2018

Maryland Newpaper Shooting was in a Gun Free Zone


Five people were murdered and two others were wounded in Maryland on  28 June, 2018. A lone murderer shot his way into the newspaper office of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. Police response was swift, but it was not fast enough to stop the murderer before he put down his weapon and hid under a desk.

The entire state of Maryland is pretty much a gun free zone. No one at the newpaper was armed to oppose the killer. From wtop.com:
Officers were on the scene within two minutes of the first call about the shooting, Altomare said. Ramos was arrested by officers after he was discovered hiding under a desk.

Altomare said more than 300 officers from federal and state enforcement agencies descended on the scene of the shooting. There were no shots fired by law enforcement during the arrest.

Wes Adams, the state’s attorney for Anne Arundel County, told WTOP’s Neal Augenstein that Ramos barricaded the back entrance before coming to the front entrance, shooting out the front window and shooting into the newsroom.

Adams described it as an orchestrated plan to make sure no one could get out. He added that one of the victims tried to get out the back door, but couldn’t, and was killed.
One of the reporters at the paper tweeted how he felt terrified, hiding under his desk, as other people were shot and killed. He wrote of how he heard the killer reloading his pump shotgun. From the independent.co.uk:
Phil Davis, a crime reporter for the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, posted a series of tweets, explaining how he and others were in their office when the suspected shooter – said to be a lone male – entered and opened fire.

“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” he wrote.
People who are familiar with firearms feel regret they were not armed, and could have cut the killing short. That is what happened to Suzzana Gratia Hupp, who had her parents murdered in a mass killing at Luby's restaurant, in Kileen Texas.

Dozens of mass killings have been stopped by armed citizens.

The FBI says 8% of mass killings have been stopped by people with concealed carry permits from 2014-2017. About 6.5% of adults in the United States had a concealed carry permit in March of 2017.

Maryland had one of the fewest concealed carry permit percentages in the United States. As of March, 2017, the State had 17,414 active permits.  That is the lowest number of permits of all but two other states, Hawaii and New Jersey. Maryland had a population of six million in 2017. That would be 4,662,000 adults. Very few permits are issued to anyone but the powerful, connected, or security personnel who had to have a permit to work.

An activist says he looked at the permit list in 2010.  From thedailyrecord.com:
In 2010, I obtained the MDSP MAAFS list, that has all of the names and occupations of those who hold a MD CCW permit. When you remove the business people, the state politicians, retired police, prison guards, etc… In essence, if you remove the government, business, and people who require such for work, it leaves approximately 750 issued permits in a state of 5,000,000 residents, or less than 1/10th of 1%. The reason 95% of all permits are issued, is because only those groups aforementioned need apply. The average citizen does not apply, because they cannot obtain one.

17,411 would be .37 of one percent of the adult population.  If we take the estimate of 750 in 2010 (4,483,00 adults in 2010). That would be .017 percent of the population who were not powerful, connected, or work related.

Maryland is one of only six states that has no protection for a right to keep and bear arms in its Constitution.

When people who are gun owners, who feel comfortable with firearms, think of themselves in such a situation, they know they would want to be armed. People who have made the decision to be voluntarily unarmed, wonder when armed protectors might rescue them.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Stupid laws getting people killed. Criminals don't obey the law.

Ro Gal said...

It is truly a shame that MD does not allow its law abiding citizens to conceal carry. MD has also raised a culture via the media and political channels to downplay, lampoon and even vilify gun owners. Just think, if one of those victims was armed he/she would've at least had a chance to save not only their life but perhaps others as well. Fortunately, I am retiring and moving out of this state due to all that is wrong with it from my conservative libertarian perspective. The wife, the cats, my firearms, and retirement pay are going with me!

Anonymous said...

Until intelligent people admit that self defense is a personal responsibility and get rid of gun free zones. The left thinking is no guns no harm which is fine for people that do not intend to harm. some one needs to explain to the left that until they can convince those that intend to do harm to Creating soft targets for deranged people is deranged in its self. If you are to damned ignorant to shoot back dead is better for you. eventually the left will bury its self. Opinions of how terrible it is have never stopped a bullet. Fact in the Bible and this country's laws are based on the Bible, God gives us the right of self defense and to kill when necessary. Claiming it is not Christian to defend your life is bull shit. If more morons would actually read the bible they quote Maybe less innocent people would die.

Anonymous said...

We have a word in the English language that identifies people that have no concern for what the law is. Laws are passed to define what a crime is. Laws never stop crime they merely Identify what is a crime . those that ignore the law or laws are called Criminals. there has never been a single law passed that has prevented crime. A permit to permit the exercise of a right is by definition an obstacle to that right. No one , any where at any time needs permission to defend their life. even if you are the lowest piece of shit on earth you have the right to defend your life, any time any where. You can not be taxed to exercise a right and you can not be required to have a permit to exercise that right. Even a poll tax is illegal because you have the right to vote. I worked in health care for 20 years, when I started out no license was required shortly after I started working a license was required. the license was merely a tax to do what you were supposed to know how to do. It never increased the quality of care or the professional standards. I worked with morons that had the same license I did. and most of them never had any where near the training I did and they got paid more. After working in health care for 20 years I fear ever becoming a patient.

Anonymous said...

Maybe my third grade romance has something to do with my Self defense attitude . Genie a beautiful brown haired blue eyed glasses wearing spindly little girl had all of her girl friend class mates hold me down on the play ground so she could kiss me, after that I started walking her to school. Over the summer break her father killed her and her mother with a shot gun and severely injured her older brother.

Anonymous said...

I just cant get excited when people do not make any effort to defend their own life. one defensive shot could have saved four or even 5 lives. No one needs a gun until they do and if you don't have it you cant use it.