Nick Anderson for April 24, 2018

The guy did just what the trainers say to do. Hide first, or if it goes sour, fight back. He also waited until the shooter was either reloading or the gun jammed. BTW, ain’t the only time unarmed folks have handled bad guys with guns. Like this “sovereign”.

The trumpster would have 1: rushed in even if he was unarmed; or 2: run screaming like a little baby. Actually this is a no-brainer. To the real hero – I thank you for your valor.

Waffle House terrorist killer is a white supremacist (member of the Sovereign Citizens) who killed four persons of color. Call it what it is: white Christian extremist terrorist.

A good guy (black) with NO gun stops a bad guy (white) WITH a gun and the white supremacist “president” is silent.

Imagine how Trump would be tweeting if it had been a dark-skinned Muslim shooting up a restaurant filled with white people.

Soon our braggart-in-chief will claim he could have done it sooner and prevented any deaths. Where is his praise of this young man and/or invite to the WH?

SFCGator is consistently offensive, but there are some great responses to the comment here today.

(R H-B; not just Texas)

@SFGator: Why do you think it’s so great to kill people?

Actually, there’s no need to ban any type of vehicles. The operation of a motor vehicle is a “privilege,” not a “right.” As such, the privilege can be revoked for cause. Not that revocation of the privilege would have stopped this incident, because “when driving is outlawed, only outlaws will drive.” But now that I think of it, we might be there right now, and not only in Texas.

When was the last time you read the Constitution? Ever?

This whole “we can kick butt without a gun” talk is non-sense. The odds of stopping an active shooter depend on where one is at the time of the shooting. Even good guys with guns (google boston bomber kills cop) can get ambushed.

I’m waiting to hear more info about the Toronto guy, but he probably wasn’t Muslim, unlike what a lot of people probably think. He is Armenian. Armenians are 95% Christian. One of the oldest churches in Christianity.

The NRA wouldn’t consider him a good guy, no matter how many guns he used to stop a shooter – he doesn’t have the right… “look”

That man who fought back and saved lives with his bare hands is a true hero…SFCGATOR has a deep-seated fear of anyone who shows what is truly heroic… and this black man showed everyone what a person with a backbone can do to save lives,….. even if he thinks it’s only trying to save his own in the process. SFCGATOR.. likes to use equivalency arguments to make negative comments it doesn’t matter ……….whatever the subject is he’s going to be the devil’s advocate at all costs…. Trying to prove that he’s more intelligent than the rest of us lowly gocomics Libs. SFCGATOR is not a big proponent of logical thinking but does love attacking with equivalency arguments or with straw man debate tactics. People should not answer his comments under his posts just because SFCGATOR has a habit of deleting them and there go all of your comments with his original post. Besides when he gets multiple commenters, he goes to the top of the page and …..sometimes….? mmmmm,……a lot of times,… people only read the first comment showing under the cartoon which gives them a really bad impression of the mentality of the people coming in here to comment.

There’s nothing a gun-worshipper finds funnier than people being killed by something that isn’t a gun—the more killed, the funnier it is.

“Haw haw! It’s time for stick control!”

“Hee hee! It’s time for knife control!”

“Chuckle snort! It’s time for van control!”

“Ka-hyuk! It’s time for chair control!”

I’ve been seeing this since the 90s, and if I’d started reading the letters pages earlier, I’d probably have seen it sooner. It’s the one thing, apparently, that gives meaning to their squalid little existence.

It should be more of a privilege than a right to have a gun.

@TO ALL POSTERS, I just read a comment from S and C, And learned that if you comment and/or respond to an obnoxious poster’s comments such posts when the original (Obnoxious) posters delete them yours also goes, Moral; respond/post on your own separate response so it will not be deleted (To; S and C Thanks, I learned this from you)

The comments are amazing. Mostly for their stupidity. Of course, the cartoon is also amazing. For its monumental stupidity.

Trump has commented, you just missed it. Mixing in the NRA because the hero was unarmed is just stupid.

The man is a quick thinking hero, in the right place at the right time to reduce the carnage. Every one of us hopes that we would react as he did, just as every one of us hopes that we never find ourselves in a similar situation.

The real story that the left desperately wants to ignore is the the system actually worked. Right up to the part where THE POLICE HANDED THE GUNS BACK TO HIS FATHER!!!!!!

The shooter was shown to be mentally ill. The FBI asked local officials to confiscate the weapons. The system worked to get guns out of the hands of a lunatic BEFORE he killed anyone.

Sure, he MIGHT have gotten a black market gun later on, but he didn’t have to. Because local police, for some as yet unknown reason, released the guns back to a relative who just handed them back over to the lunatic.

^Speaking of stupid comments.

Guns should be licensed like cars, people buying them should take training, then a test and get insurance.

Statistically 34 innocent people die for every bad gun taken down by a good guy with a gun.

@ANDYLIT, the “system actually worked” with 4 people dead? They took the guns and gave them to his father, and the system worked?

@Therapy Pets: Satchel, Koko, Hobbes , LDLYes, the system worked. Right up to the point where someone at the PD broke it. How convenient of you to forget to mention that part.

They took the guns and held them for months. Then for some reason gave the guns to a person who did not own them in the first place.

The system worked until the people who maintain the system screwed the pooch. In so many of the recent cases, the rampage killer was able to obtain guns because a government official failed to use the system or broke the rules.

Parkland killer should have been in NICS. Law enforcement and mental health officials walked away from several opportunities to arrest and/or confine him. Which would have put him into NICS.

Texas shooter was not in NICS because the Air Force failed to follow the rules.

Dylan Roof was not in NICS because local officials did not follow the rules. They failed to log his admission to the drug charge, which would have automatically made it illegal for him to buy a gun.

Yes, the system works. Except when government officials fail to follow the rules of the system.

Its not perfect. It won’t stop every killer. But if properly used, it DOES stop criminals and kooks from buying guns.

Funny that the “government officials” that aren’t following the rules tend to be in Florida and Texas. The military tends to be pro-gun, so they don’t want to take away guns unless they absolutely have o.

The Texas shooter prompted new laws to be introduced, so obviously the current ones aren’t working.

The guns were returned to the father and only later given back to the son. The local gun laws prompt the guns to be returned to an owner or you 2nd amendment zealots claim they are being confiscated and your rights “infringed”.

Your claims that the current laws are sufficient are false. Ban military-style weapons, allow the ATF to have a database to track weapons instead of the outdated card system – they can’t even say right away if the gun found on the shooter was the same as the confiscated one – this would be easy to find if gun serial numbers were tracked.

@nance19oped

1st para. What does the military have to do with the multiple failures of the local police in FL? As for the military being pro-gun, the military is actually neutral tending towards anti-gun. Military bases are essentially “gun-free” zones for the troops.

2nd para. The Texas incident prompted a law to tell law enforcement to obey the law.

3rd para. The local police gave the guns to a person who was not their owner. That is against federal law and likely a violation of department rules as well. We “zealots” don’t have any problems with confiscating and KEEPING guns from mentally ill people.

4th para. You have not made a case for new law. Only for enforcement of existing law. We already have a virtual ban on military weapons. Assault weapons and machine guns are very expensive and very difficult to obtain.

As for a federal database of weapons, ATF abuses during the 1960’s-1980’s were so rampant and egregious that Congress passed a sweeping law to limit their power. The Senate Judiciary committee at the time found that upwards of 75% of ATF prosecutions “were aimed at ordinary citizens who had neither criminal intent nor knowledge, but were enticed by agents into unknowing technical violations.”

Very little has changed in the ATF culture since that time. They are restrained but still are inclined to some serious violations of law and policy. Fast and Furious is not the only crazy stunt they’ve pulled. The problem is that the conduct of the ATF is directly tied to the attitude of the administration in power. The GOP tends to reign them in. The Dems tend to turn a blind eye to bad behavior.

So, thanks, but…no.

ANDYLIT, the military bases are “gun free zones” because they use specific people for security. They are still very much pro-gun; members are administration.

The failures in Florida have to do with the laws and attitudes in Florida. There were two sentences in the first paragraph having to do with officials not handling the situation properly.

You are using a technicality for saying there are laws against military weapons – the AR-15 is basically a copy of a military weapon. What is the purpose of a bump stock other tthan to rapidly kill people.

Your claim about past abuses of the ATF make me think of the abuses of ANY organization in the past. Let’s hamstring the FBI (which does seem to be what Trumpettes want), eliminate the CIA who caused everything from the problems with Iran (coup of 1953), flooding of US with cocaine while propping up dictatorships in South America, and torture and black sites.

SFCGATOR, it is really a shame that one of my first thoughts about the creep that mowed down people in Canada is that gun zealots (I’m NOT including your average gun owners) would start with the “let’s ban vans” nonsense. The numbers of injured and killed alone should be enough to embarrass zealots from using that. It is especially ridiculous because it isn’t about BANNING guns it is about gun control. But you can’t have a reasonable conversation with zealots.

Nance,

“military bases are “gun free zones” because they use specific people for security.” What a bizarre statement. That’s the same logic some cities like Chicago used to impose gun bans back in the 70’s and 80’s. You don’t need guns because the police will protect you. No, Nance, the reason bases are gun free zones is because the military “administration” has decided that they do not want military personnel to have any personal weapons on base.

The failures in Florida came out of Broward County. One of the most liberal bastions in the state. Absolutely in contrast with the “laws and attitudes” found in the more conservative areas. The failures were absolutely local, absolutely driven by local attitudes and policies. The Texas shooter was a military administration problem. The AF failed to report the shooter to NICS. But to say they did so because the AF is pro-gun is not a supportable statement. Opinion, not supported by any documentation.

Not a “technicality”. Assault weapons are military. Semi-auto rifles that are cosmetically similar are not assault weapons. The AR-15 mechanisms are not interchangeable with the M16 or M4. Cannot be modified without serious machine tools and skill sets.

As for bump stocks, the purpose is to fire more rapidly. I have no problem moving the bump stock into a Class III category with machineguns and assault weapons. However, that is a change that will have to come through legislation. The reason ATF did not do so under Obama is the same reason ATF won’t do so under Trump. They would lose the lawsuit.

And in closing, your last paragraph makes it appear that you APPROVE of government LEO and intel groups breaking the law. That you are OK with the FBI lying to FISA judges, OK with ATF running guns into Mexico, OK with the many and varied crimes committed by federal agencies.

It is NEVER OK for government agencies to exceed their mandate, to twist or break the laws that supposedly govern their behavior. We are a nation of laws

Comparing guns to vans is idiotic. Try killing 58 and running over nearly 500 injured in a Ryder truck. The simple fact is also that a WASP shooter is crazy, and anyone NOT a WASP is a terrorist.

How soon we forget.

Bastille Day, Nice, France. 86 dead. 458 injured.

Run over with a truck.