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"3 Dead as Gunman Opens Fire in Missouri Church"

44Brent

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293034,00.html

NEOSHA, Mo.—
A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church Sunday, killing three people and wounding several others, authorities said.


About 25 to 50 people were briefly held hostage at the First Congregational Church until the gunman surrendered, Neosho spokeswoman Desiree Bridges said.

About four or five people were wounded, Police Chief Dave McCracken said, but several others who were injured fled the scene.

The shooter was being held at the Newton County Jail, but police were not releasing any information about him. Bridges said he was related to someone in the church, but declined to elaborate. No charges had been filed Sunday, McCracken said.

The gunman had two small-caliber handguns and one 9 mm semiautomatic machine pistol with a large magazine, McCracken said. The shooting followed the 1 p.m. service, which is held in Spanish. About 50 people, ranging in age from children to the elderly, were in the church at the time.

The gunman surrendered to authorities after about 10 minutes of negotiation.

"At the time that the rescue attempt was successful we had approximately 20 people in the sanctuary still," he said. "We had some people who escaped the crime scene prior to the police arrival that were wounded, and we had some people escape during the process and at the time of the rescue."

He said no one was injured during the arrest.

McCracken said he could not confirm whether the gunman was a member of the church. But he said an incident involving the suspect and a family that attended the First Congregational Church on Saturday night fueled the shooting Sunday.

"At this point though, we don't have any information more than that," McCracken said.

The identities of the deceased were being withheld, McCracken said.
 

Statkowski

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Impossible. Never happened. Must be the figment of someone's imagination.

Doesn't everyone know that it's illegal to carry a firearm into a church in Missouri?

Maybe the elected representatives of the people ought to re-think their laws? Of course, maybe they like having defenseless victims - makes for bigger headlines.
 

Statkowski

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Back here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania we've had the Uniform Firearms Act since 1995 or so - shall-issue concealed carry statewide, with counties, townships and municipalities prohibited from making any local laws concerning carrying firearms. Open carry statewide with no license required (except Philadelphia).

Off-limits are court facilities and K-12 schools, maybe (depends on how you interpret the laws). Bars? Okay. Churches? Okay. Large public gatherings? Okay. Oh, state parks not okay, but it's only a summary offense (and we're working on that).

It's a shame the elected representatives seem to think their feel-good laws will actually stop someone.
 

HankT

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I hope the shooter is not a legal gun carrier. If he is, we get associated to him.:(
 

Tomahawk

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HankT wrote:
I hope the shooter is not a legal gun carrier. If he is, we get associated to him.:(
Well, he stopped being "legal" when he committed the act, whatever his prior status was. So, unless you plan on shooting people, he is not "one of you".
 

HankT

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Tomahawk wrote:
HankT wrote:
I hope the shooter is not a legal gun carrier. If he is, we get associated to him.:(
Well, he stopped being "legal" when he committed the act...

Of course. That's obvious.

But if he was carrying legal, well, he was legal up until that point.

Just as all of us other legal gun carriers are. Inthe case of legal carriers who decide to shootup the place, we are allfrom the same group. It is impossible to tell who, among the entire group of legal carriers, is gonna go off and start brandishing or blasting away...

TheGeraldine Beasleycase isillustrative. And so is the Cho case, as well.

Every time a legal carrier goesloco and starts shooting people,he hurts my gun rights a little bit. And I'm p*ssed offabout it. If it happensenoughtimes, it's gonna really hurt my rights.
 

Tomahawk

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I get your point. But it's inevitable that a small number of formerly legal permit-holders will commit crimes with guns. It's just probability. We have to learn to deal with it somehow.

One thing to consider is that every criminal with a gun started life out as a law-abiding person until their first conviction. Thus, using your logic, the argument could be made that all people's freedom should be restricted, because you just don't know which one of those law-abiding people walking down the street will decide to commit a crime, with or without a gun.

So, perhaps the most logical defense is the truth: liberty comes with risk; you have to trust your neighbor to not yell fire in a theatre or to possess a weapon until he does something wrong, or else you lose your own freedom in the process. And the benefits of liberty outweigh the possible consequences of the occasional crime.
 

SMITH1911

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Hey, guys.

I live just about 25 miles from that church and know the Sherriff that responded to that call.

Safety is an illusion. You can die driving anywhere. You can die in your own home in about 500 times more likely than killed by some "crazy gunman". However that doesn't keep me from carrying a Kel tec p11 everywhere I go.

The gun you should or do carry is like a condom. It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

:idea:
 

SMITH1911

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That term "machine pistol" is either spoken out of hatered / contempt for firearms, or out of ignorance/ fear of the weapon.

For those that are not Hoplophobic (means afraid of weapons, most commonly firearms) the term would be better translated semi auto. Or yes anything other than a "cowboy gun" six shooter.

The sad thing about this situation is it was a immigrant service held in a denominational church, that rents the building after their normal services. And the pastor that wasshot, (can't remember if he was killed or not now)was/ isa good guy.

My sister and brother in law live about 15 miles southwest of the church. The whole comunity was freaked out about it, and CCW permits were sought after in hugely increased numbers after the shooting, and still are to this day.:celebrate
 
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