As many of you know, there was a tragic shooting at a bar in Thousands Oaks, California, that left 13 dead, including the shooter, Ian David Long. Information on Long is sparse right now, other than that the media wants us to know that he was white and an ex-Marine. Oh, and that right-wing extremists have killed more people in the United States since September 11, 2001, than have Muslims. Funny how they never want to include September 11, 2001, in those statistics.
I found a news story recounting the experience from survivors to be interesting. One of the witnesses relates:
Teylor, a 19-year-old who was on the dance floor when gunshots rang out, said: 'I was on the dance floor dancing at the time and then all my friends were at the table right by the door and then I heard the gunshot.
'I turned around and I saw him shoot a couple more times and within a split second, everyone yelled ''get down''.
'So I ran to the left of the dance floor where the back door is and everyone pretty much piled on top of each other and then it was silent for a couple of seconds.
'Then all of a sudden, a couple of guys that were closer to the bar, they got up and started running towards the back door, saying 'get up, he's coming.'
'So it was huge panic, everyone was trying to get up... some guy came behind me, lifted me up and said ''let's go.''
'I got a bar stool thrown at my head because they were trying to break the window to get out. And we finally made it out, ran up the hill.'
After making it out of the bar, Teylor described hearing a second round of gunshots before she reached police.What stands out to me is that dropping to the floor did nothing but delay getting out of the field of fire. The most important point was people attempting to evacuate the premises--to get out of the field fire--even if it meant smashing windows. The lesson seems to be: don't delay but seek to escape the area as fast as possible.
One wonders exactly how the media arrives at the conclusion that some of these mass shooters are "Right Wing extremists." I have yet to see a person who has "Right Wing Extremist" tattooed on their forehead...nor have I ever met any card-carrying members of Right Wing groups.
ReplyDeleteIt's based on liberal stereotypes: If the shooter is white, then he must be "right wing," and, having shot someone, he is an "extremist." But you are correct--the only person I can think of off the top of my head that has a swastika tattoo on his forehead is Charles Manson, who definitely falls within the liberal camp.
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