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On a slightly more happy note: Grandmother helps prevent mass shooting

ImpulsE69

ImpulsE69

Lifer
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hero-grandmother-persuaded-her-19-150944501.html

  • The US Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Texas announced on Friday that William Patrick Williams, from Lubbock, Texas, had been arrested.
  • Officials said Williams was plotting a mass shooting, but was stopped when his grandmother learned about his plan and persuaded him to go to a hospital instead.
  • Police said in a criminal complaint seen by the US Attorney's Office said Williams had told his grandmother that he had bought an AK-47 rifle and had planned to "shoot up" a local hotel and then "then commit suicide by cop" on July 13.
  • Officers found an AK-47 rifle, 17 magazines loaded with ammunition, knives, a black trench coat, black tactical pants, a black t-shirt that read "Let 'Em Come," and black tactical gloves in a hotel room rented by Williams.
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A 19-year-old man in Texas who was plotting a mass shooting was stopped when his grandmother learned about his plan and persuaded him to go to a hospital instead, officials said.

The US Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Texas announced on Friday that William Patrick Williams, from Lubbock, Texas, had been arrested by special agents of the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Thursday, days before 29 people were killed in deadly shootings in the US over the weekend.

Police said in a criminal complaint seen by the US Attorney's Office that Williams had told his grandmother he had bought an AK-47 rifle and had planned to "shoot up" a local hotel and then "then commit suicide by cop" on July 13.

His grandmother sensed he was suicidal and homicidal, and was able to bring him to a local hospital instead, the US Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Texas said in its press release about Williams' arrest.

Williams was arrested after his hospitalization and gave police consent to search a hotel room he had rented. Officers found an AK-47 rifle, 17 magazines loaded with ammunition, knives, a black trench coat, black tactical pants, a black t-shirt that read "Let 'Em Come," and black tactical gloves.

Williams had purchased the AK-47 rifle on July 11. He listed a relative's address where he no longer lives on a firearms transaction form used to purchase the gun.

"This was a tragedy averted," said US Attorney Nealy Cox. "I want to praise the defendant's grandmother, who saved lives by interrupting this plot, as well as the Lubbock police officers and federal agents who investigated his unlawful acquisition of a deadly weapon. If you suspect a friend or loved one is planning violence against themselves or others, do not hesitate to seek help immediately by calling law enforcement."

Williams has been charged with making false statements to a firearms dealer because of his claim that he lived at an address of a relative. If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison.

"The FBI worked closely with our partners at the ATF and Lubbock Police Department to prevent the defendant from potentially committing a violent act," Matthew DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office, said in a press release. "This case is a perfect example of law enforcement agencies coming together to find a solution that protected the public from harm."
 
OMG props to her for doing the right thing even if it means her grandson will face charges but he'll likely get the help he needs!
 
Indus said:
OMG props to her for doing the right thing even if it means her grandson will face charges but he'll likely get the help he needs!
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Quite unlikely. He'll probably be sentenced to federal prison where he'll be indoctrinated into some extreme cause, given that he's a young male with clearly very little to attach himself to. I predict instead that he'll become a life-long criminal, unless he SBC's himself soon after release.
 
I am ok with this person losing his* 2A rights.

Bernie Sanders wants him to vote.

*Sorry for assuming his gender pronouns.
 
Whatever we do, we should continue to undo regulations that would prevent people with mental health issues from owning firearms.
 
[DHT]Osiris said:
Quite unlikely. He'll probably be sentenced to federal prison where he'll be indoctrinated into some extreme cause, given that he's a young male with clearly very little to attach himself to. I predict instead that he'll become a life-long criminal, unless he SBC's himself soon after release.
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Unfortunately I feel like this is what will happen as well. I do not think he will get the help he needs.
 
ch33zw1z said:
Whatever we do, we should continue to undo regulations that would prevent people with mental health issues from owning firearms.
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Maybe, maybe not. If someone takes an anti-depressant, will that mean they can't have guns? People with anxiety? Do we take away their ability to drive a car so they don't mow people down? Knives? Gasoline, poisons?
 
SlowSpyder said:
Maybe, maybe not. If someone takes an anti-depressant, will that mean they can't have guns? People with anxiety? Do we take away their ability to drive a car so they don't mow people down? Knives? Gasoline, poisons?
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Derp. This is why it won't work, because dishonest idiots like #st.petersburgslow only see slippery slopes and black vs white, no grey.
 
SlowSpyder said:
Maybe, maybe not. If someone takes an anti-depressant, will that mean they can't have guns? People with anxiety? Do we take away their ability to drive a car so they don't mow people down? Knives? Gasoline, poisons?
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No but maybe we could start by saying maaaaaaybe 'regular' citizens don't need AR-15 style fire arms. I mean... other than some EXTREME case that you'd only see realized in some kind of zombie post apocalyptic world, where do I need to shoot 30 bullets at targets 100+ yards away in rapid succession?

And this is coming from a person (me)who is a fire arm owner. I've accepted that although I maybe want an AR-15 or similar... if you told me that giving up that "right" would over the course of many years or decades stop dozens and possibly hundreds from dying, I would allow it. Still have my pistols and shotgun for home defense... still have a long rifle for hunting but yeah, I'm probably fine not having an M4 if it's the start of us moving in the right direction toward a safer society.

"Universal" Background checks aren't going to be enough. Many people are doing these mass shootings with clean records. Since Minority Report isn't a "thing" in real life, taking away the means to which the ends are realized is IMO my best way to prevent MASS taking of life. Can a nutjob legally get a pistol and do damage? Yes. But is he killing and injuring dozens with his 9mm? Maybe in the right situation.... but I highly doubt a untrained or less skilled shooter can do as much killing with a 9mm handgun vs a Carbine style rifle all else equal.
 
SlowSpyder said:
If someone has anxiety and take medication, do we stop them from having access to deadly things like vehicles? Name calling doesn't help us find solutions.
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There are no solutions with dishonest idiots like you. Guns have one purpose in life. And as a matter of fact, I have a family member (not blood related) whose drivers license has been suspended for a very long time due to mental health issues and treatments.
 
z1ggy said:
No but maybe we could start by saying maaaaaaybe 'regular' citizens don't need AR-15 style fire arms. I mean... other than some EXTREME case that you'd only see realized in some kind of zombie post apocalyptic world, where do I need to shoot 30 bullets at targets 100+ yards away in rapid succession?
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And this goes right back to the neverending conversation about what firearms are, and how we can restrict them. You say 'AR-15 style fire arms', which is meaningless. Do you mean a variable-caliber weapon system built on a modular platform, primarily made from steel? Really hard to ban that, and it's specific enough that another company would start making an equivalent that got around the ban. If you say literally just AR-15 variants, that's too specific, and is equally meaningless. If you mean firearms that can 'fire quickly', that's either ambiguous enough to be meaningless and un-enforcable or specific enough to be dodged. If you mean accurate at range, you can't restrict that or the firearm is useless.

So what, exactly, do you mean?

High-cap magazines is understandable but there's a limit to how far you can restrict that, and it clearly doesn't stop mass shootings, just forces an active shooter to bring more clips and practice loading.
 
ch33zw1z said:
There are no solutions with dishonest idiots like you. Guns have one purpose in life. And as a matter of fact, I have a family member (not blood related) whose drivers license has been suspended for a very long time due to mental health issues and treatments.
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Tonight 80,000,000 - 100,000,000 gun owners (the number varies depending on where you get the estimate) will go to bed tonight without having shot anyone. Some percentage of them will shoot paper or other targets, though. Are they using their guns wrong, in your opinion, giving that a gun has "one purpose in life."
 
SlowSpyder said:
Tonight 80,000,000 - 100,000,000 gun owners (the number varies depending on where you get the estimate) will go to bed tonight without having shot anyone. Some percentage of them will shoot paper or other targets, though. Are they using their guns wrong, in your opinion, giving that a gun has "one purpose in life."
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Guns have one purpose in life. To end life. You don't ride it to work. You don't cut your sandwich with it. You don't burn it for fuel.

Whether or not they shoot people is not the point. Like I said, dishonest idiots like you are why real change won't work. There's no middle ground gun nutters will find acceptable, it's all or nothing.

You bounce around the topic like a pogo stick because it's all you can do to try to divert from the topic. It's what dishonest idiots like yourself do.
 
[DHT]Osiris said:
So what, exactly, do you mean?
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Something such as fire arms that take .223 caliber or larger that use semi automatic fire with mag capacity of 10+ with "long barrels". i.e. I can shoot things that are far away with great precision and accuracy, & boy that bullet sure gonna get there fast, with lotttssss more behind it.

Not a laywer, so.. don't quite care how they want to word it, but something that would result in things like [above] that being extremely difficult to have in your hands without also being in the military or a police unit.

I feel the whole notion that gun control is hard, so F it why even try, is kind of a weak cop out. Sitting here with thoughts n prayers up to my sack right now, yet people still getting blown away with high powered rifles. We've essentially done nothing to even try to stop or prevent this from happening, and it keeps on going on over and over again.

They do say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different outcome. I don't think any rational person would expect this kind of thing to stop, let alone slow down, unless we are willing to change.
 
[DHT]Osiris said:
And this goes right back to the neverending conversation about what firearms are, and how we can restrict them. You say 'AR-15 style fire arms', which is meaningless. Do you mean a variable-caliber weapon system built on a modular platform, primarily made from steel? Really hard to ban that, and it's specific enough that another company would start making an equivalent that got around the ban. If you say literally just AR-15 variants, that's too specific, and is equally meaningless. If you mean firearms that can 'fire quickly', that's either ambiguous enough to be meaningless and un-enforcable or specific enough to be dodged. If you mean accurate at range, you can't restrict that or the firearm is useless.

So what, exactly, do you mean?

High-cap magazines is understandable but there's a limit to how far you can restrict that, and it clearly doesn't stop mass shootings, just forces an active shooter to bring more clips and practice loading.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_style_(firearm_magazines)

Even with magazines of limited capacity, it is very, very easy to double them up, reloads done in a couple of seconds. I really don't feel capacity limits are the answer, that is the type of thing that makes gun owners angry, it restricts our rights and will have very, very little impact on the death toll.

This is one of the guns I own. It is absolutely a man killer if used in such a fashion. It is very easy to have things like this in holsters or one's pocket, having multiple guns, etc. Modern guns are quite light and easy to conceal, depending on the model you buy.

If we want to talk about reasonable gun restrictions that can make a difference, count me in. But when we're talking about useless feel good do nothing restrictions, I become Charlton Heston.
 
z1ggy said:
Something such as fire arms that take .223 caliber or larger that use semi automatic fire with mag capacity of 10+ with "long barrels". i.e. I can shoot things that are far away with great precision and accuracy, & boy that bullet sure gonna get there fast, with lotttssss more behind it.
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Alright, let's walk down the list. .223 isn't considered very large, though it's quite capable of killing a human. Most of the stuff humans shoot at for food or sport is larger than a human, so a .223 is on the low-end there. White-tails and whatnot, though you may want larger. Banning by the caliber will eliminate the primary reason of even having guns.

Semi-auto fire, you're unlikely to get anything passed to mandate single-shot or bolt actions. Worth noting that several shootings we've had in American history were done with bolt actions, though as far as I know none of the more recent 'mass shootings'. Eliminating semi-autos would effectively ban like 75% of firearms.

Long barrels, not even sure how to define that. Long barrel just means accuracy over distance, as far as I know, minus the Vegas shooting, most mass shootings were done in medium-close quarters, enough that all the shooters had pistols with them. Long-range accuracy is the battlefield of snipers and hunters.

Magazine capacity is about the only direction I feel you could go, and that path has been tread many a time. Maybe this time around it'll get traction, but I guarantee you it will not stop shootings, and imho a shooting that kills 10 people isn't 'better' than a shooting that kills 20.. That's the definition of 'feel-good legislation'.
 
z1ggy said:
Something such as fire arms that take .223 caliber or larger that use semi automatic fire with mag capacity of 10+ with "long barrels". i.e. I can shoot things that are far away with great precision and accuracy, & boy that bullet sure gonna get there fast, with lotttssss more behind it.

Not a laywer, so.. don't quite care how they want to word it, but something that would result in things like [above] that being extremely difficult to have in your hands without also being in the military or a police unit.

I feel the whole notion that gun control is hard, so F it why even try, is kind of a weak cop out. Sitting here with thoughts n prayers up to my sack right now, yet people still getting blown away with high powered rifles. We've essentially done nothing to even try to stop or prevent this from happening, and it keeps on going on over and over again.

They do say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting a different outcome. I don't think any rational person would expect this kind of thing to stop, let alone slow down, unless we are willing to change.
Click to expand...


Before we go trashing the bill of rights, please understand that <400 people will be killed with rifles this year. <800 will be killed with all long guns (rifles, shot guns, muskets, whatever). I know anything other than zero is too many, but again, I don't think we should trash our constitutional rights over this.
 
Ban all semi-automatics. Would do the most good and not harm real hunters in any way. Exception would be for military and police force.
 
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