Another School Shooting - Lancaster County PA

Don't forget that in Florida, you're not allowed to carry your CCW in school, or bring non-lethal self-defence weapons onto school property (no pepperspray, stun guns, or tasers).

Happen to be a college student who wants to defend yourself? Or a teacher with a CCP? Too bad, the State says you have no right to self defence when on school property. And since most students and teachers are traveling onto school grounds on a daily basis, that means leaving your means of self-defence at home, in general.

so did the man's family not notice any warning signs that he might be going off the deep end? i'd like to believe that somehow, this could have been prevented. Although I'm afraid that might not have been possible.

Pacifism is a nice concept, but leaves the pacifist open to attack from predators like this. Better to be prepared. Shame he took the easy way out and shot himself. I'd rather he fry in a chair, after a couple viscious gang rapings by other inmates. I feel sorry for his kids.

With the passage of the ridiculous "Gun Free School Zone" nonsense, our schools have subsequently become shooting galleries for nutcases. How many more deaths are we going to tolerate due to the PC lunancy infecting our society? Get some good citizens with guns, LEO or otherwise, into our schools now for cris-sakes. I'm really surprised we haven't seen a coordinated terrorist attack on schools yet.

Wes Janson you are wrong

you can bring a gun onto school property as long as it remains in your car and you are the possesor of concealed weapons license. Non-lethals (not including knives and stun guns that shoot projectiles e.g. tazers) are legal on college campus, I lived on campus at USF for four years I kept my guns at the on-campus police station and carried Fox OC and a stun gun in my backpack. I kept a hunting knife in my dorm room for chopping vegetables and such as well as a Louisville Slugger for intramural sports. ;-)

No law would have swayed this tragedy either way. No gun ban would have prevented it because the killer was armed with guns that John Kerry was proud to photo-op with.

No concealed carry law would have made a difference because the pacifist Amish wouldn't have taken advantage of it.

Nothing with the exception of stationing Delta Force, GSG9 or SAS in a shack behind the schoolhouse 24/7 would have prevented the lunatic from his killing spree.

hso-I have to agree with you about keeping this thread on topic because the Amish are peacefull people and are taught not to harm others(I live only about 2 hours from the location). My heart goes out the the families of the children who have to bare the burdon of their family loss. I just can't help feeling that this perp. Charles Roberts has not shown signs of problems before he choose to make these children his prey. It just have a hard time to believe he carries this 20 year old grudge without any signs. He is a coward and choose these children because he knew the Amish would not resist.

The discussion is not applicable to the current tradgedy because the Amish are dedicated pacifists and there would never be a weapon at an Amish school regardless of the law.

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That's what I was getting at with my "nothing anyone could have done" sentiments.

I can barely get my head around this, and the sexual assaults and shooting in Colorado, last week. Who could ever imagine that a grown man would ever walk into a school and kill little girls. And that it happened twice in one week is really unbelievable.

Aside from the horrendous tragedies themselves, one of the worst aspects, for us, is that this guy in Pennsyvania bought his guns legally at a nearby gun shop. The antis are already running wild with this one. When I logged on, I stopped briefly at the AOL forum. I saw the expected "When will we we stop killing our children" drivel. Who's we? I was tempted to pick a fight, but it's like spitting in the wind, so I didn't bother.

I wonder if this will cause some of the Amish people to re-evaluate their non-belief in using the old hunting rifle to defend themselves, if necessary. They must know about the shootings in other parts of the country. They don't have TV, but they do read newspapers. If they don't feel the need to protect themselves, they might feel the need to protect their kids. It's easier to say you wouldn't use a gun for protection, when you have never needed protecting.

The poor Amish probably thought that nothing like this could ever touch them. Neither did I.

God help us all, if this lunacy becomes a trend.

With the passage of the ridiculous "Gun Free School Zone"

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It's every criminal's dream... a government guarantee that a group of people (in this case, school teachers) are unarmed.

Whoever thought we would ever see the day when the government has given criminals a guarantee that people are unarmed?

I can barely get my head around this, and the sexual assaults and shooting in Colorado, last week. Who could ever imagine that a grown man would ever walk into a school and kill little girls. And that it happened twice in one week is really unbelievable.

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Sadly, this is an everyday thing in places like Algeria, Nigeria, Congo, etc
and we just don't hear about it.

I've been doing child sexual abuse investigations for a number of years,
but someone doesn't have to go into "Frank Black" mode to hear 'zip ties'
and 'ky jelly' during the press conference and want to .

All we can be certain of is that the perp is currently skewered atop
Beelzebub's pitch fork and perpetually writhing in pain now.

So far, the media has been respectful of the Amish and not televising
close-ups of their faces which would go against their religious beliefs.

There is a self professed gun control advocate on the press conference that is saying that no gun control could have prevented this and he stated that it would be disingenuous for them to say that any gun control could have prevented this. I didn't catch his name but am hoping that they will repeat it. I think he said he was a member of the PA legislature.

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It was PA Governor Ed Rendell.

"I think we should all understand no proposed law.. could have ruled out this situation.. It would be a disingenous for gun control advocates, including myself, that this demonstrates the need for better and stronger laws."

You don't hear about many school shootings in Utah, I wonder why???

Who is arieing the press conference Fox News, CNN, or is this a local broadcast?

MSNBC had it too. (I've got all three at work and TIVO too)

Erebus,
I just caught that phone call with Rendell on Fox. As much as this pains me I have to agree an armed guard at the door would would hold not much value when dealing with someone willing to die. This twisted person would have just poped him with a shotgun by suprise. I never thought I would have seen the day where I would agree with Rendell. I don't know if you caught the very next interview where the female newscaster questioned John Ashcroft about the Lancaster situation and her statement was I as a mother have conserns as to how someone can legally buy a 9mm semi-autmatic that is not used for hunting.
John had a good reply that he was also armed with hunting arms and would have easily used one of those because he was determined without fear of his life.

An armed guard at the door doesn't guarantee safety, it just increases the odds that the bad guy goes down sooner. The sooner the better...

I mentioned this on the Ed Rendell thread, but considering that Ed is a confirmed gun grabista, this is either a major concession from him, or he's up for reelection in a state that just soundly spanked all proposed gun control laws.

Take yer pick. They're probably both right.

And give the devil his due: He knew he couldn't get away w/ a gun control play, so he did more or less the right thing.