More Gun-Free Zone Victims

[wep45]

Gunman shoots 3 at NJ church during services

17 mins ago AP – Nijith Kurian speaks on the phone outside the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church where a triple … CLIFTON, N.J. – A gunman opened fire during services Sunday at a northern New Jersey church, injuring three people, one of them critically, authorities said. The gunman remained at large.

About 200 people were in St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton when the shots were fired before noon.

A law enforcement official said the shooting may be the result of domestic violence.

The New Jersey State Police and county law enforcement agencies were looking for the gunman.

Members of the church are mostly first-generation immigrants and their children from Kerala, India.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Safety Illusion

Once again, we see that the illusion of "safety" that some see in "peaceful" locales is simply that: an illusion.

If someone means you harm, and they know where you'll be at a given time, and they can be reasonably sure no one around will be armed . . .

You don't always get to pick when and where trouble will seek you out.

 

[HOME DEPOT GEORGE]

NOT TRUE, THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN PEOPLE LETS GET OUR FACTS STRAIGHT. There is no way this could happen in New Jersey since its against the law to carry a gun in public unless you are a cop or politician.

 

[Mousegun]

NOT TRUE, THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN PEOPLE LETS GET OUR FACTS STRAIGHT. There is no way this could happen in New Jersey since its against the law to carry a gun in public unless you are a cop or politician.

Or you are "connected" with one

 

[Conqueror]

Um... what about that article makes you think it was a gun-free zone? I don't think I've ever seen a "No guns" sign on the door of a church. In any case the article doesn't say what the church's weapons policy is.

 

[wacki]

I'd love to know what % of the population is in gun free zones at any moment and what % of mass shootings occur in gun free zones.

That would be an awesome statistic to see I suspect.

 

[dcal]

Um... what about that article makes you think it was a gun-free zone? I don't think I've ever seen a "No guns" sign on the door of a church. In any case the article doesn't say what the church's weapons policy is.

NJ is one giant gun free zone.

 

[indoorsoccerfrea]

i cant speak for NJ, but churches in general are not gun-free. obviously if there is a sign then it is different, but as far as i know my church allows it

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Churches

It's not universal.

There are states wherein a church may make a blanket statement that guns are not allowed on their premises, and that becomes binding on the citizens.

Utah, I think, has something like that.

In general, there's no prohibition that I'm aware of for carry in churches -- legally, anyway.

It's not the "legal" prohibition, though, that leads many to the conclusion that church is a "safe" place. I've seen many a discussion wherein folks that normally carry would not, for some reason, carry in church.

I could be wrong, but it would seem to me that churches on the whole operate as de facto gun-free zones.

There have been some high-profile exceptions to that "rule" and there are some churches that actually take measures to have armed ushers or other security.

I'd sure be tickled if would could get to the point where the bad guys would see church shootings as a bad idea: "Dude, are you nuts? That's a church! They've got guns in there! It's not like schools, y'know?"

 

[BBQLS1]

Once again, we see that the illusion of "safety" that some see in "peaceful" locales is simply that: an illusion.

Great Post!

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Does anyone else find it disturbing that there are people sick enough to do stuff like this at a church, of all places

 

[dcal]

Update on the story.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456608,00.html

Police in New Jersey are searching for a man they say walked into a church in Clifton, N.J., and fatally shot his estranged wife and injured two others.

Joseph M. Pallipurath, 27, of Sacramento, Calif., is believed to be driving a green Jeep and should be considered armed and dangerous.

Reshma James, 24, was killed Sunday when the gunman opened fired before noon as about 200 people were attending services inside St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton. Churchgoers described bedlam after the shots rang out.

"Kids were crying. People were screaming," Suja Alummoottil told The Record of Bergen County. "It was chaotic."

Police did not identify the other two victims, but police Detective Capt. Robert Rowan told The Star-Ledger of Newark that all three were shot in the head and that the other two, a 47-year-old woman and 23-year-old man, were in critical condition.

A spokeswoman for St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, where the victims were being treated, declined to comment on their conditions.
Related

Alummoottil, 40, said Pallipurath appeared angry when he confronted James in the vestibule as the service was concluding. Alummoottil said she went to get help and, a few seconds later, heard three shots.

Rowan said James had recently moved from California to New Jersey to escape an abusive marriage and had filed a restraining order against Pallipurath.

Members of the church are mostly first-generation immigrants and their children from the southern Indian state of Kerala, according to the church's Web site.