Mass Shooting At Maine Pool Hall & Bowling Alley

[Chili Palmer]

Maine is an open carry state. But not allowed in bars. No Matter where you go, you'll hear people talk about always carrying. Yet there wasn't anyone in that bowling alley with one...

Here's the biggest challenge with that, the one thing that has always concerned me about everyone arming themselves. A very good friend of mine was walking thru Walmart yesterday. About 90 minutes away from the community where the shootings took place. He doesn't really have any sort of resemblance to the shooter, beyond having a beard and dark hair. Yet two people looked at him, nearly ran their carts into the shelves, and scurried off, looking at their phones.

Now, what's gonna happen when someone who has no training but bought themselves a gun, goes and thinks they've seen this guy? My friend doesn't want to go out in public right now. Not cuz hes truly scared for himself, moreso those around him. Cuz he carries, and doesn't want to have to defend himself from people thinking he's the guy.

There's no good answer. Not one.

The guy is still at large. There are lots of rumors, theories, what have you. He is former military, and a shooting instructor. If he has his wits about him, this could be drawn out a long time. If he's completely unhinged, who knows what will trip his trigger, figuratively, and where he'll be next. It's very unsettling, to be generous.

Still, as i mentioned before, there are a lot of people in this state that are armed. He might make a mistake. He also knows this state, as well. Sigh...

A quick update - he apparently wrote a suicide note and they are searching a river and the surrounding areas.

 

[triley41395]

Those assault rifles should not be available to the general public. Everybody that owns one should have to pass a competency test and have a valid reason for ownership. It should not be an easy acquire. It's not a fun gun. That .223 caliber is not really a hunting cartridge. Too light for a deer. That weapon is made to lay out a field of fire. The average hunting rifle may hold 5 bullets, then reload. The ar can have two 30 round clips taped together. 60 rounds can be exited in 2.5 minutes reload included in that time. A knowledgeable person can come easily stocked with 240 rounds. A police officer armed with a pistol may as well as have a pea shooter. The genie is out of the bottle. It's time for everyone, including an NRA nit like me, to figure a solution together. A2 was made with muskets in mind. We need some public restrictions.

Same old response, well how about the same old question....What's an assault rifle??
How about addressing the real problem, mental health. Makes no difference if it's a school, a pool hall ,or movie theater the only thing all these shootings have in common are mentally unstable murderers. It just happens to be a pool hall (partially) this time.

 

[Chili Palmer]

Same old response, well how about the same old question....What's an assault rifle??
How about addressing the real problem, mental health. Makes no difference if it's a school, a pool hall ,or movie theater the only thing all these shootings have in common are mentally unstable murderers. It just happens to be a pool hall (partially) this time.

I agree 100%, this is why I am ok with a waiting period for purchasing weapons. If you're buying a gun and it's your first purchase, you can wait a week, you've waited your whole life at that point. If you're buying a gun and it's your 50th gun, you can definitely wait.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

...the only thing all these shootings have in common are mentally unstable murderers.

...with guns.

pj
chgo

 

[triley41395]

...with guns.

pj
chgo

Mentally unstable, could have been a car, 2 gallons of gas or an airplane. All they want to do is kill people.

 

[sonoman]

PJ Have you ever wondered why cities and states with restricted carry laws have the most gun violence? Oh I know, that would require letting go of your entrenched political positions.

...with guns.

pj
chgo

 

[David in FL]

I looked this up because I live in Idaho and it's very similar to FL in its gun laws. In Florida you can not carry in a bar or bar areas of restaurants, you can carry in a bar in Idaho but not if you're drinking.

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/fl-gun-laws/

I can't verify the accuracy of the link.

Almost, but not quite.

You cannot carry into "that portion of an establishment primarily devoted to the sale and service of alcohol".

As an example, I can carry in my pool hall, but cannot sit at the bar itself. I can carry in a restaurant and whether or not I can sit at the bar is dependent on the restaurant itself. If the bar area itself is also routinely and commonly used for dining it would be fine. If no food is served in there at all it would not be.

The differentiation underlines why it's extremely important to understand the exact nature of the laws in each state before carrying there, and why it's better to read the statutes themselves rather than rely on sites that simply attempt to summarize them.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Mentally unstable, could have been a car, 2 gallons of gas or an airplane. All they want to do is kill people.

Guns make it too easy - you only have to be temporarily unstable, maybe just having a bad day. Without guns many (most?) of those killings (especially suicides) would never happen.

pj
chgo

 

[Patrick Johnson]

PJ Have you ever wondered why cities and states with restricted carry laws have the most gun violence? Oh I know, that would require letting go of your entrenched political positions.

No, because I don't believe that's true.

Neither does our National Institutes of Health...

The burden of firearm violence in the United States: stricter laws result in safer states

Increasing firearm violence has resulted in a strong drive for stricter firearm legislations. Aim of this study was to determine the relationship between firearm legislations and firearm-related injuries across states in the United States. We performed ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Conclusions:
States without strict firearm laws have higher firearm related injury rates, higher firearm related mortality rate, and significant potential years of life lost compared to SFL states.

Whose "entrenched political positions" are we really talking about?

pj
chgo

 

[JABSolstice]

Those assault rifles should not be available to the general public. Everybody that owns one should have to pass a competency test and have a valid reason for ownership. It should not be an easy acquire. It's not a fun gun. That .223 caliber is not really a hunting cartridge. Too light for a deer. That weapon is made to lay out a field of fire. The average hunting rifle may hold 5 bullets, then reload. The ar can have two 30 round clips taped together. 60 rounds can be exited in 2.5 minutes reload included in that time. A knowledgeable person can come easily stocked with 240 rounds. A police officer armed with a pistol may as well as have a pea shooter. The genie is out of the bottle. It's time for everyone, including an NRA nit like me, to figure a solution together. A2 was made with muskets in mind. We need some public restrictions.

What's a valid reason to you?

Also, it is a fun gun to shoot.

 

[TrxR]

Those assault rifles should not be available to the general public. Everybody that owns one should have to pass a competency test and have a valid reason for ownership. It should not be an easy acquire. It's not a fun gun. That .223 caliber is not really a hunting cartridge. Too light for a deer. That weapon is made to lay out a field of fire. The average hunting rifle may hold 5 bullets, then reload. The ar can have two 30 round clips taped together. 60 rounds can be exited in 2.5 minutes reload included in that time. A knowledgeable person can come easily stocked with 240 rounds. A police officer armed with a pistol may as well as have a pea shooter. The genie is out of the bottle. It's time for everyone, including an NRA nit like me, to figure a solution together. A2 was made with muskets in mind. We need some public restrictions.

The AR is not an assault rifle as it is not a automatic and the .223 is an excellent varmint round. A excellent target round as well. Not all ARs are chambered in 223 either. Lots of 300 blackout and some other calibers out there on the AR lower now days. It's just a very versatile platform.

 

[jasonlaus]

Like Mike Tyson said - everybody is a tough guy until they get punched in the face- how many handgun carrying ordinary citizens are going to go actually confront a rifle or auto rifle crazed gunman? 99% if not immediately threatened themselves will run for cover too - they all have families, responsibilities, themselves.
Most hand gun carriers have never even experienced live gun fire without their protective ear equipment, much less in an enclosed space with people dying in front of them.
We have seen many so called trained law guys run and hide too or refuse to enter buildings as they waited for “orders” while kids got slaughtered,
I carry myself - but nobody knows what they will do until you are in the mix.

Don't forget going to prison for protecting yourself and others due to Lefty DA's protecting criminals

 

[CJBCoug]

Sounds like most, if not all the victims at Schemengees were playing in a cornhole tournament, not that it makes it any better. None of the victims there had a fargo rating that I could find. Two of the victims at the Bowling alley appear to maybe have a fargo rating. Jason Adam Walker and William Young. Although both of those names are common names and those individuals might not be the actual victims.

 

[Podunker]

Sorry TRX. This guy had a .223. Is an assault rifle only a full auto? I can lay out 60 rounds in less than 3 minutes. How many can I do with a REM 700. 5. Rem 742 with clips loaded 10 maybe?
JAB. I'm not talking a ban. I think we need more responsibility. Yes. I guess that guy had fun.

 

[Podunker]

Triley. Same old response. Give me your answer. Fix the mental system. What's your idea? How is that done?

 

[TrxR]

Sorry TRX. This guy had a .223. Is an assault rifle only a full auto? I can lay out 60 rounds in less than 3 minutes. How many can I do with a REM 700. 5. Rem 742 with clips loaded 10 maybe?
JAB. I'm not talking a ban. I think we need more responsibility. Yes. I guess that guy had fun.

Yes a assault rifle is full auto or select fire not semi . By you definition a Browning Bar hunting rifle would be a assault rifle or a ruger mini 14 or 10/22. There are people who can shoot a lever action quicker than a semi. There are benchrest shooters that can put 5 rounds though a single shot bolt action in less than 10 seconds.

 

[garczar]

Those assault rifles should not be available to the general public. Everybody that owns one should have to pass a competency test and have a valid reason for ownership. It should not be an easy acquire. It's not a fun gun. That .223 caliber is not really a hunting cartridge. Too light for a deer. That weapon is made to lay out a field of fire. The average hunting rifle may hold 5 bullets, then reload. The ar can have two 30 round clips taped together. 60 rounds can be exited in 2.5 minutes reload included in that time. A knowledgeable person can come easily stocked with 240 rounds. A police officer armed with a pistol may as well as have a pea shooter. The genie is out of the bottle. It's time for everyone, including an NRA nit like me, to figure a solution together. A2 was made with muskets in mind. We need some public restrictions.

An 'assault rifle' by definition is a select-fire weapon meaning it can be fired in full-auto mode. 99.9% of AR(AR stands for 'ArmaliteRifle btw)style rifles are semi-auto only. This idiot could have done just as much damage with a Glock and a few extra mags. Look, Clinton banned these once before and it did NOTHING to the crime rate. All it did was make a bunch of gun-hating libs sleep better. Last thing, with modern ammo the 5.56/.223 cartridge is a very effective deer getter. Thousands of whitetails are taken every year with it. Quit blaming the gun(s) for the actions of these sick pukes.

 

[garczar]

Triley. Same old response. Give me your answer. Fix the mental system. What's your idea? How is that done?

They need to modify the HIPAA rules so that mental health backgrounds can be checked instantly. I'm seriously pro-2A but i also believe that a lot of people should not have access to firearms. This could easily be done at the point of purchase quickly just like the rest of a background check.

 

[Podunker]

Garzer. I ain't blaming the gun.. I'm blaming the availability of the gun being in the dip shit's hand. Every gun deserves respect. We need a better governor, I don't mean a person. I mean better back checks, stricter rules for ownership. I'm not a pro scribe. Maybe I missed my point.
The definition of assault rifle doesn't bring back any of those people. Fine line. If you really think a Glock can match a rifle you are not talking from experience, just written rhetoric. Also, hunting deer with a caliber that small is disrespectful to the animal. More wounds than stops. It's like fishing tuna with 20lb test. That gun was made for low recoil. Easy to stay on target. Throw a field of fire and take an adversary out of the conflict. That doesn't mean killl every time.

 

[Jimmorrison]

NPR!