So I was noodling around over on Facebook the other day, and posted a picture I thought was amusing. It drew some commentary from one of my FB friends from high school, one of which was this:
Like the equality thing you got going, but don’t like it when the mentally disturbed get 4 assault rifles and shoot up the town… From today’s news…
Breaking News: Mentally Ill Gunman on Shooting Spree in Tacoma Washington
Tacoma police say they received about a dozen 911 calls Tuesday afternoon from people living in a residential neighborhood in northeast Tacoma reporting that a gunman was walking through the neighborhood firing indiscriminately. The identity of the suspect is not yet known, although local news stations are reporting that neighbors tell them he has mental health issues. He may have been drinking and is carrying four high power assault weapons.
My response:
I’ll wait until we have better information. I would not be surprised to find out that “four high power assault weapons” turns out to be nothing of the kind. I don’t care for the mentally disturbed shooting up the town either, but I don’t see how disarming me is going to prevent it.
So I kept an eye on the story. The shooter was eventually talked into surrendering. 65 year-old Michael McBee has been arraigned and bail has been set at $5 million. Here’s the most current version of what actually happened:
Fistfight led to Fife Heights shooting, investigators say
About 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, court records show, McBee’s temper boiled over, and he allegedly grabbed a 9mm pistol and went next door to settle the score.
Pierce County prosecutors allege he opened fire on his neighbor as the man stood in his garage with his wife and another man, pursued his target — firing more shots as the man ran — and then shot at the wife when she ran inside her house.
Incredibly, no one was hit.
Prosecutors charged McBee on Wednesday with attempted first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault and one count each of first-degree burglary, malicious mischief and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Not-guilty pleas were entered on his behalf in Superior Court. Court Commissioner Meagan Foley ordered McBee, 65, jailed in lieu of $5 million bail at the request of deputy prosecutor Phil Sorensen.
One 9mm handgun, not “four high power assault weapons.”
Had there been so much as a single “assault weapon,” you can rest assured we’d have had a junk-on-the-bunk picture and a full description of McBee’s “arsenal.”
UPDATE: Mad Rocket Scientist over at Random Nuclear Strikes has another classic example of media hysteria when it comes to firearms. I’ve got to screenshot that paragraph for posterity. Surely they won’t leave it up as-is for long:
I want a picture of that!