Crazed gun man kills Many and injures more in, erm, Cumbria?

You heard correct people, this is no disgruntled High school kid who went mental cause he was not really talked to or a teacher denied her tenure because she was loony. This is the story of an English man going mental with a sniper rifle and taking pot shots at who ever he could find before finally topping himself.

Link to Article

Apparently he was a quiet bloke, drove a taxi and quite friendly and nobody is quite sure why he snap like this.

All I want to know is, where the fuck did he get a Shotgun from?

In b4 the pro-gun crowd going SEE THE CRIMINALS GET THEIR HANDS ON GUNS ANYWAY NOW IF ONLY EVERYONE HAD HAD A GUN THEY COULD HAVE SHOT BACK

The Lake District? Seriously?

Somath Cegem wrote:

Apparently he was a quiet bloke, drove a taxi and quite friendly and nobody is quite sure why he snap like this.

Quiet taxi driver? Maybe I've watched too much TV, but it's always the quiet taxi driver who lives with his mum.

Somath Cegem wrote:

Apparently he was a quiet bloke, drove a taxi and quite friendly and nobody is quite sure why he snap like this.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I have absolutely no idea.

at least he wasn't interested in 14yr old hookers or Regan......

D: It's like Port Arthur all over again.

grmblfjx wrote:

In b4 the pro-gun crowd going SEE THE CRIMINALS GET THEIR HANDS ON GUNS ANYWAY NOW IF ONLY EVERYONE HAD HAD A GUN THEY COULD HAVE SHOT BACK

There are really two options.

1.) Let every dork have whatever sort of 100 round per minute murder-machine they want and let those who can aim sort it out.
2.) Give everyone bulletproof armor and try to ignore the lunatics shooting.

I heard about this on the radio on my way to work. I just wonder what was so bad in his life that he snapped like that, and what would be going through the mind that he felt the need to kill a lot of innocent people as well as himself. I don't buy that an argument with a work colleague could have caused it because those arguments happen to hundreds of people every day and normal people with normal lives don't respond by going on a killing spree. Every now and again every country has a lunatic on the rampage, unfortunately today it was the UK's turn.

BadficReadings wrote:

Every now and again every country has a lunatic on the rampage....

And in some countries said lunatic runs the government. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

BadficReadings wrote:

I heard about this on the radio on my way to work. I just wonder what was so bad in his life that he snapped like that, and what would be going through the mind that he felt the need to kill a lot of innocent people as well as himself. I don't buy that an argument with a work colleague could have caused it because those arguments happen to hundreds of people every day and normal people with normal lives don't respond by going on a killing spree. Every now and again every country has a lunatic on the rampage, unfortunately today it was the UK's turn.

People like this rarely just 'snap' one day and start taking potshots at innocent passersby. Whatever led to this has probably been building up a long time. It's just these kind of people don't fit our profile for the sort of loonies that go on shooting rampages because they think the Government is brainwashing their children by putting Flouride in the drinking water. They're usually quiet, somewhat withdrawn, often still live at home, and generally keep to themselves. They may not have any friends, and if they've spent their whole life living in a small town, everyone just tends to nod their heads and say "Norman's a bit odd, but he wouldn't hurt a fly." When in reality nobody but Norman knows what Norman's really thinking.

As an added note: I thought it was a lot harder for civilians to get hold of guns in the UK than in the US?

Rabid Badger wrote:

As an added note: I thought it was a lot harder for civilians to get hold of guns in the UK than in the US?

It is a lot harder. This seems to have been a farming community though, which might explain it - farmers are pretty much the only people able to acquire gun licences.

It IS much harder for civilians to get hold of guns here. Firearms licences are usually only given to farmers and policemen (although most cops now have tasers instead). Other people can have them, but those firearms have to be kept in storage at a shooting range and so the person cannot take them home with them. I know that the laws are very strict on it and that to have a firearm you have to go through not only a criminal background check, but also a psychological test where answering a single question wrong could stop you from obtaining the firearm. I don't know the full process though, having never tried to get a gun.

Of course, that's just for people obtaining a gun legally. Naturally, there is the illegal firearms black market, usually those guns are purchased by gangs and major drug dealers. The government obviously tries to do as much as possible to get illegal firearms off the streets, but since no police force is perfect there will always be a minority of shady individuals who have them.

In this particular case, there is no mention of the gun being illegal, so presumably it was owned legally by a farmer. It would be interesting to know what type of gun this was, because most of the guns owned by farmers are rifles.

Sorry, every time I see the title of this thread, I read "Crazed gunman kills Manny..." and I worry about him.

Where is he, anyway?

According to the Telegraph:

Quote :

Armed with two weapons - a .22 rifle and a shotgun - Bird drove down the
coast from Whitehaven where the first attacks took place, leaving a
trail of carnage in his wake.

According to Yahoo! News, both guns were licensed, and "a family feud" may have sparked the rampage.

On the plus side, he show the family solicitor.

Quote :

His other victims were: young estate agent Jamie Clark, rugby league player and farmer Garry Purdham, retired couple Jennifer and James Jackson, part-time mole-catcher Isaac Dixon, shopper Susan Hughes, unmarried pensioner Jane Robinson, former Sellafield worker Kenneth Fishburn and retired Michael Pike.

So I gather there are actual job prospects for part-time mole catchers in small British towns?

Meaning no disrespect to the man, but it's like reading through a list of people who were tragically killed and stumbling across someone who worked as a human mannequin. You know the job exists, you just never really think about it.

grmblfjx wrote:

In b4 the pro-gun crowd going SEE THE CRIMINALS GET THEIR HANDS ON GUNS ANYWAY NOW IF ONLY EVERYONE HAD HAD A GUN THEY COULD HAVE SHOT BACK

You know, I usually avoid this, but it seems required. No, I'm not going to make that argument. Instead, every time there's a shooting thread and people say OH TOO BAD AMERICA DOESN'T BAN GUNS AND KEEP THEM AWAY FROM PEOPLE LIKE THIS, I'm going to just link them back to this thread.

I actually was traveling through Ravenglass the day after all this happened. It was... very strange, and more than a bit horrifying, to see how peaceful everything was, normally, and now... well, the hotels were all running, kids were laughing and tromping around in the mud on the beach, but everyone was quietly repeating the news to each other and sitting there and staring and just kind of numb and god damn it why

Before all the details started coming out about the guy's debts and family feud and so forth, it was more than a little frightening. It just seemed so, well, random. Scary stuff, esp. here.

BNP candidate on the incident

Quote :

"Ok, so I may well get in to trouble for saying this - but I've got to get it off my chest. I wish that Derrick Bird could have come down to London & shot dead some illegal immigrants, rather than killing his fellow British people. If that offends you then tough; it's my opinion and I'm entitled to it."

Lovely lass.

Quote :

Miss Lewis' true face was revealed in April after pictures were discovered of her swigging from a bottle of alcopops while clad in a burqa during a Halloween party. The Carshalton and Wallington parliamentary candidate, who also ran for Croydon Council’s Shirley ward in the May elections, was snapped revealing her contempt for Muslims by hitching up her costume to reveal her underwear.

AHAHahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa...

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I got nothin.