Cyclist shot in Cumbria

[PBancroft]

Was in the area just a few days ago. Feel guilty now, if only because at the time I had no means of contacting the wife to let her know I was OK had it happened then.

I'm not sure a change in the gun laws would have much impact - I think ours are actually pretty good, but like many laws need to be enforced better (and I don't think that reflects badly on the Police at all). However I suspect he would have found a different weapon in order to take out his anger should he not have had access to guns.

Shocking really. Nothing else you can say about it.

 

[earth]

I read the cabbie he shot was a colleague and he also shot a guy in a Range Rover. Maybe he was on some kind of vendetta.

 

[mangaman]

I read the cabbie he shot was a colleague and he also shot a guy in a Range Rover. Maybe he was on some kind of vendetta.

Maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions and just hope the injured people pull through.

I can't believe believe people are characterising the people involved in this tragedy as "cabbies/cyclists/Range Rover drivers (WTF)"

Can't we be a bit respectful for the families of the dead and the injured for at least a few hours?

 

[earth]

Maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions and just hope the injured people pull through.

I can't believe believe people are characterising the people involved in this tragedy as "cabbies/cyclists/Range Rover drivers (WTF)"

Can't we be a bit respectful for the families of the dead and the injured for at least a few hours?

Sorry, I found out about this at about midday and have been thinking about it since. I'm wondering why it happened.

 

[Riding in Circles]

Was in the area just a few days ago. Feel guilty now, if only because at the time I had no means of contacting the wife to let her know I was OK had it happened then.

I'm not sure a change in the gun laws would have much impact - I think ours are actually pretty good, but like many laws need to be enforced better (and I don't think that reflects badly on the Police at all). However I suspect he would have found a different weapon in order to take out his anger should he not have had access to guns.

Shocking really. Nothing else you can say about it.

My point on the gun laws were that draconian measures were put in place because of events like this but those measures have made absolutely no difference to gun related injuries and deaths. The 1997 firearms act served no useful purpose other than to offer a placebo to a public hurting from Dunblane.

The simple fact is that illegal firearms are relatively easy to obtain and in the hands of a disturbed person such as this, they are devastating.

I don't really know what the answer is or what is actually being done about the trade in illegal firearms but I do know that placebos like the 1997 firearms act are an insult to the people who were killed in Cumbria.

I just read that the figure is now 12, I don't know how accurate that figure is.

 

[mcshroom]

12 is the latest, with 25 injuries, 3 of whom are critical according to the police.

With respect to the driver in the rangerover, where he was shot there is a single lane bridge. He had stopped and was waiting for the taxi to come through and then was shot in his seat. He also preceded to shoot and kill a cyclist a few hundred metres later and a woman delivering catalogues a little further on.

I would suggest this represents wrong place in the worng time rather than targeting.

The taxi driver at the start on the other hand were probably targeted as it seems at the moment.

 

[2Loose]

My point on the gun laws were that draconian measures were put in place because of events like this but those measures have made absolutely no difference to gun related injuries and deaths. The 1997 firearms act served no useful purpose other than to offer a placebo to a public hurting from Dunblane.
.

Terrible incidents, McShroom, my thoughts are with you and your neighbours.

Catrike, this law made it easier for the law to removeimprison anybody with an illegal firearm. If it wasn't in place how many more incidents like this could we have had had? The fact that the numbers have stayed close to when the law was brought in, suggests that it has slowed down the increase in firearms related injuries, if not then reduced the total number. If all guns were banned, then this kind of thing would still happen. Legalise all guns and it would probably happen far more often.

 

[Riding in Circles]

Catrike, this law made it easier for the law to removeimprison anybody with an illegal firearm. If it wasn't in place how many more incidents like this could we have had had? The fact that the numbers have stayed close to when the law was brought in, suggests that it has slowed down the increase in firearms related injuries, if not then reduced the total number. If all guns were banned, then this kind of thing would still happen. Legalise all guns and it would probably happen far more often.

Eh? There has been no reduction but rather an increase in firearms related injuries since the 1997 firearms act was implemented, yet this indicates to you that it has slowed the increase? How exactly did banning legally owned firearms make it easier to remove/imprison anyone with an illegal firearm?

While guns were possible to be owned by licensed users there was no greater firearms related murder rate than there is now because firearms related murders have almost always involved illegal weapons.

 

[StuartG]

McS - Hoping you find your way through and out of this. The very random nature of the shootings can mean those that have not been shot feel guilty because of those that took the bullets. That and other feelings are very natural.

The best therapy may be sharing your feelings with your neighbours in the same position. The Samaritans are always there to listen if you need somebody anonymous. My thoughts will be with you.

And I agree now is not the time to discuss gun control. I am very sorry to have started a thread which has turned out this way.

 

[PBancroft]

Eh? There has been no reduction but rather an increase in firearms related injuries since the 1997 firearms act was implemented, yet this indicates to you that it has slowed the increase?

Don't forget that correlation is not necessarily cause.

 

[Liamblink182]

Ive just got back from a visit to the lake district. We were in Ambleside when the shootings were happening and the police drove through the town with a speakerphone telling everyone to go inside because of a madman on the loose with a gun. It was really strange, like something out of a film. Some people were grabbing there children and running inside pubs and cafes and others just carried on eating there lunch in the beer garden. It was very surreal.

Scary to think me and my girlfriend were walking in the locality when it was all going on.

You could really feel the hurt and shock within the local community.

 

[jonesy]

....

The simple fact is that illegal firearms are relatively easy to obtain and in the hands of a disturbed person such as this, they are devastating.

Well as far as has been reported, the killer held guns legally. As did the last two spree killers in this country....

I don't really know what the answer is or what is actually being done about the trade in illegal firearms but I do know that placebos like the 1997 firearms act are an insult to the people who were killed in Cumbria.

....

Don't be ridiculous.

 

[StuartG]

A reflection that this incident is dominating the media. The PM goes rushing in, gun control becomes the legislative question of the day.

13 dead, 25 wounded. That's just an everyday casualty list on our roads. Some bad folks, some good folks and a lot of random folks - who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The pain in Cumbria is terrible. But because the daily road toll is spread more evenly across the nation - does that not mean less pain or less obvious pain? Yet getting a discussion on road safety is so hard. People appear to be accepting of random death by road users that they cannot accept by other means.

I hope no one finds using this tragedy to make a point about road safety too insensitive. But if people are going to go on about gun control I think we should get it into perspective what risks we all run as cyclists, pedestrians and motorists every day.

Taxi and other drivers do not need a gun or mental breakdown to kill.

 

[dondare]

My point on the gun laws were that draconian measures were put in place because of events like this but those measures have made absolutely no difference to gun related injuries and deaths. The 1997 firearms act served no useful purpose other than to offer a placebo to a public hurting from Dunblane.

The simple fact is that illegal firearms are relatively easy to obtain and in the hands of a disturbed person such as this, they are devastating.

I don't really know what the answer is or what is actually being done about the trade in illegal firearms but I do know that placebos like the 1997 firearms act are an insult to the people who were killed in Cumbria.

I just read that the figure is now 12, I don't know how accurate that figure is.

I totally agree with you but you are arguing against the run of emotions right now.

 

[jonesy]

A reflection that this incident is dominating the media. The PM goes rushing in, gun control becomes the legislative question of the day.

13 dead, 25 wounded. That's just an everyday casualty list on our roads. Some bad folks, some good folks and a lot of random folks - who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The pain in Cumbria is terrible. But because the daily road toll is spread more evenly across the nation - does that not mean less pain or less obvious pain? Yet getting a discussion on road safety is so hard. People appear to be accepting of random death by road users that they cannot accept by other means.

I hope no one finds using this tragedy to make a point about road safety too insensitive. But if people are going to go on about gun control I think we should get it into perspective what risks we all run as cyclists, pedestrians and motorists every day.

Taxi and other drivers do not need a gun or mental breakdown to kill.

Only up to a point. The argument that Problem A is more important than Problem B because it has a bigger number attached to it is only really relevant if we are forced to make a choice between them in some way, e.g. for resources, money, physical space etc. But apart possibly from how police time is used, or Parliamentary time, gun control isn't really in competition with road safety for anything. We can reasonably be concerned about both.