A shootout between rival biker gangs on a Sunday afternoon at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, had killed 9 people and injured 18 others.
Sadly, shootings and violent incidents seems to becoming a norm in once a civilised country. The Guardian reported that sergeant Patrick Swanton, a spokesperson for Waco police department, said in a press conference on Monday after the incident that:
Police in Waco have charged 170 people with “organised crime in reference to … capital murder” in what could potentially represent the largest mass arrest on a capital charge in American history.– The Guardian.
The Guardian also reported that sergeant Patrick Swanton as saying:
“What happened here today could have been avoided,” he said. “They [the restaurant management] failed and this is what happened.”- The Guardian.
So, the incident could have been avoided?
He added: “We have been made aware over two months that rival gangs are meeting here and that the potential for violence is increasing.” –The Guardian.
“Police were already present at the scene because authorities were aware of the likelihood of trouble between the gangs, Swanton said,” – The Guardian.
The police had suspected some violent incident to happen during the meeting between the gangs; so they were there at the scene; but they do not have the rights to interfere before the incident happen because they have no rights to do so!
He said that police had attempted to get the local management to assist but they “would not cooperate”. –The Guardian.
The First Amendment in the American constitution says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The police had the rights to take actions to prevent the violent incident from happening.
The government of United States does not give the total freedom of owning and carrying guns to their citizens.
In this case, the police had done their job and they were actually there before the shooting started but sadly, their hands were tied.
The police can’t do anything because not like Singapore, the United States does not have laws like the Internal Security Act (ISA) of Singapore (Cap. 143, 1985 Rev. Ed.), where police can take actions to prevent such crime if they have information that it could happen; furthermore carrying guns is legal in the United States.
Innocent people and children could had been killed and the police could not do anything to stop it from happening in the first place.
It is sad that such a violent incident that could had been prevented can’t be stopped.
After all the mass shootings in the United States, is it right for the United States to tell Malaysia torepealthe Sedition Actafter the Western powers and the United Nations had forced Malaysia to abolish the ISA?
Without the laws, mass shooting and mass killing like theSandy Hook shooting incidentcould be a norm in Malaysia just like in the United States.
I am surprised that the United States had not learnt that too much freedom and the rights to carry guns are part of the reasons that had caused the many incidents of mass shootings and mass killings and expect other country to abolish laws that could prevent such incidents.
Perhaps the government of Singapore can brief the United Nations on why they still keep the ISA.
Is total freedom to do anything they want as demanded by the human rights groups is more important than preserving a peaceful community and the safety of minors and old people who may not be able to protect themselves?
The building where the mass shooting happened. Please click the photo for larger image. (Ahmad Ali Karim for Ahmad Ali JetPlane Pics)
13 people including the gunman were reported killed in a mass killing at the Washington Navy Yard.
America’s Navy stated that the tragedy happened inside the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters building (Bldg. 197) on the Washington Navy Yard at 8:20 a.m. (Eastern Time) September 16.
Yahoo News reported that the victims ranged in age from 46 to 73, and were either civilians or contractors.
Janis Orlowski, chief medical officer at Washington Hospital Center, said one Metropolitan Police officer and two civilians are being treated there and that they arrived in critical condition.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI identified the suspect as Aaron Alexis, 34 years old, a civilian contractor from Queens, New York.
Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said Alexis was shot during a gun battle with officers.
Yahoo News reported that Alexis was a full-time reservist from 2007 to 2011 and left the Navy on January 31, 2011, as a petty officer 3rd class and had been working for the fleet logistics support squadron No. 46 in Fort Worth.
A Navy official told Reuters that Alexis received a general discharge from the Navy in 2011 “after a series of misconduct issues.”
A ‘shelter in place’ order was issued for Navy Yard personnel after the shooting.
Access to the Washington Navy Yard will be restricted Tuesday, Sept. 17 to mission essential personnel only as the FBI continues its investigation.
Authorities are still investigating the case to determine the motive of the shooting.
(Please click the photos for larger images)
A photo posted to the feed of Twitter user @timjhogan near the shooting scene of the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. (Tim Hogan: @timjhogan via Twitter)
FBI.gov is “Seeking Information” about Aaron Alexis, now deceased, who is believed to be responsible for the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC on September 16, 2013.
Law enforcement officers form a staging area on the streets outside the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. (Chris Moody/Yahoo News)
Law enforcement officers form a staging area on the streets outside the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. (Chris Moody/Yahoo News)
Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray speaks during a news conference as police respond to a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. Up to three gunmen, at least two dressed in military-style clothing, killed several people and wounded at least four others in a shooting spree at the U.S. Navy Yard on Monday, officials said. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
A law enforcement officer with a rifle sits in a helicopter above the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Evacuees raise their hands as they are escorted from the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
Law enforcement officers respond to the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. Several people were killed and others injured when at least one gunman opened fire at the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington D.C. on Monday, authorities said. One Navy official said that four people had died and eight others were injured, but other officials suggested caution over those numbers saying the situation was in flux. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
A Washington Police Emergency Response Team armored car (R) and other emergency vehicles fill M Street, Southeast, as they respond to a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. Several people were killed and others were injured in the shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. on Monday. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
Law enforcement officers are deployed on a rooftop as they respond to a shooting on the base at the Navy Yard in Washington, September 16, 2013. The U.S. Navy said several people were injured and there were possible fatalities in the shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. on Monday. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
Members of various law enforcement agencies are pictured at the Washington Navy Yard campus in Washington, September 16, 2013. A gunman shot several people at the U.S. Navy Yard on Monday, with possible fatalities reported and the shooter being sought at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, the Navy said. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
A police helicopter is seen as police walk on the roof of a building as they respond to a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, in Washington September 16, 2013. A gunman shot five people at the U.S. Navy Yard on Monday, including two law enforcement officers, and the shooter was being sought in a building housing the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, officials said. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
Office workers are evacuated from the scene of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, USA, 16 September 2013. At least six people have been killed in a shooting at the US Navy Yard in Washington, base spokesman Ed Buclatin says. Several people have been injured after a shooter opened fire at the Navy Yard this morning. One suspect in the deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard was found dead after a firefight with police, while two other men were being sought as ‘possible’ suspects, Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said. EPA/SHAWN THEW
A police boat patrols near the scene of a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, Sept. 16, 2013, in Washington. At least one gunman opened fire inside a building at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday morning. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
The building where the mass shooting happened. Please click the photo for larger image. (Ahmad Ali Karim for Ahmad Ali JetPlane Pics)
Residents walk around through the debris of their neighborhood after a possible tornado ripped through the Trussville, Ala. area in the early hours of Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Jefferson County sheriff’s spokesman Randy Christian said the storm produced a possible tornado that moved across northern Jefferson County around 3:30 a.m., causing damage in Oak Grove, Graysville, Fultondale, Center Point, Clay and Trussville. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
A city phone is seen covered with hoarfrost, with the air temperature at about minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit), in Kiev, February 1, 2012. (REUTERS)
Tourists look at the Perito Moreno glacier after the rupture of a massive ice wall near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina, March 4, 2012. The glacier, a massive tongue of ice in the Santa Cruz province that covers 250 square kilometres (97 square miles), advances yearly into a lake, known as Lago Argentino. As Perito Moreno moves forward, it cuts off a river feeding the lake. Water builds up pressure and slowly undermines the ice, forming a tunnel until ice comes tumbling down. The phenomenon repeats itself at irregular intervals, with the last major ice falls occurring in 2008. REUTERS/Andres Arce (ARGENTINA – Tags: ENVIRONMENT TRAVEL)
Demonstrators thew all kinds of things towards a moving police car and attacking the car. The photo shows demonstrators kicking the car and someone climbed onto the car kicking the windscreen. They then hit the driver and a reporter who tried to help the bleeding policeman. Are they peaceful people?
The Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco, the longest suspension bridge in the world was opened on May 27, 1937. A view taken from one of the towers of pedestrians swarming across the Golden Gate Bridge immediately after the opening. (AP Photo)
Egypt’s first Islamist president Mohamed Mursi attends his swearing in ceremony in this still image from a video footage in Cairo June 30, 2012. Mursi took his oath of office on Saturday, ending six decades of rule by former military men although the generals in charge since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year have already curbed his powers. REUTERS/Egyptian Television via Reuters TV
Fireworks ignite over the Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 28, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in New York. Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)
This 2012 photo provided by the family shows Emilie Alice Parker. Parker was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of the Parker Family)
In Palestine, Afghanistan andSyria innocent children and teachers were killed in schools because of the wars.
A medical examiner, Dr. H. Wayne Carver said at a news conference Saturday the deaths are classified as homicides; saying that he believes “everybody was hit more than once.”
Why must this happened?
Now, the United States of America seems to be facing a very big problem – mass shooting.
It happened everywhere in public places, cinema,malls, schools and lots of other places that should be safe from this kind of disaster.
I am very sad especially because I am also a kid and I know that there is nothing much that kids could do to protect ourselves in such situations.
I wonder why that happens again and again.
Maybe the freedom of owning guns in America, allowed some people to use the guns for killing other people.
But why must they killed other people, the people who they didn’t even know?
And is it the right thing to let people own guns freely?
Owning guns means that they can use them any time and any where; even for mass shootings.
May be the problems started because there is too much freedom and human rights.
May be some people might think that it is their rights to do what ever they want to do with their guns; including mass killing.
Is all this fair for children like me?
I don’t think so.
How about our rights as children, should kids carry guns too to protect ourselves like adults?
I guess America has too much freedom when too much freedom is not always good.
Americans are very proud of their freedom and liberty.
“My country ‘tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty…”
“…From every mountain side,
Let the freedom ring.”
So people are always fighting for their rights and freedom in everything without thinking about other people’s rights.
They may become selfish and had forgotten about good values especially of respecting others.
So, too much freedom is not always good.
And to the Malaysians who support the oppositions parties especially PKR fighting for total freedom, and look at the United States as an ideal example, please think about all these.
If they follow United States of America in fighting for freedom and human rights, this is what that will happen to Malaysia later on.
Total freedom seems to be a nice idea, but is it really good for all of us, our communities and our country?
I am very sad and sorry for all the victims’ families and friends.
Please click here for more photos of the victims.
(Please click the photos for larger images)
This photo posted to the Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page shows Emilie Parker. Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, Robbie Parker the father of 6-year-old Emile Parker who was gunned down in Friday’s school shooting in Connecticut told the world about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman. (AP Photo/Emilie Parker Fund)
This Nov. 18, 2012 photo provided by John Engel shows Olivia Engel, 6, in Danbury, Conn. Olivia Engel. Olivia Engel, was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Engel Family, Tim Nosezo)
In this undated photo provided by Mark Sherlach, Mark Sherlach and his wife, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, pose for a photo. Mary Sherlach was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Mark Sherlach)
This 2012 photo provided by the family shows Lauren Rousseau. Rousseau was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Rousseau Family)
This July 2010 photo provided by the Newtown Bee shows Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/Eliza Hallabeck) MANDATORY CREDIT: NEWTOWN BEE,
Good Morning America – Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza: ‘Obviously Not Well’ (ABC News)
On December 14, 2012, there was another mass shooting in the United States of America.
This disaster happened just three days after masked gunman Jacob Roberts opened fire in a busy Oregon mall, killing two before turning the gun on himself.
Twenty children and six adult died in the incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Eighteen children died in the school while another two students died later in a hospital.
The shooter was identified as a 20 years old man named Adam Lanza.
He first killed his mother, Nancy Lanza (who was a teacher teaching in the school) at their house before he drove to Sandy Hook Elementary.
He left his house armed with at least two semi automatic handguns, a Glock and a Sig Sauer, and a semi automatic rifle and wearing a bullet proof vest
After the incident happen, all the schools in the state were lock down.
It is the second worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
The worst was the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 when 32 were killed before the shooter turned the gun on himself.
I wonder why there are too much mass shooting in the United States.
And I wonder why people did this kind of thing because the shooters won’t be gaining anything good from killing other people.
I think the U.S. should have better security for their people especially the children and the government can’t let people buy guns freely any more because this could happen again and again when guns are easily available.
It is sad because there had been lots of mass shootings in U.S. schools before.
I’m so sad and sorry to the victims and their families.
(Please click the photos for bigger images)
State police personnel lead children from the school following a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Dec. 14, 2012. (Shannon Hicks/Newtown Bee)
Media, parents and emergency responders are swarming Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. following confirmed multiple shooting deaths, Dec. 14, 2012. (Gary Jeanfaivre/Newtown Patch)
A couple reacts following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012. (Gary Jeanfaivre/Newtown Patch)
President Barack Obama wipes his eye as he talks about the Connecticut elementary school shooting, Dec. 14, 2012, in the White House briefing room in Washington. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)
Police and ambulance, Dec. 14, 2012, at the scene from the aftermath of a school shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that brought police swarming into the leafy neighborhood, while other area schools were put under lock-down, police and local media said. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)
People gather outside a fire house near the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012. (EPA)
State Police inspect the area around the Sandy Hook Elementary School after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012. (Wang Lei/Xinhua/ZUMA)
Girls embraces outside St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which was filled to capacity, during a healing service held in for victims of an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012. (Charles Krupa/AP Photo)
Investigators look over evidence on ground outside the back door of the Century 16 movie theater east of the Aurora Mall in Aurora, Colo. on Friday, July 20, 2012. A gunman in a gas mask barged into a crowded Denver-area theater during a midnight showing of the Batman movie on Friday, hurled a gas canister and then opened fire in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Early on Friday July 20, 2012, there was another mass shooting in the United States.
This time 12 people were killed and 59 people were injured including children in a mass shooting at the ‘Batman – The Dark Knight Rises’ premiere at a mall in Aurora, Colorado.
The suspect’s name is James Eagan Holmes who is 24 years old.
He was armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and a pistol.
Dressed in black with a gas mask, ballistic helmet, vest, throat guard and crotch guard, he told the police that he was Batman’s enemy, the Joker.
REUTERS reported that police said Holmes also booby-trapped his Aurora apartment with what appeared to be sophisticated explosives, creating a potential hazard for law-enforcement and bomb squad officers who swarmed to the scene and authorities evacuated five nearby buildings and created a perimeter of several blocks as they planned to detonate the suspected explosives with a robot.
Police use a video camera to look inside an apartment where the suspect in a shooting at a movie theatre lived in Aurora, Colo., Friday, July 20, 2012. As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
I am very sad and sorry for the victims, their families and friends.
People especially children should not watch or read violent stories because they might be influenced to commit violent actions.
Even when the story shows the hero fighting against violent enemies like Batman and other superhero, some people are influenced by the nemesis who uses violence to hurt others.
And the problem will be worse in countries where owning guns are legal because people can use the guns to hurt others and also for mass shootings.
It is a disaster when people hurt others just because they feel like doing it.
Investigators look over evidence on ground outside the back door of the Century 16 movie theater east of the Aurora Mall in Aurora, Colo. on Friday, July 20, 2012. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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