Zero Tolerance No Solution To High Profile Shootings
July 20, 2003
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
The American public and the media are apparently living in a strangely unreal world when they imagine that simple solutions are immediately available to prevent forever the reoccurrence of multiple murders that have taken place in several parts of the country in recent days.
We used to hear that these horrible incidents happened “only in America,” but that’s not true as recent multiple murders in several European cities have shown. Even if one could wave a magic wand and make all the guns suddenly disappear, we would still see mass murders occur. They’ve been committed with motor vehicles, bombs, gasoline-fed fires, and even swords.
And in the absence of such a magic wand, the zero tolerance approach which has been adopted in many workplaces and schools actually facilitates mass murder by preventing the intended victims from being armed to defend themselves, their co-workers and their students.
Taking away one instrument of aggression never guarantees that the mass murderers will not find another.
The whole debate over so-called gun violence ignores the societal factors that can facilitate such frequent mayhem, which often seem to occur in copycat clusters. Rather than search for real causes and establish practical frameworks for putting defensive measures in place, the extremist agents of the civilian disarmament movement immediately exploit each individual tragic event. They reach immediately to link the most recent event to their continuing agenda, and when that fails, they contrive a lawsuit.
There is no simple solution even though the anti-gunners always have a quick fix ready.
Meridian, MS
When a factory worker in Meridian, MS, opened fire with a shotgun at a Lockheed Martin aircraft parts plant on July 8, leaving five fellow employees dead and eight others wounded before committing suicide, the Brady Bunch had an immediate news release ready.
Mike Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said:
“We need to do everything in our power to support law enforcement as they sort out the terrible details of this horrible crime. In the wake of yet another horrible mass shooting, Congress and President Bush need no more reminders of why they should work to reauthorize and strengthen the federal ban on assault weapons. While we don’t yet know what weapon was used in this tragedy, we do know that rapid-fire assault weapons are designed for this type of terrible assault.”
According to wire service reports, dozens of employees at the aircraft parts plant frantically ran for cover after assembly worker Doug Williams, started firing randomly during a morning break.
Exactly what set Williams off was not immediately clear, but co-workers said he had had run-ins with management and several fellow employees. He was also labeled a racist and a hot-head by some co-workers.
“Mr. Williams was mad at the world. This man had an issue with everybody,” said co-worker Hubert Threat. “It’s not just about race. It was just the excuse he was looking for.”
Williams was white, and four of his dead victims were black; the fifth was white.
Nevertheless, Sheriff Billy Sollie said it appeared Williams fired at random with a shotgun. “There was no indication it involved race or gender as far as his targets were concerned,” Sollie said.
Several co-workers said they were not surprised when Williams was identified as the killer.
“When I first heard about it, he was the first thing that came to my mind,” said Jim Payton, who is retired from the plant but had worked with Williams for about a year, according to Associated Press (AP).
“We are not sure if those killed were friend or foe,” the sheriff said.
Authorities said Williams was carrying a .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle when he entered the plant, but he apparently only used the 12-gauge shotgun. He also had three other small-caliber guns in his truck.
It was the nation’s deadliest workplace shooting since a software tester in Wakefield, MA, killed seven people the day after Christmas in 2000.
Oaklyn, NJ
Two days before the Meridian shootings, police in Oaklyn, NJ, near Camden, arrested three heavily armed teenagers in what investigators described as a plot to hijack a car and embark on a killing spree using rifles, handguns, knives, machetes and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
The arrests were made after a man told the police his car had been surrounded by three youths who appeared, as if from a nightmare, with pistols dangling from their waistbands as he drove along a residential street more than an hour before dawn. They carried rifles, shotguns and other weapons either in their arms or bulging from beneath their clothing, he said.
The driver, identified by AP on July 6 as Mathew Rich, did not stop. Instead, he drove around the three teenagers and flagged down a police patrol car a few blocks away, the authorities said.
The three New Jersey teenagers “planned on not being taken alive,” said Police Chief Christopher Ferrari of Oaklyn. Under police questioning, he said, the three had indicated “they had previous problems with students” and that fellow students were among the potential targets of their plot.
At a news conference on the evening of July 6, Vincent Sarubbi, the county prosecutor, identified the eldest of the three youths as Matthew Lovett, 18, a recent graduate of Collingswood High School outside Oaklyn, and called him the ringleader of a bizarre plot, long in the making.
“They developed a plan several months ago that they were going to kill three people and then go on a random killing spree throughout the town,” Sarubbi said. He would not identify the other youths because, he said, they were juveniles, ages 14 and 15.
“Their plan was to kill randomly until they used all 2,000 rounds of ammunition, spent their knives and exhausted all the other weapons they had,” Sarubbi said. He said all the weapons found in the possession of the three youths belonged to Lovett’s father. The guns, he said, were licensed.
Ferrari said the weapons found on the teenagers included two rifles, a shotgun, two handguns, two swords and several knives.
“We were able to avert a major catastrophe,” he said.
Investigators said the three teenagers were arrested before dawn in a tense encounter with the Oaklyn police officer flagged down by Rich, Charles Antrilli.
They said Antrilli encountered the three youths near the site of their aborted carjacking.
Antrilli approached the three in the street, Sarubbi said. Lovett responded by pointing a gun in the officer’s direction, Sarubbi said.
Antrilli then pulled his own gun, and ordered all three teenagers to drop their weapons, which they did, Sarubbi said.
The story of the New Jersey youths’ arrest made big news around the world and police where credited with foiling “another Columbine-style killings spree.”
And, of course, there was an anti-gun group on hand ready with an instant solution.
Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire NJ, said:
“First, Ceasefire New Jersey commends the Oaklyn Police Department for its quick and absolutely effective action in foiling what could have been a horrible tragedy. But, we should not have to depend on law enforcement to proactively protect us from such events. It is time for parents to remove guns from their homes to prevent more potential tragedies such as what almost occurred yesterday. That Oaklyn almost suffered a Columbine-type tragedy because young people had easy access to guns is an example of why parents need to act now.”
“But, more than any legal or legislative point, Ceasefire NJ believes that public attention should be directed to the fact that, if there had not been an abundance of guns available for these teens to take, there would be no story warranting such attention, and there would have been no potential massacre,” said Miller.
Simple minds, simple answers. Just pass more gun laws. Just get rid of the guns. That would ensure that there will be more such incidents because the criminals will figure out how to commit their crimes, with or without guns.
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