Mount Rainier shooting Suspect in the slaying of Mt Rainier park ranger has been found dead, vi

[The Straight Story]

http://www.breakingnews.com/

Nothing further yet

[MoonRiver]

1. Just heard he was an Iraq war veteran.

He probably suffered from PTSD. That horrible war has destroyed so many lives, including the totally innocent park ranger.

[Ilsa]

3. Oh god, how horribly sad.

Innocent people will be paying the cost of the war for decades.

[gateley]

7. That's always my first thought when I hear of a veteran who served (and served

and served) over there. I feel some responsibility for their going over the edge.

[Siwsan]

2. Will this come down to a case of untreated PTSD?

This outcome doesn't surprise me. It sounded like he took off into the wilds with no provisions. This was probably his only perceived solution. Very sad, on every level.

[SteveW]

33. And they called this lost soul a "survivalist"...

Perhaps it makes folks feel better that he can be tagged with a nasty-sounding label, rather than face the fact he had gone over the edge due to an abusive foreign and military policy.

[Burgman]

4. Why oh why did he have to take two children's mother away first?

And yes, I hold lax gun control somewhat responsible.

[Cleita]

5. Maybe the new law that allows anyone to carry firearms in parks, not just hunters.

This is tragic all the way around.

[PavePusher]

9. Umm, yeah, because people willing to kill others would be stymied by a "no guns" law....

and the legal carriers have been commiting massacres left and right....?

And most parks do not allow any hunting.

[Cleita]

18. You are right national parks as a rule don't but they did pass a law about it.

Here's an old article about it:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/05/national_parks_gun_law_take_ef.html

[PavePusher]

22. Yes, I know all about this law.

It does not affect hunting at all, and it has nothing to do with allowing people to carry arms for criminal actions.

All it does is allow people to carry under the laws of the state the Park is in, for legal defensive and sporting purposes.

So far there has been no evidence that it has caused an increase in crime, or enabled any crime.

[rustydog]

35. you're right..the Conservative Architects of the repeal were guaranteed the 2nd Amendment vote

Fer shure!! dude, now I can pack my rod in Mt. Ranier National Park!!! Thank you Republicans

[PavePusher]

36. Gee, thanks for adding to the discussion so thoughtfully.

I have no idea what you meant, but it seems it was important... to you.

[SteveW]

10. Where was the "new law" nearly 30 years ago?

http://www.facebook.com/notes/national-fraternal-order-of-police/fop-thwarts-parole-for-cop-killer-again/345255788821920?_fb_noscript=1

And there are others before the "new law." Game wardens and park rangers have dangerous jobs -- a well-known fact to most for nearly a century.

[Cleita]

19. They do, which is why they should be allowed to be armed as much as any

other law enforcement agency.

[SteveW]

30. I think they are armed as much, if they so choose to carry...

By now, most LEOs have become sufficiently militarized that those without semi-auto carbines (the "scary assault weapons" much of the debate centers on) are the exception rather than the rule.

I am unclear on the particulars of this story. Was the park ranger shot with a "scary" gun or a shotgun?

I knew a Vietnam vet who lived for a few years in the Ocala (FL) National Forest. He didn't flip out, if for no other reason that this big stretch of scrub (the setting for "The Yearling," "South Moon Under," and "Cross Creek&quot is heavily hunted.

[gateley]

12. I think he probably would have brought his weapons into the park even if

was still illegal. He was already being sought for a shooting, he wasn't worried about following the law.

In this instance, anyway, I don't think the gun law/permit was a factor.

[Cleita]

20. Maybe not, but it just made it easier. n/t

[PavePusher]

23. How did it make it "easier"?

It is still illegal to carry loaded long-guns in cars in most states/Parks.

[Cleita]

24. Nevermind.

You are looking to fight with me and not have a reasonable discussion.

[PavePusher]

26. Not at all. I'm asking what information you have and where it comes from....

because it's erroneous to the best of my knowledge.

If your sources/ideas are better than mine, I'd like to consider them.

[Cleita]

27. When it comes to gun rights, there is no middle ground for coming together it seems.

I am somewhat it the middle, and have been a gun owner myself in the past, yet I don't believe every civilian on the street should be allowed to own one just because they haven't killed someone with it yet. I will never convince hard line gun owners of this and if you are, there is no point in engaging in what would be a fruitless argument.

[PavePusher]

28. The "middle ground" is that it is a Constitutional Right and can only be removed by Amendment...

or a court order on an individual.

Just like all our other Constitutional Rights.

YMMV

[PavePusher]

29. P.S. You seem to be studiously ignoring the question... n/t

[SteveW]

31. Actually, the restrictions on gun ownership are more strict...

than what you assert:

"I am somewhat it the middle, and have been a gun owner myself in the past, yet I don't believe every civilian on the street should be allowed to own one just because they haven't killed someone with it yet."

The current standard is no felons should have a gun, and no one who has been adjudicated mentally incompetent should have a gun. Therefore the standard for having a gun is much stricter than having not "...killed someone with it yet." No one who supports the Second Amendment needs convincing with regards to your standard; they already subscribe to a stricter one.

[The Straight Story]

13. Make a new law that says you cannot shoot people, and people won't

Cause someone who is going to kill someone is going to obey other laws....

[Cleita]

21. When a law disarms one side and allows the other side to be armed,

there's something wrong in OZ.

[PavePusher]

25. The law allowing Citizens to carry defensive arms in Parks....

does nothing to disarm federal employees.

[SteveW]

32. I quite agree. nt

[KT2000]

37. Ranger Anderson Was armed

but she did not have a chance to draw her weapon. She was in her car for the roadblock.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. You mistate the law

Please try and be more accurate in the future

[Cleita]

17. If you are going to accuse me of inaccuracy,

then please state what is accurate or inaccurate instead of making a vague blanket statement.

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. The laws that allowed an unstable man to have an 'arsenal' seem more of a problem

The mother of his toddler daughter sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to court documents.

She alleged that he gets easily irritated, angry and depressed and keeps an arsenal of weapons in his home. She wrote that she feared for the child’s safety. Undated photos provided by police showed a shirtless, tattooed Barnes brandishing two large weapons.

The woman told authorities Barnes was suicidal and possibly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008, and had once sent her a text message saying “I want to die.”

In November 2011, a guardian ad litem recommended parenting and communication classes for both parents as well as a visitation schedule for Barnes until he completed evaluations for domestic violence and mental health and complied with treatment recommendations.

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/02/police_body_found_at_wash_park_is_that_of_gunman-4/

He was already fleeing from another shooting incident, outside the park. The laws about guns in the park cannot have made any difference, I think.

[seabeyond]

6. i am sad for all. nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I was there on the 31st.

The pay station to the national park is just inside the park boundary. A couple of miles farther up the road, inside the park is the village of Longmire. The road to Paradise and the Henry Jackson visitor center has a park ranger stationed there verifying that each vehicle proceeding up the mountain has chains or snow tires.

As I understand it, the shooter didn't stop for that ranger, so he radioed ahead. In response, Ranger Anderson who was on her way down the mountain blocked the narrow roadway with her vehicle. Barnes got out of his guns-and-body-armor laden car, and shot her before fleeing into the woods.

January 1st was the first full day that the snow-play area at paradise was open to the public. There were at least 100 families sledding, skiiing and snowshoeing on that sunny afternoon. Many of them owe their lives to Ranger Anderson.

http://www.king5.com/news/crime/Massive-search-underway-for-rangers-killer-136532718.html

[barbtries]

11. wow.

thank you for sharing your story.

[go west young man]

15. The Iraq war comes home yet again.

Sad for the ranger and her family. A wrong decision 10 years ago by Cheney, Bush and the neocons is what indirectly brought this about.

[go west young man]

16. Scrub that to a decision based upon a lie.