On Tuesday, January 15, 2013, in Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell's state, Kentucky, a young man who was in a child custody dispute with his girlfriend, "snapped" then legally purchased a semi-automatic and about 5 hours later, he killed his girlfriend, her 12 year old cousin and her uncle.
He "snapped."
Lexington Kentucky newspaper reports:
Hazard County, Kentucky police Chief, Minor Allen, said that Stidham had bought a semi-automatic, .40-caliber Glock pistol at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The paper reported that he bought the semi-automatic 5 hours before he murdered 3 people.
Kenny Woods, a Baptist minister who owns H&K Gun & Pawn Shop in Perry County, acknowledged Wednesday that Stidham bought the gun at his shop about 5 hours before the shootings. The sale was legal, Woods said.
"He cleared a background check without even a delay," Woods said. "Everything was fine with him."
Woods said he wouldn't have sold Stidham a gun if Stidham had been acting strangely.
Well, that's nice to know that the Baptist minister would not have sold the killer the semi-automatic weapon if he had been "
acting strangely." I guess after Stidham "snapped" he had "
resolved" to kill them and was at peace with his decision to buy a semi-automatic to go murder 3 people. I guess after you've resolved to killing people, you don't act "
strangely."
There was another story in the news in this past week of another person, James Yeager, who snapped and publicly stated he was going to start "killing people."
Yeager Snapped
James Yeager of Tennessee -- sort of -- admitted he "snapped" in a video he produced last Thursday where said he would "start killing people" if gun safety laws were enacted.
Friday, the
Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has suspended the handgun carry permit of James Yeager The TN Dept of Safety and Homeland Security said Yeager's gun permit was suspended because of the
“material likelihood of risk of harm to the public”. The TN Dept of Safety & Homeland Security also said Yeager is
not a certified instructor and is so-called school is also
not certified.
TN Dept of Safety & Homeland Security Full Statement:
The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security announced today the suspension of James Yeager’s handgun carry permit after he was featured in a threatening YouTube video post that went viral earlier this week.
The decision to suspend Yeager’s handgun carry permit was based on a “material likelihood of risk of harm to the public” (TCA 39-17-1352).
Yeager, 42, of Camden, Tenn., allegedly claimed he would “start killing people” if the Obama administration took executive action to pass gun control measures.
“The number one priority for our department is to ensure the public’s safety. Mr. Yeager’s comments were irresponsible, dangerous, and deserved our immediate attention. Due to our concern, as well as that of law enforcement, his handgun permit was suspended immediately. We have notified Mr. Yeager about the suspension today via e-mail, and he will receive an official notification of his suspension through the mail,” Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.
Mr. Yeager is also the CEO of Tactical Response, a firearms and tactical training school in Camden. He is not a Department of Safety and Homeland Security certified instructor, nor is his school department certified.
Mr. Yeager has the right to seek review of the department’s decision in the general sessions court of his county of residence or through the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
Yeager's Resolve
Yeager produced a video titled "Pack Your Bags" where he snapped and said, "
I'll start killing people" on January 9, 2013 and posted it on his facebook page. The original video has since been removed and replaced with an edited version where he removed his desire to "start killing people" if gun safety laws were enacted.
The next day, Thursday at at 4:13pm he posted a second video that he titled, "Pack Your Bags II." The second video was bizarre in that he started the video saying he only said "I'll start killing people" because he got "mad" and was not being "logical" then, as the video continued, he worked himself back into "snapped" mode and bragged and said he has "assembled an army."
YEAGER: I stirred up a lot in my "Pack Your Bags" video, so number two here. I - uh- was mad when I said it and probably allowed my mouth to - ah - to overrun - ah - my logic. But I don't - I don't - uh - I don't retract any of my statement. Now, I've edited my video and I've taken off the end where I said I'm gonna start shooten people.
James Yeager in video Pack Your Bags II, Jan 10, 2013
Interesting, he admits he got mad and 'snapped' but at the same time did not retract anything he said - hmmmmmm .....
Then he started ranting against people who have emailed him giving him their legal opinion. That's when he took a quantum leap back into "snapped" mode and said he didn't ask them for their "f'cking opinion" or ask them to "clog up his god damn email."
Then his "snapped" mode escalated and he started telling people to arm themselves, pack their bags and be ready.
YEAGER: People are asking me what they should do next. I don't know. I did tell you to load your mags, clean your guns and to pack a backpack. If you haven't done that, then don't call me and ask me what to do next because you haven't even done the first thing I asked you to do.
People are saying 'well it needed to be said but you shouldn't have said it.' Well look around who else is gonna say it? And all you fucken fair weathered 2nd Amendment People that are tellen me that I'm doin a fuckin disservice to the gun community by - by -by saying that I am not gonna STAND for the tyranny - FUCK YOU! Our country wasn't founded by FUCKIN fair weathered pussies. Either you're in or you're out. And if you're out don't call yourself a god damn 2nd Amendment advocate. It fuckin pisses me off! If you're not prepared to go all the way then you're not prepared to go anywhere.
James Yeager in video Pack Your Bags II, Jan 10, 2013
Next in his video he went straight to "resolve" mode and started telling people to arm themselves and pack their bags. bragging about the flood of people who now make up his "
army ... formidable" army.
YEAGER: Now I don't condone anybody doing anything rash. I do not condone anybody - uh - committing - uh - any kind of felonies - uh - up to and including aggravated assault - uh- or - or murders unless it is necessary. Right now it is not necessary.
And I understand that my video was very volatile and um - it really - I got - emails saying 'right on, my shit's packed.' You have no idea how many people - how quickly - I accidentally assembled an army. I assure you a quite formidable one
But -uh- but now is not the time. It is not the time yet. It is time to get ready - it is time to get ready. Start working out, stretching, start practicing - uh - start talking to your friends, coordinating on a local basis. I don't know what to say to do next. I have a wait and see attitude about the whole thing. But - uh - I stand fast with my message ... I have drawn my line in the sand-- not one more inch!
James Yeager in video Pack Your Bags II, Jan 10, 2013
Ok, so prior to Friday, when Homeland Security took his gun permit away, he could legally go out and buy any type of gun he wanted. I suppose he was considered a "law-abiding" citizen yet here he is, assembling an army and pretending he is the Commander in Chief of some army he assembled.
I think this video clearly shows he is plotting an insurrection against the government by bragging about his "formidable" army.
I think this video also shows that James Yeager is not mentally stable enough to own gun of any kind. Which is ironic because on January 14, the President of the NRA, David Keene told an audience that too often the mentally ill don't get treatment.
Keene said, but too often people who show signs of being dangerous to themselves or others don't get treated.
"And then when you look at what's happened, the Newtown shooting and all this, almost all of these people that are involved in these things are mentally schizophrenic and they've been spotted by people," Keene said. "Nobody's done anything about it."
In
Wayne LaPierre's press conference he complained that the government does not keep a list of the mentally ill. Based off of Yeager's videos, it seems that if the NRA got their way, their friend and NRA member James Yeager would be on that list.
LAPIERRE: A dozen more killers, a hundred more? How can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation’s refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill?
The NRA says that gun safety laws will "punish" law-abiding citizens. But as we see with the 21 year old killer in Kentucky who "snapped" and then 5 hours after he legally purchased his semi-automatic he killed 3 people, this guy Yeager who legally owns weapons but who also snapped and a few hours later he bragged about having a formidable army.
As far as I know, most of the mass murderers who have gone on shooting sprees were law-abiding citizens when they bought their weapons. Even the gun used in to murdered twenty 6 year olds was purchased legally by a law-abiding citizen - but her son "snapped" killed her and twenty 6 year old children along with 6 administrators.
My point is this: law-abiding citizens have easy access to assault-style weapons and high-capacity (assault) ammunition -- then they "snap", or someone around them "snaps" and we have mass murder.
In my view, gun safety laws are geared to get the number of deaths by assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammo down as close to zero as we can get it.
We have no Constitutional right to own any style of gun we wish to own -- which is why hand-held rocket propelled grenades are not legally sold to civilians. That is also why we have had restrictions on guns since at least 1934 and those gun restrictions were upheld in 1939. Gun restrictions are nothing new to America. No one is talking about disarming the people ... just disarming them with weapons that can cause mass murder in an attempt to get the number of deaths in a shooting spree as close to zero as we can get.
The Constitution does not, I repeat not, grant the people the right to take up arms against the government. No matter how many times Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America claims that's what the Constitution says, he is wrong.
Larry Pratt; The Second Amendment is there to constrain the government. Not the people.
Pratt interviewed by Chris Wallace January 2013.
In fact, the
Constitution forbids the people from taking up arms against the Government in Article 1 Section 8 Clause 15 (the Militia Clause) where it is the government job to protect the People's government by using the Military, if need be, to suppress an insurrection (like what this Yeager guy is talking about.)
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
US Constitution; Article 1, Section 8, Clause 15:
The Constitution says the government is to protect the people - which is why the Constitution guarantees us a Military regulated by Congress and Commander in Chief. The people need to be protected from law-abiding citizens who "snap" and use assault-style weapons to commit mass murder in public and private places.