Thursday, April 19, 2012

Missouri Man Shoots Wife and Himself - Both Critical


Police said Harry James Young, 39, drove past his estranged wife, Kellie Young, 24, who was sitting in her car on South Carr with a man and two small children.

That's when Young turned around and drove back to where she was, got out of his car and shot Kellie in her arm and torso.

Witnesses told police Young also tried shooting the man in the passenger seat but he was able to run away, neither child was injured.

After Young left the scene he was stopped by a Sedalia police officer. As the officer was giving him commands, Young shot himself in the head.
I wonder if he was a lawful gun owner or if he held a concealed carry permit. Oftentimes in these dramatic scenes no one checks on that. But, the pro-gun crowd is quick to claim the percentage of lawful gun owners and especially concealed carry guys who do stuff like this is extremely low. I don't buy it. And besides, whatever the actual percentage is, in my opinion it's too high.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

7 comments:

  1. My opinion is that Kellie Young shouldn't have anything to do any more with the man who ran out on her when her life and the lives of two children were in danger. Of course, had she or this unnamed man had a gun, this incident may have been resolved in a better way.

    But here you go again, trying to smear carry license holders without evidence. Did anyone check to see if Harry Young has tuberculosis? Does he work for the local grocery store? Is he a civilian contractor for the CIA? Lots of questions here. . .

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  2. I've asked your last question of some law enforcement here. They confirmed that many times the shooters do have a conceal carry license, but it isn't revealed. If a shooter has a prior record of violence, it is usually revealed in the media reports, but the flip side isn't reported on (which would require police to reveal it, or an investigation by the media, which took too much trouble and time to meet their deadlines). Don't want to tarnish the lie that all conceal carry permit holders are law-abiding citizens forever just because they once passed a background check, and that they don't have the same passions or failings as every other human being.

    As of last week, here in Oregon, it is no longer possible for the media (or people who feel endangered) to find out if a particular person has a CCL, which puts us all in greater danger and prevents media scrutiny of the CCL permitting process. So now there will likely be no reporting at all about it, at least in Oregon, unless the shooter himself or someone who knows him reveals it.

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    1. Man who steals the names of Norse gods, I have no objection to the police pulling the licenses of people who commit disqualifying crimes, nor do I object to this being reported. Perhaps you'd care to support your claim with some names and contact information so we can verify it? You will note that I've never said that the number of license holders who screw up is zero. That's likely impossible when dealing with human beings. My opinion, based on the evidence that I've seen, is that the number is tiny.

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    2. "it is no longer possible for the media (or people who feel endangered) to find out if a particular person has a CCL"

      Gosh that's really too bad. Of course it also stops anti-gun bloggers (such as Jadegold on this blog) from using that information to harass people.

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    3. Once you accept violating one kind of right, violating others isn't so hard. First it's guns, then goes privacy. Soon it'll be speech, but only the speech rights of those who disagree.

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    4. Greg, think about what you're saying instead of just repeating what you've heard.

      That doesn't necessarily follow. Besides, we're not talking about removing anything or violating anything. We're talking about raising the bar a little bit.

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    5. Mikeb, stop accusing me of repeating the ideas of others. I'll tell you when I'm citing another's thoughts. Privacy is a serious concern in our society.

      As I've told you before, I came to believing in gun rights after seeing the argument of Lawrence Tribe and others who say that if one amendment of the Constitution can be ignored or interpreted as having no individual application, there's nothing to stop the same from happening to the others. Privacy, speech, and religion are three that could easily be removed if we don't value rights.

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