Finally a vet connection to the Empire State shooting
Biermann sends us a link to CNN who finally was able to connect the gunman outside of the Empire State Building to the military. Yup, he was in the Coast Guard in the 1970s. I know there were Coast Guard in Vietnam, but Jeffrey Johnson, 58 turned 18 in 1972 after all US combat troops were withdrawn, so it’s not likely that Johnson served in combat, so it may be difficult for them to blame his actions on PTSD or other war-time trauma.
The shooting might dissuade the New York police Department from continuing their use of the 9mm, though;
Johnson died from nine gunshot wounds in his chest, the medical examiner’s office said. Three bullets were recovered from his body, while another four bullets exited his body, the medical examiner said. No explanation was given for two apparently unaccounted for bullets.
When it takes nine hits to kill someone who is shooting at you, time to change guns. However, if they’re going to be such poor marksmen, maybe the public is safer with the cops using 9mm;
Nine pedestrians suffered bullet or fragment wounds in the hail of gunfire, all from shots fired by police, Kelly said. Three passers-by sustained direct gunshot wounds, while the remaining six were hit by fragments, Kelly said.
I erroneously, in my original post, linking to Fox, said Johnson had been fired the day before from his job where the shooting took place. I seems he’d been stewing in his apartment over the firing for a year. And, oh, yeah the CNN article mentioned that the victim, Steven Ercolino, 41, had filed a complaint with the local courts about Johnson in which he said he anticipated his fate. So, not only did government fail to protect bystanders in the incident, by training their officers to look beyond the target when firing in a crowd, they also failed to protect the intended victim by disregarding his complaint.
So let’s write some more gun laws, shall we?
Category: Guns, Liberals suck
@42: Very well said.
It could be worse. We could have joined an “Iraq Veteran” group and never have set foot in Iraq.
@39 I have been shot at a couple times when I was in Iraq with the 82nd never been shot though.. Where were you shot paint napping? I guess you must be the most bad ass helicopter mechanic in the history of the military.
And to that idiot Hondo, I don’t know who Dewald is but you couldn’t be more wrong the only thing I hate more than IVAW members are old POGs who never did anything trying to talk tough.
Actually Hondo, the only thing I caught over there was chlamydia and let me tell you getting your dickhole swabbed for that is about 50 times harder than the worst thing Sparky or any of his fellow seamen were subjected to.
Sparky, I have a GWOTEM, what part of my post did you misconstrue before you came up with that abortion.
@43Sparky you can end this debate by producing a DD-214 that has a Combat Action Ribbon on it and it will shut your detractors up.. I had to produce a DD-214 to show my CIB. (still waiting for my apology by the way Hondo)
No one said it took 9 bullets to kill him, just they hit him 9 times. I could have just been 1 bullet.
NYPD uses 9mm FMJ ammo, they do not use hollow points. They also use the Glock NY-2 trigger, which is a 12 pound trigger pull that gets progressively heavier and heavier through the trigger press until it finally breaks. Its difficult to shoot accurately even given time, much less than in a situation where one has to shoot very quickly. Finally, in the endless 9mm vs. .45 debate I have a couple of thoughts. Several years ago a friend of mine, former Marine Scout Sniper, Staff NCO, Army Ranger School graduate and a well known (in IDPA/USPSA competition shooting circles), multi-time national champion in both IDPA and USPSA, told me about a friend of his, a cop in Chicago, who he described as an outstanding shooter…high praise from a multi-time national champion. He was in 2 shootouts in a very brief period of time. First one using a Sig 226 9mm, shot the perpetrator multiple times, and it took the guy 2-3 days before he died. The cop swore that 9mm was crap and he needed to go w/ a .45. Shortly after he got back on the street after the investigation into the first shooting ended he gets a call to a domestic, suspect likely armed. The cop is now carrying a .45 cal SIG 220, 8 rounds in the mag plus one in the chamber. Bottom line is the suspect comes around the corner of the house with a rifle, the cop is under 10 yards from him w/ his weapon already out as he approached the house, and he empties his SIG 220 into the guy’s upper chest, 7 out of the 9 rounds in the gun hitting him close together in the upper thoracic cavity of the suspect’s chest, i.e. a nice group. Suspect looks at the cop, says “I’m gonna kill you mother f***er,” and begins to raise his rifle. Cop is now empty and starts to move around the front lawn and reload. He finally ends the gunfight w/ two rounds to the suspects head. Moral of the story…ALL handgun rounds are crappy fight… Read more »
Odd, if my memory serves me well in 1972 the U.S. Coast Guard was not under the Department of Defense, but a branch of the Department of Treasury. So maybe they need to look at those crazy Federal Agents.
For the benefit of some who post here: Jonn – TAH’s owner – is out of pocket a while today. And he’s placed a few who post here occasionally on his “moderated comments” list.
Being placed on that list means Jonn has to OK your comments prior to them appearing (if he decides to let them appear at all). So if you’re on his “list” and have posted something that has yet to appear – well, that’s why.
His site, his rules. Don’t like it? Go elsewhere.
@56 Well, from my limited experience here Jonn is a hell of lot more liberal (my apologies for the term) in allowing dissent than the supposedly “liberal” free speech sites.
I have a great deal of respect for Jonn as he allows folks who are obviously here to only disagree as trolls to voice their opinions, unlike the f#cktards at DU and other sites.
His site, his rules? Certainly, but he is extremely fair about allowing dissent. It makes this blog far more interesting for me because we can all voice our viewpoint and respond appropriately to those who disagree or are offering a divergent opinion.
You too Hondo are very good about backing your dissent with facts and explaining things without hyperbole, I have come to respect many of you for voicing your opinions clearly and with factual certainly where applicable. I’m not a fanboy of very much these days, but I could be rapidly approaching fanboy status here. Thanks for all the good work you guys do, this site has been a breath of fresh air for this old fart and I enjoy it immensely.
Lowglow: the USCG has never been a permanent part of the Department of Defense. In peacetime it has been organizationally a part of Treasury (modern-day formation in 1915 to 1967, with predecessor organizations originating under Treasury in 1790), Transportation (1967-2003); and DHS (2003-present). However, it’s a recognized uniformed military service, and is “chopped” to DoD on declaration of war, or when formally so ordered by Congress or POTUS. When “chopped”, Coast Guard elements so chopped come under the operational control of the Navy. By Title 14, USC, it is defined to be a military service, making it the only US military service that is technically not a part of DoD.
There are two other Federal services that few realize are also considered uniformed service. Those are the Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Corps. The former falls under HHS; the latter, under Commerce. These latter two are noncombatant services and are technically not military service by law; however, each can be militarized by Presidential directive.
@58.
The PHS is alot more powerful than people think. Especially their CDC arm.
Thanks for the clarification Hondo, I hadn’t figured that out. So when is Jonn coming back from the NAMBLA convention? Actually, aren’t you supposed to be there with him, I thought he was your “plus 1”.
@57 VOV–I don’t mind using facts and logic to debate the dissenters, however, when they become trolls it becomes readily apparent that these measures will fail and that all there is left to do is simply deliver a swift sharp kick to the nutsack.
You’re welcome, Gallagher Fan. Always willing to help out those with mental and/or reading comprehension challenges. You obviously seem to be afflicted with both.
Since you obviously have a problem with reading comprehension and/or memory: as Jonn clearly stated elsewhere, he’s at the RNC. He’s not the NAMBLA convention – so you won’t see him when you attend the latter.
Now, about “GWOT deployments”: you do realize that there are GWOT-related deployments to areas not covered by the GWOTEM, don’t you? And that people mobilized for such get the GWOTSM (along with the AFRM) vice the GWOTEM?
And you do realize that having a GWOTEM proves nothing about serving in combat – don’t you? A helluva lot of folks who served in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, and many other places where there has been effectively zero enemy activity qualified for that one. Hell, even part of the Med qualified at one time.
Come back with documentation showing you earned the GWOTEM for service in Iraq or Afghanistan if you want to play that card, fella. Otherwise STFU.
Oh, and you really should go and get yourself re-checked for syphilis. I understand that it’s often acquired along with other STDs that present more immediate symptoms, but is often not initially diagnosed or treated properly. So you might want to be tested, since you freely admitted above you’ve acquired other STDs in the past – just to make sure they didn’t miss the diagnosis then, or that you haven’t acquired it since. It can be really bad news if it’s not properly treated. If goes neural, it can lead to progressive loss of mental function and out-of-control, paranoid behavior. Kinda like you’ve been exhibiting in your comments here.
The Dude: no apology? Really? Then you either (1) can’t read, (2) are lazy as hell, or (3) enjoy lying through your teeth.
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=31253#comment-657987
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=31253#comment-658816
@68 my mistake you did send an apology.. The Dude errored
@68: no biggie. My apologies for being somewhat harsh in comment 67.
Keep this up, and you might convince me you and DUIDave are two different individuals.
@53: Oh, you were shot at in Iraq with the 82nd? Cool. What does having been shot have to do with me being a weapons tech on attack helicopters? Here we go with your inflated opinion of yourself, once again. Why don’t you do us all a favor and start a web page that shows how much you love yourself? As for being a badass? I’ve never said I was, but I have stood up to jackholes like you that make every attempt to run down the service of others in order to make yourself feel better about being a complete waste of oxygen. One assmunch (I’m pretty sure it was you or your boyfriend, it’s hard to tell the difference because you two are always spooning) got all tough talking until it came time to put up or shut up. I didn’t back down, even through all the bullshit and threats of bodily harm, but that person did and started making all sorts of excuses, including admitting being a pussy, as to why they wouldn’t show up. So, if that makes me a badass, then I guess I will accept your definition.
[…] because if New Yorkers are going to get shot, I guess he wants them shot by local […]