Man Making Bomb Threat Shot

[jgalar]

TSA wants to put armed marshalls on trains, ferrys and buses also. Have fun with that one!

[williamlayton]

I see a couple of things going on here, and some by the same folks, that seem contradictory.
If the Agencies of the government are cautious they are not doing their jobs. If they attempt to be pro-active or act too prevent, then they are big brother trying to control the citizens.
All think they could not only do it better but could be perfect in all their decisions.
Folks, agencies of the government work under the directives [laws] given them. these are their marching orders. They do not make all of this up as they go.
The majority of my concern is that the state of confusion comes when the government changes hands after each election and new folks, who normally do not have a clue about the agency they are appointed to direct, come in and  "DO SOMETHING" because they think they have too.
It must be confusing to the guys on the line to get a new LT. and he is going to "DO SOMETHING."
I hate fresh LT'S.
Blessings

[Leverdude]

William makes a good point when he says

If they attempt to be pro-active or act too prevent, then they are big brother trying to control the citizens.

See our country wasn't formed with the idea that the Gov't needed to prevent things & police were meant to catch bad guys, not prevent crime. After all in America your supposedly innocent until; found guilty or at the very least until you commit a crime,  The whole idea that a government agency can act in a reventative manner throws out the presumption of innocence.
Anytime the Gov acts preventatively they are trying to control the populace.
Personally I'd feel better about this whole thing if an armed citizen did the shooting. The guy surely brought it upon himself but if we allow our gov't to kill our citizens to create an illusion of saftey then the terrorists win. They killed him & if they are wrong & killed an innocent man they should be treated as you or I would.

[DirtyHarry]

Innocent until proven guilty is great and I believe in the theory, until you throw suicide bombers / suicide terrorists into the mix. Then that theory doesn't wash anymore.
With these kind of terrorists the action taken against them can not be reactive, it must be proactive, and in being proactive you are going to make more mistakes. This shooting was most likely a mistake, but it could have been avoided. If you are a physco take your meds, or expect to have problems.

[Nightrain52]

Another theory to throw in the mix. Could it have also been profileing? They said the man was from Central America so could he fit the profile of a terrorist? In this case there is no clear winner or loser. Why didn't the wife make sure he took his meds? Without being there no one will ever know the truth.  :?

[Leverdude]

Nighttrain,

I didn't read up on this but its likely I suppose that he was dark skinned & had dark hair. I'm not against racial profiling at all but care must be taken that a fellow is really of mideastern descent so it might not be feasable in situations like this. As far as his taking his meds, maybe he forgot them or just chose not to take them I dunno. Its not a capitol offence to not take meds tho & since the guy was in America its his choice. His choice got him dead in this case but we sure owe it to his family to look at this very carefully.

Just a thought but how many actual terrorists have the air marshalls caught?
I feel its a feel good solution that wont likely have any effect on terrorism but definately is a step towards a very restrictive Gov't. So now, if air marshals aren't enough then what?  I feel we are grasping at straws so to speak.

Chances are the guy coulda run across the border in either Canada or Mexico with a nuclear bomb & got thru no problem. We shoot people in airports but not those crossing the border illegally?  See its not really about making us safer as much as making it apear that somethings being done.

If the Gov really cared thered be a 12 foot razor wire fence going from Texas to California at the border & the same up north & people caught cutting or climbing would be shot on sight. If our legislature really cared they'd be introducing legislation protecting the citizenry or enabling them to protect themselves, not restricting them.
Its just politics as usual. Cant piss off our neighbors by shooting their citizens but noone says nuthing when we kill one of ours so thats ok.
Cant have racial profiling to find these guys before something happens so some poor sap has to decide weather or not to shoot every time someone runs thru an airport or subway.

At the same time the real terrorists are killing our men every day in Iraq.
I wont pretend to know the answer, its too tough a question for me to answer given the knowledge we are permitted to see. But it seems a good start would be sealing our borders & being real selective about who we allow onto planes coming into our country.

Looks like I'm in the minority but it bothers me more to see one innocent civilian shot by the good guys than 100 killed by real terrorists. I dont buy the idea that a few sacrificed for the many equalls sucess.  Each & every one of us has a right to live & that right belongs to us, not the Gov't or society at large. As long as we keep looking to the Gov to solve all our ills we as individuals count for little. We need to act in unison but as a nation of individuals fighting for a common cause.
We need to really believe, as I do that the only thing that makes America special is that everyone here, every single human being has a right to life & its never acceptable for our Gov't to take one of those lives. It really stinks that theres people in the world that want to hurt us but we can't allow them to dictate how we run our country. We as gunowners should see that better than all others as we live under the yoke placed on us called gun control which when looke at in its entirety is the same thing, the American public allowing criminals to dictate what we should & shouldn't be allowed to do.
Just as gun control doesn't stop crime idiot control wont stop terrorism.