Pittsburgh shooter Poplawski "didn't like our [gun] rights being infringed upon"
By David Neiwert Saturday Apr 04, 2009 1:45pm
We're gathering more information about Richard Polawski, the 23-year-old man who decided to kill three Pittsburgh police officers and wound three others because it appears he was afraid they -- at the behest of the Obama administration -- were going to take his guns away. (Dude, they definitely are now.)
Seems he was laying in wait in a carefully planned ambush:
Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said. An officer who tried to help the two also was killed.
Poplawski, armed with an assault rifle and two other guns, then held police at bay for four hours as the fallen officers were left bleeding nearby, their colleagues unable to reach them, according to police and witnesses. More than 100 rounds were fired by the SWAT teams and Poplawski, Harper said.
And he was paranoid about the Obama administration taking people's guns away -- even though, of course, there have been no indications of any such plans beyond NRA rantings:
Poplawski feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon," said Edward Perkovic, his best friend.
Perkovic, 22, said he got a call at work from him in which he said, "Eddie, I am going to die today. ... Tell your family I love them and I love you."
Perkovic said: "I heard gunshots and he hung up. ... He sounded like he was in pain, like he got shot."
Poplawski had once tried to join the Marines, but was kicked out of boot camp after throwing a food tray at a drill sergeant, Perkovic said.
Dennis Roddy at the Post-Gazette has more:
Friends described a Richard Poplawski far different from the 22-year-old man accused of gunning down three police officers today -- a partier sometimes, a guy in search of an understanding of politics, even a walking comedian.
He was also convinced that the government wanted to take away his guns and his freedom.
There are bits about him out on the Internet. There are the MySpace photos, like the one above. He also seems to have co-created an "Insane Ownage" video for You Tube.
Perhaps just as interesting are the views of Poplowski's much-quoted "best friend," Edd Perkovic, whose MySpace page, as Troll Report notices, is rich anti-Semitic hate talk like this:
DOCUMENTS I RECCOMEND YOU READ BY GOOGLE: "Civil War II" by Tom Chittum "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" "The Turner Diaries" by Dr. William Pierce "Jewish Supremacy" by Dr. David Duke It Has Even Been Documented In The Communist Manifesto: "“We must realize that our party’s most powerful weapon is racial tension. "By propounding into the consciousness of the dark races that for centuries they have been oppressed by the whites, we can mold them to the program of the Communist Party. "In America we will aim for subtle victory. While inflaming the Negro minority against the whites, we will endeavour to instill in the whites a guilt complex for their exploitation of the Negros. "We will aid the Negros to rise to prominence in every walk of life, in the professions, and in the world of sports and entertainment.
Meanwhile, Fox also interviewed Tom Moffit, who was a neighbor of Poplawski's. He apparently believed that Poplawski was acting out of gun paranoia as well.
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This is the second spree killing motivated by the wingnut talkers, isn't it? Wasn't the recent one in either Kentucky or Tennessee a Rush Limbaugh spinoff?
You're thinking of Jim David Adkisson in Knoxville, Tenn., who was inspired by Bernie Goldberg and Bill O'Reilly, among others.
The murderer of Unitarians in TN had books in his home by Savage, O'Reilly and Hannity.
He blamed the Duhh-libbrells for his lack of a job.
Ironic, because the Unitarians support unions, workers rights and fair wages.
But who needs facts when one has a right-wing ideology?
A wrongful death lawsuit against O'reilly, Savage and Hannity would perhaps make then stop inciting people to kill Americans.
Interesting how it's the Bush/GOP economy that caused these nut cases to loose their jobs but they lash out against duh libruls. Of course, if they had enough sense to figure that out for themselves they wouldn't be shootin up folks in the first place.
There is ample research to demonstrate the way other radicals have used radio and other media to incite people to violence -- bosnia, rwanda, nazi germany. In fact, people were sent to the Hague in the first two cases for their role using hate radio to incite violence.
What Savage, O'liely, and Handjob do is akin to yelling "fire" in a crowed theater. We should give them no quarter.
and DEMAND that he turn himself in as an accessory to the fact. He rants EVERY DAY about how Americans are losing their rights... and he promotes "bunker mentality" with his "conservatives in exile" KRAP... and he has pumped up his FEAR MONGERING a thousand percent since the election.
Hannity should be held responsible for the HATE CRIMES that emerge from his HATE SPEECH. He is a MENACE TO SOCIETY.
Yup! He's an NRA pinup: owning and using a gun the way it's members want.
They didn't have to pry that gun from his cold, dead hands, but a few of other people now have cold, dead hands.
Congratulations to the NRA, you got what you wanted.
Obama was in London at a meeting. How was he going to come by and take his guns?
jay severin.....you think it's funny? Would you have the courage and character to respond to a call like that while driving home after working the night shift? Do you think the families of these officers would find it funny?
Really, why bother? Are you a twelve-year-old?
People react to horror in different ways; some respond with "gallows humor" that others find inappropriate.
As a retired firefighter/medic and former nurse, I've heard a lot of this kind of response and it is generally not meant to offend -
it is a coping mechanism.
just saying...
My mom died suddenly nearly 30 years ago. My brother and I were talking on the phone, and one of us cracked a grisly joke about her dying. I can't remember who, and I can't for the life of me remember what, but it was awful. And we both laughed uncontrollably at it.
Chill brother. Direct this anger towards those repsonsible. The rightwing.
.....and taking no responsibility for the results.
Keep yelling fire in that crowded theater. Your first amendment rights allow it. Never mind the innocent lives lost. Your base is hungry for it's red meat, and it sells, gosh darn it, it sells.
nice gig I guess. Of course they'll never accept responsibility for their actions and the results, they'd rather see this nation red in blood than see Obama succeed.
Gosh, they really love their country and its citizens.
You can't yell fire in a crowded theatre. It is against the law and is NOT protected under the 1st amendment. It is reckless endangerment. the villians in the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides all used radio to incite people to violence. this is no different. They should be tried within a court of law
And you said it all. This is not covered by the 1st amendment. I have been watch the right-wing for so long, why is this allowed.
Another mislead idiot who pays no attention to real news with the exception of listening to politics of no truth.
Gee, which network continuously brought up Guns being taken away??
Faux News should be abolished.
Coulter, Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly, Limbaugh must be proud of their violent deadly spawns' deeds filling the headlines in tandem with the right wingers' body counts.
AOL has headlines on the home page that state this shooter "feared Obama".
Let's count the ways those fears were imprinted into his psyche.
I may be naive in asking this, but what is at the root of these (usually white male) gun owners' fear/paranoia? I do not get it all. Is it really and truly the fear of a black (biracial, really) president? I must say that I have little sympathy for someone who is afraid of or angered by something so much that they decide that the best and only course of action open to them is to take other people's lives in a hale of bullets.
....and they are being educated by the likes of Malkin, Beck, and Mr. Weiner/Savage.
I don't expect our founding Fathers, on their best day, imagined we would be dealing with miscreants like these.
I don't know for certain but I am a white male gun owner myself.
I am indifferent to the color of my President. I am disappointed that he isn't withdrawing US forces from Iraq and Afghanistan. I had also hoped that President Obama would be in favor of marijuana decriminalization but his press secretary has ruled this out.
I think some of his cabinet picks have shown a pretty odd attitude about paying their taxes while demanding that the rest of us pay more taxes. I am deeply vexed about his "stimulus" package which to me isn't much more than a political sop for his supporters. Evidence of which is to follow...
In Pennsylvania, for example, President Obama's package only only 'targets' Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Scranton/Wilkesbarre and Harrisburg. The rest of the state I guess either doesn't need stimulation or doesn't count. Certainly the rest of us as well require some help but we're not getting a red cent, I suspect because our votes didn't count in 2008. We are free to pay taxes and work when we're not "clinging to our guns" but we are not in need of help?
The recent "budget" relies too much on borrowed money and to me doesn't address fundamental issues. Especially the expansion of regulation and refusal to address run away lawsuit abuse.
To close this discussion, the gun culture is quite vibrant for many of us in suburban and rural areas. It exists independent of race or in many cases ideological beliefs. I know quite a few Democrats - I'm one myself - who own firearms. Most gun owners are gainfully employed, responsible and tend to mind their own business.
To lump this group in with Klansmen, racists and wife beaters is insulting and demonstrates pretty bigoted thinking. While we are enjoined to be "intolerant of intolerance" I do not think that becoming what we hate is the answer.
Doping by the site, your opinions are noted.
Amended: You might try contacting you Representative?
[ http://www.govtrack.us/congress/replookup.xpd... ]
No one is associating gun owners with this.
We're talking about right-wing pundits who have been fearmongering about the supposed Obama plan to take away your guns, all of them feeding off the NRA's propaganda. Inevitably, this kind of hysteria has consequences. And it's usually our law-enforcement officers who pay.
Those quotes purportedly from the Communist Manifesto are bullshit. Though, maybe it shows just how much of a genius Engels and Marx were that they could foresee the propaganda value of sports and entertainment figures in 1848!
Likely some quotes that get a lot of unquestioned currency among the Stormfront crowd.
It's similar to a Hitler quote I've seen around the net, supposed from Mein Kampf, where he's said to have written, "I left some of the Jews alive so everyone could see why I did what I did," or something to that effect. Quite a feat that he would talk about the Holocaust and World War II--which he didn't survive, of course--in the past tense in 1925.
Read this one, please. The area it describes is practically in my back yard, and includes the area where Eric Rudolph was caught, a town with two gun camps, and slightly to the south, the hometown of "Liberty Lobby" pro-Nazi Willis Carto, born a Carter out of Canton, GA per my sources...not to mention plenty of Turners, most of them Hanoi Ted's kinsmen, and many others related to a notorious Dixie Mafia hitman who is reputed to be the Man on the Grassy Knoll. The American Nazi Party and Aryan Nation have mucho activity here, and many lawmen are closet members. Most wouldn't know a Jew if they were facing one.
Willises are known to be in the cocaine business, and only yesterday I caught a local methhead tracing the legend "88 AMP" in the dust of his transportation...88 is the universal code for Heil Hitler here, April 8 is the scoundrel's birthday, and amp, of course is methhead's drug of choice.
FBI, natch, is too corrupt to follow this nasty little trail to the immigrant supermeth factory reps.
It was a hoax, a forgery perpetrated by Tsarists in reaction to the revolution which forced a Russian constitution after the Russo-Japanese war ended in 1905. "The Protocols" just kept being spread around further by reactionaries who needed to blame someone as the world changed around them.
This page links to a lot of others that debunk the myth.
Blood on Glen Beck's and the NRA's hands. Not that they care. Perhaps it's time for a wrongful death lawsuit against Beck, the NRA, and the networks and radio stations who air this "yelling fire in a crowed theatre" speech that incites people to take someone's life. Hit the reich wing in their wallets, that's the only way to make them stop.
Glenn Beck can rot in hell. You're correct. A person on the edge only needs a little push. Glenn Back is that push. The NRA and Beck hold some responsibility here for the lies. One cane only hope the next shooter targets them. Sorry but this one pisses me off. It's only a matter of time when the chickens come home to roost.
There is some sad irony in the fact that it's the people most afraid of getting their guns taken away who are the most powerful argument in favor of stricter gun control.
Even leaving aside people who obviously have deeper problems, like this guy, it's the relatively milder type of psycho who feels he's got to carry a concealed weapon around at all times and fills his home with assault rifles that makes me want far stricter controls on firearms, not the occasional hunter or target shooting enthusiast (both of which I count among family and friends).
There are obviously countless other reasons both culturally and structurally, but I always look at Japan as an interesting example of a country with extremely strict gun-control laws (though contrary to popular belief, you can own one with proper permitting) that have reduced the amount of damage criminals, psychos, and just very angry people are capable of doing.
It's not that you can't go on a murderous rampage with a knife, it's that it's *harder*, and you're not likely to kill nearly as many people. Similarly, you can certainly kill your neighbor or hold up a 7-11 without a gun, but again, it's harder, and people are less likely to get killed in the process.
Sad.
Boy oh boy...talk about a mirror held up to the people who watch and BELIEVE FOX News. He thought gun rights were being taken and liberties were being removed by Obama.
Let's see that happens to be.....
EVERY FOX COMMENTATOR.
Direct line back to Rupert Murdoch's Frankenstein.
I mean really, who trampled more on our Constitutional Rights than W and did any liberals decide to go out in a blaze of glory taking as many innocent victims as they can?
Maybe folks remember about 2 years ago, Bill O'Reilly accused da libruls of being out to tear down the white Christian male power structure.
I think these white conservative males who do spree killings feel that "those other people" have deprived them of their God-given rights. If one of those wing-nuts loses his job, doesn't get a promotion, loses his wife or girlfriend, he needs someone to blame. It's the fault of women, minorities, Jews, Obama, or whoever.
Another factor could be a part of American culture that glorifies "one-man armies" who take matters into their own hands.
Or maybe these guys just feel like nobodies and want to do something, anything, to make a name for themselves.
"Arkansas Church-Gun Legislation Resurrects" Short clip(2:06)
→ → →[ http://www.goddiscussion.com/3405/arkansas-ch... ]
Snip - "After the tragic church shooting in Illinois this weekend, Arkansas State Representative Beverly Pyle is reintroducing her failed concealed weapons bill that would make it allowable for members of certain churches to carry guns to church."
"Beverly Pyle is reintroducing her failed concealed weapons bill that would make it allowable for members of certain churches to carry guns to church."
I'm sure all those certain churches are evangelical. Catholics, Mormons, Episcopalians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Wiccans, etc. need not apply.
Notice how the last 2 acts of TERRORISM in your country has been commited by rightwing paranoia. So stupid...........
Notice how the last 2 acts of terrorism in the US had absolutely no mention of scary Muslim extremists.
Notice how the ones sreaming the loudest about terrorism are the ones killing and terrorizing their own citizens.
Clearly, Richard took a flying leap over the caution tape.
if they and their ilk werent spreading false BS through mailings, and appearances on rightwing radio and tv shows, and giving ideas to murderous cowards like this paranoid fool, then perhaps things wouldnt be so bad. hey NRA, you have blood on your hands. his fault, but also partly your fault. if i were a family member of one of these cops id be making that statement rather forcefully, not caring of the circumstances. those stupid GOPers, they are so afraid of everything. gays, Dems, elites, terrorists, evolution, even Jesus and God. just freaking calm down people, as Obama isnt all those fearful things you make him out to be. you are just lazy and dont want to bother reasoning or thinking things through to see whats real and whats not.
He didn't have a Dad around to tell him that he was nuts?
Let's see, taking all the recent shootings by wingnuts into account and their acts of domestic terrorism against Americans such as the Oklahoma City bombing, I wonder how many heterosexual marriages have been broken up due to the murder of a spouse by a wingnut? My guess is, a lot more than have been broken up by a homosexual marriage.
And will when Darth Cheney come forth and push to send these right wing domestic terrorists to Gitmo so America won't be attacked again?
And will when Darth Cheney come forth and push to send the right wing domestic terrorists to Gitmo so we want be attacked again?
never happen, cheney would have to go to gitmo himself.
Cheney's terrorism wasn"t domestic, Unless you are counting the 4500 American soldiers he's gotten killed for his terrorist attack on the people of Iraq.
Scenario: The crowded shopping mall and everybody is carrying a legally purchased and concealed handgun.
Tom (the REAL bad guy) pulls out his gun to kill Dick. Harry sees Tom pull his gun and goes for his. Sally sees Harry pull his gun and goes for hers. Suzie sees Sally pull her gun and goes for hers. Dick doesn't spot Tom but he does see Suzie yanking out her gun and pointing it in his general direction so he goes for his gun. Etc. etc. etc.
People who advocate everyone should carry guns in public for protection are NUTS.
All the second amendment preachers should ask if the thousands and thousands of gun deaths and injuries every year have actually been worth their so-called liberty. How many of those fools really believe that if it were not for their guns the government would have "taken over" (whatever the heck that means) already?
The final chapter of America will read: Absolute deregulation of guns was finally achieved. The nuclear powers had always regarded their atomic arsenals as constrained by mutually assured destruction. Individual citizens failed to understand that with absolute gun deregulation, the M.A.D. concept applied to them as well. In the end, they all shot each other and that was that.
the 2nd scenario: Tom doesn't pull his gun because he knows that there is a good possibility that he'll die at the hands of the other gun carriers.
After the "government" dis-arms itself, you might be surprised to see how many people decide that they don't need a gun.
Today's "Tom" certainly didn't seem to worry about pulling his gun in the midst of other gun carriers - and they were trained cops.
3rd scenario: Try living in most any other civilized country where there are no guns, and nobody gets shot.
Has this scenario ever happened in the many years that people were legally able to carry concealed firearms? Seriously, this kind of "OK Corral" thing doesn't happen.
Let's talk about what really goes on, not various scenarios that never seem to occur.
I say this as someone who had a concealed firearm, did not use it, but did talk my way out of "trouble". Including two lunk heads who never knew they were in danger of being shot, because I never pulled the pistol out.
What good did it do? I had another option.... and a final backup.
Instead I took the route of peace, settled things verbally, walked away, and put my piece back in the locker.
Just like the Police often do.... being responsible means being responsible.
Why publicize the name of the coward who just shot the 4 policemen in Pittsburgh?
You even call him "Dude" in this piece.
Seriously, as a small act of deterrence, I would like everyone at every media outlet and opportunity to call these people by a name that better suits them - Chickenshit.
There is no other word for it and if somebody gets celebrated not as being misunderstood by their given name but instead simply as "the Chickenshit who shot..." then maybe, just maybe they just might not go through with it.
Consider which of the names is/are more worthy of being remembered in each instance below:
1. Mark David Chapman or John Lennon?
("The Chickenshit who shot Lennon").
2. The Chickenshit at the Virginia Tech massacre or any one of the students who lost their lives?
("a real big Chickenshit")
3. The Columbine Chickenshits who went on a rampage or their victims?
("a real Chickenshit thing for kids to do, even in High School").
4. Al Qeda or any one of the 3,000 innocent people who died?
(I give you "The Chickenshit outfit in Pakistan").
5. John Hinkley or Ronald Reagan?
("The Chickenshit who shot a 70 year old man").
6. Timothy McVeigh or any one of the victims in OK City?
("the Chickenshit who killed kids in a day care").
Call the person who commits the atrocity by a non-flattering public name that reflects the act for what it is:
Chickenshit.
Thank you
7. The US Military or the dead on BOTH SIDES in Iraq and Afghanistan?
("The Chickenshit bullies of the world who have murdered hundreds of thousands, ostensibly to avenge the deaths of 3,000. Which was a lie, and a misdirected action.")
I am with you in spirit, but I won't blanket the entire US Military with the label.
Rumsfeld, on the other hand...I wish I didn't know his name other than "Former Secretary of Chickenshit..."
i also am very tired of when murderous cowards like this fool in Pittsburgh do these terrible acts to innocent people, when the dead are counted they also include the gunman in the total reported. leave him/her off that count, i mean come on. they dont deserve anything but nothing. they even kill themselves sometimes (like that creep in upstate NY), even more cowardliness (besides the murders).
Go ahead and use the term - Chickenshit. It sounds tongue in cheek, but I mean it, and I mean it to be a deterrent.
When regular shame and a moral compass won't guide such people, public contempt in the media might do something.
The death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent to murder but schoolyard taunts will deter the next shooter. Right.
You know that life sentence is cheaper than the death penalty? Weird isn't it?
This has nothing to do with your post tho!
Thank you, you made my day, and without What's his name, even.
Keep guns in honest homeowners' hands, 'cause criminals can always get one. We can't.
another example of the reichwingnuttia gop's
lowbred churchgoing miscreants who listen
to limpballs and billo. time to boycott all
the advertisers of these two and get them
off the air with their bigoted racism and
blatant lies. limpballs and billo are the
homeland variety of "enemy combatants".
Remember when Al Sharpton went to jail and on a hunger strike to support his cause? You think Limpballs and Shill'O will volunteer to serve time on behalf of this guy?
Not unless there is a lot of Oxycontin and falafels in those jail cells!
Isn't that an oxymoron?
Why didnt he let them pull his gun from his cold dead hand? Seems like he kind of dropped the ball on that part.
Funny. Sick and twisted, but funny.
(I was writing in response to the bit about prying the gun from his hands).
He even called a friend to tell him that he would be dying today.
the Democrats won't introduce any gun control legislation.
I seem to recall legislation in Texas to fight guns in schools by arming teachers- pushed by the radical right of course. Did Democrats speak out?
A shot just over the top of little Johnny's head was all Teach needed to do keep him from napping in class.
...that used his chalkboard erasers that way.
Bet you went to one of those wussy librul northeastern schools. Erasers please. A bullet from a Smith and Wesson to part the hair is what's they do in Texas to keep those younguns in line!
He was a jerk, really. Now the high school teacher, she rocked. She updated our old stuffy marching uniforms to a corps style.
at TH Morgan Jr High?
:)
I can't recall his name though I can still picture his face.
Seattle, WA. Pushed the black frame army issue glasses up his nose after he did it.
Since Glenn Beck is alligning himself with the millitant white supremacist militia groups, my bet is he'll paint this right wing loon as a hero
All the videos posted by women on C&L play. Once in a great goddamn while Neiwert's and Amato's vids might play on WMP.
3 police killed during a standoff in Pittsburgh
[ http://www.dailypaul.com/node/88752 ]... I'm not sure how long the link will stay up?
3 (I thought is was 4) police killed in standoff with Chickenshit.
I did not forget anything... I basically cut and pasted this for people to observe and to get opinions like yours. Thanks
how is it opposing, other than he offers some unsubstantiated opinion of what motivated the guy, told an imaginary tale of what set it off?
Was endorsed by Stormfront (Nazi) and nothing else needs to be said except Ron Paul is a sack of shit peddling shit.
This comes about 5 years after the NRA held their largest national convention ever in Pittsburgh, about 60,000 people showed up in April 2004. This is also about 2 years before the NRA will hold their national convention again in Pittsburgh - April 28, 2011. I think this can be a seminal moment in the responsible gun control movement, and if no action is taken by 2011 we must hold the largest anti-gun protest ever in Pittsburgh at the NRA convention!
As of this posting not one word on the Redstate blog about this shooting. Guess their scratching their heads trying to figure out how they can blame the libruls for it.
If memory serves me correct Ashley Todd said she was mugged in the Bloomfield neighborhood, that is pretty much adjacent to the Stanton Heights neighborhood where this tragic shooting took place. Pretty freaky coincidence.
Taking into consideration her previous political affiliations?
Amended: Not to mention the previous republican presidential candidate that hailed from PA. or maybe I should of said... was born in PA.?
that's right, they can't use that argument this time. The victims were armed. NRA=terrorist.
Sounds like a good point except that you are making points against an ever-shifting rationale. The fact that the cops were armed morphs into justification for Richard Poplawski's actions. It was, after all, five versus one, all armed, making the cops fair game.
Protection from abuse
Apparently he threatened and attacked her.
Great - and he was able to buy any gun he damn well pleased.
If he had a PFA against him he could NOT legally buy any gun. He would also have had to surrender any firearms that he owned to the police. That's a law in PA, one that the Pgh Police and Allegheny Sheriff's Department is pretty good about enforcing about taking firearms off of people with PFAs.
Being armed while on a PFA means that he was in violation of the law before the Police ever came to his home.
He should have sent them to responsible family members and settled whatever going on with his GF. Also means he wasn't a "loner".
an old quote keeps going through my mind. It goes something like this: "Live by the sword, die by the sword".
Cops have no problem shooting and killing people. Why would anyone have a problem with cops being shot and killed?
Until people become as outraged over cops killing as they do over cops killed the killing will continue. Acceptable murder is un-acceptable.
that statement? "Cops have no problem shooting and killing people."
You know what a cop feels when he shoots his weapon? "COPS" is not an real.
could it be this?...
""Live by the sword, die by the sword" is a metaphorical expression meaning that living one's life in a certain way will, in the end, affect one's destiny. The proverb comes from the Book of Matthew, verse 26:52, which describes the apostle Peter drawing a sword to defend Jesus against Roman soldiers, but is told to sheath the weapon:"
karma.
wingnut talkers
listen to them as they pass around the talking points
these are very scary people
Those who have the guns make the rules. Clearly, Richard Poplawski's rule that day was to take down as many cops as he could. I don't think he was right to do so, but that's just my own opinion.
He was afraid the government would take away his guns. Not because he needed the guns to defend himself or defend his country but because he needed the guns to inflict this carnage. I gather from the video he posted on YouTube, this was his dream. And part of his fundamental rights as an American citizen. That seems like over the top sarcasm but I waded into the comments section at The Daily Paul and lo and behold - Poplawski is being hailed as a patriot. One of commenters expressed the hope that this would make police officers more mindful of how they treat people.
Every time there's a shooting where multiple people are killed we hear "if the victims where armed they could fire back". Guess what. The victims were armed and are still dead. Three of Pittsbugh's finest armed are dead because of this man's access to to guns and the froth caused by right wing gun nuts. What are they gonna try now? If the cops had bigger guns? A tank, drones? I believe everything happens for a reason. This one, if something good doesn't result from it, I give up hope. I'm originally from "The Burgh" seven years removed. It's quite a city, Pols, Italians, Slavicks, you name it. You want some good food go to Pittsbugh. A city that went through hell when the mills closed. People were close. It hurts me to see this. My thanks go out these cops and my prayers to their families.
Sure they will you fucking twats! And then they will box you up! The sad thing he took others with him, what a despicable selfish man.
"even though, of course, there have been no indications of any such plans beyond NRA rantings"
Try ABC running a story about a new assualt weapons ban on the 25th of Feb. Get your facts straight...
You think there shouldn't be an assault weapons ban? I thought the MSM shouldn't be trusted. Or it should only when it benefits you?
A Gun Ban Gets Shot Down
http://www.newsweek.com/id/191414
Justice officials were instructed by White House aides to drop the issue, according to administration and congressional aides who asked not to be named due to political sensitivities.
So if the people who would write the supposed ban (congress) are not behind it, and the person who would sign the ban (Obama) is not behind it then there have been no indications of any such plans.
ABC running a story about a new assualt weapons ban on the 25th of Feb is good cause for another racist wackatude to go on a rampage and kill people?
Our forefathers wanted a "well armed militia" back when we could fight the redcoats's guns with our guns. Good luck fending off the guvment with an AK-47 when the guvment has tanks, missles, predator drones and stealth bombers. Guns only useful purpose today is for shooting innocent animals and for wingnuts to shoot innocent people. They ain't gonna protect you from the guvment.
not that I'm for changing the constitution, just sayin.
pfff, one bunker buster and they are finished. The thing is that they do not operate in the open. Where to send the apache 64 longbow with the hellfires? They probably act more like terrorists. uhu, terrorists, that's right!
...and plan for what they'll do when the A-10 Warthogs arrive.
Silly boys.
Duck and cover? Hehe!
The Viet Cong (National Liberation Front) fought the US Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy with small arms and improvised explosive devices. They won, even though the US military inflicted a twenty to one kill ratio onto them.
Don't underestimate a motivated people.
we were in THEIR country.
Don't pay your taxes, bunker down and see if you have as much luck as the Viet Cong.
→ → →[ http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/20... ]
...but I sense that another Oklahoma City is on the way. After making their mark during the Clinton years and going away for W.'s tenure, these nutjobs are coming out of the woodwork now that Obama is in the White House. A certain guy named Timothy McVeigh was also an avid reader of "The Turner Diaries." Once again--I hope I'm proven wrong, but I have a feeling that a new McVeigh will be front-page news before long.
Still no posts about this shooting on wingnut blog restat. Now when Michelle Obama touched the Queen, redstate pulled out their fainting couch and posted that stat!
I call this Red Vengeance. The righty controlled media (hello FOX), is responsible. With giving people like Michele "Illuminati" Bachmann to call for armed revolution, to the memes that Obama is going to take your guns (although there is no talk or legislation forthcoming), or we are turning into socialists, or as Beck said last night, facists.
This talk is dangerous when you have sickos who will listen. This is the second killing spree this year caused by their rhetoric.
Finally, i agree with the Wingnuts. America is less safe now that Obama's in office, because Wingnut Domestic Terror is on the rise.
Freedom of speech does not include "in-cit to riot. Have a TV network devoted to propaganda, with to truth involved, is ruining our country. It is easy to gain power over people of weak will, who believe everything these nut balls are telling them. Nothing move fun than being one in a group of many, that gets a feeling of power over hating others, feeding each other the lies and reinforcing their own hatred. Can't something be done? This is not free speech!! When the assault weapon ban was removed it showed wing-nut were in charge. There is no reason anyone needs an assault weapon, this is not what the forefathers had in mind. The NRA has way to much power, we, the people, need to take our country back. Obama was a first step, but we have to pay attention to what these nut balls say, and somehow get the truth to the people who believe them.
The fact that Richard Poplawski is alive and in police custody is a testament to the restraint the police used in bringing this unfortunate episode to an end. The officers who took Poplawski into custody were well aware that he had killed three of their fellow officers and wounded another in an ambush. How much longer will Americans tolerate the possession of assault weapons in the hands of citizens? I grew up in WV and nearly every one of my friends was a hunter. No one ever hunted with an assault weapon. Most of the guys had .22 rifles or 12 guage shotguns. Some used a .3006 for deer hunting.
This was a tragic day for the country as a whole and Pittsburgh/Allegheny County in particular. Never before had three Pittsburgh policemen lost their lives in a single incident. This is the sort of news no city wants to make.
http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/04/richard_poplawski_accused_pitt.php
Looks like Poplawski was a poster on the White Supremacist message board, Stormfront.org. Not that this is a big surprise, of course.
Thing is, he seems to have been one of the milder maniacs posting there. Tim McVeigh isn't gone, he's just got clones, now, Lord help us all.
He MAY have been on Stormfront. There is no direct evidence that he is the same "RichP" who was Richard Poplawski.
Given the parochial nature of the people around here - I'm from the Pittsburgh area myself - I wouldn't be surprised if Poplawski was racist. So are quite a few Pittsburgh City police officers.
I still recall the Police officer who told me twenty years ago - "I keep this smaller pistol for downtown. For Homewood I carry the 44 magnum. You need a bigger gun for those people..."
Will it take for these treasonous assholes to see that what they are doing is ...wrong.
They don't care. obviously.
Amazing. The police deserve a huge hand of applause for not putting a bullet in this guy's "brain".
This is how police around the world should behave. Even the really dangerously sick mental cases deserve to be apprehended and prosecuted by law, not force.
In case anyone wasn't paying attention back in 1993, the Democratic controlled Congress banned the production and sale of new military pattern semi-automatic firearms. The party platform has been pretty uniform about such a ban and once the Feinstein ban sunset in 2004 the Party's platform continued to demand such a ban.
There is ample evidence for some to fear a new ban, perhaps with greater scope and considerable over reach by Congress and regulatory agencies. Paranoia is a unjustified fear - over caution is fear based upon past performance which may not be applicable in a different time.
While many non-gunowners and quite a few "hunters" have lamented the end of the Feinstein ban there has been little factual evidence to support such a ban. The effect of the ban was tiny - that we're discussing this tragedy is ample evidence of the infrequency of use of such firearms. Common every day occurrences, such as tragedies involving drug disputes and domestic events, do not rise to the level of outrage any more. Alas.
Even the ban's backers in 1993 claimed that the ban was just a "first step" towards stricter controls over handguns. The NRA has been relatively agnostic about "non-sporting" arms, as they were involved in the original wording of the GCA of 1968 which codified this kind of slant on gun ownership for the first time in the US.
Believe it or not, the "Assault weapon" issue has been a low priority for the NRA. Their greatest emphasis has been upon keeping handguns legal, and expanding the scope of concealed carry laws.
Soon after he won President elect Obama began to talk of "common sense" gun control, a formulation which since 2004 has included a renewal of the Feinstein ban, and other measures which would end private transfer of firearms.
Attorney General Eric Holder, soon after he was vetted by the US Senate, called for a permanent renewal of the Feinstein ban. While President Obama did not support this gesture, he did not rule it out, nor did Congress. They only disagreed regarding the applicability of such a ban at this time.
There is also the prospect that Poplawski had previous problems with domestic disturbances. Thanks to the Lautenberg Amendment even the most trivial encounters with a "domestic partner" can result in a lifetime disability to own a firearm. While wife beating deeply disgusts me personally I don't believe that shaking one's fist at one's spouse rises to the level of a violent crime. However Senator Lautenberg and the Congress felt otherwise, placing the rights of millions of Americans at jeopardy due to over reaction.
When the guys at work play Glenn Beck I feel very aggravated at the illogic and vitriol of him and many of his ilk.
However to blame "Talk Radio" is to me a distortion. We need to see if Mr. Poplawski had a previous problem with law enforcement, and was about to be disenfranchised due to the Lautenberg Amendment. We also need to see if he was involved with illicit drugs, had been consuming them or alcohol.
Does any of this justify murdering police officers? Certainly not.
Does this over reaction demonstrate that the 'right' is growing increasingly uncomfortable with the over reach of the Obama Administration? I suspect so.
What did he lay? Was he laying bricks, or, perhaps bullets. Anyway, the original article got it correct: He was lying in wait.
Generally these guys shoot people that are unarmed and unprotected. They don't fight people that can fight back. What kind of thoughts are they consumed with that promotes the killing of innocent people are beyond me. But I am not surprised at his inability to cope. Unfortunately for society he was not helped before he committed this repulsive crime. The right wing crazies will not take responsibility for this or any hate that spews from their mouths. Frankly, I don't believe they have the intelligence or insight to see the connection, or they don't care about the damage caused.
..must be working overtime this week.
Folks:
For every Rush Limbaugh, there's a Nancy Pelosi. For every Mary Matalin, there's a James Carville (and how those two stay married is beyond me).
What I'm saying is that there are extremes on both sides, and when some tragedy happens that can politically make the other side look bad, the war of words starts. I'm in law enforcement and, like a large majority of officers in this country, firmly behind the Second Amendment and the rights of citizens to own firearms.
I grieve for the officers and their families---I've had to help bury nearly two dozen from my own department during my career. But taking guns away from the good people will only leave the bad guys with them (and the claim on this comment board that 90% of the guns that the Mexican cartels have came from the U.S. is not true).
With a polarized society, a recession and unemployment that no one person or political party started or exacerbated, there are people who are simply not equipped to handle the resulting personal crises. And since none of us can look inside someone else's mind, it's impossible to predict any one individual's breaking point.
I suggest that everyone watch the interviews with the shooter's friends and acquaintances that are available on various news web pages. There's a common theme: LONER.
This is the only mass murderer in anyone's memory where the fear of the loss of gun rights has been mentioned by a shooter. Many mass murderers were either completely apolitical or had documented leftward leanings. Stop blaming the guns and start paying attention to your neighbors or co-workers who you've either never met or hardly know.
If he was a "Loner" why were the police at his home on a domestic
dispute call?
Another thing - who exactly said that he was afraid of gun confiscation? All we've heard is hearsay from friends.
We need more facts about this guy before anyone draws any conclusions.
Then why are most lefties for honesty,anti war,anti violence and rule of law crusaders?
Also if you study up on mass murderers 99% were republicans (i.e.John Gacy,Ted Bundy,Henery Lucas etc.)and christian
Those were serial killers. They both kill lots of people, but serial killers do it one or two at a time, while mass murderers slaughter lots of people all at once. Think Hannibal Lector vs. Pol Pot.
I'v read about a lot of killers and I don't remember reading about one that was left leaning,Also several of them were policemans
Wrong about Gacy. He was a Cook County Democrat. Being a Republican in Cook County gets you nowhere.
Serial killers and berserkers tend to have some big differences. Serial killers are sociopaths- they go along to get along. Berserkers tend to suffer from clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia- they tend to be the untreated mentally ill. Serial murderers- sociopaths- are shaped by their enviroment, while berserkers are compelled by their brain chemistry.
In the early seventies a lot of the republicans today were democrats such as Ronald Reagan,Fob James,Strom Thurman,Richard Shelby and many many others who came out of the closet.
It is amazing that the guy left the house alive. Surprised the cops didnt get the really big stuff out and just blast him. Pennsylvania use the death penalty ? Poplawski will regret not doing himself before too long.
I'm guessing this was supposed to be suicide by cop. Whatever punishment is appropriate for this guy, it would certainly not have been appropriate for the cops to have given him exactly what he expected and probably wanted.
they didn't even know the shooter had a bullet proof vest on till the next day,And like the VT killer killed 2 then went to the post office came back and killed 20+ or something.
Stinks to high heaven to me
He was wearing a bulletproof vest.
but the incendiary words that come from the cowards behind a camera or a microphone give just the push the crazy and fearful want to justify their actions.
But if they do. When this guys time comes. It'll be interesting to see the gun nuts protest his execution.
Ship him off to Alaska. Let him freeze for the rest of his life.
I can't think of a more hideous punishment.
They don't even need fences up there. The wild life would get to them first.
Yes, Pennsylvania has the death penalty, but it really isn't used. Besides, I'd rather have this guy rot in jail for the rest of his life. That would be an appropriate punishment. How smart could he be if he thought he could kill policemen and not be punished?
put the needle in his damn arm. He killed innocent people for nothing.
He was so afraid that someone would take away his guns, and now they have.
Regardless of any real threat of new restrictions on purchase and ownership, it's a really bad idea to fan the flames of hysteria. It's cases like this that make the rest of the country believe that there should be far fewer weapons available, that they should be limited in firepower and that there should be very rigorous controls on who can own guns and how many they can have.
But rather than working in good faith to reach consensus on these issues, the pro-gun faction continues to use black and white logic - any minor restriction will lead to complete gun bans across the country. Then they whip up the hysteria, there's a run on gun shops, and people like this nut job sit in their houses, polishing their pieces and imagining how it will look to see someone actually remove their guns from their cold dead fingers.
The pro gun faction is well funded by the arms manufacturers who have a corporate obligation to promote the sale of arms. Where does it end? It doesn't. Civil war is great business for arms manufacturers.
Of course the pro-gun crowd resort to dirty tricks and stirring up hysteria. The solution to these troubles is to restrict the ownership of firearms to people who can prove that they're, you know, sane. And since the paranoid wingnut gun culture tends to drive people batshit, most of them would lose their guns. So they can't reason with anyone about their position; it's basically "let any lunatic have a gun". Who the hell can defend that??
To Stevie K.: I was born in Pittsburgh and raised about twenty miles from the Point. Years ago, my brother (16 months age difference) and I liked hunting, and we were on the high school rifle team. After college, I was tied up with career and eventually family, and "dropped out" of the gun crowd. But my brother continued going to gun clubs, and developing his shooting skills. And I began to notice a change in behavior.
After years of listening to the gun crowd information, and the increasingly extreme positions from the people he associated with at these gun clubs, he began to exhibit rather bizarre behavior. He became very antisocial, forced his wife to divorce him (even though she is still in love with him). Within the past five years, he has resorted to threatening people, particularly with regard to "his property". If someone displeases him, he tells them to get off his property, and he sometimes grabs a firearm and threatens them, in order to comply. He has threatened one of his sons, and other people in his family. Once, when I was there to help him work on a property he owns with me, he tried this nonsense on me. When I said, I wasn't leaving, that I was a guest of his wife, as well as his own guest, he headed to the gun room (where he has over 30 guns stashed, with thousands of rounds of ammunition) in the basement to get a gun. I saw what he was doing, and challenged him on his behavior, and embarrassed him enough, to get him to stop. This was two years ago.
I live out of state now, and have been getting alarming reports of strange behavior from his ex-wife, and my sister. He has cut off all communications with my family, his girlfriend he saw after his divorce, left him, and all our mutual friends haven't heard from him lately.
Worst, he now seems to believe that he has some kind of "right" to threaten anyone, or shoot them if they come onto his property. He has somehow picked this up, after years of being preached to by the gun crowd. My mild-mannered little brother, has somehow morphed into the kind of person who sees his identity tied up with his guns. This has left me totally shell-shocked.
After trying for a month, he finally picked up the phone today when I called him (he didn't respond to my emails). During the conversation, it was all one word answers, like "no" and "yes" spit back at me. Then he proceeded to bring up the episode from two years ago, and said "I assaulted him on his own property!" I have seen and worked with him numerous times since then, with no mention of this incident. He ended the call, by asking me to never call him again, but only send emails.
His behavior has gotten really bizarre since the election. I suspect he getting a lot of information from someone, encouraging this kind of behavior.
Since you seem to run with the gun crowd, do you have any suggestions on what I might do? I am really worried about him, and his ex-wife and my sister (she lives nearby) are worried.
It's a sad day, when they believe this kinda crap.
Shit will hit the fan. Of that I'm pretty certain.
But it won't be our doing. Let the cards fall where they may.
We'll be left to pick up the pieces. I'm truly sorry for your predicament. Reach out. But do it from a distance. I'm sorry.
I really am.
A self created problem, most police officers are Republicans. The people they support on TV(fox) and the killing Pentagon machine. Self created, now we all have to suffer in fear while they deal with the screw ups. Bush/Cheney sux, this 1 dumb ass thinks if he shoots up a bunch of cops, the Democrats are less likely to institute a ban on assault weapons? Idiot. Now both party's are going to support an all weapon ban, if the Fox news watchers keep this up, then what. Going to hell quick, where's home safe? Calgary, with a red head?
How many will it take?
For what?
One thing we can all be assured of is that there will be more of this kind of thing. There is just too much pressure economic and environmental bearing down on everyone all the time now. I mean, America is the third most populated country on earth. Our urban centers are jammed with people and our suburban sprawl keeps displacing more and more habitat and poisoning more and more terra firma. Why then, when we had too many people fifty years ago, do we keep herding in immigrants of all colors and cultures? Why do we do this when the world’s most war-torn regions are fighting over issues of race and diversity – and have been for eons?
People fight over issues of race just as people identify as members of specific races when they are under stress - and America is increasingly a stressful place, as cultures clash, populations rise, and the economy shits the bed. Not every person in a given population will identify as described above, but the majority of a people do it to some degree and a substantial minority of any population will do it in the extreme. And no amount of multicultural propaganda or indoctrination can overcome the natural dispersion of racially-identifying predispositions in human populations.
The reality is overpopulation and multiculturalism will lead to more people like Rick Poplawski, Seung-Hui, Colin Ferguson, Jiverly Voong, and on and on… If we want a safer country with fewer mass shootings and less fear and loathing, we need fewer people – not more people. We need the right of free association – not coercive integration. And we need a nation that doesn’t ship its manufacturing infrastructure overseas and leave young people crippled from debt they acquired paying for educations that are useless in the American job market.
Racism is not a political issue. Racism is a biological issue. And everybody’s got some of it inside, and it can manifest when times get tough, and gentle readers, times are about to get very tough.
Jack,
I'm new in here but appreciate your honest thought provoking response. This is very unusual from what I've read so far.
I agree with everything you said. Instead of blindly blaming gun advocates or "right wingers" you give a different viewpoint. People are feeling more and more disconnected these days especially with the current economy. This cult-like belief that multiculturalism and diversity, regardless what kind, is a positive influence on American life is dumbfounding. It's almost like people can't even think about the issue because their so scared of being labeled a racist or a nationalist.
Throughout the last 30+ years Americans have been taught to hate their own and the accomplishments of their ancestors are evil. Altruism appears to be a genetic flaw of our people and I'm not old. While other cultures and ethnicities tend to stick together and look at things racially whites have been taught that this is evil. I believe this was part of the reason for the election of Obama. People can finally claim that "We are not racist" because we elected a half black president. Self haters are the enemy to this great country.
At some point hopefully we can overcome these problems and be proud of our nation and it's history. But I agree with you, times are about to get very tough.
And, by posting that kind of claptrap (the evils of multiculturalism & white guilt) it isn't that you and your buddy Grimm, who have only been members for less than six hours, are new here, it is that you're trolling here.
The posts you two made are more proof that right wingers love to interject their pernicious thoughts into wherever those on the opposite end of the political spectrum gather. There was a thread about this just last week, and lo' and behold you appear to confirm that it is true.
Trolling, Isome, is when someone posts empty and antagonist remarks, designed to make people angry by using words like “claptrap” or “pernicious” without also making an effort to develop counter arguments that support their beliefs. From this vantage your post is more representative of a troll’s post.
If you disagree with my remarks, perhaps you could refute some of my assertions about multiculturalism and conflict. Maybe you could explain to the interested how more and more human bodies crammed together on this continent is a good thing for our eco-system. Or maybe you could explain just why people self-segregate in prisons, and in neighborhoods. Or why a certain race predominates in the commission of inter-racial violent crimes.
But please, do say something in defense of your point of view, because if you can’t I’ll just ignore your next little missive, because I’ve got better things to do then feed lazy trolls.
So y'all are in agreement with a racist killer?
Most of Western Europe is now multicultural and don't seem to have these problems, at least not to this extent.
And I have yet to hear what race or culture these three dead cops were.
As for overpopulation that does create what sociologists call gesellschaft, but that's more likely to create alienation (a determining factor in the psyche's of some of these killers), but since this is a widely shared phenomena you can't blame this zeitgeist for what a relative few do.
But with powerful weapons these few can create a hell of an impact.
"And no amount of multicultural propaganda or indoctrination can overcome the natural dispersion of racially-identifying predispositions in human populations"
Now turn that view around, too simply say "No Amount"? To be reasonable, you have to answer what exactly is the reason for [propaganda ].
I think you may want to compare the "propaganda" of biological vs. hereditary, regarding performance.
We've had many natural disasters that have refuted your claim, though I do understand... they are just that, your claims.
PS. Though I will admit, there is one category of propaganda that is distributed the world over and welcomed by the many, that indeed demands prejudice towards others... whether your honest enough or intelligent enough too acknowledge this fact, is another thing.
It's all about personal responsibility. The right needs to reject these people.
They need to make it clear that they understand that their tv news and radio soap operas are just that. It's about taking news and turning it into drama. They do it everyday and contradict themselves philosophically on a regular basis. Sometimes the next day! It's because they are more interested in the drama of the story than the discussions of problems and solutions. This is why most talk radio is about people or groups not ideals or proposals. It's where the drama lies.
It's interesting to note that they are likely feeling the desperation that many of us felt over the past several years. Odd how they act when the tables turn.
I think we know who the violent extremists are anyway.
I'd love to hear other ideas on solving our problem but it gets pretty frustrating when the best you can get is a line from Kid Hannitys soap. We could solve this or maybe just go on shooting people. Whadda ya think? What would Jesus do?
What did Jesus say about peace?
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division." (Luke 12:49-51) These words, by the way, come immediately after Jesus talked about beating slaves.
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