Mentally ill shooter ambushes two Athens,Alabama officers

The News Courier ^ | 1/03/2004 | Kelly Kazek

[NewRomeTacitus]

Two lawmen murdered is horrible, but we can't forgive the media for constantly using tragedies like this to crank out their anti-gun agenda. It's especially infuriating how they refuse to learn anything about guns at all and consistantly misreport "facts" about them.
This man assaulted the officers with a rifle. He changed magazines when he ran out of ammunition. If he had to change a clip then one holding two parts together must have broken.

[verity]

I completely agree about the media!

[TheBattman]

The liberal bias is glaring in this article...as well as the ignorance. And no, I'm not saying this fool should have even had a gun, BUT....

The rifle fired 7.62-mm rounds -- the kind that bullet-proof vests don't stop, the sheriff said.

Ummm...pretty much any centerfire rifle round will penetrate most body armor. There also is no such thing as "bullet-proof vest". Bullet resistant, yes. Also, 7.62 describes several rounds, both "civilian" and military.

Barksdale gunned down two Athens police officers with an assault rifle

Assault rifle? What's their definition of "assault rifle"?

shooting them so many times he had to change the clip in the rifle

Barksdale's rifle had only 10 shots per clip

It's called a magazine....A clip is what you use to load a military rifle that has no removeable magazine - "stripper clip".

I am curious how someone with a RECORD of mental illness was able to purchase this rifle. Regardless of if he lied on his yellow form, the background check should have picked up his record for mental defect. After all, the system is suppose to be practically flawless now, isn't it?

[TheBattman]

Blakely said Barksdale's family, into whose care he was released during his illness, knew Barksdale kept the rifle.

[wimpycat]

The article says his family knew he had the rifle. If he's paranoid schizophrenic and off his meds, a good defense lawyer just might be able to get him off...or at least avoid the death penalty. But, if he in fact told police he knew he messed up, I don't know...we'll just have to wait and see.

[OldPossum]

I liked your explanations. Typical ignorant journalist. Remember how his brethren went bonkers about the "snipers' high-powered" rifle in Virginia, DC and Maryland. If it had been legal, I would have mailed some of them a sample .223 round along with a .300 magnum round, just so they would know what a REAL high-powered round looks like.

If I were a journalist writing about something I really didn't know about, I would consult someone who does. But they rarely do.

[William Tell]

toddst said: "The family was remiss in dealing with this, should have taken the gun away."

The guy also had access to an automobile. If he had waited until a busy time and then driven the car at high speed down the sidewalk of his downtown area, he almost certainly would have killed more than two people. Women and minorities would have been most affected.

[toddst]

The guy also had access to an automobile. If he had waited until a busy time and then driven the car at high speed down the sidewalk of his downtown area, he almost certainly would have killed more than two people.

Mr. Barksdale could have used his gun to shoot people in his neighborhood, but instead called police officers to him as targets. There's some sort of thinking involved here we don't understand. Apparently he had no interest in shooting civilians.