Did Fear of Gun Control Laws Make Father & Son Go on Rampage??

[LanceOregon]

Note: The following words are my own, and are not copied and pasted from any publication.

Bruce and Joshua Turnidge, a father and son who lived near Salem, OR are currently on trial for the murder of two senior law enforcement officers ( Senior Oregon State Trooper William Hakim and Captain Thomas Tennant of the Woodburn Police Dept ) , and the wounding and maiming of the Woodburn Chief of Police Russell Scott, who was so critically injured that one of his legs had to be amputated.

Prosecutors opened their case Monday, by saying that a fear of new Federal Gun Controls being pushed through Congress by the Obama Administration prompted their attack.

The men told investigators that the huge remote control bomb that they built was never meant to harm anyone. They said that they only hoped to terrorize the government, and thus be able to extort $24 Million dollars. The son even made calculations of how much $24 Million in $100 bills would weigh.

In his opening arguments, Defense attorney Steven Krasik attempted to shift the blame for the tragic deaths onto State Trooper Hakim. He said that he was a "flawed hero", and had made tragic mistakes in believing that the bomb was a fake, and then attempting to dismantle it. The blast was so powerful that both officer Hakim and Captain Tennant were eviscerated by the blast, with their bodies scattered into pieces.

This is by far the most bizarre crime story that I have ever heard. Could there actually be some gun owners that are so paranoid about gun control, that they would do crazy stuff like this?

I don't believe that I can really buy the prosecutor's main argument that the fear of new gun controls were really the true reason behind this insanity. It seems to me, that these two were just basically nuts period. If anything, it seems to me that they were just looking for an excuse to commit extortion, and try to get rich off of it. Yet, for some reason, this is what the government is alleging was the motive behind the incident.

Does anyone else familiar with this case agree that fear of gun control was probably not the real motivation? Or do you simply believe that the men are insane, period? The men certainly are scumbags, no matter how you look at it.

Witnesses are expected to testify that both men frequently spoke about robbing banks, and even had already made up a cover story to explain a sudden influx of cash. One witness even quoted Bruce Turnidge as saying that the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building had been "a good thing."

Sadly, nuts like these two buffoons really give gun owners in general a black eye. I just wish that the prosecutor would not be using this reasoning for a motive, as it helps to paint anyone who opposes gun control as being some kind of extremist maniac.

Here are the booking photos of the two men:




And here are some links to news coverage of this bizarre story. The more I read about it, the more crazy the whole story sounds. It is really hard to make much sense out of it.

But I certainly don't believe that fear of gun control was really the main factor behind this all happening. There has to be much more to it than that. Yet, this is what the media is reporting in its headlines:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...ocId=D9IHTMAG0

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-no...lice_offi.html

[blume357]

I think the whole reason this happened was not from fear of one thing (gun control) but from just plain fear of everything and everyone that probably did not agree with those two.

Obviously the state trooper made a mistake... does that make him responsible for his death and the other LEO's and the injury to the sheriff?

I hope those two wing knuts get what they deserve. Does Oregon use a needle now?

[LanceOregon]

Oregon has never been a strong enforcer of the death penalty. Twice ( in 1914 and 1964 ) voters banned the death penalty in the state. But in each case, voters later ended up bringing it back after several years.

However, twice the courts have also thrown out the death penalty law in Oregon. The last time the law was brought back was in 1984. That law has survived challenges, and has been ruled to be constitutional.

Because of all of these problems with the law here, since 1976, there have only been two executions in Oregon. And they were back in the mid 90's, with the last one being over 13 years ago in 1997.

We do have over 30 people on death row in Oregon currently. But the current legal system here is allowing them to make practically endless appeals, and thus avoid execution.

In Oregon, the Death Penalty can only be given to someone found guilty of aggravated murder. And that is exactly what both of these men have been charged with.

.

[Kreyzhorse]

This is by far the most bizarre crime story that I have ever heard. Could there actually be some gun owners that are so paranoid about gun control, that they would do crazy stuff like this?

These guys are nuts period. Any fear about the government, or gun control, is an excuse after the fact to try and shed light on their motives.

[Double Naught Spy]

Fear of gun control laws didn't make these guys do anything. That may be an excuse they are giving, but these guys were doing this for the money.

The notion that they didn't intend to harm anyone is garbage.

But I certainly don't believe that fear of gun control was really the main factor behind this all happening. There has to be much more to it than that. Yet, this is what the media is reporting in its headlines:

Okay, maybe your paranoia is showing quite a bit here, Lance, as your claim isn't supported by your examples and I can't find any support using google. You provided links to two articles about this even and NEITHER have headlines stating that fear of gun control was the main factor behind all this happening. Both your articles' headlines indicate the issue was with Obama, not gun control. I did a search using the suspects' names via google and none of the first 150 hits have anything about gun control in their headlines. I even searched with their names and "gun control" and had no hits fear of gun control being in the headlines.

Yes, the media does bring up the issue repeatedly, but the problem isn't with the media. As you stated, it was part of the opening statements of the prosecution. The prosecution made the claim. The media just reported it.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by LanceOregon

This is by far the most bizarre crime story that I have ever heard. Could there actually be some gun owners that are so paranoid about gun control, that they would do crazy stuff like this?

There's the right answer, right there. Any "reason" is no more than an excuse to shift the blame. I'm tired of all the "reasons" that people do crazy crap. They do crazy crap because they're crazy. For that matter, I'm tired of the blame shifting all around. Someone does 45 in a 30 and gets a ticket and it's a "young cop trying to make a name for himself". Some guy at Costco makes a scene with a gun and ends up dead and it's Costco and the cops fault. BullCRAP! You do it, own up to it! Live (or die) with the consequences!

They made a personal choice to do what they did. No one made them, there are no good reasons. There is no rationale. It's their fault, they're nuts.

I am so sick of the 50 year old man that rapes some little girl and blames his father for slapping him too hard when he was a boy. Freakin' man up.

[johnbt]

"Did Fear of Gun Control Laws Make Father & Son..."

I vote no. It was either stupidity or plain evilness.

My first guess is that they not legally insane, just nut cases.

[comn-cents]

They are just slime low lifes & stupid idiots who don't care about anyone or anything that doesn't serve them. I don't see why this is thread is still open. Go read about it in a paper. Maybe I'm way off track but I think this thread has nothing to do with TFL.

[Al Norris]

Totally off topic.

Closed.