More anti-gun hysteria in NYC

The news coverage of the shooting in NYC today is so biased as to be fiction. It seems that a disgruntled worker returned to his former workplace and shot his former office mate, with whom he had a long history of disagreement and reportedly legal actions. The former worker shot his coworker, then left. There was no indication that any further violence was planned.

A construction worker followed the shooter and alerted police of his location. At that point there was no obvious threat of violence, the gunman was leaving the scene quietly, probably headed for his car.

When the police arrived they confronted the shooter, who then reached for his gun. The police opened fire, killing the gunman and wounding nine innocent bystanders. No witness has indicated that the gunman fired, and the body markers which were visible on TV appeared to be all people behind the gunman. It is interesting that the CNN coverage reported 14 total shots fired, without commenting on the size of the police magazines. They did note that the gunman had a "45 with an eight shot magazine" and that the police "prevented further violence." The gunman had his gun away and was leaving quietly, I'd like to see how that gets spun. It is interesting that Mitt Romney appeared immediately on TV to thank the officers for their service and bravery.

I don't want to jump to conclusions without the full facts, but it would seem that the police could have followed the shooter until he reached a location more suitable for a confrontation. With his gun out of sight and having already refrained from shooting anyone else, there does not seem to have been a need to confront the shooter, even if it meant he might escape. This was not an act of terror by the gunman, it was a very personal killing of one man, and provoking a gunfight on a crowded street should have been avoided if at all possible. The fact that the bystanders were behind the gunman may have led into the immediate police summary which concluded "some of the victims might have been hit by police bullets." Sounds so much better than "shot by police," doesn't it?

This is just the latest in a series of incidents where multiple officers fired many shots, most of which missed their intended target, and each of which resembled a panicked "shoot until the gun is empty." barrage rather than the two shot "tap-tap and evaluate" taught to most upstate police. The Amadou Diallo shooting, the groom and wedding party shot multiple times in their car at a bachelor party, and now this poorly aimed barrage at a non-threatening suspect using a crowd of bystanders as a backstop.

Mayor Bloomberg, if you want "more and better gun control," stop harassing the disarmed law abiding citizens and start with you own police force!