Asymmetrical Information

*takes out a stopwatch and waits for the gun control shills to start trying to exploit this*

*takes out watch and waits to see when gun-nut will claim gun-control advocates will harp on this shooting*

Oh wait...too late.

Reports I'm hearing are that Councilman Davis has died.

Not much of a gun control issue, as I see it: more of an "adequately securing a key public building" issue, if you ask me.

"Reports I'm hearing are that Councilman Davis has died."

Yes, I just heard that on the news. Also that the gunman is still at large. Not good, either one.

The latest news report says that the shooter (who was the second victim - shot and killed by police)was a "political opponent" of Councilman Davis, and had come into City Hall with him - thus bypassing security checks(!). It is certainly a horror and a tragedy - but it seems to be some sort of local-political, or possibly personal feud turned deadly. Looks like neither gun-control nor building-security issues are in play here (not that that will stop bloggers from having their say anyway!)

*takes out watch and waits to see when a generally reasonbly-toned poster will be accused of being a gun nut simply for stating the obvious*

Oops, too late also :)

My, isn't the spin cycle fun...

I do wonder what the real "gun nut" was trying to accomplish, though. Disgruntled with a council decision? Random act of violence? Mentally unbalanced?

The latest news report says that the shooter (who was the second victim - shot and killed by police)was a "political opponent" of Councilman Davis, and had come into City Hall with him - thus bypassing security checks(!). It is certainly a horror and a tragedy - but it seems to be some sort of local-political, or possibly personal feud turned deadly. Looks like neither gun-control nor building-security issues are in play here (not that that will stop bloggers from having their say anyway!)

"The latest news report says that the shooter (who was the second victim - shot and killed by police)was a "political opponent" of Councilman Davis, and had come into City Hall with him - thus bypassing security checks(!)."

Dan White--2003 edition. At least we won't have to see the 2003 version of the Twinkie defense.

My condolences to Councilman Davis' family and friends.

Does anyone else find it distasteful (to say the least) when the media refers to the original shooter as a "victim" when the police kill him or her?

Well, perhaps it IS a building security issue after all. Maybe NO ONE-- including the mayor and council members-- should be allowed to bypass City Hall security-- at least not anymore. Sorry, but that's what the world has evidently come to. (The VIPs can get their own express line, I suppose, but they still should have to submit to at least a metal detector.)

For years, I scoffed when Giuliani stuck a fence around City Hall and cut off a great short cut between the subway and my office (then a block from ground Zero) across City Hall Park. He did it officially because of "security", though the real reason was probably to try to separate the people from their government (and because St. Rudy was petty and mean-spirited).

Well, just because he was paranoid doesn't mean he was wrong. I scoff no more.

What a horror. Maybe it was a "local issue".

Who cares? City Hall is supposed to be a secure building! Obviously, there really is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide in this town.

Why does City Hall's location near the former WTC make it any more someplace which should be kept secure? After all, there is no more target there, and political squabbling has prevented work from starting on a new one. City Hall should be kept secure, but if it was out in Queens near Great Neck, the security level should be the same.

A plainclothes police officer shot and killed the assailant, who was a political opponent of the councilman and had accompanied him into the building, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. The gunman's ties to the councilman apparently allowed him to bypass security.

"Obviously, there was a breakdown someplace," said Bloomberg, who was in his office at the time of the attack and unharmed. Bloomberg said that all officials, including himself, will now be required to go through the machines.

Brooklyn Councilman James Davis, a former police officer and outspoken presence on the council, died from two gunshots to the chest as 14 bullets rattled across the landmark lower Manhattan building, authorities said.

From Comcast.net (emphasis added)

I was last in City Hall pre-9/11, but I recall the security being surprisingly light. I was able to wander around a look at the paintings - including my favorite picture of Washington, by John Trumbull, 1790 - without anyone so much as asking who I was. Maybe I just have an honest face.

Shouldn't we at least ask whether the instant jump to tightened security is an overreaction? I mean no disrespect to the (one) victim of today's crime, but we could write the abstract of today's sorry incident as "Something Bad Happened, So We Must Move Heaven and Earth to Guarantee It Will Never Happen Again."

But where do you stop? Next time, it will be someone stabbed with a ceramic knife, so in response we'll institute intrusive full-body searches; and then someone will beat someone with a cane snatched from an innocent elderly bystander, and we ban the infirm, and...

Perhaps we should first ask, "When was the last time this happened?" before we decide it's a Problem That Needs A Solution rather than a fluke.

Sorry - my bad on the "victim" designation in my post yesterday: no value judgment was intended (I quite agree: there was only ONE victim). However, the first news reports of the City hall shooting incident were not all that clear: even by 4;30 or so, it was still being reported that a "gunman had shot two people" and was still at large - a version which was only corrected at about 5:00 - when I contributed my post.
PS: apropos of K Parker's question above: this has NEVER happened before: IMO. "fluke" fits the case just right.

its a liability issue

1st time it happens: couldn't have been expected

2nd time: you knew this happens yet you didn't prevent it, some jury in mississippi gives an idiot who broke all the rules of normal behaviour and several laws of physics and thermodynamics 15 Billion dollars (cause some mouth breather watched austin powers the night befoer and thought that billion was just a much cooler synonym for million)

In this case, neither gun control nor security checks have anything to do with it. The killer came in with Davis - and could have beat his head in with a baseball bat in the parking law nearly as easily.

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