The NRA Is Wrong: Guns Do Kill People, as the Pittsburgh Shootings Show

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

We should all bow our heads in silence for three police officers slain over the weekend by a 23-year-old alleged gunman apparently gone mad by the name of Richard Poplawski:

The three slain officers were Eric Kelly, 41, Stephen Mayhle, 29, and Paul Sciullo III, 37. Kelly had been on the force for 14 years, Mayhle and Sciullo for two years each. Another officer, Timothy McManaway, was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

Poplawski had gunshot wounds in his legs but was otherwise unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, Harper said. He was charged with three counts of homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons violation.

The shooting occurred just two weeks after four police officers were fatally shot in Oakland, Calif., in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001. The officers were the first Pittsburgh city officers to die in the line of duty in 18 years.

Poplawski allegedly mowed down the police officers with an AK-47. News reports said he was lying in wait for them, and the officers lay bleeding to death in the street before backups could secure the area and try to save them. There is no reason in the world why any American should be allowed to own an assault weapon, much less a meandering loser who was booted out of Marine boot camp for throwing a tray at an officer (an indication of his violent proclivities). But if the charges are true, Poplawski should serve as a poster child for the NRA:

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.

Some progressive websites are blaming Poplawski's actions, in part, on right-wing commentators who are stirring up gun owners.

It's time America came to its senses again on gun control. Seven officers of the law being mowed down in two weeks is too many. Any is too many. But if you listen to the NRA, guns don't kill people, people kill people. Could Poplawski have killed these Pittsburgh police without all his sophisticated weaponry? Heck no!

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