The Community Center where 14 people were
killed by a lone gun man.
Syracuse is north of Binghamton
Syracuse is north of BinghamtonOccasionally, you can go almost a whole day without hearing horrifying news that everyone seems to know. Today was one of those days, since I didn't listen to the news until around 3PM and then heard about the senseless shooting in Binghamton, NY. This really hit home for me, because my husband and I lived near Binghamton in the small town of Vestal, NY and I taught
up there for a year too.
It's a quiet, typical upstate New York city with its share of rundown neighborhoods. But there's a calm and peace in this whole area. I went to school in Cortland, NY and Cortland is between Binghamton and Syracuse. These areas are places where people go to vacation. Maybe not in Binghamton, but around the area are many resort areas. However, Binghamton does have its share of notoriety having been close to the area where the mob was nabbed. Mafia King Pins, leaders of their respective divisions like in"The Sopranos" were rounded up and arrested during a clandestine meeting in the area.
But the news of a mass shooting didn't seem possible except that someone snapped and took out all of those people. There are so many articles about this shooting that I don't know what to think. Now I'm seeing reputable papers saying that the Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitulla Mehsud, is taking credit for the attack. At first I saw it on Fox News, but then I saw the same thing in The Wall Street Journal. So then I saw USA Today didn't buy into this and said that the cause is unknown. Maybe this crazy Pakistani leader wants to take credit for it to show how he can plan an attack on American soil. But it doesn't seem like this was more than a lone gunman who was crazy coming into the center to kill anyone he saw. You can read all the articles, since I linked everything for you. But what I like to do is go down the Google News page and read the latest articles. I picked those for you. At least they are the latest for this blog post. When you get up this morning you might see a whole different set of articles. If that is the case, remember this is breaking news so things can change and I'm not responsible for what is learned when I am asleep.:) What I learned is that there is a hero or shall I say, heroine, the receptionist, who though shot in the abdomen she was able to call 911 and report everything that was happening for ninety minutes allowing people to run out or hide. There will probably be lots more about her and this shooting. But maybe something good has come out of it.
Vice President Joe Biden has decided to look into gun control laws since the senseless violence in Binghamton. Make sure he does this, though. People need to send emails and faxes to him to show him we mean business and will support him if he tries to go against the gun lobby.
Have I mentioned how I feel about violence? Maybe I did, but this thing in this country for allowing people to own hand guns has to stop. According to authorities there were no assault rifles used although the gunman owned some. But still, this is not the wild west. Why did this man have so many guns? How could he and his family have lived so peacefully on the quiet street in Johnson City, a suburb of Binghamton? This kind of reminds me of that year of "24" when the Arabic family was a cell for the terrorists. They seemed peaceful, but the father and the son were attached to anti-American terrorists. So it's possible that this gunman was working with outside forces. I mean, he had three computers and all that other equipment. Where did he get it? What did he do for a living? Had he just been laid off as some suggest? This will all come out as the investigation continues.
All I can say is how sorry I am for the people who live in the area. Their sense of security and comfort has been rocked to the core. You may live in a small town and understand that sense of peace and continuance that you get when you live there. People sit on porches and smile at their neighbors. I saw a picture of people in church with candles in their hands. How awful for a community to lose so many good people in an instant! I saw that sales of guns were up today! Of course, this is what people think they have to do. They think they have to get a gun to protect themselves. Please people stop with the guns!!!!! PLEASE!!!!! Let's pass a real gun law to make sure that no one can get a hand gun without being licensed. Keep them off the internet and make sure that anyone who has one has it registered. I just hope that it doesn't make this city into a walled fortress now that one institution has been breached.
That's it for my rant. I wanted to divide this from my regular blog post, because this is so unusual. I am horrified and sad for the residents of Binghamton and the surrounding areas. My thoughts and prayers are with you!!!!
That's awful! Especially since it's close to home. These horrible crimes have gone up recently and it's just so sad. Maybe people are breaking down because of the way the economy is going down too? It's just a senseless loss of lives.
ReplyDeleteOh well, I don't want to dwell on it too much if I can help it and just pray.
Thank you for your concern, Shey. I felt so awful I had to write about it.
ReplyDeleteYes and since I lived there it affected me a little more. It's been awhile since I have been there, but we've driven through it a few times. It's tragic and unnecessary and I really HATE guns!!!
I hope this will spur some of these Congressmen to change the laws about gun control. Too many are in the pocket of the gun lobby which is very strong here. We can only hope.