Texas Gunman should never have been allowed to carry a gun
(30.08.2005)

A.P. Cranshaw killed 4 people in Texas on Monday, but this could have been avoided if the gun laws were amended.

According to reports, Cranshaw had what seemed like an argument with church member Wes Brown in the church parking lot Sunday night. Brown asked Cranshaw to leave, but he returned later and shot Brown at close range.

He then shot the pastor, James Armstrong. Both bodies were found in a grassy area next to the parking lot.

Cranshaw then drove off and shot at a truck (towing a horse trailer). The two women inside the truck tried to run away, but he killed them as well. There appears to be no motive for the murder of the two women. Fannin County Sheriff Kenneth Moore said that "We believe it was just random..They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time"

A house and a cafe were also shot at by Cranshaw as he headed home, but no one was injured. During the nine hour standoff with police, a SWAT team made two attempts to enter Cranshaw's house, but withdrew after being shot at. When they finally managed to get into the house they found Cranshaw dead and believe he shot himself in the head about one hour earlier.

Apparently one of Cranshaw's neighbours had called the police on a couple of occasions to complain about Cranshaw's disruptive behavior. He would swear at them and fire a gun. Police were unable to make an arrest because this happened on his own property.

You would think that this sort of behaviour would be sufficient to withdraw any gun licence he may have had, as the man was obviously too unstable to be allowed to own guns.

Gun owners continue of course to support the current gun laws and claim that people having guns reduce certain violent crimes. We disagree and have said so many times. Unfortunately, gun owners involved in "domestic" disputes, often use their weapons to settle arguments and wouldn't be able to if the laws were more restrictive.

The neighbour who complained about Cranshaw said he used to carry a gun while mowing his yard, just in case there was any argument with him.

This is a dangerous situation to get into. In order to counter the effect of one person having a gun, people go out and buy one themselves. Where does this end?

One gun owner said (after a school shooting some time ago), that the teachers should also carry guns! What next? Should the students buy them as well, just in case a teacher gets upset with their attitude one day and decides to go on a killing spree. What happens when everyone has a gun, what weapons will they need to buy to counter this, grenades, rocket launchers, flame throwers, missiles?

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