<p>“I don’t mean to reopen a can of worms,…”</p>
<p>Then let’s close that can of worms right now!!!</p>
<p>tom, I understand that you don’t want this thread to become a forum on gun control. But I think that it is important that the gun be investigated, in terms of how, where, when, and from whom she obtained it, and the public has a right to know this. To whom was it registered? Was it reported stolen? What happened to it in between manufacture and use? How many other guns did the registered owner buy and where are they? This is the reason that she should be able to plea down from the death penalty…because if she is able to disclose information about the flow of illegal weapons it may prevent other crime from occurring and this could be lifesaving for other people. Furthermore, the public deserves this information in order to truly understand what contributes to crime. In a democracy, we all influence policy but we need information to make intelligent decisions about sensible courses of action.</p>
<p>I bet she obtained the gun legally and why wouldn’t she have been allowed to. There was no legitimate reason to stop her from making a legal purchase- no convictions, no known mental health issues.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s useful to know when she got the gun, if she had owned it for awhile (and how come the H didn’t know about it!!), and if it’s registered in her name.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it’s very odd that someone who “accidentally” killed her brother would EVER have anything to do with a gun.</p>
<p>How come the H didn’t know about the gun? I don’t believe a spouse has to approve such a purchase and registration. If THAT ever came to pass, watch out! </p>
<p>If it’s a hand gun, it would be quite concealable in the home. In some part of the country, a gun owner must apply for a concealed weapons permit if they desire to carry it concealed in public. Whether and who can obtain said permits can be quite political depending on who issues the permits.</p>
<p>Rifles are harder to hide but within a decent sized home, it can be done.</p>
<p>Gives a new meaning to “The Nutty Professor”</p>
<p>[Arizona</a> May Allow Faculty to Carry Guns on Campus - Campus Chatter](<a href=“http://blogs.abcnews.com/campuschatter/2010/02/arizona-may-allow-faculty-to-carry-guns-on-campus.html]Arizona”>http://blogs.abcnews.com/campuschatter/2010/02/arizona-may-allow-faculty-to-carry-guns-on-campus.html)</p>
<p>Now there’s an idea.</p>
<p>Sheesh!</p>
<p>"Guns on campus: not everyone wants it, but in Arizona it might just become a reality.</p>
<p>Most universities do not allow students or faculty with concealed carry permits to bring a weapon to school, but a bill is currently moving through the state senate that would allow faculty to do just that. Currently, only certified police officers are permitted to carry a weapon on school grounds in Arizona.</p>
<p>State Senator Jack Harper of Phoenix is the primary sponsor of this bill, and this legislative session is not the first time that it has been introduced. </p>
<p>Daniel Crocker, Southwest Regional Director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, said that while he believes this legislation should extend to students, the current bill is a move in the right direction. “Any step toward allowing the people the right to self defense is a good thing,” Crocker said. “We’re going to embrace anything that extends that right."</p>
<p>One of the news stories said that she did not have a permit for the gun. That is why more information is needed.
One of the reasons that crime has decreased so much in New York City is that they do NOT allow concealed weapons. This allows police to search suspects for concealed weapons, because it is a crime to conceal, and if the police see a bulge, they have a reason to stop people. They often find weapons. And, guess what? They are illegal weapons, and the people are drug dealers, and/or they are participating in other crime, and the police actually had an excuse to stop them and remove them from the streets. If it were legal to carry concealed weapons, the police would not have probable cause, and these people would still be carrying on the activities. Makes the whole place safer for everyone. Just saying!</p>
<p>She borrowed the gun from “a friend” and had been to a shooting range at least twice in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Chronicle of Higher Education:</p>
<p>[The</a> Ticker - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Husband-of-Accused-Huntsville/21267/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en]The”>http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Husband-of-Accused-Huntsville/21267/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en)</p>
<p>(if the above is in fact true)</p>
<p>So the husband finally gets around to saying …oh yeah,…I went with her to a shooting range in the last couple of weeks. </p>
<p>This guy is so screwed…</p>
<p>“One of the reasons that crime has decreased so much in New York City is that they do NOT allow concealed weapons”</p>
<p>That argument only makes sense if NYC had ever allowed concealed weapons.</p>
<p>Who LOANS someone a handgun? </p>
<p>“Uh, I was wondering if I could borrow your gun.”</p>
<p>“Sure. Lock up on the way out.”</p>
<p>:eek:</p>
<p>A “bulge” in ones clothing does not constitute grounds for police to stop and search someone. The government has promoted and used 9/11 hysteria to gut our constitutionally mandated protections. All in the name of security. That is always the excuse and always the way it begins.</p>
<p>More retrospective gossip from people who knew the family way back when:</p>
<p>[‘Oddball</a>’ portrait of Amy Bishop emerges - BostonHerald.com](<a href=“http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100215oddball_protrait_emerges_suspects_family_pals_offer_clues/]‘Oddball”>http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20100215oddball_protrait_emerges_suspects_family_pals_offer_clues/)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I feel so terrible for all the victims.</p>
<p>*Huntsville, Ala. – The biology professor at the University of Alabama at Huntsville accused of shooting three of her colleagues to death at a faculty meeting last week had apparently borrowed the handgun from someone she knew, and had been to an indoor shooting range a couple of weeks before the killings, according to her husband.</p>
<p>Amy Bishop’s husband, James Anderson, told both The Chronicle and The New York Times on Sunday that the family did not own a gun. But in an interview with The Chronicle today, he acknowledged that she had borrowed a gun, though he wasn’t sure from whom. "She was very cagey and didn’t say," he said.</p>
<p>Mr. Anderson said he had told his wife he didn’t want the gun around the house because of their children, who range in age from 8 to 18. “Get rid of it,” he recalled telling her. “I didn’t want to have it. I didn’t feel we needed it.”</p>
<p>Ms. Bishop, according to her husband, had borrowed the gun and was considering buying it. Last summer, he said, someone followed her across the campus. “She was worried about crazy students,” he said. Mr. Anderson said had he warned his wife: “OK, but you can’t carry it to work.”</p>
<p>He told her that, if she had any concerns late at night, he would pick her up from the campus.</p>
<p>Mr. Anderson said he had gone with his wife to an indoor shooting range once, a couple of weeks ago. He said she had been there at least once before with a friend. The only indoor shooting range in the Huntsville area is Larry’s Pistol & Pawn, about 15 minutes from Ms. Bishop’s home.*</p>
<p>OMG…she’s lying… I doubt she borrowed the gun. Who lends someone a gun? She probably bought it, but didn’t want to tell her H. The “very cagey” response is very suspicious. She likely bought the gun.</p>
<p>I have been to Larry’s pistol range. It’s very organized, so if she went there, her records are there. If I remember correctly, my H had to show his permit. </p>
<p>Very sad that she has a child as young as 8 years old. Very sad to “lose” one’s mother at this age, especially when it was by choice!!!</p>
<p>Crazy students!!! What a liar!</p>
<p>I don’t don’t know if this is hyper-sensitive or not, but given the ages of the kids, they are probably googling and finding their way to threads like this. For all we know, the older kids might be regulars on CC or have friends who are. Maybe we should be a little bit careful about speculating about what went on in this family just out of consideration for the kids involved.</p>
<p>In doing a search to see if anything new had come up this afternoon, I guess I wasn’t that surprised to see the dozens of blogs portraying this as “left-wing socialist professor murders three”: as ridiculous as it is to blame this on her being a liberal, I suspect that most of the people making that connection are doing it as payback for all the times conservatives in general have been blamed when someone who is on the right commits this kind of crime.</p>
<p>What bothers me even more is all the people who seem to have decided that Amy Bishop is Jewish (apparently because of all the “Jewish-sounding” first names in her family, like Seth, Judith, and Samuel), and are accordingly blaming “the Jews” for what happened. Unbelievable. (I have no idea what religion her family is, and it doesn’t matter. There are plenty of non-Jewish New Englanders with Biblical first names, though.)</p>
<p>And then there are those labeling this as a race-based crime, because of the race of her victims. On that one, I’ll reserve judgment, because I have no idea.</p>
<p>It’s depressing that some find it necessary to try to make political hay out of this.</p>
<p>portraying this as “left-wing socialist professor murders three”</p>
<p>This is just silly. My friend’s H is very left-wing…so if politics were at play, she wouldn’t have shot him.</p>
<p>The fact that her family may have been Jewish is completely irrelevant. Jewish people don’t have a reputation of going around shooting people anyway! Crazy stuff being imagined!!</p>
<p>mimk6, I haven’t seen any speculation here about what kind of parents Amy Bishop and her husband were, or what their inner family dynamic was like. As for all the speculation about what happened in this case or in 1986, her kids would hardly have to find their way here for that. It would be almost impossible for them to go on the Internet without coming across thousands of stories about it, and one would hope that they would have the good sense to stay away from them. The title of this thread would certainly be a warning.</p>
<p>PS: I should have said millions: a Google search yields 4,600,000 results.</p>
<p>It may be mere semantics, but I’d characterize the discussion as a “search for an explanation” rather than speculation. Amy’s (alleged?) behavior is so far outside normal academic behavior that it begs the question “Why?” For the intelligent, educated, thoughtful members of the CC community, “Well she’s just nuts” is a highly unsatisfying explanation.</p>