In Guns: The Great White Male Right-Wing Freak-Out, we heard Katha Pollitt ridiculing the very notion that a concealed handgun carrier might just have saved lives in the recent Aurora, Colorado shooting.  “All those moviegoers in Aurora needed to make their misery complete was to have a bunch of armed freelancers shooting off their weapons in a dark theater,” she dryly commented.

I wondered if she might be mistakenly referring to the incident where the New York Police Department fired off 84 rounds at a single shooter, missing with 70.  Now we learn from none other than Mayor Nazi himself that the NYPD might have again neglected to maintain situational awareness of their backstop.

Bloomberg says the suspect had been fired from his job at the address about a year ago.

He says some of the people injured in the melee may have been accidentally shot by police officers firing at the gunman.

I’m just wondering if any white, freaked-out, right-wing males might have been able to help in this situation if they had been carrying?

UPDATE #1:

“These officers … had absolutely no choice,” Kelly said. “This individual took a gun out very close to them and perhaps fired at them.”

Kelly said authorities believe police may be responsible for some of the injuries because of the limited capacity of the gunman’s weapon.

Erica Solar doesn’t know who shot her in the back of the knee while she walked to get coffee on her way to work, said her brother, Louis Lleras.

“She just heard shots and she fell to the ground a couple of steps forward and noticed that she was shot,” Lleras said.

Ercolino’s profile on the business networking site Linkedin identified him as a vice president of sales at Hazan Import Corp. It said he was a graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta

A man who answered the phone at Ercolino’s home in Warwick, northwest of Manhattan, said he was too distraught to talk.

“He was a good son, that’s all I can say, said the man, who didn’t give his name

The two officers fired a total of 14 rounds at Johnson, Kelly said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said some of the nine wounded may have been shot by police in the mayhem. Johnson’s semi-automatic weapon was equipped to fire at least eight rounds; at least one round was left in the clip, police said. Another loaded magazine was in his briefcase.

You mean that he didn’t need a high capacity clip, er … magazine to cause all that carnage?  You mean that the NYPD officers were “very close” to the shooter and still shot innocents?

On another front, Katrina Trinko says:

I’ve been past the Empire State Building many, many times now; it’s one of the most crowded areas in Manhattan. There’s always tourists to see the building itself, and there’s plenty of non-tourists, too, going about their daily business. Unbelievable that it would be a scene of violence like this.

That’s the problem with Mayor Nazi and his gun laws, and all of those who acquiesce to them.  It’s “unbelievable” that someone would be shot there.  It needs to become very believable, right now, especially if it is a crowded area.  I was attending worship services a few weeks ago and took note of the very large, seated crowd.  What a horrible target  for a crazed shooter!  That’s why I was armed while sitting in the service, and thus, the service was safer for everyone in attendance.

UPDATE #2:

Based on other sources, it appears that the sequence of events is basically as follows: (a) gunman had an eight round magazine, (b) fired two (or possibly three) shots at former supervisor (or co-worker, it isn’t clear), holstered his weapon and walked away, (c) someone witnessed these events and security personnel followed him, (d) he appeared to unholster his weapon and aim it at the police officers, (e) NYPD officers fired approximately 14 rounds in his direction, killing him and shooting nine bystanders in the process.  In the sequence of events it is apparent at the moment that the perpetrator didn’t fire a single round at the police.

Now.  Expect the following things to happen in the MSM.  First, they will walk back the idea that a gunman shot eleven people.  They will not clealy state that the NYPD shot nine of them.  They will issue new calls for a ban on high capacity magazines even though the gunman didn’t have one.  Finally, they will call for even more stringent controls on the purchase of firearms by law abiding citizens, including increased waiting times, even though the gunman waited approximately one year from the date of the offending action to perpetrate the crime.

Watch it and see.

UPDATE #3: Thanks to Dan Riehl for the attention!