Bus shooting

In Charlotte, NC, a guy on a bus stands up and demands to be let off between stops. The bus driver refuses. The guy pulls a gun. The bus driver pulls a gun. They start shooting. The guy gets the worst of it. The bus driver gets fired.

Why?

Because company policy prohibits employees from carrying firearms while on duty. And most of all, he could have just let the guy off the bus. No one was made safer by the presence of the driver's gun. It ended in a gun battle in an enclosed space, putting everyone at risk. To me, this is the sort of mindset that comes with people carrying guns in public - give a guy a bugle and he's going to blow it. And North Carolina is a "stand your ground" state", with no duty to retreat or try to end a situation without firing your own gun. This is a foreseeable outcome of such a law. North Carolina is a shall-issue, open carry without a permit state. Glad to see it is working out for them.

Armed bus drivers. Sheesh.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kevin

Glad to see it is working out for them.

Armed bus drivers. Sheesh.

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It worked out for the bus driver who got to live through an uncertain moment in his life; he can get another job, but not another life...He could have easily stopped the bus, let the criminal off and been killed anyway as the miscreant stepped off the bus...Instead everyone on the bus got to go home that day - well, with the exception of the criminal...I already know your response, Kevin, let it fly as you will because this is my only reply in this thread...:2cents:...Ben

Letting the guy off would have also worked and not put any passengers at risk of flying lead. All he had to do was stop the bus and open the door and EVERYONE is safer. Nope, he pulls a gun.

The shooting need never have happened and the cowboy mentality that thinks that a shootout on a bus, which could have been avoided completely, is the proper response is part of the gun problem in this country. True, the guy could have stepped off and still shot the bus driver. He could have committed suicide. He could have stamped his foot and split in two like Rumplestiltskin but we'll never know because the FIRST response by a gun toting bus driver was to escalate the situation, not defuse it. That bus driver had a choice and he took the one that put everyone at more risk instead of just stopping the bus and letting the guy off. How is what he did the best answer here?

Hope they throw the book at him. He took a bad situation and made it immeasurably worse by pulling a gun he should not have had in the first place. Gosh, what's next? Pretty soon, we might see people getting shot over popcorn throwing in movie houses or something...

Give a guy a bugle and he's going to blow it.

What we have here is failure to communicate..

Conversation is too polarized..

IMHO.. Driver should have kissed a$$.. stopped the bus when asked.. let the bad guy off..

And then driver should have shot the bad guy through the door..

We need to negotiate and meet in the middle..

Or just closed the door and started the bus back up, called 911 and let a trained police officer who knows how to handle these situations deal with it. You know, someone whose job is to know how much force is needed in a given situation to protect the public?

But I suspect you are correct when you imply that testosterone was in play.

I agree with both of your posts, Kevin. Except for the part where you start assigning mindsets, and the part about throwing the book at him. It looks like a clear case of self-defense. Fire him for policy violations, but that's it. Like Ben, this will be my only post.

Self defense assuredly, but also reckless endangerment. And a copy of "Dirty Harry" with the words "this is fiction" on the outside of the box.

Obviously, gunfire on a public bus full of civilians is deadly.

What I see is Humans doing stupid things. Cause, you mix Humans and dangerous weapons - someone will die. We may think we're at the apex of evolution, but we're still creatures who don't necessarily do the right or rational thing.

Does all this mean we accept such a shooting and move on? No. We live, we pay taxes, and we vote. If policies or laws are inadequate and our tax money is misspent - we get involved to effect change. That is our right and our responsibility.

Hunter

"Pretty soon, we might see people getting shot over popcorn throwing in movie houses or something"... Kevin.

You can get yourself shot in Chicago for much less than popcorn. Over the memorial Day weekend 44 shot 9 killed.

I've never spoken of this before, but four years ago, I was involved in a random, drive-by popcorning. Extra butter. It was awful. I still have flashbacks.