By Nicholas Stix
I turned off the TV a few minutes ago, because the cable “news” channels knew nothing, but kept yapping, in order to fill time between commercials.
The little they knew was that the First Baptist Church had a congregation of 50 people. He church was open from 8 a.m.-12:15 p.m., and 5-6 p.m. every Sunday. Everyone was there when the shooter showed up and started shooting at 11:30 a.m. He had time to re-load, suggesting there is only one way in or out.
The shooter actually planned on getting away, and drove off, with the police in pursuit, alerted by customers from a nearby gas station. A few minutes later, the gunman was dead. Police have not yet reported whether they got him, or he shot himself.
According to the real estate site, Best Places, Sutherland Springs had 643 people, 94.4% of who were white. The average age was 39, an aging demographic.
The population is listed as having been 59.41% male, which is extraordinary. One aspect of that would be that the percentage of criminals was extremely low. When one sees lopsided sexual numbers, it typically means that the majority is female, and the demographics are heavily black and/or Hispanic, either because so many of the men are in jail, or because it’s a retirement community, where the women typically outlive the men.
But 59.41% male?! If the numbers are legit—I couldn’t find Sutherland Springs through the Census Bureau—it suggests that a lot of women left town.
The first reports say the killer was from "somewhere else." It could mean he picked this particular church and community.
ReplyDeleteI was dumbfounded,looking at the headline.Then I understood my problem--the brick of realization--hitting me square in the head,that you can't even hide in Sutherland Springs,Texas to escape the insanity.
ReplyDelete--GR Anonymous
I am a member of a small independent Baptist church in Austin, Texas.
ReplyDeleteI'm not proud to admit that I need to eat crow about something that happened at church last week.
Last weekend, our pastor hosted a Saturday morning meeting for usher training. One guy who deals in security spoke at length about the need for vigilance and being able to respond in case we had to deal with a shooter or violent criminal. This gentleman, a friend of mine, spoke for a long period of time. I eventually found myself growing impatient because I had to be somewhere else soon. One person present mentioned that Baptist churches are often targeted for violence more than other denominations. In fact, we had to remind ourselves that our own church was burned by arsonist(s) about ten years ago (it has since been rebuilt.) Still, the scenarios my friend talked about seemed as if they could never happen. I kept my thoughts to myself, but I thought that my security-conscious friend was going too far.
I was wrong.
Devon Patrick,dishonorably discharged a few years ago from the Armed Forces.What do you do about all these guys?Its got to be addressed even more than gun control.The possibillity is there for this to happen in a certain percentage of Vets--recent ones particularly.Disgruntled black Vets who turn to Islam are another segment.Their familiarity with guns makes it imperative,that we as society,are aware of who is psychologically damaged from serving,and who should not be allowed to have a gun,based on that info.Or do we just wait for this to happen over and over again?Do regular people not have the right to exist?We protect the criminal,violent,bizarre and unproductive people of this country.How about the rest of us?
ReplyDelete--GR Anonymous