Hundreds mourn 3 slain Pittsburgh police officers Options

[dauss]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...I6_7cAD97EIO600

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Law enforcement officials from as far away as Georgia and Boston gathered Wednesday to pay tribute to three fellow officers killed in the line of duty over the weekend.

Allegheny County police officers led three riderless horses to Pittsburgh's City-County Building, where mourners from the region and a host of police and correction officials visited the bodies of Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo II.

The officers were shot to death Saturday morning while responding to an argument between a mother and her 22-year-old son, who is jailed on homicide charges.

R. Joseph Mason, a motor officer patrolman in Cobb County, Ga., north of Atlanta, drove up in a rental van with five fellow officers.

"We just don't wear uniforms in Cobb County. We wear them all over the country," he said. "And we wear the same uniforms. The band of brothers, the color blue sticks together."

Though he did not expect to meet the officers' families, he said, "There's thousands of people behind them, thousands of officers who love them and care about them."

Sgt. Joe Teahan, of the Boston Police Department, was one of 75 Boston officers and 25 from surrounding departments who will attend Thursday's memorial service. He said police officers are "pretty much a fraternity throughout the country."

"We're showing them that we got their backs," he said. "I think the families see the support from the number of guys here to let them know they're not alone. They know there are other guys out there, much like their husbands or fathers. ... We care."

Jane Bean, a retired counselor for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, made the trip from the suburb of South Park to pay her respects to the fallen officers. Her daughter and son-in-law are police officers in suburban Pittsburgh departments.

"You just admire and honor what they do," Bean said as she fought back tears. "It's time like this you realize how important they are."

Police say Richard Poplawski shot the officers when they arrived at his mother's house Saturday morning after she called 911 to ask them to remove him.

When officers arrived, Margaret Poplawski opened the door for them. She later told police that she didn't know that her son was standing behind her with a gun.

Sciullo was shot in the home and Mayhle on the front stoop. Both men were dead within seconds. Kelly was shot as he arrived to provide backup, prompting a four-hour siege and gun battle with police, authorities said.

Another officer, Timothy McManaway, was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

Authorities said Poplawski was wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with a variety of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle.

Poplawski sustained wounds to his legs and is being held under close observation at the Allegheny County Jail on criminal homicide, attempted homicide and other charges.

Friends have said Poplawski was upset and angry about losing his job a few months ago, feared that President Barack Obama would take away his gun rights and believed Jews controlled the news media. Internet rantings found on a white supremacist Web site indicate Poplawski was preoccupied with the idea that Obama was going to overturn the Second Amendment and that Jews were secretly running the country.

Poplawski's public defender asked a judge on Wednesday to impose a gag order to prevent police from talking about the case. Lisa Middleman said police have disclosed what Poplawski said to them and other information about the case.

A spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said prosecutors would remind police not to talk.

Josh Davis, a 27-year-old student from Pittsburgh, waited outside the City-County Building several hours before doors opened to the public. He shook hands with officers and thanked them for their service.

"They put their lives on the line," he said. "(They) go through hell for us."

[cmac]

well at least you realize how dumb it sounds

i realize how dumb the response sounds.

No it's not simple. In fact it's just the opposite, because laws banning guns would for sure take them from the responsible people, because responsible people are the ones who obey the laws and turn them in.

we'll keep the numbers small for ease.

1. 100,000 guns available. we live in a cruel world and 70% are owned by criminals. that's 70,000 guns for criminals. 30,000 guns for civilians. say 10% of these kill humans per year. 7,000 deaths per year.
2. we ban guns. point blank. for ease.
3. there are 10,000 guns available illegally. 100% for criminals. say 50% kill humans. we're under an all out apocalypse killing spree
4. 70,000 guns for criminals vs. 10,000 guns for criminals. 7,000 deaths per year vs. 5,000 deaths per year.
5. wacky numbers. less deaths. yay.

so there's more percentage in the hands of criminals. there's still less quantity.

You're avoiding the point. You made the point that the person dying was the common factor in it being cowardly. What the hell does distance have to do with anything? A good guy can kill a bad guy at 1000 yds the same way a bad guy can kill a good guy. Just like a bad guy can murder someone with a knife just as easily as they can with a gun. How many robberies or murders are committed at 1000 yards?

you can't tell me it's not cowardly for the university of texas sniper to camp out in a tower and just pick people off on the ground one by one without any warning sign of any bullet coming. i have no opportunity to defend myself. no opportunity to even know it's coming. you can't do anything from 1000 yards with your fists, knife, etc. you can't even do anything with your fists from 20 yards. but, dodge a bullet from 20 yards. impossible. it's chicken-shit. too much power is given with guns.

that you think all death is preventable and that anyone and everyone can be reasoned with or just has this great swelling of goodness in their heart somewhere...

no. i think several deaths can be prevented. no law or self-defending will ever stop it.

Bingo! Key words: small town. Your little redneck town of a few thousand from which you apparently get all these stupid stereotypes hardly represents your average Houston, Dallas, SA, or Austin resident. You know, those cities were millions of people live?

really...? it occurs in big cities too. i live in denver. it occurs here. and we're crazy leftist pot smoking hippy wackos. i have friends in every city you named. it occurs there. i think it's great that every single person you know is a responsible gun owner. i just think that is rare. i guess we hang around with different groups of people. or something.

And on your little guns & kids rant, I didn't notice any stories of kids shooting themselves out of all these "thousands" of people you know who owned guns and anecdotal stories of irresponsibility. Don't make them up now though bc it'll be a pretty obvious lie. You might give this a little food for thought: You ever think that maybe, since they're teaching their kids about guns at an early age, that they understand about them and respect them??? Hmm what a concept.

teaching kids about guns at an early age is done by example. open gun racks are not responsible. if someone wants to teach their kid responsibility towards guns at an early age, great. that's the way it should be done if they're gonna exist in the household. but that's no reason to not keep them locked up.
and for the record you could google endless amounts of stories of some kid going through dad's gun closet and getting a little nutty. so i don't know someone personally? doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

again. if you are a responsible gun owner, i think that is fantastic. my argument does not pertain to said type of person.