There's a lot of things going on in this article (link only).

[Doktor Howl]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/06/19823968-official-hailed-as-true-hero-after-tackling-gunman-who-allegedly-killed-3-at-township-meeting?lite

I counted no less than 4 things that give lie to various popular beliefs in this article.

[Forsooth]

>>firecrackers
unless he had some funny automatic version of the mini-14, they must have only experienced some slow-ass firecrackers

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/06/19823968-official-hailed-as-true-hero-after-tackling-gunman-who-allegedly-killed-3-at-township-meeting?lite

I counted no less than 4 things that give lie to various popular beliefs in this article.

Can you point them out? I'm not catching them. Although I will say that if that guy has "an active lifestyle" I'm a fucking Olympic triathlete.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Also, I must say that evicting an old guy from a home he owns because it's dilapidated and he's too poor to fix it up sounds like some serious bullshit, to me.

[Doktor Howl]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/06/19823968-official-hailed-as-true-hero-after-tackling-gunman-who-allegedly-killed-3-at-township-meeting?lite

I counted no less than 4 things that give lie to various popular beliefs in this article.

Can you point them out? I'm not catching them. Although I will say that if that guy has "an active lifestyle" I'm a fucking Olympic triathlete.

Why, I'm glad you asked.

1.  Everyone carrying guns isn't really the answer to mad gunmen (it's also worth noting that dozens of the people at Gabby Gifford's speech were armed, though all had the good sense to rely on booting the snot out of Loughner):

Two Pennsylvania men who officials said wrestled a disgruntled gunman into submission after the man allegedly shot and killed three people at a town supervisors meeting on were hailed as heroes Tuesday as police said the shooting "could have been much worse."

2.  Assault rifles aren't what makes a massacre.  Pistols are (also worth noting, the Denver theater dude's assault rifles were in the trunk of his car.  He used pistols in the theater).

State police received a call around 7:20 pm on Monday night after a gunman, identified as 59-year-old Rockne Warren Newell by authorities, began firing a Ruger Mini 14 .223 rifle through a window and into the building where about 18 people were gathered for a regular monthly meeting of Ross Township supervisors.

The gunman then approached the doors to the building and began firing into the meeting room, state police said, before he went back to his vehicle to retrieve a .44 Magnum revolver.

3.  Guns don't make you invincible.

"I saw Bernie struggling with him. Bernie got the gun and shot him in the leg twice," Ross Township Supervisor Tina Drake told the paper.

4.  Eyewitness testimony is crap.  An M60 machine gun doesn't sound like a string of firecrackers, FFS.

Witnesses would later tell me they saw pictures exploding away from the walls," Reber wrote in his first-person account. "I heard more than 10 shots. It was automatic, like a string of firecrackers. That's what everyone said."

5.  Heroes hit from behind.

"Two very courageous individuals positioned themselves in a way that they were able to jump on the subject as he came through the door," Bivens said. "This could have been much worse had we not had the actions of the two individuals who interceded."

6.  Everyone isn't a media whore.  The conversations the press had with Kozen were in 2009.

When contacted by the Associated Press late on Monday, Kozen's wife said he wasn't there and she was unsure when he'd be back. Attempts to contact Kozen at his office were not immediately returned on Tuesday.

Kozen took over the Park and Open Space Commission in October of 2007, according to a Pocono Record profile from 2009. A former coach with the local Little League, Kozen told the paper that his priorities were to get kids and other residents out of their houses and into the great outdoors – goals that seem to be in line with Kozen's own active lifestyle.

7.  Poor people sometimes don't sit still when you shit on them.  Sometimes they become irrational.

He had been in a long-running dispute with township officials over the dilapidated condition of his property, state police Capt. Edward Hoke told NBC Philadelphia. The township supervisors voted in February 2012 to take legal action against Newell for violating zoning and sewer regulations, according to NBC Philadelphia.

The Record reported in June that a Monroe County judge ordered him to vacate the property a year ago.

"They have no right to kick me off my property," Newell told the newspaper in June. "They call my property an 'eyesore.' When I bought it, it was one of only three properties on the entire road that didn't have what they call 'junk.'"

Newell set up a fundraising page online and was trying to raise $10,000 to pay for legal fees in his battle with the township, the AP reported.

"Ross township took me to court & the court ruled I have to vacate my home of 20 years," he wrote on the page called SaveRockyshome.. "I live on SSI which comes to $600 a month I have no money to clean it up."

8.  You're not safer getting away from the city.

Ross Township has about 5,500 residents and is about 90 miles north of Philadelphia.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Good points! Thanks for the analysis.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Excellent analysis Dok!