Archery will now have a black eye to live down

[JW_Halverson]

http://news.yahoo.com/man-killed-father-wyoming-bow-arrow-attack-185326288.html

The double murder/suicide involved a bow, no matter that it was a compound.  We all get tarred with the same brush in the court of public opinion. 

My prayers go out to all the people involved, this is something to leave a lot of people shook up for a long time to come.   

[criveraville]

Yes sir..

This paragraph really irks me:

Christopher Krumm had smuggled the compound bow — a type much more powerful and effective for hunting than a simple, wooden bow — onto campus beneath a blanket, Walsh said.

It's really hard to get away from misinformation and ignorance.


Cipriano

[JW_Halverson]

Apparently the author had not read any of our years of hunting threads. 

[steve b.]

When you say, 'tarred with the same brush', are you getting something from the story that implies that all bows are bad, in the same way assault guns are, "bad", and that anyone who uses one is bad?  I think the general public doesn't know what a compound bow is and so they bring up the comparison to wood bows just to educate the public and paint the picture that this guy did not use an "indian" bow to do this but a more sophisticated weapon, imo.

[Eric Krewson]

Equally disturbing is the neighbor, who upon returning to her home and seeing a body in the street did absolutely nothing but "close the blinds offer snacks to the kids and mind her own business".

If she was any kind of human she would have run to the person in the street to check their condition and render aid if they were still alive.

I ran across on a badly injured older man who had put his front bike brake on while riding down a steep hill, went over the handle bars and hit face first on the pavement.  He was a mess, the thought of walking by and ignoring him never crossed my mind. I was the first there, took charge of the situation, stabilized his head and neck, held him down(combative from a possible brain trauma) and directed the rubberneckers with cell phones on how to get emergency responders to our remote location.

What surprised me was that none of the spectators offered any assistance what so ever.

 

[stickbender]

     I don't pay much attention to the news, as it is all sculpted to give you what they want you to see, or hear, not what actually happened, or is happening.  the Credo of the news media since it's inception, has always been, "never let the facts get in the way of a good story."  Fortunately some of them get caught in their endeavors to be creative, like the guy who faked a story in the middle east, and won accolades, then was found out to have faked the whole thing, and CNN reporters faking a rocket attack while supposedly in Israel, but later found out to be in a studio here in the States.  They never bother to get the real facts, and info, just enough to formulate "glittering generalities" to look like they are on top of things.
     As for the neighbor who just went inside after seeing the woman lying in the gutter, and closed the blinds, and turned on the TV and "You know just minded my own business",  I can only hope that some day soon, she will need help, and people will give her the same care and attention she gave that poor woman.  Karma Baby!  One of the side bars, had the story with a "Crossbow, or similar weapon" being used, and the suspect was in custody.  Yep don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.

                                               Wayne

[agd68]

 You can take away all the guns knives and bows in the world and crazies will use rocks, sticks or fists to kill with. That is a sad reality of the world we live in.

[Parnell]

People are nuts.

[stickbender]

     Yep, crazies will find a weapon somewhere, or use their bare hands, or just make a weapon out of what is available.  Just look at Sampson, he slew ten thousand Philistines with the jaw bone of an ass!
And now we have leaders in Washington using the same weapon against the national budget!

                                                        Wayne

[Cyrille]

I agree wholeheartily with every one of the previous posts. and do not, for the life of me understand why the mass of supposedly educated persons cannot see the the forest because of the trees.
  The German poet Goethe said this of the German people...."I have often felt a bitter sorrow at the thought of the German people, which is so estimable in the individual and so wretched in the generality...
 Sadly I find that,  that this same critique can  now be said of U.S. citizens in particular and in all probability of humanity in general.

[Gordon]

The son was obviously deranged. I don't think that archery in general is going to take a hit over this.

[Cyrille]

Deranged or cold and calculating makes not a whit of diffrence... It is done, it is a fact, as to the perp, it isn't a question of sane or insane it's a question of why did he have access to the murder weapon if he is truely unbalanced in the head? People that are indeed insane and it is known that they are by their peers, should be locked away for their own good as well as the good of those around them.
  As to the weapon of choice/// it really doesn't matter, a rock, a stick, a knife, a baseball bat, a fireplace poker, a bow (of any make and style, or a gun of any make and style). The fact remains that the weapon was used in a wrongful/unlawful manner and it is the perp that should be held responsible not the means s/he uses to commot the act, as by and large the object that was used is inanimate.

[JW_Halverson]

The son was obviously deranged. I don't think that archery in general is going to take a hit over this.

Did gun owners get a break when deranged shooters were splashed all over the news?

We archers once had very high moral ground, back in the days when we were working to get archery seasons established.  We spoke of how we believed in a more stringent definition of fair chase and how we were committed to hunting rather than simply killing game.  Look at the modern hunting shows now on dozens of channels...it's all about killing, killing the biggest, killing the fastest, killing the furthest away, killing EXTREME! 

Even in our own ranks and within this thread, the bow is already equated as a murder weapon with the implication that access should be limited    "It is done, it is a fact, as to the perp, it isn't a question of sane or insane it's a question of why did he have access to the murder weapon if he is truely unbalanced in the head?"  Are we to now have legislation introduced requiring bows have "string locks" on them, mandatory storage in locked "bow safes", or a National bow registration? 

Yes, I readily admit that I am blowing this up a little, and I apologize if it sounds as if I am picking on Cyrille and Gordon.  I am not, I am just using their quotes to make my point.  The fact remains, this made national news and was read by millions of non-archery persons.  How many of those people have had a small shift in their opinion of bowhunters?  Do you think that shift was toward the positive or negative? How is archery going to be perceived in the future by these same persons?  These same persons that vote and have access to their lawmaker's ears?

My point, how many years of work by thousands of ethical archers can one single incident by one single person undo?  It's amazing how easy it is to tear down compared to building up.  I'm just asking for a call to arms from fellow Forum members to uphold the high standards of ethics set by those archers that came before us. 

[Cyrille]

Mr. Halverson:
 I take no offense in you quioting me. The point I was trying to make is that the means or instriment used to commit the murder/crime is not at fault, it is the intent of the person  as to how that object is used.
  How or why the politicians lost sight of this fact is beyond my ability to understand---- it' such a simple explaination A stick be it an arrow, a spear, a cudgel, a cane etc by and of itself is absolutly incapable of doing harm to anyone or anything by itself same with an automobile, a gun, a rifle a knife, a stone. There has to be an intelligence making use of the object(s) be it a warpped intelligence or a sane one makes no diffrence.
 It is the will of the person using the object as to wheither it be used for good or ill.
 A good while back there were bumper stickers with "When guns are outlawed may we use swords?" It is my belief that if a person wants to cause harm or death to another they will find the means to do so.