Austria cops besiege farmhouse after suspected poacher shoots dead 3

[mongers]

3 dead? That wouldn't even make the local news here in the States. #USAnumber1

I nearly post a comment along those lines, which in the circumstance might be seen as a bit insensitive.

But time to move the debate on, here's my contentious viewpoint.

Why are events like the naval depot shooting getting wall to wall coverage and outpourings of public grief for the victims ?

I thought the gun debate had been won with the pro side winning, a significant majority of Americans now consistently supporting little or no change to gun rights.
Why not just accept these events are a natural consequence of having so readily available weapons. And it doesn't appear anyone or any organisation can change that. 

So why not just report these events as the 2nd or 3rd news item, give it a couple of minutes and get on reporting and considering the 'real' important news ?

That's unless there isn't some weird grief/breaking news pornography going on, where people actually gain some emotional exercise/workout from reacting to these by now fairly common events ?

I'm guessing for largely the same reasons that there's wall-to-wall coverag and outpouring of public grief for victims of natural disasters.

Oops, I actually meant to post this in the Naval shooting yard thread, so I moved it there. Might be best to discuss it there.

[jimmy olsen]

3 dead? That wouldn't even make the local news here in the States. #USAnumber1

4 dead, 3 of them cops and an ambulance driver. One of those cops was taken hostage and then killed, and the suspect still on the loose? Definitely would be on the national news.

[Razgovory]

Woah, it looks like they recruited me in their army.

[Syt]

Well, the guy is dead. He was found in a secret room on the farm that was ablaze when police entered by breaking a wall.

A friend of the poacher said he had received a call from him earlier (while there was still a media blackout), where he stated that he was indeed the poacher, and that he had been hit in the stomach. He supposedly said that he had already shot his dog and that the police would never get him alive.

His original crimes: since 2005 he's shot a dozen or so deer in hunting grounds for which he didn't have any license - at night, near roads for easy escape, taking only the heads for trophy and leaving the rest to rot.

[Syt]

3 dead? That wouldn't even make the local news here in the States. #USAnumber1

4 dead, 3 of them cops and an ambulance driver. One of those cops was taken hostage and then killed, and the suspect still on the loose? Definitely would be on the national news.

The (volunteer) medic was 70, and a founder of the local Red Cross station.

[dps]

Well, the guy is dead. He was found in a secret room on the farm that was ablaze when police entered by breaking a wall.

A friend of the poacher said he had received a call from him earlier (while there was still a media blackout), where he stated that he was indeed the poacher, and that he had been hit in the stomach. He supposedly said that he had already shot his dog and that the police would never get him alive.

His original crimes: since 2005 he's shot a dozen or so deer in hunting grounds for which he didn't have any license - at night, near roads for easy escape, taking only the heads for trophy and leaving the rest to rot.

Had he simply been arrested and convicted on those charges, what kind of sentence would he have faced, if any--I think here it would have just been a hefty fine.  Unless poaching has unusually heavy penalties by Euro standards, this seems like an extreme over-reaction.

[Razgovory]

Well, the guy is dead. He was found in a secret room on the farm that was ablaze when police entered by breaking a wall.

A friend of the poacher said he had received a call from him earlier (while there was still a media blackout), where he stated that he was indeed the poacher, and that he had been hit in the stomach. He supposedly said that he had already shot his dog and that the police would never get him alive.

His original crimes: since 2005 he's shot a dozen or so deer in hunting grounds for which he didn't have any license - at night, near roads for easy escape, taking only the heads for trophy and leaving the rest to rot.

Had he simply been arrested and convicted on those charges, what kind of sentence would he have faced, if any--I think here it would have just been a hefty fine.  Unless poaching has unusually heavy penalties by Euro standards, this seems like an extreme over-reaction.

If I recall I correctly in Europe poaching the King's deer is considered an assault upon the king himself and is thus high treason.  The penalty is death by hanging.

[Sheilbh]

Had he simply been arrested and convicted on those charges, what kind of sentence would he have faced, if any--I think here it would have just been a hefty fine.  Unless poaching has unusually heavy penalties by Euro standards, this seems like an extreme over-reaction.

A fine, deportation or hard labour:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7133021.stm

[Syt]

Had he simply been arrested and convicted on those charges, what kind of sentence would he have faced, if any--I think here it would have just been a hefty fine.  Unless poaching has unusually heavy penalties by Euro standards, this seems like an extreme over-reaction.

There's a max. fine of EUR 3,000 per deer (the trophy sells for max. EUR 500.-). Maybe a year or three on probation?

[CountDeMoney]

His original crimes: since 2005 he's shot a dozen or so deer in hunting grounds for which he didn't have any license - at night, near roads for easy escape, taking only the heads for trophy and leaving the rest to rot.

Had he simply been arrested and convicted on those charges, what kind of sentence would he have faced, if any--I think here it would have just been a hefty fine.  Unless poaching has unusually heavy penalties by Euro standards, this seems like an extreme over-reaction.[/quote]

For somebody that whacks deer and only keeps the heads, "over-reaction" is a delicate term.

[Syt]

More details emerge.

When the first cop went down, his partner, instead of returning fire, dragged the wounded officer behind the car to administer first aid (the victim bled to death).

Instead of fleeing, the poacher stayed for a few more minutes, and when an ambulance arrived he aimed straight for the driver, killing him.

He then fled through the woods, met another police patrol, shot one in the head, hijacked the car, took the other as hostage (and killed him some time before he arrived at his farm - the corpse was in or near the car).

Police found weapons "in the triple digits" in his house, plus many stolen license plates (that were presumably used for his poaching trips). Official cause of death: Bullet to the head.

Ballistic analysis will also check if any of the weapons were used in the attempt to kill a hunter in the area in 2011.

[11B4V]

Police found weapons "in the triple digits" in his house, plus many stolen license plates (that were presumably used for his poaching trips). Official cause of death: Bullet to the head.

Background checks, stricter gun control would have prevented this. 

[lustindarkness]

Police found weapons "in the triple digits" in his house, plus many stolen license plates (that were presumably used for his poaching trips). Official cause of death: Bullet to the head.

Background checks, stricter gun control would have prevented this. 

That, and ban violent video games.

[Syt]

Police found weapons "in the triple digits" in his house, plus many stolen license plates (that were presumably used for his poaching trips). Official cause of death: Bullet to the head.

Background checks, stricter gun control would have prevented this. 

Considering that
a) he had a hunting license (only not in the areas he went to)
b) Austria has only recently required gun owners to register their weapons
you might be right.

[derspiess]

Police found weapons "in the triple digits" in his house, plus many stolen license plates (that were presumably used for his poaching trips). Official cause of death: Bullet to the head.

Background checks, stricter gun control would have prevented this. 

That, and ban violent video games.

And implement midnight basketball.