Even more oddities spotted in the news

[Dartz]

Thoughts, but no prayers

An oddity because of the location. A shopping centre in Carlow.

This particular gentleman had somehow managed to acquire a H&K G3 and a Remington 1911. The Gardai took them from him, and left him with his legally held shotgun, while he was waiting on bail on charges for possessing the rifle and pistol without a license.

A year later he takes the shotgun to a shopping centre, blasts it in the air and then promptly shoots himself when confronted with armed gardai.

And while it's very hard to prove a negative - and difficult to presume what might have happened had things gone differently. What might've happened had he not been discovered with his illicit weapons? We won't know and - for that we're most fortunate.

It was presumed a year ago that he was just a gun otaku who got a little bit too obsessed and crossed the legal line - but that he was otherwise harmless. They are not slow to yank a firearm certificate if you give them a reason to - in one case a lad lost it because he had shotgun shells stored loose in his car. Which begs the question - was he actually harmless then? Or what made him not be harmless in the meantime. There is a lot of consideration to be had - as it's basically impossible to get more restrive on firearms legislation than we are now - and despair deaths are rising.

The underlying sense of despair everywhere is real. Unless you're over 50. They're probably in early dementia at that point.