Thread: Tancredo Spokesman Disputes 'Deadliest Massacre' Claim

Tancredo Spokesman Disputes 'Deadliest Massacre' Claims

By: Ryan Grim
April 17, 2007 04:45 PM EST

The shooting spree at Virginia Tech is being reported as the "deadliest massacre in U.S. history" or the "deadliest massacre on a U.S. campus."

The office of Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) would respectfully like to offer a correction. In fact, said Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa, the worst school rampage occurred when an anti-tax zealot blew up a school in Bath, Mich., in 1927, killing around 40 children and a handful of adults, including himself. (Accounts of the death toll vary, but all reported a number larger than 33.)

"As far as U.S. school tragedies go, this isn't the worst. I know it's splitting hairs, but particularly Democrats and … the anti-gun people are saying that this proves that guns" are to blame for the massacre, Espinosa said. "And while it is a horrible tragedy that no one should ever have to experience, they shouldn't be able to shape it into their own political agenda by covering up the facts."

The facts to which Espinosa refers are these: On May 18, 1927, Andrew Kehoe, a school board member upset about a property tax increase, blew up the 250-student Bath Consolidated School, using hundreds of pounds of dynamite.

In 2000, The Associated Press interviewed a survivor and described a scene after the explosion: "Moments after the blast, Kehoe drove away in his dynamite-laden truck. He caught up to the school superintendent and fired his rifle into the truck, killing himself, the superintendent, two other adults and a child who had escaped the first explosion."

A 2002 account in the local Lansing State Journal, provided by Espinosa, counts 46 dead -- 38 children and seven adults, plus Kehoe.

Espinosa said he has been correcting reporters and is also ready with a rebuttal for gun control advocates who might want to use the Virginia Tech shootings -- regardless of historical rank -- as fodder for more gun control laws.

"One, he shouldn't have had a gun on campus, and two, killing people is also illegal. Clearly, he had no intention of following the law to begin with," Espinosa said.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0407/3558.html

I thought that 9/11 was the deadliest massacre in US history...

I would suggest that the massacre at the Davidian home in Waco was another greater massacre at a final toll of 72, but I guess they don't count when the bad guys are wearing federal badges.

"Deadliest massacre in U.S. history?" What about massacres of Native Americans that took place in the 19th century?

If I'm not mistaken, the VT murders are being called "the deadliest SCHOOL massacre." Not the deadliest American massacre.

Either way, this was a so-called GUN FREE ZONE.
Fact: there are higher crimes w/weapons in GUN FREE ZONES.

Now if anyone can explain the LOGIC of these knuckleheads to me, I'm all ears.
I've still not been able to figure it out as all the facts are on the table and they're not adding up to this irrational conclusion that the weapon is the problem

Taking it one step further, why is it that the law allows a foreign person, legally here or not, to own a firearm? I don't believe that this is a 'right' bestowed upon such a foreign person by the 2nd Amendment.

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

why is it that the law allows a foreign person, legally here or not, to own a firearm?

I was wondering that too. So if a person, say a young man in his twenties from Saudi Arabia, educated in a madrassa (sp?) school, comes to the US on a student visa, he can go out and buy an assault rifle legally!?

Sis wrote:

Taking it one step further, why is it that the law allows a foreign person, legally here or not, to own a firearm? I don't believe that this is a 'right' bestowed upon such a foreign person by the 2nd Amendment.
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I agree. We should lobby against foreigners owning or buying firearms in our country.