Pro-gun activist shoots self dead

[The Straight Story]

Pro-gun activist shoots self dead


HAMILTON - Yesterday afternoon, the patriot and conservative political activist Bill Opferman, known for his hatred of the United Nations and his love of Old Glory - and firearms - made one last huge permanent statement about the use of firearms.

The man who fought against restrictions of the United Bow Hunters ... who fought against government's abuse of eminent domain ... who protested loudly when Gov. Jon Corzine signed the bill to end the death penalty in New Jersey ... ended his personal freedom forever.

Police said he committed suicide inside his Atlantic Avenue home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

There was no mention of a note left to explain why.

...

Following is the text of a letter to the editor Opferman wrote in 2000:

Guns: Teeth of Liberty
I urge all of our citizens - but most of all, the politicians - to see the Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot." This movie will give you an idea of what was endured by the colonists seeking an out from England and King George's tyranny to bring about the United States of America.
The British attempted to seize colonists' firearms at Concord, Apr. 19, 1775. With no firearms, we would still be under British rule ... Today in the year 2000, just as in the year 1776, firearms are "the teeth of liberty."
No firearms, no freedom.
Bill Opferman
Hamilton

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20124436&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6

[peace13]

1. Wow.

That is sad on so many levels. I feel his pain. Peace, kim

[tblue]

2. Sounds like he put his gun where his mouth is

This is not the first indication that this individual had serious mental/emotional problems. RIP.

[aikoaiko]

3. Condolences for the family and friends.

[Tallison]

44. ...

Suicide is always tragic.

[GoneOffShore]

4. Think of it as evolution in action.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[asdjrocky]

6. Oh my.

[ingac70]

7. That movie was filled with historical inaccuracies ...

What a dumbass.

[pacalo]

13. Sounds like it -- I never saw it.

Apparently, what he got out of the movie was that our forefathers fought strictly for the freedom to bear arms. :eyes:

[AzNick]

46. Inaccuracies? From Mel Gibson?

But then, what "historical" movie is not full of inaccuracies...

[old mark]

8. I'm glad the Trentonian had such an obvious good time with this.

Suicide is always good for a laugh in certain circles, I guess.

Here is another version of that story with a few details lacking in the party version:

www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-14/12216243

( The article comes under the heading "Hamilton Gadfly Dies of Gunshot Wound")

Maybe we can find an article about a veteran who died of cancer and have a few laughs abouyt that, too.

mark

[Burma Jones]

11. Yep........n/t

[Sebastian Doyle]

12. I don't think that's a valid comparison

Unless the veteran in your example was someone who openly shilled for the chemical company that made Agent Orange. And I doubt you would find such a person.

[Tunkamerica]

15. it's a valid comparison because it's the same guy

just two different takes on him.

[RB TexLa]

9. It's his right.

[Twillig]

10. commendable.

Very commendable.

[dmallind]

14. So?

If he wanted to die, in a repressive society that does not allow us a choice to do so in a painless way under medical supervision, what is the problem that he chose one of the most efficient, fast and relatively pain-free ways of doing so, at no risk to anyone or anything else? What other alternative does he have? Fall from a high building? Much scarier, and risks hitting people or property. Dive in front of a train? Much gorier, less certain if just struck and thrown aside, and very traumatic for crew and passengers. Pills? Too uncertain and slow, with incredibly painful recovery if not done right. The right ammo and the right place and gunshots are about as fast and effective a method of self-termination as is available to us. Survivals happen, but not many and only because a half assed attempt was made - which works for pills etc far more often. Not too many survive two simultaneous barrels of 00 shot through the soft palate (no idea what he used - just an example and what I would use if I were ever to wish to die).

Or is the idea that he would not have tried any other way had guns not been available to him? Consider Japan's suicide rate. Heck if you want to eliminate cultural differences as much as possible, Canada's is slightly higher than ours, as are many (much more lightly armed) coutries in northern Europe.


Complaining about suicides using guns is like saying it's a problem with chainsaws and axes that most lumberjack injuroes involve them. How could it not be when they are the best tool for the job?

[leftofthedial]

16. maybe guns in the hands of gun nuts

aren't always such a bad thing

[krispos42]

17. Awww, where's the compassion?

This would be an excellent time for a diatribe about how the lack of universal single-payer health care or mental-health care is costing us thousands of lives a month.

Instead... this.

[JuniperLea]

35. Well said...

Exactly!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. The ultimate gesture of the "killing is fun" philosophy.

[dmallind]

22. Or the ultimate gesture of "it's my life" philosophy?

I support RKBA, but not as much as I support the right to using whatever the most effective and least painful way to legally end your own life. What else makes you even human if you cannot control your own basic existence? Because we live in a superstitious mumbo-jumbo society bound by the illiterate ramblings of bronze age peasants, the best he could do was use a gun. If you want to reduce gun suicides, make 100% effective and painless medically administered suicides freely available. It would cut gun deaths by a huge number almost overnight.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. People who commit suicide don't want to die...they don't want to live.

Which is certainly their choice. In Oregon, they allow Physician Assisted Suicide, (something I agree with) but I've found no statistics showing that it has lessened suicide by other means.

[dmallind]

24. No difference

You have only two choices. If you don't want to live, it's mere semantics to say you don't want to die. Nobody has any other choice. Not having life means being dead.

And Oregon's law, while a positive first step, is an extremely limited choice that requires, as I understand it anyway, two confirmations of a chronic incurable disease in the last stage. What about if you want to die for other reasons than such a disease? How many suicides fall into that category? (I don't know the answer - not a rhetorical question. I should know, just don't. I'll try and look it up later).

The basic point is suicide is not a question of what tool you use, and people will naturally use the most effective tool that they can tolerate the idea of using. Guns are a good choice for many in that case. We can see that there is not a substantial causal relationship because of the lack of correlation between access to guns and suicide rate in different countries.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. Semantics?

I think not. I have worked as a counselor with many people who have contemplated, attempted, or committed suicide. In all of the cases I dealt with there were alternatives and, in most cases, they chose the option of living through whatever it was that was troubling them. They found life a bit too difficult, painful, sad, embarrassing, to face at a certain time. Most discovered that they could, indeed, live through their troubles if they considered the options.

In the four "successful" suicides that I encountered 2 were by gunshot. In both cases it was an act of impulse, and though it's impossible to prove, for obvious reasons, I think that they used their guns because they were handy. I have talked to a number of people threatening suicide with gun in hand. I never ran across one who told me that they were using a gun because it was less painful than other means or that other means weren't available. Also, in most cases, the suicide was aimed at inflicting pain on someone else.

[dmallind]

28. Yes

If you don't want to live, what other choice do you have?

It's like saying I don't want to be thinner I just don't want to be as fat as I am (example only - I couldn't care less in reality).

I can't and don't want to try to contradict your examples but let's be clear that's what they are. Heck my own father in law shot himself and it may very well have been a third example like yours. Look at data though. The closest society to ours is Canada. For every difference that might spring to mind where we differ they should be better than us for suicide prevention. No bankruptcy for medical treatment. Better social safety nets. Less insane incarceration rates. And of course, much harder to get guns.

Slightly higher suicide rate than ours.

The national comparisons go every which way. Easy access Switzerland has a higher rate than ours but so does almost totally gunfree (serious gangsters aside) Japan. Extremely restrictive UK has a lower rate (but only in the last few years - in 90s was higher - and no Dunblane gun regs are not the reason. I grew up there and guns were exceptionally rare by US standards before that. The common British urban/suburban population has been effectively disarmed for over a century. They did however do a lot of work to provide intervention and destigmatize mental illness in the last few decades which should much more likely get the credit) but equally restrictive Denmark has a higher one.

Are there many aspects to consider for these differences? Of course! But it is absolutely inarguable that nations with easy access to guns do not consistently have higher suicide rates than comparable nations where guns are not at all "handy". Or consistently lower either.

What then is your explanation for Canada, Denmark etc? Why do people commit suicide more readily in less socially Darwinian societies with next no no firearms access? I have to apply Occam's razor. given that suicide rates do not correlate with easy firearms access, I have to assume that on the aggregate, access to firearms does not increase suicide rates. I'm certainly willing to change my mind, but only based on data, not anecdotes.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

29. I said that it was their choice...arguably, in most instances, a bad one.

On the one hand we're talking about suicide. On the other guns. As a counselor, I never worried about methodology but about the thinking that put the gun, razor blade, pills, needle, in their hands.

People in Denmark, Sweden, Japan, etc, commit suicide for the same reasons that people do here. They don't want to face life as it is and choose to not live. The rationales vary with each individual. Many do it as some sort of revenge on their "loved" ones, society, "friends", or whatever else may have harmed them or annoyed them.

As for guns. I'm all for gun control, registration, and all the rest, including storage in armories.

I can conceive of no sane reason for the citizens to be armed. If they want to go hunting or plinking at tin cans, I see no restrictive hardship on checking their firearms out of an armory for the purpose.

[Dogtown]

32. Well, now....

:popcorn:

[dmallind]

53. But you also said

that they didn;t want to die, and made a clear implication that access to guns is a factor in their ability to go through with their choice. If I misunderstood and you agree with me that guns have no real impact either way on suicide rates then my bad, but if you think they do I'd like to see an explanation of why you make that conclusion based on data, because I don;t see it and I've looked.

As far as their choice goes, then yes it is. That's my whole point as a matter of fact. People choose whether they want to live or die, and of course these are mutually exclusive. To choose to not live IS to choose to die. WHY anyone chooses that is clearly something that matters to you and of course in specific cases it may matter to me too, but in the general aggregate sense it does not matter to me. I don't think anyone has the sufficient knowledge and power to come up with a list of "OK" reasons and a list of "not OK" reasons for allowing an individual to control their own very existence.

Where we probably differ is on how much the state should do to limit or regulate that choice. To me the choice to end a life should be as freely available as possible. I see no controlling interest that should rationally allow a state or country to override a free will decision that pretty much by definition is the sole responsibility of an individual, but they do, by making it illegal to assist in suicide and even making suicide attempts illegal. If I don't own my life how can I own anything? If my life is not under my control how can I be responsible for any action I do during it?

Now my life IS in my control, but only if I am willing to (usually) break the law, and incur significant risks of bodily harm (and increased costs to the state for both legal ramifications and probably my medical care) should my attempt be unsuccessful. There is no legal way to choose a painless and certain end to my own life. The ability to have a gun is the closest I can come, but even there rare survivals occur, let alone the fact that it's a messy way somewhat traumatic to the person who finds me.

Compare that to the dignity we allow dogs. A gentle, painless way to die in a clean comfortable manner with your family there to say goodbye. I love dogs. It nearly broke me to kill my last one, but it was the right thing to do. She suffered enough. Her life was clearly an empty vain struggle against pain and disability. I waited too long. But I can wait forever under law before I can choose that kind of peace and dignity fopr myself if I end up in the same boat.

May be worth mentioning at this point that I have no inclination to kill myself at this time and no reason to seriously consider it. It is the RIGHT to do so I desperately seek for everyone, not the opportunity for myself.

[old mark]

19. The ultimate gesture in the

"gun owners are subhuman" philosophy.

mark

[Riddler]

20. I wonder if they were able to pry the gun from his "cold, dead hands"

[dmallind]

21. Almost certainly

Which when you think about, would have made him right on that one too.

[Arugula Latte]

26. I'm glad he didn't walk into a McDonalds and take out 16 other people with him.

[krispos42]

45. Hysteria aside, that's very rare.

We've had a bad year or so, but 95% of homicide victims are killed in a single-murder incident.


These numbers are to 2005.

[jrockford]

49. Exactly what I was thinking... n/t

[Flubadubya]

27. Live by the gun... die by the gun!

I know the original refers to "the sword", but they didn't have guns back then. If they did, it would have been "gun" for sure. :eyes:

[Terry in Austin]

30. Bad taste in movies, too

"The Patriot" was one of the few movies I couldn't finish watching, it was such a stinker.

More power to him for the ultimate act of "sticking to your guns," I guess, but the thing that always puzzles me about these guys is this "anti-tyranny" pose they strike with their guns -- what, like they're going to have an uprising where a bunch of punters with deer rifles go up against tanks and cruise missles? Come on!

[bsdetector]

33. Yeah, like those idiot Afghanis thinking they could chase Russia out of their country.

...

[Terry in Austin]

38. Not so much like Afghanis, actually

Unlike weekend rabbit hunters in Idaho, the Afghanis were inveterate guerrillas and tough as boots, but they still never got anywhere with the Soviets until they set aside their homemade pea-shooters and manned up with shoulder-launched rockets and serious ordinance -- courtesy of our own government, natch, at the behest of Charlie Wilson and friends.

I mean, get real. These NRA posers wouldn't last ten minutes with their walnut-stocked Winchesters and sporty S&W .38s. Any notion they might have of some kind of spontaneous "people's uprising" to repel the intrusive rule of Washington is suicidally romantic. At least get in a couple of remedial semesters in ROTC, guys. Then maybe go shopping for some RPGs. Sheesh.

Oh, and welcome to DU -- enjoy your stay.

[Tesha]

51. The Afghanis had real weapons supplied by (surprise!) us! (NT)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

31. Many of these post remind me of what was said about gay people and AIDS.

Congrats you'll have taken DU to a new low.

David

[JuniperLea]

34. I agree... sadly true, that

Pathetic.

[Terry in Austin]

41. Mm... or not

It's a sad business any way you cut it, no doubt about that. Any of our fellow beings who suffer deserve our sympathy, no matter what their folly.

But there are different kinds of folly, some much more antisocial than others, and when the sympathy is done, the folly deserves examination.

What we have is a gun fanatic who wanted to die. And due to the particularly antisocial nature of his particular folly, the rest of us are lucky and relieved that the murder in his heart ended up being directed only at himself and not at others.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

42. What you have is people taking glee that someone they disagreed with committed suicide.

A man who was clearly depressed and chose to end his life the same way most men do. The comparison to gays and AIDS is valid. Intolerant people who disagreed with other peoples lifestyle saying things like they got what they deserved, maybe AIDS isn't such a bad thing. Just read up thread and substitute gun nuts for gays and guns for AIDS, then get back to me.

David

[The Straight Story]

43. Indeed

rather sad.

[Irreverend IX]

50. It seems that hatred is a basic human need.

Everyone needs a target for their hatred. Some people choose to hate members of other ethnicities, other religions or homosexuals. Others, whether for reasons of conscience or peer pressure, refuse to direct their loathing along such lines, and instead aim it at gun owners. This thread has all the decorum of Fred Phelps at an AIDS patient's funeral. God Hates Firearms.

[NoGOPZone]

36. Strange way to protest the abolition of the death penalty nt

[Monk06]

37. They'll have to pry my gun from my cold dead ........... oh nevermind

[DailyGrind51]

39. "He who lives by the 357 Magnum, will die by the 357 Magnum."

[Undercurrent]

40. How utterly sad.

Sad for his family. Sad for his friends. And I feel sad about this too.

My life has been touched by suicide many times. My beloved sister-in-law, my childhood friend, my sweet cousin when he had AIDS, and my lover were all claimed by suicide. I very nearly succumbed myself when I was in the throws of a deep depressive cycle.

It disturbs me to see people laughing about such a tragedy.

[sakabatou]

47. I think that might earn him a Darwin Award

[Lorien]

48. Yeah, that's right. British Citizens aren't free because they don't carry firearms

whatever dude :eyes: talk about an unhealthy fixation on death!

[shadowknows69]

52. I'm happy he went out in a constitutionally protected manner

[B Calm]

54. Is this the proof they are mentally ill? Amazing how lying propaganda

can fuck up one's mind. . . .