That very much goes to the issue of why many of us are not happy with those who carry 'just because, maybe, some day' they might have a use for that weapon which is legal, or at least justified in THEIR mind. That we might not agree that it is a proper use of a weapon, that we might be incidentally injured by their use, or that we may feel unsafe and threatened because they have faulty judgment at least some of the time or do not think clearly and unemotionally is ignored and disrespected.
We have bailiffs in Minnesota courts, who are armed. They are trained law enforcement officers. It always amazes me that given the recorded incidents where that did not prevent violence or result in the extermination of the bad guy - which is what the gun loons seem to exalt, KILLING / EXECUTING the bad guy, not just stopping the crime in progress so the bad guy can be arrested and tried - I think the gun loons have exaggerated ideas of what they can accomplish with their firearm.
Minnesota is considered a safe state, one of the safer states in terms of gun violence. We still have too many occurrences; the conservatives who have temporary control of our legislature are hell-bent on making those occurrences where we have to put up with someone with a weapon in public, or dangerous private use, more common and with less accountability and with weaker background checks than we have had.
From Reuters:
Defendant shot Minnesota prosecutor three times at courthouse
By David Bailey MINNEAPOLIS | Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:56am EST
(Reuters) - A man found guilty of a sex crime shot a county prosecutor at a courthouse in a remote corner of northeastern Minnesota three times and a second man multiple times before he was captured, authorities said on Friday.
Cook County Attorney Tim Scannell was shot twice in the abdomen and once in the groin and was recovering after surgery, said Beth Johnson, spokeswoman for Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota.
Scannell was alert and talking on Friday and listed in fair condition, Johnson said.
Daniel Schlienz, 42, of Grand Marais, Minnesota, was arrested shortly after the shooting at the Cook County Courthouse in Grand Marais Thursday afternoon and was being held in the county jail, the state public safety department said.
Three people in all were shot in the incident, authorities said. A second man, Greg Thompson, was listed in good condition at the Duluth hospital on Friday after also sustaining multiple gunshot wounds, Johnson said.
A third person was treated and released from a Grand Marais area hospital on Thursday, authorities said.
Schlienz was found guilty on Thursday of a sex crime in a jury trial presided over by Judge Mark Munger, said John Kostouros, spokesman for the Minnesota judicial branch.
Munger was talking with jurors in the courtroom at the small courthouse after the conclusion of the trial when they heard shots fired in another part of the courthouse.
Grand Marais is a city of about 1,400 people along the north shore of Lake Superior about 110 miles northeast of Duluth near the Canadian border.
Windy conditions prevented authorities from flying the wounded from the shooting to Duluth by helicopter and they were driven by ambulance.
The Cook County Courthouse does not have metal detectors. It remained closed on Friday as the investigation continued.
(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Jerry Norton)
