[speeder]

The police actually responded very quickly but nothing could have prevented this when a lunatic is hell-bent on mass murder of innocent people. i can't imagine being at a Christmas family party on X-mas eve where Uncle Ernie is walking around with a .45 on his belt incase a psycho Santa shows up.

I believe in gun ownership to protect yourself and other occupants of your house while home, but when someone gets the drop/ element of surprise on you during what is supposed to be a peaceful setting, you would be toast. This guy planned this massacre out pretty well other than the part where he burned himself with the accelerant. I spent every X-mas of my life until well into adulthood at my Grandma's house with her son, (my uncle), who was a veteran cop in the house. My parents have a Christmas caroling party every year, including this year, with the former Police Chief of Minneapolis and his wife in attendance. At either setting, if someone dressed as Santa knocked on the door and started skillfully shooting everyone in the house, he would have killed all of us. In neither situation was the cop packing or had a gun close at hand. You are living in a dream world if you think that owning a gun will protect you in any conceivable situation like this one. It's just a tragedy and shows what a determined psycho with a gun in each hand can do.