Slain Texas prosecutor feared for life, brought gun to work

[TomCADem]

Source: CNN

The Texas prosecutor shot to death in broad daylight outside a courthouse had feared for his life and carried a gun to work, according to a Dallas attorney describing herself as his friend.

Colleen A. Dunbar told CNN that she spoke with Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse on January 24, and he told her he began carrying a gun in and out of the county courthouse on a daily basis.

Hasse was gunned down in the parking lot while going to work Thursday. Investigators on Friday were reviewing his caseload for possible clues about what led to his killing.

"He told me he would use a different exit every day because he was fearful for his life," Dunbar told CNN.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/justice/texas-courthouse-shooting/index.html

---

I wonder whether this will cause the NRA to reconsider its thesis that murders can be dramatically be reduced if you carry a concealed weapon. Or, will they double down and argue that he should have carried a bigger gun?

[immoderate]

1. Guns are limited as defensive weapons.

I wonder if this guy had armor, and whether it would have made a difference?

--imm

[siligut]

2. I find it irritating that people in the area are donating money as a reward

And the police chief is asking for more. So now if you want a crime solved, you have to pay? Isn't that what taxes are for? To pay the police, the rangers the ATF and the FBI?

[Control-Z]

3. +1 (nt)

[Ilsa]

4. Think they are hoping someone from that underworld

Who knows or witnessed something will come forward if there is enough money to help them start over, possibly in witness protection.

I feel bad for this man. He lost his life trying to put away the bad guys. I'm surprised he didn't have better protection.

[siligut]

5. Public place, broad daylight outside of the courthouse

And there isn't film? No one saw? I understand what you are saying and that is part of my irritation. Crime pays too well. The government can't compete.

[TomCADem]

6. The Victim Was Heavily Involved In The Prosecution of the Aryan Brotherhood

Coincidence?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-prosecutor-manhunt-20130131,0,444964.story

The Dallas Morning News, citing unidentified officials with knowledge of Hasse's caseload, reported that he was "heavily involved" with the prosecution, and that officials were looking into his work for clues.

In the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas case, Ben Christian Dillon, aka “Tuff,” 40, of Houston, and James Marshall Meldrum, aka “Dirty,” 40, of Dallas, pleaded guilty in a Southern District of Texas court on Thursday. Each faces a maximum of life in prison.

"According to court documents, Dillon, Meldrum and other ABT [Aryan Brotherhood of Texas] gang members and associates agreed to commit multiple acts of murder, robbery, arson, kidnapping and narcotics trafficking on behalf of the ABT gang," the Justice Department said in its release.

[siligut]

8. There are no coincidences

And they have a policy when it comes to people who cause them harm.

[DallasNE]

11. The Worst Of The Worst

http://crime.about.com/od/gangsters/a/aryanbrothers.htm

[txwhitedove]

14. Thanks for the link. Fascinating.

[Dustlawyer]

18. This is Texas, it does not have to make sense! The police budgets are next to nothing here.

They are donated equipment, what they lack is manpower. They are spread thinner than peanut butter at a homeless shelter!

[siligut]

22. This is how law enforcement officers are corrupted

Hasse, like other prosecutors in the office, would be handling nearly 400 cases at a time, and it would be tough to determine a likely suspect from all the cases he'd prosecuted, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLellan said at the news conference.

Over-worked and underpaid.

. . . Hasse as a jokester and the office's premier storyteller; he had recently bought a house in the Kaufman area and was preparing to fix it up. "He had an absolute passion for putting away bad guys, and he liked nothing better," McLelland said.

Maybe Hasse wouldn't take bribes and payoffs so he had to be killed.

[SheilaT]

7. At what point will people finally get it that

IT'S THE GUNS. It's not mentally ill people or violent movies or video games, it the guns.

[Angry Dragon]

9. It is the politicians and hate radio

[John2]

20. Well, in this

it might have been a rightwing extremist group taking out their revenge against a government official. Put that in a hearing for Lapierre and Lindsey Graham. Is that what Lapierre was talking about? It also depends on one's view of a mental case. They are nuts.

[sendero]

38. The Aryan Brotherhood and similar gangs..

... will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS and I repeat ALWAYS have guns. What part of that do YOU NOT GET?

[DallasNE]

10. A Gun Doesn't Do Much Good In An Ambush

And a Glock with a 20 round clip wouldn't help either (assuming he wasn't already carrying a Glock).

[cosmicone]

12. He would still be alive

if he had carried a 100 mm Artillery Canon instead of a wimpy handgun.

[kelliekat44]

32. ++1000 on the sarc. nt

[Kolesar]

13. My friend, the municipal judge, was stalked and shot in his driveway

The sheriff had some hints of who the assalants were, but since the gun lobby has hobbled law enforcement mechanisms, the sheriff had no way to bring them to prosecution.

He lived, btw.

[harmonicon]

15. Maybe we should all just walk around with a gun in each hand at all times.

Perhaps that's what's needed, because the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with two guns constantly prepared to fire.

[heaven05]

16. no

that would cause too much collateral damage. Get back to calling each other out into the middle of the street and have a good old fashioned gunfight.

[harmonicon]

17. Yeah, but you need to get the bad guys with guns to agree to that first. (nt)

[Maineman]

19. A historian interviewed on NPR said the idea of the a gunfight in the street as depicted

so often in westerns is almost entirely false. In places like Tombstone and Dodge City, persons entering the town had to check their guns. In-town killings were rare. The only exception is the famous gunfight at the OK corral which occurred because a gang refused to hand over their guns when they came to town. The NRA and pretty much everyone else in the world is living in or believing the fictitious world of American tv and movies. We are fools. And, as I observed during the presidency of George W, fools are not harmless.

[northoftheborder]

26. Interesting history.

[primavera]

42. I heard that interview, too

I think part of our obsessive gun culture comes from popular perceptions of gun slinging heroes like John Wayne overcoming every obstacle and righting every wrong with their trusty six shooter. It's good to see some of this popular mythology finally being debunked.

[BobbyBoring]

25. And that is what the NRA wants

They want to go back to the Wild West days~

[valerief]

21. If only he brought TWO guns, he would have lived.

[L0oniX]

23. Yea ...it's ok for him to be killed because he had an NRA approved concealed weapon. WTF!

You anti gun nuts are way over the line here. A real person was killed in public and you all got no sympathy for him. Pathetic!

[ljm2002]

24. You are not understanding the comments...

...no one has said or implied that it's okay he was killed. What some are pointing out is that he DID carry a concealed weapon and it DID NOT protect him. So it puts the lie to the NRA-backed proposition that arming everyone will make us all safer. That's all.

[WinniSkipper]

29. I think he/she understands the comments perfectly. nt

[ljm2002]

31. Well yes that is probably true...

...but I still felt obligated to point it out.

[WinniSkipper]

33. Probably a misplaced smiley.

I agree with Loonix

[ljm2002]

35. Ah, then yes, it was a misplaced smiley...

...but please quote anyone on this thread who has expressed that they "got no sympathy for him"... Because I'm not seeing it.

[TomCADem]

30. I Think You Need To Take That Up With The NRA

The NRA is the one pushing the talking point that having folks packing heat is a magical cure all to safety against guns violence. The fact of the matter is that this is false and this tragedy exposes this falsehood. Worse, introducing even more firearms into schools increases the likelihood of violence, particularly if the good guy suddenly becomes the bad guy in a fit of rage. There is no reason to oppose gun control based on the notion that it somehow makes "good people" less safe. "Good people" carrying guns is not a cure all.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/03/lapierre-ban-assault-weapons-and-you-limit-the-ability-to-survive/

National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre on Sunday argued that banning assault weapons limited the ‘ability to survive’ and that high-capacity magazines should not be outlawed because women need more bullets.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace pointed out to LaPierre that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had written that the right to bear arms described by the Second Amendment “was not unlimited.”

The NRA chief countered that no new laws were necessary because “we already have all kinds of reasonable laws.”


“The most basic right is to protect yourself,” he asserted. “If you limit the American public’s access to [assault weapons] semi-automatic technology, you limit their ability to survive.”

“If someone’s invading your house, you shouldn’t say you only have five or six shots, you ought to have what you need to protect yourself, a woman should,” LaPierre added. “Not what some politician thinks is reasonable.”

[Zoeisright]

34. What world are you living in exactly?

That is the fucking stupidest post I have ever read on the internet in my life.

People who despise guns have MORE than sympathy for those killed by your little Precious. We work to try to stop the carnage. Which people like YOU don't care about.

God, how incredibly dumb.

[L0oniX]

36. Let know know when you get rid of our nuke subs and the mutually assured destruction attitude. n/t

[2ndAmForComputers]

41. "it's ok for him to be killed" -- who the FUCK is saying or even implying that?

WTF indeed.

[Kelvin Mace]

27. If a person wants to kill you and has nothing to lose

they are the most dangerous person on the planet.

No gun, no matter how big, will save you.

[WinniSkipper]

28. Let's change the scenario

A woman has been fearing for her life. She decides to carry a gun. She is shot dead (by her Ex? By a stalker? We don't know). She left behind a couple kids.

Now say "I wonder whether this will cause the NRA to reconsider its thesis that murders can be dramatically be reduced if you carry a concealed weapon. Or, will they double down and argue that he should have carried a bigger gun?"

[2ndAmForComputers]

40. One: I fail to see how that would be any different.

Two: your efforts to attribute callousness where there is none is pathetic, innefective, and laughable.

[JI7]

37. did they not have cameras or guards around ?

[sendero]

39. This is Kaufman county..

... a small mostly rural ville about 40 miles east of Dallas. In no way a suburb or even bedroom.

I'm not surprised they don't have video or guards, most of these less populous counties don't have that sort of stuff.