Remembering the ‘Walk of Death’ and How It Destroys Gun Control Mythology

Among the many things that anti-gunners claim is that mass shootings are really all because of things like the availability of so-called assault weapons. Never mind the many such shootings that didn’t use any such firearms. Oh no, they’re sure that without AR-15s or AK-type rifles, there won’t be mass shootings.

However, many years ago, before many of us were even born, the worst mass shooting of the post-World War II era happened, at least that’s how it was for many years, and this was well before the AR-15 was even a twinkle in Eugene Stoner’s eye.

It was called the “Walk of Death.”

On September 6, 1949, a World War II veteran took a Luger P08–the famous German handgun from World War II–and, after eating the breakfast his mother prepared for him, walked out of the house in Camden, New Jersey, and went on a rampage that left 13 people dead, with three others injured.

It started with the attempted killing of a delivery driver, who escaped and began to warn residents, and ended with the killer locked in a mental institution for the rest of his life.

Where this differed from many rampage shootings is that the targets weren’t entirely random. The killer had been feuding with several of the victims over all sorts of things, some of which stemmed from a later diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Some were apparently just victims of opportunity.

The killer’s last words, made in a public statement, were, “I’d have killed a thousand if I had enough bullets.”

Seems like a swell guy.

Anyway, here are a few facts to consider. 

First, the Luger had an eight-round magazine. Not even a magazine capacity limit mandated by the state would have done much of anything since the arbitrary number generally bandied about is a 10-round limit. That wouldn’t have applied to the killer’s Luger, obviously.

Further, this was a handgun, not some evil “assault weapon” that didn’t even exist at the time.

In this case, the killer was insane. Like, not just certifiable but certified. He was never really held responsible for his actions because of his mental illness, which was one of the more profound illnesses a person can have. He was a danger to the general public, but no one realized it until after the rampage was over.

They could have had him committed had they known, based on existing laws at the time, so it’s unlikely they’d have sought a red flag order, had that been a possibility.

My question for the gun control advocates out there is this: Just how can you tell me we could stop mass murders like this one when literally nothing you’re proposing would have made any impact here.

Do you think no one would replicate something like this? We’ve had enough other rampage shootings throughout the years to prove that’s absolute nonsense, so what? How are you still peddling the mythology that you hold the answers to our problems?

You don’t.

You simply hold the answer to your problems, which is that some people in the United States believe in their rights too much.

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