Those looking to stop him would need time to respond to the situation, and they wouldn’t know exactly when he was reloading as opposed to simply pausing in firing. I saw a quote from a soldier yesterday that they are unarmed unless in a specific training exercise or target practice, so few would have had the means to shoot him.

But to me, the story in these type tragedies is always tied to motive. What could lead someone to such a horrible act? In this case, early reports seem to indicate that his religious beliefs also served as his motivation, so that is an integral part of the story IMO.

First of all I don’t believe the weapons were issued to him. From what I have heard they were personal weapons. One was apparently a semi automatic. If he had been planning this which seems to be the case its not very hard to obtain a 30 round clip for a handgun.

And it is pretty easy to get a personal weapon on post especially a little handgun. Vehicles are very rarely searched.

As for why people didn’t react and take him out. Nobody in that processing center was armed. Soldiers on post do not walk around armed. Only MPs and civilian police are armed on post unless you are going to a firing range or for field exercises that require a weapon. I imagine that when the chaos started and he started shooting peoples natural instinct was to get down and hide. i heard one guy who said he was hit and when he peeked over a desk to see what was going on he was hit again. Another soldier said he was hit and when he moved again he was hit again.

The cop who shot this guy apparently arrived in about 3 minutes from the time the shooting started. Reloading a handgun is not difficult nor time consuming.

@Alyssa_Milano I am over this. RT @googlenews: Breaking News: 2 dead and 8 wounded at Orlando, FL Legion Place office building shooting

what you are missing is that you are assuming that all shots were by him. The first police officer responded within three minutes of the first shot. Right now the officials are not confirming or denying whether any of those that were shot were result of “friendly fire” from the responding police officers. I imagine as the investigation unfolds that we will have a clear picture of exactly how this all occurred.

 I have a hard time believing this can go down at a United States Military Base without something/one else involved

“he equated the war against terror to be the same as the war against Islam”

… it’s the whole reason I’m a Rangers fan! Such incredibly sad news. Thoughts and prayers go out to the friends, families and victims. Those men and women deserve so much better.
This is actually a good conversation to have, and one that I think we may get more answers to soon. Personally, I am less concerned with how he was able to get off so many rounds, and more concerned with how this wasn’t prevented in the first place. This isn’t about profiling Muslim soldiers, this is about seeing the warning signs of a man who had no business being in the position that he was.
God bless the victims of this tragic event that should have never happened!

He had two handguns and it’s been released that one was semi auto. That means to me that only one was semi auto while the other was probably a revolver or else they would have stated two semi auto handguns. The revolver was a backup and the semi auto was the primary weapon. The question is how many magazines he had. A magazine can be changed in 3-4 seconds (depending on how available they are) which was probably why no unarmed person tried to take him down. Magazines aren’t that expensive. He could have had 5-10 magazines at 12 or so rounds a piece for all we know.

Not attacking you or your post, but we should go into this.

Look at the links below. Imagine if one of these people pictured were your father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter or close friend? How would you feel about the Muslim religion?

We as a Christian nation, built and founded on Christian values and principles, are under attack by these zealots of the Muslim religion. There should be no tolerance of these people in our country. We have given them the same opportunities as we have extended to all nationalities that have come to our country throughout our history, without persecution. We educate them in our universities and give them the very knowledge that they use to attack us.

2,993 people were killed by believers of the Muslim religion on 9-11, 13 in Ft. Hood. How did these victims offend people of the Muslim religion? Would you go to Saudi Arabia and blow up a government building, school, or hospital because they don’t believe in the same god as you do? Of course not, but they will bomb a government building, school, or hospital here because we has a country don’t believe as they do.

When the United States, Great Britain, or any other Western power is at war with a country, we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties. These Muslims not only hide behind these civilians, but attack these very civilians in suicide bombings inside their own countries. They kill more of each other than they do of the supposed enemy that they are trying to bring down.

America has become too tolerant and politically correct to fight these problems even inside our own borders. A large number of our own citizens wonder why we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even the current President of this country seems not to have the backbone for this religious fight. We have to say enough is enough. We have to keep up the fight against these people inside and outside our borders, or one day you or I or someone close to you might be in an office building, a shopping mall, or a sporting event and a bomb explodes, or a gun goes off and a picture is later posted on the internet in remembrance.

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/us/2009/11/06/fort-hood-massacre-victims?slide=14

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-name/

who just said that if indeed all these stories are true about his radical extremist views over the course of many years and instances then he indeed is a islamic extremist terrorist. The military is going to have a hard time explaining how they allowed him to stay aboard after all the anti-american pro islamic things he’s not only openly ranted about but also posted on blogs regarding the need for Muslims to stand up against the infidel and even going so far as to do a powerpoint presentation in his environmental health class justifying suicide bombings. That freaked out a lot of the people in the class because it has absolutely nothing to do with environmental health. Don’t forget the tiny detail yelling Allah is great as he’s shooting people. I mean I don’t want to insult the guy by calling him a terrorist since he’s such a sweetheart but in a few days time after they sort through whats on his computer I would put a good amount of money that this was a contrived act. He wouldn’t allow anybody in his apt. ever and would often use his next door neighbors computer which is kinda odd for someone who made that much money.

all about conspiracy theories??

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood-shooter-contact-al-qaeda-terrorists-officials/story?id=9030873