This Ranger will surely be missed. It is so rare for the National Park Service to lose one of their own in the line of duty. They are every bit as brave and as well trained as any other police force.

In addition to working with the public covering thousands and thousand of miles of territory, each one of these dedicated men and women have to face angry bears, wolves, moose, deer, snakes, and every other creature that nature has in every type of weather and in every type of terrain. Most of them are working alone, with their nearest backup many miles and often hours away. While the view from their "office" is usually the best in the world, they rarely get the appreciation they truly deserve.

A very heartfelt "thank you for your service" to each and every one of you.

His tattoos make him a scumbag?

His actions make him a scumbag. The tats don't help his image.

The question that no one seems to be addressing is what was this guy like before he was sent off to fight gw bushes (small caps intended) bogus war? Was he just a normal guy? Did he see too much death, madness and mayhem in Iraq? The blood of this poor lady and countless others is dripping from the hands of bush and cheney. Like I said, small caps intended.

No, in another article, it talks about how he grew up a troubled youth going to school in a place for students that had behavior issues and had been expelled or suspended from school. So the abnswer to your question is no he was not your normal every day youngster growing up, it appears that he had issues in his past. Knowing that, how could he have gotten into the military. I know that when I was in the military, there were certian screening processes that were in place to weed out the people that shouldnt be in the military. Also to comment on your statement about gw bushes bogus war. you really need to think about that comment. It started with Clinton and has now gone through Obamas term. I guess that you dont read the paper or watch the news. Several high level terrorists have been captured or killed in this "bogus war". I am not a huge proponent of the conflict, but I refuse to believe that all of the people that have died over there died for nothing. I guess that if Iran shoots a missle at one of our ships in the gulf that you would say that we dont need to do anything about it. Dude wake up!!!! we are a cuontry that is hated by the vast majority of the world. Can we help it if we are the only country (aside from Brittan) that stands up the the oppressive governments of the world. I dont like being the worlds "Police Force" any more than the next guy, but someones got to do it. Sanctions dont work. Telling them that they cant do something only makes them do more of the same. And saying that the blood of this poor lady is dripping from the hands of Bush and Cheney makes you look like more of a idiot. they had no more to do with this officers death than you did. I feel sorry for her family and they are in my prayers, but the guy that killed her was a F@#KUP! Bush nor Cheney had nothing to do with this. Get off of your high horse and get some education on whats going on in the world before you post some boneheaded comment like this.

Yes there are issues with combat veterans BUT people also have to be held accountable for their actions when in this day and age people are to quick to find a "reason". Don't get me wrong I feel for the combat veterans and have several family members who are dealing with the stresses of war. However the fact that this guy had no regard and obviously sense leads to me to believe he was either mentally defunct before going in the army and would have eventually fallen off his rocker at some point in his life. What would you sugget? Put veteran;s in a concentration camp as a whole when they come home until they can prove they have a handle on things.... I'd like to see the posts on that comment. Unfortunate for him but he is acccountable for his actions not to us now but to God - may there be mercy on his soul.

@TMQ...will you please show me a gun that kills people? Any gun. A pistol, a rifle, a shotgun...anything. Name one that kills people.

Do you know why the UK doesn't have many gun related killings?

Do you send a similar email to the automakers in Detroit whenever someone kills someone with a car? Statistically speaking, more people are killed by vehicular homicide every year than by guns.

Hey Ford, "Regarding (the killing incident), cars don't kill people, people do. Ya, right!"

Vehicles' intended purposes are to transport passengers between two points. If a flaw in a car causes an accident, it is corrected by the manufacturer. If it was user error, they can have their license and vehicle taken from them.

Surely this isn't what you're advocating for gun owners when you offer this up comparison, so let's continue.

Gun's intended purposes are to shoot a bullet between two points in order to kill or maim. If it is incapable of doing so, it is defective.

Vehicular casualties in this country are measured at a rate of millions of miles. Assuming the speed limit is somewhere around one mile per minute, that also means we measure deaths at the rate of 1 or more million minutes. Vehicular casualties are at an all time low.

If you were to shoot your gun for millions of minutes and you didn't kill or maim your target, you weren't doing it right. This is according the adage that "gun control is hitting your target" that NRA types like to use. Not my words.

So, you're trying to compare two tools with two different purposes, while entirely ignoring the purpose of what you're arguing for. Don't come back with me about "target practice" being a goal for those who shoot, as no sport is worthy of constitutional protection. If that's all you have, give up now.

In the end, you're trying to compare an apple with a hammer. You'll lose every time, just like you will when you try to stop a bullet that was fired at you with your gun. They're lousy defensive weapons - just thought I'd tell you since you seem confused as to what guns are used for.

The primary use of an automobile is not killing. That is the primary role of the firearm in our society. Next question!

Was it just the media or was this a particularly bloody weekend (/sarc)? Real people actually died. Humans beings fall to pieces and resort to their worst behavior. The gun is a very handy means to an end. Amazing how any sociopath can find one. But of course there are surely more firearms than people in America. And all but a tiny few that are now in the wrong hands were once legal weapons that somehow bled through the cracks.

And does it really matter as most of these mass shootings are carried out with legally owned weapons? The clerk never really knows who is filling out the application unless they know them personally. And after all they sign off that they had not had mental health treatment.

Your ridiculous automobile argument is so old and stale. Do you folks not have a bit of creativity amongst the whole lot of you? We know guns will always be part of our society. The question is whether that is a good thing? And are we a better society for owning so many of them? My guess is we will soon find out and that the answer will have dire and permanent consequences for this country.

Being a retired soldier and a combat vet I take it personnel when someone cries PTSD. There are plenty of vets and people being treated for PTSD that are not violent. You still know right from wrong. People just want to blame someone or something else (ie PTSD or guns) for there problems.

if it weren't for a gun and a well trained individual (with other heroes), an incident with a car with 4 people that ended up up in a river in Utah (New Year's Eve I think) would have ended tragically..... guns do have a place in society....

In a lot of cases I think that PTSD is another way to say drug burnout.

Bill from Clarksville::: Thank you for your service. Being an Army brat, an Army widow and the grandmother of an active duty soldier with three tours under his belt I can appreciate all you have been through.

And I know of what you are speaking when you say that there are plenty of vets being treated for PTSD that are not violent. I volunteer at a vet center, and I am among them every day. They are not violent and I feel safe among "my guys". Course, it just may be they don't want to upset "Gramma".

One thing tho-- the guy wants to be helped. There is no way anyone can help someone who doesn't want to be helped. That is like medicine-- it doesn't do any good just sitting on a shelf.

The Mighty-Thats funny my pistol is just right were I left it a year ago. I leave for work everyday and not one time has it jumped out of the drawer to rob a bank or kill anyone. I own several guns and please tell me how my guns kill. I gotta know man! If I'm missing something you need to tell me before one of them takes off and commits a crime without 5 fingers being involved. Real smart comment there nimwit!

For all you gun haters out there...just where would the 18-year-old Oklahoma mother be today if not for the guns she used to defend herself and her infant son from home invaders this past weekend?

If ya wanna get super serious about things...guns don't kill people. Bullets do. I know, I know. Too funny, right? I'm here all week. Try the fish.

So, last question...do we just ban guns or are you going to go after our knives, bow & arrows, sling shots, swords, fishing poles & all gear, sticks with chipped rocks tied to them...where do we stop? All of these items were created with the intended use of killing and maiming.

Per Sean-336994..."Gun's intended purposes are to shoot a bullet between two points in order to kill or maim. If it is incapable of doing so, it is defective."

Harry: you are correct. Tax the bullets @ $500.00 a piece, except those used at a state licensed gun range or in the DEFENSE of a person's life. Gotta be really sure what you are doing and really want to shoot something. Another plus, in all the gun happy states, budget surplus!!!

rob

what the hell does th NRA have anything to do with this unfortunate killing. you are clueless, i grew up accross the street from a vietnam vet that blew his garage door of once a month for years suffering from p.t.s.d. theres no excuse for these sensless murders... this is a very real condition that hopefully gets some recognition in support for our vets that come home, r.i.p. margaret..

True story:

A man takes his aged father into a VA clinic for treatment. The old man, in his 80s, is a World War II vet whose wife had passed away a few years earlier. He had always been a model husband and father - perhaps a little reserved, a little distant, but a fine fellow. In the years since his wife's death, however, he had sunk into a deep depression, had lost a lot of weight, and had taken to drinking a lot. So his son takes him into the VA.

The session starts badly, with the old man responding with one-word answers or no answers at all. The psychologist asks him a second time if he's sure he wants his son to stay in the room with him, and the old man doesn't answer, then, after a moment, in response to nothing at all, he starts talking.

He was an infantryman in Germany during the closing days of the war, around the time of the Battle of the Bulge. He had become separated from his unit in heavy fighting in the forest and night was falling. He was forced out of several sheltered positions, first in a corn crib, then in the rubble of a stone wall, and finally either found or stumbled into a shell crater.

Gunfire continued around him, and he had no idea who was shooting at whom, or even where he was. It had grown dark and he was completely lost. He used his helmet to dig a slight depression into the wall of the crater and then sort of shimmied his back and butt into it, to provide some shelter from the cold.

He curled up as tightly as he could, and kept his rifle at the ready. The gunfire flared up and subsided, then flared up again, and he could hear soldiers moving through the woods. He never saw anything other than the occasional flash from gunfire in the distance.

After what seemed like a long while, someone else fell into the crater. It was too dark for the GI to see anything at all clearly; it was just a dark figure in the darkness. He kept quiet. The other man was panting and rustling around, and of course had no way of knowing there was already someone else in the crater. The GI heard a scraping sound, as though the newcomer was digging a little shelter, as well. After a bit the scraping, digging sound stopped, and there was rustling around as the other soldier got himself arranged, and then, abruptly, all sound stopped - the other soldier wasn't even breathing. After a few seconds, the other soldier asked a question very softly, a whisper really, but the GI couldn't understand it because it was in German.

The German soldier began to move towards him, speaking words the GI did not understand, and the GI shot him several times. There was no more movement. The gunfire moved off into the distance and eventually stopped; the GI remained hunkered down, waiting for morning.

After a very long time, it began to grow light, and he was able to see the man he had killed. The German was lying on his side, facing towards him. His hand was in his coat, as if he had been reaching for something. The body was stiff, but the GI was able to reach beneath the coat and pry loose what the man was grasping. It was a photograph of a pretty young woman, a young man, and a baby, sitting in a flower garden and smiling at the camera. The young man in the picture was the German soldier.

The old man's voice was steady, as he told this story, but tears were streaming down his face. He reached into his pocket and took out his wallet, and then handed the picture of the young German family to his son. He had carried it with him for nearly sixty years, ever since that horrible night. It had haunted him, and he'd never spoken a word to anyone, not even his wife or son, until that day at the VA clinic.

I do not know what happened after this, whether the old man finally found some peace or not. He was in his 80s in 2001, when this happened, so he's likely gone now. Eventually we're all at peace one way or another, I suppose.

"what the hell does th NRA have anything to do with this unfortunate killing."

Only gun-loving cretins like you don't know. And you never will. By the way, a question uses a question mark. Oh yeah, you weren't asking anything, just venting, which illustrates why we need gun control.

With 10% of the adult population in prison I don't think codle is the right word . . .

@lbjack

Cretin: 1. A person suffering from cretinism.2. a stupid, obtuse, or mentally defective person.

Cretinism: A congenital disease due to absence or deficiency of normal thyroid secretion, characterized by physical deformity, dwarfism, and mental retardation, and often by goiter.

You characterize all people who love guns as cretins? Which definition? Can Cretins love guns? Yes, but not all gun lovers are cretins. When someone generalizes a group of people, they show a distinct lack of intelligence.

I love people who correct grammar as a way to win an argument or make a point. It shows pseudo-intelligence. Just because a person has a grasp of writing the language does not always mean that person has the ability to use the language in an intelligent manner. I could pick your sentence apart, but your grammar is not the point of the argument.

Guns are a part of life in America and were used in shaping this country, just like the till and oxen and the axe and knife. They help frontiersmen provide food and protection for their families. They helped early Europeans to establish cities on this continent. They helped the 13 colonies gain independence. They helped cowboys on the prairies. They helped the Colonists (later Americans) in wars against the French (twice), the English (twice), the Barbary Pirates of Tripoli, the Mexicans (twice), in freeing the slaves, in freeing Cuba, and in WW I freeing the world. But, the it was the men and women who used a tool like the gun the shaped America.

The wars mentioned, were fought by citizens who usually brought there own guns. The ones that they used for hunting and protecting their homes in everyday life. Our country did not have a general supply of guns for the military like other countries did. Other countries like France, Spain, Mexico and Great Britain had more guns than the US. Yet, with all the guns they had, those countries still lost. If we used the adage that guns kill people, then we as Americans should have lost all those wars. For we were out gunned in all of those wars. The truth of the matter is Humans use weapons to kill humans.

Are guns misused? Yes they are. So are cars, hammers, fire extinguishers, kitchen knives, ropes, etc. The list of items misused for killing goes on and on. Guns are not only used for killing humans and like other objects in the house, they can also be used for that purpose. Clubs became stone axes, stone axes became hammers and metal axes. Sharpened sticks became spears, spears became swords and arrows. All these items helped shape mankind's destiny. They were used to hunt and protect, but they have also been used to kill each other since the down of their invention; just like guns.

Don't blame the gun, the NRA or anything that is used to take human life. Blame the human who used an item, as a weapon, to take a human life. They are the stain on society. That person is the reason this lovely lady was murdered. Let's all get off this anti-gun/anti-NRA bandwagon. Let us as good humans give our condolences and well wishes to the family of this brave young lady, all the brave men and women who work hard to protect us from ourselves and to those who have died in the line of duty.

Ms. Anderson, if there is a heaven may you have to softest resting spot and eternal happiness. If its reincarnation, may you come back as the one of the most beautiful Bird of Paradise this world has ever seen. If it is enlightenment, may you find it and ascend to the next plain quickly. You will be forever missed, loved and remembered by the people closest to you. In my belief that is all we can take with us and you are lucky to have that kind of love.

Impaler,

Thoughtful and so true.However,much too cerebral for the anti's.

I'll repeat my earlier post:

For all you gun haters out there...just where would the 18-year-old Oklahoma mother be today if not for the guns she used to defend herself and her infant son from home invaders this past weekend?

George - welcome home man. While you may not feel all the way each day you are closer. Understanding the cause of the pain make each step easier - even after all these years. Been there, done that, got back. Semper Fi brother.

That's what the story said. He died of hypo.