What follows is a transcript of a statement about the Aurora, Colorado tragedy by former Arizona state senator Russell Pearce (R-Mesa), who was recalled last year. You may recall that Mr. Pearce is the author of Senate Bill 1070. Mr. Pearce published this piece on his Facebook page at 10:21 PM on Friday, July 20 – the evening after the shootings.

This is certainly a time for prayers for the victims and the families of victims in this horrific crime in Colorado. I just had a call from a very good friend of mine in San Diego, California who’s neice Kim, Kim’s best friend Mikayla and Kevin were in the Theater in the front rows. Kim and Kevin got out and as he was trying to get Mikayla out she said she was shot. As the rush of the crowd exiting through the exit door pushed Kevin and Kim out they lost Mikayla. As of my phone conversation they were not aware of her status. What a heart breaking story. Had someone been prepared and armed they could have stopped this “bad” man from most of this tragedy. He was two and three feet away from folks, I understand he had to stop and reload. Where were the men of flight 93???? Someone should have stopped this man. Someone could have stopped this man. Lives were lost because of a bad man, not because he had a weapon, but because noone was prepared to stop it. Had they been prepared to save their lives or lives of others, lives would have been saved. All that was needed is one Courages/Brave man prepared mentally or otherwise to stop this it could have been done. When seconds count, police are ony minutes away. My prayers are with all of those suffering from this sensless act, may God be with them in this moment of pain and heartache.

Humorist Andy Borowitz has observed that pro-gun advocates also tend to be anti-grammar perpetrators. Please ponder this while I rouse my copy-editor’s pencil from its 15-year hibernation and apply fundamental rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation to Mr. Pearce’s screed. I do not wish to alter the essence of his eloquence: I merely want to clarify that I actually read what he actually wrote.

This is certainly a time for prayers for the victims and the families of victims in of this horrific crime in Colorado. I just had a call from a very good friend of mine in San Diego, California, who’s whose (not the contraction of “who is,” but the possessive pronoun) neice niece (I before E except after C, big fella) Kim, Kim’s her best friend Mikayla and Kevin (Who’s Kevin? Kim’s boyfriend? Mikayla’s brother?) were in the Theater theater (Theater is not a proper noun.) in the front rows. Kim and Kevin got out, and as he was trying to get Mikayla out, she (Mikayla?) said she was shot. As the rush of the crowd exiting through the exit door (This is redundant and therefore unnecessary. Redundant means repetitive, by the way. I would reconsider my word choice, however: “Exiting” in this usage sounds like an orderly departure instead of a panicked stampede from a darkened theater while bullets rained down and tear gas poisoned the air.) pushed Kevin and Kim out, they lost Mikayla. As of my phone conversation, they were not aware of her status.¶  (You are changing topics, Mr. Pearce, so a new paragraph is recommended. Editor’s Note: A woman named Micayla Medek was among the 12 people killed. We cannot be certain if the Mikayla to whom he refers is the same woman.)

What a heart–breaking story. Had someone been prepared and armed, they he or she (subject-pronoun agreement) could have stopped this “bad” bad (Unless you are attempting to be ironic, there is no need for quotation marks, Mr. Pearce.) man from (I assume there is a missing gerund – following through with? carrying out?) most of  this tragedy. He was two and or three feet away from folks, . (First, let’s address the run-on sentence: A period is required instead of a comma. Determining the distance between the perpetrator and victims is a separate thought from inserting yourself into the chaos of the moment, therefore a new sentence is required. Regarding your word choice, Mr. Pearce, the use of the word “folks” in this instance makes it sound like a hayride, instead of a horrific mass shooting that resulted in 12 deaths. I’d go with “victims,” although you may choose to say, “gun-deprived martyrs.”) I understand he had to stop and reload. Where were the men of flight Flight 93???? (They are dead, but assuming you are using their heroism as a rhetorical device, the Associated Press says to capitalize “Flight.” Only one mark of punctuation is all that is ever needed, unless you are quoting a person, which would mean that the question mark would go inside the quotation marks, so there would be two punctuation marks at the end of that sentence…  Don’t think too much about that last point, and ignore the ellipses: Basic punctuation appears to be too advanced for you. [See “bad,” above])  Someone should have stopped this man. Someone could could (I’d go with italics for added emphasis, since I know where you’re going, although you have no business going there.) have stopped this man. Lives were lost because of a bad man, not because he had a weapon, but because noone no one was prepared to stop it. Had they been prepared to save their lives or the lives of others, lives would have been saved. (This is just a clusterfuck of circular reasoning that has no basis in logic.) All that was needed is was (verb tense) one Courages  (I believe you mean the adjective “courageous,” as opposed to a plural of the noun “courage.” Please note: Courage is an irregular plural and does not have an -s on the end. According to dictionary.com, courageous means “not deterred by danger or pain; brave.” Neither courage nor courageous requires capitalization unless the word is at the start of a sentence or is used as a proper name, like the title of a book or the name of a ship [See “Theater,” above].) /Brave or brave (See capitalization on “courageous,” above. The term “or” serves your purposes better than the slash (/) punctuation. Because these terms are redundant [See “exiting through the exit door,” above], I would choose either “brave” or “courageous.” I’d suggest “brave” since you have no problems spelling it.) man prepared mentally (?) or otherwise (?) to stop this, it (what?) could have been done.  When seconds count, police are ony only minutes away. My prayers are with all of those suffering from this sensless act,. (Again with the run-on sentences!) may May God be with them in this moment of pain and heartache.

And may they not suffer the senseless pain of reading your hare-brained, functionally illiterate call to arms!

How dare you, Russell Pearce! How dare you use this tragedy to advance the cause of laissez-faire gun ownership?

Beyond your failure to deploy basic lessons from middle school language arts, are you so spectacularly stupid that you fail to realize you are blaming the victims in this tragedy? Which men “prepared mentally or otherwise” would you have chosen from that audience to mount a fruitless counter-assault on an AR-15-wielding lunatic in a crowded theater, teeming with panicked and wounded people?

Are you calling out young Kevin – the one who helped your friend’s niece Kim make it to safety? Are you actually implying that had Kevin been packing heat, Mikayla would have exited through the exit door?

Maybe you are accusing Alex Teves of not having courages? After all, Alex graduated from Desert Vista High School in Awatukee – not far from the state senate district that recalled you. Alex lived in a gun-friendly state, came from a gun-friendlier state, and died saving the life of his girlfriend! Should Alex have rushed the shooter instead of giving his life for another? Are you blaming Alex for not carrying a gun?

Perhaps you’re blaming the two active-duty servicemen that perished in the slaughter – Navy Petty Officer John Larimer or Air Force Staff Sergeant Jesse Childress? Maybe you think Navy veteran Jonathan T. Blunk, a father of two, was the one to blame because he was too busy shielding his girlfriend from the bullets? Are you pointing your shaming finger at the three sailors from the U.S. Tenth Fleet that went to the movie with Petty Officer Larimer? Are you saying that because they are “prepared mentally or otherwise” for combat that they are responsible for the death of their comrade? Are you really implying that because they did not rush the shooter they are to blame for 12 dead and more than 50 injured?

How dare you, Russell Pearce! How dare you invoke September 11th to advance your sad agenda and lay blame at the feet of the victims of this massacre! The men of Flight 93 actually had a few moments to plan out a counter-attack, and they were going up against a box cutter. A box cutter! The people inside the Century 16 were being cut down by a military grade weapon, which the shooter purchased LEGALLY.

After every single one of these devastating tragedies, enthusiastic gun-owners like you stand up and bellow, “IF ONLY WE HAD FEWER GUN RESTRICTIONS, THIS WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED!” 

Colorado gun laws are almost identical to Arizona’s in their willingness to allow anyone with a pulse and a full wallet to obtain an AR-15.

“IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD BEEN ALLOWED TO CARRY THEIR WEAPON INTO THE THEATER, THIS TRAGEDY COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED!”

Oh, OK. Allow me to conceal my AR-15 in my purse. I’ll bring it with me when I go see the animated Pixar hit Brave (not Courages) and I’ll set it right there on the armrest next to my large Diet Coke and my xTra-large popcorn for only 25 cents more! And when some maniac starts firing, I’ll just shoot right back, and I know I’ll be able to “take him out” without any collateral damage (just like in the movies!) since I’ve had minimal training, thanks to the concealed carry law that you authored.

“When seconds count, police are ony minutes away.” Really, Mr. Pearce? You, a former police officer, have the audacity to insult law enforcement for a response time of 90 seconds? You have the nerve to denigrate these highly trained professionals who identified and arrested a killer that had easily been mistaken for a SWAT team member?

“AN ARMED CITIZENRY IS THE ONLY PROTECTION!” Please. At our last mass-shooting, only 18 months ago in Tucson, Arizona, an armed – and highly trained – citizen pulled his concealed weapon but did not shoot because the scene was so chaotic. If he had fired, he would have killed an innocent hero who had helped wrest the weapon away from the perpetrator.

Shoulda. Woulda. Coulda. Your wailing about how more ready access to guns would prevent this type of senseless madness is mental masturbation, Mr. Pearce.

These are real people, Mr. Pearce. They have real lives and real families and real names, Mr. Pearce. They are not debating points in your argument for more guns, fewer restrictions, less training, Mr. Pearce. Their blood soaked the floor of that theater, Mr. Pearce, and you wallow in it, with your insipid insinuation that they are to blame! You imply that the heroes who helped others escape to safety are culpable! That the survivors who just made it out alive should feel guilty for not turning around and rushing back into certain death! That they should all march down to the Colorado legislature and ask for the right to carry their own guns the next time they venture into a darkened theater to take in Ice Age 4: Continental Drift!

Oh wait, your comments were taken out of context by the liberal media.  At least in this instance, you managed to find the spellcheck and asked someone to correct your grammar.

July 21, 2012: It sure didn’t take long for the AZ Republic to try and mischaracterize my earlier post as some sort of attack on the victims of the horrific attack in Colorado. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims and their families as they should. All I did was lament that so many people should be left disarmed and vulnerable by anti-gun rules that try to create a sense of safety by posting a sign that says “No Guns”, when the only real effect is to disarm everyone who could have saved lives. The madman had guns, but even those with the training to handle a firearm could not stop him because they had been disarmed. Had they been prepared (and maybe that’s the word that is throwing off the writers at the Republic) and been able to fire on their attacker, lives could have been saved. In Arizona we have passed laws to free our people so that they can defend themselves and their loved ones. You cannot predict where evil will raise its head, but you can be prepared for it.

FUCK YOU, YOU SANCTIMONIOUS ASS-WIPE! YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS BLATHERSKITE! YOU BLOVIATING FUCKTARD!

Forgive me for my coarseness – “bloviating fucktard” was a bridge too far.

I believe U.S. Army counsel Joseph Nye Welch said it much more eloquently in 1954: “Until this moment Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or recklessness… Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”