After Binghamton, Questions Linger About Easy Access to Guns

April 6, 2009— -- As the nation gets a clearer picture of two killers who have made headlines in recent days -- one near Pittsburgh, one in Binghamton, N.Y. -- some are wondering whether Americans have too much access to guns.

This morning, Shirley DeLucia is recovering from gunshot wounds in a New York hospital. Hailed as one of the heroes of Friday's massacre in Binghamton, DeLucia called police after being shot along with another receptionist who was killed.

Doctors say she should make a full physical recovery, but her brother, Lyle Fasset, said the emotional impact could take its toll for a long time to come.

"I think she's going to have a few problems," he said, adding that she worried about paying the bills the last time he visited her in the hospital.

As the gunman, identified as 41-year-old Jiverly Voong, blasted his way through the American Civic Association, DeLucia, 61, stayed on the phone for 38 minutes, guiding police and trying to provide them with information to prevent more people from being shot. Voong killed 13 people before turning the gun on himself.

"We're always there for her," Fasset said. "Chances are she's not going to ask for help. That's the kind of person she is."

On Saturday, one day after the Binghamton shootings, three Pittsburgh-area police officers were gunned down after responding to what they thought was a domestic disturbance call. Richard Poplawski, 23, the alleged shooter, was shot several times in the leg.

Police responded after his mother called 911 concerning an argument over a urinating dog. When the first two officers arrived, she opened the door, not knowing her son was standing behind her with an AK-47 assault-style rifle.

Police say he also had a .22-caliber rifle and a revolver and was wearing a bulletproof vest.

His close friend told ABC News that Poplawski had long feared losing his right to own guns.

"They were all legal," his friend Edward Perkovic said of the weapons. "He had about four guns. I've been in houses where they have gun cases with 20 guns. He had a small, small amount of guns."

"We have 32 people being murdered by guns every day in this country," said Michael Wolkowitz, a board member of the Brady Center, which lobbies for tighter gun restrictions. "If peanut butter or pistachio nuts or spinach killed that number of people once in one day, they'd be pulled by the [Food and Drug Administration]."