Guns, guns, guns
I do understand that it isn't the gun that kills but the person shooting the gun. I do understand that guns are part of our culture and that many parts of this country grow up hunting. I do understand that statistics prove that when there are guns in someones home that the chances of something bad happening are much higher.
I don't understand why people believe they need to carry guns to protect themselves when we have a police force. I don't understand why it is important to walk through town packing a gun. I don't understand why some people are not interested in changing the escalating violence of guns in our homes and cities.
Since the unspeakable violence that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. Slate has partnered with @Gundeaths that has tallied that 1501 people have died from guns since that fateful day.
Joe Nocera, an op-ed writer for the NYTimes published this the last few days. Reading these short gun reports across the country just speaks volumes on why we need to change the gun laws in this country…and quickly.
What a sorry day on the gun violence front! Even as the Senate was holding hearings to explore ways to reduce gun violence—which included some moving remarks by former congresswoman Gabriele Giffords—a
gunman opened fire in a Phoenix office building, wounding three people,
one of them critically, authorities said. Police were searching for the
shooter.
Then
news broke that a 15-year-old majorette who performed at some of
President Barack Obama’s recent inauguration festivities has been shot
to death in Chicago. Hadiya Pendleton and her volleyball teammates were
seeking shelter under a canopy in the rain at Harsh Park after taking
exams Tuesday afternoon when a man with a gun jumped a fence and opened
fire.
—Associated Press, Chicago Tribune
Meanwhile:
Police, SWAT teams and negotiators had surrounded a rural Alabama
property where a man was said to be holed up in a homemade bunker after
fatally shooting the driver of a school bus and fleeing with a
6-year-old passenger. The man boarded the school bus in the town of
Midland City and shot the driver when he refused to let the child off
the bus. The driver later died of his wounds.
And:
Ronald Franklin Gilbert, 52, a urologist in Huntington Beach, Calif.,
was shot multiple times by a patient in his exam room. Stanwood Fred
Elkus, 75, had brought the gun to his medical appointment, prosecutors
said.
A 14-year-old student was shot in the head at Price Middle School in
Atlanta on Thursday. The student was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital
and was said to be alert and conscious. A suspect taken into custody has
tentatively been identified as a student, according to police.
Kaufman
County, Texas, assistant district attorney Mark Hasse was shot dead
outside the courthouse Thursday after two suspects ambushed the
prosecutor on his way into court and shot him multiple times. The
shooting spurred a complete lockdown of the courthouse and a manhunt for
the two shooters.
Three
teenagers were shot at a gas station in Little Rock, Arkansas,
Wednesday night. Jasmine Young, 17, was sitting with three other people
in a Chevy Tahoe when someone sprayed the SUV with bullets. Young died
at an area hospital. Little Rock Police do not have a motive.
—KATV
The
Vermilion Parish sheriff’s deputies have arrested a 67-year-old
Abbeville, La., man in the shooting death of his son. Charles Larry
Harrington is suspected of shooting 40-year-old Macade Jude Harrington
Wednesday night after the two fought, leading to the fatal shooting.
Authorities
in central Illinois have charged a 17-year-old boy from Normal in the
fatal shooting of a Bloomington teenager earlier this month.
Sixteen-year-old Trae Massey was shot at his home on January 21 and died
a short time later.
The second victim in Wednesday’s shooting
in an office complex in north-central Phoenix has died. Mark Hummels, a
partner at Phoenix law firm Osborn Maledon, was shot in the neck and
back when Arthur Douglas Harmon, 70, opened fire on Hummels and Steven
D. Singer after an arbitration meeting. Singer died Wednesday.
A
man was walking along the side of the road in southwest Houston Friday
morning when he was gunned down. The shooting happened about 5:50 a.m.,
according to the Houston Police Department. Police said the man, whose
name has not been released, was rushed to Southwest Memorial Hermann
Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Sylvia
Cho, 56, of Pasadena, Calif., was shot dead in the Lynwood liquor store
she owned with her husband during a robbery Thursday night. Family
members visited the scene, visibly shaken by the death.
—The Long Beach Press-Telegram, South Gate-Lynwood Patch
Michael
Wayne Kearins, 17, and Christopher Thomas Cousins, 18, both of Harewood
Road in Edgewood, Md., shot each other during a confrontation Thursday
night. Kearins was transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, where
he was pronounced dead. Cousins was flown by Medevac to the Maryland
Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore; he is expected to survive.
Comments (Archived):
I’m with you…. How about educating people to carry other type of weapons? People may keep a loaded weapon at home for self-defense. People may carry/use a weapon to hunt…. How about educating people to use other type of weapons such as tasers, pepper spray, etc..?Disclaimer – I’m against any type of violence…. but as a first step, I rather see tasers than guns.
I’ve already left a comment about the issue of gun control, but your comment made me think of something.On a personal level, my distaste for violence of any kind means I hate guns – period. Which has kept me up at nights, literally.I had the opportunity to sit in on a session about dealing with active shootings sponsored by the DE State Police recently. During the Q/A, someone asked for some tips about personal safety ( all the “thinking tactically” training in the session made people more paranoid about everything they do – if you ask me, that’s a good thing ). The first part of his response was essentially to answer the question “do I get a gun.”His advice was that you should only own a gun if you can answer the following two questions with a resounding emphatic unqualified “YES!”1. Will I learn how to use it and train and practice and practice and train?2. If I need to, can I shoot someone?After the session I was fortunate enough to grab a few minutes with a trooper to ask about how one might protect one’s family if one cannot answer both of those questions with a yes. There are definitely things people can learn to do that are effective – a gun is not the only answer.
That is really interesting and smart questions
Amen. Suicide should be included in these stats.
you are absolutely right.
I read the other day that over half of all gun deaths are suicide. This shocked me.
Yes, I think we have a lot to talk about in this country. It’s important that everyone keep their eye on the prize: less violence.
I am not against guns per se. But it is hard to argue with how effective they are, when it comes to killing.When Fred doesn’t post by noon, do you get a ton of emails asking if he is OK? 😉
I saw a post come through via RSS that seems to have been removed from the blog. ?
Thank you for this blog. A really important reminder. I’m totally with you on gun control. People should not be allowed to own them we have proven ourselves a country not responsible enough to be privileged with that right. And I hate it when people bring up Norway, outside of that one incident they have almost no gun related deaths.
.In Texas, gun ownership is at all time high. Concealed carry permits are at an all time high.Murders are at an all time low.One size does not fit all.JLM.
Weird.
Read a story the other day that the best comp for America today, is America in the early 90’s. Similar gun ownership rate, yet significantly higher gun deaths in the 90’s. I actually favor new gun regulations like universal background checks, I just found that fact pretty interesting…
.It is at the nexus between crazy people and weapons of all types that there exists the only opportunity to change outcomes. If you really want to change outcomes.More people are “bludgeoned” to death — pipes, baseball bats, etc. — than are victims of gun crime.Outlaw and confiscate bludgeons?JLM.
.As many anecdotes as are recited whose core message is “gun control”, there an equal number which show that lives were saved by the skillful use of guns for self protection.We need a list of folks who should never be allowed to touch a gun not a list of folks whose gun ownership has not threatened public safety. Ever.JLM.
.New York enacted the Sullivan Act 100 years ago this year. It was passed in 1913. It essentially makes it illegal to own a handgun in NY and NYC.We do not need another law redundant of the Sullivan Act, we do need a list of people who should not be allowed to touch a gun.We need US Attorneys and state prosecutors to prosecute guy related crimes.JLM.
.In any confrontation between good and evil, we only have reason, judgment and force.Once reason and judgment are exhausted, force prevails.In the absence of guns, force favors the criminal, the aggressor.Guns provide an opportunity to save lives when reason and judgment are not a winning hand.JLM.
.Current thinking favors banning assault rifles. No assault rifles were used at Newtown. The Bushmaster was in the car. The deaths were attributable to handguns.Less than 3% of all gun related crime involves “rifles”, long guns.Let’s identify and solve the real problem — crazy people coming into contact with guns of any type. Make a list of crazy people and work that list.JLM.
Very tricky issue. My distrust of government – and any large institution that wields influence over a large group of people who have little say in the process – makes me jump on the “only criminals will have guns” bandwagon. My pragmatic side sees the other side of the issue. (NOTE: Sam Harris, a man with whom I have **many** disagreements, actually has a lot of interesting things to say about this issue that mirror my thinking almost exactly. )