Are Shootings Just Routine Now???

[Sue U]

The legislature has all of the authority it needs to seriously address gun violence, it just needs to exercise that discretion.

Well, all the authority the Second Amendment -- and 5 elderly lawyers in DC -- will allow, which is obviously something less than policy specialists and even the legislature had deemed sufficient to address the problem:

"We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country, and we take seriously the concerns raised by the many amici who believe that prohibition of handgun ownership is a solution... But the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table. ... [W]hat is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct."

District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 636 (2008).

[Big RR]

BSG--IMHO, the biggest drawback to arming oneself to fend off "evildoers" is whether the armed person will use the firearm when threatened; not in the heat of the moment, but in a situation where you get a chance to deliberate and have to decide to shoot another human being. If you have any doubt that you could do so, it makes little sense to acquire a firearm; a good number of deaths and injuries occur when the person with the firearm hesitates and is then disarmed by someone who won't hesitate to use the firearm.

Indeed, it's one reason why I've never considered acquiring a firearm for protection; I'm pretty sure I could shoot someone charging at me or at long range, but I honestly question whether I could shoot someone I'm looking in the eye, even if I knew (s)he would shoot me. I recall picking up a log once to hit someone with in a fight in high school, and then realizing I didn't have the heart to hit him; it led to the dilemma of how to dispose of it so he couldn't pick it up and hit me, which I knew he'd do without any compunction. I was ultimately able to do so, but I've never forgotten that lesson.

Before you acquire any gun or carry it, you have to answer the same question to yourself with scrupulous honesty. Otherwise, you could end up being a grim statistic.

[BoSoxGal]

The scenario I've always imagined is me broken down by the roadside in some remote location without cell service, and some predator trying to break my vehicle's windows to get at me. In that situation, I would not hesitate to use a firearm to protect myself, up to and including killing that person.

I do 'get' the hesitation you discussed, Big RR - as a soft touch who steps over ants rather than kill them and who has been stung in the process of relocating wasps to the outdoors, I generally balk at the idea of taking a life. But as a criminal attorney who follows crimes beyond those I've personally prosecuted or defended, I know too well that every single woman alive is some predator's potential victim and I would do everything necessary to spare myself the kind of horror so many women have endured in their final moments of life.

[BoSoxGal]

(CNN) - A priest was killed and another critically wounded in an attack at a Catholic church in Phoenix, police said early Thursday.

The Rev. Kenneth Walker was fatally shot, and the Rev. Joseph Terra is hospitalized in critical condition, police and church officials said. It was not clear what type of weapon was used to attack Terra, Sgt. Steve Martos of the Phoenix Police Department said.

A 911 call came in about 9 p.m. Wednesday (12 a.m. ET Thursday) from the Mater Misericordiae (Mother of Mercy) Mission Catholic Church, Martos said.

The emergency call to police was for a burglary and was made by Terra, Martos said. It was unclear if Terra made the phone call before or after he was injured.

When police arrived, they found the two priests badly injured. Walker died at the hospital.

Terra, the injured priest, was only able to minimally speak with authorities about what happened, Martos said. The priority is for him to be treated.

"Hopefully, once that individual receives treatment and is able to pull through, we can gather more information," Martos said.

The church, in a statement on its website, referred to more than one armed burglar breaking into and entering the property. Police have not confirmed or denied that assertion, saying only that it is not an official police statement.

A green 2003 Mazda Tribute was stolen from church property, police said, and it was found abandoned.

The vehicle is being examined for clues, but as of Thursday morning, nothing significant had been found, Martos said.

"The police are still gathering information and trying to sort through the details of this senseless act of violence," the Diocese of Phoenix said in a statement. "We ask that people offer prayers for both priests, the religious community, their families and the parish."

Investigators have gathered physical evidence at the crime scene, but they lack witness information, police said. Authorities asked for anyone with information to call in tips to police.

Walker, 29, was a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a small community of priests founded in 1988 and dedicated to reviving the traditional Latin Mass. Terra, 56, is also a member.

[BoSoxGal]

From a very interesting article, excerpted from the book "The Second Amendment - A Biography" by Michael Waldman:

The NRA bills itself “the nation’s longest standing civil rights organization.” That’s not exactly how it started.

During the Civil War, Union officers had grown perturbed at the poor marksmanship of their troops. Previously, guns were inaccurate, and target practice a waste of time. Now new technology — breech-loading guns and metal cartridge ammunition — made shooting a prized skill. In 1871, militia and army veterans created a new organization to train American men to shoot safely and accurately: the National Rifle Association.

General Ambrose Burnside — yes, the same gent whose name lives to describe his distinctive whiskers — served as ceremonial president for a year. Government helped: New York state bought the NRA a rifle range to hold contests. The organization nearly collapsed when the state withdrew its support. “There will be no war in my time or in the time of my children,” New York’s governor assured the group’s leader. “The only need for a National Guard is to show itself in parades and ceremonies.” So federal officials stepped in, creating the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice in 1901. It gave away surplus guns to clubs sponsored by the NRA.

Between the world wars, the federal government provided 200,000 rifles to NRA members at cost. After the defeat of Japan, with its membership swelled, the NRA began to shift its focus. Its publications dwelled on hunting and sports shooting, not paramilitary activity. The group lobbied, and was based in Washington, DC, but its principal focus was bagging deer, not blocking laws. In the late 1950s, it opened a new headquarters building to house its hundreds of employees. Metal letters spelled out its purpose in 1958: FIREARMS SAFETY EDUCA­TION, MARKSMANSHIP TRAINING, SHOOTING FOR RECREATION.

The NRA expressed unease with gun laws. But even as its ranks grew, it did not object to the first federal gun control measure, Franklin Roosevelt’s 1934 National Firearms Act, which banned machine guns and sawed-off shotguns. Its chief lobbyist testified before Congress. “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons,” he told a House committee.”… I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.” A lawmaker asked him whether the proposed law violated any part of the Constitution. The witness responded, “I have not given it any study from that point of view.”

read more: http://billmoyers.com/2014/06/12/the-rise-of-the-nra-2/

[Big RR]

BSG--as long as you are honest with yourself about what you believe you can/cannot do, it does make sense. As I said, I believe I would have little problem with shooting someone breaking into my car or otherwise actively attacking me; it's when the threat is a little more remote, like getting someone passively threatening to leave, that I would have the problem.

[Gob]

Two people were killed and seven wounded in an overnight shooting in Miami, police say.

Investigators say multiple gunmen opened fire outside an apartment building complex in the Liberty City neighbourhood.

Kevin Richardson, 29, and Nakeri Jackson, 26, were killed in the attack.

[BoSoxGal]

Why the Suspected Texas Shooter's Domestic-Violence History Didn't Keep Him From Owning Guns
Our investigation shows that in most states, laws do little to keep attackers from owning firearms.
—By Hannah Levintova and Dana Liebelson | Thu Jul. 10, 2014 8:44 PM EDT


The Stay family and their five children. Both parents and four of the children were fatally shot Wednesday in their Texas home. Facebook/Harris County Sheriff's Office


On Wednesday evening, Ronald Lee Haskell, disguised as a FedEx delivery man, gained entry to the home of his sister-in-law and her spouse, Stephen and Katie Stay, demanding the whereabouts of his estranged ex-wife. According to statements by the Harris County police and prosecutors, he then allegedly tied up the Stays and their five children, ages 4 to 15, and shot them execution style, killing all but his 15-year-old niece, who played dead. Haskell then began driving to the home of the children's grandparents, possibly to continue his rampage, but his critically injured niece managed to call 911. He was apprehended on the way by law enforcement. After a three-and-a-half-hour standoff three miles from the scene of the killings, Haskell surrendered and was arrested.

Court records show that in Utah in 2008, Haskell was charged with domestic violence and simple assault against his wife. She reported that he had hit her in the head and dragged her by the hair, according to police and court records. He pleaded guilty to the assault charge and had the domestic-violence charge dismissed as part of his plea deal. In July 2013, Haskell's wife filed a protective order against him in Cache County, Utah, where they lived at the time. The order applied to her and their four children. She then moved away and filed for divorce about a month later. The divorce was finalized this past February.

It's not yet clear if Haskell possessed his guns legally, but his case appears to be the latest example of how easy it remains for domestic abusers to possess firearms, thanks to weak legislation. Under federal law, Haskell's protective order should have prohibited him from owning guns, says Laura Cutilletta, a staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. However, in October 2013, Haskell's protective order was converted to a "mutual restraining order" as part of their divorce and custody proceedings. (You can read the protective order docket here.) This crucial step likely meant that Haskell was legally allowed to have guns again, under both state and federal law. Had the first protection order not been dropped, Cutilletta added, "likely he would have been prohibited​." Nor is it likely that Haskell's 2008 conviction barred him from owning a gun in Utah or Texas, Cutilletta says, because he was convicted of simple assault rather than domestic violence. (Haskell's attorney in his 2013 protective order proceedings did not respond to Mother Jones' request for comment.)



Three different bills that would strengthen federal law are currently stalled in Congress, in part due to lobbying efforts of gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association. Federal law prohibits convicted felons, subjects of permanent domestic-violence protective orders, as well as current and former spouses, parents, and guardians who have been convicted of domestic-violence misdemeanors from possessing a gun. But this leaves many situations where potential abusers are allowed to keep their guns. The current law doesn't apply to misdemeanant stalkers, domestic-violence misdemeanants who are current or former dating partners but who've never cohabitated or had a child together, as well as accused partners subject to a temporary (rather than permanent) restraining order. This is concerning, especially considering that in more than half of all states, fatal violence between intimate partners is most often perpetrated with a firearm. (See map above.)

read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... tay-murder (It's really worth reading; I didn't want to quote it all, but there are a few more maps with some chilling information about how many states allow convicted stalkers and abusers to legally own firearms after conviction.)

[Gob]

Shamiya Adams was sitting on a bedroom floor in her best friend's home, making s'mores after an evening of practicing a dance routine, when the shot ripped through the house in Garfield Park.

The bullet crashed through the wall of the bedroom and struck the 11-year-old in the head. She was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, where family kept an overnight vigil until the girl was pronounced dead at 7:33 a.m. today.

"They came out and told us she wasn't going to make it," Shamiya's grandmother said. "Oh, my God."

As the night wore on, about 40 people joined hands outside the hospital, forming a circle and praying.

"Just be with us, God. We need you now," one woman pleaded as a black SUV filled with police rolled past. "We need you now like never before."

Thirteen hours later, as police searched for the gunman, marshmallows and Hershey bars were still spread out on the bed, remnants of a summer sleepover turned tragic.

Traces of the girl's blood could be seen just beneath a stuffed Tweety Bird doll hanging from the bedroom wall.

"Everybody was in the room," said Aaron Hill, who lives at the house but said he wasn't there at the time of the shooting. "They were just doing their girlie things. They heard shots and a bullet came through the window."

Hill said Shamiya was best friends with one of his younger daughters. She had a "big smile," he said while choking back tears on his porch in East Garfield Park, just a couple blocks from the Eisenhower Expressway.

At the hospital, community activist Andrew Holmes urged the public to call authorities with information about the shooting. "We don't want these perpetrators on the street to rest nowhere tonight."

Earlier, a 12-year-old girl was wounded, one of more than 20 people wounded over 12 hours Friday and early Saturday in Chicago.

The girl, along with a 33-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man, were attacked in the 700 block of North Ridgeway Avenue about 3:30 p.m., police said. The girl suffered a graze wound to the foot, and the woman suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound above her right eye.

Their conditions were stabilized at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Offier Veejay Zala. The man suffered a graze wound to the right calf and declined medical treatment, Zala said.

The victims told police they were approached by someone they didn't know, who fired shots at them.

In other shootings:

• A 30-year-old man was killed in the Austin neighborhood about 3 a.m. He was found in the front seat of a car, shot in the neck, back and shoulder in an alley next to Laramie Avenue just north of Madison Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man was later identified as Brandon Wilson, of the first block of North Latrobe Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:55 a.m.

• Someone shot a 35-year-old man in the Englewood neighborhood about 3 a.m. He was wounded in the leg and taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said. Police said the man was on a sidewalk when someone opened fire from inside a passing dark vehicle.

• A 15-year-old boy was shot in the West Englewood neighborhood about 12:50 a.m. He was sitting in a parked car, in the 7000 block of South Winchester Avenue, when someone in a passing white van opened fire, police said. The boy was taken to Holy Cross Hospital with an arm wound.

• A 19-year-old man was in serious condition after someone shot him in a Lawndale neighborhood alley about 12:20 a.m. He was shot in an alley east of the 1200 block of South Christiana Avenue and ran around the corner onto 13th Street, where police found him bleeding from a wound to his back. He was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.

• Two men, 24 and 33, were shot about 12:10 a.m. in the 500 block of East 71st Street in the Grand Crossing neighborhood. The younger man was shot in the abdomen and taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County while the older was taken to University of Chicago Hospital with a foot wound. The two told the police they "heard shots and felt pain."

• Four men were shot in the 1300 block of North Mason Avenue in the North Austin neighborhood about 11:30 p.m. All four took themselves to hospitals.

A 24-year-old man was shot in the arm and went to West Suburban Medical Center.

A 33-year-old man with foot and knee wounds, and a 31-year-old man with an arm wound, also went to West Suburban Medical Center.

The fourth man, 30, walked into Oak Park Hospital with a foot wound. The 33-year-old was later transferred to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.

• Three people were wounded on the 4000 block of West Maypole Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood about 11:30 p.m. One walked into Mount Sinai Hospital, one was dropped off at a fire station on Maypole, and the third was taken to the hospital, police said.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg and a 32-year-old suffered a graze wound, police said. The two were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, along with a 22-year-old man who was went to Mount Sinai Hospital on his own.

• About 11:20 p.m. someone shot a 25-year-old man in the ankle near Haddon Street and Long Avenue on the West Side. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. Police said he had been sitting on a porch when two men approached and at least one started shooting.

• A 38-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the eye in the 7600 block of South Drexel Boulevard about 11:05 p.m., police said, citing preliminary information. He was listed in stable condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center.

• A 15-year-old boy was shot in the 11800 block of South Yale Avenue about 10:30 p.m. He suffered wounds to the arm and foot and his condition was stabilized at Roseland Community Hospital. He was outside when someone walked up and shot him, police said.

• A 26-year-old man was shot near Armitage and Lamon avenues about 10:50 p.m. The man suffered gunshot wounds to the shoulder, abdomen and leg. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in serious condition.

He was standing on the block when someone drove up in a light-colored car. The 26-year-old and the man in the car exchanged words. The man in the car got out and started shooting, police said. The man who shot the 26-year-old fled the scene.

• About 5:50 p.m., a 33-year-old man was wounded in both legs in the 3800 block of West Wabansia Avenue, Zala said. The man walked into the St. Elizabeth campus of Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, although he was possibly transferred to Stroger.

[Gob]

A five-year-old girl has been shot dead by a young boy while they were playing together.



Adults were in another room in the house at the time of the accidental shooting which killed Noelle Aston Shawver in Blackfoot, Idaho.

She had been on a playdate - an arranged play session - with a five-year-old boy at the time.

Relatives described Noelle as a "bright and loving girl" who was due to start at kindergarten in the autumn. She was one of three children.

Police declined to reveal how the boy gained access to the weapon or the type of gun involved in the tragedy.

[rubato]

Meanwhile, the GOP led by the NRA refuses to make gun owners responsible for storing their weapons safely or legally liable for the effects of their negligence.

Just another day in America folks!




yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

Gun owners who allow a child to access a gun - whether their own child, or somebody else's - should be prosecuted for felony child endangerment, or criminal endangerment, or whatever the felony equivalent is in the jurisdiction in question.

In my mind, it is no different than when a drunk makes the choice to get behind the wheel of a car and ends up killing another human being - we prosecute them for vehicular homicide, where intention isn't required because it's a strict liability offense. We should do the same when a gun owner leaves his/her weapons unlocked and readily accessible to incompetent minors.

A modest gun safe, or a trigger lock, is not an expensive thing - if you have children in your house, or your home EVER hosts a child, then you MUST invest in such safety precautions if you wish to own firearms. If you can't afford them - you can't afford the firearm, period.



Poor sweet baby, I hope she died quickly.

[BoSoxGal]

Florida Man Fatally Shoots Daughter and 6 Grandchildren
By ASHLEY SOUTHALL SEPT. 18, 2014 NYT

A grandfather shot and killed his daughter and her six young children before killing himself at his home in north-central Florida on Thursday, the authorities said.

The man, identified as Don Charles Spirit, 51, called the police around 4 p.m., and indicated that he planned to harm himself and others, Sheriff Robert Schultz of Gilchrist County said in an evening news conference.

“It was enough to alarm us to get there, and we needed to get there in a hurry,” he said.

But it was too late. After exchanging words with a deputy at the scene, Mr. Spirit killed himself, Sheriff Schultz said.

Inside the home in Bell, Fla., the police found the bodies of Mr. Spirit, his daughter Sarah Lorraine Spirit, 28, and her children: Kaleb Kuhlmann, 11; Kylie Kuhlmann, 9; Johnathon Kuhlmann, 8; Destiny Stewart, 5; Brandon Stewart, 4; and Alanna Stewart, 2 months. Sheriff Schultz said some people there were left alive, but he did not give details. He said that Mr. Spirit had a criminal history, and that deputies had been called to the home for “a wide range of things.”

Mr. Spirit pleaded guilty to a felony firearms violation in 2003, after he accidentally shot and killed his 8-year-old son during a hunting expedition in 2001, according to The Orlando Sentinel. He was sentenced to three years in prison. The report said he had been convicted of felony possession of marijuana in 1998, and had not gone through the process of having his gun rights restored. Florida law makes it illegal for convicted felons to own guns.

Bell, a rural town about 30 miles west of Gainesville, has a population of about 450 people.

“We’re all family here,” Sheriff Schultz said.

Betty Dyer, 67, who lives half a block from the Spirit house on NW 29th Terrace, said that the children had arrived in recent months and that she saw some of them walk to and from the school bus each day. She saw nothing indicating trouble in the home.

“It’s very, very sad, very, very cruel, she said. “I just don’t understand people.”

Sheriff Schultz had no motive for the shooting. “There are certain things in life you can explain; there are certain things you can’t,” he said. “This is one of those things that I can’t explain.”

[Gob]

One person was shot dead and four students wounded by a student who also died at a school in the US state of Washington, police have said.

The shooting reportedly took place in a lunch room at Marysville Pilchuck High School, near Seattle.

The four students were shot in the head, with three were in a critical condition undergoing surgery.

Officials said the unnamed gunman, described as a male student, died at the scene.

"We are confident that there was only one shooter and the shooter is deceased," Marysville police commander Robb Lamoureux told reporters on Friday.

"We are confirming two deceased at this time. One is the shooter and the second deceased, we're not confirming at this time whether it's student or staff."

[Joe Guy]

Apparently, the shooter was a 14 yr old popular boy in school. He killed one girl and injured 3 others with shots to the head and then killed himself. One news station is reporting that one of the girls might have been his girlfriend.

[Lord Jim]

Yeah, this seems to be the antithesis of the stereotypical "disaffected loner" type generally associated with these tragedies...

[rubato]

The stories alluded to recent changes in behavior. Perhaps this was in part due to mental illness in addition to that which is caused by hormones at that age..


yrs,
rubato

[Jarlaxle]

I wonder if he had a brain tumor.