Maybe we should have a gunshot victim count every Christmas. We could compare numbers and places where people were killed or injured. Only these are ( or were) human beings with families and not birds or animals. In the following reported stories, by my count, you will find 17 dead and 17 injured during the 2011 holiday week-end just past. And, by the way, these are just the ones I have discovered or were published in local media outlets. 80 people a day, on average, die in America from gunshot injuries. That is inexcusable.
- Sadly, 7 are dead in the Dallas, Texas area- all related to each other. Now try to imagine 7 people from the same family being shot to death. This murder/suicide was accomplished when a man ( allegedly related to the victims) came to the house dressed as Santa Clause. He then killed himself. There were 7 of us at our family Christmas gathering on Christmas Eve and 8 on Christmas Day. What is it with shooters dressed as Santa Clause? There is something so cynical about that. Remember this similar shooting in California in 2008? I do.
- And how could this be any worse? A California soldier made it home from Afghanistan, wounded and had just returned home for a welcome in his honor only to get involved in trying to stop an argument and gets shot. Now he is paralyzed. And he thought things were dangerous in Afghanistan!
- Another 9 were injured by bullets in a Chatanooga, Tennessee shooting.
- This Pennsylvania shooting resulted in one dead man.
- And another in Cleveland. One man found dead of gunshot wounds. .
- And again with shootings at a courthouse as 3 were fatally injured outside of a Tyler, Texas courthouse. One of the victims was a concealed carry permit holder who tried to intervene but instead was killed by the shooter who then was killed by police in a shoot-out. 3 dead, 4 injured.
- Texas had a hard Christmas. This suicidal veteran in Fort Worth was gunned down by police as he threatened to shoot himself and then opened fire on the police. Senseless. One dead of gunshot wounds.
- And, of course, there are all of those gun permit holders who follow the laws, right? Wrong. Not in North Dakota, at least. Read this one for the many times permit holders have violated the law in North Dakota. No one was killed or injured- just gun owners gone awry.
- Here you can read about another stupid law abiding gun owner accidentally shooting a totally innocent teen ager on Christmas Eve day. 1 dead, 2 injured.
- And then again, on Christmas Eve, an Indiana boy was shot and critically wounded by shots fired from outside of the home. One dead child.
- One more- this time a Colorado 3 year old with a loaded gun killed his brother. Senseless. Another dead child.
- A shooting outside of a Fort Myers, Florida shopping mall took the life of one man. "Police say the shooter using an assault rifle to fire more than 50 rounds at his victim and somehow missed other innocent bystanders." One dead man. Sigh.
- Toddlers should be safe from bullets in their own homes. But not this 3 year old Minneapolis child who was gravely injured when a bullet flew into his house from somewhere outside. One gravely injured toddler. Senseless.
"Please don't let anyone tell you, like the NRA and gun rights advocates, that guns for self defense are perfectly harmless. They are not."
ReplyDeleteIf they were harmless, they'd be useless. It's because they aren't harmless that it's so important that we ensure that people have access to them.
If you read the ND one about concealed weapons it seems to be talking about non permitted people from out of state.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read it that way, Anthony.
ReplyDeleteFrom the ND Article:
ReplyDelete"Most violations are coming from people who recently moved here from out of state and don’t realize they should have weapons sitting in plain view in a vehicle, he said."
B
Right Bryan. I read that. Does that mean that these folks are permit holders from other states? It doesn't say.
ReplyDeleteI should add at the very least if they do have a CCW ND does not have reciprocity with that state. From poking around a bit ND seems to accept most neighboring states permit with the exception of MN but we do not honor theirs either.
ReplyDeleteDid I forget this one? A seven year old boy was shot at a Christmas gathering- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/25/gary-boy-7-shot-in-the-he_n_1169636.html
ReplyDeleteIf Monday counts you missed this one too
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-person-shot-in-the-face-at-grocery-store-on-citys-northwest-side-20111226,0,7669299.column
Hard to tell how this would have turned out without the robber being shot.
ReplyDeleteYou are right he might have donated the money to charity and reformed his life. Is there some good thing that could have happened when this apparent armed robber took the cashier to a office?
ReplyDeleteNothing good. Perhaps just a robbery.
ReplyDelete"Nothing good. Perhaps just a robbery."
ReplyDeleteBUT, perhaps a murder. The assumption when a bad guy starts ordering people to the back is that they are not intending to leave witnesses.
Where were the police? Let me answer that. They were WAITING for a call. That's what they do. No matter which way this went, they can NOT be there until it's OVER.
Until you have an answer for that, I have no interest in disarming. Period.
If everyone but the robber was unarmed, then ALL of the choices about whether the people lived or died would have been made by him.
Perhaps you can live with that in the abstract, but in the real world, that is not the person I want making those decisions, without someone else being about to 'say no thanks' with equal force.
Besides, being shot is the risk all robbers accept when they CHOOSE their profession and threaten innocent people with lethal force.
"Perhaps just a robbery."
ReplyDeleteReally?
Perhaps a rape, perhaps a murder, perhaps, perhaps perhaps...
I carry to eliminate the possibility of a "perhaps".
Another article about how the 3 year old who shot his 5 year old brother got the gun- http://www.9news.com/news/article/238460/188/Man-admits-to-mistake-after-3-year-old-shot-5-year-old " "I mean it was totally my fault," police say Adam Laham, 23, told detectives. "I'm not used to having kids in the house, you know. I always leave it out."" Don't leave your loaded guns out!
ReplyDeleteAdam Laham is criminally negligent - will he be prosecuted? If not, why?
ReplyDeleteProtecting ones children is at the forefront for the vast majority of firearm owners.