America's Shooting Gallery 4-10-08

[zanne]

VA: Portsmouth police investigate overnight shooting
NJ: One killed, one injured in Camden shooting
LA: The Orleans Parish district attorney's office last week refused to press forward with attempted murder charges against two teenagers accused of shooting into a crowd of Carnival revelers on Canal Street
AZ: Suspect named in Glendale shooting
NY: Shooting victim critically wounded
AZ: Woman wounded in drive-by shooting
NY: Putnam Lake man pleads not guilty in mistaken burglar shooting
CA: Cops ID victim of shooting near mall
MN: Royalton man pleads guilty to misdemeanor in friend's shooting death
SC: Man charged with murder in shooting
***

Sigh.


Source: gunguys.com

[iverglas]

1. now that one looks interesting

LA: The Orleans Parish district attorney's office last week refused to press forward with attempted murder charges against two teenagers accused of shooting into a crowd of Carnival revelers on Canal Street


http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/magistrate_finds_enough_eviden.html

Magistrate finds enough evidence in Carnival shooting
by Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday March 05, 2008, 7:59 AM

A Criminal District Court commissioner found Tuesday there was enough evidence to support the arrest of two teenagers accused of shooting into a Carnival crowd along Canal Street, despite defense objections that police didn't take adequate steps to make sure they detained the correct suspects.

The Endymion parade on Feb. 2 had passed by the spot at Canal and Baronne streets not long before the shooting broke out just before 10:30 p.m. Five people were injured, including a young man the New Orleans Police Department identified as the "intended victim." The other four victims, two men and two women, were "grazed" by bullets or fragments, police said at the scene.

Police that night said the shooting was prompted by words between the "intended victim" and perpetrators.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-28/120772097181960.xml&coll=1

No charges are filed in Carnival shooting
Five people injured after Endymion
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
By Laura Maggi

The Orleans Parish district attorney's office last week refused to press forward with attempted murder charges against two teenagers accused of shooting into a crowd of Carnival revelers on Canal Street after the Endymion parade, citing witness problems common in New Orleans criminal cases.

Prosecutors decided against charging Inassio Farria, 17, and Bryson McDonald, 18, because of a "a lack of victim-witness cooperation and other evidentiary issues," Dalton Savwoir, a spokesman for District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson, said Tuesday. Savwoir would not elaborate on the witness problems.

Farria and McDonald were arrested not long after the Feb. 2 shooting at the corner of Canal and Baronne streets, which happened shortly after the Endymion parade had passed. Five people were injured, including an 18-year-old man the New Orleans Police Department has publicly identified as the "intended victim." Three of the other victims, including two women from out of state, were hit in their legs. Another man was struck in the elbow.

Well, that should boost tourism.

But no, the people of New Orleans have no collective right to security or to the development of their community. Hell, those firearms might have been unconstitutionally confiscated during the Katrina disaster, and where would New Orleans be now??

[bossy22]

2. what the

hell does this statement have to do about the topic

"But no, the people of New Orleans have no collective right to security or to the development of their community. Hell, those firearms might have been unconstitutionally confiscated during the Katrina disaster, and where would New Orleans be now??"

...wait...i get it, its just one of your little jabs you take. It's actually funny now

[iverglas]

3. always glad to help

Just some more food for thought for you.


No one was killed in this incident. So it won't be making it into any of those homicide statistics that some think are the bestest way of measuring the harm done with firearms.

What did happen was that a public event that is of considerable importance to the economic and social welfare of this community was disrupted by a shooting. In that shooting, several people who were visitors to the area, attracted by events like the one then taking place, were victims. They weren't seriously injured. But their experience of visiting this community now consists of getting shot. Their experience is widely reported to the public outside the community, and is read by other potential visitors to the area. We are left to imagine how many might be deterred from visiting New Orleans in future when they learn that several tourists have been shot at a public, tourist-oriented event.

Meanwhile, the people who live in the community have had the same experience: attendance at a public event of considerable social and economic importance to their community involves the risk of getting shot.

How exactly do we measure the negative impact of an event like this on the welfare of a community and the people who live in it? People who don't feel safe attending public events may stop doing it. People who don't feel safe visiting a community and taking part in public events may decide not to go there. New Orleans is an example of a community that has a rather considerable need for public events like this, both for its own residents' direct benefit and for the economic benefits it brings to the community via tourism.

So is firearm crime/violence the effect, or the cause, of underdevelopment?

Undoubtedly it's an effect. Equally undoubtedly it's a cause.

[gorfle]

18. In other words, you have no data.

No one was killed in this incident. So it won't be making it into any of those homicide statistics that some think are the bestest way of measuring the harm done with firearms.

We are left to imagine how many might be deterred from visiting New Orleans in future when they learn that several tourists have been shot at a public, tourist-oriented event.

You're right, we are left to imagine it, without any supporting data.

No one has claimed, Iverglas, that the available homicide data is the "bestest" way of measuring the harm done with firearms.

It demonstrates exactly what it demonstrates - the number of people killed and by what sort of weapon. From this we can make inferences about what kinds of weapons are routinely used for murder. The data has been commonly used to show that rifles are hardly ever used to commit murder, as a counter against the clamor to ban assault rifles.

It seems likely that firearm usage statistics for crimes other than murder track pretty closely to murder usages, and some of the other data provided on this form recently supports that conclusion - handguns are still the preferred weapon for armed criminals, and larger handguns are preferred over smaller ones.

[limit18]

4. America's Stabbing Gallery 4-10-08

TX: Texan Arrested in Ozarks for Stabbing Death
PA: Buffalo police chief's relative held in Pa. stabbing death
CO: Stabbing leaves one dead
NJ: Man is charged in stabbing death of Rutgers-Camden student
MO: Man charged in stabbing death
MD: Arrest Made in Parkdale High Stabbing Death
FL: Card game ends in stabbing death
PA: Son charged with father's stabbing death
AL: Police investigate stabbing death
KS: Homeless man charged in stabbing death
***

Damn:


SOURCE: meatmyhouse.com

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

5. Thoughts and Prayers to the victims and the families of the lost.

I sincerely hope the criminals who committed most of these acts are tried to the full extent of the law.

David

[iverglas]

7. wwjd?

Matthew 6:5 - 7

5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Corinthians, 1.13:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

10. That's one of my favorite verses.

Corinthians 1:13 that is. I agree with you people shouldn't pray for show. I wouldn't say that telling someone you are praying for them is what is referred to in these verses. Be assured I prayed for the victims and families privately. Since no one here knows who I am then it would be kind of hard to gain some reward. I didn't know you were such a biblical scholar Iverglas. Always with the surprises.

David

[iverglas]

11. I'm an amazement

Taught Sunday School in my young youth. My grandfather had a lifelong subscription to The Upper Room, which takes its name from the place where Jesus advised praying, as I recall.


I would just point out that since the families of the victims are not reading this forum, you aren't actually telling anyone you are praying for him/her.

And just a word of caution. While I understand that most people who might tell me they are praying for me probably mean well, it nonetheless makes me preyed upon. No way of knowing how a stranger feels about unsolicited praying.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

16. Makes you preyed upon?

Do you mean feel preyed upon or do you mean prayed upon? There is no way to know how a stranger feels about unsolicited praying, that's why I don't worry about it. Also no way to know how a stranger feels about being smiled at, that's why I smile at almost everyone and don't worry about it. If someone has a problem with me I expect them to be big enough to either get over it or tell me it bothers them, that seems to work out about 99% of the time.

David

[iverglas]

21. Preyed upon.

I understand that you really don't get the concept of people being used as means for other people's ends.

I am an atheist. I do not need praying for. (Obviously, nobody needs praying for.) When someone decides to pray for me, when I have not asked to be prayed for or given any indication that I would like to be prayed for, I am being treated like an object. Someone is using me for some purpose that has nothing to do with me. I am the object of someone else's actions. I and my life are being used as a means for whatever end they think is achieved by praying for someone.

It just isn't polite. It isn't a decent way of treating other people.

If someone has a problem with me I expect them to be big enough to either get over it or tell me it bothers them

Well, that's dandy. If someone has a problem with something YOU do that involves them, they can either "get over it" or put themselves in the position of doing something that they might reasonably expect will offend you -- people who make a habit of praying for other people unsolicited do tend to be the kind of people who get offended when someone expresses disagreement with their religious beliefs and practices.

I don't make a practice of doing things to other people that they may not like and then telling them to "get over it" if they don't like it. I just think it's wise to determine whether someone will appreciate what I'm doing to them before I do it -- and then not do it, if they won't appreciate it.

And you may be a big easy-going happy fellow who doesn't get offended if someone says "please do not pray for me; I don't appreciate it". You know very well that this is not how large numbers of people who make a practice of praying for other people react to such requests. So the person who was being exploited in the first place, by being prayed for against his/her will, is then in the position of being represented as the person with the problem, the person with no respect for other people's religion, the militant atheist who wants to kill Christmas, etc. etc.

It's all really much simpler than you present it. If one is thinking of doing something that involves someone else and that the someone else may not appreciate it, and if one simply has no reason for doing it other than that one feels like it, don't do it. Don't just go ahead and do it and put the onus of kicking up a stink about it on the other person once you've done it.

What I'm saying should be obvious just from this. I'm the one kicking up the stink because of your unsolicited praying. I doubt that any of the people you were doing it for would object, and I'm not claiming to speak for any of them. But by pointing out the problem with it in principle, I'm the one being nasty about somebody just doing a nice thing. See what I mean?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

23. I am a very easy going guy.

If I told somebody I was praying for them and they told me they didn't appreciate it and ask me to stop. Then I would apologize for offending them and respect their wishes. I really don't concern myself with trying to analyze how people may react to something I might say. I don't tell dirty jokes, I don't use racial slurs and it is very rare that I offend anyone, except my wife, but that's probably a given. I appreciate your point, but I don't feel that telling someone you would pray for them is exploiting them in any way. It is an extremely common way to cosole someone who has suffered a loss in the southeastern United States. I'm not a complete monster though, when I was in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Canada, etc. I didn't tell people I was praying for them very often, I do have some cultural awareness and try to be perceptive to others people concerns.

David

[iverglas]

24. interesting

when I was in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Canada, etc. I didn't tell people I was praying for them very often

You must be familiar with the figures up here. ;)

One in five Canadians reports having "no religion" in the most recent census stats.
(Twice the US figure.)

And one in five Canadians was born outside Canada.
(Twice the US figure.)
-- many were born in the US or the UK or such, but in other cases foreign birth could well be an indication of different religious beliefs / non-beliefs. BC has the highest proportion of non-believers -- probably a reflection of both relatively high native-born social-progressive levels and high immigrant levels.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

25. I saw some fine figures last time I was up there skiing.

Just kidding, well not really but you know what I mean. I actually didn't know about those numbers, certain places just seem more secular so to speak than others. Kind of like New Yorkers telling you that they would have a good thought for you. I'm not sure what that means exactly, probably the same thing just less overtly religious.


David

[spoony]

27. Poor you.

First you attack someone for offering condolences. (Surely you're not one of those hypocrites who've criticised "gun nuts" for not expressing sympathy, then, right?) Then you twist it back to something about yourself, something you're remarkably adept at, and whinge that someone praying for you makes you "preyed upon." Is anyone supposed to take you seriously anymore?

[iverglas]

28. taking someone seriously

I dunno, but myself, people who post nothing but posts about other people tend not to look like matter for taking seriously.

(Surely you're not one of those hypocrites who've criticised "gun nuts" for not expressing sympathy, then, right?)

That could be very difficult to answer. In fact, the answer could be Muuuu. Are you one of fruitcakes that have dogfood in them?

I know what *I* haven't done, but unless I know whether the class you allege in the premise of your question actually exists, I can't actually know whether I'm one of them or not. Since, if they don't exist, trying to figure out whether I'm one of them could be rather time-consuming.

As in: stopped beating your dog yet?

Then you twist it back to something about yourself, something you're remarkably adept at, and whinge that someone praying for you makes you "preyed upon."

Actually, I'm a mere tiny example here, you see. The point is that many people feel that way. I'm just the living proof, is all.

We all gotta be living proof of something, eh? You testify for your group -- as you do so consummately -- and I'll testify for mine.

[virginia mountainman]

6. America's Police misbehavior gallery...

Source, various n Newspapers, with a quite a bit more info the GoonGuys DARE post....

Remember, according to Goon Guys the ONLY legitimate users of guns are the police and governments...


"The Forest Park police officer charged with rape, sodomy and sexual assault has been fired.
Officer Kenneth Schmidt, 38, is locked up in the Clayton County jail and is being held without bond."

"According to arrest warrants, Schmidt stopped a woman on traffic violations and had her car towed. But, instead of driving her home, police say he drove her shopping center and, in the locked police car, forced himself on her."

http://wsbradio.com/news/040808policerape.html


A former state trooper has pleaded guilty to charges he tipped off pimps who ran a prostitution ring.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Kevin Coleman Sr., 42, of Harrisburg, pleaded guilty to obstructing and impeding justice.

Coleman was accused of disclosing information about police investigations in exchange for money and sex.

http://www.wgal.com/news/15824123/detail.html

No evidence to charge Sheriff's daughter

"Vance County District Attorney Sam Currin said Wednesday there is 'no proof' to charge the daughter of Sheriff Peter White with drunken driving, although he questions how a traffic stop last month was handled." ...

"When the deputy realized the SUV driver was Shahita White, 34, he called Vance County dispatchers to report the incident, telling them Shahita White was 'blistered.' A dispatcher then called the sheriff to notify him his daughter had been charged with reckless driving, and the sheriff went to the scene to pick her up. The dispatcher told White that his daughter was '55,' using a police radio-code shorthand for an intoxicated driver." ...

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2704535/


"A Minnesota sheriff's deputy is in trouble, accused of spending large chunks of his shifts at home."

"... Joseph Dahl's bosses ... say they got suspicious when a GPS tracker in his squad kept getting turned off. He told them that he was having problems with the system but another deputy who used Dahl's squad car didn't notice any problems."

"So an investigator from a neighboring county secretly installed another GPS unit into Dahl's squad car. The investigator compared those GPS records to Dahl's daily log. ... the new GPS unit caught Dahl spending hours at home when he said he was patrolling county roads."

http://wcco.com/crime/deputy.shift.home.2.694434.html

"City police Const. John Couchman has been put on desk duty after charges of uttering death threats were laid against him last Friday ..."

"City police did not tell the public his name, even though the case is before the open court system, because the 50-year-old police officer is being treated like any other person charged in a domestic case ..."

"It is city police policy to tell the public it's a domestic case but not release the name of the accused because it might identify the complainant."

"Couchman was charged with three counts of uttering death threats Friday and taken into custody."

"He is not being suspended but will be put on administrative duty until the matter is resolved ..." ...

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=976498

"Results of a grand jury investigation released Monday show that an Orange County sheriff's deputy watched TV and sent text messages while jail inmates beat a fellow prisoner to death."

"The findings were compiled in a report released by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who told reporters the jail probe found 'institutionalized laziness.' He has said, however, that the grand jury could not find criminal negligence among jail staff." ...

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VT7RKO0&show_article=1

"Elgin police Officer Christopher Darr, 32, is charged with two counts of aggravated battery after an investigation of his off-duty conduct immediately after a New Year's Eve brawl at a city hotel. After surrendering, Darr was booked, paid $500 bond and was released about an hour later, Gengler said."

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/884978,3_1_EL09_A1DARR_S1.article

[iverglas]

8. wwas?

According to Goon Guys the ONLY legitimate users of guns are the police and governments...
Therefore, all uses of firearms by police and governments are legitimate.


Hell, even if somebody did say the first, how stupid would s/he have to be to believe that the second followed logically from it?


Aristotle is mortal.
Therefore all mortals are Aristotle.



What would Aristotle say??


I think Plato, writing Socrates' words, would say:

These and other kindred characteristics are proper to democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

[liberal4truth]

12. What a load! I have ben advocating for police disarmament for years.

Only the beat cops on duty need firearms. Period.

We don't need crime scene investigators, and other non-street level investigation officers armed.

The same go for the beat officers. They need to be held to the same standards of gun-legislation that everyone else is held to.

No exceptions allowed, and no police issued weapons allowed to be taken home, at the end of the shift.

Dont'like it, don't join up with the police force. Period !

Thats how its done in other countries that have MUCH less gun-violence.

[bossy22]

14. and countries such as brazil

which have alot more gun violence

but if i was to be disarmed i think the normal beat officer should be disarmed too- do it like the UK does it- have a firearm squad on standby all the time


but it won't ever happen- the cops freaked out when they had that domestic violence gun ban- and didnt make an exception to police officers....IACP almost had a heart attack

[beevul]

9. Perspective 4-10-08

200+ million guns owned by 80+ million people were not involved in the killing of anyone today.


200+ million guns


80+ million gun owners


13,000 firearm homicides anually in the US.

[liberal4truth]

13. "200+ million guns owned by 80+ million people "? Prove it, pal.

Guns are misused every day of the week in the USA, where we have the highest gun-homicide rate of all developed western countries.

There is NO such thing as a typical "law-abiding" gun owner as we read about in the news every day, while people die in a blood-feast of gun violence, all brought to us by those nice folks at the NRA.

[bossy22]

15. yes there are

its just not news worthy- how interesting would the news be if it only reported what hadn't happened.

there is a thing as a typical law abiding gun owner- in fact over 99.9% of gun owners will not break the law this year- im one of them

Thats like saying there is no such thing as a "safe driver" because we have so many accidents on the road.

"There is NO such thing as a typical "law-abiding" gun owner as we read about in the news every day, while people die in a blood-feast of gun violence, all brought to us by those nice folks at the NRA."
the NRA doesnt pass legislation- the legislature does.

"where we have the highest gun-homicide rate of all developed western countries."
we've held that title for about 100 years, when gun laws were non-existant in western europe.

[gorfle]

19. What a crock.

"200+ million guns owned by 80+ million people "? Prove it, pal.

Prove it to yourself.

Go Google "number of firearms in united states"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=number+of+firearms+in+the+united+states&btnG=Google+Search

Go Google "number of firearm owners in united states"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=number+of+firearm+owners+in+the+united+states&btnG=Search

It is largely agreed that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 million firearms in the United States owned by some 40-80 million people.

Guns are misused every day of the week in the USA, where we have the highest gun-homicide rate of all developed western countries.

The gun homicide rate is meaningless without taking into consideration the total number of firearm owners. I would imagine the rate of firearm ownership is also the highest in the United States compared to other developed western countries. It is only logical that with a higher rate of firearm ownership we would have a higher rate of firearm-related crime.

And yet, despite some 40-80 million firearm owners, only about 2-3% of them commit crimes with their firearms each year.

There is NO such thing as a typical "law-abiding" gun owner as we read about in the news every day, while people die in a blood-feast of gun violence, all brought to us by those nice folks at the NRA.

I've owned firearms for over 25 years. I've committed a crime more serious than an "Improper Left-Hand Turn". I've certainly never commited a crime with a firearm. I am the typical law-abiding gun owner. Every year there are at least 38,800,000 other people just like me who own firearms.

[DonP]

20. Please don't interrupt a good emotional outburst with facts

They are on a solid roll denying how many guns or gun owners without even bothering to check the facts first.

Knowing how rare gun misues really is is irrelevant to folks that think they can legislate them and therefore gun crime all out of existence.

It reminds me of the Family Guy YK2000 episode where Peter Griffin decides that "New Quahog" needs guns to defend themselves and melts down the irrigation pipes to manufacture guns. The other citizens decide he's a dangerous nutcase and throw him and the family out of town and burn all the guns. Then as the guns are burning a huge bunch of mutant Stewie clones attack and strangle all the town's people. As one guys is being strangled he notes, "is this ironic or were we just stupid?"

My vote is for stupid.

[SteveM]

22. Face it, you have a genuine hatred for tens of millions of gun-owners. Right?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

26. Surely you are joking.

You wrote, "There is NO such thing as a typical "law-abiding" gun owner as we read about in the news every day, while people die in a blood-feast of gun violence, all brought to us by those nice folks at the NRA." Please tell me this is some attempt at sarcasm. I currently own 7 firearms. Not a single crime has been committed with any of them. They are secure yet, ready for use if the need arises. Please feel free to inform me on how I'm not abiding by the law.

David

[OldWorldDem]

29. Let's Ban Knives

VA: Portsmouth police investigate overnight knifing
NJ: One killed, one injured in Camden knifing
LA: The Orleans Parish district attorney's office last week refused to press forward with attempted murder charges against two teenagers accused of knifing a crowd of Carnival revelers on Canal Street
AZ: Suspect named in Glendale knifing
NY: knifing victim critically wounded
AZ: Woman wounded in drive-by knifing
NY: Putnam Lake man pleads not guilty in mistaken burglar knifing
CA: Cops ID victim of knifing near mall
MN: Royalton man pleads guilty to misdemeanor in friend's knifing death
SC: Man charged with murder in knifing
***

Sigh....lence.


Banning an Object does not change Behavior.

[gorfle]

17. 10 bad gun owners, 79,999,990 or so others did nothing bad.

Yup, 10 bad people did bad things with guns.

The other 79,999,990 or so firearm owners, however, did not.