GUNS IN THE NEWS--July 8. 2004

[MrBenchley]

As CO Liberal sez:
Please try to adhere to the following voluntary guidelines, in order that we can have an orderly discussion of gun-related news topics:
1 - Feel free to add any CURRENT stories to this thread by replying to this message. In order to be considered current, stories should have been originally posted on the Internet within the previous 24 hours, or provide follow-up to a story that was previously posted on the J/PS board. EXCEPTION: On Mondays (since many people do not log in to DU over the weekend), stories can be posted from Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.
2 - Both pro-gun and anti-gun stories, editorials, and press releases are welcome in this thread, as long as they're current. Please do not post links to items from a few years back that support your position.
3 - Bear in mind that any links to extremely right-wing sites (such as Newsmax, CNS, or the Washington Times) or intentionally pro-gun or pro-control sites (such as the NRA or the Brady Campaign) are not considered reliable sources by many DU-ers. If at all possible, try to find a link for your story from a more mainstream source, such as a general-circulation newspaper or magazine site. If you choose to use a slanted site, be prepared for any negative feedback you may receive.
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5 - Do not change story titles. In other words, if the Oskosh Gazette's web site runs a story titled "Two Killed in Holdup", the title of your message should read "Two Killed in Holdup". Don't change it to "Gun Owner Kills Two People", or anything else that changes the meaning of the story.
6 - If it's not clear from the title where the story occurred, add the city, state, or country in parentheses after the title.
7 - The person adding a news story to the "GITN" thread is allowed (and encouraged) to comment on that story, indicating their position on the topic being discussed. These comments can appear either at the beginning or end of the post; if possible, place comments in a different typeface so readers can separate the comments from the story. Others who wish to comment on a posted story can do so by replying to that story; this allows other readers to follow the comments by scrolling through the subthread.
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9 - If you object to these guidelines (or the basic concept of the "Guns In The News" thread), do everyone else a favor and go to another thread.

[MrBenchley]

1. Shots Fired After Man With Gun Enters Hillsboro Home (OR)

"The incident happen Wednesday afternoon at a home at Jackson School Road and Northwest Sunrise Lane.
The man was reportedly seen with a gun as he walked down the street prior to entering the house.
Life flight was called to the scene and at least one person was transported to Legacy Emanuel Hospital. "

http://www.koin.com/webnews/20042/20040707_shooting.shtml

[MrBenchley]

2. Gun Group Calls Kerry and Edwards 'Birds of a Feather' (Puke alert!)

Too too funny.....the GOA, headed by a racist so virulent that even Pat Buchanan had to run away from him in public, just hates hates hates our Democratic ticket.

"Gun Owners of America says Sen. John Edwards is a "virtual clone" of Sen. John F. Kerry when it comes to issues of concern to gun owners.
"In fact, it should come as no surprise that Kerry would pick another gun-grabbing senator like himself in his run for the Oval Office," said Gun Owners of America in a press release.
GOA Communications Director Erich Pratt noted that presidential candidates often pick running mates to help 'balance' the ticket.
"But voters should beware," Pratt added. "The likely democratic ticket this November will have no balance whatsoever when it comes to freedom issues like the Second Amendment."
Both Kerry and Edwards have an "F" rating from GOA, which means "this ticket is tilting full to the left," Pratt said. "

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200407%5CPOL20040707e.html

Of course, the GOA also didn't see anything wrong with white supremacist groups, and has held meetings with them.

But he's right...there's no "balance." For example, there's no balance on bigotry...neither candidate is racist, unlike GOA executive director Larry Pratt. For that matter, neither John is as stupid and dishonest as anybody in the Pratt family.

[CO Liberal]

3. The GOA Actually Serves a Purpose

The make the Nuts Ruining America look good by comparison.....

[MrBenchley]

4. Two dandy bunches of whackjobs...

One far far right, and the other far around the bend....

[MrBenchley]

5. Federal raid nets guns, drugs, and dogs in Hardeman (TN)

""I knew something was going on," said one resident. That something was big. Friday, federal and local officers raided a house and arrested its owner, Albert Smith. He was served with a federal indictment for drug sales.
When they showed up here, Smith drew a gun and they had to disarm him. In back, they found what some say is the largest pit bull fighting ring in the state of Tennessee. A judge has ordered that 42 dogs found here be put down. And they found hundreds of grams of crack cocaine, large amounts of marijuana, and weapons. "

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=2011511

[TX-RAT]

7. Once again we see Pit bulls and drugs in the same story.

[gatlingforme]

23. funny how that goes. n/t

[MrBenchley]

6. Police: Dyer was barred from having guns (ME)

"BANGOR (AP) -- Police say a Lee man, who is charged in the shooting death of his wife, was a convicted felon and had been prohibited from possessing firearms.
Maine State Police Detective Brian Strout says there was a history of domestic violence between 50-year-old Carl Dyer and his wife, 52-year-old Rosemarie Dyer. Family members said the couple had been married for 11 years.
Rosemarie Dyer died this weekend at Eastern Maine Medical Center, two days after she was shot in the leg with a shotgun."

http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=1998922&nav=7k6rOX5V

Fortunately, thanks to the GOP and the corrupt gun industry, he could have strolled into any gun show in Maine and bought his gun without a background check.


"The gun show loophole refers to the ability of participants at gun shows to sell firearms without conducting the background checks that licensed gun dealers are required to make under the Brady Law. An unlicensed seller is anyone who does not have a federal firearms license or does not sell for business. There is no limit on the number of guns an unlicensed seller may sell.
The 32 states that have failed to close the gun show loophole are:  Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming."

http://w3.agsfoundation.com/press_041901.html

[NorthernSpy]

10. in point of fact...

Fortunately, thanks to the GOP and the corrupt gun industry, he could have strolled into any gun show in Maine and bought his gun without a background check.


Er.. Maine actually has a Democratic legislature and a Democratic governor. But that is somewhat beside the point, since anyone who really wants to get a gun will do so, gun show loophole, or no gun show loophhole. I mean, it's not as though ex-felons never acquire guns through theft, classified ads, blackmarket dealers, or any other anything else -- right?

And, all this may well be doubly beside the point; exactly how Dyer obtained the gun has not yet been reported.


Mary

[MrBenchley]

11. Who do you think you're kidding?

Gee, are you telling us that the GOP would support closing the gun show loophole?

Why, here's the Freepers pissing and moaning about a Democrat in Maine trying to close the loophole...

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a896a565f89.htm

And here's an attempt last fall by Democrats...

http://www.centralmaine.com/news/local/164990.shtml

"anyone who really wants to get a gun will do so"
No doubt the gun fairy will leave them under a cabbage leaf...So why not let a bunch of scumbags at a gun show cash in, eh?

"exactly how Dyer obtained the gun has not yet been reported."
Too TOO sick to be funny....so we have to wait until we can actually point to which homicidal fuckwit bought his gun at a gun show BEFORE we institute back ground checks?

[NorthernSpy]

14. not kidding

Gee, are you telling us that the GOP would support closing the gun show loophole?

No. I will tell you, however, that Democrats who get sucked into trying to impose alien ideas like gun control on states like Maine risk handing the Repukes needless victories. With 80% of the state's population in favor of universal healthcare, Maine has passed THE most progressive health insurance legislation in the country. Vermont, which doesn't require any kind of license for concealed carry, sends socialists to Congress. Ramming gun control down our throats would likely put in jeopardy the broadly progressive consensus that makes such things possible. As ME and VT have some of the lowest crime rates in America, there is NO grassroots support for gun control in Northern New England.

Really, all those gun controllers from New York, and New Jersey, and California have absolutely NOTHING to teach us up here. Their societies are an utter mess. They ought to get their own houses in order before they dare presume to second-guess us on this issue, or any issue.

People don't like to be patronized. The condescending attitudes of the gun control supporters -- who, from our point of view, are ALWAYS people from away, and usually rich ones at that -- are profoundly alienating. Absent a candidate willing to fight for their interests, working class people will tend to vote for the faction that at least pretends to respect their ways and mores. That's how Republicans manage to win elections in spite of the trainwrecks they cause.


Why, here's the Freepers pissing and moaning about a Democrat in Maine trying to close the loophole...

Yes, and Neria Douglass' proposal went nowhere in a Democratic controlled legislature. She's from Massachusetts. Like a lot of people, she doesn't understand that Maine is different.


Mary

[MrBenchley]

15. Too TOO funny

"alien ideas like gun control on states like Maine"
Sure doesn't seem like an "alien" idea to many people in Maine...

http://portlandme.about.com/library/weekly/aa011500a.htm

http://www.mcahv.org/
Funny the folks in Maine don't seem all het up about the NRA sticking its beak in Maine's affairs...or with the freepers from all over th ecountry piping up.


"People don't like to be patronized."
They like getting shot a shitload less.

"Maine has passed THE most progressive health insurance legislation in the country. "
Gee, and what kind of overlap between those progressives and the gun industry and its apologists is there? I'd be willing to bet NONE.

"Vermont, which doesn't require any kind of license for concealed carry, sends socialists to Congress."
Bernie Sanders...wonder where he stands on gun control? Oh yeah, he's for it...including for closing the gun show loophole.

[iverglas]

20. ah, one's own house

The actual issue raised by MrBenchley was the "gun show loophole" -- the ability of anyone to buy a firearm from a private vendor at a gun show (or anywhere else, in fact) without having to meet the requirements that are verified by a background check.

You've kind of broadened this out to "gun control". Let's stick with the gun show loophole.

Really, all those gun controllers from New York, and New Jersey, and California have absolutely NOTHING to teach us up here. Their societies are an utter mess. They ought to get their own houses in order before they dare presume to second-guess us on this issue, or any issue.

I really just can't believe that you would be unaware of how unregulated private sales of firearms in neighbouring states impact the firearms violence situations in the states you speak of. Surely you've seen the facts and figures I've provided showing the major component of "crime guns" in Toronto that were smuggled into Canada from the US, and have in many instances been traced to gun show sales.

I also just really can't believe that after extolling the particularities of the states you claim need no gun control, you go on to compare them to states like New York, New Jersey and California -- which are essentially completely separate societies from places like Maine and Vermont -- and pronounce them a "mess".

Unless eliminating all firearms control measures in those states would clean up the mess, what's yer point? They're different. The differences don't mean that firearms control measures there are bad -- or that more stringent firearms control measures in Maine and Vermont would be bad.

Are Maine voters really so selfish that they would vote down a law to require that purchasers of firearms from private vendors at gun shows pass the same background checks as purchasers of firearms from gun stores -- an obvious purpose and effect of which would be to keep firearms out of the hands of some people who use them to cause death and injury in places like New York and New Jersey and California? What consensus can be called "broadly progressive" when it excludes anything but the self-interest of the members of that consensus?

How is allowing criminals to acquire firearms this easily, often for transport to other communities (or another country) where they are used in crime and violence, "progressive"? How does taking action to prohibit it not "respect <the> ways and mores" of these simple decent working folk you speak of?

I don't get it.

[MrBenchley]

22. Guess nosy parkers from a Washington right wing lobbying group

aren't included in this anti-"alien" frenzy that seems to grip the good folks of the Pine Tree State...

http://www.nraila.org/CurrentLegislation/read.aspx?ID=1055

http://nrawinningteam.com/states/me.html

[MrBenchley]

8. Sunsites man may have been killed by gunshot (AZ)

"A single gunshot to the head may have killed 20-year-old Derek Edward Miller of Peoria, whose charred remains were found in a Sunsites home.
His body was discovered on Friday, May 14, in the charred remains of a Sunsites home, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Department.
An investigation continues, pending completion of additional toxicology reports by the Cochise County Medical Examiner, she said.
Jesse James Miller, 18, of Cochise, was arrested May 30, by the San Juan County, N.M. Sheriff's Office, after Cochise deputies gave them a location where the suspect was staying."

http://www.willcoxrangenews.com/articles/2004/07/07/news/news3.txt

[MrBenchley]

9. Early morning shooting in Colorado Springs (CO)

"A Colorado Springs man is dead following an officer involved shooting.
Around 1:15 on Thursday morning police responded to a disturbance call at the 7-11 parking lot at Union and Fountain.  Investigators said a struggle ensued when one of the individuals in the car pointed a handgun at the officers.  An officer then fired his weapon hitting the suspect. "

http://www.koaa.com/news/view.asp?ID=2446

[MrBenchley]

12. Rent-A-Wreck president indicted on assault charge (MD)

Another "law-abiding responsible gun owner"....

"An Owings Mills businessman has been indicted on a charge of first-degree assault in an incident last month, court records show.
Kenneth Lester Blum Jr., president of the Rent-A-Wreck car rental company, is also charged in the indictment, issued Tuesday by a Baltimore County grand jury, with the use of a handgun in the commission of a felony and the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, according to documents filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court. "

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.blum08jul08,0,2223577.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

[MrBenchley]

13. Lansing man charged with 18 felonies in nonfatal shootings along U.S. 127

Think how often do we hear our "pro gun democrats" claim they need their popguns for the glorious revolution to come...

"ST. JOHNS, Mich. (AP) -- A man authorities say targeted at least eight drivers with a shotgun along U.S. 127 has been charged with 18 felonies.
One injury was reported in the shootings, which occurred late Tuesday. A 27-year-old Durand woman was shot in the hand as she drove north on the highway near Lake Lansing Road, Lansing Township Police Chief Kay Hoffman told the Lansing State Journal.
Daniel Lynn Freshney, 38, of Lansing was arraigned Wednesday in Clinton County District Court on 18 felonies. His bond was set at $750,000.
At his arraignment, Freshney said he believed the city was "under invasion" and that he had to flee with his son. He said he had not been taking his medication and was trying to reach his psychiatrist. The child is now in the care of his mother, Freshney's ex-wife. "

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw100699_20040708.htm

[MrBenchley]

16. Man Accused of Shooting Spree Makes First Court Appearance (AL)

"Corrandiz Cole made his first court appearance Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
He is charged with murder, attempted murder and assault. Police say Cole walked into a gas station back in May and used a shotgun to kill a clerk.
Authorities say he then drove down the road and shot 3 people at a nearby hair salon. "

http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=2012834

[MrBenchley]

17. Police Shoot Gun-Wielding Man Who Just Lost Job (OR)

"HILLSBORO, Ore. -- Hillsboro police shot and injured a man Wednesday afternoon after he refused to drop his weapon.
Neighbors on Northeast Sunrise Lane spotted the man, described as angry and agitated, with a shotgun.
Police were called about 4 p.m. and confronted the man, whose name was not immediately released.
"I heard a police officer shout, 'Put the gun down or I'll have to shoot.' Then I called the dog in and started back in and I heard two shots fired," witness Greg Boulton told KOIN 6 News.
The man reportedly just lost his job. Prior to Wednesday's shooting, police say he began ramming cars at his former work, and he allegedly drove into his former boss, injuring his leg. "

http://www.koin.com/webnews/20042/20040708_shooting.shtml

[MrBenchley]

18. Double Shooting in Norristown (PA)

"Police say 4 or 5 men tried to rob another group of men in the 700 block of West Lafayette Street.
Two people were shot, a third was pistol-whipped.
Fifty bags of crack and a handgun were recovered at the scene. "

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/07082004_nw_norristownshooting.html

[MrBenchley]

19. Shooting accident (ND)

"Authorities say a 13-year-old boy who was injured in an accidental shooting northeast of Dunseith over the weekend will recover. The boy was shot in the armpit while unloading a .22-caliber pistol. He was in a home with a 15-year-old boy when the incident happened."

http://www.kxma.com/news/local.asp?ID=4049

[MrBenchley]

21. Fatal shooting in Albany (NY)

"A man was killed during a shooting near the Twilight Lounge on Green Street in Albany early Thursday morning.
Police said several witnesses have identified the man they have in custody as the person responsible for the shooting. Police expect to charge that man and arraign him sometime Thursday afternoon.
Police found the suspect at the Greyhound Bus Station in Albany. They received a tip from an employee working there. "

http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/Default.asp?ArID=82967&SecID=33