Gun loving wife threatens soon to be ex-husband, baseball pitcher

[BainsBane]

Last edited Thu Jul 11, 2013, 11:43 PM - Edit history (3)

And she was wearing a bulletproof vest!

The estranged wife of former Major League Baseball pitcher Kris Benson was arrested earlier this week after she allegedly broke into her husband's Georgia home wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with an ammunition belt, knife, Taser, hatchet and a handgun, according to police.

Anna Benson was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and battery with a gun, possession of a firearm in a felony and criminal trespass after she allegedly broke into the home the couple once shared in Smyrna, Ga., Monday. . .

Benson also stated her love of guns in the same interview.

"I have them everywhere, I love them," Benson told Stern. "Kris has a bunch, but all rifles that I don't even know what they are but I prefer my Glock and my .45."

More and video at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/pitcher-kris-bensons-wife-accused-trapping-basement-handgun/story?id=19634294#.Ud9AnvlJPzg

So much for guns keeping him safe at home. Guns are used against the owner or a member of the owners family.

• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check

[petronius]

1. Sensible guy - talked his way out of the room, and then called police from a place

of safety rather than going for a weapon. Glad he's OK...

Where do you read that they were his firearms she was using?

[BainsBane]

2. in the news clip

He told the 911 operator she had gotten into his guns. He was quite calm considering.

[petronius]

8. "...gotten into my house, she's brandishing a gun" is what it sounds like

Later on he describes the handgun as something she had talked about before. I wonder a bit if there were earlier signs of her potential for violence, and maybe a missed opportunity for an order of protection...

(911 operators are pretty amazing; I was getting stressed just listening, and I knew how it turned out. )

[BainsBane]

9. It's somewhere

I didn't make it up.

[petronius]

26. Based on the current information, Mr. Benson was a near victim

of (ex)-intimate-partner violence. There's a fine line between victim-blaming and analysis, but it is useful to examine circumstances and see what can be learned from an event. However, in this case, I really don't think the victim made the error that you suggest, of leaving his guns accessible (which would have been a double error, given that he also apparently has primary custody of their children). Everything I can find suggests that she brought the gun (along with the knife, baton, and taser), and based on his answers to the 911 operator there may not even have been any in the house...

[BainsBane]

29. It turns out I misheard the 911 call

He said "she got into my house." I thought she said "she got into my guns." I edited the OP to reflect the change.

It's a good thing for everyone involved that he was able to remain so calm and call the police.

[galileoreloaded]

3. should read "gun wielding psycho estranged wife cant let go of her pro athlete ex"

she is lucky he didn't shoot her. not sure many would have the restraint.

play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

"she allegedly broke into her husband's Georgia home wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with an ammunition belt, knife, Taser, hatchet and a handgun,"

[Nevernose]

4. Cocaine's a hell of a drug, ain't it? (N/t)

[BainsBane]

5. Did it say she was high?

Wouldn't surprise me.

[Cali_Democrat]

6. No

but it's still a helluva drug.

[BainsBane]

7. Okay, I'll take you word for that

[Nevernose]

11. Yes and no

I was reading between the lines:

"...wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with an ammunition belt, knife, Taser, hatchet and a handgun, according to police. "

Add that to "wealthy wife of professional athlete" and my assumption is "cocaine." Or ninja. On second thought, that's my second guess.

[BainsBane]

25. It certainly is not normal behavior

even for a distraught ex who appears on reality TV.

[ileus]

10. My wife has her own firarms....AR, 642, and MKII

I also bought a stock for one of my 11-48 so she'd have a 20ga to shoot skeet with.

Of course the only one(of her's) that's ever unlocked is her EDC.

[The Straight Story]

12. It mentions suicides. Really odd

Japan has 21.7 per 100k people and the US has 12.0 - and they have much stricter gun laws than here.

Funny how people just love to throw suicides in there and blame guns. US is 34th on this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

Shame that others use suicide to try to bolster their political agenda - especially consider such things occur for a variety of reasons that we should be looking at and working to fix. But that takes real work and isn't some placebo to make people 'feel' better because they think problems will go away with more laws.

Oh...and murder rates....

UNODC murder rates most recent year (full table here)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

[BainsBane]

16. bolster their political agenda

Like entering a thread just to push the gun nut agenda. Who would do that? Oh, you.

[The Straight Story]

18. No, it's called balance. Some people pimp deaths to push their politics using distortions

others like to counter balance with more clear headed facts.

I don't own a gun, not in the NRA, but just like other topics here when I see BS being peddled I like to speak up.

[BainsBane]

20. pimp deaths

that's disgusting. As much as you think they are inconsequential, human life has value. There is no equivalence between life and killing. Guns are designed to kill. To pretend otherwise is nonsense. The fact is you simply do not care. Gun nuts value guns over human life. That's what it comes down to. Pretending otherwise is bullshit.

[The Straight Story]

23. No, it is just you think the causes are guns

When less than 1% of people who own them harm others. You want more laws (instead of putting up more money to enforce the ones we have). I am all for laws that keep guns out of the hands of wackos (and am all for states having background checks).

We have laws against stealing - but people still do it. So we have laws to punish those who misuse tools (like crowbars) and call them burglar tools but we don't look to restrict people from owning them (or pressure cookers).

Most people do no harm with guns. The ones that do, punish them.

We should be addressing the causes - alcohol, greed, poverty, drugs, etc - not the tools.

[BainsBane]

21. Imagine the authors think suicides matter

or those human lives are worth mentioning. Yes, you find that odd. That really says everything.

[The Straight Story]

24. So why does japan have a higher rate if guns are the cause? (nt)

[Art_from_Ark]

27. I have a feeling the actual US suicide rate is probably higher

Given the stigma against suicide in the US, and the reluctance of life insurance companies to pay in the case of a suicide, I don't think the official statistics tell the whole story.

[Sissyk]

13. Sounds like they are hers.

She says he only has rifles and that she loves her glock.

My kinda women except for the psycho part. lol!

[tammywammy]

14. Okay, I've now read a bunch of articles about this and none say it was his gun.

She removed the handgun from her purse.

Filed on Monday, the police report details that Anna said she entered the house through the garage and confronted Kris in the bedroom, hitting a computer monitor with the expandable baton. Kris Benson told police that Anna got the gun out of her purse and said she wanted $30,000.
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/9464114/anna-benson-estranged-wife-kris-benson-arrested-multiple-charges

"At first she said she got the gun out of her purse and that it was in her hand when she confronted him, but she changed her statement and said it wasn't in her hand."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/07/09/anna-benson-arrested/2504295/

Asked if Anna Benson had ever pulled this kind of stunt before, Benson answered, "No she hasn't."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/kris-benson-details-anna-invasion-911-article-1.1394956#ixzz2Yn8M2OnO

They were in the middle of a divorce and she was recently kicked out of the home:

Kris filed for divorce from Anna last year, won custody of the three kids they have together — PJ, 16, Haylee, 12, and Devon — and had just gotten a judge to boot her from their home June 3.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/curves_not_all_that_wicked_v3SL7Bb35qiUkgrbbfka7I

[BainsBane]

19. I must have misunderstood part of the 911 call

He says "she got into my house." I thought he said "she got into my guns."

[pipoman]

15. How about showing us the supporting data

for the motherjones statement..? Like a link to some government statistic showing how many "self-defense in the home" occurs annually..the idiotic link on the mj article goes to "justifiable homicide by private citizen" numbers and some silly soul conflated that, somehow, into "every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home"..complete fabrication that statement is..

"• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home."

[BainsBane]

17. The link is there

So you can explore it yourself. This isn't kindergarten.

[The Straight Story]

22. I went to the link, and found something quite interesting:

It leads to another link. A study. So let's look at it:

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Determine the relative frequency with which guns in the home are used to injure or kill in self-defense, compared with the number of times these weapons are involved in an unintentional injury, suicide attempt, or criminal assault or homicide.

-- Well, I am guessing that such is true since people who own guns tend to keep them in their home (where else would they??). So yes, if someone kills someone with a gun chances are they, at some point, kept them at home. Duh.

RESULTS: During the study interval (12 months in Memphis, 18 months in Seattle, and Galveston) 626 shootings occurred in or around a residence. This total included 54 unintentional shootings, 118 attempted or completed suicides, and 438 assaults/homicides. Thirteen shootings were legally justifiable or an act of self-defense, including three that involved law enforcement officers acting in the line of duty. For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.

Memphis: 652,000 people
Seattle: 621,000 people
Galveston: 48,000

1,321,000 people
avg 88.8 per 100 people total guns (and let's divide by 3 saying avg person owns 3) = 352,266 gun owners

Works out to 0.17% of gun owners (who probably all keep them at home). Which is about the national avg as well (now if we did it by total number of guns, since each of those evil guns is just waiting to shoot someone, that percent drops even further).

[BainsBane]

30. So a statistically insignificant number of victims

Is that your argument? Those people aren't worrying about?

For you this is about guns. For me it's human life. No one ever said the majority of gun owners killed people. Killers, however, use guns as the most efficient method of killing. Guns also kill toddlers, and toddlers kill with guns. But those 100 children killed in the past couple of months isn't a large enough percentage of totals guns to worry you. Evidently, we would have to have hundreds of millions of deaths a year for you to consider it significant. Even then you'd find an excuse why those deaths aren't important. You care a great deal for guns. I instead care about the people who are killed. Everyone makes their choices in life.

[pipoman]

31. Advocating for regulation/legislation based on

anecdotal occurrences over actual statistics is usually a no go..

[BainsBane]

32. Do you know what statistics are?

Because all of those studies provide them. The Straight Story doesn't believe those deaths are meaningful because they don't involve the majority of guns. Do you feel the same way?

If you're interested in actual data, will you call your congressperson and senators to ask them to lift the ban on federally funded research on firearms?

[pipoman]

33. They're statistics all right..

just that they don't mean what you like to pretend they mean..

[BainsBane]

34. I'm not pretending they mean anything other than

Mother Jones says they do. What do you think they mean? How many people have to die before you think it's significant?

[BainsBane]

35. From TSS' post

For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.

That is precisely what Mother Jones says.

[struggle4progress]

28. The course of true love never did run smooth