Another Pregnant Woman Killed

[mikeb302000]

http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/UPDATE-4-Officials-rule-shooting-a-homicide/V-x3lUhxl0aMfCkiJdDgug.cspx">News 21 reports

A Lancaster County man is facing two counts of homicide in the shooting death of his pregnant girlfriend.

Matthew Becker, 22, of Rapho Township, is charged with shooting Allison Walsh, 21, while she laid sleeping in bed inside of Becker's parents' home last Friday, August 12.

Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman told CBS 21 News that Becker gave police several different explanations of what exactly happened, and that they all were meant to make the shooting appear to be an accident.

Stedman said that in each of the stories Becker admitted to standing over Walsh, and handling a .22 caliber pistol he had just purchased that night.

I've always pointed out that generally speaking http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2009/07/guns-and-women.html">guns are bad news for women, but lately it's seems to be worsening. In June, Dog Gone reported on http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2011/06/pregnant-woman-latest-victim-of-mn-gun.html">a pregnant woman in MN who was shot by her boyfriend. A couple months before that we saw http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2011/04/lawful-gun-owner-gone-wild.html">a pregnant woman, this one in Montgomery County PA, killed.

In today's story, as well as the Montgomery County one, the point was made that the murder weapons were bought quite recently, I suppose inferring that waiting periods might have helped.

I'm not sure it's that simple. I believe nothing short of a comprehensive and properly enforced regimen of gun control legislation will make a difference. This is something we've never tried, so the tedious rebuttals from the gun crown in which they cry, "what about Chicago and DC?" are meaningless.

The background check requirement needs to be tightened up as far as mental health screening goes. Domestic violence against women needs to be taken more seriously. Angry men who feel emasculated because of the economy, or whatever else their problem is, should not be so easily buying guns.

http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/">(cross posted at Mikeb302000)

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[whathehell]

6. Ugly..

Even with the sarcasm sign.

[LAGC]

2. It's already against the law for someone convicted of domestic violence to buy a gun.

What do you propose? Make it double-illegal?

You post these anecdotal accounts, yet ignore the fact that ALL VIOLENCE IS DOWN in the last couple decades, even with millions more guns on the streets.

[Kennah]

3. Give him double secret probation

[whathehell]

9. Maybe castration

would help.

[iverglas]

22. does castration generally

make it difficult to buy a firearm and use it to kill somebody?

[whathehell]

5. "What do you propose? Make it double-illegal"? How about enforcing it the first time?

[mikeb302000]

8. no, not double illegal

I'm saying domestic violence has to be taken more seriously. In somestates the guns are not even removed after a conviction.

General mental health screening for gun-owner licensing would certainly weed out the worst cases.

[whathehell]

10. You are correct....The gun laws here are terrrible. n/t

[Marengo]

13. How about screening for knife owners as well?

http://www.fortbendnow.com/2010/09/27/48048

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Pregnant-Woman-Stabbed-to-Death-While-Daughter-Watched-95007474.html

http://www.wtvr.com/wtvr-pregnant-woman-stabbed-20110309,0,1114038.story


I can post more if you wish. Now not being able to deny that something other than guns may be used to kill pregnant women, will you agree to apply your standard consistantly?

[gejohnston]

16. still a federal crime to possess

but it is not that these states don't take it seriously, how would they know if any guns are there? Since it is a federal law, locals don't really have jurisdiction unless there is a corresponding state law. That is why local police do not bother medical marijuana stores in some states, but the DEA may.

[Kennah]

19. A felony conviction? I call bullshit.

[iverglas]

21. what have I missed?

Is there a news report that this individual had been convicted of "domestic violence"?

If not, and I can't see one, what is your point?

How would be the statement It's already against the law for someone convicted of domestic violence to buy a gun have anything to do with the Lancaster County case?

Do most men who murder their present or former intimate partners have convictions for "domestic violence"?

How about men who intimidate their partners with their guns, who control them that way so they are able to continue abusing them and prevent them from leaving the abusive situations they're in by threatening to kill them, or their children, or their pets, or their family members? Do those men have convictions for "domestic violence"?


What do you propose? Make it double-illegal?

How about make it difficult?

Jeezus, what a concept.

It's illegal to speed. Harm sometimes results when peolple speed. But people do it anyway. Make it double-illegal?

No. Install speed bumps, stop signs, street narrowings, landscaping -- things that MAKE IT DIFFICULT for people to break the law and do things that put other people at risk of harm.

What a concept.

I wonder how it might work when it comes to guns in the hands of men who use them to kill women ...


You post these anecdotal accounts, yet ignore the fact that ALL VIOLENCE IS DOWN in the last couple decades, even with millions more guns on the streets.

And just SCREW the people who didn't beat the odds. The odds were in their favour, so it's their own goddamned fault if they didn't play them right.

[Kennah]

4. Mental health screening for what? All future murders Dept of Pre-Crime says the perp will commit?

[ileus]

15. remember...all gun owners are criminals just waiting to happen.

[Lunabelle]

7. Another woman dead by the hands of her man.

When are women and children going to start mattering in this world?

[SteveM]

18. Perhaps taking action may be of help:

http://articles.latimes.com/1993-03-01/local/me-196_1_female-gun-owners

You can Google up any number of articles, magazines, sites devoted to the topic of women and the use of firearms.

The passing of more laws probably won't do a bit of good. Choosing to take action when government can't help is probably better. After all, isn't feminism about women making their own choice?

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

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[Travis_0004]

11. Also note, the pistol used was a .22

I've never heard people trying to ban .22 pistols, so even with the most restrictive gun control laws, a gun like this would not be banned.

What I don't get, is I assume the woman who was shot had no clue that this might happen. There is a chance he was abusive, and she was afraid to leave him, or call the police, but chances are this was a fine relationship up until he decided to kill her.

What I'm trying to say is, if a woman who lives with him can't see something like this coming, then there is no way any gun control measure or background check is going to predict something like this.

[rrneck]

12. More blog flogging but no answers yet.

Mental health examinations are time consuming, expensive, and subjective. Furthermore people's life circumstances can affect their mental health. Your bullshit idea would have people trotting off to a shrink every six weeks to own a gun.

You need to produce some answers to avoid looking like a fool.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

28. You need to produce some answers to avoid looking like a fool.

too late.

[ileus]

14. No....dating scumbags is generally bad for women.

He killed her in her sleep don't be so dogmatic in your gun hate as to think the gun made him do it. I'll guarantee this female would have died in one of many other ways.

[mikeb302000]

20. no one said the gun made him do it

why do you have such difficulty understanding what I say. It's in black and white and nowhere does it say the gun made him do it.

Gun availability in the US results in more women ending up dead in domestic arguments than need be. Many of those irate boyfriends and ex-husbands could be disqualified and should be. They'd still do violence to the women, in some cases, but it would be less lethal.

Why do you have such a problem with that?

[iverglas]

23. "this 'female' would have died in one of many other ways"

Yup, just another expendable WOMAN.

[ileus]

25. you can't fight the patiarchy...LOL

[spin]

17. I support financing the states and requiring them to update the NICS ...

background check system on a more timely basis.

The NRA, The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and President Obama all support this improvement.

Ref:
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?id=217&issue=018

http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/nics/

http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_011e7118-8951-5206-a878-39bfbc9dc89d.html

[Atypical Liberal]

24. He shot her while she was asleep. Could have stabbed or clubbed her.

First of all, the guy shot her while she was asleep.

He could have just as easily stabbed her through the heart, slit her throat, or bashed in her head with a baseball bat.

I guess maybe he was hoping the "I was cleaning my gun" story would hold up.

Anyway, the guy bought the gun that night. The story did not say where, but I'm assuming he bought it from a gun dealer. If so, he already passed a NICS background check that showed he was not disqualified from owning a firearm.

According to witnesses, the shooter has a history of threatening his girlfriend with weapons.

Yet no one did anything about it.

It's hard to prohibit someone from owning a firearm if everyone ignores the warning signs.

[iverglas]

26. and yet ................ he didn't!

It really is easier, in so many ways, to shoot someone dead than to stab or club someone dead.


Anyway, the guy bought the gun that night. The story did not say where, but I'm assuming he bought it from a gun dealer. If so, he already passed a NICS background check that showed he was not disqualified from owning a firearm.

And your point is??? :eyes:

According to witnesses, the shooter has a history of threatening his girlfriend with weapons.
Yet he was still able to purchase a firearm on the spur of the moment.

Had a licensing system been in effect, he would have had to either find a gun illegally (not likely too difficult for many people) or go through an application process that would, on the Canadian model, have included notice to his partner and an opportunity for her to object.

He had a history of threatening his girlfriend with weapons, but he decided he needed a gun to kill her with.