GUNS IN THE NEWS--August 12, 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:
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[MrBenchley]

1. Police: Man had gun at school (FL)

"LARGO - A 21-year-old former Largo High student was arrested Tuesday on charges that he brought a loaded gun onto the campus.
Luis Garcia was driving his car through the circular driveway outside Largo High about 1:50 p.m., the school's usual dismissal time, and was stopped by the school's resource officer, George Walters. Police said he was driving erratically with his passenger door hanging open.
Walters pulled over Garcia and his passenger, Goran Jankovic, 18, for reckless driving. When Garcia was asked for his vehicle registration, he handed Walters a pack of papers that included a receipt for a gun.
Walters called for additional officers and, amid the congestion of dismissal Tuesday, he and a team of eight Largo police officers searched the car. They uncovered a .38-caliber pistol in the car's glove compartment. The gun was loaded with five bullets. Officers also found a BB gun in the trunk, said Sgt. Stephen Slaughter, school resource officer supervisor for the Largo Police Department."

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/12/Northpinellas/Police__Man_had_gun_a.shtml

[MrBenchley]

2. Fallon man accused of threatening teen with gun (CA)

"Ariel Jeremiah Magana, 21, is accused of pointing a small semi-automatic revolver at a 17-year-old teen during an ongoing dispute. Magana is known as A.J., police said.
The teen went to the Gas Store on West Williams Avenue just after midnight to visit a friend who worked there, Dolan said.
Magana reportedly saw the teen's car parked outside the business at 12:30 a.m. One of two female passengers in his car got out and exchanged words with the juvenile, Dolan said.
At that point, he said, Magana got out of his vehicle with the weapon, "racked the slide back" and pointed the gun at the teen. He fled when someone threatened to call police."

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040812/News/108120003/-1/rss02

[TX-RAT]

4. I guess i'm just getting old

Why are all these kids running around, that late at night.
Hell when i was a kid we had to be in the house by dark. That was non-negotiable. If i had a date, i was to be home by 11:00 PM, and that was on a weekend.

[NorthernSpy]

7. what is a "semi-automatic revolver"?

"Ariel Jeremiah Magana, 21, is accused of pointing a small semi-automatic revolver at a 17-year-old teen during an ongoing dispute. Magana is known as A.J., police said.


I thought revolvers worked via a different mechanism...

:shrug:


Mary

[TX-RAT]

8. I believe Webly made a semi-auto revolver

Barrel and cylinder recoiled, cocking hammer and rotating cylinder.

I don't think thats the case here.

[FeebMaster]

13. Mateba also makes a semi-auto revolver.

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/Firearms/Revolvers/Mateba_Model_6.htm

[TX-RAT]

14. I'll be damn.

And shoots from the 6:00 position.

[Jack_DeLeon]

23. ROFL

Was that gun designed before or after Trigun came out?

I think we found Vash the Stampede's weapon.

[NorthernSpy]

15. that thing costs a thousand bucks!

Ow! That seems awfully expensive. And it holds only six rounds.

Why would someone shell out $1,000 for this gun? The novelty factor?


Mary

[TX-RAT]

16. Have you priced a Python lately

Check out a 6 Inch stainless.

[NorthernSpy]

17. I see...

Right you are!

Altho, Feeb's link says that the Webley semi-auto revolver hasn't been produced in about 60 years. Maybe it's a collector's item nowadays.

Mary

[MrBenchley]

3. Boston Police Crackdown Nets Guns

"BOSTON -- Following a spate of violence in Boston in which three people were shot, two of them children, Boston police are cracking down, their Operation Neighborhood Shield resulting in arrests and gun confiscations.
NewsCenter 5's Jack Harper reported that three men were arraigned at Boston Municipal Court Wednesday for alleged illegal firearms sales after officers seized high-powered rifles and guns from an apartment complex at 80 West Dedham Street in the South End. Fernando Toledo, 47; his nephew Charles Toledo, 21; and Omar Diaz, 24, were all held on $100,000 bail.
"To be noted that this assault rifle, with a scope, is an AR-10. What's unique about that is that it fires a 7.62 round. That's a military round. This has no purpose in life but to kill someone, OK? This weapon will go through most vests that are sold on the market today. It has no purpose in life but to kill someone," Boston Police Superintendent Robert O'Toole said."

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/3643009/detail.html

[Hef]

26. important to note...

The "military round" quoted ("7.62") is actually the very common .308 Winchester, also known as the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. It is hardly unique. The .308 is a popular round for hunting.

The fact that it will "go through most vests" is nothing to be horrified about. Most vests carried by law enforcment officers are Level IIA, designed to stop PISTOL rounds up to .45 ACP. Rifle rounds require a stronger (and much heavier) type of body armor, incorporating metal or ceramic plates ("trauma plates") over vital organs.

The technology is available to make officers reasonably safe from rifle rounds, but at this time such armor is too heavy, hot, and restrictive to make it's use acceptable on a daily basis.

[MrBenchley]

5. PB Teen Shot To Death (AR)

"A Pine Bluff teenager was shot to death Tuesday night and another teenager has been arrested in connection with the slaying.
Patrick Mickens, 19, of the 7200-block of Deer Run East, died of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Chad Kelley pronounced Mickens dead at the scene on Miramar Drive at 11:57 p.m. Tuesday.
The body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory at Little Rock for an autopsy.
A 16-year-old boy, whose name was not released, turned himself in to detectives Wednesday morning and was taken to the Jefferson County Juvenile Detention Center."

http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2004/08/12/news/news1.txt

Say, which far right wing lobbying group currently involved in dishonest attacks upon the Democratic party and its candidates actually publishes a gun magazine for kids?

[MrBenchley]

6. Police Identify Inwood Park Shooting Victim (OH)

"Police were called to Inwood Park in Mt. Auburn around 9 p.m. Wednesday.
When they arrived, they found Cody Brock III, 20, with several gunshot wounds.
The Winton Terrace man was pronounced dead at the scene.
This is Cincinnati's 47th homicide of 2004."

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/08/12/shoot.html

[MrBenchley]

9. Father shot as two children look on (CA)

registration required
"Rene Vasquez was shot around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, said David Campbell, spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner. The unidentified shooter was dressed in dark clothes.
A 3-year-old boy and 5-month-old girl were in the car and were identified by neighbors as Vasquez's children. A 20-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman were in the car as well, said Officer Greg Schirmer"

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/9377614.htm

[MrBenchley]

10. Woman Shot To Death In Tacoma

"TACOMA - Police are looking for a man who walked up to a car at a Tacoma intersection early today and shot two people inside.
A woman was able to drive about two blocks to a gas station convenience store where she died of four bullet wounds.
The man went inside and told a clerk what happened and collapsed. He was taken to Tacoma General Hospital with two bullet wounds. "

http://www.komotv.com/stories/32596.htm

[MrBenchley]

11. Teen shot at Alisal High (CA)

"A 17-year-old boy was shot Wednesday morning in Alisal High School's parking lot, causing a half-hour lockdown of the school, Salinas police and a school official said.
The student was hit once in the chest and was in stable condition at Natividad Medical Center, said Salinas police Sgt. Vince Maiorana.
Maiorana said that about 11 a.m., the teenager was standing in the school's parking lot when he heard other people start to yell gang slogans. When he turned to see who was shouting, another boy pulled out a gun and shot at him several times, Maiorana said. "

http://www.californianonline.com/news/stories/20040812/localnews/1031421.html

[MrBenchley]

12. Survivor Of Shooting May Lose Payout (CT)

registration required
"Police, a prosecutor and a judge presiding at a criminal trial all concluded that Matthew Berube committed a crime when he secretly brought a loaded rifle to bed five years ago and ended up shooting his wife in the head.
This week, an Appellate Court panel agreed, referring the case back to Superior Court in New Britain - and the decision might cost the shooting victim a substantial insurance payout.
The victim, Christine Berube, stands to collect $300,000 through a claim against Matthew Berube's homeowners' insurance. But the Appellate Court this week sided with Allstate Insurance Co., which argues that it is exempt from liability because Matthew Berube's actions amounted to a crime.
That afternoon he got into bed with his then-wife and their infant daughter in their Plymouth home, carrying a loaded, sawed-off rifle. Moments later, the gun fired into the back of Christine Berube's head, leaving bullet fragments around her skull that doctors have never been able to remove."

http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-berube0812.artaug12,1,278331.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

[MrBenchley]

18. S.C. residents, others describe shooting scene

"A witness told him the victims, a 16-year-old male and another man, were hit when a gunfight broke out between two parties.
“One gang lined up, the other gang lined up, and they just started shooting,” he said.
Police have yet to confirm that, and investigators still are trying to nail down what caused the melee, which sent both victims to the hospital.
Police are still investigating a possible link between Wednesday’s shooting and a weekend shooting that killed two people on Charleston’s West Side. There was another shooting Wednesday night on the West Side that injured two more people."

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2004081232/

[MrBenchley]

19. Family shot, wounded in parking lot (CA)

"A family of three was getting ready to head home when they were shot and wounded in a Salinas apartment parking lot on Wednesday, police reported.
Rudy Zaragoza, 31, and his wife, Carmela Zaragoza, 25, were sitting in the parking lot at 817 Elkington St. around 1:50 a.m. when they were struck by bullets.
Rudy Zaragoza was shot several times and his wife was shot once in the hand, police said, and their 6-year-old child was grazed in the abdomen."

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/9380820.htm

[MrBenchley]

20. Shootings frustrate police (WV)

"Police were struggling today to determine whether three sets of shootings since last weekend are related, and residents say they've had enough.
The most recent shootings occurred about 11 p.m. Wednesday at Littlepage Terrace on Charleston's West Side. Two people were injured in two separate shootings at the housing complex, investigators said.
Littlepage Terrace is adjacent to Clo & Mahone's Lounge, a Seventh Avenue bar where two people were killed in a shooting early Saturday morning. "

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2004081230/

[MrBenchley]

21. Bossier cop killed; suspect found dead (LA)

"BOSSIER CITY, La. -- A Bossier City police officer was shot to death Wednesday afternoon as he arrived at a house to investigate a 911 call and the suspected gunman was later found dead inside the house, police said.
City police, sheriff's deputies and state police converged on the neighborhood and surrounded the gunman, who had barricaded himself inside the house, police said.
Police said the gunman, whose named was not released, apparently shot himself.
"We have reports he is homicidal and suicidal and that he may burn the house down," Police Chief Mike Halphen had said earlier. "(In) an earlier interview (someone) said he's made statements that he'd burn the house down and he'd kill a police officer, which he did." "

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040812/APN/408120514

[MrBenchley]

22. Standoff between retired priest and police ends peacefully (NY)

"BUFFALO, N.Y. A retired priest who kept Buffalo Police at bay for several hours today is under observation at a hospital tonight.
Police were called to the home of the Reverend James McGrath around 8:30 this morning when a neighbor spotted McGrath in his backyard holding what appeared to be a rifle or shotgun.
When SWAT team members arrived at the home the 75-year-old McGrath threatened to harm anyone who came near."

http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=2162886

[MrBenchley]

24. Man Arrested After Threatening Former Employer With Gun

"An Illinois man faces several charges after police say he demanded money and threatened to kill several people at his former workplace.
Cecil Harris was arrested Tuesday afternoon after he allegedly took a gun to Freeway Express garage in Lincoln County. Police say Harris, a former employee, came back for wages he said were owed to him.
Baker left through a back door to call 911 next door, while workers say Harris went into the office, holding several employees and Bakers' three children inside. "

http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2161821

[MrBenchley]

25. Businessman pleads guilty to possessing child porn

Just the nicest folks own guns...

"LARSON JUSTICE CENTER -- A Palm Desert man was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to possessing methamphetamine, an assault weapon and child pornography.
Steven Vonstein entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors after the start of his preliminary hearing in Riverside County Superior Court and requested that Judge John Ryan immediately sentence him.
Vonstein, 48, was charged with two felony counts of illegal drug possession, three felony counts of possessing weapons and ammunition and more than 100 misdemeanor counts of possessing child pornography."

http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/local/20040812000231.shtml