GUNS IN THE NEWS--September 29. 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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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.
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6 - If it's not clear from the title where the story occurred, add the city, state, or country in parentheses after the title.
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[MrBenchley]

1. Gun-incident suspect is held for evaluation (MD)

registration required...but then Roberta Peters will know where you are...
"A 62-year-old man accused of pointing a handgun at two teenagers near Wilde Lake High School is being held for evaluation at Howard County General Hospital, a county police spokeswoman said.
Edward Brown Jr. of the 10500 block of Jason Lane in Columbia was arrested Monday morning on the parking lot of the school and charged with first-degree assault and possession of a gun on school grounds.
Two teenagers had called police to report that a man in a Porsche had pointed a gun at them, police said.
Police and hospital officials declined to specify the type of evaluation that Brown was undergoing. "

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-ho.suspect29sep29,1,4835048.story?coll=bal-local-howard

[MrBenchley]

2. Father, Son Get In Gun Battle Over How To Cook Chicken (WV)

Yeah, these are the sort of voters we should be pandering to...

"The two men argued Sunday over the best way to prepare skinless chicken for dinner.
"It started out as a physical confrontation, but it escalated until both of them were shooting at each other," Detective Sgt. A.D. Beasley of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department said Monday.
Beasley said each man fired a .22-caliber handgun at the other. Harley Shrader was struck by a bullet that went through the upper part of his right ear and lodged in the back of his head. He was treated at a hospital and released. The elder Shrader was not injured."

http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3768987/detail.html

Ironically, the other family members said it was the best chicken they ever had....

[MrBenchley]

3. An Attack on D.C. Residents

registration required, possibly by George Soros (snicker)
"When the leadership of the House of Representatives announced plans to vote on legislation repealing the District of Columbia's gun control laws, many in the District reacted with anger and disbelief. In the aftermath, however, one additional thought nagged: Are the bill's supporters in Congress willing to apply the same standards to the sidewalks of Capitol Hill that they would impose on the District?
Or, to put a more practical twist to it, would Congress, in the midst of terrorism alerts, allow people to openly carry unlocked and loaded semiautomatic rifles across Capitol Hill without a permit?
It's not just the victims of crime and their families who are affronted by the brazen attempt to dictate local law to the District. A group of respected civic and business leaders recently wrote the House leadership, saying that the "rollback of these fundamental public safety laws would have a significant, negative effect on the District's business climate, and could undermine the foundations of our city's economy and quality of life."
Sadly, because District residents lack full voting representation in the House and Senate, they are reduced to being mere spectators of this "democracy." Members of Congress should recognize that residents of the District share the desire that local laws passed through their own legislature remain intact. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58372-2004Sep28.html

The writer, a Democrat, is mayor of the District of Columbia.

[Romulus]

4. more from the Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58502-2004Sep28.html

Handguns With A Safety Catch
Neighbors Weigh The Consequences Of Ending The District's Ban

*snip*

The Great D.C. Gun Debate is not a theoretical issue in the living room of Wilhelmina Lawson. The retiree is sitting in her house in the Northeast neighborhood of Trinidad, one of the most violent places in one of the nation's most violent cities.

"The first year I was here, my son and I walked outside and saw a man from three doors down -- he's still there, he's paralyzed now -- shot in the lower back. It was right out there in the street" -- she raises her right arm and points toward Montello Avenue, which runs in front of her house -- "and there was blood all down the street and it was the worst thing I ever saw."

Now she raises her left arm, like a scarecrow with arms stretched in opposite directions, and points to the back of her house.
"There was a murder right out there in the alley. I heard the gunshots. And once my son got jumped coming out of the store, and there was the time I was in the front yard when one of the biggest drug dealers in the neighborhood came up and said, while I was weeding the flowers, that he'd heard I was informing on him to the police."

*snip*

"I might feel safer with a gun in the house," says Lawson, who's also a neighborhood activist. "So, yes, you ask me, a gun would make me feel safer. It's what they were invented for."

*snip*

She does not really want more guns in the neighborhood, she says. She just wants to feel safe.

*snip/lots more in a balanced article*

(edited to add):
Except for one glaring error:

"Here's another fact: D.C.'s ban deals only with handguns. More than 101,000 residents have legally registered rifles and shotguns over the decades, according to police, and residents can protect themselves with, say, a buckshot-blasting 12-gauge shotgun, a can't-miss weapon big enough to blow half the living room into the front yard."

While it is true that DC residents may own rifles and shotguns, they are not allowed to keep them loaded for self-defense use in their homes. DC law only allows loaded rifles or shotguns to be kept in a place of business. Otherwise, they must be kept unloaded and either disassembled or locked with a trigger lock at all times.

The relevant DC Code cite is Section 7-2507.02:Firearms Required to Be Unloaded and Disassembled or Locked

Full text of the law:

Except for law enforcement personnel described in § 7-2502.01(b)(1), each registrant shall keep any firearm in his possession unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock or similar device unless such firearm is kept at his place of business, or while being used for lawful recreational purposes within the District of Columbia.

[MrBenchley]

5. Gee, blood in the street...sounds like the RKBA paradise.

Isn't that what you guys are all working for?

"Residents have long grown weary of gunshots in the dark. Most think the last thing they need is more lead in the air.
Here's another fact: D.C.'s ban deals only with handguns. More than 101,000 residents have legally registered rifles and shotguns over the decades, according to police, and residents can protect themselves with, say, a buckshot-blasting 12-gauge shotgun, a can't-miss weapon big enough to blow half the living room into the front yard.
Though Lawson wouldn't mind a handgun, she says her neighborhood has stabilized, and is even making progress, because of more civic activism -- she's the area's ANC commissioner -- better city services and increased police surveillance.
"The long-term solution is education, and giving our children a chance. I don't know how people can miss that," she says."

Want to tell us what Souder and his gun-crazed chums have done for education?

[MrBenchley]

6. DeSoto Students Say NO to Guns (MS)

"DeSoto County, MS - Taking a gun to school is serious business anywhere... and especially in DeSoto County where they take a hard line on such behavior. That's why teachers here are working to stop the problem before it starts, and they're finding a very willing audience in the students here.
Detectives say the 15 year old ninth grader pulled a gun as he rode the bus toschool. He showed the unloaded weapon to friends, saying he had received some kind of threat.
Shortly after the bus arrived at DeSoto Central High School, police arrived and arrested the student.
How did it happen so quickly? Because two students immediately reported what they saw."

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=2360868

[MrBenchley]

7. Gunshot wound kills Tulare man (CA)

"Tulare County experienced its 14th homicide of the year when a 19-year-old man died from a gunshot wound to his chest early Monday at Tulare District Hospital.
Lt. Keith Douglass of the Tulare County Sheriff's Department said the 911 call came at 4:56 a.m.
Ezekiel Navarro appeared to have been shot under a carport in the 400 block of South Haven Street. A white pickup still sat there about 9 a.m. Monday. The fronds from a large weeping willow tree hung over the driveway and the carport. A yellow crime scene marker sat near the carport and a blue above-ground swimming pool.
"Efforts were made to help him on the scene, and then he was taken to Tulare District Hospital," Douglass said. "We haven't determined the caliber weapon yet, but we know he received a wound from a single gunshot." "

http://www.tulareadvanceregister.com/news/stories/20040928/localnews/1319296.html

[MrBenchley]

8. Teen pleads guilty in gunshot slaying case (CT)

"A 17-year-old Fairfield youth facing a murder charge in connection with the gunshot slaying of another teen in January has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Solano County Superior Court.
Defendant Julian Lamont Barkus made his plea Monday before Superior Court Judge William C. Harrison, who scheduled 10 a.m. Nov. 22 for judgment and sentencing in the case. In making his plea, Barkus also admitted using a handgun.
Barkus could face a maximum of 21 years in state prison but, as a result of his guilty plea, will probably receive a 10-year sentence.
The teen was taken into custody on Jan. 28 after he voluntarily surrendered to Fairfield police during their investigation into the shooting death of 19-year-old Derrick Lewis Tramel Jr. of Fairfield."

http://www.thereporter.com/Stories/0,1413,295~30195~2434277,00.html

[jarab]

9. Squirrel hunter's ride on school bus stirs furor

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/9786719.htm



What normally would be a no-brainer -- guns and school buses don't mix -- has sparked heated debate in this county of 16,000 just across the state line from West Virginia. The rules are different here, especially during squirrel season, when hunters are a familiar sight and residents are known to take home a mess of the furry creatures to skin and fry up like chicken.



...O...

[MrBenchley]

10. Man pleads guilty in fatal Monroe tavern shooting (WA)

"EVERETT, Wash. -- A man who sprayed a tavern in Monroe with gunfire after losing his temper because of an insult has entered a modified guilty plea to second-degree murder.
Under state sentencing guidelines, Garcia-Pena faces at least 18 years and nine months in prison for killing Jesus Garcia Ochoa, 19, wounding another man and menacing a third on Aug. 31, 2003, at Mi Barra.
Ochoa was too young to have been in the tavern, which lost its license after the shooting.
The confrontation that led to the shooting spree originated with some insults, "an example of how a simple insult can get you killed," Darrow said."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Tavern%20Shooting

[MrBenchley]

11. Heights police hunting for drive-by shooting suspects (MI)

"An early morning shooting outside a Muskegon Heights gas station left one man wounded and police looking for possible suspects in a van.
The shooting was reported just before 5 a.m.
Police said the victim was wounded in the leg. No information about his condition was available.
"He was just coming out of the store and someone pulled up and shot him," said Muskegon Heights Sgt. Shawn Stefanich. "

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1096472701254800.xml

[MrBenchley]

12. Man, 41, at large, is charged in shooting (WA)

"King County prosecutors yesterday charged an at-large Burien man with second-degree murder in Saturday's fatal shooting at a Burien apartment complex.
Elias Martinez Ruiz, 41, is being sought on an arrest warrant.
According to charging papers, Ruiz approached the victim, Rolando Cruz Baron, with a black handgun about 5:45 p.m. At the time, Baron was drinking beers with two friends at a picnic table in between buildings of the Vintage Park Apartments in the 13000 block of 12th Avenue Southwest.
After Baron and a third friend broke beer bottles to try to scare him off, Ruiz fled, charging papers say. But he allegedly returned a few minutes later and again pointed the gun at the men. As the three men fled, Ruiz fired once, striking Baron in the upper left chest, police say. Baron died at the scene."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/192947_murder29.html

[MrBenchley]

13. Judge Admits Error In Releasing Monkton Man (MD)

"Baltimore City Circuit Judge Thomas Waxter, Jr., said he made a mistake in June when he lowered bail for Larry Thomas from $100,000 to $10,000 and ordered the man into home detention.
Police are still searching for Thomas, who is charged with attempted first-degree murder, burglary and assault after allegedly threatening his ex-girlfriend on Saturday -- once with a knife and once with a shotgun.
Victims' advocates, meanwhile, were working to relocate the woman, and administrators at four nearby schools kept children inside for a second day."

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/3768948/detail.html

[MrBenchley]

14. Officer Escapes Gunfire (CT)

registration required
"A Hartford patrolman escaped sniper gunfire early Tuesday at the Nelton Court housing complex, a police department spokesman said.
The incident occurred about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday as the officer walked into the area, Lt. Jose Lopez said. The officer said he saw five men in two vehicles speeding inside the complex, and a man in one of the vehicles fired a shotgun in his direction. The officer dived for cover, bruising and scraping his hands and arms.
Immediately after the incident, police found the two vehicles, Lopez said. Three firearms, including two shotguns, were found inside one of the vehicles parked near an apartment in the housing complex, police said. The complex is off Main Street in Hartford's Northeast neighborhood."

http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-hpdshot0929.artsep29,1,1592578.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

[MrBenchley]

15. Last gunman surrenders to end hostage situation at apartment complex (AZ)

"A nearly 29-hour hostage situation at a Glendale apartment complex ended late Monday night when a second gunman surrendered to authorities.
It came a few hours after the last two hostages were released and the other suspect gave himself up.
The second gunman walked out of a city apartment with his hands up about 11:30 p.m. Monday after authorities ordered him to surrender within five minutes or get tear gassed.
He was arrested and taken to the city jail where the other suspect also was being held, police said."

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=2359398

[MrBenchley]

16. Failed coverup attempt alleged in 2 Lakewood shooting deaths (CO)

"The shooting deaths of two women in a Lakewood home Monday apparently were made to look like a murder-suicide in a haphazard coverup attempt, according to court records.
Authorities arrested Keason Cox, 32, on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder after he contacted police through his attorney Monday afternoon and turned himself in at a 7-Eleven store.
Cox told his attorney, Gary Fielder, that he had been involved in a shooting and that someone named "Tiffany" had been shot, according to an arrest affidavit.
Fielder called police. Cox originally gave Fielder and police an incorrect address. He then called Fielder again and gave a general location. A third call gave a phone number that police tracked to a home at 9 S. Jay St."

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2433324,00.html