I admit I see merit to both sides on the gun control debate. Once a freedom is taken away, it is almost impossible to get that freedom back. Indeed, America is all about the freedom to live one’s life as one sees fit. I don’t want to regulate what my neighbor does and I’d prefer he not come over here and tell me how to live my life or tell me what I can and cannot do.
But how can we ignore the national news and the mass gun violence being shown with an alarming degree of regularity?
What I would like to see posted here is your local gun incident, the event that probably doesn’t make the national news but occurs near enough to make a difference in your neck of the woods. While I suspect, as the media leads us to believe, that there is a numbingly higher toll of gun violence compared to positive gun news—perhaps there are enough positive gun examples to justify the current freedoms we have for gun ownership without much (or any) further regulation.
Example:
This past summer, just a few miles from my own home,this happened:
Had these men not had a gun with them, both likely would have been killed or at least severely injured.
On the other hand, this is in our local paper’s today— and prompted this thread:Murder-suicide
Murder is rare here. But it is the local headline today. I don’t think this crime is likely to get much notice outside of Charlottesville.
So if a gun incident happens in your area and you care to post it, please do. We have a wide cross section of the country (and a good bit across the world) here. Maybe we can learn something from local gun incidents without the blaring saturation coverage of mass crimes typical of national media.
All news is national news on our little island, though the news rarely spreads beyond our shores.
Case 1
In this incident from 2010 a burglar was not deterred by being on an electronic monitoring restriction. He tampered with the monitoring device and was breaking into a home when he was shot dead by the licensed firearm owner who lived there.
Case 2
In this incident from a couple days ago a man is facing murder charges. The accused is also charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm. That is the most recent story using the search term “firearm” in our local paper.
Case 3
And this recent court case saw the conviction of a rapist. The victim testified that the rapist had a gun in his pocket when he forced his way into her residence, “but the judge ruled that this evidence was uncorroborated and contradictory.” The victim also testified that her assailant had a knife in the bed where the assault took place.
“At the sentencing hearing, [the judge] noted that [the defendant] had nine previous convictions for assaults of some type, albeit not sexual. He also had drug offences.”
The rapist was convicted but sentenced to only 12 years, far short of the maximum. The defense lawyer noted in mitigation that the accused “did not strike the woman or threaten to kill her and there was no evidence of a long-term harmful effect.”
The prosecuting attorney told the court that “the woman did not want to be responsible for sending someone to prison for such a long time, in the event he came back out and harmed her.”
<my rant> Even though the judge reportedly “had observed the woman’s demeanour closely and there was nothing to suggest she was lying;” and even though the judge seemed to believe the defendant forcibly entered the home of the victim and raped her; the judge decides not to believe the victim’s testimony that the defendant had a firearm. :smack:
To the defense attorney: The 1950’s called. They want their rape defense back. WTF is this, “At least he didn’t threaten to kill her, your honor. No long term harm done.” crap?</my rant>
And the prosecutor deserves a special mention for not pushing harder for a stronger sentence because the victim is afraid of retaliation. Hello!? Sounds like a great reason to lengthen his incarceration.
</my rant>
There was the well-publicized mall shooting in Portland before Christmas: two people killed, a third wounded. The guy’s Bushmaster jammed, which gave people time to scatter, or the death count would likely have been higher.
There was a man kidnapped and shot in Vancouver. He managed to escape and find help.
Here in Topeka, a 22 year old guy, who’d been convicted of burglary, and had several other crimes to his record. and therefore wasn’t supposed to have a firearm, shot and killed two cops.
Three incidents of note have occurred in the past 4+ months, though two of them received a lot of attention. The first was the Sihk Temple shooting. The second was the ex-husband of a salon employee going to the business and killing three (?) people before killing himself. The third just occurred a few days ago. A rookie police officer was found dead after multiple gun shots. She hadn’t responded to calls from I assume the precinct hq, so other officers tracked her down. Yesterday, her husband was brought into custody, and today he’s been charged. This will be interesting because he’s a former Marine who served at least two tours in Iraq, and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to hear he’s had severe ptsd.
Now, this being Atlanta, we have plenty of murders, robberies, rapes, and more, all using firearms. Let’s focus though, on the one area of Atlanta where criminals know their victims will not be armed.
Georgia Tech is a large university situated within the city limits of Atlanta, GA. It’s not located in what you might call a “nice neighborhood”. As a school property in Georgia, only LEO are allowed to carry or possess firearms. Period.
Tech students are generally well off. Plenty of laptops, Iphones, Ipads, money, and more are there for the taking. All one needs to do is accost any given student or group of students with a gun, and you’ve got some good loot, guaranteed. It’s easier than shooting fish in a barrel, because fish move a little, the refraction of light and so forth…
Robbing Tech students on or near campus is so easy a child can do it.
It’s an almost daily occurrence, and has been for years.
Guns are a common tool, but not the only one. Atlanta’s crime problem is fueled by a culture of violence, acceptance, and apathy in the black community. This is what needs to be addressed, not the tools.
Wake Forest, N.C. — Authorities said Friday that a 12-year-old Tarboro boy who was killed while hunting with his family in Wake Forest was accidentally shot by his uncle.
…preliminary findings show 30-year-old Jason xxxxxx accidentally shot his nephew, James, with a 12-gauge shotgun during the excursion. A spokesman for the agency said Jason had an “improperly acquired” hunting license and had not taken a mandatory free hunting education course. He was not charged Friday.
James, who had hunted since he was 4 years old, was about 100 yards in the woods when the shooting occurred. “He loved to hunt. He just went hunting yesterday, actually. He said it was so fun,” said his cousin.
In Oakland, about 600 guns were turned in at buy-back operations, for $200 apiece. The event was funded by a $100,000 donation from a local medical marijuana dispensary.
I live close enough to one of the USA’s top “murder capitals” that hearing gunfire is not even noteworthy.
There was an incident last year where an elderly woman shot and killed an intruder, and more power to her, I say. However that’s overshadowed by the hundreds of lethal shootings - almost all by people who used unregistered/stolen/illegally owned firearms - around here.
Of note: Hunting is extremely common here in SE Michigan and it’s pretty normal for people to own at least a rifle that they use for hunting. Most people I know have guns for hunting, come to think of it. However people who own and use firearms for hunting aren’t typically involved in gun crimes, as far as I know.
I didn’t post links to “gun incidents” in my area because they are so common and almost all involve thugs using unregistered/stolen firearms to kill people. Flint, Michigan, yo.
Here’s a freshone from about a mile away in upscale Bellevue WA (Seattle suburb). One killed, one wounded in some kind of altercation. Alleged perp had been previously convicted in the manslaughter beating death of a street performer when he was a juvenile.
A homicide about two weeks ago. At Springfield’s worst apartment complex, in Springfield’s worst neighborhood. IIRC, Springfield averages about 10-12 homicides per year; most are with guns.
Springfield’s most “famous” homicide (it wound up on Dateline or somesuch) involved someone being bludgeoned to death with a hammer.
Yesterday, the 500th murder victim in my city for the year was found. Not *all *of them guns, but most of them. Doesn’t even make the front page in the local papers anymore. Have to scroll down most of the first page of google to find a local report.
So, um. Yeah. Guns are already more or less illegal here. Doesn’t seem to stop a damn thing.
Is this a local gun incidents thread or cherry pick successfully used a gun against attackers or would have successfully used a gun against attackers if laws on ownership we’re not restricted?
I can certainly cherry pick kid brings a gun to school and accidently shoots a classmate or guy goes crazy with a gun and blows away a few people at random. (Both by the way happened in the Seattle area in the past year).
I thought it was a “post ‘positive’ uses of firearms,” as in, people using them in self-defense or to stop a greater crime, but on rereading the OP, it specifically says:
So, instead of what I posted (which was about as positive a story as I could find for the Bay Area), I should have posted the link instead where the police busted up a funeral for a gang kid who got shot in San Francisco; they found two people on parole who were armed with handguns and others who were performing a variety of crimes just by being out in public. Oh, and race.
I picked a story that is emblematic of just about every gun-related story that has ever happened in Springfield, for as long as I can remember. There has doubtless been the odd tragedy (someone shoots their self accidentally; someone goes psychotic and murders innocent people; etc.), but as far as I can tell, 99.8% gun-related incidents in Springfield since I’ve lived here have been your typical urban, bad-neighborhood type thing.
This is destined to be a cherry-picking thread. You can identify the ideology of the poster simply by what they post. Did you expect anything else from a gun-related thread?