Friday, July 17, 2009

Domestic Squabbles - Kansas City Style

KansasCity.com reports on a Belton man who shot his domestic partner dead. He was one of those abusers who make sure the partner gets a lethal shot to the head but when he turns the gun on himself the result is a superficial wound, in this case to the chest.

After hearing two gunshots coming from her family’s kitchen, an 18-year-old found her mother dead on the floor and her father sitting next to her smoking a cigarette, court records say.

The father, Michael S. Adams Jr., 37, was charged late Wednesday with second-degree murder in the death of Amber Hartwig, 36.

Adams also was shot in the incident about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 400 block of Robie Drive in Belton. Police think he shot himself and sustained a superficial wound to his chest after shooting Hartwig in the head with a .45-caliber handgun.

This sad story is yet another illustration of my recent post entitled "Guns and Women" in which I put forth the idea that "guns are bad news for women." Some people accused me of being sexist for making such a statement, offering examples of their mothers who shoot guns or female gun bloggers famous for their snarky and aggressive writing style.

My idea is simple. In America there is a certain amount of domestic violence. Women are the victims in most cases. In households like that of Michael S. Adams, Jr., of Belton Kansas, the presence of guns is not good news for those women. If anything, my ideas are sexist against men, men who abuse women, especially the cowards like Michael Adams who have the inner fortitude to shoot their partner in the head but get nervous about turning the gun on himself.

I suppose Mr. Adams is an example of the famous 10% as well. This type of flow, from law-abiding gun owner to criminal, seems to be never ending. Why can't the pro-gun folks see that the more legal guns there are the more incidents like this we have. It's simple math.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

2 comments:

  1. Oh yes, your guns and women comments which I responded to here, and which you have yet to answer.

    Actually, we started calling you a sexist when you made a comment along the lines of "most women don't do well with guns" meaning they a) don't like them, b) can't control them or c) are deathly afraid of them. Don't know which because you didn't elaborate on that, but in all three cases it would still be a sexist comment.

    We have told you that men abusing women is not acceptable, ever. It doesn't matter if he uses a gun or his fists - he is just as much a piece of filth. What we have said is in many cases the only way for a women to equalize herself to the greater physical strength of a man is to arm herself with a firearm. FBI statistics show that when victims fight back with a firearm, they are only injured 17% of the time.

    Why do you assume that he was part of YOUR 10% figure? There is nothing in the story that indicates whether he was a lawful gun owner.

    Let's assume that he didn't have a gun, just a big kitchen knife (you know, the kind you can find in every home in America). Would the outcome have been different? Perhaps, but probably not. Why?

    Police found Hartwig dead. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Adams kept saying that he had been shot and Hartwig was not dead and that he wanted to die.

    According to neighbors, Adams had been dressing as a woman for a year or two and using a female first name. They’d heard he was worried that Hartwig was planning to leave him.


    Sounds like there are some other issues going on that you are ignoring. But it must be the gun's fault and all of those who buy guns share in the blame.

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  2. I'm waiting for MikeB to go over to Tam's, Breda's, or Roberta's and play his "Guns are bad for women" card.

    We all know he won't then since everyone knows they would eviscerate him.

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