Marking an exceptionally bloody 11-hour period in New Orleans, 12 people were shot in seven separate attacks between 3 p.m., Friday, and 2 a.m., Saturday, local authorities said.
Two of the victims -- Charlie Johnson Jr., 31, and David Handy, 19, both of New Orleans -- died from their injuries, New Orleans police said.
Despite near-constant rain -- the sort of weather that tends to keep outlaws indoors -- gunfire erupted across town, from eastern New Orleans to Central City and Gentilly to Algiers, and taxed paramedics beyond any experience in recent memory, said Dr. Jullette Saussy, director New Orleans Emergency Medical Services.
It's interesting that when this kind of thing happens in Chicago or Newark, the pro-gun crowd is quick to say it proves the gun laws don't work in those cities. They never mention New Orleans though, which most years leads the nation in murders per capita, and enjoys some of the most lax gun laws in the country.
The last time a dozen people were shot in a single day was Mardi Gras, with seven victims wounded in a shootout along the St. Charles Avenue parade route.
I don't know if that's clear enough. The Mardi Gras they're talking about was just a few months ago, it was earlier this year.
It seems to me we're all becoming jaded to the fact that criminal gun play is rampant in our major cities. It's hardly newsworthy any more. The pro-gun crowd is carrying on about their rights and demanding what they call "freedom," while young criminals find it easier and easier to get guns.
The connection between the two seemingly disparate worlds is a direct one. Those guns used in 12 shootings during one Friday evening in the Big Easy all started out as the legal property of some gun dealer. Then, by various means those guns found their way into the criminal world. What's the lawful gun owner's response? "Well, I don't know nothin'. I didn't do anything wrong."
The fact is somebody's doing something wrong, and if you could follow the gun back to its origins you'd see that that somebody is a so-called lawful gun owner or gun dealer. I say to them, take responsibility for what's yours. Take responsibility for the mess that's going on in places like New Orleans.
What's your opinion?
. . . while young criminals find it easier and easier to get guns.
ReplyDeleteWhat is making it "easier and easier"? In what way have laws on the acquisition of firearms loosened in, say, the last 10 years? Granted, concealed carry has become more widespread, but that has nothing to do with how easy it is to get a gun. Sure, the so-called "assault weapons" ban has faded away like the embarrassment it was, but that law was basically irrelevant, anyway.
So, I ask again: what has made the acquisition of firearms "easier and easier"?
And you completely ignore the non-firearm related crime in cities...so who's jaded Sparky?
ReplyDeleteIf there is no difference in crime between New Orleans and Chicago, why have gun control laws?
Although you will find there are actually MORE shootings in Chicago than in New Orleans..gun control laws don't work.
while young criminals find it easier and easier to get guns.
This shows your complete and willful ignorance of gun control laws. Young criminals once could order firearms through the mail. Young criminals could once walk into just about any hardware store and buy firearms, no id required.
To say that it is easier and easier to buy firearms is showing how little you know and how little gun control laws work.
We have had decades of gun control laws designed to stop this type of crime...yet we still have it and the average citizen doesn't have a firearm to fight back. Gun Control law FAILURE.
The more and more you go on about this, the more people realize you aren't interested in guns, just control.
"and if you could follow the gun back to its origins you'd see that that somebody is a so-called lawful gun owner or gun dealer."
ReplyDeleteThey can do that. There's an ATF paper trail for EVERY GUN that's been made in the last few decades.
We don't read about it because there's nothing relevant about the gun's origins.
As Beowulf notes, the highest levels of gun crime in the U.S. are found in cities with the strongest gun controls. Criminals don't obey laws; that's why their criminals.
ReplyDelete"It's interesting that when this kind of thing happens in Chicago or Newark, the pro-gun crowd is quick to say it proves the gun laws don't work in those cities. They never mention New Orleans though, which most years leads the nation in murders per capita, and enjoys some of the most lax gun laws in the country."
ReplyDeletePrecisely. The large cities that have strict gun control differ no more than the large cities that have fewer gun control laws. Basically, gun control does not work.
Those guns used in 12 shootings during one Friday evening in the Big Easy all started out as the legal property of some gun dealer. Then, by various means those guns found their way into the criminal world
ReplyDeleteI thought you didn't focus on the gun but on the criminal.
You talk about the guns, you talk about the shootings, you talk about the victims...but where is the discussion about the criminals DOING the shooting?
Where is the examination of their past instead of the guns?
Where is the discussion about how good people from from law abiding to criminal instead of the firearm?
You focus on the tool and ignore the criminal. In the mean time, thousand of non-firearm related crimes happened. Crimes you don't mention.
In the mean time, hundreds of people protected themselves with firearms. Events you don't mention.
You are a broken record MikeB. Singing the same verse over and over again.
". . . while young criminals find it easier and easier to get guns."
ReplyDeleteWhich explains why armed crime dropped across the board in 2008 according to the FBI.
Oh, wait, you don't accept the FBI as a valid source since they 'doctor' their numbers.
Bob asked, "I thought you didn't focus on the gun but on the criminal."
ReplyDeleteActually Bob, I'm trying to focus on the person who deviated from the true path. The gun started out in the possession of a licensed gun dealer. He sold it to someone, they gave it or sold it to another, and so on. In the end the gun ends up used in a murder. I'd like to know exactly who was the PERSON who first took that gun from the world of lawful gun owners to that of the criminals. That's what I'm talking about.
I'd like to know exactly who was the PERSON who first took that gun from the world of lawful gun owners to that of the criminals.
ReplyDeleteAnd then what? If this is a stolen gun, are we going to make stealing more illegal? If this was a straw purchase, are we going to make straw purchases more illegal? If this was a family member giving the gun to a prohibited person, are we going to make that more illegal?
The first person to take the gun from legal to illegal is a-----------------------
ReplyDelete----------long dramatic pause ------
------ criminal.
Wow....let's find out who the criminals are and stop them from committing crimes.
Except that isn't what you want to do, you just want to stop them from committing crimes with guns.
Which do you think has a greater chance of stopping a crime?
A. Another law or series of laws designed to prevent criminals from getting firearms
or
B. A law or series of laws designed to let the average person keep and bear arms for use against criminals?
Why don't YOU and your ilk take responsibility for gun flow Mike?
ReplyDeleteYou create a patchwork of laws that make it difficult for us to carry our firearms everywhere. (including forcing us to keep them in our cars)
Therefore, by mandating that we cannot keep them on our person you are directly increasing the likelihood that they can be stolen.
So MikeB, how does it feel to be responsible for "gun flow?"
You guys really like that "illegaler" argument. You must think ti's really slick or something.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm talking about is a way to encourage better compliance from the law-abiding. The first criminal in the chain of gun possession got the gun from a legal guy. Sometimes that legal owner turned a blind eye, nothing criminal, just sloppy transference of the gun. Other times the legal owner who passes his gun to a criminal is completely ignorant of the fact. Stricter laws would encourage him to be more careful.
Of course all this is after universal background checks on all transfers goes into effect. There's no point trying to stop these transfers when right down the street murderers can buy guns themselves with no questions asked.
And how exactly would your "universal background check" be universally unavoidable?
ReplyDeleteIn Mass we need to show a Mass gun permit for ALL transactions involving firearms and ammunition. To get the permit you need to be able to pass a valid background check. You commit a crime, or are committed et al you loose the permit as well as your rights.
Meanwhile the criminals just don't bother with that noise. It's completely a crime, and they just don't.
Care to explain?
There's no point trying to stop these transfers when right down the street murderers can buy guns themselves with no questions asked.
ReplyDeleteAnd that will continue to happen no matter what laws you put in place Mike.
Mike W. said, "There's no point trying to stop these transfers when right down the street murderers can buy guns themselves with no questions asked.
ReplyDeleteAnd that will continue to happen no matter what laws you put in place Mike."
No it won't, Mike. What I'm referring to is the places where people can buy guns with no background check from an unlicensed seller. This will be stopped if the country ever gets over its fear of the NRA and you gun guys.
MikeB,
ReplyDeleteForget about that little thing called the Bill of rights?
Did you forget about that thing called freedom?
MikeB, any reason why you ignored my comment about places where "Universal Background Checks" are in fact the law of the land?
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm referring to is the places where people can buy guns with no background check from an unlicensed seller.
ReplyDeleteSo, a place like prison would fit this description. I am sure that no prison in the US allows inmates to carry guns. They probably all ban the sale of them too. So prisons must be gun free (besides the guards obviously), right?
No Reputo, not like a prison. In fact the controlled environment of a prison, in which even law officers must disarm before entering, is proof that gun control works. The problem is a city or a state cannot be controlled like that.
ReplyDeleteSo, no, the places where murderers can buy guns does not include prisons. The places I'm referring to are the car trunk of a car in the parking lot of a 7-11 in Louisiana, and the kitchen table of most anyone in Georgia, many gun shows around the country, places like that.
Weer'd asked, "MikeB, any reason why you ignored my comment about places where "Universal Background Checks" are in fact the law of the land?"
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't remember it. But, I can tell you if I deleted it, you probably included some nasty gratuitous insult.
I'd be interested to see it, if you wouldn't mind resending. But, I don't think I've disputed the fact that background checks are required in some places, like your home state and my former one.