A Detroit mother has been found guilty of murder for driving her 15-year-old son to the scene of a fatal shooting at a recreation center and supplying him with a gun.
A Wayne County Circuit jury found Tarranisha Davis guilty of second-degree murder.
Prosecutors said 35-year-old Davis drove her son to the Considine Little Rock Family Life Center on Oct. 8 and opened the hood of her vehicle where he then retrieved a hidden revolver.
Four shots were fired and one struck 19-year-old Demitry Jackson in the head.
Prosecutors said Jackson was an innocent bystander who had gone to the center to play basketball.
“She made her son come back to the scene, she armed him, she prodded him,” prosecutor Lisa Lindsey said. “Just like a gun when you pull the trigger, he fired.”
That's a sad story. Of course it touches on our never-ending discussions about shared responsibility. I suppose the pro-gun folks who so vehemently resist my ideas will insist this is a wrongful conviction. After all, the mother didn't pull the trigger.
My question though, is not about the shared responsibility, which spreads out from this incident like ripples in a pond, but rather about the origins of the gun. Where do you suppose it came from? Who do you think was the last lawful owner of that gun and how did it move into the criminal world?
As I see it, there are only a few ways, all of which taint the last legal owner. It was either stolen or it was transferred knowingly or unknowingly to a criminal.
Some people don't like my blaming the victim of theft for losing the gun. I admit there are cases in which all proper precautions are taken and the guns are stolen anyway. But more often than not, I'd say there's some failure on the part of the gun owner which enabled the thief to succeed.
Some have said the gun owner who knowingly transfers a gun to a criminal is a criminal himself. But the same people who say that also demand proof for everything; they accept nothing without it. So, I suppose that means the gun owner who is slick enough to transfer his gun to a criminal without implicating himself enjoys his rights of presumed innocence and is therefore a lawful gun owner still. There are a lot of them out there like that, and I'll bet they will be the first to demand proof of me for saying this.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
You don't need "shared responsibility" to realize the mother is guilty. She armed a minor, drove him to the crime scene, and coerced the child into shooting. She really is responsible.
ReplyDeleteWhere I deny your concept of "shared responsibility" is when you try to blame gun owners for crimes they didn't even have any knowledge of.
AztecRed, I have to admit, my shared responsibility thing is pushing it to the limit.
ReplyDeleteLet me try to say it this way. You are partly responsible for helping to prevent the laws which could have prevented much of the gun violence.
How's that sound?
What laws would those be mikeb?
ReplyDeleteWhat laws would have prevented this?
I heard a story yesterday about a girl who was raped on a college campus.
ReplyDeleteAre you partially responsible, mikeb?
None of us pro-2A supporters are since Jadegold said we don't have dicks.
Good grief Kaveman,
ReplyDeleteIf I had a dick, I would have pee'd myself after reading that comment.
Let me try to say it this way. You are partly responsible for helping to prevent the laws which could have prevented much of the gun violence.
ReplyDeleteI'm with kaveman on this one. What proposed gun law would have stopped this from happening? In your post you allude to guns being illegally transferred to criminals. Nowhere in the original story does it say that the mother obtained the gun illegally. What would draw you to that conclusion?
"But more often than not, I'd say there's some failure on the part of the gun owner which enabled the thief to succeed."
ReplyDeleteBlaming the victim of the crime, now, are we? I thought that was uncool, especially when it comes to rape. But now it's okay, as long as we're blaming a gun owner?
See, if we blame the woman when she gets raped, instead of the rapist, that more or less absolves the rapist for his crime. He couldn't help himself, because the little tease dressed like that. She deserved it! (if you haven't figure it out by now, that's sarcasm!)
So naturally, when you extend this warped and backward line of thinking to the crime of theft, and blame the gun owner for having his gun stolen, what does that do to the real criminal, the thief?
It devalues and lessens the role he played, and his sole responsibility in the crime. It partially absolves him of the criminal act of stealing the gun, which is no more proper than absolving the rapist in my example.
As for the mother, you assume (you know what happens when you assume) that "the pro-gun folks who so vehemently resist my ideas will insist this is a wrongful conviction. After all, the mother didn't pull the trigger."
Why do you smear pro gun people so? Did she play an active role in the shooting? (yes) Did she freely provide the weapon? (yes) Did she encourage the boy to shoot? (yes)
From where this pro gun person sits, there is no way she can't claim responsibility. She's guilty, as charged, assuming the facts of the case are as presented.
See, compare this to the recent shooting in CO. In that case, the criminal took a gun that did not belong to him (see above answer about thieves who is responsible for theft) and the father did not freely provide it to him. The son stole it, then committed his crime.
The father had no knowledge of the crime, and did not encourage or arm the criminal. He therefore cannot be held as guilty in the attack. Do you see the difference?
BREAKING NEWS: Teacher Fatally Shot Outside Tacoma Elementary School
ReplyDeleteGuns don't kill...
Shrimp, I don't blame the victim, generally speaking, and your bringing up rape certainly has nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteI think too many gun owners take insufficient precautions agains their guns getting stolen, that's all.
It is an analogy, Mike, just like the car analogy. Yes, we know it's not the "perfect" analogy, because no such thing exists, yet, as I pointed out before, there is some similarity, and it is that similarity that I am attempting to convey. It is in that similarity that we use and make analogies, for the purpose of illustration.
ReplyDeleteDo you see the similarity, or are you ignoring it? Let me illustrate further.
A criminal commits a crime. Blame for that crime rests solely and squarely on the criminal for the criminal act. Blame cannot and should not be transferred to
1)the victim or
2)the equipment used.
My analogy used a different crime (rape vs theft) but the same transference of blame (blaming the rape victim vs blaming the gun owner who's gun was stolen).
I pointed out how it is correctly viewed as wrong and unacceptable in one instance (rape) yet you did it and continue to do it in another (gun theft).
As to your suggestion that "too many gun owners take insufficient precautions agains their guns getting stolen," I presume you have some sort of numbers to back that up.
I also presume that you believe anyone who's car is stolen doesn't take proper care to prevent it, rather than blaming car thieves for the crimes, as you should. (There's an analogy again. Did you see the similarity, or do I need to illustrate it?)
Mud_Rake wrote: "Guns don't kill..."
ReplyDeleteCorrect. Gun-Free School Zones do.
Thanks Muddy for proving our point yet again.
ReplyDeleteA shooting in a "gun free zone"
How's that working out for you anti-rights folks?
fuck u. if meech had a gun hed be alive. criminals will always get guns. if meech had a tool on him to protect his life he would have been convicted of ccw if he fired in self defense and still had to do a year at the least. give every one 18 and up a gun watch crime go way down look at arizona - now look at mexico. CRIMINALS WILL ALWAYS HAVE GUNS IF THEY CANT STEAL EM FROM US THEY WILL STEAL EM FROM THE COPS AND THE MILITARY GET OVER IT AND GET 1 URSELF. I can tell your pussy ass never been around a armed robber before go live where he got shot at for a year then tell me what you think about gun laws dumb fuck.
ReplyDelete