After her 8-year-old son was shot to death, Lakeisha Gadson told police that three armed men wearing hooded sweatshirts had burst into her apartment and fired three rounds, hitting her little boy, Liquarry.
The next day, Gadson admitted she had lied about the intruders. This time, she told police that Liquarry's 7-year-old cousin had accidentally shot him.
I'm all for blaming the parents, but not when the gun belonged to the 15-year-old brother of the victim, an older brother who is already doing time for the crime. And, I certainly don't like the racial overtones of the case. This is a single mom in the black ghetto. What about all those white folks whose toddlers are killing themselves by accident? A day doesn't go by that you don't see one of them in the news, and more often than not the parents are not mentioned.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Yeah there definitely seem to be racial overtones here. It is understandable that an African Americans mother would initially lie to the police; there is a long, tortured, unhappy history between the African American community and law enforcement and the relationship is not one of trust.
ReplyDeleteThis is just one more example of how African Americans and whites are treated differently by the law.
Of course, state laws are different everywhere but here in Tennessee kids are getting killed by their parents' guns all the time. Here's one from 2 weeks ago, 6 year old killed his 2 year old sister in Chattanooga. Doesn't appear that charges were filed that I can tell. From the story: "In his experience, however, law enforcement often is reluctant to press charges against a parent who has just lost a child, Mr. Cavett said."
Here's another one from this March, 3 year old mistook a loaded gun lying on the coffee table for a Wii controller. Happened just outside of Nashville. No charges filed, the sheriff thought the parents had suffered enough.
Every morning I turn on the news and every morning there's another shooting in Nashville. Sometimes it's a crime story, sometimes it's a senseless tragedy like Cheyenne Cronenberg's story.
From the first story:
"The most recent numbers available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that, in 2006, nearly 3,200 adolescents and teenagers died from gunfire. Sixty-three of the victims were under the age of five."
I find those most recent numbers woefully lacking. 63 of the victims were under the age of five, but two in Tennessee this year alone? And maybe more, I wasn't even looking very hard. I remembered the Cheyenne story and in searching for that one the Chattanooga story popped up.
Sorry, I know this is a little OT but all of these yahoos who want to keep a gun around "for their protection" need to get a clue. If you've got kids you're making a big mistake.
Just this article has three versions of truth she gave police. who can really say if this one is right? (The jury, ultimately.)
ReplyDeleteIn one of them, she admitted to owning the weapon. Could she have pleaded with her son to take the fall? Could it belong to the convicted armed robber father?
What she doesn't share responsibility? Is responsibility only shared if the parent is white and legally owned the weapon?
It's no wonder illegial weapons are popular, you're better treated by the legal system.
"What about all those white folks whose toddlers are killing themselves by accident? A day doesn't go by that you don't see one of them in the news, and more often than not the parents are not mentioned."
ReplyDeleteSince it happens every day, could you please share a link for today's and yesterday's accidental toddler shootings?
I can't help but wonder if Boston's draconian (mike's favorite word) gun laws are part of the reason she lied.
ReplyDeleteHad Miss Gadson been able to easily and legally own a gun, maybe she would have told the truth and not been afraid of being in possession of a gun.
FWM, Does it count if the Toddler is 25, and is shot while selling crack?
ReplyDeleteHad Miss Gadson been able to easily and legally own a gun, maybe she would have told the truth and not been afraid of being in possession of a gun.
ReplyDeleteNicely done, AzRed. You managed to divert the story away from how gunloons are often careless with their firearms, resulting in needless deaths of children to 'if everyone had guns then we'd feel less shame about killing kids.'
Well done, sir! Well played.
Weerd attempts the same trick but his heavy-handed overt racism hits the floor like a bag of wet cement.
Too late, Jade. Southern Beale already played the race card.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is this person does not represent the average gun owner, despite the fact that you'd like to believe it does. If she did truly represent the average gun owner, then there would hundreds of incidents like this each day, in towns and cities all across America, because there are millions of gun owners. Even a small percentage (say only 1%) each year would be 10 thousand incidents a year, assuming only one million gun owners. You know there are far more than a million gun owners, and far less than 10,000 incidents like this each year, even when we include 19 year olds as children.
This is a person being careless with her gun, or her son's gun, or her son's father's gun. In any case, she committed the atrocious act of leaving it where they could play with it. She also obviously never introduced the children to the concept of STOP, DON'T TOUCH, LEAVE THE AREA, GET AN ADULT. Probably because she was never taught that herself, for which I say the gun control folks are to blame.
So, to sum up, her death is your fault, Jade.
By the way, I'm taking Jadegold shooting this weekend. It should be fun.
Jadegold is now calling single black mothers gunloons.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know he's an equal opportunity bigot.
She was a member of the NRA, a CCW holder and a racist. Mark Jade's words.
ReplyDeleteNow there's an anonymous man firmly rooted in reality.
ReplyDelete"She also obviously never introduced the children to the concept of STOP, DON'T TOUCH, LEAVE THE AREA, GET AN ADULT."
The only parent who would believe in such nonsense is a gun owner trying desperately to sing the company song.
"The only parent who would believe in such nonsense is a gun owner trying desperately to sing the company song."
ReplyDeleteAnd I bet such a parent's kid would still be alive.
Why, MikeB? Does it not work?
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, it seems that almost every one of the tragic child shootings that we hear about are not the children of those who teach their children such things, but rather the children of irresponsible parents who never learned gun safety themselves--parents that never learned that guns are not toys and should not be left lying around where kids can get to them.
And why is it they never learned about gun safety? Why is it that the state hasn't stepped up and begun to teach a basic gun safety course that would outline such things as what to do if a gun is found, or how to safely handle one so as to not shoot or injure those around you when unloading said gun?
You want the state to teach them to drive. You want the state to teach them about sex. You want the state to teach them about physical fitness and swimming and nutrition.
What about how to--and how not to--handle a firearm when found?
I place the blame for that directly in the gun control crowd's lap. You fight against it at every turn.
In other words, you and your ilk caused this needless tragedy.
Anonymous, that was a great response. I particularly liked this line:
ReplyDeleteI place the blame for that directly in the gun control crowd's lap. You fight against it at every turn.
I couldn't agree more. The gun controllers say they just want to reduce the number of gun deaths. But their credibility disappears as they fight common-sense safety education at every turn. Guns aren't going away any time soon. It makes absolutely no sense to deny youngsters the knowledge that may someday save their life.
Shorter SoBeale - It's OK because she's black. Nice double standard you've got their, not to mention disrespect for the law.
ReplyDeleteOf course you're a bigot too, so I'm not surprised.
As for Southern Beale's comment, it's typical lefty manufactured hogwash.
ReplyDeleteMy mother has never lied to the police. Nor has any other woman in my family. Mostly because the majority of people in my family never did anything to attract the attention of the police to begin with.
The people who lie to the police tend to be people who have done something to warrant police attention or they're lying for someone who has. And that behavior crosses the color boundary.
Anon said, "it seems that almost every one of the tragic child shootings that we hear about are not the children of those who teach their children such things, but rather the children of irresponsible parents who never learned gun safety themselves--parents that never learned that guns are not toys and should not be left lying around where kids can get to them."
ReplyDeleteSo now you want to divide the gun owners between those who are responsible and those that aren't? That's fine with me, it fits right in with much of what I say about the 10% and all that.
But I don't believe that the teaching of responsible gun-owning parents can overcome the curiosity of little children.
"But I don't believe that the teaching of responsible gun-owning parents can overcome the curiosity of little children."
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. But it doesn't hurt to help to remove some of the curiosity through controlled exposure by parents and cautionary programs like Eddie Eagle.
"That's fine with me, it fits right in with much of what I say about the 10% and all that."
ReplyDeleteRiiiiiiiiiight. See this, from my response to Jadefool:
"The reality is this person does not represent the average gun owner, despite the fact that you'd like to believe it does. If she did truly represent the average gun owner, then there would hundreds of incidents like this each day, in towns and cities all across America, because there are millions of gun owners. Even a small percentage (say only 1%) each year would be 10 thousand incidents a year, assuming only one million gun owners. You know there are far more than a million gun owners, and far less than 10,000 incidents like this each year, even when we include 19 year olds as children."
Whoopsie, just doing the math on the number of kids that actually do die from firearms or are injured from firearms (even when we include all of the "teenagers") completely blows that theory out of the water.
Let's assume (because I'm being lazy) a three to one ratio on the injured to killed with respect to kids. Using Southern Beale's number of 3200 kids killed, add the injured at 9600 and we have 12,800. Annually, out of the entire US gun owning population of more than 80 million.
That gives us .00016 percent.
Even at a 10-1 injured to killed ratio (which is as made-up as your 10 percent number) it would only approach .00044 %.
You'd never approach ten percent. Hell, I'd say that you'll never approach ONE percent. You're numbers are fantasy, good only in your head.
"But I don't believe that the teaching of responsible gun-owning parents can overcome the curiosity of little children."
ReplyDeleteMaybe it can't. But that is up to the parent, not you, to deal with. If they deal with it responsibly, they will teach and guide their children. If not, their children will suffer for it, and they too, if they have any conscience.