Thursday, December 9, 2010

Dedham Mass - Murder Suicide

Not a word about the gun, whether it was legally owned or if the guy bought it from his bookie. Based on the neighbors' descriptions of the shooter, though, he was one of the good guys right up until the time he killed his whole family. It's incidents like this one which often overlook the fact that the guy was a legal gun owner with all the appropriate permits, perhaps even a licence to carry concealed. Naturally, those details become unimportant when there are skull fragments on the walls and blood everywhere.

Yet, knowing full well that many cases of CCW permit holders-gone-bad go unreported, the gun crowd keeps repeating how law-abiding they are as a whole.

Another favorite theme of the gun crowd is that violence is going down, in spite of increased gun ownership over the last couple years.  When confronted with the fact that that's just not true, as in the case of Massachussets, they claim it proves their gun control laws don't work.

The fact is, the worsening domestic violence situation in The Bay State would be still worse if not for the strict gun laws.

According to statistics from Jane Doe Inc., a statewide coalition against domestic violence and sexual assaults, there have been 30 domestic violence homicide victims so far this year, and 15 “perpetrator suicides.’’

In all last year, there were 23 domestic violence homicide victims and five perpetrator suicides.

“This year, it’s almost an average of one a week,’’ said Toni Troop, spokeswoman for Jane Doe. “Research and experience proves that it’s predictable, so there needs to be a better effort at helping victims identify when they are in high-risk situations.’’
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

9 comments:

  1. "Not a word about the gun, whether it was legally owned "

    "It's incidents like this one which often overlook the fact that the guy was a legal gun owner "

    You're not very good at this, are you?

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  2. While domestic violence is no laughing matter.

    But if a gun owner decides to off himself, with his/her own gun. I don't see the harm. Just means one less gun owner, and that is a good thing. How we arrive at that point as a society makes no difference. With regards to eliminate gun kookery from society, it's the end that counts. Never ever the means.

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  3. You're getting less and less relevant with every bigoted comment you leave, BantheNRA. I'm pretty passionate about my position on this subject, but I've never wished death on an anti-gunner before. Your true colors are pretty ugly.

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  4. BantheNRA seems to sound an awful lot like Jade Gold.

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  5. Colin, I think I know what BantheNRA is talking about. Gun owners who shoot others and themselves are a problem in society. Tragic incidents like these reduce their number. That's not the same as "wishing death" on someone. That's observing the ironical benefit in a bloody and unnecessary situation, one which is made possible by guys like you who fight and struggle for lax gun laws.

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  6. Since the ends justify the means in our little civil rights debate, let me re-phrase this brilliant argument: I don't see the harm whenever one of you anti-gunners gets killed off by some thug since they refuse to carry a defensive handgun. Just means one less gun-grabber, which is a good thing. With regards to eliminating anti-rights bigots from society, it's the end that counts, never ever the means.

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  7. Colin, That's a brilliant comeback. It brings us face to face with one of the fundamental questions. Do guns do more harm than good? To me it's a no-brainer. When you add up all the gun misuse and compare it to the legitimate DGUs and factor in the ideas that unarmed people fall victim to gun violence but at the same time cannot misuse the guns they don't have, our side wins.

    I'm sure you see it differently, but this is one of the fundamental questions. That's why neither side should be disparaged for their opinion.

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  8. Individuals with legal gun permits aren't the main problems in a gun related crime. Do you know how many individuals carry illegally? How easy it is to go on the street and buy pretty much any type of gun you want? It wasn't the gun that took the lives of this family, it was the psycho that had it in his hand. I choose to fight for the second ammendment in our constitution when done in a "legal" manner.

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  9. Thanks Kathy, I agree with you that the bigger problem is criminals with guns. Often on this blog I'm talking about legitimate gun owners who misuse guns, but I'm well aware that the criminals who do that are a much larger group. The reason I often put my focus where I do is twofold.

    1. Legitimate gun owners are directly impacted by gun laws. By restricting guns and requiring several unpopular controls, we could eliminate many of the problem cases. I refer to them as the 10%.

    2. Criminals get their guns from legitimate gun owners. Guns are continually flowing from the good guys to the bad guys. Again with this, proper restrictions could significantly cut down on the flow, but those restrictions would necessarily be aimed at the lawful guys not the criminals.

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