Monday, February 21, 2011

Utah: Double Murder - Suicide Attempt

In southern Utah, near the border of Nevada, you've got one of the worst areas in the country for domestic abuse. Over there, guns are bad news for women.
An apparent domestic dispute disrupted the calm of a Washington City neighborhood Friday, as horrified neighbors saw a mother and her son gunned down in their driveway about a block southeast of the city's Community Center.

Michelle Jones, 42, and Owen Christopher Ellis, 19, were killed at the scene and Jones' husband, Richard "Rick" Jones, 46, was later found with what appears to be a self-inflicted gun shot wound to the head, Washington City Chief of Public Safety Jim Keith said.

Rick Jones survived the shooting and was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center, then to University Medical Center in Las Vegas where he was listed in critical condition Saturday night, UMC spokeswoman Danita Cohen said.
What's your opinion? Is there a down side to all that "freedom" they have out west?

Please leave a comment.

11 comments:

  1. That women and her spawn could of been packing as well if they wanted to protect themselves.

    There is no issue here!

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  2. Should have filed a restraining order. That would have showed him.

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  3. A study of women physically abused by current or former intimate partners found a five-fold
    increased risk of the partner murdering the woman when the partner owned a gun.

    Domestic violence is a scourge in our country, and it gets particularly deadly when guns are around.

    If you are a woman whose partner owns guns and your partner starts to show signs of abusive behavior, assume the worst and get out. It can save your life.

    Get the facts on domestic abuse and guns:
    http://endabuse.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/Guns.pdf

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  4. Two nights ago we had an apparent murder/suicide in my community(the 3rd in half a year!) involving a man and woman who lived together. No details yet, but I suspect domestic violence gone (even more) wrong.
    http://www.kval.com/news/local/116556363.html

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  5. These facts are correct Baldr and your advice to those being abused is as well.

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  6. In my state a person convicted of domestic violence forfiets their right to own firearms.

    On the other hand, a firearm in the hands of a 90 pound, trained, responsible, female, tips the scales against even a 300 pound, enraged, A-hole.

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  7. Travis: Problem is--the 300# A-hole probably has the gun. Gunloons are predominantly fat, white dudes who have problems with women.

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  8. Jade- If they would take action the first time that fat, white, gunloon lays a hand on them, the cops would show up, taser his butt, haul him to jail, and part him from his weapon. Sadly this is not always the case. My ex was in an abusive relationship. I didn't find out about it until I showed up to get her and my daughters things and saw the bruises around her throat.
    Rapists and other abusers of women most often use only their fists to control their victims. More often than guns, they use knives, or lengths of rope or stocking around the neck for compliance. Are you actually concerned about violence against women or do they only garner your support when it serves your shallow cause?

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  9. Travis, Violence against women is exacerbated with the presence of guns, and that's true even if the gun is hers.

    It's the same foolish argument you guys keep using about violence in general. It's made worse when guns are involved and the comparatively rare incidents of DGUs don't change that.

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  10. Thanks for allowing my comment and responding.

    Yes, guns in the hands of Bad or Unstable people certainly exacerbate instances of violence.

    In 2009(FBI), Guns were used in 37 percent of Murders, Aggravated Assaults, Robberies, and Reported Rapes. Off the top of my head, thats more than 400,000 times.(And yes, they were used in two-thirds of the 10,000 or so homicides) However that still leaves 800,000 crimes of violence that were not facilitated by firearms.
    Guns are much more tangible than other factors that drive crime like Soci-Economic disparity, the Drug Trade, and the break-down of the family unit, to name a few. This makes them easy targets, and presents an equally easy solution for you guys to get on-board with.
    Somehow eliminating guns would mean that less people would get shot certainly, but without addressing the root causes that drive crime, only the nature of crimes would change, not the numbers.
    In short, being only against guns would be like Mothers Against Drunk Driving mounting a campaign against Cars.
    That is what frustrates me about your viewpoint.
    Thanks.

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  11. Anonymous, First of all you have some of your numbers wrong. There are annually 13,000 murders by gun, approximately.

    But the main thing I want to comment on is your idea that we're focusing on guns to the exclusion of all other initiatives to combat crime. That's not it al all. We are ALSO trying to keep violent criminals in jail, and improve the education system. We're trying to address the complex problems of unemployment and inner-city poverty. PLUS, we want to get guns out of the hands of criminals.

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