Local news reports
Simply put, this is yet another so-called lawful gun owner who showed his true colors. A guy like this, before being caught acting out, could best be called a "hidden criminal." Gun owners who drink too much, who settle disputes with guns, cannot rightly be called law-abiding even if they'd not yet been convicted of anything.
According to Woodland police Sgt. Brett Hancock, Woodland resident Steven Ray James, 57, had gone to another residence on Johnston Street near Depot Street and fired a number of shots into a residence and a Chevrolet. No one was hurt.Upon further investigation, it was learned the shooting occurred as a result of an ongoing civil dispute over the Chevrolet, Hancock said.
James was later transported and booked at the Yolo County Jail for the felony discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, the felony discharge of a firearm at an inhabited dwelling and for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
The gun-rights folks want us to maintain an attitude of "innocent until proven guilty," which is fair enough. But they should not insist that all who have not yet been proven guilty are truly innocent. That's why we have that middle category called "hidden criminals."
Next comes the question of how big is this category. When forced to admit its existence, the next ploy used by the pro-gun crowd is to minimize the numbers. Insignificant, they say, negligible even.
I don't agree. What do you think?
Please leave a comment.
No, you haven't forced us to admit anything. He was lawful until he committed a crime. That's the legal principle under which a free society has to operate. You yammer on about how you support freedom and then you tell us all the ways that you don't really believe in it.
ReplyDeleteBut let's also note that this occurred in the Brady Bunch's gold star state. Why is it that we keep seeing bad acts committed in a gun-control paradise? Could it be that gun control doesn't work? Of course, presented with failure, your answer is to try more of the same.
That's why we're winning.
stupidity wins for a long, long time in the usa-that's obvious.
ReplyDeleteeventually common sense will win out-and re:guns, looks like the end is near as americans are waking up and demanding an end to the slaughter..........tom webber
miami
You mean that Americans are waking up to the degree of control that their government has over them and are pushing back.
DeleteI think mikeb needs to stop making up terms like "hidden criminal". Really? Either are or you are not.Guilty or Not Guilty. You want to make moral and integrity judgment by all means do. But just because person may drink too much, or has bad morals doesn't mean thier rights stop. It stops when a person like Mr. james is accused breaking the law himself. When you wrote your piece you acted like all the Gun owners in the country supports this kind of behavior. I can tell you with most certainty, they do not.
ReplyDeleteyou wrote
"But they should not insist that all who have not yet been proven guilty are truly innocent. That's why we have that middle category called "hidden criminals."
Are you Innocent Mikeb? Do you have a clean soul? I am not. I have made mistakes in my life. Not ones as egregious as Mr. James. Should I be allowed to own a gun? How innocent do you have to be in your world to own a weapon?
In his view, you have to show that you'll never commit a crime in the future. The fact that this is impossible is so much the better. Then, only cops and criminals will have guns, and we've seen how reliable each of those are.
DeleteNo, Greg, it's exactly in keeping with the "innocent until proven guilty" claim that I say "one strike you're out."
DeleteFuck up with a gun once, lose your gun rights. Everybody wins.
If by "fuck up" (you like that word, seemingly), you mean cause negligent or intentional harm to another person, I agree. This knucklehead meets that standard. That's the legal standard for crimes generally.
DeleteWe have Ted Nugent, convicted of not one but two crimes while hunting on the board of the NRA -- NOT, clearly, a law abiding gun owner.
ReplyDeleteThen we have all the gun owners who have committed misdemeanors, including often alcohol related offenses. Because they haven't committed felonies, we are asked to believe they are law abiding, when clearly they aren't.
Then we have all of the domestic abusers who aren't convicted only because while the police know damn well from numerous calls and interventions that these are not law abiding people, they haven't been hauled into court or jailed because the women they beat into a pulp are too afraid to press charges -- but hey, the gun zombiez want us to believe all of them are law abiding as well, when they aren't.
No one is suggesting that we require proof you will never commit a crime to own a gun, but we are positing that it is possible to screen for those with violent misdemeanors, or misdemeanors and arrests that indicate a dangerous predisposition for violence, bad judgment, including really poor impulse control in conjunction with frequent/regular use and abuse of alcohol or other chemical consumables.
The gun zombies have to dishonestly and inaccurately try to define the discussion because they know damn well that too many gun owners are bad gun owners, tragedies just waiting to happen.
They keep trying to pretend that the U.S. gun culture isn't an epic fail.
Too bad, too late, it is a complete and total failure.
Dog Gone, violent misdemeanors and alcohol offenses disqualify someone from legally owning a gun. We know that these proposals are already law. You're either ignorant or deliberately dishonest.
Delete"Then we have all of the domestic abusers who aren't convicted only because while the police know damn well from numerous calls and interventions that these are not law abiding people, they haven't been hauled into court or jailed because the women they beat into a pulp are too afraid to press charges -- but hey, the gun zombiez want us to believe all of them are law abiding as well, when they aren't"
DeleteSo we should just punish everybody then? This is your solution. Get real dog gone. Punish every one because the system fails. Can hardley punish abusiers when there is no evidence. It's Justice 101 there dog gone. no evidence no trial. I am not blaming the victim, but there is very little for the police to do when there isn't anything to work with. Maybe it not the gun laws that need to be fixed. It may be thse other laws that need to be. How about forcing the Government to actually do its job and the update the mental health and crime records. Or maybe actually getting evidence that abuse is happening. That would be worth the governments time than making new laws that they won't enforce anyways and that puts a burden on gun owners.
"You're either ignorant or deliberately dishonest."
DeleteLook at her history. Deliberately dishonest seems more likely in that light.
Cowardly slugs in the NRA are basically paranoid wacks. They see danger everywhere, but the danger is in themselves. By arming the world, they have brought into effect that thing they fear the most - an armed world. If you are a gun owner, you are already a wack.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I'm armed, and you, presumably, are not. I'm not giving up my guns. But what you fail to understand is that we've always been an armed society. It's your side that's trying to change things. Fortunately, your side is losing.
Deleteand you are a fool to think that stronger gun laws will protect you.
DeleteAnybody else notice this guy appears to match the NRA archetype?
ReplyDeleteOld white flabby and very very crabby......
If you're going to toss insults, you should post a full-length picture of yourself and not hide behind a Frankophile slut's painting.
DeleteSo let me get this straight don gone.. You get to profile and be derogatory toward gun owners and members of the NRA,its alright, but when Gerg C and other gun owners say something about the Brady Campaign, VPC its unexcusable. Whats the word I am looking for?.. ohh yea.. hypocrite.
DeleteGreg Camp said..."...not hide behind a Frankophile slut's painting."
DeleteLOL. I find it humorous that she is so critical of the South and puts herself on a pedestal, but identifies herself with an adulterer from Louisiana
She's just like the plantation owners in the antebellum South, wondering why lesser people question their betters. She should have chosen a picture of Scarlett O'Hara as her image.
DeleteThis leaves the rest of us as Rhett Butler. Quite frankly, Dog, we don't give a damn.
Admit it, Dog Gone is right. This guy fits the stereotype.
DeleteDo you know what a stereotype is? A hasty generalization. That logical fallacy is at the heart of most racism. It forms the basis of a lot of sloppy thinking. So no, I'm not going to participate in a fallacy.
DeleteGreg, for a teacher YOU'RE pretty sloppy with definitions. Does a "stereotype" need to be "hasty?"
DeleteYou're calling me sloppy? You know little to nothing about guns, gun laws, the English language, American history beyond what Howard Zinn has to say, and on and on. Look up the fallacy of the hasty generalization. It's a technical term, yet another thing that amazes you. (Look up the roots of "amaze.")
Delete