Cleveland Dog Shooter Sentenced to 23 Years

Raymone "Ramone" Clements

Cleveland.com reports

A Cleveland man accused of shooting a dog tied to a tree in Cleveland Heights was sentenced today in federal court to almost 23 years in prison on related firearms charges. 



At the end of a four-day trial in April, a jury took 45 minutes to convict the 42-year-old tattoo artist of being a felon in illegal possession of a gun and ammunition. 


The two firearms charges stemmed from accusations that Clements tied a bullmastiff to a tree in a Cleveland Heights park last November and then fired four shots at the dog, striking the animal twice.


At today's hearing, Clements denied that the gun and ammunition belonged to him and blamed a friend for shooting the dog.

Clements has spent 16 years in prison for two rapes, aggravated robbery, drug trafficking, drug possession and receiving stolen property. 

Maybe we should give this guy the same benefit of the doubt many people are giving George Zimmerman. After all those years in prison, perhaps he's learned his lesson. Maybe his friend really did shoot the dog. And let's face it, no one should be punished for exercising his god-given, basic-human, 2nd-amendment-protected right to own a gun.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

Cleveland Woman Shot and Killed by Security Guard "Accidentally"

Local news reports 

Lawful Cleveland Gun Owner Shoots Daughter and Kills Himself

Local news reports

The preliminary investigation reveals that a 46-year-old man, Robert Arnold, shot his 12-year-old daughter in the chest then turned the gun on himself and took his own life. 

Cops say the child called 911. She was rushed to Metro for treatment. She is listed in stable condition.

Neighbors tell 19 Action News that Arnold was a guy who pretty much kept to himself. "He's a pretty nice guy, you know?" neighbor John Greg said. "Like I said, everybody has their problems. He had his moments and, you know, that's the way it goes."

Arnold's daughter was at the home for a weekend visit.

He may or may not have had a concealed carry permit too. No one checked.

Cleveland, Ohio - Gun Violence

Cleveland.com reports on the dire situation there.

The pace of shooting deaths in the Cleveland area has stalled slightly in the past three years, some say because of stepped-up efforts by local and federal law enforcement agencies to remove illegal guns from the urban center.

Police confiscated more than 3,200 guns from the city streets from 2008 through 2010. People voluntarily turned over 488 more guns during the city's last two gun buyback programs.

So far so good. A slight improvement or stalling is good, right.

But police believe that for every gun they take off the streets, hordes of cheap, illegal guns appear to replace them. The death and injury toll attributed to firearms is still overwhelming, with more than 277 -- mostly minority men and boys -- being gunned down since 2008. And more often, it seems, teens are the ones with the guns.

In a 10-day span beginning July 26, seven people were shot and killed in the city -- five of them were under age 25.

So where are all these guns coming from? "Hordes" of them are coming in. Well, the story goes on to mention straw purchasing as one of the sources. "Some are stolen and others are purchased with no background check at gun and knife shows -- like ones held almost monthly at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds."

But, none of that really gets to the heart of the matter. The guns, all the guns, come from lawful gun owners. They all start out manufactured legally and transferred to FFL gun dealers, and after that in various ways, flow into the criminal world.

This is why gun control laws must be aimed at the lawful gun owners, that's where the problem is. Either through apathy, or greed, or stupidity, they are allowing this.

How can we prevent it, you ask? Well it's simple.

1. Background checks on every firearm transfer.
2. Licensing of every gunowner, which requires written, practical and mental health exams.
3. Registration of every gun bought. The licensed owner of the gun will have to renew the registration after three months and yearly thereafter, showing proof of possession.

Those are the main things, after which we can talk about magazine capacity and safe storage laws.

What's your opinion? Would gun control laws like those improve the situation in cities like Cleveland, yes or no?

Please leave a comment.