New Orleans is Much Worse than Chicago

Gun Violence’s No. 1 Target: Black Children

Miami Herald

In the weeks since the Washington Navy Yard shooting, the city of New Orleans reached a tragic milestone.

All told, 108 people have been murdered in the Crescent City so far this year. In September two black girls, one 11 years old and the other age 2, were shot and killed. And earlier this year a national organization advocating for stricter gun control told the story of a black 10-year-old New Orleans boy who has been shot and seriously injured twice in his short life.

Although the national spotlight has remained fixed on mass shootings in Washington; Newtown, Conn.; and Aurora, Colo., as well as the gun violence coming out of Chicago, street crime and “ordinary” shootings that take one or two lives at a time are still disfiguring communities and putting black children and teens in particular peril. For black America the national gun debate is not about the shocking, but still relatively rare, mass shootings or the political gamesmanship that draws attention to the violence consuming President Barack Obama’s adopted hometown. Cities riddled with gun violence, such as New Orleans, are also located in states with some of the nation’s weakest gun laws. Those laws are costing children, particularly black children, their lives, gun control advocates say.

Across the country in 2012, gun violence was the second-leading cause of death for American children ages 7 to 19, according to a July report released by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF). But it constituted the No. 1 cause of death for black children and teens.

Between 1963 and 2010, nearly 60,000 black children and teenagers have been killed by guns. That means more than 17 times the number of black children have been killed by guns than the total number of black Americans lynched between 1862 and 1968, according to Caroline Fichtenberg, director of research at the CDF.

A growing group of gun control advocates say that in cities and states where gun laws make guns easier to buy, legal to carry and easy to sell without a background check are places where gun violence and homicides happen more frequently. In fact, the 10 states with the weakest gun laws collectively suffer gun violence at a rate twice as high as that of the 10 states with the nation’s strongest gun laws, according to an April analysis by the left-leaning Center for American Progress in Washington.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/07/3675520/gun-violences-no-1-target-black.html#storylink=cpy

In 2012 Chicago’s gun violence helped produce a murder rate of 18.7 deaths per 100,000 Windy City residents, according to federal data. But other communities grew far more violent. In New Orleans, for example, the murder rate reached 53.5 per 100,000.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/07/3675520_p2/gun-violences-no-1-target-black.html#storylink=cpy

Shooting of 14-year-old in New Orleans Ignites Passionate Debate

CNN further to our earlier post.

 

New Orleans Homeowner Charged with Attempted Murder after Shooting Unarmed Black 14-year-old

Merritt Landry, 33, of New Orleans, is facing a second-degree attempted murder charge after shooting Marshall Coulter in the head

The Daily Mail

A 14-year-old boy is in critical condition after a homeowner shot him in the head on suspicion that the child was about to rob his house.

Merritt Landry, 33, of New Orleans, is facing a second-degree attempted murder charge after shooting Marshall Coulter in the head at 2 a.m Friday.

The teen was unarmed and standing near Landry's vehicle, which was parked in the gated driveway in front of Landry's house on Mandeville Street, when he was shot. 

Police say the teen, who has a history of burglary arrests, did not pose an 'imminent threat,' according to the Times-Picayune. 

Landry claims otherwise, saying Coulter made a quick movement 'as if to reach for something,' so he shot him out of concern for his own safety, according to an arrest warrant. 

Coulter was shot from 30 feet away, according to evidence recovered at the scene. He can't move the left side of his body and doctors say if he survives, he will likely suffer severe brain damage. 

This could be interesting. The little thief was inside the shooter's gate. He made a threatening move.  I'm surprised the guy was even arrested.

By the way, he was a lawful gun owner perhaps with a concealed carry permit. No one checked.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

New Orleans Quadruple Shooting at Soldier's Going Away Party

New Orleans 5-Year-old Dead - Mom Arrested

MSNBC Discussion on the New Orleans Shooting

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Good discussion in which they almost, but not quite, hit the nail on the head. Guns start out the legal property of people who have a right to own them.  Then, through various means some of those guns end up in the criminal world. There is no other source of guns used in crime.  At this stage guns are not smuggled in the country in significant numbers since they are so readily available domestically and they are obviously not manufactured in people's basements very much for the same reason.

This brings us to the inescapable solution: strict gun control laws which are primarily aimed at law-abiding gun owners in order to secondarily impact on the availability of guns to criminals.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

17 Wounded in New Orleans during Mothers' Day Parade

Yahoo reports with video

Gunmen opened fire on dozens of people marching in a Mother's Day second-line parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 17 people, police said.

Police spokeswoman Remi Braden said in an email that many of the 17 victims were grazed and most of the wounds weren't life-threatening. No deaths were reported.

Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas told reporters that a 10-year-old girl was grazed in the shooting around 2 p.m. She was in good condition. He said three or four people were in surgery, but he didn't have their conditions.

Officers were interspersed with the marchers, which is routine for such events. As many as 400 people joined in the procession that stretched for about 3 blocks, though only half that many were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting, Serpas said.

Police saw three suspects running from the scene in the city's 7th Ward neighborhood. No arrests had been made as of late afternoon.

I guess La Pierre's nonsense about a good guy with a gun didn't work.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting of New Orleans 3-Year-old - Gun Owner Arrested

 Local news reports

A 37-year-old man was arrested Friday night for accidentally shooting a 3-year-old boy in the hand, the New Orleans Police Department reported. Terrance Robinson was booked with negligent injuring, illegal use of a weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's online records.

Terrance Robinson Orleans Parish Sheriff  

Robinson's bond was set Saturday at $50,000 for the three shooting-related charges, as well as $10,000 for an outstanding traffic attachment, records show.

He wasn't arrested for shooting the kid, he was arrested for being a felon in possession of a gun. Lawful gun owners shoot kids all the time and get away with it.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting in New Orleans - 15-Year-old Arrested

Local news reports

The NOPD arrested a 15-year-old boy accused of accidentally shooting his 11-year-old brother in the leg Thursday night. The 15-year-old will be booked on a charge of negligent injuring, said officer Frank Robertson III, spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department. 

The two brothers were playing with a loaded pistol around 7 p.m in the 2700 block of Onzaga Street. The pistol was accidentally fired, shooting the 11-year-old, Robertson said. The child has been taken to the hospital, where he is listed in stable condition.

Don't you find it odd that no adult is held responsible?

The Mayor of the Most Dangerous City in the US, Mitch Landrieu, is Outraged

via Protest Easy Guns

NOLA.com reports

 

You know what, after watching The Wire a couple of times, these interviews with the police chief and mayor don't seem the same as they used to.

Did you get the impression that these guys are talking about bringing these particular shooters to justice, but not about addressing the problem as a whole?

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting of New Orleans Baby - No Charges

 Local News reports

A 3-year-old girl was accidentally shot by a relative on Friday afternoon in St. Roch, New Orleans police said.

The accidental shooting happened about 2:30 p.m. in the 2000 block of Franklin Avenue. 

Police said the toddler was shot in the foot by her great aunt, 52-year-old Elaine Lee, when she was playing with the gun at her home.

What do you think?

Halloween in New Orleans - 2 Dead Many Wounded

Yahoo News reports

Violence marred Halloween night in New Orleans, with two men killed and more than a dozen others wounded in five separate shootings, including incidents on Bourbon Street in the city's famous French Quarter and on nearby Canal Street.

In another story, the mayor had this to say.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu at a press conference Tuesday said a "culture of violence" that involves young black men with illegal guns has plagued the city and must be stopped.

Isn't that a riot, "black men with illegal guns?"

Those "black men with illegal guns" are like the users of heroin. But at least in the ill-advised War on Drugs we have enough integrity to admit it's not the end user who's the problem. It's the dealers and the suppliers.

It's the same thing with the gun problem. The criminals who use guns badly should be stopped, just like their heroin-injecting cousins, but the focus needs to be on the source of the guns. Failing to do that would be like blaming the street junkie fo the billion-dollar drug business that continues unabated.

Gun availability to unfit people is the problem, and it's a preventable one.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Domestic Shooting in Baton Rouge

Another Louisiana shooting is reported today in the news. It's your run-of-the-mill domestic squabble.

Although we've been seeing a mention or two of Louisiana incidents in the media lately, it still seems a far cry from what it should be compared to Chicago and Baltimore. NOLA alone has three or four murders a week.

Why are they so under-reported?

Please leave a comment.

Gun Assault in South Dakota

It's the same all over. Even in South Dakota gun-owning bullies abuse their ex-girlfriends. Israel David Suarez of Sioux Falls was arrested after pulling a gun on his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

Police found Suarez at his residence and, after obtaining a search warrant, also discovered a .32-caliber handgun there. Police also found other rifles, a shotgun that had its barrel partially sawed off, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

In addition to the two aggravated assault charges, Suarez faces one count of possession of a controlled weapon because of the sawed-off shotgun, as well as marijuana and paraphernalia charges, Clemens said.

Do you think this guy will lose his right to own guns? Do you think he should?

If this keeps up, the Dakotas will be right up there with the rest of the country. But, one thing for sure is you can't go by what stories make it into the main stream media. New Orleans for instance, is practically never in the news for gun incidents. Other than those Katrina shootings on the bridge by the cops, there's nothing. Yet, NOLA is one of the deadliest cities in the country.

Compare that to Chicago or Baltimore. Every single day you can read about their gun troubles. What do you think accounts for this disparity? It's odd, isn't it?

Please leave a comment.

New Orleans Police Shooting

Nola.com reports on another New Orleans police shooting.

Three New Orleans police officers shot and killed a 17-year-old youth Sunday night in the St. Roch neighborhood after he allegedly pointed and leveled an assault rifle at the officers.

The coroner's office determined that Jamyrin Points was shot 12 times, all in the back of his body.

"He had wounds in the back parts of his leg, in the upper area of his back, and one in the back of the head," said Dr. Frank Minyard, the Orleans Parish coroner, Monday. "I don't know what happened. All I know is that all 12 wounds came in from the back part of his body."

You would think that cops who have had so much bad press lately would be more careful.

The shooting comes amid heavy scrutiny of the police force and its use of deadly force. The FBI has at least eight criminal investigations into alleged NOPD misconduct, most of which center on police shootings in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice's special litigation section is conducting a wide-scale assessment of the police force and its practices and policies.

It's interesting that a city with one of the worst murder rates also has one of the worst police forces. Do you think they're related?

Please leave a comment.

More on the New Orlean's Police

WWLTV.com has the story, which gets more and more twisted all the time.

Friday Evening in New Orleans

Nola.com's Ramon Antonio Vargas reports on the unusual spate of shootings which took place on Friday night.

Marking an exceptionally bloody 11-hour period in New Orleans, 12 people were shot in seven separate attacks between 3 p.m., Friday, and 2 a.m., Saturday, local authorities said.

Two of the victims -- Charlie Johnson Jr., 31, and David Handy, 19, both of New Orleans -- died from their injuries, New Orleans police said.

Despite near-constant rain -- the sort of weather that tends to keep outlaws indoors -- gunfire erupted across town, from eastern New Orleans to Central City and Gentilly to Algiers, and taxed paramedics beyond any experience in recent memory, said Dr. Jullette Saussy, director New Orleans Emergency Medical Services.

It's interesting that when this kind of thing happens in Chicago or Newark, the pro-gun crowd is quick to say it proves the gun laws don't work in those cities. They never mention New Orleans though, which most years leads the nation in murders per capita, and enjoys some of the most lax gun laws in the country.

The last time a dozen people were shot in a single day was Mardi Gras, with seven victims wounded in a shootout along the St. Charles Avenue parade route.

I don't know if that's clear enough. The Mardi Gras they're talking about was just a few months ago, it was earlier this year.

It seems to me we're all becoming jaded to the fact that criminal gun play is rampant in our major cities. It's hardly newsworthy any more. The pro-gun crowd is carrying on about their rights and demanding what they call "freedom," while young criminals find it easier and easier to get guns.

The connection between the two seemingly disparate worlds is a direct one. Those guns used in 12 shootings during one Friday evening in the Big Easy all started out as the legal property of some gun dealer. Then, by various means those guns found their way into the criminal world. What's the lawful gun owner's response? "Well, I don't know nothin'. I didn't do anything wrong."

The fact is somebody's doing something wrong, and if you could follow the gun back to its origins you'd see that that somebody is a so-called lawful gun owner or gun dealer. I say to them, take responsibility for what's yours. Take responsibility for the mess that's going on in places like New Orleans.

What's your opinion?

New Orleans the Murder Capital

wwltv.com reported a couple months ago that New Orleans is once again the murder capital of the United States.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley says the population count used to calculate the New Orleans murder rate is not accurate.

"We believe that there is a significant increase in our population with the undocumented workers who are not counted," said Riley.

But, two sets of population estimates show the Crescent City ahead of St. Louis, Baltimore, Birmingham, Jackson, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, which ranked 7th on the list.

Using the FBI's numbers of just over 281,000, New Orleans had 64 murders per 100,000 people.

Using the recent census figure of close to 312,000 people, the city had 57 murders per 100,000.

Chief Riley uses what he considers to be the flawed number to make the point New Orleans is reducing its murder rate.

“We were at 75 per 100,000 back in 2006, 70 in 2007 and if use the best numbers for 2008, the best population numbers of 311,000, we were at 57 per 100,000," said Riley. "Clearly there is still a problem."

I think Superintendent Riley is as good at spinning the numbers as some of our pro-gun friends. He only used the "best numbers" as he called them for 2008. But as some observers said, whether it's 57 or 64 per 100,000, New Orleans is one dangerous city.

In the several articles I looked at about this story which was released in June, there was no mention of guns. Is that because Louisiana is a gun friendly state and they don't like to blame the problem on the easy access of guns? Or is it as many of our commenters say, that the "tool" used to commit murder is not important?

I think it's very important. I think it makes all the difference. And I ask you who say gun trafficking to the northern cities is not a factor, when looking at New Orleans, where do you suppose their guns come from? Do you think they are trafficked in from New Jersey? Or are they bought locally from legitimate dealers and end up in criminal hands?

What's your opinion?

What's Wrong With New Orleans?

Once again our friend Microdot was on the case, alerting me to this headline story. But when I went to check it out, look what else I found.

Terrytown killing spree unfolded in apartment of slain boy's mother 7:00 PM

Woman stunned with Taser, jailed after tussle with cops; Also 'executed' were teen-aged baby-sitter, her toddler; Wounded 11-year-old girl in stable condition.

Man shot dead Saturday night on St. Louis Street 10:36 PM
Father of slain toddler mourns a young life cut short 10:15 PM
Covington man's body found in Tchefuncte River 9:53 PM
Ethical issues often arise with New Orleans subcontractors 9:47 PM
Brutal killing of cab company owner unnerves St. Tammany drivers 9:39 PM
New Orleans woman accused in prison heroin conspiracy 9:03 PM

Is this a typical day in New Orleans? I haven't followed their news enough to know. Maybe this is typical news in every major city in America but this particular site reports it better. What do you think?

I see there's much more than gun crime here. We've got at least one knife murder, and of course there's the heroin and crack cocaine elements. What does it all mean? Should cab drivers be armed? Should the regular citizens? Is that the immediate answer?

The root problems seem to be criminal violence and drugs. What can we do about that? Is arming more of the good guys the immediate answer, like some of our friends keep saying? I can certainly understand that response. I must admit, if I lived there or had to do my work there, I might consider it myself. Would that make me part of the problem? Would I then be contributing to the maelstrom of gun violence that seems to be escalating all across America?

What's your opinion?