New Yorker Arrested for Playing with a Toy Gun in the Park

Dropped Gun Death Results in Lawsuit against Gun Dealer and Gun Manufacturer

Local news reports

The family of a Springfield, Vt., man who died when a revolver he accidentally dropped fired a bullet that struck him in the head has sued the shop where he purchased the weapon and several gun manufacturers, claiming a faulty safety mechanism allowed the discharge.

The estate of Edward Davis, 39, who died in 2010 while trying to show the revolver to his mother, is seeking compensation from the Alstead Gun Shop and various firearms companies, alleging he was sold a defective product.

In an interview, Ed Van Dorn, the Davis family’s attorney, said that Davis is not to blame for the incident. Van Dorn said it is relatively common for people to drop guns — he cited a New Hampshire lawmaker who dropped his concealed firearm during a legislative hearing in 2012 — without having them fire.

The lawsuit features 10 claims, including negligence, breach of warranty and misrepresentation of the gun’s safety, and focuses on a hammer block that failed to prevent the gun from firing. The gun has been identified in court papers as a Uberti Regulator SAA Revolver, which was modeled on old Colt revolvers, Van Dorn said.

A dropped gun is always an interesting story. I love the way gun-rights fanatics insist that modern guns cannot fire when dropped.  I guess this one doesn't count being a replica of an older model.

Another interesting angle is the shirking of responsibility that the law suit implies. 

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

New Jersey Hostage Taker Dead

Yahoo News reports

Police stormed a New Jersey home early Sunday and fatally shot a registered sex offender who had held his girlfriend's three children hostage, ending their 37-hour ordeal and recovering the bodies of the captives' mother and another sibling, authorities said.

They found 38-year-old Gerald "Skip" Tyrone Murphy in an upstairs bedroom and he told them he was armed with a gun and explosives and had three children with him, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. said. Officers noticed one of the dead victims before they retreated from the second floor and rescued Stevens' 19-year-old son from the basement, who said he hadn't seen her or his siblings since about April 24.

Murphy had a long criminal history including convictions for aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy, Bocchini said. He had previously been arrested for robbery and weapons offenses and child endangerment. He also had an arrest warrant in Pennsylvania for failing to register as a sex offender.

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.

Today's bullet points!

You should believe what we believe because...

 

I'm sorry, but I have heard your "arguments" before and find them highly unpersuasive.

I prefer intelligence to ignorance and well documented to "just 'cos".

Texas 5-Year-old Shot in the Head - No One Held Accountable

CBS reports

Denton police are investigating what they’re calling an accidental shooting of a 5-year-old boy. It happened close to noon on Saturday while the two boys were in a bedroom alone at a home in 2700 block of Stockton Street in Denton. 

Police say an 8-year-old accidentally shot the 5-year-old in the head with a .22 caliber rifle while they were playing.

Two adults and a teenager were inside the house when the shooting happened. 

The 5-year-old victim was taken to Denton Regional Medical Center ED by the Denton Fire Department and then flown by CareFlite to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. 

He is presently on a ventilator at this time.

Day in and day out, kids are dropping like flies. The immediate fault is that of the gun owners who leave their guns loaded and accessible to kids.  The secondary fault is that of the gun-rights fanatics who fight so strenuously to keep gun laws lax. And, last but not least, I blame the NRA and the gun manufacturers for the same reason, except unlike the gun-rights folks, whose motivation is convenience for themselves, the NRA and gun manufacturers have a pure profit motive.

None of them, not the gun-owning parents, not the gun-rights supporters and certainly not the NRA and gun manufacturers, care enough about the victims of gun violence to do anything about it.

Shame on them all.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Julian Cope: World Shut Your Mouth

The BBC World Service has a programme called World Have your Say, those who know me know that I would prefer it this way:


Of course, really good, useful comments are always welcome.

But, I'm not holding my breath to see them.

Anyone who lives near Avebury and is “a fierce critic of contemporary Western society (with a noted and public interest in occultism, paganism and Goddess worship)” who went to School in Liverpool can’t be all bad.