Kids and Guns

The Universary of Michigan has a very informative site about kids and guns. I got to thinking after Weer'd's comment the other day when we were talking about the young Arizona shooter. Weer'd said the following:

"Add in a media frenzy over a VERY rare and unique story (That right there is the exception that proves Mike is barking up the wrong tree. How many children live in houses with guns? How many crimes of this sort do we see? Did THIS crime even occor??)"

Here's what the University of Michigan posted, attributing the stats to the National Safety Council.

• In 1999, 3,385 kids ages 0-19 years were killed with a gun. This includes homicides, suicides, and unintentional injuries.
• This is equivalent to about 9 deaths per day, a figure commonly used by journalists.
• The 3,385 firearms-related deaths for age group 0-19 years breaks down to:
  • 214 unintentional
  • 1,078 suicides
  • 1,990 homicides
  • 83 for which the intent could not be determined
  • 20 due to legal intervention
• Of the total firearms-related deaths:
  • 73 were of children under five years old
  • 416 were children 5-14 years old
  • 2,896 were 15-19 years old

I appreciated their transparency in categorizing the tragic figures by age bracket. I guess they agree with Bob S., who pointed out recently that the older teenagers should be considered in a different way from the younger kids.

The questions arise, in Weer'd's words, "How many children live in houses with guns? How many crimes of this sort do we see?" I suppose his point is there are millions of households with kids and guns and only about 500 deaths a year. Did I hear that right: "ONLY about 500 deaths a year?" That's not counting the 15 to 19 year-olds because they're presumed to be gang members and druggies. But the truth is at least some of them should be counted with the "children."

My opinion is, I don't care how many households there are with guns and kids, for me that 500 is way too many. How about you?

The next question to arise is, obviously, what can be done about this. I've heard the incredible advice that one should teach the kids to be gun-proof and then one wouldn't have to worry. Here's what the article says about that.

What if I've taught my kids not to touch a gun if they find one?
A number of studies [9], [10], [11], [12], suggest that even kids who are trained not to touch guns can't resist, and that parents have unrealistic expectations about their kids' behavior around guns.

Where does that leave us? We could follow the oft-proffered advice to gun owners, repeated several times in this article. Guns should be kept locked and stored separately from the ammunition. Now, even I can see that's not going to work. There's no point in having the damn gun in the first place if you do that.

I'm sorry to report that we're left with only one solution:

How can I keep my child safe from gun injury?
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the best way to keep your child or teen safe from gun injury or death, is to never have a gun in your home, especially not a handgun.

What's your opinion? Do you think the University of Michigan has an agenda other than children's safety in preparing an article like this? What about the National Safety Council, are they biased against guns and therefore "cooking" the numbers? Do you think the American Academy of Pediartics is up to no good here?

Please leave a comment.

George Carlin on Toy Guns

George Carlin Predicts the Future

Montana Trying to Abolish the Death Penalty.

I saw this report today on Talk Left.

From the New West Politics site we have the following wonderful news.

With a 27 to 23 vote, Montana State senators on Tuesday approved a bill that would abolish capital punishment. Montana is one of 36 states that currently has the death penalty and bill sponsor, Democrat Dave Wanzenried of Missoula, hopes that will change. His bill would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For me that's a little too close for comfort. The bill, sponsored by the Democrats and opposed by the Republicans, must pass another vote before heading to the House.

As reasons, Wanzenried cited the facts that keeping someone on death row is costly and cumbersome, with appeals of the sentence wearing on a victim’s family. Why is it that no one seems to talk about the inherent contradiction in killing someone for killing someone? If the first act is wrong, how can it be addressed by the same kind of wrong? Is this too philosophical to sell to people?

Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director of the NACDP (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty) posted a statement on Google News yesterday.

In her statement, Ms. Rust-Tierney mentions the oppressive costs as well as the awful prospect of executing an innocent person. She mentioned the stress caused on the victim's family, as did the Montana Senator. They both mentioned that with a life sentence without the possibility of parole, you have an immediate conclusion, or at least as soon as a trial can be undertaken, whereas with the death penalty you have nearly interminable appeals and decades of waiting for the final result.

I hadn't thought of that as a benefit. Do you think that would work? I don't. Aren't the surviving family members usually interested in vengeance, or as they often describe it, "justice?" A life sentence just wouldn't do it for them, regardless of how quickly it's delivered. The sad irony is that I don't believe the execution gives them satisfaction either.

Missing in the comments of Diann Rust-Tierney, in my opinion, is that elusive idea of the death penalty just being wrong, morally and ethically.

Someone who gets it exactly right is Aundre Herron. The following text accompanies the video on Youtube.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration held its first of three public hearings on California's broken death penalty on January 10, 2008. Representatives from California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty spoke at the hearing, including former prosecutor Aundre Herron. In this video, Herron describes her initial reactions to her brother's brutal murder, as well as why the death penalty does not help victims. To learn more about Aundre's story, and the stories of other victim survivors, visit: www.californiacrimevictims.org



What's your opinion? Is there something to that idea of giving the family members quicker results by abolishing the Death Penalty and finalizing the whole awful business with a speedy trial and a life sentence? Would that be less traumatic and stressful for them?

What about the cost? Often people say keeping someone in prison is too expensive, we should just execute them. But with our "broken" system, it actually costs more to bring a murderer to the point of execution. What do you think about that? Should we just fix the system to make it more expetitious and more cost-effective?

Or should be abolish the Death Penalty?

Security Guard Guillermo Zarabozo Guilty in Joe Cool Murder

The Miami Herald reports that the Hialeah security guard Guillermo Zarabozo was found guilty of murder in the Joe Cool case, which we've discussed before.

[The] one-time security guard, Miami-Dade police applicant, CIA wannabe -- didn't flinch as 16 guilty verdicts for four murders and other crimes on the high seas were read aloud in a federal courtroom Thursday.

The Hialeah High School grad -- his tearful mother, head bowed, seated a few rows behind him -- faces spending the rest of his life in prison for the 2007 fatal shootings of four Miami Beach charter boat crew members.

Zarabozo, 21, convicted of conspiracy, murder, hijacking, kidnapping, robbery and using a firearm in those crimes, will be sentenced May 6. Jurors deliberated for eight hours over two days in the retrial, reaching verdicts in lightning speed compared to the first trial in September, which ended with a hung jury and four guilty verdicts thrown out.

One of my theories is that at 19 years of age, Zarabozo was duped by the older Kirby Archer into participating in the ill-fated Joe Cool adventure. All that talk of clandestine operations in Cuba and whatever else might have been promised would have been enough to spin the head of any young CIA wannabe. I felt leniency for young Guillermo was in order, but the jury disagreed.

One thing I would like to make clear, lest anyone think I'm obsessed with idea of gun availability, that guns are the problem, and all that. In this case we've got the kind of premeditation that does not rely on gun availability. Guys like these, or at least Archer, would be able to commit murder even if guns were diminished by 90%.

What this story does illustrate however is how a lawful gun owner, one licensed as a security guard to carry a weapon, can go bad. This is the second type of "flow," the first being of weapons, this one being of people. How rare is it, is the only question.

What's your opinion? Do you think Zarabozo ended up killing two of the victims himself? Do you think he received a proper conviction? What sentence do you predict on May 6th?

Please feel free to leave a comment.

Arizona Boy Pleads Guilty

CNN ran the story today of what may be the final twist in this bizarre case.

A 9-year-old Arizona boy charged with fatally shooting his father and another man pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of negligent homicide under terms of a plea agreement that does not specify jail time but places him on "intensive probation."

The boy, who was 8 when the deaths took place in November, entered the plea in an Apache County (Arizona) Superior Court hearing. In exchange for the plea, two counts of murder were dropped.

When we discussed this case before, one of the main points everyone agreed upon was that the police and prosecutors didn't do right by the boy. We also thoroughly covered the question of what age a person must be in order to be held responsible for their actions, but on that we came up with quite varying ideas.

Here's a video which aired on local TV a while back. It certainly illustrates the twists and turns this case has taken.



What we haven't mentioned in reference to this shooting, I suppose because there were so many other fascinating elements, is the availability of the gun he used and how that might have played a part. The old argument about the gun just being another tool and if someone really wants to kill, they can find a way to do it, for me is total nonsense. Perhaps "total" is too strong. It's nonsense though, and for the simple reason that most murders are not like that at all. Even in cases were there is some degree of premeditation, the extreme efficacy of a gun as a killing "tool" often makes the difference. The old argument that the killer will always find a way to kill only works in those rare cases, percentage-wise, in which the killer is clearly determined to do the deed. In most cases, there are swirling emotions, mixed feelings, second thoughts. In some cases, it's a completely spur-of-the-moment act. In all of these the availability of the gun is critical.

When this 8-year-old boy decided to put an end to the spankings, or to lash out at his dad for some other reason, if there had been no gun around, if he had not been raised in a gun-saturated environment, everyone would be alive today, perhaps receiving the psychological help they need.

Instead we've got this mess. There's your gun culture.

On the other hand, maybe he didn't even do it, as S suggests.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Toledo's Bible Reading Kidnapper

I saw this bizarre story on the Alan Colmes' Liberaland site.

Here's the story from the Toledo Blade.

A 34-year-old man accused of holding a woman captive in his West Toledo apartment for three days and reading Bible passages to her will be arraigned Tuesday in Toledo Municipal Court.

Troy Brisport of 4127 Secor Rd., Apt. 105 was charged with kidnapping and felonious assault, police said. He was being held without bond Monday night in the Lucas County jail.

The victim's name is Shykea Boykin, 22 years old. The story goes that Brisport picked her up in Detroit, she had no place to go, fell asleep in his car and ended up in his Toledo apartment. There's got to be more to it, but even as it is, the story contains some of our favorite elements, bible reading and Toledo Ohio. The only things missing are the gun and a concealed carry permit.

What do you think about this guy? Is he just like the fundie folks we know and love but just a little bit further along the spectrum? Or is this simply an extension of that preachy approach some fundamentalists seem to have little control over.

Or is it Toledo?

Please feel free to leave a comment.