Sunday, June 7, 2009

Muhs Couple Indicted for Murder and Attempted Murder

The Houston Chronicle reports on the indictments handed down in the case of the 7-year-old boy who was shot by Gayle Eugene and Sheila Muhs.

A Southeast Texas couple accused in the death of a 7-year-old boy after opening fire on his family has been indicted on a charge of murder.

Gayle Eugene and Sheila Muhs were being held at the Liberty County Jail on Friday. The 45-year-olds are accused in the fatal shooting last month of 7-year-old Donald Coffey Jr.

The boy died two days after his family was shot at while driving in front of the Muhses' Westlake area house.

Investigators say the victims were returning from an outing along the Trinity River when the Muhses took turns shooting their 12-gauge shotgun at them.

The Houston Chronicle reports Donald Jr. was shot in the head. His 5-year-old sister Destiny and her father had pellet wounds. Family friend Patrick Cammack, 30, was wounded in the neck.

The Muhses also face seven counts of attempted murder connected to the shooting.

In the initial story the family was said to have been trespassing on the Muhs' property. I didn't have the impression they were in a vehicle but pictured them on foot, not that it makes much difference.

One comment to the Houston Chronicle story struck me.


These two are sick and disgusting and need to be put out of their misery. I hope they both fry.

I wouldn't go that far. For me life in prison would be the appropriate sentence. But, the case brings up some troubling issues, not the least of which is the whole concept of owning guns for self protection. Are these people really such an anomaly? Are they really so rare among gun owners? The pro-gun crowd is quick to say that, always backing their claims up with statistics enough to make your head spin.

My idea is it's not so rare. In fact, many of these situations go under the heading of legitimate defensive gun incidents, e.g. Ladon Jones. The circumstances of this case were so dramatic however, that no one could possibly justify what happened.

What's your opinion? Do you think the ever-growing gun movement in America is contributing to these situations? Isn't there an unspoken attitude among the gun people that says, "if you get in my way, I'll shoot your ass?"

Now before objecting to that characterization, let me explain. By "get in my way," we all agree that lethal threat qualifies. Then there's a slightly lesser form, which is difficult to differentiate from lethal threat, which is the threat of bodily harm or rape. No one denies that this qualifies as "getting in my way." But then you've got the even milder forms of aggression that are easily distinguishable from lethal threat and threat of bodily harm, which are sometimes met with bullets. Many of them are lumped in with the first two categories. And finally, you've got the supposedly rare cases like the Muhses. These are people who respond with guns where there was no threat or aggression whatsoever.

What do you think? Are the Muhses such a rare breed that we should not worry about it? Or are they a force to be reckoned with.

Please leave a comment.

10 comments:

  1. Hey MikeB302000,

    Did ya here about that one blogger who put his wiener inside a 2 year old boy???

    Why do you like raping babies MikeB?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kaveman, I'm afraid you lost me. Would you mind explaining that comment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. He's saying that one blogger's crime isn't representative of the rest of the blogging community (I.E. YOU)

    In other words, he's making fun of your continued silly-ass attempts to conflate millions of gun owners with those who commit such crimes, which you do every single time.

    The fact that you didn't get his comment speaks volumes to your critical thinking skills, and maybe explains why reason and logic aren't getting through to you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Now before objecting to that characterization, let me explain."

    Ya, I read your characterization.

    I've also read your comments on HuffPo.

    You continuously stereotype gun owners based on the worst example you can find.

    So my little snark was meant to remind you that stereotyping looks a bit silly as a valid debate point.

    For example.

    Did ya hear about that black guy who got busted selling crack to elementary school kids? Maybe we should lock up all black people?

    Did ya hear about that homosexual who drank and drove, killing a kid? Maybe we shouldn't give fags drivers licenses?

    Did ya hear about that Catholic priest who raped a little boy? Maybe we should outlaw the Catholic religion?

    All of these arguments are ridiculous, and yet you employ them constantly against gun owners.

    Go back and look at your posts while replacing the phrase gun-owner with words like nigger, wetback, or faggot and it will become apparent to you how weak and biased your arguments are.

    See what I did just there?

    I said your ARGUMENTS were weak and biased, not you personally.

    Try to attack our arguments, please.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yo Kaveman, I'll explain something to you now because maybe you weren't coming around here when I went over this with Bob and Weer'd.

    I don't like talk about raping babies or kiddie porn or any of that nonsense on my blog. If you can't make your points without resorting to those comparisons then I'd say you don't have much of an argument.

    The truth is, I think you have a great argument, and I think you can make it plenty well enough without dripping that poison around here.

    Those kinds of comments get deleted. You can read all about it in my New Commenting Policy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Okie dokie, I have no problem abiding by your comment policy. You won't ever hear me allude to my original comment.

    I like and prefer honest debate; I was simply trying to make a point with shock value.

    In my opinion...

    It's wrong to stereotype black people.
    It's wrong to stereotype brown people.
    It's wrong to stereotype men/women.
    It's wrong to stereotype homosexual people.
    It's wrong to stereotype republicans.
    It's wrong to stereotype democrats.

    It's wrong to stereotype gun owners.

    It's wrong to stereotype.

    When I read hateful statements of "people you agree with," who are making personal attacks instead of challenging the arguments made, it really shines a light on things.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't stereotype gun owners. I try to be careful not to do that.

    What I do say is that a certain percentage of them, of you, cause problems. Why do you get so defensive about that? I'd think you'd have more of a stake in it than I do.

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  8. "I don't stereotype gun owners."

    Funniest thing I've read from you in a while MikeB....

    ReplyDelete
  9. "I don't stereotype gun owners."

    Actually you do. Regularly and intentionally. To say you don't is just more dishonesty on your part.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The state of Texas and its frontier gun laws shoulders the blame for this... hillbillies and guns don't mix!!

    ReplyDelete