Four Dead in Buffalo

Buffalo News reports on the terrible way this wedding reception ended.

Eight people were shot early this morning, four fatally, outside City Grill, a popular Main Street restaurant in the heart of the downtown Buffalo business district.

The shooting spree occurred at around 2:30 a.m., when a private party -- possibly part of a wedding celebration -- was being held inside the restaurant.

There's nothing particularly interesting about the story, just another of the daily examples of what we've become inured to.

What Robert Farago said about it I found very interesting.

Alcohol, firearms and family vendettas don’t mix.

I sometimes wonder why he even posts stories like this, or his regular feature called "Irresponsible gun owner of the day." But in this case his take on it made me think. Of the three factors mentioned, alcohol, guns and vendettas, which do you think would be the easiest to get rid of? I'm talking about diminishment overall, and stricter enough restrictions that many of the abusers of guns just can't get them. Believe it or not, I'm not talking about banning guns outright.

Let's imagine guns were extremely hard to get, a lot of the bad boys out there would carry knives, pipes, bats, etc. The really determined ones would still do some damage, but not like this. They wouldn't kill four and wound four others in a single incident.

Why is that so hard for the pro-gun folks to accept?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

The Associated Press reports on the Brady endorsement of Sen. Gillibrand.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence notes Gillibrand had been an NRA favorite when she was an upstate congresswoman in a Republican district. But the group says in less than two years as an appointed U.S. senator she has become a leader in sensible gun laws.

Now how did that happen? Did the NRA have it wrong before? How could that be, they base their rating on the voting record, don't they? Did Gillibrand change? Was changing part of the deal, in order for her to take Clinton's place she had to change her gun stance?

What do your think? Please leave a comment.

Home Protection

Teen Uncle Left Gun in Twins Room

The Chicago Tribune reports on the arrest of the teen uncle who stashed the gun in his twin nephews' room. Last week one of the 5-year-old twins shot and killed the other.

Antoine Heard claimed he'd found the gun and wanting to keep it, hid it in the twins bedroom. Whether that's true, or whether he's a gang member as his facial tattoos and prior criminal record might suggest, is irrelevant. There is only one factor in this sad story that can be addressed, that's gun availability.

As much as we may attempt to correct the social conditions which lead to gang activity and drug involvement and inner city violence, these situations are here to stay in certain places. What can be done is the availability of handguns can be diminished to the point where fewer of these tragedies happen. That can be done over the next few years, long before we eradicate poverty and unemployment.

What's your opinion? Do you think the availability of that handgun played a role in the tragedy? If there'd been no gun there, the twins would still be together, right?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Florida Woman Pleads Guilty in Shooting

The Miami Herald reports on the case.

A north Florida woman has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of a Jacksonville firefighter.

Fisthnise Saint Breux entered her plea Thursday.

Authorities say the 18-year-old was riding with 21-year-old Emanuel Porter II and two other people when they stopped at a gas station in December. When Porter got out the car, he reportedly pulled out a gun, removed the magazine and put the gun and the magazine on the front seat.

Police say Saint Breux picked up the gun, and Porter told her to put it down. Saint Breux pointed the gun at Porter's head and said she wasn't going to shoot him. The gun fired and hit Porter in the head, but Saint Breux later said she didn't remember pulling the trigger.

Saint Breux faces up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced next month.

I realize the pro-gun crowd will relegate all the people in this story to the "other side" of the law-abiding fence, but I don't know if that's fair. Let's consider that the young fireman might have owned the gun legally and did what is done every single day, all over the country, which is remove the magazine and leave a round in the chamber.

Then let's say the girlfriend, or whoever she was did what is done every single day all over the country and pointed the gun at someone not intending to shoot but just fooling around.

Disaster followed. You see, here's the trick. Disaster doesn't follow every single one of these scenarios, but in order for the worst thing to happen, you need some combination of these risky behaviours. Yet, the gun folks keep telling us about the 4 Rules and how gun owners are more responsible than other folks because of the tremendous importance of exercising their rights, and blah, blah, blah.

I say gun rights advocates ought to spend their time and effort in policing their own, in educating their own. It is from among their own that these problems arise. All we hear in response is some form of writing off the offenders as being from the "other side."

What's your opinion? Do you think the vast majority of gun owners is responsible and careful and well trained and intelligent enough to safely manage guns? I don't. This case in Florida, although just one story, is an example of your typical gun owners. The gun bloggers who continually claim to be so responsible, which I believe is the truth, are the exception to the rule, not the rule.

Please leave a comment.

For the Pro-Gun Crowd

If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes gun politics. Thanks to thinkmogul via TYWKIWDBI.

Georgia Gun in Harlem Shootout

DNA Info reports on the origins of the gun which was involved in the Harlem shootout the other day.

Two members of the Joint Firearms Taskforce and the ATF flew to Columbus, Ga., to interview a man who bought the Smith and Wesson and two other handguns in 2007.

I can't wait to hear the results of that interview, how about you?

Home-made Bond-like Guns

The Associated Press reports.

A British court has jailed two men for their role in cranking out a series of homemade firearms, including a key ring gun and a pen gun.

Scotland Yard says that 40-year-old Paul Coke and 26-year-old Fatmir Kadena operated a weapons factory disguised as a nightclub and car repair garage under a railway arch in the East London area of Leyton.

The force said Tuesday that some of the guns detectives found there "wouldn't look out of place in a James Bond film."

Firearms are far more tightly restricted in Britain than in the United States. The rules are so strict that criminals often attempt to improvise their own weapons.

Coke was sentenced to 12 years in prison at East London's Snaresbrook Crown Court. Kadena was sentenced to nine years.

It's interesting that the article mentions how "criminals often attempt to improvise their own weapons" due to the strict laws. Do you think that's going on in the U.S. too? And wouldn't it mean that criminals who improvise their own guns when no guns are available realize that knives and bats just don't cut it when it comes to weaponry?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

20 Months for Shooting a Dog

The Chicago Tribune reports on the sentencing of a man who shot a dog.

A Grayslake-area man accused of shooting a stray dog outside his house in January has been sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Now, I'm all for strict sentencing for gun violence and I love animals as much as the next guy, but this is ridiculous. Unless this guy has a long history of misusing his firearms, I say the jail time is excessive. He qualifies for my one-strike-your-out rule, but that should be it.

What's your opinion? Isn't the judge being a bit melodramatic in saying the crime "is not easily forgiven by society?"

Please leave a comment.

Here's Proof

It is more likely that you'll be hit by a meteorite than that you'll need to use your gun to protect your life. I knew it.

QUAKER CITY, Ohio - An Ohio man says he was standing in his yard when he was struck by a falling object from the sky.

More on Texas Justice

News 8 Austin reports on this, what some people might call, stiff sentencing.

A repeat DWI offender was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday.

Bobby Joe Stovall, 52, was convicted in July 2010 of felony driving while intoxicated. Tuesday, Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield sentenced him to life in prison.

In early July 2009, Stovall crossed several lanes of traffic on East Palm Valley Boulevard in Round Rock without yielding. Another driver hit his truck, and his female passenger was taken to the hospital.

According to police, Stovall’s blood alcohol level of .32 and his passenger’s level was .38. The legal blood alcohol limit is .08.

Stovall had eight previous DWI convictions from several different counties.

Previously, he served time in prison for burglary and credit card abuse.

What's wrong with those people in Texas who support this kind of excess? Is there no other way? Considering what it's going to cost to keep him in prison for life, is there nothing else that can be done?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Jon Stewart on the Mosque

Municipal Land-Use Hearing Update

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Lakeisha Gadson Acquitted

The Boston Herald reported the good news which I was hoping for when we discussed this case before.

Lakeisha Gadson was already doing time, says the minister who buried her son, even though a jury acquitted the Roxbury mother yesterday of the most serious charges in connection with her boy’s tragic shooting death. Prosecutors accused Gadson of recklessly causing the death of her 8-year-old son, Liquarry Jefferson, by letting an older son stash a loaded gun in their apartment.

She's still going to be sentenced for having lied to the cops initially about what happened. But, at least she's not going to jail for manslaughter.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

OK is OK for Gunrunning

My SA News (that's San Antonio) ran a story about an Oklahoma narcotics officer operating a gunrunning business.

Francisco Javier Reyes, 29, is suspected of running the underground venture while he worked for the Oklahoma anti-drug agency, court records show. He was released on bail. Neither Reyes nor his lawyer returned calls seeking comment.

Court papers said Reyes recruited at least two men to act as “straw buyers” to purchase .50-caliber guns and assault-style rifles for him in Oklahoma. One has not been charged, and the other has since died under circumstances that relatives said are suspicious, according to court records.

The documents said Reyes paid the buyers $50 to $100 for each gun they bought, which made him a target of Project Gunrunner, an ATF initiative aimed at gun traffickers.

I don't suppose they have the one-gun-a-month rule down there. In Oklahoma they wouldn't stand for such an onerous restriction on their god-given rights. But, don't you think it would significantly slow down this kind of operation? If straw buyers are really so difficult to identify, which I don't completely believe, wouldn't it make sense to limit their purchasing power, even at the cost of inconveniencing the others?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Arizona Lunacy

Il Principe sent me the link to this fantastic description of The Wild Wild West - Arizona.

The law underscores the state's Wild West reputation, and one of Arizona's most notable law enforcement official defends the right to carry concealed arms.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known across the country as the "toughest sheriff in America" due to his strict enforcement of the law and no-nonsense treatment of criminals, believes the new law works just fine. He isn't concerned there will be more shootings in his state because of it.

"That's a good law," Arpaio said this week. "I support it. People were not shooting each other before the new law was passed when they had the right to open-carry weapons. What's the difference now? Concealed or not, people are not pulling guns out and shooting each other."

What do you think he means when he says people were not shooting themselves before so they won't be now? Does he mean never? Is he saying there never was one single incident before so there won't be now.

No, I guess he's saying what a lot of gun folks say, the number of incidents is acceptable. I suppose he's saying that number won't significantly increase with the new law.

We'll see.

Sedona business owner Brian Wentzel, 32, does not have a carry permit nor intends to get one. For him, he only needs the Constitutional "God-given" right to arm and defend himself.

"People have a right to carry concealed weapons because our rights are given to us by our Creator and not by man," says Wentzel. "They are natural rights and this distinction between where our rights are derived is one of the most important philosophical questions a nation and its people must decide before they write laws."

He said that in America, citizens are born with the rights the founding fathers promulgated. Wentzel says an armed citizenry can only strengthen the nation, protect its principles and ensure tyranny could never take over.

"If you have an armed population in the last hour of tyranny, it will be the final check to the imbalance of power that has been misused and abused," says Wentzel. "That's why the founding fathers knew it was one of the pillars and one of the most important rights every citizen has to protect and defend themselves against the tyranny of their own government."

Why do the pro-gun folks, the reasonable ones I'm talking about, encourage people like Mr. Wentzel? The guy says things like, "the last hour of tyranny," and the "final check to the imbalance of power," and the right to carry concealed weapons is given by "our Creator."

Instead of distancing themselves from lunatics like this, the gun crowd takes up the chant and repeats this nonsense. Or perhaps Wentzel got the ideas from them. Either way, it's lunacy pure and simple.

What's your opinion? Is the sheriff right? Is the new law going to have no impact on the numbers? Is Mr. Wentzel right that concealed carry is a natural right?

Please leave a comment.

Jon Stewart on the 14th Amendment

Born in the U.S.A.

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Guns Confiscated at Airports

AOL Travel published a very interesting article.

You can't walk onto a plane with a gun in your carry-on. Most people know that.

Transportation Security Administration its officers confiscate two guns per day on average at airport checkpoints around the country.

I wonder what could explain this amazing statistic. Two guns per day per checkpoint is a lot of guns. By the explanations they quoted in the article, it seems most of these folks are legal gun owners not criminals. I have two possible ideas.

1. stupidity
2. disregard for the law

Can you think of any others? Please leave a comment.

3 Dead in PA - Murder / Suicide

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports on the latest murder-suicide.

Marital strife might have led a man to fatally shoot his wife and her friend before killing himself, authorities said.

Vladimir Von Fisher, 42, of Monessen opened fire on his estranged wife Maedee Von Fisher, 39, and Nicholas Mascetta, 44, both of Monessen, about 9 p.m. outside the Westgate Manor apartment complex on Donner Avenue, Monessen police Chief Mark Gibson said.

Witnesses told police that Mascetta, who used a wheelchair, was sitting with Maedee Von Fisher under the pavilion when Vladimir Von Fisher walked down a hillside with his girlfriend, pulled a handgun and began shooting, Gibson said.

Guess what they didn't report anything about - the gun. They didn't say whether the shooter owned the gun legally or if he'd had a license to carry it concealed. This is what often happens when murder and suicide are the attention-getters. No one is counting anything other than the bodies.

Then John Lott comes along and says in a certain area or a certain state or over a certain period of time, only .000007% of concealed carry permits were revoked. And the pro-gun crowd all jump up and cheer.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Military Spending

Opinione published a wonderful article on Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In a similar manner and almost word for word of the speech he gave to the American people in 1961, in the “Chance for Peace” speech in 1953 Eisenhower warned about the trade-offs:

“The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brink schoolhouse in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with the homes that could have housed 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

Considering that the speech was given at a time when the Red Scare of Communism was gripping the nation and the United States was involved in a military conflict on the Korean peninsula, the speech by Eisenhower showed the former military general to be a genuine leader of the country. Not only concerned or beholden to the interests of the former institution he spent most of his life in, the “Chance for Peace” speech by Eisenhower in 1953 proved that he was concerned about the interests of all Americans.

What's your opinion? What do you think President Eisenhower would say about the military spending President Obama is continuing?

Please leave a comment.

Accessories

Here's something to go right on top of the flak jacket and criss-crossing bandoliers.

For the True Gun Lover

Check it out.

The Deadliest Year for Police 2010

OnlineAthens reports on the grim situation.

As of June 30 - just halfway into this year - officer fatalities already had reached 75 percent of the 116 who died in all of 2009, which saw the fewest line-of-duty deaths in 50 years, according to the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

"It is certainly disheartening that last year's encouraging news on officer fatalities has not continued into 2010," said Craig W. Floyd, chairman of the fund that built and maintains a monument inscribed with downed officers' names in Washington, D.C.

More guns = more gun deaths among police. Or is it more complex than that?

Please leave a comment.

The Great Fantasy

From the CSGV article, the question of fantasy comes up. I've often heard the pro-gun crowd deny it, but many of them must secretly fantasize about using their gun on a bad guy. What do you think?

An obsession with violent crime (“At class, it was hard to discern the line between preparing for something awful to happen and praying for something awful to happen”) is just one element of a gun culture that Baum found himself immersed in once he decided to carry a handgun in public. In Baum’s words, “Anyone who tells you he has no fantasy life constructed around his gun either has been packing it for as long as he’s been watching television or is flat-out lying.”

Please leave a comment.

Those Complicated DGUs

AJC reports on a complicated shooting.

Police initially said the clerk pulled his own gun and shot and killed a would-be robber. But a review of surveillance video apparently changed investigators' conclusions.

Then they saud the robber killed himself? What's that all about?

How about if we do this? We count this as a legitimate DGU, then we try to figure out what really happened. OK?

Please leave a comment.

Concealed Carry in Colorado

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence published a detailed critique of the recent Harper's article entitled “Happiness is a Worn Gun: My Concealed Weapon and Me. The article was written by author Dan Baum.

So many good points were raised, here's just one.

In Colorado, just as in 37 other “Shall-Issue” states, the state must issue a permit to carry a concealed handgun to any citizen that passes an instant computer background check and meets a basic set of requirements. One of those requirements is to complete just three hours of training through an approved handgun safety course. This course need be taken only once—no additional training is required when a permit holder renews his/her permit every five years.

That sounds incredible, but when you consider the influence of the NRA and the gun lobby, it's just what you'd expect. I would think gun owners themselves would call for a reformation of this, but I'm afraid it's moving in the other direction.

About the oft-heard assertion that most gun violence is ghetto or gang related, there's this.

Baum also erroneously states, “Young black urban men killing each other—that is the gun problem [in the U.S.] right now.” In reality, the claim that gun violence is a “black problem" hardly makes sense when one considers that out of the 31,446 gun deaths that occurred in America in 2005, 21,958 of the victims were whites, and from 1976 to 2005, 86% of white murder victims were killed by whites. Additionally, in 2008 the FBI reported 14,180 gun deaths, only 844 of which were gang related. The ten states with the highest rates of gun death per capita in the U.S. in 2007 were Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Alabama, Nevada, Arkansas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arizona and West Virginia—predominantly rural states.

It's a wonderful article, please help yourself to the rest of it and let us know what you think.

Please leave a comment.

$#*! My Gunloon Says

Commenter TS demands to know:

Secondly, who are you to play God? Even if you make the big assumption that disarming people will save net lives (which you are yet to prove without selectively dismissing data that doesn’t agree with your position), you are still saying that some people should die so that others (more?) will live.

First, I don't play God. Or the Flying Spaghetti Monster for that matter.

Second, you still seem to be under the impression that gun control is all about taking guns away from everyone or some other such apocalyptic event. Instead, gun control is about making sure those who shouldn't have access to firearms--don't.

Third, you continue to labor under the belief that a gun will magically render you immune from harm. No wonder there are people who believe in Sarah Palin.

Last, perhaps TS will tell us why he believes that we should happily accept gun deaths many magnitudes greater than the relative few lives that are saved by firearms.

Mythical Unicorn Found

I found this unicorn on the site TYWKIWDBI.

The 14th Amendment

I wonder how many pro-rights folks have a problem with that part of the 14th Amendment that makes citizens of the children of illegal immigrants. (H/T The Frustrated Teacher.)

Scranton Man Sentenced

The Times-tribune.com reports on the sentencing.

A Scranton man who shoved a loaded gun in his estranged wife's mouth and pulled the trigger only to have it misfire was sentenced to eight to 20 years in state prison Wednesday by Lackawanna County Judge Vito Geroulo.

What a guy! I suppose in the local coverage of this story there were lots of details which are missing here. One thing for sure, he's not the kind of guy who should have a gun. I wonder if there was anything in his background that indicated that.

I guess we covered his type in the Famous 10%, either among the substance abusers, the domestic abusers or the plain old rageaholics.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Responsibility of the Media

On Dan O'Day's site there's a wonderful video of Paul McCartney being interviewed about 40 years ago. He argues that it's the responsibility of the media, not the celebrity, when information about that celebrity is disseminated which may influence people. It's a good argument which I suppose I agree with as long as the celebrity is not the one initiating the release of the information. Paul said he'd have preferred to keep his LSD use private, that it was the media who wanted to know and who made it public.

But, how would this apply to Glenn Beck? In his case the media and the celebrity are one in the same. It seems pretty clear to me. What do you think?

In the conversation between Paul McCartney and his interviewer it seemed to be a given that someone is responsible. Paul said he didn't think it made any difference, but they seemed to both agree that if young people were influenced to use drugs because they knew McCartney had, then it was either the responsibility of Paul himself or the media.

When some maniac shoots up the place after listening to the ranting of Glenn Beck, I say Glenn Beck shares in that responsibility.

What's your opinion?

Florida 5-year-old Shoots Self

The Miami Herald reports on the shooting.

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- A 5-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the foot after grabbing a shotgun off a table at a Volusia County home.

Edgewater police say the boy's grandfather had been cleaning the shotgun Friday morning when set the weapon on a table to clean another gun. The boy, who was not identified, grabbed the shotgun and fired it. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for the foot wound.

Police say they aren't planning to charge the grandfather.

No surprises here. Florida's always prevalent in the gun news. And of course not charging the grandfather is what you'd expect from them. What I'm curious about is why the gun was loaded if he was cleaning it? Is that normal practice, or do you think it was just an oversight like leaving a round in the chamber and not being aware of it?

The guys who keep doing that, forgetting about the round in the chamber, are they the same ones who talk about situational awareness? Are these they gun owners who are hyper-aware of their surroundings in order to be prepared if the worst happens? Maybe all that stress when out and about leads to relaxing and sloppiness at home. What do you think?

Or are some gun owners (not many and not most), are some gun owners just plain too stupid and irresponsible to own guns safely? What's your opinion?

Please leave a comment.

The Planet of the Apes

No racism here, just overly enthusiastic Glenn.

Gun Friendly Florida

TBO.com reports on the latest gun incidents down Tampa way.

1. Road raging maniac loses control.
2. Guy wounds police dog, cops kill guy.
3. Guy wounds deputy, SWAT team kills guy. That happened during a "wellness check" whatever that is.

One trenchant observation was this.

Turner [Police Chief George Turner] said he couldn't explain the recent spurt of gun crimes that has taken place throughout the city and county.

"There are just a lot of violent people out there who don't care about the lives and liberties of others," he said.

I wonder if he could be referring to another kind of "liberty" than the one the pro-gun crowd is always talking about. This sounds more like the liberty of not living in a society where guns are so available, where the pro-gun folks keep preaching that more guns is the answer, now fewer. I think that's the kind of liberty the police chief is talking about.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Groton Man Sentenced

Theday.com reports on the sentencing of a gun offender in Connecticut.

A Groton man was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison in connection with an incident in which he pointed a gun at a Groton Town police officer at the Time Out Sports Cafe on Oct. 30, 2008.

Police Officer Bridget Nordstrom had testified that she and four other officers went to the Route 12 bar after a confidential informant told her in text messages and a phone conversation that Carter had a gun and was going to "pop a white dude."

Nordstrom said Carter pointed the gun at her for several seconds when she entered the bar. The officers subdued Carter after a scuffle that lasted about 10 seconds. They recovered a Jennings .22-caliber pistol, its magazine loaded with five rounds of ammunition, from his right pocket.

Now, I'm all for tough sentencing for gun offenders and all that, but to read this story on the same day as the Philadelphia cop getting off who shot wildly into a building eleven times, actually wounding people in the chaos, is a bit discouraging.

Cops doing wrong get one set of standards. Civilians doing wrong get another, especially if they do that wrong to cops, and especially if they're black and the cops are white.

Is that too cynical? What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

Murder-Suicide in Upstate New York

The Utica Observer Dispatch reports on the latest.

The first time David Hoole placed a loaded gun against the head of one of his wives 10 years ago, he threatened to kill her before firing several rounds off inside their Westmoreland home, according to court records.

But authorities said when David Hoole pointed a gun at his most recent wife earlier this week, she wasn’t able to escape.

Hoole, 41, pulled the trigger over and over again as he shot his wife, Lisa Guzzardo, 45, in the head before turning the gun on himself, Oneida County sheriff’s investigators said. Guzzardo was shot four times, and Hoole killed himself with a single shot to the head.

He'd picked up a felony conviction from the first incident and had had numerous scrapes with the law since. Yet the article provided this odd observation.

Officials said they still are investigating whether the handgun used this week was registered to Hoole, and whether he was legally allowed to own such a weapon after being previously convicted of a felony.

Is there any way this guy could have owned a handgun legally? Please tell us if there is. But, even if for some strange reason he was not a disqualified person, can we all agree he should not have owned a gun? Isn't Mr. Poole a good example of the kind who shouldn't?

Are there gun rights people who find restrictions, any restrictions so abhorrent, that they would dispute this? I think I know the answer to that, and I say to you, you are part of the problem.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Most Hated Cops - Philadelphia's Finest

Philly.com reports on the late-coming but not unexpected development in the George Marko case.

For 2 1/2 years, friends and relatives of George Marko and Abebe Isaac have wondered how it would all play out.

Marko, a veteran Philadelphia police officer, was on duty shortly after midnight on New Year's Day in 2008, when he responded to a report of gunfire in East Germantown. He wound up firing 11 shots into a rowhouse after a suspect, Dontate Mitchell, ran inside.

Isaac, 33, was an unarmed man inside that house. He was wounded five times and died a week later. Three other people who were inside, including a 9-year-old boy, also were wounded.

What's your opinion? Does Officer Marko sound like the kind of policeman who can responsibly decide how and when to use his gun? Do you think the District Attorney sometimes delays these kinds of decisions as a strategy? What do you think Internal Affairs will do?

Please leave a comment.

Beck, O'Reilly and Stephen King