Portraits of Gun Violence: Jessica Ghawi

You didn't need to meet Jessica Ghawi to feel her infectious energy.  It seems to be an energy which won't die since the first item that came up was her post on the Toronto shooting that she survived.  She managed to survive one, yet ended up the victim of another.

Part of the reason I'm writing this is that I know her mother who is coping with this incident.  I see Jessi's face and I think of the interview she did where she was wearing high heels on the ice at a hockey rink.  She kept falling down, but that didn't stop her from trying.

“She would walk into a room, and the place would light up. She was a jolt of lightning,” her mother,  said through tears Saturday. “She just had a spirit that was larger than life.”

You didn't even need to meet her to feel her energy as this remembrance of her attests:
caitykauffman.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/a-letter-to-jessica-ghawi-victim-of-the-colorado-shooting/

Maybe that's why I am writing this post.


I understand that she started a charity before she died to provide Sports Equipment for underprivileged children that recently held a drive to collect sporting gear.

Jessica may have died that night, but she is not a "victim" as her energy will carry on a live until something is done about this plague.

And for you hoaxers, I can assure you that Jessica Ghawi is quite dead and not physically present in this reality.  Her spirit may be strong, but her physical presence is no longer with us.

Why Did Holmes Choose That Particular Theater?

ABC reports with video 

Accused Aurora movie theater gunman James Holmes bought his movie ticket 12 days before the shooting, it was revealed in court today during the emotional first day of a preliminary hearing.

The overly defensive gun-rights fanatics have been insisting that James Holmes specifically chose the theater of his shooting because it was the only one which prohibited guns. First of all, I seriously doubt that, in spite of the many repeated tellings. Secondly, and most obvioulsy, being a complete lunatic, he could have chosen the venue of his massacre for any number of reasons.  Maybe he liked the popcorn best at this one.

The first day of trial produced a plausible explanation.  He had already bought the ticket.  Perhaps he had bought the ticket even before he planned the shooting.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

A better graphic of James Holmes's Gear

According to Mother Jones, most mass shooters have bought their guns LEGALLY: "132 guns possessed by the killers, more than three quarters were obtained legally."

Note the "By looking closely at Holmes’ ammunition and equipment, it becomes clear the attack at the movie theatre could have been much worse."

This graphic comes from: news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/25/graphic-james-holmes-was-a-man-with-a-plan/

Now, isn't it wonderful that any maniac in the US can buy the gear to kill a large amount of people?

Even better, that people (you {should} know who you are) are willing to stop any attempt at preventing that carnage from happening in the first place?

Yeah, yeah, I know all the gun guys would have been able to have stopped the punk if they had been in that theatre--they would have been able to take clear shots through the haze of the CS gas.

Oh look, an Aurora, Colorado Copycat Killer Wannabe

I thought the machine gun ownership was fascinating. More crazy gun guys demonstrating the gun culture failure.

From MSNBC.com:      

Police: Man was driving 112 mph on Maine Turnpike with AK-47, 4 handguns, boxes of ammo

 Police: Man was driving 112 mph on Maine Turnpike with AK-47, 4 handguns, boxes of ammo

updated 2 hours 59 minutes ago

Maine police arrested a heavily armed man driving on the state turnpike who carried clippings about the cinema massacre in Colorado and claimed he attended the new "Batman" film with a loaded gun, authorities said on Monday.

Timothy Courtois, 49, was driving 112 mph on the Maine Turnpike with an AK-47 assault weapon, four handguns and several boxes of ammunition in his car when state police pulled him over about 10 a.m. on Sunday, said Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland.
He told police that he was headed to Derry, N.H., to shoot a former employer, McCausland said in a statement.
Courtois told police he had attended the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight," at a theater in Saco, Maine, on Saturday night with a loaded gun in his backpack, he said.
Police found clippings in his car about the mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., where 12 people were killed and 58 wounded by a gunman at a Friday showing of "The Dark Knight," he said.
At Courtois' home in Biddeford, Maine, police found several additional guns, including a machine gun, and thousands of rounds of ammunition, he said.
Courtois was slated to appear in court on Monday in Springvale District Court on initial charges of speeding and carrying a concealed weapon, McCausland said.