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GUNS OF THE DAY - May 17, 2004

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Columbia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 03:00 AM
Original message
GUNS OF THE DAY - May 17, 2004
Please try to adhere to the following voluntary guidelines, in order that we can have an orderly discussion of gun-related news topics:

1 - Feel free to add any CURRENT stories to this thread by replying to this message. In order to be considered current, stories should have been originally posted on the Internet within the previous 24 hours, or provide follow-up to a story that was previously posted on the J/PS board. On Mondays (since many people do not log in to DU over the weekend), stories can be posted from Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.

2 - Both pro-gun and anti-gun stories, editorials, and press releases are welcome in this thread, as long as they're current. Please do not post links to items from a few years back that support your position.

3 - Bear in mind that any links to extremely right-wing sites (such as Newsmax, CNS, or the Washington Times) or intentionally pro-gun or pro-control sites (such as the NRA or the Brady Campaign) are not considered reliable sources by many DU-ers. If at all possible, try to find a link for your story from a more mainstream source, such as a general-circulation newspaper or magazine site. If you choose to use a slanted site, be prepared for any negative feedback you may receive.

4 - Do not change story titles. In other words, if the Oskosh Gazette's web site runs a story titled "Two Killed in Holdup", the title of your message should read "Two Killed in Holdup". Don't change it to "Gun Owner Kills Two People", or anything else that changes the meaning of the story.

5 - If it's not clear from the title where the story occurred, add the city, state, or country in parentheses after the title.

6 - The person adding a news story to the "GITN" thread is allowed (and encouraged) to comment on that story, indicating their position on the topic being discussed. These comments can appear either at the beginning or end of the post; if possible, place comments in a different typeface so readers can separate the comments from the story. Others who wish to comment on a posted story can do so by replying to that story; this allows other readers to follow the comments by scrolling through the subthread.

7 - Please direct your comments to the story, rather than attacking the person posting the story or any person responding to the story. In accordance with DU rules, any message that appears to be a personal attack against another DU-er or a violation of any other DU rule will be reported to the moderators.

8 - If you object to these guidelines, do everyone else a favor and go to another thread.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 08:34 AM
Response to Original message
1. Boy, 5, killed playing with gun (CA)
"Child's play turned deadly Friday afternoon when a gun went off in a North Sacramento home, killing a 5-year-old boy, authorities said.
The shooting occurred as two children were playing with plastic swords and a loaded pistol in a bedroom of a house in the 200 block of Olmstead Way, said Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Justin Risley.
The gun fired, hitting Josh Lee in the face. His 13-year-old cousin pulled the trigger, Risley said.
The boys had taken the .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol from an unlocked nightstand. The gun belonged to Josh's father, Risley said."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/9301931p-10226825c.html
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 08:35 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Arrest the parents.
n/t
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 08:56 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Tell these folks that, op...
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:08 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. Do you cut-n-paste those links from your detailed "OpSomBlood" file?
n/t
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:23 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. Yup...
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 11:49 AM
Response to Reply #4
26. Those folks would probably agree
In cases where a gun owner's indisputable negligence results in a tragic "accident" we pro-RKBA folks are always in favor of holding the responsible person's feet to the fire.

Go tell them yourself, MrBenchley. Don't expect others to do your dirty work for you. We're too busy trying to educate our fellow Democrats.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:31 PM
Response to Reply #26
32. So let's see...
"Go tell them yourself, MrBenchley"
In other words, they're mindless right wing fuckwits, not worth wasting time on.
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:38 AM
Response to Reply #2
12. that'll resurrect the dead kid

n/t

.
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LibLabUK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:54 AM
Response to Reply #12
23. "that'll resurrect the dead kid"
Don't you know the mystical incantation?

It goes a little something like this:

Guns are neat, Guns are sweet
Guns the tool, what makes you cool.
Guns are fine, Guns are mine
Guns are things, that Jesus brings!

Guns for loonies, Guns for cons
Guns for Moonies, Guns for moms!

Guns are fun for everyone, buy them up by the ton.
Guns for me, Guns for you, Guns for nuts and children too!
Guns at home, Guns at work, Guns at play, Guns berserk!

Tons and tons of great big Guns,
Are tons and tons of great big fun!

I’ve got Guns up my nose ‘tween my ears and by my toes.
I’m no fool, I’m so cool, I take Guns to my school.
I take Guns in my car, to the store and to the bar.
I got Guns in a drawer, in my pocket and on the floor.
I got Guns on the wall, behind the toilet and in the hall.

I got guns in my bed, one is growing from my head!
Get a Gun and get it fast, Gun-Gun shoot-shoot is a blast!

- Rackjite's 'NRA Song'

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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:58 AM
Response to Reply #23
24. That's great!!
Rackjite rules...
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #23
31. well ta!

A site I wasn't aware of; yours is from http://www.rackjite.com/chapter8.htm

Can you hum a few bars now? ;)

.
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LibLabUK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 01:23 PM
Response to Reply #31
39. A pity you didn't find that site sooner...
He used to have his entire book available to read online, the chapters on gunloons and libertarians were particularly good. Now he only has excerpts available..

As for humming a few bars... I would but Coronation Street is starting ;)
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 01:53 PM
Response to Reply #39
41. say no more
Coronation Street wins. Also, say no more because on this side of the pond (on this side of the 49th parallel on CBC, anyway), Tracy has just had her first ultrasound. Sometime in the fall of '03, we are. No spoilers!

Last February, my mum was in the visiting room of the hospital where my dad was, chatting with a visitor from your part of the world. Talk turned to Coronation Street, and how my mum was of course taping the daily half-hour every day while she was at the hospital. The other woman exclaimed that my mum must not tell her what had happened the day before, as she hadn't seen it yet -- and then proceeded to tell her all about Richard and the canal car-plunge, which we were not to see until September. And then there was the time I made the mistake of opening the Guardian to the TV review, and not realizing that the columnist was writing about Dennis' demise on the Street, 6 months hence by my calendar, until it was too late.

Now, perhaps you were just poking me, and you're not really such a fuddy duddy as to be watching. Perhaps you'll respect me more if I check back with East Enders questions after I watch yesterday's episodes -- the co-vivant neglected to set my VCR for East Enders after the soccer game last Sunday morning. (I struck gold: a man who watches Coronation Street, somewhat of an oddity hereabouts. He doesn't watch EE because he can't understand anything the characters say; my East End genes obviously give me an advantage.) And so I missed four whole episodes. (Our "local" US PBS station seems to be trying to make up for some of the episodes sacrificed while it was in begging mode last month -- we're getting 2002 on BBC-Canada, and I have about 2 years in between to go on PBS yet.) I assume that Melanie and Ian broke up moments before their planned millennium wedding, and I'll probably be left not knowing how it happened, and several other important things ...

.
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LibLabUK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 06:38 PM
Response to Reply #41
64. I'm sorry...
I was kinda pulling your leg a little... I'm not a fan of either 'stenders or Corrie..

The last time I saw either Ken was still married to Deidre and the Mitchell brothers were beating various spouses.

I'm rather suprised that EE actually travels at all, the accents are rather thick..






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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-18-04 12:54 AM
Response to Reply #64
65. yes, well, I did get it ;)

I just thought I'd bore you as revenge.

Ken and Deirdre are living together but not married, Grahnt Mitchell drove into a canal but escaped and left the country, and Phil is currently being investigated for killing Lisa, whom I'm sure you've never heard of. ;)

As for accents, hey, I watched McCallum, the Scottish coroner guy. But of all the clients I had, with all their East and West African, Middle Eastern, East European, Latin American and other exotic accents -- and some of whom communicated with me in their local versions of French or Spanish (and then there was the little Portuguese guy who called me "Mr. Lawyer" and whom I had to beg to stop thinking he was speaking French, and just speak Portuguese) ... the one I understood the least was Jane from Liverpool.

.
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 11:49 AM
Response to Reply #12
27. Just as it might make your Straw Man jump up and dance a hornpipe
n/t
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:33 PM
Response to Reply #27
33. straw what?
The report is of a dead kid. Someone proposes that the parents of the child who pulled the trigger (if that is ever determined) be arrested.

Now, that just kinda made it sound as if what everybody was all worried about was that whoever let the kid have the gun might get off scot free.

If yer looking for straw, I think there's a big bale of it right there.

Me, I was assuming (I know, I shouldn't do that) that someone was concerned about a kid being dead. And about ways that other kids might not end up similarly dead. Pointing fingers at this particular scarecrow, the parent who allowed access to the firearm in this case, just might not be the best way to do that. In my humblest opinion.

.

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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 03:46 PM
Response to Reply #33
44. There is no way to bring back the dead kid.
Awful tragedy. Everyone's sad about it.

But the fact of the matter is that the death was preventable, and had the parents stored the gun properly, the kid would still be alive.

So punish the parents and restore some semblance of accountability to gun ownership.
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #44
47. "Everyone's sad about it."
Yeah. I can tell.

So punish the parents and restore some semblance of accountability to gun ownership.

Oddly enough, I really don't give a shit about "restoring accountability to gun ownership", *unless* doing so actually operates to reduce access to firearms by children (the issue in this instance).

Given that that's *my* goal -- reducing access to firearms by children -- I'll be looking for the most effective way of doing that (with the implied condition, of course, that it does not unjustifiably interfere with the exercise of rights & freedoms). Not *just* coming up with exercises in blame and finger-pointing -- which may be fun, but are usually inadequate to the task when applied in isolation.

Deterrence alone does not work. Preventive action is needed. Ask any retailer why it attaches alarm thingies to its high-end items, and employ security personnel, and lock things up -- if all that's needed is to make some laws to hold shoplifters accountable.

Retailers don't rely on deterrent legislation/sentences to keep their merchandise safe. Why anyone who claims to be "sad" about the firearms deaths of children would think this an adequate method for ensuring that people keep firearms away from children is somewhat beyond me.

.
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:19 PM
Response to Reply #47
48. I have no objection to mandatory trigger locks included with every gun.
But how do you compel people to use them in households with children without stiff legal consequences?
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:27 PM
Response to Reply #48
52. I dunno

I have no objection to mandatory trigger locks included with every gun.
But how do you compel people to use them in households with children without stiff legal consequences?


Why ask me?

Was I proposing mandatory trigger locks or something?

.
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:34 PM
Response to Reply #52
55. I forgot, you aren't fond of realistic solutions.
How silly of me to assume that you were in favor of mandatory trigger locks.
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:39 PM
Response to Reply #55
57. something's sure silly of you

But I'd say that it was whatever notion passed through your noggin and told you that people who make a habit of leaving their firearms lying around where children have access to them would be sure to lock the triggers first.

.
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:44 PM
Response to Reply #57
59. Your proposal is that nobody owns a gun.
So let's not talk about who is realistic here.
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #59
61. your statement is false and you know it
So let's you stop the blatant diversionary grooming and address the issue.

(Diversionary grooming: that which your cat does when caught on the kitchen cupboard and shooed off - it suddenly discovers dirt on its body that needs immediate attention, thus conveying the message that whatever all the fuss is about, it has nothing to do with the cat, which has more important things to worry about then your silly kitchen cupboard, which it obviously is not on. Some people plainly have more important things to worry about than dead kids, who are obviously someone else's fault -- else they wouldn't be chewing away so diligently at non-existent "facts".)

.
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CO Liberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:33 AM
Response to Reply #1
10. Update to This Story
When will people learn about storing guns safely??? - Wayne

* * * * *

Use of Gun as Plaything Ends in Death of Five-Year-Old

Story last updated Sunday, May 16, 2004 - 10:44 PM


Sacramento police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a five-year-old boy in North Sacramento, who was killed Friday afternoon while playing with a loaded firearm.

According to investigators, the victim and several other children were playing with plastic swords in a house on Olmstead Drive. At some point, the children found a gun kept by the homeowner. While the weapon was being handled, it discharged, striking the five-year-old. It is not clear which of the children was holding the gun when it fired.

The wounded child was rushed to the U.C. Davis Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.

Police say there were no adults in the home when the incident occurred. "The mother was supposed to be home, but we don't know where she is," said a relative of the victim.

<more>

http://www.news10.net/storyfull.asp?id=7137
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:37 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. Irresponsible storage of the weapon...arrest the mother.
Maybe a little accountability would help prevent this type of thing from happening.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:39 AM
Response to Reply #11
13. Go make the argument...
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 11:53 AM
Response to Reply #13
28. Hey MrBenchley, lookee what I found
An AR15.com member with over 6,000 posts who makes donations to PETA, Greenpeace, the ACLU, and Planned Parenthood, and several who do volunteer work to help the homeless, pregnant women, etc.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=244218
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:35 PM
Response to Reply #28
34. Who DO you think you're kiddng, slack?
"I always give to both sides...
Republicans and libertarians
Greenpeace and god knows who
PETA and dairy farmers of America..."

That's REALLY fucking convincing...

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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #34
35. I'll take hielo's word over yours any time, MrBenchley
n/t
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:38 PM
Response to Reply #35
38. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 05:13 PM
Response to Reply #35
63. High praise indeed (snicker)
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LibLabUK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-18-04 06:41 AM
Response to Reply #34
66. Ummm
I always give to both sides...
Republicans and libertarians


Hehehehe.. right-wing and even-righter-wing.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-18-04 07:08 AM
Response to Reply #66
67. The difference between a libertarian and an ordinary right wing loony?
A libertarian owns a modem.
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LibLabUK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-18-04 08:38 AM
Response to Reply #67
68. Bwhahaha....not heard that one before.. n/t
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 08:55 AM
Response to Original message
3. Teen shot dead outside Dorchester dance party (MA)
"The Charlestown High student shot to death yesterday on a Dorchester street corner teeming with teens who'd just been shown the door of a house bash was the fourth person murdered in Boston since Monday and the 22nd slain this year.
     ``He was a nice kid. I saw him (Friday) when he was getting ready to leave. He was laughing - like a 16-year-old boy,'' Harrison Jones, Harris' neighbor in Dorchester, said yesterday.
     Harris, wearing a blue cap and drawing on a thin black cigar, allegedly had turned up with a cousin at a party for youth ages 15 to 18 in a vacant apartment at 749 Morton St. The fling, which was supposed to run from 9 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. yesterday, was advertised with fliers and featured music by Roxbury radio station WBOT-FM (Hot 97.7) deejay Baby Face.
     But according to the mothers who hosted the party and insisted anyone coming inside be frisked for cigarettes, alcohol and weapons (scissors were seized from one youth), Harris, whom no one seemed to know, just hung by the front steps the entire night. "

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=28034
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CO Liberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:03 AM
Response to Original message
5. B'klyn man accidentally shoots, kills self
Even I know you're supposed to make sure a gun is empty before handling it. I'll refrain from making lame jokes about deer hunting, based on the victim's name. - Wayne

* * * * *

B'klyn man accidentally shoots, kills self

By Daryl Khan
Staff Writer

May 16, 2004, 10:12 PM EDT


A Brooklyn man died after he dropped a friend's gun and discharged a round that struck him in the chest Saturday night police said.

Paramedics rushed the victim, Lorenzo Deer, 62, to King's County Hospital, but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Deer and his friend Gustavo Acosta, 24, were handling Acosta's .22-caliber pistol in Deer's basement apartment on Woodruff Avenue, just south of Prospect Park in Kensington, at about 9:30 p.m.

While he was examining the gun, Deer accidentally dropped it, police said. The gun fired when it hit the floor and the bullet punctured Deer's chest, killing him. Gustavo immediately called 911, police said.

<more>

http://www.nynewsday.com/nyc-gun0517,0,670605.story?coll=nyc-homepage-headlines
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:24 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. Guns don't kill people...
people ki....BANG!...honest, officer, it just went off by itself!
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:42 AM
Response to Reply #8
14. and now ...

if a bottle of diet cola "went off" and killed someone when it got dropped ... wouldn't there be some manufacturer's liability issues??

Hey, I'm assuming that it went off when it was dropped. The gun-dropper is innocent until proved guilty and all that.

.
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:46 AM
Response to Reply #14
15. If it can be proven that a manufacturing defect resulted in the death...
...by all means, a lawsuit is justified.

But not for deliberate criminal misuse of the product, which is what most of the gun maker lawsuits are about.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:01 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. Gee, op, what a shame tort law and the courts disagree...
otherwise the gun lobby wouldn't have even tried to engineer that scummy "immunity from liability" legislation...

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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #17
30. Misstates the meaning of the Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act
That bill would not have prevented anyone from suing a gun manufacturer for a defective product.

But without deception, distortion, and outright lies the anti-RKBA zealots wouldn't have much to say.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #30
36. What a shame that tort law and the courts disagree with you...
And an even bigger "tragedy" for the corrrupt shitheels that they had to fold up their disgraceful bill and slink away.

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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #30
37. What a shame that tort law and the courts disagree with you...
And an even bigger "tragedy" for the corrrupt shitheels that they had to fold up their disgraceful bill and slink away.

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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:02 PM
Response to Reply #30
46. Immunity from intentional criminal misuse, not manufacturing defects.
And a firearm discharging when dropped would certainly qualify as a "manufacturing defect."

That was my understanding of the "immunity bill" too...that it only shielded the manufacturers from lawsuits from crime victims, because a manufacturer can't be held liable for intentional wrongful and criminal misuse of the product by the end user.

But like you said, deception and distortion is the name of the game. Why punish the criminal when you can get a whole lot more money out of the manufacturer?
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:20 PM
Response to Reply #46
49. And round and round op goes, spinning furiously...
"it only shielded the manufacturers from lawsuits from crime victims, because a manufacturer can't be held liable for intentional wrongful and criminal misuse of the product by the end user"
Gee, if the second part of that were even remotely true, the scummy gun industry wouldn't have needed the legislation they were trying to shove through the Senate, would they?

"But like you said, deception and distortion is the name of the game."
And if "enthusiasts" didn't have deception, denial, and distortion, they'd have to be mute as stones.
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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:31 PM
Response to Reply #49
54. Why should a manufacturer be liable for intentional misuse?
Do you have any idea how ludicrous it is to hold a company liable for producing a machine that functions exactly as it was designed?

If the gun functions correctly and it was legally supplied to a licensed dealer, then there is no cause for suing the manufacturer for the criminal actions of the end user.

Period. No spin required.
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:36 PM
Response to Reply #54
56. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:37 AM
Response to Reply #15
21. Sir - sir? Do you know where you are?
Can you tell us what day it is?

... a lawsuit is justified.
But not for deliberate criminal misuse of the product,
which is what most of the gun maker lawsuits are about.


But it wasn't what what I said was about. What discussion did you imagine that you had wandered into?

Here's the story we're talking about -- certainly the one *I* was talking about:

Deer and his friend Gustavo Acosta, 24, were handling Acosta's .22-caliber pistol in Deer's basement apartment on Woodruff Avenue, just south of Prospect Park in Kensington, at about 9:30 p.m.

While he was examining the gun, Deer accidentally dropped it, police said. The gun fired when it hit the floor and the bullet punctured Deer's chest, killing him. Gustavo immediately called 911, police said.
Like I said, *I* am not going to assume "criminal misuse" of anything.

Perhaps reading WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot's reply to my post will help keep you on track.

Me, I'm not saying I believe or disbelieve the story as reported, or that there was or was not a design flaw. Just that if the story as reported is true, there's whatcha might call prima facie evidence of a design flaw. Unless perhaps, say, and you might recall this from a discussion some time ago (the sports figure whose shotgun "accidentally" went off and killed someone), the owner of the product in question had completely failed to maintain it as stressed in the owner's manual s/he received upon purchase, and wear and tear had caused a properly designed product to develop a problem, or something like that.

Now on that point, how 'bout a little analogy?

Up here, when a motor vehicle is transferred to a new owner, it has to pass what we call a "safety check". The new owner may not register the vehicle for use on the public highways if the safety check isn't passed, and of course may not drive a vehicle on the public highways without registering it.

In this way, if the purchaser of a second-hand vehicle doesn't obtain the manufacturer's instructions, his/her lack of knowledge about necessary maintenance is offset, to some degree, by being put on actual notice of safety problems with the vehicle and, in fact, having to have them repaired.

Yes, it might be better if vehicles were subject to some regular inspection even if ownership is not being transferred. Make me queen of the world, and maybe I'll decree that.

But meanwhile ... I just bet there isn't any such requirement when ownership of a firearm is transferred in the US, is there?

(There isn't any in Canada either, even though transfers must be registered -- although owners of firearms are required to have licences which include safety training, and I would hope that this includes information about maintenance of one's firearm.)

I wonder how many worn and torn, unsafe firearms there are out there on the highways of the US ...

.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:46 AM
Response to Reply #21
22. You have to understand
the whole pro-poop in the parkgun "creed" revolves around a couple tattered dishonest catch-phrases that must be repeated incessantly whether or not they fit the case.

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OpSomBlood Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:21 PM
Response to Reply #22
50. Benchley complaining about repeated catchphrases...
...pot, meet kettle.

Hypocrisy isn't really surprising coming from the president of the Dianne Feinstein fan club.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:28 PM
Response to Reply #50
53. Then answer Iverglas' post, not mine...
Oh, that's right....all you've got is the gun lobby's tired catchphrase that it was trying to use to sell its idiotic immunity bill.
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WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot Donating Member (485 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:50 AM
Response to Reply #14
16. Seems to me
That if they were handling a loaded pistol (stupid in the first place) and it was dropped and the gun "accidentally" fired into this guys chest, sounds to me like this was a crappy .22 revolver that got magically dropped onto the hammer spur. In some cheap pistols without hammer blocks, this can cause a discharge since the force acting on the hammer drives the firing pin into the primer of the cartridge. If this is how it happened, that this could be found to be a design flaw. It's a well-known problem for some cheaper/older revolvers.

This explains why the two revolvers I have both use hammer-to-firing pin transfer bars. You would break the hammer off before an accidental discharge occurred.
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #14
29. Gun manufacturers face liability issues too
If the decedent's next-of-kin can show that the gun went off due to a design flaw or manufacturing defect rather than improper maintenance, they may have a case.
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CO Liberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 09:31 AM
Response to Original message
9. Gun-toting rock wife aims at Kerry
Edited on Mon May-17-04 09:39 AM by CO Liberal
It's people like Ted and Shemane Nugent that cast ALL gun owners in a bad light. If there was ever a couple that deserved to be locked up in a rubber room, it's them. - Wayne

* * * * *

Gun-toting rock wife aims at Kerry

Tony Allen-Mills
May 17, 2004

IF you go down to the woods today, make sure you are wearing a bright orange safety vest and hope that Shemane Nugent is not hiding behind a bush with a .38 tucked in her belt and a steel-tipped arrow loaded in her hunting bow.

The blonde huntress, who is the wife of rock star Ted Nugent and mother to son Rocco, stormed into Washington last week to introduce the capital's urban elite to a growing political phenomenon: gals who like guns.

The ladylike decorum of a Conservative Women's Network luncheon was shattered by a rabble-rousing speech from the co-author of Kill It & Grill It, a guide to arguably the simplest diet ever published in the US. "Kill stuff, add fire and enjoy," Mrs Nugent urged her audience.

Nugent made it clear that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who some right-wingers consider soft on gun owners' rights, was in her sights.

<more>

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9579512%255E13780,00.html
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:02 AM
Response to Reply #9
18. With enemies like that...
"Shemane Nugent is not hiding behind a bush"
Or under a rock...
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:12 AM
Response to Original message
19. Son sees father killed in accidental shooting (WA)
"BATTLE GROUND, Wash. - A 7-year-old boy witnessed his father's death in an accidental shooting during a camping trip for the child's birthday.
Joshua Joaum Zachary, 29, of La Center suffered a gunshot wound to the chest on Friday, said Sgt. Craig Randall of the Clark County Sheriff's Office.
Zachary lost his footing as he hiked up the bank of the East Fork of the Lewis River near the Sunset Falls campground northeast of Battle Ground, according to a sheriff's report.
When Zachary fell, a .22-caliber revolver he was carrying in a holster discharged, shooting him in the chest, said Sgt. Dave Trimble. "

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_051604WABcampingdeathSW.1ca0d7216.html
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iverglas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:52 PM
Response to Reply #19
60. I give up
Zachary lost his footing as he hiked up the bank of the East Fork of the Lewis River near the Sunset Falls campground northeast of Battle Ground, according to a sheriff's report.

When Zachary fell, a .22-caliber revolver he was carrying in a holster discharged, shooting him in the chest, ...

Why does someone carry a loaded .22-calibre revolver when camping/hiking with a seven-year-old?

If I thought that I was going somewhere where lions and tigers and bears were likely to be, I'd probably think better of going there with a seven-year-old. And forgive my ignorance, but is a .22-calibre revolver something that would be useful in that circumstance?

Heh ... when asked for ".22-caliber revolver" "for shooting", the first two things that Google tells me it's good for shooting are alarm clocks and cell phones. Maybe I should get me one of them things.

.
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 05:12 PM
Response to Reply #60
62. You got me...
I doubt he had a lockbox in among his camping gear.

A .22 pistol used to be the weapon of choice for wiseguys in Brooklyn...they could clip somebody behind the ear and the slug would have enough force to damage the brain fatally but not enouhg to pop through the other side of the skull. Maybe he was going to assassinate a raccoon, or something.

Also, how was he wearing a holster so the gun pointed UP toward his chest?

Wonder if he was twirling it, or otherwise waving it around when he fell?

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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 10:25 AM
Response to Original message
20. Two men shot at strip club on East Side (TX)
What a shame that two bad apples have to ruin things for all the other gun-toting patrons at strip clubs everywhere...(snicker)

"El Paso police investigating a traffic accident in East El Paso early Saturday found two men with gunshot wounds who allegedly had been involved in a shooting outside an adult nightclub.
El Paso County sheriff's deputies said that at 2:39 a.m. Saturday, they were sent to the Pure Platinum nightclub, 12821 Montana, in response to calls about several shots fired.
During a preliminary investigation, deputies found that an altercation had taken place outside the club involving two unidentified men in a white Cadillac and four or five people in a dark-colored SUV. "

http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20040516-118882.shtml


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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 11:34 AM
Response to Original message
25. Columbia man faces murder charges (TN)
Gun nut romance: If I didn't love you so much, darling, I wouldn't be shooting at you...(snicker)

"Phillip Pye, 20, allegedly chased three 17-year-old girls - including his girlfriend - through town repeatedly ramming the girls' car with his car, then fired a gun at the teens when they hid behind a house, police said.
The gunfire was allegedly witnessed by Detective Michelle Mason of the Columbia Police.
"It was stupidity more than anything else," Pye's attorney Billy Barnes said of his clients actions.
Barnes admits his client fired the gun but only into the air. He said Pye was involved in a relationship dispute that "got a little out of hand."
"But he was not shooting at anybody, and he was not intending to harm anybody," Barnes said. "When you're young and you fall in love ... sometimes you don't use the best of judgment." "

http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/archive/2004/05/16/LocalNews/206669.html
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 01:27 PM
Response to Original message
40. Pensacola police officer shoots gun-wielding man
"(PENSACOLA, FlA-AP) May 17 - Officials are investigating an incident in which a Pensacola police officer shot and wounded a 56-year-old man brandishing a handgun.
Police say Officer Roger McClean shot Tommy Bergersen three times after chasing him through Cypress By the Bay apartment complex. Residents say Bergersen had been showing off a loaded chrome-plated revolver at the pool, and refused to put it away.
Police spokesman Captain Chip Simmons says McClean ordered Bergersen to drop his gun, but Bergersen refused, aiming it at the officer instead. "

http://www.wpmi.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=4AC68565-FA49-4C57-8D09-19998D07E05B
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 02:02 PM
Response to Original message
42. One Dead, Four Wounded In Oakland Shooting
"Police responded to a report of shots fired and found five men with gunshot wounds on the 800 block of Edes Avenue around 11:30 p.m.
One man was pronounced dead at the scene and four others were taken to local hospitals in stable condition."

http://www.nbc11.com/news/3313288/detail.html
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 02:50 PM
Response to Original message
43. Man shot after brandishing assault rifle at Stafford jail (VA)
"A Spotsylvania man was shot and wounded Sunday outside the Rappahannock Regional Jail after he pointed a loaded assault rifle at a sheriff's deputy, officials said.
Godfrey Lee Williams, 57, was flown to Fairfax Inova Hospital, where he underwent surgery Sunday night. He was charged with attempted capital murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime, Stafford Sheriff Charles Jett said.
Jett said the sheriff's office received a call from someone around 2 p.m. Sunday warning that a man with an assault rifle was on his way to the jail to protest his son's recent incarceration for drunk driving.
About 30 minutes later, Williams drove into the jail's parking lot and got out of his truck with a fully loaded AK74 assault rifle and two bandoleers carrying more than 300 rounds of ammunition. "

http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D82K2T5O2.html
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:01 PM
Response to Original message
45. Two shot as gunmen fire into crowd at birthday party (VA)
"Two people were shot — including a 17-year-old boy in the face — as gunmen fired into a crowd at a high school student's 16th birthday party early Sunday.
The bullet wounds suffered by the teenager and a 25-year-old man were not considered to be life-threatening, police said. The 17-year-old was hospitalized at VCU Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the eye, while the other man had been shot in the upper chest.
Henrico County Police Capt. Jim Fitzgerald said the shooting began shortly after midnight during a dispute over a girl or between students from rival high schools.
Witnesses said a fight broke out in the hotel ballroom where the party was being held and the crowd of more than 100 teenagers started to flee when word spread that someone had a gun. "

http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D82K29IG1.html
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:25 PM
Response to Original message
51. Four hurt in St. Louis parade shootings (MO)
"ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A shotgun was fired into the crowd at a family parade in St. Louis, leaving five people with minor injuries.
It happened Sunday at a service station parking lot during the Annie Malone May Day Parade on the city's north side. Police said three victims were struck by pellets in the leg, one in the arm and one in the back. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.
"We heard a big shot and everybody starting running and knocked chairs over, and then somebody came and told me my daughter had been shot and my granddaughter," said Yvonne Jefferson. The child is 12.
The Annie Malone Parade began 98 years ago and benefits the Annie Malone Children & Family Service Center. The center cares for neglected, abused and at-risk children. "

http://www.semissourian.com/story.html$rec=137808
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MrBenchley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-17-04 04:40 PM
Response to Original message
58. Calif. Teen Arrested in Cousin's Slaying
"LOS ANGELES - A 14-year-old boy was arrested in the shotgun slaying of an 11-year-old cousin whose body was found in an apartment-house trash bin, police said Monday.
The teenager, whose name was not released, was arrested Sunday night at an apartment near where Bryan Lockley's body was found Saturday. Police searched for the gun.
The teen was raised with Bryan and often lived in the same apartment in a rough South Los Angeles neighborhood. "

Quick...what far right wing lobbying group that has odious nutcase Grover Norquist on its board publishes a gun magazine for kids?

"PITTSBURGH -- A man whose son was killed in the Columbine High School shootings literally walked in his child's shoes to the National Rifle Association convention, where he hoped Vice President Dick Cheney would address the federal assault weapons ban set to expire in September.
Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was killed with an assault weapon in the Littleton, Colo., killings five years ago Tuesday, said continuing the ban is common sense.
Assault weapons "are the weapons of gangs, drug lords and sick people," Mauser said before his three-block march to the convention, which runs through Sunday. "It is a weapon of war and we don't want this war on our streets."
Mauser entered the convention hall where the NRA was meeting, but was turned away by a security guard as several conventioneers applauded. A couple of conventioneers yelled "Get a life" and "Vote for Bush."
"

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3015989/detail.html
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