Judge issues gag order in GI-shooting case

[struggle4progress]

Source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette

BY JACOB QUINN SANDERS
Posted on Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle issued a gag order Monday in the case of the man accused of killing one U.S. Army soldier and wounding another outside a west Little Rock recruiting office last week.

Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley requested that Lightle issue an order barring "police agencies" and defense and prosecution attorneys and their staffs from commenting publicly on the case of Abdul-Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23.

It is not clear from the order whether "police agencies" includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who also are investigating Muhammad.

Muhammad's attorney, Jim Hensley, did not appear in Lightle's court Monday morning. He could not be reached for comment ...

Read more: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/261584/

---

FBI Encountered Accused Ark. Shooter In Yemen
by Dina Temple-Raston
All Things Considered, June 8, 2009 · ... His given name was Carlos Bledsoe. He was 23, grew up in Tennessee and converted to Islam in high school. He traveled to Yemen in 2007, and FBI agents first encountered him in a Yemeni prison about a year later. Officials close to the investigation say what they learned about him alarmed them. The young American claimed to be in Yemen to study religion, but he was linked to a school there that was well-known for its terrorist ties. He had a fake Somali passport, though he was carrying a perfectly valid American one. Agents were concerned the Somali passport was a way for Muhammad to travel to places he didn't want U.S. authorities to know about — so when he returned to the U.S. his American passport wouldn't have stamps and visas from countries that bring suspicion ... The prison interview with Muhammad in Yemen rattled FBI officials enough that they opened a preliminary investigation. It never got much further than that. After he was deported back to the U.S., agents visited him on several occasions, but aside from his suspicious affiliations in Yemen, officials had nothing on him. So there is no indication that last week's events could have been prevented ... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105128523

LR shooting suspect lying, Yemeni says
Embassy dismisses account of torture in jail, brainwashing
By Jacob Quinn Sanders
LITTLE ROCK — The man accused of killing one U.S. Army private and wounding another outside a west Little Rock recruiting office Monday was not “brainwashed,” “tortured” or “detained for more than four months” in a Yemeni jail, according to a statement released Friday by that country’s embassy in Washington, D.C. Mohammed Albasha, the embassy’s spokesman, said in the written statement that any information 23-year-old Abdul-Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, born Carlos Bledsoe, offered after his arrest Monday could not be trusted ... http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/jun/06/lr-shooting-suspect-lying-yemeni-says-20090606/

[FailureToCommunicate]

1. The stories didn't even ask why a guy with that record could STILL get a gun!!

The NRA has this damn country, and Congress, by the short hairs. 4 deaths by guns every hour of every day of every year. But hey, it's our "Right" to have killing be so easy...

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

2. Well for starters your statistics are wrong.

Then there is the fact that the majority of gun deaths are actually suicides. Then there is the fact that of the rest of gun deaths the vast majority are murders committed by criminals possessing the guns they use to commit those crimes illegally.

David

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. Oh gee, you again. You seem to pop up anywhere there are threads mentioning guns

I wonder why? Seriously. Do you have an axe to grind? You often say so and so's stats are "wrong". That might make for an eye catching response line, but you are incorrect. Your harping about the circumstances for all those gun deaths -"oh it's suicide" or
"murder" or by "criminals" or because of "illegal guns" really has NO bearing on the facts of the statistics. Whatever the reasons, the numbers are for "death by guns." Sure there are other stats for death by car accident, or by base ball bat or lightening or cancer. But we're talking about number of deaths by GUNS. And it's a huge number. And it ceases to be just a number when it is someone close to you. And its a BIGGER number than any other country. (And if your gun magazines tell you there is another country where the numbers are even bigger, even if true that doesn't really make us "okay" does it? It only makes us in second place.) And it's preventable. It doesn't have to be. It could be a lot fewer. Couldn't it?
If your axe you want to grind is that only "bad guys" actually use the tons of guns in this country to do bad things, and that the rest of you are law-abiding saints, then fine. You're saints. Good luck with what ever cause you are promoting. I just can't figure out what it is...

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

4. It's important to get the facts correct, if one wants to have an honest discussion.

Yes a lot of people are killed by firearms in this country and many of those deaths are preventable, the number though is not as high as you stated. Better mental health care would lower the number of suicides regardless of the means. Increasing the penalties for felons possessing firearms to an automatic 10 year sentence that must run consecutive to any other sentences and must be served day for day would drastically lower the number of murders committed with firearms. Obviously the African American community needs a lot of attention in regards to violence, especially gang violence. I would leave that to the experts but the government should focus a lot of attention there. Something other than putting a disproportionate amount of African Americans in prison and finding some solutions to the poverty that seems inescapable in many of these communities would be a start. Accidental gun deaths have been dropping for quite some time, better education could lower that number even more. In regards to your assertions, the only magazines I subscribe to are golf magazines and the overwhelming majority of people who possess firearms legally are responsible, law abiding citizens. I hope that helps in your understanding of my position.

David

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. I didn't make up the # of gun deaths. 30,000 per year (average) is easily findable

with a couple of clicks on the internets. It's also the second leading cause of death for children, and more children die from guns in states, or areas of states, where more guns are present. Weird.

link:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/archives/2002-releases/press02192002.html

As for your magazine reading, I'm glad to hear you say it's GOLF not "America's 1st Freedom" or "NRA Insights"

Let the honest discussions continue.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

6. 30,000 doesn't equal 4 an hour.

Please define the age range for children in your claim, because the CDC disagrees.

David

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. No, it equals 3 1/2 people shot dead per hour. So I guess the 'only half dead' persons

make it a less bad number? Don't resort to silly claims just because the numbers are disturbing. 30,000 gun deaths per year is an AVERAGE number. That means sometimes a few thousand more, sometimes a few thousand fewer. And that works out to (about) 82 people shot per day. Maybe more during the darker hours maybe none for an hour or two. Does it matter? Not really. AND that number does NOT include the many thousands MORE not killed, but wounded or disabled for life...

And you asked about the age range of "children" in the 'guns are second leading cause of death of children' study. If you had bothered to check the link you would see it was age 5 to 14.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

8. The link never makes the statement guns are the second leading cause of death for children.

So why would I assume that you were referring to that article when it doesn't back up your statement? The isn't even the title of the story you linked to which it should be noted is about a 2002 study based on statistics from 1988 to 1997. Interesting that you completely failed to address any of my points on ways to reduce gun violence.

David

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. Right, another link did. This link says guns are THIRD not second cause of kid deaths

Does that help? No, not really. And the study makes interesting comparisons of number of available guns and increased gun use. The age of the research being from a few years back hardly discounts the findings.

And okay, YOUR points for ways to reduce gun violence are interesting:1) better mental health care (fine); 2)more education (about gun safety I presume you mean) (okay); 3)more/longer jail time for offenders (especially blacks) (well, hmmm, would be good except for the 'blacks' part)

Interesting you leave out -and maybe THAT's your point- reducing the overall number of guns and ease of obtaining them. But that flies in the face of reality. More regulation (something the NRA is dead set against) makes it harder for bad people, people with actual arrest records or troubles to get guns. And fewer guns with less ammo available means fewer guns to be stolen or in any way end up in the hands of the "bad guys" Remember I agree that good law abiding gun owners may "good guys" UNTIL they crack and decide to use some of their guns to shoot themselves, or their wife, or kids or neighbor or those 'army dudes', or the 'yellow people' or the 'brown people', or the 'liberals', or the abortion doctors, or the guards at a museum.
OR their guns are stolen by a break-in. And poof! What do you know, those 'good guys' become the very bad guys. One moment law abiding, with legal guns, next moment, boom. Take the guns from that equation and all you're left with is botched suicide, wife, or child beating, angry words yelled at those you hate, or a strongly worded letter to the newspaper. (Oh no, not THAT!)

[Name removed]

10. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

11. Ok so you were wrong. That's ok.

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. My parents raised five honest kids, me included. You just don't want to look at what

I showed you, or hear my comments on your comments. But I get it now. The only thing I'm sorry about is taking the bait you offered on hopes of having any meaningful discussion about your favorite subject.
Silly me. But rest assured I won't make that same mistake again.

Signing off.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

13. So you saying that I just wanted to lock up black people was honest? Your parents screwed up.

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. See your post #4. (Beyond here I am not taking the bait. See ya.)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

16. Something other than putting a disproportionate amount of African Americans in prison

I've got it they weren't bad parents they just didn't teach you to read.

David

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

17. Running away would be wise.

[Rage for Order]

14. Gotta keep this story out of the news

Apparently it doesn't fit someone's narrative and so it has to be suppressed.