GUNS IN THE NEWS--December 11, 2003

[MrBenchley]

As CO Liberal sez:
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 - Comment on a story by replying to that story.
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 messages that appear to be personal attacks against another DU-er or violations 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.

[MrBenchley]

1. Authorities: Woman Tries To Bring Loaded Gun Into Courthouse (MO)

"A civilian security officer spotted the gun inside the woman's bag when it was run through an X-ray machine. The officer notified a sheriff's deputy, who confiscated the weapon and arrested the woman.
The Sheriff's Office said Cheryl J. Caldwell, a Kansas City, Mo., resident, was headed into the courthouse to face traffic charges when the gun was found in her bag. "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20031211/lo_kmbc/1914530

[MrBenchley]

2. Grandview Police Investigate Deadly Shooting (KS)

"Police said that they discovered 32-year-old Charles D. Gibbs lying on the porch of a home with a gunshot wound to the stomach. Gibbs was rushed to a hospital and died a short time later.
Investigators said that Gibbs went to the home of his 36-year-old estranged wife, who had an expired restraining order against him. Gibbs was shot, and then apparently crawled to a neighbor's home and called for help.
Gibbs had been arguing with his wife when the shooting occurred. Police are talking with the woman about what happened.
KMBC's Peggy Breit reported that police had been called to the home 35 times before the shooting occurred -- 10 times last month alone. Most of the calls were for domestic disturbances. Both Gibbs and his wife had previous arrests on their records. "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20031211/lo_kmbc/1912522

[MrBenchley]

3. Workplace Shooting (CA)

"Police say former Print Xcel employee, John Gardner, killed one worker yesterday before taking his own life.
Police say by the time officers arrived, Gardner shot and killed Jose Manriquez, set a number of fires around the printing plant, and then shot himself in the head.
Other employees scrambled to safety."

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/news/121003_nw_shooting.html

[MrBenchley]

4. Man accused of abducting son is charged in shooting (IL)

"A man accused of kidnapping his son from the Hoffman Estates home of the boy's guardian was charged Tuesday in an unrelated incident: firing a shotgun and wounding five people on a Maywood street, authorities said.
Willie Phillips, 25, was charged with five counts each of aggravated battery, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a weapon and armed violence as a result of the Nov. 14 shooting, police spokesman Brian Black said. His bail has been set at $500,000.
Witnesses told police Phillips fired a shotgun at people standing outside a home in the 600 block of 6th Avenue. Five people were hit with buckshot, but no one was seriously injured, police said. Phillips turned himself in over the weekend to Maywood police."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-0312100149dec10,1,6966448,print.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorth-hed

[MrBenchley]

5. Standoff is false lead in shooting suspect manhunt (TX)

"SWAT teams entered the home to search for Contreras. He was charged earlier on Wednesday for the murder of Maribel Vargas.
Vargas was shot and killed in a parking lot outside her workplace on Steck Avenue and MoPac around 8 a.m. Vargas was declared dead at the scene. She was shot once in the chest.
The police had focused their efforts on the home on Maxwell Lane after hearing reports of a man fitting Contreras's description entered the residence.
"Everybody loved her, she wanted to go to school, she wanted to do a lot for herself, and her family, her mom," Vargas's co-worker Patricia Hardin said."

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=91830

[CO Liberal]

6. Schools Report Gun Incidents and Assaults (NYC)

Yup - more guns is the answer to ALL of our problems - NOT!! - Wwayne

* * * * *

Schools Report Gun Incidents and Assaults

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: December 11, 2003

In a series of separate incidents in New York City schools yesterday, two students took guns into elementary schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx, a student at Washington Irving High School in Manhattan was arrested and charged with assaulting a school safety agent, and a student and a teacher at a Bronx middle school were removed by ambulance after a fistfight.

<snip>

Yesterday's violence came just as the city education department was moving to deploy 230 newly graduated school safety agents. Randi Weingarten, the president of the teachers' union, said city officials were not doing enough to keep schools safe. "It is getting very scary, and instead of dealing with the situation, the school system would rather discredit the teachers and tell us that we are overexaggerating," she said.

<more>

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/education/11GUN.html?ex=1071810000&en=d81bd51874bf6942&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[CO Liberal]

7. Man arrested for firing gun in neighborhood

Yet another responsible law-abiding gun owner - NOT!! - Wayne

* * * * *

Man arrested for firing gun in neighborhood

12/11/03

A domestic dispute over cab fare landed a Cedartown man in jail Monday, Dec. 8. According to police: Kimberly Ryals, 45, 439 Youngs Station Road, and her son, Jonathon McIntosh, 527 Fletcher St., were reportedly arguing earlier that evening. Officer Greg Hall noted in his report that McIntosh became “irate” when his mother wouldn’t give him $10 for cab fare to Fletcher Street. After McIntosh’s mother refused to give him the money, he allegedly cursed her and became “very physically aggressive toward her without actually striking her.” McIntosh’s stepfather, John Henry Ryals, 53, 439 Youngs Station Road, heard the commotion and stepped outside. His stepson reportedly saw him and challenged him to a fight in the yard. Minutes after making the threats, the stepfather went into the house, only to emerge with a .38-caliber revolver. Ryals was reportedly using the gun to “scare away.” He then proceeded to fire two shots into the air “in close proximity to several other residences.” The plan worked, as McIntosh ran into the house. He quickly dialed 911 and police were on the scene within minutes. Because he fired the gun near his neighbors’ houses, Ryals was arrested for discharging a firearm in a residential area. He was later released from the Polk County Jail.

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=725&NewsID=511581&CategoryID=3436&show=localnews&om=1

[CO Liberal]

8. Gun buyers' background checks could be tossed in a day (Wash DC)

The evil gun lobby at work .... making America less safe and secure. - Wayne

* * * * *

Gun buyers' background checks could be tossed in a day

12/11/03

Bruce Alpert
Newhouse News Service

Washington - With little debate, the House has approved an overhaul of gun laws that would require the federal government to destroy all records pertaining to background checks for approved gun buyers within 24 hours.

The gun provisions, inserted into a massive spending bill with support from the Bush adminis tration and National Rifle Association, also would prohibit the federal government from requiring that gun dealers conduct annual inventories and maintaining computerized records of dealers who go out of business.

The bill, which passed the House 242-176 on Monday but faces substantial opposition in the Senate, also would ease restrictions that limit the number of federally licensed gun dealers.

The most contentious among the proposed changes is a provision requiring that records naming individuals cleared to buy guns under federal background checks be destroyed within 24 hours. Opponents said it would make it harder for law enforcement officers to monitor the purchase of guns by criminals and terrorists.

<more>

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1071142210295800.xml

[CO Liberal]

9. A Related Editorial

From the York (PA) Daily Record. - Wayne

* * * * *

Keep gun checks for 90 days

Tossing checks after 24 hours would make fixing mistakes even more difficult.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

In a measure that absolutely does not belong in a spending bill, the U.S. House wants the FBI to destroy checks made on gun buyers after 24 hours instead of keeping them for 90 days.
The checks — completed electronically by the National Instant Criminal Background Check while the buyer waits to purchase a gun — are meant to keep guns out of the hands of felons, drug users and others not allowed to own firearms.

The checks are kept in case a gun is mistakenly issued to someone who should not own one. In fact, the Justice Department reported that in 2002 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had to seek the return of nearly 3,500 weapons mistakenly sold to people who shouldn’t have received them.

If this measure passes, investigators will only have 24 hours to discover the mistake and identify the person who has the gun so they can get them to return it.

Good luck, right?

This change doesn’t make sense.

<more>

http://ydr.com/story/opinion/16484/

[MrBenchley]

10. Remember...

The NRA already went to court (not on second amendment grounds) to claim that the Brady Law required these records to be tossed out after 24 hours...and lost. Then they appealed...and lost again. Then they took it to the Supreme Court, which kissed the whole thing off.

[MrBenchley]

11. Couple In Murder-Suicide Engaged In Nasty Divorce (NH)

"Wanda and Robert Reece were in the middle of a nasty divorce case that was scheduled for trial Wednesday morning. The two were found dead in Wanda Reece's home along with her boyfriend, Carl Stewart, shortly after gunshots were heard around 3 a.m.
Police said they believe Robert Reece may have arrived in New Hampshire from California about a week ago to attend a two-day divorce hearing in Derry District Court. The yearlong divorce proceeding was ending a 14-year marriage that produced two daughters.
According to court documents, the Reeces accused each other of alcoholism, infidelity and violence. Three domestic violence petitions were filed, but none were granted, due to lack of evidence. Wanda Reece said only once that she was frightened for her safety.
Autopsy results showed that Wanda Reece was shot once in the head, and Carl Stewart was shot three times. Both were killed in the bedroom. Robert Reece died from a single gunshot wound to the head."

http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/2696808/detail.html

[MrBenchley]

12. Man Cites N.H. Motto When Charged With Police Shooting (SC)

The RKBA crowd in action...

"A former New Hampshire family involved a dramatic shootout in South Carolina Tuesday cited the state motto as defense for killing two police officers.
Police said the Bixby family engaged in a 13-hour standoff at their home Tuesday when two officers were shot and killed over an apparent land dispute.
Sources told News9 that the Bixby family was part of an extremist group when they live in Haverhill, N.H., about 20 years ago.
Prosecutors said Steven Bixby and his father, Arthur Bixby, were the shooters at their Abbville, S.C., home. During a courtroom rant to reporters, Steven Bixby cited New Hampshire's state motto as validation for his actions.
"If we can't be any freer than that in this country, I'd just as soon die," he said. "I'm originally from New Hampshire, where the motto is 'Live free or die.'" "

http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/2696886/detail.html

As we see when some poor deluded soul actually believes the preposterous crap that gun nuts spout every day and acts on it, tragedy ensues....

[MrBenchley]

13. Two sentenced in nightclub shooting (AL)

"At the time of the late-night incident, Hackworth had the gun, Rowe was driving and Pugh was sitting in the back seat of the car when they approached a crowd milling about in front of Static City on lower Dauphin Street, according to court records.
Hackworth opened fire with the Intratec Tec-9 semiautomatic pistol. Although a barrage of bullets was fired, only one man was slightly injured.
An off-duty Mobile police officer, working security at the club, had earlier ordered the men to leave after they started causing a disturbance. He was not hit by the gunfire but apparently had been a target."

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1071051389222400.xml

[MrBenchley]

14. 2 Men Fatally Shot In South Side Tavern (WI)

"wo men are dead following a fatal shooting on Milwaukee's south side Wednesday night.
Police said it happened inside the Cielito Lindo tavern at Second and National about 9:10 p.m. The tavern had just recently reopened. Milwaukee police said a fight broke out between two groups playing pool. The suspect reportedly started shooting and hit two men in the head inside the tavern. "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20031211/lo_wisn/1915630

[MrBenchley]

15. Worker Shot In Head During Restaurant Robbery (FL)

"Two men wearing ski masks and armed with guns robbed the China Star Restaurant at 5728 N. Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, police said.
Investigators said they took money from the cash register and at least one wallet from someone inside. The 19-year-old was shot in the head and taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. It was reportedly his first day on the job. "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20031211/lo_wesh/1915709