Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Yet Another Tragedy Comitted with Firearms

Would someone potentially have gotten hurt, if firearms hadn't been available? Possibly, but firearms are more lethal than most other weapons, and they are too readily available. Had the aggressor had to rely on a bladed weapon, for example, it would seem far less likely that anyone would have been killed. Not to pretend that injuries are not also serious, but they're preferable to people being killed, like this.

From MSNBC.com andthe Chicago Tribune:

Officer checks out murder scene, finds stepson dead

Chicago police Sgt. Darwin Butler was working his midnight shift on Nov. 27, according to the Chicago Tribune, when a routine call came in: A victim had been shot while driving a white Chevrolet.
Butler drove his squad car to the scene, and briefly shined his flashlight on the driver's face, he told The Chicago Tribune. It was a young African-American man, unresponsive, with a bullet wound to the shoulder in a vehicle that looked vaguely familiar.
"I never looked at the person to be anyone that I knew because I see (gunshot victims) so often working the streets like that," Butler later said to The Tribune. "And my first thought was, 'Wow. Another person potentially lost their life.'"
Suddenly he heard a woman screaming, "That's my sister's boyfriend, Darius!", and it hit him: This was indeed his stepson, Darius Parish, 20, the boy he had raised since he was 8.
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I had to look at him again," Butler told The Tribune.
Parish was home on Thanksgiving break from college when the shooting happened. Four others, including a baby, were in the car at the time. One other friend got shot in the arm, but no one else in the car was hurt, according to The Tribune.
No arrests have been made. A funeral was held on Monday in Chicago.
Efforts to reach Sgt. Butler by msnbc.com were not successful. An operator at his precinct said he was not expected in on Tuesday, but Butler told The Tribune his stepson's death has motivated him to improve his community even more.
"I'm going to keep fighting. I'm going to keep trying to make a difference," he said.
Read the full Chicago Tribune story here.

12 comments:

  1. Maybe Chicago needs another gun law. That would help.

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  2. Something tells me that the Chicago police officer carries a gun himself.

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  3. Yes Greg, I'm sure that Chicago police officer carries a gun himself.

    That would be because while you, as a civilian have the option of avoiding a criminal, the police do not.

    It's the same reason we equip our firefighters with the shiny red trucks, ladders, hoses and sirens, and all the other special equipment. We expect them, heroically as they do, to go into burning buildings while we expect others who are not firefighters to leave a burning building if they possibly can.

    We give the police the authority to do so.

    FWM, fewer guns would indeed help.

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  4. "Maybe Chicago needs another gun law. That would help."

    Well its clear what hasnt helped in light of these incidence... less gun laws.

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  5. It's a good thing Chicago has banned gun ranges. That will prevent crimes like this from happening in the future.

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  6. What would be better than Chicago having more gun lawz is the state lege in Illinois pulling it's head out of its ass long enough to pass some sort of law that makes sense re: registration and regulation of gunz.

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  7. Democommie,

    Check your facts. Chicago does require the registration of firearms, and the state requires a Firearms Owner's Identification card to purchase a gun or ammunition. To get said FOID, one has to go through a background check, and it can be revoked for all the reasons that your side wants. To transport a gun, the weapon has to be locked up in a case. There is no legal concealed carry in the entire state.

    Oh, but if only the state as a whole kept a list of every gun that someone bought legally. That would solve all problems. . .

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  8. Greg Camp:

    And there are, currently, no unregistered weapons anywhere in IL because of the draconian gunzlaws in Chicago? Or do you think maybe there's a couple of hundred thousand guys like you that will NEVER submit to the totalitarian gummint's obscene attempts to limit their freedom?

    IL is bordered by WI, IA, IN, MO and KY. The border crossings between those six states do not feature guards armed with automatic weapons and ferocious guard dogs. I know this for a fact because I've spent time in every one of those states and never been shot at by any pesky border guards.

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  9. Democommie,

    You said that the State of Illinois needs to enact regulation and registration. I pointed out that said state already has done so. You weren't commenting on the ease of transporting firearms across state lines. That's the saving grace of living in this country.

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  10. Mikeb302000,

    I'm willing to throw out any gun control measure that he supported and to enact any new gun freedom that he vetoed.

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  11. Greg Camp:

    Like the majority of dishonest gunzloonz you tend to think other people are as credulous as you are. Gunzlawz in IL in no wise prevent people from getting gunz in IL because there are so many brave, principled MurKKKins like yourself that won't obey bad, stupid, commie lawz that keep them from having all teh gunz they gotz to haz.

    Now, a national gunzlaw that dictated the same sorts of penalties for dealing in illegal weapons as are routinely given to drug offenders--that would be interesting.

    The more you write, the more obvious your paranoia becomes to the rest of us.

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