Pro-Gun Extremists Jumping To Conclusions And Blaming Child Shooting Victims... Again

It's late at night.  A gun nut goes into the darkness to confront a child.  A struggle ensues.  An unarmed child gets shot.  The adult shooter claims self-defense, but he's not the one in the hospital... or the morgue.

Sound familiar?  This time I'm not talking about Trayvon Martin and his shooter, child-killer George Zimmerman.   No, this time I'm talking about a different shooting that happened this week in Oregon, very close to where I am.

Here's the facts that have been released so far:  A man in Springfield, Oregon, annoyed at the loud house party across the street at 2:00 AM, goes out in his driveway and yells at the kids there to be quiet instead of calling the police.  Some of the kids come out to him.  The man had brought a gun with him.  According to one of the children, the man puts a gun to the chest of one boy and pulls the trigger, but the gun misfires.  The man then opens fire on the other kids, hitting one boy in the rear end and hitting a 15-year old girl in the thigh.  The children go to the hospital.  The man is questioned by police and released back home.  No arrests.

HERE is the news article and video.

Shooting victims, Christopher Carson (age 14) and April Hamilton (age 15)

This raises some very important questions.  Since the shooter wasn't arrested, does this mean that he had a legitimate self-defense claim?  But if he had been attacked, why weren't any of the teens arrested?  Why did he bring a gun with him?  Was he expecting to be in a fight?  If so, why didn't he just call the police?  Were the kids who were shot actually the ones trying to attack him, or did he just fire blindly into the crowd?  Alcohol was apparently being served at the party.  Were any of the kids who were engaged with the man actually drunk?  Neither of the victims were apparently cited for alcohol consumption.  And where were the kids' parents during all of this?  How responsible are they, given their kids were at a house party at 2AM? 

I don't have the answers to any of these questions.  I've known some teens, even at age 15, who were formidable enough to put up a serious fight.  But does this warrant shooting them?  Look at the picture of the boy and girl who were wounded.  They don't seem so formidable to me.  Given that they were not armed, I can't imagine trying to shoot them to death no matter how angrily they attacked me with their fists.

I am, of course, reminded of the shooting of Trayvon Martin.  Similar questions were swirling when the shooting first happened.  I sat back and read the reports, waiting before I passed judgment.  Not so with the gun nuts, though.  Their first assumption was that Zimmerman was well within his rights to shoot the boy to death.

The gun nuts aren't losing any time doing so in this case either.  They can't know any more than I do about the case, but that doesn't stop them from jumping to conclusions.  Consider the comments from this pro-gun forum: 

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/legal-political/95714-springfield-man-shoots-teens-july-1-2012-a.html

"Flyingswords" commented:

Kids got what they had coming to em. You mess with fire and your liable to get burnt. They played with fire and 2 got burnt.

"Nutty4Guns" commented: 

I doubt they were innocent bystanders.

"Jack Thompson" comments:

Guns. The magic equalizer that gives a single old man the "Right" to ask 10 rowdy drunk teenagers to please be quiet at 2:00am without fear of getting curb stomped in return.

Guns for President.

According to "Stomper":  

I'm down with donating to his defense fund if he gets tagged with any kind of criminal or civil suit. Not only would they have been digging bullets out of their legs, but they would have had to extricate my shoe from one of their arses, and my empty pistol from the other arse.

In gerneral, I flippin' HATE teenagers! It truly is the most dangerous time/phase of their lives.

Another, "ereezy503", agrees: 

If they sue this guy I will definitely donate money to his legal defense. Kids have no respect anymore.

These gun guys don't even have the facts yet, but they're happy to donate money to this guy who just shot two teens.

They don't seem to remember what George Zimmerman did with the money donated to him.  According to the judge in Zimmerman's case, where Zimmerman and his wife were talking code to each other and moving money around to hide it from the courts:

"Under any definition, the defendant has flaunted the system," Lester said. "Although there is no record of flight to avoid prosecution, this court finds that circumstances indicate that the defendant was preparing to flee to avoid prosecution but such plans were thwarted."

From another source:

"Notably, together with the passport, the money only had to be hidden for a short time for him to leave the country if the defendant made a quick decision to flee," the judge said. "It is entirely reasonable for this court to find that, but for the requirement that he be placed on electronic monitoring, the defendant and his wife would have fled the United States with at least $130,000 of other people's money."

Now Zimmerman has the gall to ask for more donations, even as he posts bail again and is free once more. 

Remember how Zimmerman told police that Trayvon had banged his head into the sidewalk so hard that he thought he would pass out?  According to a medical examiner, Zimmerman did not suffer serious brain trauma, only a couple cuts and a broken nose.  Apparently Zimmerman wasn't too concerned, either, since he declined to be seen by a specialist afterward.

And what about the man in the Oregon case?  Was he injured at all by the teens?  The news reports don't say.  He certainly wasn't hospitalized, unlike his victims.  I wonder what he will later claim.  Will he blow his injuries out of proportion, like Zimmerman did, in an attempt to justify his horrific reaction?  Time will tell.

Oregon Medical Marijuana and Gun Crimes -- Part II

(UPDATED -- see below)

Last month, in Part I of this two-part posting, I posted a blog highlighting the connection between marijuana, including medical marijuana, and gun crimes.  But shootings aren't just for illegal dealers, illegal users, or medical users; shootings happen to medical marijuana growers, too, and not all of them are innocent victims.  In fact, some are the criminals.

I ended the last post as follows:  "According to one article, 24,000 of Oregon's 38,000 medical marijuana card holders are growers of marijuana.  Are the growers any less likely to commit gun crimes or be attacked by shooters?"

First off, marijuana is an illegal drug for the vast majority of users, including in Oregon (where medicinal marijuana use is legalized).  At the federal level, marijuana is still considered illegal for everyone, setting up a problem with enforcement between state and federal authorities.  And though marijuana is less addictive for most people than most other drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, it has been shown to lead to addiction, particularly for long-time users.  Wherever you have an addiction, particularly with illegal usage, you have crime and shootings.

When most people around the nation think of marijuana growers, they think of shady characters with giant crops hidden in remote forests.  There was a case fairly recently, for instance, here in Oregon, where five men had an illegal "grow."  When they discovered that their plants had been harvested, they pinned it on another man, kidnapped him at gunpoint, tortured him, and left him to die.  The man escaped.  The five growers were captured.  And it turned out one of the gunmen had actually secretly harvested the crop without telling the others, preferring an innocent man take the fall.

But what about legal marijuana growers?  Surely they are above these crimes.  Immune from the illegality of the drug, shouldn't they be insulated from gun crimes?

Not at all.  As I mentioned, wherever you have an addiction, you have crimes, including gun crimes:

HERE is an example of one where two men invaded the Springfield, Oregon home of a medical marijuana grower, demanding drugs and money, and shot the family dog.

HERE is another example, where three men invaded the home of another medical marijuana grower in Oregon City, locked up the family's three children in a closet, and stole money and marijuana.  The invaders held a gun to the head of the grower while the children watched.

HERE is an example where three men tried to shoot and rob a medical marijuana grower in Springfield, Oregon.  Luckily, in that case, the men were fended off by the owner's dog.

HERE is a more recent case from Eugene, Oregon, where two armed suspects got into the back yard of a medical marijuana grower.  When the male homeowner went to investigate, the suspects shot him in the leg.  The grower's wife then came out with a shotgun and shot back, missing the suspects but scaring them off.  Said the neighbor, about the marijuana growing operation: "It's a risky business," he said. "There's lots of people that'll rip you off at gun point."

And that last quote is really the heart of the problem, isn't it?  Other high-risk commercial ventures, like banks, convenience stores, pawn shops, and gun shops, all have security features in place, like cameras, bars on windows, alarm systems, or even armed guards (for banks).  But this simply isn't the case for many marijuana growers.  Other than sometimes having a weapon of their own or, in one case, having a dog, none of these articles suggest any other sort of security.  No cameras, bars on windows, or even heavy-duty locks on the doors.  They don't seem to follow many of the alternatives to gun ownership that I espouse.  If you were growing a drug that is potentially addictive, prone to criminal activity, and considered illegal for the vast number of users, wouldn't you take security seriously?  If you don't, wouldn't you think it would attract criminals?  These are the growers' homes, for Christsake.  Hell, some of these growers have children living there, even. 

And it's not just the home of the grower that is in danger.  It's the homes and families living around them.  As one Eugene detective and a grower's neighbor commented:

Eugene police detective Matt Hervert did not say that the medical marijuana grow operation had anything to do with this crime, but he did bring up the danger of gunfire in residential areas.

"Certainly bullets flying around the neighborhood are dangerous to everybody, everybody around," he said.

Brooks agreed.

"Got to be careful where you're shooting a shotgun in a neighborhood," he said. "It's got to go somewhere."

Consider THIS case from Springfield, Oregon, where a legal grower and his friend had been "out on the town" and returned to the grower's apartment.  The friend left, but realized he had forgotten his keys.  When the friend knocked on the door and got no answer, he then foolishly went to a door or window where the grower's plants were located and helped himself in.  That's when the grower grabbed a gun, mistaking his friend for a burglar, and shot the guy.  The article didn't say if being "out on the town" had inebriated either man, but clearly things weren't right here.  Before you exclaim that this is a "simple" accident and that the grower was well within his rights (which he was, legally), remember the following:  why didn't he answer the door?  And why was his rear window or door left unlocked, or at least not fortified enough to stop a would-be robber?  For that matter, why choose an apartment complex to grow your plants in?  Is this really where such an operation should be undertaken, in close confines to young families, probably with children, as many apartment dwellers are?

But before you consider these legal growers to be mere victims, consider that some of them are criminals, too.

HERE is a case where a legal marijuana grower in Marion County, Oregon, was burglarized.  When deputies came to investigate, they found an illegal "spring gun" in his garden: a shotgun with a tripwire, ready to fire. The gun was loaded only with wadding, and meant only to scare criminals, but was still illegal.  A minor example, yes, but consider the following two cases...

HERE is a case where a medical marijuana advocate, legal grower, and card holder from Coos County, Oregon, Robert M. Walker, became angry at a man over a "long-simmering dispute stemming from marijuana issues."  Walker shot the man in the leg while the man was biking along a highway.  Scandalized by his misdeeds, Walker hung himself in jail.

Just a couple months ago, there was another shooting of a medical marijuana grower just south of Cottage Grove, Oregon.  At first glance, this appeared to be like the others, where the home invaders wanted to rob the man they had killed.  But it turns out that the grower, Terry Fruichantie, may not have been so innocent after all.  Rumors of illegal drug trafficking had plagued him before, as well as the arrest of two of his family members and four other people, some of whom were listed as legal growers, and the seizure of hundreds of marijuana plants and $20,000, after a raid by 50 officers from various law enforcement agencies, there on the property where he had been killed.

Then it was revealed that the deceased man's father, Jerry Fruichantie, accused his son and others of being "methamphetamine users who threatened several times last year to assault and kill him — in at least one instance while accompanied by “neo-Nazis.”

Terry Fruichantie was charged in August with growing and selling marijuana. Court records indicate he had been scheduled to plead guilty on Tuesday to one of the charges, although his father said his son had wanted to fight the charges at a trial.

The father was one of those accused in the previous raid.

Jerry Fruichantie alleged in a separate restraining order application filed against son-in-law Russell Nealey that the younger man has threatened to “put me away,” pushed him, destroyed his vehicles and stole his tools and guns.

“I cannot go on my property because of him and his affiliation with white supremacists,” Fruichantie wrote in the application.

In yet another application, Fruichantie alleged that Brian Nealey threatened to assault him with a steel pipe and once brought “neo-Nazis” to his boat to “cut the squealer’s throat.”

Not surprisingly, these allegations have caused a split in the family.

Wow.  Allegations of neo-Nazi affiliation and threats, illegal drug dealing and growing, and yet the victim was still growing medical marijuana and owning guns?

Don't get me wrong.  I'm a supporter of medical marijuana.  I believe it helps relieve suffering for many patients, and I voted for it.  But that doesn't mean that there can't be reasonable limits on who can grow marijuana and how it is distributed.  Certainly, mixing it with guns leads to a higher-than-normal chance of tragedy.  And, as I've shown, there is a greater-than-average need to have reasonable security precautions in place, beyond what one would expect for your average household.  It's a dangerous business, and as for all dangerous businesses, it is the role of our government to step in and mandate safety for the good of the community.  Gun crimes follow drugs, even the legal ones.

UPDATE (5/17/13):  A legal medical marijuana dispensary was robbed at gunpoint in Portland, the armed man threatening a number of volunteers before making off with marijuana and money.

UPDATE (9/25/13):  Another example of a shooting, this time in Springfield, Oregon, of a man shooting someone trying to steal his marijuana plants in his back yard.

UPDATE (5/29/14):  Five masked gunmen invaded a medical marijuana garden located in Linn County, tied up the owners, and stole plants, cash, and guns from the owners.

Oregon Medical Marijuana and Gun Crimes -- Part I

In May of Last year, as I posted about previously, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that Oregonians who have a medical marijuana permit may be issued a conceal carry license (CCL) as well.  Then, in January of this year, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, allowing that ruling to stand (but also allowing a gray area to remain, since both medical marijuana and gun possession by addicts is still illegal at a federal level; A provision of the 1968 Gun Control Act prohibits drug addicts from possessing or receiving a firearm (18 U.S.C. 922 (g)(3))). 

The Oregon Court of Appeals ruling stands against common sense, given the altered state of mind that marijuana leads to, the danger of a gun in that state, and the fact that there isn't a law (as far as I've been able to ascertain) against being high and carrying a loaded weapon at home or in public (with a CCL).

As stated in one article:

"Any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether or not his or her state has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or is addicted to a controlled substance and is prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition," Herbert wrote.

While medical marijuana supporters have expressed outrage, groups that can usually be counted on to stand up for Second Amendment rights have been largely silent. Although the National Shooting Sports Foundation was the first place outside ATF to post the open letter, it has not responded to repeated Chronicle requests to comment on the Second Amendment rights of medical marijuana users. Neither has the National Rifle Association.

Advocates of medical marijuana insist that they are law-abiding citizens just interested in easing their pain.  I don't doubt it.  Most likely the majority of Oregon's 40,000 medical marijuana permit holders fit that description.  Oregon Sheriffs don't agree.  

"This whole medical marijuana thing is a farce, and you can quote me on that," said Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin, president of the Oregon State Sheriff's Assn., who believes only a fraction of the state's nearly 40,000 registered medical marijuana users have a legitimate need for the drug.

"I always ask them, 'How many times a day do you medicate?' They say it's like four or five times a day," Bergin said. "Well, that's 16 hours a day you're running around stoned. Do we even want them behind vehicles? No. Do we want them carrying around a gun? Absolutely no."

Police forces across Oregon are highly critical of Oregon's medical marijuana law:

[The law is] a system that allows designated growers to legally cultivate hundreds of pounds of marijuana, and it gives so-called "caretakers" cover to move marijuana through the state, critics said. Defenders of the existing law say their legitimate medication is under attack, and the proposed changes would go too far.

The law is so useful to drug traffickers that they'd be "foolish" not to use it, said Detective H. Ray Myers, a Grants Pass police officer who works on the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement Team. Myers said the vast majority of his cases involve medical marijuana cardholders.

"It is easy for them to hide behind it," Myers said. "It makes it difficult for us to investigate."

Critics say the professional growers can cultivate massive marijuana plants that are each capable of producing dozens of pounds of pot. That creates a significant excess beyond the 1½ pounds a patient is eligible to possess, and some growers sell their surplus on the black market. Designated "caregivers" are allowed to possess the marijuana designated for patients in their care, so becoming a caregiver for 10 patients would give someone cover to transport 15 pounds of marijuana.

HERE is one such example of a medical marijuana permit holder who abused the system (and, of course, had a loaded gun in his possession).  HERE is a recent case, an Oregon man illegally transporting three pounds of pot through Idaho, and ANOTHER recent case like that one, but with five pounds.

HERE is another case of one of those "caregivers" abusing the system.  They had 100 plants and nearly four pounds of processed pot.  Of course, they were also armed, with a 12-guage shotgun and 9mm semi-auto pistol.

So if there are so many cases of abuse, and our law enforcement has concerns, shouldn't we trust the opinion of those who are in charge of protecting public safety?  Shouldn't their concern about the need for stricter regulation and the prevention of arming these people be listened to?

Don't get me wrong; I support medical marijuana.  I voted to allow medical marijuana here, and truly believe it eases suffering.  I wish my grandmother could try it.  People are moving to Oregon just for the medical marijuana, and are seeking Oregon medical marijuana permits even when living out of state.  But while there are benefits of marijuana for patients, it comes with risks. 

One of those risks is that, when mixed with guns, the altered state of mind while high makes choices with guns a potentially deadly combination, just as with alcohol, some legal drugs, or many illegal drugs.  Reasonable restrictions need to be put in place to reduce cases of abuse of the law and dangerous activities.

"Just because we're patients doesn't mean we don't have real lifestyles and rights like everyone else," said the medical marijuana user who successfully sued to have her conceal carry permit.  True, but it also means that there's no guarantee you won't shoot an innocent person while high.  All rights have restrictions, since the welfare of the people is of highest importance.  This is no different.

Pro-gun advocates would like you to think that drug-related shootings are only back-alley deals gone wrong, by gang bangers and illegal dealers.  Most are, around the nation, like THIS one or THIS one.  HERE is a recent local case if ID thieves who were armed with a stolen gun and had illegal marijuana and other drugs. HERE is a local case from last year where five men who had a clandestine illegal marijuana crop kidnapped an innocent man at gunpoint and planned to kill him because they thought he had harvested their crop (turns out one of the five kidnappers had secretly done it).  But a large number of cases around here don't fit the gun advocates' model. 

Here's a case from just a couple days ago which doesn't fit that "shady drug deal" model, in Springfield.  A 26-year old man was high on marijuana and decided to twirl his .357 revolver.  The gun went off, tearing through his left thigh and lodging the bullet in the floor.  He had a 3 year old and 5 year old in the apartment with him.  Luckily, neither child was harmed, nor the three people in the apartment below.  Prior to that point, I'm sure this previously law-abiding man would have argued that there was no problem with having a gun while high, or having a gun around children.

And HERE is a case where a medical marijuana user was shot in the leg when someone broke into his apartment, trying to steal his pot.  He was a target because of his prescription.

Being a medical marijuana card holder doesn't keep you out of trouble.  It doesn't give you more common sense.  And for some, it increases the chance of abuse.  Smoking weed impairs your judgment, and when you have a medical marijuana card, it can also make you a target for addicts. Mix guns in with this, and you have a recipe for tragedy.

But what about legal growers?  For card holders, shouldn't they be the most law-abiding and safe of all card holders?  According to one article, 24,000 of Oregon's 38,000 medical marijuana card holders are growers of marijuana.  Are the growers any less likely to commit gun crimes or be attacked by shooters? 

As you'll see in Part II of this posting, this isn't the case...

The "Too Many Victims" Candlelight Vigils - Eugene

Last Sunday, January 8, 2012, on the first anniversary of the Tucson shooting, there was an event held across the nation:  69 candlelight vigils in 22 states plus Washington, D.C. to memorialize those who have been killed and injured by gunfire. 

One year ago, 6 people were killed, including a 9-year old girl and a federal judge, and 13 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, when a mentally-ill shooter, who had legally purchased his guns, opened fire during an informal "meet your congressman" meeting at a shopping center.  And yet, since then, nothing has been done to keep it from happening again.  If anything, restrictions on guns have decreased, particularly in Arizona, where the shooting took place.  A vigil was held there, too, led by Congresswoman Giffords.

Mayor Kitty Piercy, at left, holds a candle before speaking.

By the latest estimate, over 110,000 people in America are shot each year in homicides, suicides, and accidents.  Around 30,000 of them are killed.  As I blogged about recently, there have been 14 shootings in 2011 that I know of here in the Eugene/Springfield area of Oregon, not counting suicides, with 9 dead and 6 injured.  There are TOO MANY VICTIMS.  This isn't just a question of gun rights.  It's an urgent public health crisis.

Visiting the homepage for the event, at www.toomanyvictims.org, you can read dozens of touching tributes to those who have been lost, and read the accounts of many of the vigils that were held.  Each vigil was different.  Some had marches.  Others rang bells.  Some were outdoors.  Some were in churches.  Different organizations took part in coordinating the events.  But they all had one goal in common:  advertising the fact that too many people die in American from gunfire and that attention needs to be given to commonsense solutions.  It is not a coincidence that America leads the world in non-military civilian shooting deaths among industrialized nations, and that America also has the highest gun ownership per capita in the world (with 90 guns per 100 people, we far surpass the next highest, Yemen, which had 61 per 100).

Baldr Odinson describing the need for better background checks.

Even though temperatures were in the mid-30's, here in Eugene, Oregon, around 50 people attended our vigil on the steps of the old Federal Building.  Betsy Steffenson, representing Million Mom March and the Peace Caucus of the Democratic Party of Lane County, spoke of the slaying of Officer Chris Kilcullin at the hands of a dangerously mentally ill shooter who bought her gun legally (just as the shooter in Tucson had) and the recent shooting of the Ranier ranger, Margaret Anderson.  Darlene Baker spoke next, representing Lane County Suicide Prevention Program.  She described the suicide of her teenage daughter, Jennifer, who had been trained from a young age to respect and shoot guns, and about the need for safe storage of firearms in homes with children.  I spoke next, representing Ceasefire Oregon, talking about the number of victims in Lane County and the nation and the need for better background checks, including for all private sales and for mental health reporting.  Finally, Eugene mayor Kitty Piercy, a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (along with about 600 other mayors), spoke of the need for civility in our public discourse and the disturbing availability of guns to those who would abuse them.

A moment of silence and candlelight in Eugene.

After the speeches, there was a moment of silence.  This was followed by a somber reading of names of those who have been killed an injured in the Eugene area.  Members of the audience were invited to add names of others who had not been included on the list.  One came up and dedicated her candle to those who, though not shot, had been threatened by guns and raped or assaulted.  Another name was for Stephen Ogg, a 20-year old who, just the week before, was killed in an accidental shooting by his juvenile brother, even though they had grown up with guns, lived on the grounds of the Emerald Empire Gun Club, and were custodians of the gun club.  Family and friends of Stephen were in attendance at the ceremony, and had passed out orange ribbons with his name on them, which everyone wore.  It was a very emotional moment when his name was read.

Finally, a bagpiper played Amazing Grace to close the ceremony.  It is a poignant moment which will stay with me forever.

HERE is a link to a local news article and video, from KVAL news, which aired just after the ceremony concluded.

And what did the pro-gun extremists do to commemorate the Tucson shooting and shooting victims?  Nothing at all.  Instead, they made juvenile and insulting videos, like THIS one, and had a gun show, in Tucson, on the same day as the anniversary.  Pitiful.

There are too many victims of gun violence every year in America.  It's time to take steps to reduce these numbers.  Together, we can make a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.


Images are courtesy of Jasmine Rose Penter, photographer and volunteer for Ceasefire Oregon.

2011 in Review - Part I (gun-related crimes)

2011 is out, and 2012 is in.  Happy New Year's to you all.  I hope it has been a safe one for everyone reading this.

2011 was pretty deadly here in the Eugene / Springfield area of Oregon.  There have been 14 shootings reported in the media (though most suicides and accidents go unreported) in this small-town area.  This is the highest number of shootings for at least the last four years in my area (since I've been keeping track), and probably much longer.  9 dead, 6 injured.  That is only for my area, not for the rest of Oregon.  It has been a particularly deadly year in southern Oregon and over in the Coos Bay area, as well as Portland, but I'm not going into those here.

There were 2 murder/suicides in that number (here and here) in the Eugene area.  Questions still surround these, as there is no known motive for either of them, and no note.

For those of you convinced that drug dealers and gangs are responsible for most shootings, here in my area only 2 of the shootings are linked to them. Neither was fatal.  These don't count the accidental shooting (of a friend mistaken as a robber) at a medical marijuana grower in Springfield, or a shooting at another medical marijuana grower in Eugene.

There were also a record number of armed robberies.  A handful, 4 or 5, involved threats with knives.  About that many had only a note and no weapon.  But 27 armed robberies in my area had robbers who used guns.  Nearly all were of businesses or banks.  Luckily, none of them resulted in any injures.  And in none of them did anyone try to resist by drawing their own concealed weapon.  The bit of money the robbers were after is hardly worth a life-and-death shootout. 

There were two shootings at homes that were ruled as defensive, "justified" shootings.  One was a domestic dispute involving a property dispute between a man and his sister's partner, with questionable circumstances that led to the death of the brother (the shooter claimed he was attacked with a tire iron, but friends of the deceased claim the sister and her partner wanted the brother's land, and why did the partner walk out of the house to confront the deceased instead of calling the sheriff?).  The other was where two suspects invaded a legal marijuana grower's property to steal marijuana.  The homeowners pulled out a shotgun.  Can you guess who got injured?  Not the robbers. 

The shooting that made the most headlines was the death of a traffic cop, Officer Chris Kilcullen, at the hands of a dangerously mentally ill woman, Cheryl Kidd, during a traffic stop in April.  The shooter had been mentally ill for a long time, schizophrenic, and convinced that the police were out to shoot her.  She was so dangerously ill that her doctor had sent her to the hospital a couple months before to be evaluated.  Nonetheless, she had been able to legally purchase her gun at a local sporting goods store, clearing a background check.  (Oregon only sent two records of mentally ill persons to the NICS background check system in all of 2011, despite a legal mandate).  There is now a stretch of highway dedicated to Officer Kilcullen, but the best tribute would be to pass legislation to strengthen the background check system to prevent this from happening.  So far, that hasn't been done.

There were also a very few suicides reported (they only get reported if they are very public in some manner), a couple accidental shootings (one was of an off-duty police officer who, while at a shooting range, shot himself while trying to remove his loaded rifle from his car), and an assortment of non-fatal and general gun crimes of all types.  In all, there were at least 55 gun-related crimes that were reported in the media for my area, that I am aware of.  Who knows how many weren't reported in the media.  I occasionally hear of one or two, and gun crimes are so commonplace that most are not reported in all media outlets, just one or two, so unless I read them all every day (which rarely happens), then sometimes they get past me.

In my next post I will focus on our efforts to reduce gun crimes in my area in 2011, and our successes and obstacles.

Have a safe and happy New Year.  Together, we can work to create a new trajectory for our communities away from gun violence.

In Part II of this 2-part posting, I talk about our accomplishments and challenges from 2011, and how Ceasefire Oregon has worked to reduce gun violence in that year.

Image taken from here.

Already Matching Last Year for Shootings Here

It’s been a very difficult month so far in my area due to gun-related crimes and shootings. 

So far this month there have been six armed robberies here, bringing the total to 11 this year – all using guns, of course, as most armed robberies do.  Though at least a couple are tied to the same robber, there’s currently no evidence to suggest the others are related.  It’s hard to get good data of robberies that involve guns, using the city’s online statistics, but I watch the newspaper and online news reports carefully for my area.  This is a huge up-tick in armed robberies for this area, given that there were only two that I can find in all of last year (resulting in what was deemed a self-defense shooting but which may have actually been a drug deal gone wrong).  Luckily none of these recent robberies have resulted in injuries or deaths, and none of those who were held up tried to pull a gun of their own (since possessing a gun increases the chance of dying in a gun-related assault, and seeing a gun increases aggression).  And how do these criminals get guns, anyway?  In Oregon, they can buy from any private seller without the need for a background check, paperwork of any kind, or even showing ID.

Also this month, there was a suicide in Coburg, on the northern edge of Eugene, where a man shot himself to death in a car outside his business.  I wonder if the family and friends of this man knew he was suicidal, and if they knew he owned a gun.  Most suicides go unreported unless they are public, like this one.  So far this year there have been four reported suicides (including two that were murder/suicides).  In all of last year there were only two reported here.

And then in Springfield, a man who is a (legal) medical marijuana grower and his friend had been “on the town” when they returned the grower’s apartment.  The friend left, but quickly realized he had left his keys in the grower’s car.  After banging on the door and getting no answer, the friend helped himself inside through a side door or window.  The grower mistook him for someone trying to rob him of his marijuana plants and shot him twice in the leg.  The article didn’t say if either of them was under the influence of anything at the time of the shooting, but I think you know my feelings on the idea of medical marijuana users, or anyone under the influence of mind-altering compounds, possessing guns.  Though, like suicides, accidental shootings are not always reported, but this makes the third accidental shooting reported this year.  There were none reported in all of 2010 and 2009 in my area.  Luckily the friend was not killed.

So far this year there have been 12 shootings, already matching the record set last year , and 9 shooting deaths, also matching last year.  Shootings tend to have a marked increase in the last few months of the year here, so we are certain to break records this year. 

Let’s hope this is the end of this month’s shootings and gun crimes.  It’s time to bring some common sense legislation to Oregon’s lax gun laws.

My Article On The ASK Campaign Was Published

Yesterday was a day of highs and lows.

It started out great.  I found out an op-ed article of mine was published in this month's issue of Metro-Parent Magazine, a Portland, Oregon family magazine.  The article features the ASK Campaign, the need for safe storage of guns around children, and a quick introduction for the need for Child Access Prevention laws.  Here is a link to the issue; see page 28 for my article:  http://www.metro-parent.com/issues/june11/june11.pdf

June 18 is National ASK Day.  The ASK campaign advocates that parents ask about guns and their storage wherever their children play, such as at a friend's house.  For more on the ASK campaign, please see my PREVIOUS POST, or visit the originator of the program, PAX (www.paxusa.org).

It is all too common, I'm sorry to say, that tragedies happen due to ready access of unlocked and loaded weapons by children.  Just last week, for instance, a 2-yo boy shot and killed his 6-yo sister after finding a loaded semi-automatic handgun in his father's bedroom.  When police responded and searched the home, they found an amazing 53 guns in the home.  Five children, between the ages of 2 and 15, lived in the home.  What would the father have said before the shooting, I wonder?  Would he have claimed his children knew not to touch the guns without his supervision?  That they were stored safe enough?

I spent the day outside, enjoying the (finally!) warm weather here in Oregon and watching my 5- and 6-yo kids play on their Slip-N-Slide and ride bikes.  I'm glad I don't have to worry about them accessing guns in our home, or the homes of the friends we visit.

Yesterday ended on a sad note, though.  Around 6:30, a 19-yo young man was shot twice outside a local indoor putting range and arcade, called Putters.  He was shot by another young man, thought to be 18 years old.  The victim was out in the parking lot listening to music with relatives when the assailant approached and started shooting.  The victim was rushed to the hospital and is expected to survive.  Though it is legal in Oregon for someone 18 or older to possess a handgun or to purchase a handgun privately, it is illegal for them to be sold a handgun from a licensed seller (until they are 21).  So where did the youth get his weapon?  Currently he is on the run.  This is the age demographic most at risk for gun violence.

Remember, every gun in the hands of a child first passed through the hands of an adult.

The Best Tribute for a Fallen Officer

It's been a sad week here in the Eugene, Oregon area.  Last Friday, April 22, motorcycle officer Chris Kilcullen was headed home along highway 126 when a beat up red Buick Skylark tailgated him, according to a witness.  The Buick then tried to pass Officer Kilcullen, and at one point swerved dangerously into his lane, almost hitting him.  Kilcullen then turned on his lights, and the Buick suddenly raced off, with Kilcullen in pursuit.  The chase left Eugene and headed into Springfield.  Finally, at a busy crossroad, the motorist pulled over to the side of the road.  Kilcullen pulled his motorcycle up to the driver's side door, at which point the driver pulled out a .38 revolver and shot Kilcullen once in the side, just above his body armor.  Kilcullen fell off his bike and slumped against the wheel of a neighboring big rig.  The Buick then sped off, with officers in pursuit.  It eventually wound up way down near Lowell and onto some Forest Service roads until it hit a dead end.  Officers began a long negotiation and eventually arrested the suspect.

Eugene Police Officer Chris Kilcullen

The shooter turned out to be 56 year-old Cheryl Kidd, a developmentally disabled woman with a long history of schizophrenia and erratic behavior.  In her schizophrenic mind, she had thought the police had been following her prior to the incident, and had trouble focusing during the interrogation after being caught.

Officer Chris Kilcullen died soon after, at the hospital.  Kilcullen is the third officer to be shot in the line of duty in Oregon in the short 4 months of this year, and the second to die as a result.  And in the city of Eugene, this is the third officer to die while on the force this year (the first accidentally shot himself at a shooting range, the second had a heart attack).

The entire week, our city experienced a unified sadness and outpouring of grief at the death of this 12-year veteran of the police force.  A father and husband.  A man who volunteered with local non-profits.  A man resoundingly loved by his fellow officers.  Blue lights were being put into porches as a sign of support.  The legislature is considering a bill to erect signs to commemorate a stretch of highway for him.  There are even online murmurs of renaming the entire highway after him.  On Friday, April 29, a procession of around 400 emergency vehicles from all over the state and surrounding states, and even Canada, drove a long route past the point of the shooting, through downtown Eugene, and to the new Knight arena where a memorial service was held.  Thousands showed up to pay their respect.  Flags are still being flown at half mast, by order of the governor. 

Wow.  This is an amazing tribute to a fallen officer.  And well-deserved, I'd say.  Our law enforcement officers take their life in their hands every day, with every traffic stop, to protect and to serve.  They are all heroes.  I could only wish that my passing could be so marked.

And yet, despite all of this outpouring, what, if anything, is being done to keep it from happening again?

How did this woman, who had such a long history of severe neurological problems, get a handgun?  Did she steal it?  Did she buy it on the black market?  No.  It turns out she went down to Mazama's Sporting Goods store at the local mall a year ago and purchased it like anyone else can.  After a 5-minute background check, which she cleared, she walked out with it, ready to do as she pleased, schizophrenic or not.

But wait!  Don't background checks look for mental illness already?  Yes, but you can only be entered into the NICS background check database, and rejected for gun sale, if you have been ruled as mentally ill in a court of law or been committed to a mental institution.  Neither of these are the case with Kidd.  Nor was she a convicted felon, abuser, or on parole.  In short, despite her long illness and reduced mental capacity, there is NOTHING that kept her or anyone like her from purchasing or possessing a firearm. 

Nor for Michael Thomas Mason, who suffered from severe PTSD and last December shot randomly at cars in the parking lot of the same mall where Kidd got her weapon (less than 50 yards away, in fact) and was subsequently shot by police and made a paraplegic.  Nor for a mentally ill man who had a shootout with police in Eugene in 2006.  Nor for untold numbers of other shooters elsewhere in the U.S., such as Jerod Lee Laughner of the 2011 Tucson shooting, or Seung-Hui Cho of the 2007 Virginia Tech University shooting.

So what can be done?  Certainly not everyone who is mentally ill is a danger to himself or others, so you can't just remove the second amendment right for all mentally ill or mentally handicapped individuals, right?  But clearly something must be done to keep those who are dangerous to themselves and others, or have reduced mental capacity to understand when it is right or wrong to pull the trigger, from being able to possess guns.  Even the father of the slain officer Chris Kilcullen agrees.

As a result of this tragedy, at last Oregon lawmakers are considering this loophole. 

It is my opinion that there should be a clear mechanism where a mental health professional, believing a subject to be a danger to himself or others, should be able to put that patient on a list for a temporary suspension of gun rights, subsequent to consideration by a panel of mental health experts to put the subject into the NICS database for a longer period, there to stay until the subject can get that panel to judge him or her reasonably cured of the illness.

So, while it was nice to have the memorial service, flags at half mast, blue lights on porches, a 400-vehicle procession, and the potential naming of a highway as honors for this fallen officer, wouldn't it be a more fitting tribute to keep it from happening again?  Let's make a new trajectory for our communities and do better at adding dangerously mentally ill people to the background check databases.

(Post-script:  only 3 days after Officer Kilcullen was shot by Cheryl Kidd, a well-to-do doctor purchased a gun and ammo, came home and, after scaring his wife by leaving some ammo and the receipt for his new gun on the kitchen table, shot up the neighborhood  and then killed himself.  The news report is sketchy, but I happen to know a neighbor of the shooter, who told me about the terror of that day and some information about the shooter and his family.  Severe depression is just as deadly as other mental health disorders, and should also be grounds for temporary suspension of gun rights if diagnosed).

UPDATE (5/2/11):  http://www.kval.com/news/local/121111569.html  A psychiatric evaluation showed the suspect, Cheryl Kidd, to be diagnosed with "schizophrenia, grossly disorganized thinking, extreme paranoid delusions and the inability to differentiate the past from the present."  Also, "In January, Kidd's primary health care provider sent her to the emergency room for a mental health evaluation."  In her delusion she thought the police had fired at her a couple times in the past, and that officer Kilcullen had shot out her window.  Too bad there wasn't a mechanism to stop her from possessing a gun back in January.

(image taken from HERE)