Ravenwood - 04/26/05 08:00 AM
Today's leftovers are all about guns.
Students at Niagara Falls High School created a memorial for sophomore Anthony Sheard. Sheard, who police say has been linked to gang activity, is taking the eternal dirt nap after he tried to rob a pizza delivery man and was shot to death. Students sent letters and flowers, and the school district has lowered the flag to half-staff - something they didn't even do for local soldiers killed in Iraq.
An elderly woman was arrested in New Jersey for showing up to the Courthouse metal detector with a gun in her purse. She is 87-years old and bought the gun for protection. It was still in the original box, but never the less she has been charged with illegal gun possession.
People are finally starting to realize that the Clinton Gun Ban was meaningless. Since the ban expired last year, not much has changed, reports the New York Times (of all places).
Speaking of the gun ban, police in St. Petersburg Florida are using the expired ban as an excuse to purchase semi-auto AR-15 rifles. They say that now that the ban has expired, they are concerned about being outgunned on the streets. They cite an instance where an officer was shot at with an SKS rifle (which was not even covered by the ban). The AR-15 purchase enflamed Tom Diaz of the VPC, who said that "assault rifles" (which it is not) are not needed outside of Iraq. The police bit back saying that calling it an "assault rifle" was inflammatory. Now they know how we feel.
By a margin of 75%, Americans overwhelmingly rejected the idea that gun control would prevent terrorism. Maybe that's because the terrorist attacks on American soil were committed with airplanes and Ryder trucks, not guns.
The comments to the article about the thug who was shot trying to rob a pizza delivery man are great, particularly the ones from the students.
This one is a gem.
Jason (4/24/2005)
Don't say the mourning we have for Anthony should be mourning for fallen soldiers. Tony's met his fate not by decision, if he had known it was going to happen, he wouldn't have done it. Those who knew/know Tony, would only know this. A fallen soldier, is a man fighting for his country but by his choice. Like I said, if Tony had known the outcome, he wouldn't have done it. Let us be with our mourning.
--It is wonderful to behold in its moronic glory.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam at April 26, 2005 6:41 AMYeah, it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy about our nation's youth, doesn't it.
Posted by: Ravenwood at April 26, 2005 7:38 AMEver notice how the criminal that gets whacked is always remembered as "such a nice, quiet kid"?
Listening to people react to this things, you'd have to assume we actually have no criminals these days - just poor, misunderstood kids who simply made a mistake. Could've happened to any of us.
Something tells me that the reality is that this kid was a less-than-stellar example of your basic great kid. Just once I'd like to see the press interview someone who says what the person was really like. "Yeah, Tony was a real punk-ass. I won't miss him one bit."
Posted by: roger at April 26, 2005 8:38 AMI say we make a memorial for all the fallen gang-bangers, street thugs, and general scum of the earth and dedicate it to the 2nd Ammendment and conceal and carry.
Maybe we can call it "Refuse to be a victim National Memorial." I wonder how much public funding I would get.
Posted by: Rhett at April 26, 2005 12:47 PMIf we must have a memorial for dead thugs, I'd prefer to call it "The Good Riddance Memorial."
Can't stand the St. Pete Police, but in a weird kind of way I wonder if they aren't indirectly responsible for the new (almost completed) "They duty of retreat now lies with thugs" law in Florida. They're so consistently in violation of common sense and the spirit of FL's current gun laws that they may have driven FL Legistlature to the new law.
Posted by: Persnickety at April 26, 2005 3:46 PMI've always felt that anyone who shoots someone perpetrating a crime should get a commendation for performing a public service.
Posted by: Robert Garrard at April 26, 2005 8:22 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
