Just a reminder that tomorrow, Tuesday, November 4th, most all cities in Utah are having municiple elections of one kind or another.
Even though Utah's State preemption removes most of the obvious RKBA related issues from the purvue of city officials, many side issues remain. Zoning laws and parks & recreation spending affect range development and preservation as well as the home based or commercial based FFL sales. City officials appoint police chiefs and otherwise set the tone for how police will regard your rights. And these non-partisan local offices often make great springboards/training grounds, for tomorrow's run at legislative office.
Accordingly, Utah's gun owners should be sure to get out and vote. And please, do your best to cast an informed vote.
This is not a new story, but it has received far less media attention than we expect it would have had the killer used a gun rather than a pitchfork.
Also, as the legislative season approaches and we are once again confronted with various bills that would require us to lock up our safety (aka "safe storage" bills) on the pretext of protecting children, it is good to remember there are very real consequences possible when access to self defense weapons is needlessly limited.
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
http://www.lewrockwell.com/poe/poe1.html
The Merced Pitchfork Murders
by Richard Poe
Fear stalks Merced, California - fear of the government.
Because of that fear, two innocent children died needlessly,
victims of California's "safe storage" gun laws. The mass
media never told Americans what really happened in Merced.
But the tale of the Merced Pitchfork Murders will not die.
Through talk radio; through the Internet; by word of mouth,
the story gathers momentum with each passing year. Like the
tale of the Boston Massacre in 1770, passed from patriot to
patriot over tankards of ale, the Merced Pitchfork Murders
live and burn in the hearts of millions of Americans.
On that terrible morning of August 23, 2000,
fourteen-year-old Jessica Carpenter had been left in charge to
look after her four siblings, Anna, 13; Vanessa, 11; Ashley, 9;
and John, 7. Their father had left for work. Their mother had
taken the car to get the brakes checked.
Jessica heard noises from the livingroom. Still half asleep, she
rose
from bed and walked to the kitchen. Then she froze. There was a man
in the livingroom. A strange man. He was stark naked.
Jessica fled back to her bedroom and locked the door. Someone
knocked. Then he knocked again. And again. Jessica picked up the
phone, but heard no dial tone. The intruder had taken the receiver
off the hook.
That's when Jessica thought of her father's gun. Mr. Carpenter had
taught Jessica and the other children to shoot. Jessica had passed
her hunter safety course and received her certificate at age 12. She
knew that her Dad always kept a .357 Magnum in his bedroom.
In deference to California's safe storage laws, however, Mr.
Carpenter kept the pistol high up on a closet shelf, unloaded and
out
of reach of the children. Even if she could somehow get to the
other
end of the house to retrieve it, Jessica knew she would have to
climb
up on something to reach the gun, scramble around for the bullets
and
then load them. The man would be on her before she had a chance.
So Jessica climbed out the window to get help.
Too Late
No one knows why 27-year-old Jonathon David Bruce, a part-time
telemarketer with a history of violence, drug abuse and mental
illness, picked on the Carpenters. We only know that, on the morning
of August 23, Bruce armed himself with a pitchfork and entered their
home, barricading himself inside with the five Carpenter children.
Jessica escaped through her bedroom window. But her little brother
and three younger sisters were left behind to face the madman.
He attacked thirteen-year-old Anna first. Bruce entered her bedroom
and jabbed her with his pitchfork, yelling profanities while Anna
screamed and fought. "Stop it!" yelled Ashley, age 9. "Don't hurt my
sister!" Bruce turned to Ashley, and killed her with his pitchfork.
Somehow Anna and Vanessa managed to escape out a window. Outside,
the
two girls met Jessica. They ran to a neighbor's house - a man named
Juan Fuentes - and pounded on his door.
Covered with blood and growing weaker by the moment, the wounded Anna
pleaded with Fuentes to get his gun and "take care of this guy." But
Fuentes declined. Instead, he allowed them to use his phone to call
911.
The sheriff's deputies came quickly, but they arrived too late. John
and Ashley were dead. Seven-year-old John had been killed while he
slept. When the deputies entered the house, the intruder charged
them
with his pitchfork. They shot him 13 times, killing him on the spot.
Guns and Children
Most people reading these words will never have heard of the
Carpenter family or their ordeal. For Big Media, the only good gun
story is an anti-gun story. The Carpenters believed that
California's
"safe storage" laws had robbed their children of the only chance
they
had to fight back. This was not the sort of message Big Media wanted
to send about guns. National news organizations swept the Pitchfork
Murders under the rug. Only one local news story in the Fresno Bee
discussed the safe storage issue at all. National news reports of
the
incident omitted all mention ofguns or gun laws.
"John Carpenter's children are probably dead because John obeyed the
laws of the state of California," says Reverend John Hilton, the
great-uncle of the Carpenter children. In Hilton's view, the
tragedy
could have been prevented had the children been provided with easy
access to a loaded gun. Many of Hilton's friends and neighbors
quietly agree.
Hilton - who is pastor of a Pentecostal church in Merced - recalls
that, when he was growing up, his father always kept a loaded Colt
.45 in a holster fastened to the pantry wall.
"He was away a lot of the time, working on construction jobs," says
Hilton. "But he made sure that gun was available to us, if we needed
it. Without even looking, you could reach over and get hold of the
handle."
In those days, it was common to let children use firearms. They
learned to use them early, safely and responsibly. And there were no
school shootings. Ever.
No More Heroes
Hilton, who was 66 years old when I interviewed him in December
2000,
says that he shot his first deer at age 7. By the time he was 10, he
was proficient with the Colt .45 and capable of defending his family
with it. Nowadays, Hilton's father would be putting himself at risk
of imprisonment by giving children access to a loaded gun.
California
law imposes criminal penalties on gun owners if children are injured
or injure others while using their guns.
Technically, if Jessica or any of the other Carpenter children had
managed to get hold of their father's .357 Magnum and gun down the
killer, their father could have faced criminal charges. It was for
fear of the law that John Carpenter kept his gun unloaded and hidden
on a high closet shelf.
"He's more afraid of the law than of somebody coming in for his
family," Hilton told the Fresno Bee.
Likewise, the neighbor who refused to intervene may well have
hesitated out of fear or uncertainty about the law. In today's legal
environment, heroism is not encouraged. The way to stay out of
trouble is to sit back and wait for the police - even if innocent
children are being slaughtered
right next door.
According to their mother, Tephanie Carpenter - whom I also
interviewed - every one of the surviving Carpenter children vowed
that they would have shot the killer if only they had had a gun
handy. In fact, the wounded girl Anna told her father that, when she
saw the man go after her sister Ashley, "I could have shot him right
in the back of the head."
The children's bravery and fighting spirit were not considered
newsworthy. These elements were left out of the story by the wire
services. Instead, the Carpenters' ordeal was reduced to a
depressing
yarn of five helpless children attacked by a maniac, a tale without
meaning, moral or purpose.
Media Bias
The Carpenter case is but one example of a larger problem - the
problem of media bias. In the Carpenters' case, their tale ended
tragically. But many similar stories have a happier resolution.
According to a 1995 study by criminologist Gary Kleck, Americans use
firearms to defend themselves up to 2.5 million times each year - or
nearly 7,000 times per day. In 11 out of 12 cases, the attacker
flees as soon as his intended victim brandishes the gun or fires a
warning shot. Such incidents form part of everyday life in America,
yet they rarely make the news.
A study by the Media Research Center released in January 2000 showed
that television news stories calling for stricter gun laws
outnumbered those opposing such laws by a ratio of 10 to 1. When it
comes to guns and gun rights, we are hearing only one side of the
story. Small wonder that few Americans are equipped to debate the
issue intelligently.
"Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is
safe," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1816. But when the press aligns
itself with special interests - such as the anti-gun lobby -
critical information is censored, and liberty itself hangs in the
balance. "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... it expects
what never was and never will be ..." warned Jefferson.
Tomorrow: Guns and Race
November 3, 2003
Richard Poe [send him mail] is a New York Times-bestselling author
and cyberjournalist. His latest book is The Seven Myths of Gun
Control, from which this article is excerpted and adapted. He writes
The congressional web page <thomas.loc.gov> indicates this bill passed yesterday on a suspension of the rules and voice vote. Any guesses on how much effort ANY of Utah's three Reps put into trying to stop this bill.
Of course, it doesn't really affect any of us, YET, so maybe we don't care about it any more than a lot of "sportsmen" care when "scary-looking" guns are banned.
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
----------
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
ACTION: Please use the pre-written text below to help direct your
comments to your Representative. The vote on the gun ban is
scheduled in the House for Wednesday, November 5.
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
It's outrageous. The Republicans in the House of Representatives
tell us they don't have enough time to pass a concealed carry bill
or the Citizen's Self-Defense Act.
But they have time to take up a ban on guns that don't even exist.
H.R. 3348, which is scheduled for a vote tomorrow, would renew the
unconstitutional ban on plastic guns.
This firearm has never existed, and it may never. Yet the House
will consider renewing the ban for another 10 years.
If a totally plastic gun is ever developed, a ban will not keep bad
guys from getting their hands on such a firearm any more than the
other 20,000 or so gun laws keep murderers and thieves from getting
their hands on guns now.
Has the Congress taken care of real problems related to terrorism?
Have they gotten the Transportation Safety Administration to arm
pilots? Not unless 200 or so pilots (out of 100,000-plus) is their
idea of arming pilots.
The real answer to airport security is to arm the pilots. Had they
been armed on 9-11, terrorists never would have tried to hijack
those four planes.
And how about forcing the TSA to hire the North Carolina college
student, Nathaniel Heatwole, to instruct the TSA on how to tighten
their "security" procedures at airports. Heatwole is the student
who successfully smuggled boxcutters and other weapons on several
planes. He was only caught because he e-mailed the Transportation
Safety Agency about what he had done.
But before the TSA is made to hire Mr. Heatwole, Congress should do
something really useful, such as letting any pilot with a concealed
carry permit to take a gun inside the cockpit so we can have
effective homeland security. Obviously, we will never have armed
pilots as long as Congress tolerates the TSA's mismanagement of this
program.
This is a serious issue. If Congress can exercise unconstitutional
power to ban plastic guns, they can do the same with semi-automatic
firearms.
Please visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm RIGHT AWAY to send the
pre-written message below to your Representative.
----- Pre-written message -----
Dear Representative:
I urge you to vote against H.R. 3348. This bill is
unconstitutional, and it is a useless waste of taxpayers' money and
of your time. Plus, the gun it purports to ban doesn't even exist!
If a totally plastic gun is ever developed, a ban will not keep bad
guys from getting their hands on such a firearm any more than the
other 20,000 or so gun laws keep murderers and thieves from getting
their hands on guns now.
You have much more important things to do. Please, instead of
wasting your time banning a gun that does not exist, force the
Transportation Safety Administration to arm pilots.
You might also spend your time getting the TSA to figure out how a
college student repeatedly got weapons past the "security" points
at airports and was only discovered because he sent an e-mail to
the TSA.
Perhaps that same student could help your own "security" screeners
on Capitol Hill, since they were rather embarrassed by a staffer who
inadvertently snuck past them with a toy gun that was part of a
Halloween costume.
Gun Owners of America will inform me how you vote. Please vote
against H.R. 3348.
Sincerely,
****************************
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Looks like things are really getting going on this front. Do your part to educate your friends and neighbors about this so they don't just sign what sounds like a good idea.
Ask them if they've read the initative. It runs over 7 pages which seems like a lot to just outlaw guns in schools. Copies are available at <http://www.elections.utah.gov/Safe%20Havens%20for%20Learning-text.pdf>.
This initiative does nothing to further penalize real criminals who commit real crimes. It is aimed entirely at law abiding citizens who have jumped through all the hoops, including fingerprinting, photographs, and FBI background checks, to get a CCW permit.
This initiative would infringe on religious freedom by banning guns at all churches regardless of whether or not the church wanted to ban guns. I'm not sure, but this may actually go beyond just CCW and prevent a hunter safety or merit badge class involving guns from being conducted at a church.
It includes both public and PRIVATE day cares and pre-schools in its prohibition. How many neighborhoods don't have at least one licensed private day care or preschool.
This makes it a crime to take a gun into ANY private residence unless the homeowner gives explicit permission. So much for CONCEALED carry. EVERY visit to neighbors, friends, family, etc will require you to either leave you gun at home (or in a car, etc) OR declare that you have it in the form of asking permission to enter.
This initiative errodes our State preemption by specifically granting power to the board of regents to regulate guns on campus. A CCW permit holder might very well find himself in violation of the law simply by walking across a college lawn.
It also extends "school grounds" to ANY place being used exclusively for a school sponsored activity. Under the right conditions, the Expo Center, the symphony, or other very public locations could become temporary, and unposted no-gun zones.
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
(Keep in mind that this was published the same week that a
janitor was raped twice at the already Safe-To-Learn UofU.)
From John Spangler.
Fellow members of the "powerful gun lobby"-
Today's Deseret News had following opinion piece by Lavarr Webb
promoting ban on guns in schools, and publicizing the petition drive
From today's SLTrib. I wonder how long before this policy will extend to a single live bullet (Am I the only one who sometimes ends up with an unexpended .22LR round packed into a crease in my luggage?) or anything else that might be used as a weapon.
Permit holders, hunters, and other gun owners, beware.
Airport security and law enforcement officials will today announce a "zero tolerance" policy on guns at Salt Lake City International Airport.
Passengers who show up at an airport security checkpoint with a weapon in their possession will be automatically detained and charged, an official said Sunday.
Previously, such situations involving weapons would be reviewed by airport security officers on a case-by-case basis, said Suzanne Luber of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
"Should someone come to the checkpoint with a gun, they will be processed for prosecution," Luber warned, adding that the policy will apply to all weapons, including guns covered by a state-issued concealed weapons permit. Being processed, she explained, means being detained by airport police, questioned by the FBI and then having the case forwarded to the United States Attorney's Office for formal prosecution on federal charges.
In August, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new airport crackdown on small electronic gadgets, urging added checkpoint scrutiny of items such as cell phones, cameras and car key alarms, based on fears they might be disguised bomb components.
Today's announcement is billed as a joint effort by the TSA, the United States Attorney's Office, Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City prosecutors, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI and the Salt Lake Airport Police Department.
The various agencies have scheduled a high-profile news conference at the airport for this morning. Scheduled to appear are Earl Morris, TSA Federal Security Director for Salt Lake International Airport; Paul Warner, U.S. Attorney for Utah; and several federal law enforcement officials -- Gale Evans, chief of the Salt Lake Airport police; and Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom.
"This is a final warning to passengers," Luber said. "You need to think about what's in your carry-on baggage before you bring it to the airport."
Subject: Dancing in Victims' blood to restrict RKBA
Date: 19 Nov 2003 20:22:57 GMT
While these kinds of things are always tragic, what is downright disgusting is how quickly the anti-self-defense crowd starts dancing in the victims' blood to advance their agenda.
A few observations:
1-Mr Smeath did not see fit to even quote any pro-RKBA/pro-self-defense persons in writing his story. If anyone would like to comment on this to Mr. Smeath, his email address is included below.
2-As you can see in the second report (from the same day's paper) the gun in question had been stored in a safe, but the child had managed to get the safe unlocked. "But if only we had required the gun to be unloaded before it had been locked up...." So much for a safe storage law preventing these kinds of things. Next thing they'll want to require two safes, one for the guns, one for the ammo. I understand this is just what is required for the ever more rare shooting clubs in places like England.
3-The mother was a trained and certified armed security guard. So much for any arguments that only cops and those trained as security guards should have guns.
4-The shooting took place while a 4 year old and a 2 year old were left to their own devices while the mom slept. Reports indicate that there were several past allegations on the part of neighbors that these young children were not being properly supervised.
Bottom line, this is a tragic event that seems to be the result NOT of improper storage nearly so much as it is of improper supervision of the children.
Utah children have been victims of accidental shootings three times in the past week. This time a child died.
Gun-control advocates in the state are reacting by reiterating their desire for stronger legislation, while gun-rights activists say such shootings are rare and overplayed in the news media.
Marla Kennedy of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah said while no official statistics are available, the group's unofficial count puts at 67 the number of children younger than 18 shot by other children since 1988. The actual number, she said, is probably much higher.
Kennedy said no official numbers are available because the state has no central way of keeping track. Numbers from the state Department of Health's Bureau of Vital records, however, put at 11 the number of children 14 and younger killed by firearms from 1988 through 2001.
The statistics will now include 3-year-old Ryker Lambert, who was shot in the face Tuesday by his 4-year-old brother in their West Valley home. He was dead by the time emergency crews arrived.
"We have to do something about this in this state, and we've been trying to do something about it for 10 years," Kennedy said. "And every year we've been shot down up at the Legislature."
A bill was introduced but was defeated in committee during this year's general session that would have provided a criminal penalty for a gun owner who "negligently" stores a weapon in a way that allows a minor access to it. Opponents said it denied the right to self-defense.
Early this year, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Utah a D- grade on its gun law as it applies to children. The group, named after former President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, Jim Brady, who was shot and disabled during an assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981, marked Utah down for not requiring child-safety trigger locks to be sold with guns and for not holding adults criminally responsible for leaving loaded firearms unsecured.
The center is seeking a so-called child-access prevention law, Kennedy said. Such laws, which provide for strong prosecution when a gun owner's negligence leads to an accident, have been supported by the National Rifle Association, she said.
"I am adamantly opposed to placing the responsibility in the hands of children," she said. "Children being children, by their very nature, don't have the impulse control" needed to safely handle guns.
The other shootings in the past week involved a 16-year-old Honeyville girl who was accidentally shot in the elbow Friday when two 17-year-olds pulled a gun as a prank, and a 14-year-old Minersville boy wounded Nov. 12.
WEST VALLEY CITY ù A 3-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed here Tuesday by his 4-year-old brother.
West Valley police discuss a shooting in which a 4-year-old accidentally shot and killed his 3-year-old brother.
Michael Brandy, Deseret Morning News
According to police, the child was shot in the face in his living room sometime between 8:30 a.m. and just after noon at his home near 4500 South and 4200 West. He was dead by the time emergency crews arrived.
The two brothers were apparently playing a game with toy guns prior to the shooting, West Valley Police Capt. Steve Sandquist said. Their father had left for work at 8:30 a.m. and their mother, who works a graveyard shift as a security guard, was asleep.
The gun used in the fatal shooting was the service weapon the mother uses for her job, Sandquist said. The mother told police she put her gun in a safe when she got home. The 4-year-old apparently was able to get the key to the safe and get the 9mm handgun while his mother was sleeping, Sandquist said.
The older boy, however, waited to tell his mother about the shooting. He eventually went into his mother's bedroom and said, "My brother has been shot," Sandquist said. Investigators don't believe the 4-year-old completely understood what had happened.
"If he had grasped what happened, he would have woke (the mother) up right away," Sandquist said.
Police have no record of being called to the house, but Department of Child and Family Services spokeswoman Carol Sisco said Tuesday that DCFS investigators have been to the home on several occasions.
"We have had two or three anonymous calls in the past alleging nonsupervision of the children," Sisco said.
The first call came about a year ago, and the most recent one was last month, Sisco said. Each time investigators went to the home, they found the children were supervised and did not discover sufficient evidence to warrant action against the parents.
The investigation into the latest call was closed Nov. 3, Sisco said.
It was unclear Tuesday afternoon exactly when the boy was shot because of the four-hour window between the time the father left for work and when the mother was awakened. The mother said she did not hear the gunshot.
Most of the family's neighbors said they were shocked to hear what had happened, but many said they didn't know the family members because they had not lived there for a long time.
Dorothy Martinez, who lives across the street from the family, said the boys were a frequent sight in the neighborhood running unsupervised.
Neighbor Adam Walker said he was shocked to hear what happened.
"I was horrified. I have no idea how a 3-year-old can get shot. There needs to be a trigger lock on every gun in the house," he said.
Marie Mason described both boys as very cute and very active.
"It's terrible. I didn't think it would be this bad," Mason said on hearing emergency crews and their sirens arrive at the boys' house.
I just sent the following to the DesNes reporter as well as the editor.
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Dear Mr. Smeath,
I write to express concern over the fact that your article today, "Shootings renew calls for stronger Utah gun laws," does not include a single direct quote from a single member of any of Utah's pro-self-defense organizations while giving Ms. Kennedy from the anti-Gun and misnamed "Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah" almost an entire article to push her agenda. (How many gun safety classes for children have Ms. Kennedy or her "Gun Violence Prevention Center" actually hosted? How many laws mandating that such instruction be available in the public schools have they proposed or supported. ALL they do is support limits on law-abiding gun owners' access to their self defense weapons.)
While every accidental death is a tragedy, a little perspective would be nice. How many of those "children" under 18 who were shot by other "children" were actually members of violent, criminal gangs killed by other members of violent, criminal gangs? Such shootings are hardly "accidental" and do not involved "children" as most of us think of them. How many others involved young people 14 or older who are legally permitted to hunt or use a gun for target shooting? Again, hardly "children" in the sense of being too young to understand the dangers of what they are doing--at least if they had been exposed to some basic gun safety education such as through the NRA's award winning "Eddie Eagle" program that has been very much opposed by most school districts in our State.
Those shootings that really are accidents involving children and guns claim far fewer lives (and cause far fewer other serious injuries) than a whole host of other events including drownings, poisonings, trampolines, etc.
I note that in the latest incident, the gun HAD been stored in a safe. But the children had managed to open the safe while they were left unattended as their mother slept. Why, in the name of everything logical, does this case suggest any need for more laws aimed at gun storage. If it suggest a need for any laws, it would be more laws aimed at how long mothers leave babies and toddlers unattended--something none of us would support.
May I suggest that for future stories you make an effort to present a much more balanced picture by at least speaking with and including some quotations from some members of the pro-self-defense community?
As the public policy director for Gun Owners of Utah (GOUtah!) I can be reached at this email or [rdacted for this email]. <http://www.goutah.org/>
The NRA certainly has some kind of contact/spokesman available.
Locally, we also have groups such as Women Against Gun Control <http://www.wagc.com/>, the Utah Shooting Sports Council <http://www.utahshootingsports.com/>, and the Pink Pistols <http://www.pinkpistols.com/> which is a pro-gun group specifically for gays. Certainly, with just a bit of effort, one of us could have been contacted before writing this story.
Subject: Lock up your safety AND permit to BUY a gun?
Date: 24 Nov 2003 16:55:00 GMT
The following is the lead editorial in today's SL Tribune. Notice the two radical proposals they suggest:
1-Not just 1 safe, but 2 seperate safes should be required to own a gun. One to store the gun, another to store the ammo. What a very effective way to keep guns out of the hands of poor or lower middle class folks. This proposal would also really reduce the number of home invasions stopped by gun owners. How long would it take to retrieve a gun and its ammo from two seperate safes and have your self-defense ready to use? And exactly how does a second safe keep kids from getting access? If a child can find a key to one safe, why can't he find a key to two safes?
2-This editorial also supports a mandatory training class before one can purchase a firearm. Maybe newspaper editors and reporters should be required to pass a test on writing, logical thinking, and laws regarding libel before being able to publish articles/editorials.
While gun safety classes in schools are mentioned, they are not supported in this editorial. Hmm? Where does this same paper stand on sex education and drug education in schools?
Letters to the SLTrib editor can be emailed to <letters@sltrib.com>.
A gun, two children, a tragedy. This time a 4-year-old boy got hold of a loaded handgun and shot his 3-year-old brother to death.
The specifics of various children shooting children differ. But in many cases, these horrors could be prevented if parents who own guns would follow a simple rule: Store firearms unloaded under lock, and keep ammunition in a separate, locked place.
In this case, the mother of the boys, a security officer, reportedly had kept her service handgun in a locked safe, but the boys somehow got hold of the key.
One must assume either that the gun was loaded when it was stored, or one of the boys figured out how to get a cartridge into the chamber. If the gun had been unloaded, and if the ammunition had been kept under lock in a separate place, the shooting would have been prevented.
Ten years ago, after an epidemic of child deaths involving firearms, The Salt Lake Tribune printed lengthy stories about child gunshot deaths -- suicides, homicides and accidents -- and how similar misfortunes could be prevented. The Legislature considered and rejected bills that would make a criminal offense of negligently storing a gun that was involved in a death or injury. Lawmakers also debated mandatory gun safety education for all children in the public schools.
Not much came of either proposal, and for good reason. Charging a person with a crime after a child is injured or killed by a firearm that was not safely stored might encourage other gun owners to secure their weapons better, or it might just magnify the suffering following a death.
We would prefer a continuing education campaign for gun owners. Without one, a criminal sanction by itself would be meaningless anyway. Perhaps only people who have passed a state-sanctioned firearms safety course should be allowed to buy guns.
Some organizations of firearms owners say that children need to be taught never to pick up a gun, but instead to leave it alone and immediately notify an adult. Unfortunately, one peer-reviewed study of boys ages 8-12 showed that a large percentage of them, even those who have had some firearms safety training, cannot resist picking up a handgun and pulling the trigger if they come across one during play.
This suggests that only gun owners can prevent accidents involving children by properly storing firearms unloaded, under lock, and separate from locked ammunition.
Of course, people who insist on keeping loaded guns at the ready for personal protection put not only themselves but their children at risk. Frankly, we have no answer for that one.
Which means, regrettably, that we probably will be writing this editorial again in another 10 years, after another series of tragedies. If not sooner.
Subject: Fw:letter to Des News Editorial Editor exposing conflict of interest o
Date: 25 Nov 2003 21:17:38 GMT
The following letter exposes some serious but undisclosed conflicts of interest on the part of Des News columnis LaVarr Webb on the whole gun issue. It is forwarded with the permission of the author, State Rep Greg Hughes.
Feel free to pass it around and expose Webb and his column for what they are.
Charles
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Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Mr. Evensen,
After the recent controversy about printing potential conflict of
interest disclaimers on opinion pieces, I would think you would be more
sensitive and consistent with this practice.
Last week LaVarr Webb gratuitously opined about guns in schools and the
Legislature's "nutty" acquiescence to the "powerful gun lobby." You did
not provide any contrary point of view which is an unfortunate
development for this column. I could describe in length the hyperbole
and poor rationale in Mr. Webb's piece but that is not the point of this
communication.
Upon reading another one sided, non-disclosed conflict of interest,
guns in school tirade for the 2nd week in a row, I am compelled to ask
what is going on?! Are you aware that LaVarr Webb, Ted Wilson, and the
Exoro Group have been hired by the board of Safe Haven to start a voter
initiative to remove guns from schools? Does Mr. Wilson mind the
conflict disclosure being omitted from LaVarr's column the last two
weeks? He shouldn't mind because without it they have succeeded in
placing an unpaid political ad right on the front editorial page of the
most read edition of the Des News. The Exoro Group's "campaign" can be
read about in the Nov. issue of a new Utah magazine called "Connect."
Both Mr. Wilson and Mr. Webb are interviewed in an article titled
