On a regular basis, individuals across the U.S. demonstrate that they are not responsible gun owners. Oh, some of them may have passed a background check (not those who have obtained their firearms through loopholes though) and obtained a license and/or a permit, but have they demonstrated-prior to owning a gun-that they aren’t an aggressive individual with a hair-trigger temper? Have they shown knowledge of how to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence? Probably not, because there are no such requirements for owning a gun or obtaining a license (why would there be in a country like the United States where gun ownership is valued above and beyond all other considerations). And that’s a shame because there are many people who should never be allowed to own a gun. All too often these people fail to handle guns with the proper care, resulting in someone being injured or killed. Here are 5 recent examples:
You know, the list of things you shouldn’t shoot people over is quite long. Among the many behaviors and actions you should not shoot someone over–laughing at you, not washing the dishes, drinking the last of the orange juice, or because of a dispute over a parking spot:
A 20-year-old mother was allegedly murdered by her neighbor following a dispute over a parking space in Victorville, Calif., Tuesday, family members said.
Sofia Adams was found dead in the 15500 block of Hesperia Road at about 2:06 p.m., according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
“I ran in the house and I called the cops and they said that somebody had just called in somebody getting shot in the back of the head,” neighbor Stacy Ash said.
Relatives say Adams was planning to move out of the apartment she lived in with her 3-year-old son, because of an ongoing argument with another tenant over a parking spot.
Neighbors say the other tenant, who didn’t get along with Adams, was talking to sheriff’s deputies at the scene. No arrests were immediately made.
The victim graduated from high school just days ago and was focused on her future, family members said.
“Poor girl. All she wanted was to be a good mom,” her cousin Valerie said.
She just graduated high school. She was a young mother with her life ahead of her. And now, because some asshole used a gun irresponsibly, she’s dead and her child has to grow up without his mother. When I speak of irresponsibility here, I’m speaking of the reason the shooter used for using a firearm. There was no safety issue here. The shooter’s life was not in danger. No one in the public was endangered. There was no reason to introduce a gun into this situation. To do so demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the appropriateness of deploying a gun. These damn things shouldn’t be used unless a situation is dire enough, and a fucking parking spot argument doesn’t qualify as dire! Whoever the shooter is, I hope they face justice and go away for a long time.
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One of the reasons I believe potential gun owners need to undergo psychological testing of some sort prior to owning a gun is that far too many people get angry and react without thinking. And the things we get angry over are many and varied. Someone laughed at you? Get angry. Someone hit you? Get angry. Someone keyed your car? Get angry. On its own, there is nothing wrong with anger. In fact, anger is a healthy expression of human emotion. The problem is that all too often, when we get angry, we lash out in anger. We unthinkingly seek to resolve the conflict with some form of violence. Many times, that violence takes the form of fisticuffs. If fistfights were the only response to becoming angry , that would still be bad, but at least chances are there wouldn’t be any fatalities. Sadly, conflicts often become deadly because an angry individual decides to introduce a firearm into the mix. Someone who is angry and reacts to the source of the anger without first calming down and assessing the best method of defusing the situation does not need access to a gun. Such is the case of 25-year-old Luis Martinez-Guity. He was shot by his younger brother after he threatened to destroy the latter’s Xbox:
Police and prosecutors allege Rony S. Miranda-Guity, 19, shot his 25-year-old brother, Luis Martinez-Guity, in the chest Sunday night after the older sibling hit the younger one and threatened to break his video-game system.
Miranda-Guity told detectives after his arrest that he reacted without thinking after his brother disrespected him, touched him and tried to grab his Xbox, according to charging documents.
“Like, that’s the only thing that I got that I love,” Miranda-Guity told police, according to documents filed in King County Superior Court on Wednesday charging him with first-degree domestic-violence assault.
Dude, you need to reassess your sense of morality if you place the an non-living object above a human being. All I can do here is shake my head. How can someone value an Xbox over a human life?! I also wonder how Christmases or future birthdays will go between them. “Here bro, I got you a present. I know you’ll value it more than you value my life. Hope you enjoy it.”
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When drunk, most people say or do things they wouldn’t normally do when sober. They might reveal their innermost thoughts. Their inhibitions might relax enough to allow them to strike a conversation with someone they find attractive (never a good idea to do this when drunk, IMO). Some might find the wherewithal to dash out onto the dance floor and get their groove on. Those are fairly innocuous habits of drunk people. Unfortunately, not everyone who gets drunk acts so innocently. Some people get plastered and think “this is a great time to get my gun and fire off a few shots in the backyard!” One Connecticut man did just that:
Justin McCabe, 31, of Lincoln Street, will be arraigned at Superior Court in Bridgeport on Monday on charges of unlawful discharge of a firearm, possession of a loaded firearm while intoxicated, interfering with an officer, breach of peace and reckless endangerment.
McCabe was arrested recently after police responded to a report of shots being fired on Lincoln Street, said Lt. Frank Eannotti, the department spokesman.
The suspect “was reportedly intoxicated when he fired several rounds into the ground in the back yard of his residence,’’ the police spokesman said.. “McCabe initially lied to officers as to his involvement but investigation and statements by witnesses helped prove otherwise.’’
The suspect was taken into custody after a brief struggle and three handguns were seized as evidence, Eannotti said.
Psst! Hey buddy. Yeah, you.
If you’re not responsible enough to not grab your guns when you drink (let alone when you’re drunk), you are not a responsible gun owner. But don’t worry, because here in this country, the only thing that seems to matter is that people have access to guns whenever they want them, bc freedom. Nothing else is important (at least not to gundamentalist; to people like me, public safety trumps the 2nd Amendment).
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One thing that never fails to amaze (and horrify) me: gundamentalists who act all tough and knowledgeable about guns (and often claim to be responsible gun owners), who accidentally shoot themselves. Like this Oklahoma man:
A man guarding a small-town Oklahoma gun range and survivalist shop that declared itself a “Muslim-free” business dropped his weapon and accidentally shot himself.
Authorities say an unidentified man dropped his gun Tuesday and a bullet struck his arm. He was among armed residents in front of the Save Yourself Survival and Tactical Gear store in Oktaha, about 60 miles southeast of Tulsa.
This is the type of gun owner that scares me. He’s there ostensibly to protect the gun range/survivalist shop (it needs to be protected ya know, bc the epidemic of violent attacks at gun ranges across the country). Though it’s not stated, I suspect he’s there guarding against Muslims. Because for some coughcoughracistxenonophobiccoughcough reason, he (and the owner) thinks Muslims are all dangerous terrorists. *And* they think they can identify Muslims. It’s really sad that they don’t realize that there are billions of Muslims on this planet and the vast majority of them are not terrorists. Moreover, it’s just as frustrating that in their xenophobia and racism, they don’t realize that not all Muslims are Arabs and that many Arab-Americans are Christian.
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Last but not least, what do you do when you want cigarettes, but don’t have the proper identification? Do you retrieve your id? Do you find someone to buy the cigarettes for you? Do you throw your hands up in the air and say “Suffering Sappho! I guess this is a sign that I should quit smoking!” I’m partial to the last one there, myself. None of those options apparently sprung to mind as the most reasonable for one Tennessee woman:
It happened August 8 at the M&N Tobacco in the 1600 block of E Raines Road.
Memphis police said the cashier asked the woman for identification; when she could not provide any, the cashier asked her to leave.
The woman stormed out of the store and got into a red Ford Mustang. While pulling out of the parking space, she pointed a handgun at the cashier and opened fire.
“We can close the door, call the police, but we never have to do that,” said Cameisha Mattison, who works at M&N Tobacco.
Employees at the store said that regardless of the high volume of customers, they rarely have problems.
“It’s very surprising to me that someone would just open fire like that,” Mattison said.
Thanks to a hankering for cigarettes, this woman has brought herself a world of trouble. Chances are she’s going to be found and I’d bet she’ll be charged with attempted murder. All because she’s mad that she couldn’t get her smoke on. Sigh.
Prior to keeping track of irresponsible gun owners, a story like this would have surprised me too. Now though? Uh-uh. I’m not shocked at all. I’ve seen so many damn ridiculous reasons people have given for shooting someone that I’m not sure what, if anything, would shock me. Now that I’ve said that, the next batch of irresponsible gun owner stories will probably contain a story that *does* shock me. We’ll see.
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