10 years ago: 'Son of Sam' Speaks Out on Gun Violence

[no_hypocrisy]

It’s coming from an unlikely source, but the message of David Berkowitz is undeniably positive: society needs to take the “glory out of guns.”

Or so says Berkowitz, also known as Son of Sam, speaking to the New York Daily News from his prison cell, where he’s serving out his six consecutive 25-to-life sentences.

Three shooting incidents in the past month—the murder of a boy in the Bronx, the Sikh temple shootings, and one man’s movie theater attack— have together inspired a public message from this former mass murderer, urging would-be killers to put down the guns. His message is social, not political.

“I’m looking beyond gun control,” says Berkowitz, now 59, in an interview with the Daily News. “That’s for legislators to wrangle with. My hope is just that young people would understand just how terrible this violence is. When they use a gun against someone else, they ruin their lives too. It’s not worth it.”

https://forward.com/news/breaking-news/160971/son-of-sam-speaks-out-on-gun-violence/

For those of you who weren't born when Son of Sam terrorized NYC and its environs, here is information about David Berkowitz:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Still enjoying the spotlight and now a public policy expert!

But, give him credit for teasing out the wisdom of life.

[3Hotdogs]

2. Maybe 25 years ago, I was touring Sing-Sing (Ossining) prison kitchen as part of my job,

recycling business - nothing dramatic.

Me, to the guy showing me around,: "Do you see David Berkowitz?'

"Yes, he's upstate. His prison job is handling kitchen garbage. I think that's a perfect job for him."

[Casady1]

3. He lived about a 1/4 mile from my old home in Yonkers

We knew "Sam" very well. My sister in law did his workman's comp for "Sam". One of my friend's mother worked for "sam". I knew the kids well and knew the aqueduct very well.

[Doc Sportello]

4. Did you also know the Carrs?

And curious what you think of Maury Terry's book that said that Berkowitz and the Carr boys were part of a larger group that included the Process Church that was involved in the killings?

[Casady1]

5. Of Course

The Carr's lived 4 houses from me. Mike was a year behind me in school and Wheat was a year ahead of me. We all went to PS 25 and Gorton H.S. I got a facebook "you might know this person" of Wheat a couple of month's ago. Maury got a hold of me asked me me if I wanted to be on his show. I declined. My younger brother remembers my Dad saying what an asshole Sam was. I was with another friend last week and the Carr's came up in our discussions.

[Doc Sportello]

6. Did you think they might have also been involved in the killings?

And did their family dog also bark all the time?

[Casady1]

7. Mike was a real weirdo

No so much for Wheat. They lived a bit back of the street on Warburton so I never heard the dog as their house was across Wicker St. but I am sure the dog did bark.