Dozens Call for End to Gun Violence - Milwaukee

[jpak]

http://www.wuwm.com/programs/news/view_news.php?articleid=8006

About three dozen friends and family members of homicide victims gathered Monday at Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee. They're calling for harsher penalties against gun violence. Theresa Cruz of Milwaukee says senseless killings have decimated her family.

"I'm here today because my husband, 28 years old, my son 25, my neice eleven, my nephew, my brother all died from gun violence. If my support can keep one person alive and prevent the families from suffering the heartache we continue to go through, then you have my support."

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[Kennah]

1. I support tougher laws to end gun violence ...

... like how about life without parole if someone commits murder with a gun, or an extra five years in prison if one uses a gun.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Oh, like the ones we already have on the books...

[RSillsbee]

8. So if I rob you w/ a bat instead of a gun I get 5 years off?

See how that still demonizes the gun?

[Kennah]

23. It's sleight of hand

First comes 5 years more for a gun, then we make it 5 years more for any violent crime if the criminal is armed with any weapon.

[AtheistCrusader]

2. More details on Cruz.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/41924847.html

What conclusion can we draw from this?

[jpak]

6. Blame the victim

yup

[PavePusher]

7. Who in fuck is suggesting that, other than your vile imagination?

Cite, or retract.

[GeorgiaPeach]

13. This sounds pretty blameful.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=388686&mesg_id=388731

[PavePusher]

14. And made well AFTER the comment I addressed.

Edit: Also, not blaming the victims, but their circumstances.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. Excuse me? What divining rod did you use to come to that conclusion?

I did no such thing.

[Hoopla Phil]

18. I find it very telling that you are the only one suggesting such a thing.

I wonder why. . ..

[lawodevolution]

4. Unfortunatly they are misguided.

A cousin of mine was killed in a hit and run.
I did not start trying to ban cars or limit their sizes, passenger capacity, fuel capacity and horsepower. To do so would have been petty and indicate pathologic grief. These folk should seek mental health for their losses and respect gun rights

[midnight]

5. What a horrific loss Theresa Cruz has had. I'm not sure what the laws are with guns so I can't

comment on those... But I'm really concerned about the promotion of taking guns into public places by the attorney general in the state of Wisconsin.... This women's experience seems clear to me that we don't need to be promoting this....


"Gun rights advocates are riding some momentum lately. Last year, state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen advised law enforcement that open-carry was not, in itself, a basis for a charge of disorderly conduct. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the 2nd Amendment right of most individuals to possess firearms applies to the states, and within a day, one Wisconsin district attorney said he would no longer prosecute cases of concealed carry or transporting uncased or loaded guns in vehicles. A challenge to Wisconsin law banning guns within 1,000 feet of a school is pending in federal court.

Nik Clark, president of Wisconsin Carry Inc., called the state "behind the times" for prohibiting transport of loaded guns, which most states allow.

"Wisconsin Carry advocates that people follow all Wisconsin firearm regulations, even those we find patently unconstitutional, until such time as we are able to change those laws through legal challenges and/or legislative changes," Clark said.

Jeri Bonavia, executive director of the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, disagrees with the basic open-carry tenet that armed law-abiding people deter criminals.

"When people make a decision to carry a gun or that a gun will keep them safer, they have the opportunity to analyze risks and benefits. They get to decide," she Bonavia said. "But when they bring it into public, they're forcing their analysis on all of us."

Broad research shows, she said, that "guns, overall, do not promote public or personal safety."http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/98082044.html

[GreenStormCloud]

11. My wife is alive because she carried a gun to protect herself. N/T

[AtheistCrusader]

17. Her son was murdered by a gang banger who mistook him for a rival gang member

while hopped up on excstacy, and some other stuff, decided to rob him, and then changed his drug-addled mind and decided to kill him.

It is ILLEGAL to be intoxicated, let alone under the influence of controlled substances of this type while in possession of a firearm.


How does prohibiting the lawful carry of people like me, in public, prevent a tragedy like that?

As for your link, the church members could simply have asked her to leave. If she refused, bam, trespassing charges. No harm, no foul. Instead they called the cops for something that wasn't a crime, and they charged her with the equivalent of having a burned out turn signal. A small fine and on her way.

[ileus]

9. 28 years old, my son 25, my neice eleven, my nephew, my brother all died

I wouldn't be so quick to blame "guns" if I'd lost that many family members I'd examine where I lived and who my friends were.

[GreenStormCloud]

10. So it OK to kill someone with a knife? N/T

[GeorgiaPeach]

12. Awww. sure, gunners with guns killed her family but what did they ever do to HER?

[DonP]

15. Crminals in a state with no law for concealed carry shot her relatives

Nobody here is taking her loss lightly, but we prefer solutions based on reality, not something to make you feel good about doing something.

Your solution - is to place more restrictions on the law abiding. How does that work?

Do we solve drunk driving by demanding that the law abiding drivers go no faster than 20 mph?

Seriously, since the shooter had a gun illegally what law will solve the problem? Or are you planning on a straight up repeal of the 2nd amendment? Or just being a smart ass?

[WatsonT]

21. Are you suggesting that if we made murder slightly more illegal

then it wouldn't occur?

Point being these guys already broke a number of laws prior to committing murder.

No further laws would have been necessary to prevent them, only better enforcement.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

19. Good news then... crime has been on the steady decline for some time now!

nt

[rl6214]

20. All that gun violence in one family?

Maybe THEY were the problem, not the guns, THEY certainly are the common denominator.

[Remmah2]

22. A call to end gun violence?

Does that mean domestic violence and road rage are okay?