[Columbus OH] Police are searching for the driver of an SUV who chased and fatally shot a 14-year-old boy he thought had thrown an egg at his vehicle early yesterday.
Danny Crawford, of 3217 Valley View Dr., died of a single gunshot wound in the upper body, according to Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis.
Danny’s body was found in an alley behind 28 N. Terrace Ave., on the city’s West Side. The shooting took place about 12:30 a.m.
He died at the scene, Lewis said.
Danny’s house is about a mile from the alley where he was shot. A woman who answered the door at the house yesterday said Danny’s father did not want to comment.
Sgt. Dana Norman said the driver fled in the SUV. Police located the vehicle a short time later nearby on Burgess Avenue.
Living in a society that believes passing laws solves everything, which law do we pass, now?
One that says 8th-graders shouldn’t be roaming the streets at midnight? Or one that bans having a gun in your car?
What makes anyone think thay can vandalize anyone’s property? This is NOT the 1950’s, “kids” have become some malicious mofos in the last decade. I hope this serves as a deterent for the next little dirtbag, and if it isn’t , well, just keep dropping them so we don’t have to pay for their eventual prison stay.
To Europeans, Canadians, and others reading these comments, perhaps this will clarify things for you.
As you can probably tell by some of the comments here, in the United States nowadays many people have a difficult time understanding personal responsibility. Blaming the victim is very common. If someone is wronged, the automatic thought is “he had it coming.”
For example, if a woman is raped, the automatic thought of many people, women as well as men, is “she was asking for it” or maybe “she shouldn’t have worn a short skirt. She is responsible, not the rapist.” This is especially true if it is a young, good looking woman, and even if it is an especially brutal crime.
Hence, the question some people ask is not “Why the f*** did that guy shoot a kid merely for egging a car,” but instead is “Why was the kid out at 12:30 in the morning? He was asking for it.”
To those people I say it doesn’t matter what time of day the kid egged the car. It is just as wrong to shoot the kid at midnight as it is at noon.
#14: I think the Patriot Act took care of the majority of those, now that you mention it…
man, dvorak. judging by the comments, some of the people who visit your site are wackos.
#20….Blues…..asking what a 14 y/o is doing out late at night is a legitimate question. It has nothing to do with his death being his own fault or his parents, or the system. He’s dead because a total fruitcake was allowed to have a gun and apparently had no self control.
As to the world thinking we Americans are **loonies**…who really gives a rats ass? What pocket of enlightened paradise do you hail from?? It really doesn’t matter what answer you give, because in 5 mins of knowing, I can cite you statistics on crime and stupidity from where ever you reside. Americans don’t have a monopoly on stupidity or crazies. Sorry, but I don’t buy the **holier than thou** argument of people from other countries towards the U.S……I’m 24 y/o and have lived in Europe and traveled extensively in Europe and other parts of the world. No one has the right to point a finger at the U.S. for it’s foibles…..NO ONE!!!! There is good and bad everywhere, there good and bad people everywhere as well.
So reserve your unsolicited pseudo-indignation for some other cause closer to your home.
It is not difficult to wash a car, thereby restoring it to it’s previous
state of being clean.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to briing a dead human being back to lthat person’s previous state of being alive.
The right to bear arms is archaic. In the USA you enjoy 14.5 times more murders per capita with handguns than Canadians do. Every gun related statistic in the USA shows that it is a stupid idea.
Every gun related statistic? Man, that’s a lot of statistics. Reading them all much be a full time job for you.
Actually, practically all gun deaths in the US are criminals shooting other criminals in inner city ghettos. While arguably regrettable, laws will never stop criminals from killing their competition, which is what that’s all about.
The MEANINGFUL statistics show that where gun ownership is legal, crime is lower. Period. Purely accidental gun deaths are rare; far below deaths from car accidents, for instance.
Brains will always trump brawn.
You have neither. [edited: see comments guide]
I’d love to see some statistics backing up that claim.
Ok Venom Monger, I’m calling you on this one. Show me the source and statistics for your claims:
1. “practically all gun deaths in the US are criminals shooting other criminals in inner city ghettos”
2. “The MEANINGFUL statistics show that where gun ownership is legal, crime is lower. Period.”
3. “Purely accidental gun deaths are rare”
… and I’ll show you my source of 11 gun crime related statistics compiled from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada Homicide Survey, Research and Statistics Division Department of Justice (Kwing Hung) June 2001.
We’ll see who’s the idiot. 😉
#38 Venom Monger, I’m calling you on this one. Show me the source and statistics for your claims:
1. “practically all gun deaths in the US are criminals shooting other criminals in inner city ghettos”
2. “The MEANINGFUL statistics show that where gun ownership is legal, crime is lower. Period.”
3. “Purely accidental gun deaths are rare”
… and I’ll show you my source of 11 gun crime related statistics compiled from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada Homicide Survey, Research and Statistics Division Department of Justice (Kwing Hung) June 2001.
[edited: see comments guide]
#37 – Egg has some compounds that permanently damage paint. If it’s not OK to shoot the kid, the kid better at least buy the guy a new car. (A repaint is never as good as a factory finish.)
I’d love to see some statistics backing up that claim.
I’ll see what I can do. It might take a few days to come up with something definitive. Where shall we meet to discuss this?
… my source of 11 gun crime related statistics compiled from …
Compiled by whom? What was their agenda?
Here’s what you need to compile, from RAW DATA (which unfortunately for everyone is fairly difficult to obtain…. almost everything you read has already been “digested” and “interpreted” by groups with a specific axe to grind. I do NOT.)
1. How many people died from being shot by a gun?
2. Mode of death (accident, suicide, murder)
3. How old were they? (Age Range 0-15, 16-25, 26-50, etc)
4. Where did they live? (By State and County.)
Simple enough, huh?
44,
You can post your data here. If you are correct, I’ll concede your point.
You can post your data here. If you are correct, I’ll concede your point.
I’m not asking you to do my research for me, but it would be kind of cool if you could try to come up with the dataset I described and we could compare.
What the F? Why does my post appear 3 times?
46,
You are asking me to do your work for you, you were the one to make the statement, you should be the one backing it up.
However, I say you are wrong and here is the data to back me up:
http://www.ichv.org/Statistics.htm
In 2003 (the most recent year for which data is available), there were 30,136 gun deaths in the U.S:
16,907 suicides (56% of all U.S gun deaths),
11,920 homicides (40% of all U.S gun deaths),
730 unintentional shootings (2% of all U.S gun deaths),
347 from legal intervention and 232 from undetermined intent (2% of all U.S gun deaths combined).
An interesting fact from the site:
A gun in the home increases the risk of homicide of a household member by 3 times and the risk of suicide by 5 times compared to homes where no gun is present.
Another interesting fact:
In 1998 (the most recent year for which this data has been compiled), handguns murdered:
373 people in Germany
151 people in Canada
57 people in Australia
19 people in Japan
54 people in England and Wales, and
11,789 people in the United States
So, even if the 11,920 homicides all occurred in the ghetto, they are not the predominant cause of gun deaths.
Here is information from another site:
http://www.cfah.org/factsoflife/vol8no8.cfm
Compared with urban areas, rural areas have a higher percentage of gun deaths from shotguns and rifles and a higher percentage from suicides and accidents, according to a 2001 study. However, handguns were involved in more than 50 percent of all gun deaths across the two areas.
Smartalix, you beat me to it, but heres some of my reference material.
( If this posts 3 times I WILL look like an idiot. 😉 )
Venom Monger, It appears that you can only talk the talk. Maybe your data is hard to find because it doesn’t exist. The following is just a sample of my supporting data.
Firearm Crimes, Canada Vs. U.S.: SUMMARY, RCMP web site.
Gun Stats
Sources:
— Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics: Canadian crime statistics, 1996. (Catalogue 85-205)
— U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics: Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics, 1997.
The following analysis compares levels of firearm crimes between Canada and the United States. Data for comparison are available only for firearm homicides and firearm robberies.
STATISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS
1. Rates for all homicides are 3.8 times higher in the United States than in Canada. For 1987-96, the average homicide rate was 8.8 per 100,000 people in the U.S., compared to 2.3 per 100,000 in Canada.
2. A much greater proportion of homicides in the United States involve firearms. For 1987-96, 65% of homicides in the U.S. involved firearms, compared to 32% for Canada. Handgun homicide data are available for 1989-95. During those years, 52% of homicides in the U.S. involved handguns, compared to 14% in Canada.
3. Firearm homicide rates in the United States are 8.1 times higher than in Canada. For 1987-96, the average firearm homicide rate was 5.7 per 100,000 in the U.S., compared to 0.7 per 100,000 in Canada.
4. Handgun homicide rates in the United States are 15.3 times higher than in Canada. Based on available data for 1989-95, the average handgun homicide rate was 4.8 per 100,000 in the U.S., compared to 0.3 per 100,000 in Canada.
5. Between 1987 and 1996, firearm homicide rates increased slightly (+2%) in the United States but decreased (-7%) in Canada. On the other hand, both countries reported a decrease in the overall homicide rate (-11% in the U.S. and -13% in Canada).
ROBBERY
1. Rates for all robberies are 2.4 times higher in the United States than in Canada. For 1987-96, the average robbery rate was 238 per 100,000 in the U.S., compared to 101 per 100,000 in Canada.
2. A greater proportion of robberies in the United States involve firearms. For 1987-96, 38% of robberies in the U.S. involved firearms, compared to 25% in Canada. In addition, the proportion of firearm robberies in Canada continues to decrease while the proportion in the U.S. has been stable in the last few years.
3. Firearm robbery rates in the United States are 3.5 times higher than in Canada. For 1987-96, the average firearm robbery rate was 91 per 100,000 in the U.S., compared to 26 per 100,000 in Canada.
4. Between 1987 and 1996, firearm robbery rates increased significantly (+19%) in the United States but remained unchanged in Canada. However, the overall robbery rates decreased 5% in the U.S. but increased 22% in Canada.
SUMMARY
While homicide and robbery rates are significantly higher in the United States, firearm homicide rates and firearm robbery rates show even greater differences between the two countries.
There’s a lot more of this type of analysis. I also have data for suicides and accidents.
Where’s yours Venom?
However, I say you are wrong and here is the data to back me up:
http://www.ichv.org/Statistics.htm
I already said that I wasn’t trying to get you to do my homework. Sorry you took it that way. However, you DID do exactly what I was trying to avoid… pulling predigested unverifiable statistics from a clearly biased source… ichv is an unabashedly ANTI-GUN organization, so you can be sure that they will publish no statistics that don’t support their narrow point of view.
The site I quoted did not create the statistics, they are using CDC numbers. Or are you saying published government statistics are incorrect?
I’ll try posting my link again…
Gun Stats
Venom, your link doesn’t show ANY comparison between gun control nations and the USA and you didn’t supply proof for any of your claims (below), if fact just the opposite.
1. “practically all gun deaths in the US are criminals shooting other criminals in inner city ghettos”
2. “The MEANINGFUL statistics show that where gun ownership is legal, crime is lower. Period.”
3. “Purely accidental gun deaths are rare”
CASE CLOSED.
(good posts Smartalix 😉 )
We are not talking about editorial content, this is about a social phenomena reduced to numbers, gun use. Editorial comment is very often biased, but numbers don’t lie.
Ooopps, only part of my comment posted, sorry folks, here is what it should have been.
#50, Venom,
I have spent years working with statistics. Every time I hear that old Mark Twain line about the three kinds of lies, “Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics” I clench my teeth. Statistics don’t lie, only the people who use them wrongly. We are not talking about editorial content, this is about a social phenomena reduced to numbers, gun use. Editorial comment is very often biased, but numbers don’t lie.
Ouch. I’m taking it from three sides at once. #49, I walk the walk as well as anybody, and better than some. Sorry I couldn’t pull data out of my ass like some people. I’m not going to grab my info from the NRA, so it takes a little longer than somebody who doesn’t mind taking the word of a third party on what the stats are and what they mean, like, for instance, you. Anyway, it takes a little bit of time to come up with some numbers that I can defend objectively. Which was the whole point of this exercise. I still appear to be the only one trying to go to the source, rather than copying a summary from somewhere else, and taking their word for it that there’s no misrepresentation.
#49: I never disputed that the numbers make the US look worse than Canada. What I pointed out were reasons WHY this was so, and your non-response was just to spout more numbers. To summarize, you have less violent crime because a) you have fewer large cities and b) fewer disadvantaged minorities, and c) those are the motherlode of violent crime. When you compare apples to apples (i.e. who’s shootin’ whom) the USA and Canada really aren’t that different.
#51: the site you quoted from is blatantly anti-gun, and the anti-gun people are notorious for mangling facts. Maybe the numbers are accurate (and I’ll get to that) but how do YOU know??? Do you accept them at their word? Did you take the lazy way out?
#54: I get paid (fairly poorly) to work with statistics too. I’m also loathe to accept someone else’s word for where the source data came from, too. Uh, what was your point, anyway? Were you calling JimR a liar?
And speaking of the source data, I finally found some raw numbers on the CDC site… not exactly what I was looking for, but enough to start with.
Here is a (crude) summary from 2004, in no particular order:
“All Injury”, 167184
“Firearm”, 29569
“Homicide Firearm”, 11624
“Homicide Non-Firearm”, 5733
“Legal Intervention Firearm”, 311
“Suicide Firearm”, 16750
“Suicide Non-Firearm”, 15689
“Undetermined Intent Firearm”, 235
“Unintentional Firearm”, 649
“Violence-Related Firearm”, 28685
Alix’s numbers appear fairly accurate, however out of context that may be at this point. And I’ll try to add my context but not right now, since my fingers are tired and I need a doggam cigarette.
Oh, the numbers came from http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
with a trip through MS Access.
And tinyurl sucks, sorry.
More later if y’all don’t beat me to death first.
So even by the numbers you quoted, ghetto shootings aren’t the #1 cause of gun deaths.
So even by the numbers you quoted, ghetto shootings aren’t the #1 cause of gun deaths.
Nope. Conceded.
I still contend that ghetto shootings are the #1 cause of gun MURDERS, but since the data I found doesn’t break anything down past the state level, I’ll have to keep looking. CDC has other, more detailed, reports available but I haven’t figured out how to get them for free (yet).