KANSAS CITY, MO - 2009: Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs poses for his 2009 NFL headshot at photo day in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by NFL Photos)
The Javon Belcher murder-suicide doesn't sway my Second Amendment support one iota. Disarming the law abiding isn't the answer.
Responsible gun owners usually do little more than brandish weapons to send suspects scurrying away. A visit to the site, JustFacts.com, reveals the following:
* A 1994 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 498,000 times per year.[20]
* A 1982 survey of male felons in 11 state prisons dispersed across the U.S. found:[21]
• 34% had been "scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim"
• 40% had decided not to commit a crime because they "knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun"
• 69% personally knew other criminals who had been "scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim"[22]
Far from trigger happy yahoos, responsible gun owners scare away would-be assailants far more than shooting them.
Theories abound about why this murder-suicide happened. Small comfort is found in the 69% decrease in these tragedies reported by the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community (IDVAAC), at the University of Minnesota.
An unarmed NFL line backer is still capable of homicide- more so than most. He had a range of options at his disposal- including non-violence.
He chose murder and then suicide. Unlike the usual demographic in these scenarios he wasn't unemployed nor under-employed.
Rumors circulate wildly about drug use and financial problems but time will reveal the motive.
Self-control is the issue here, not gun control.
Cap Black, The Hood Conservative & One Man Tea Party says:
" Don't disarm the innocent to protect the guilty!"
(504) 214-3082
Help Cap Black Help Others!
" BE your OWN Superhero!"
Comments
Ah, the truth, but in a liberal society, self control and responsibility are "bad words" to be censored. Amazing that following the murder with a bow and arrow wasn't jumped on by the Brady's and other such noxious groups. I never did hear any loud rantings of banning these weapons of choice for criminals.
Ms. Sheppard, I agree with your statement.
Whether people want to admit it or not--especially with all the weapons a person has at his/her disposal, the most dangerous weapons of all are at the end of one's arm! Backed by a person's brain, the hands are the most volatile, unpredictable, and dangerous! Like the old Shadow program: "Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of man?" And, the hands will carry out the instructions!
People want gun control, but what about all the other weapons--ESPECIALLY the hands? Cut them off?
This is such a sad situation, and only got any attention because of the man's job and the fact he used a gun! Frankly, I think the same result would have happened had he used a baseball bat or a hockey stick, a kitchen knife or even his hands! Something within the man's mind went off the tracks, and he couldn't stop the train wreck from happening!
I am curious to see what the demand would be had the weapon been a baseball bat , a golf club or a knife ? Perhaps the cause , employment in a violent sport in which players are encouraged and many times rewarded for their violence . There could be many reasons , but to blame an inanimate object that only does what the individual wielding it asks flies in the face of logic and reason . We might as well blame football for this . Makes about as much sense and name the fans as accessories to this act .
In my state a man killed the girlfriend of the dad, the dad, and himself with knives and a bow and arrow.