More…gun insanity…state by state

This is a continuation in my series to point out that there is gun insanity all over the country that needs to be corrected with sane gun control.  Of course, there seems never a better place to start than Arizona.  The events below have all occurred since the first day of 2012.

ARIZONA: a Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed while answering a burglary call in Phoenix.  The suspect was in his van with his pit bull when he jumped out of the van with his rifle, firing at the deputy, hitting him just below his bulletproof vest.  The officer was married with two young children.  The animal remained calm throughout and was taken to the Sheriff’s no-kill animal shelter.

TENNESSEE: In a Jackson nightclub shooting, one person died and 19 were injured at the Karma Lounge which is downtown.  It happened around 2 a.m. and police think there was more than one shooter using handguns to fire at the crowd.

ARIZONA: At the Forest National Monument near Tucson, some gun freaks used the state-protected Saguaro for target practice, first shooting off the arms then cutting the cactus off at the knees leaving the remains on the ground in the desert.  The BLM wants to ban recreational shooting in the Sonoran desert but the NRA is against it.  Naturally.  A rancher close by says it gets worse every year and fearing for his cattle’s safety, sold all but six of his 120 head.



VIRGINIA: A Dinwiddie Walmart worker shot and wounded his manager, then killed himself.  The 32-year-old shot at police when they approached him with a handgun.  The 40-year-old manager suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Just another kid on his way to school

WASHINGTON: An eight-year-old girl was in critical shape after being shot at her elementary school near Seattle.  A classmate was detained.  The boy, in the third grade, and who apparently shot the girl, was being questioned about a firearm that was found in a classroom. 

ARIZONA: In the Sunshine State, it makes no difference who or what you shoot at, as long as you are shooting.  A $2,500 reward has been offered for any information leading to the capture of the culprits that shot six burros dead just north of Phoenix.  The shootings occurred in the Bureau of Land Management’s Lake Pleasant Herd Management Area.  These animals are protected by law under the wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971.

NEW YORK: Samyah Bailey was hit in the face with a bullet meant for someone else in this Staten Island apartment complex.  The 21-month-old child will survive but she has lost an eye.  Apparently some cowboy by the name of Damark King was attempting to settle a score and recklessly fired five rounds in the apartment courtyard.  Several guns were found in the area; Bailey was shot with a 9mm handgun.

NEVADA: This shooting at a Carson City IHOP is just one more example of why a national gun registry is needed.  Authorities are still trying to find out where Eduardo Sencion got the assault weapon from a Chinese company that has been banned since 1994.  Sencion opened fire killing four others before killing himself.  He also had a handgun and another assault rifle in his van; one an AK-47, the other a Romanian Colt .38 revolver.  

With the recent on-going proliferation of shootings throughout the U.S., it will be interesting to see just how long it takes the American public to turn a deaf ear to the garbage spewed by the National Rifle Assn. about how more guns are needed, and come to their senses demanding saner gun control.  Gun control advocates are not going away and there is plenty of recent evidence that we are making headway in our mission.