There's no such thing as a "stray dagger" killing anyone.

[TODD]

There's no argument for the severe restriction of handguns better than a story like this. Piece of **** incidents that are totally random and unnecessary. These are the "stray bullet" killings or debilitations that we hear about all of the time. For whatever reason, they are lumped together with other acts of violence that most will lump together with other criminal acts that are seen as a problem with society or an individual and not the unchecked use of an instrument of death. Guns kill (or in this case, paralyze) people. People kill people, too, but the fact of the matter is the medium of violence crippled this kid, not the violent person.

This is no isolated incident.

OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- Fifth-grader Christopher Rodriguez sat down Thursday at his piano for his weekly lesson, arched his fingers over the keys and began to play.

Across the street from Harmony Road Music School in north Oakland, California, Jared Adams, 24, allegedly raised his gun at a Chevron gas station attendant during a holdup and fired.

A bullet ripped through the walls of Christopher's classroom striking him in his side, piercing his kidney and spleen and lodging in his spine. The bullet barely missed the 10-year-old's heart.

He will likely be paralyzed for life from the waist down, doctors say.

"This is probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me in my life. I love my son greatly," the boy's father, Richard Rodriguez, said Friday at a news conference. Video Watch Christopher's dad describe the ordeal »

Christopher loved music. He had recently taken up African drumming, spent hours listening to classical music and played basketball.

"I feel like half his life was taken from him; his inability, probably, to walk -- ever," Rodriguez said, his voice breaking.

Christopher's mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, had been waiting outside in her SUV for her son's lesson to end.

She not only heard the shots but came close to being hit herself. At least two bullets from Adams' gun struck her vehicle, police said.

On the phone and distracted, she at first dismissed the noises as someone throwing rocks at her SUV. But when she realized it was gunfire, she dashed into her son's class. Christopher was on the floor, his classmates and instructor hovering over him.

"I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs!" Christopher cried.

As emergency workers rushed the boy to the hospital, police were chasing Adams, who was speeding away. Adams rammed his vehicle into a car carrying a woman and her two children and then slammed into a parked car, police said.

The woman and children escaped without injury, according to authorities.

Adams was charged Monday with attempted murder, robbery, evading a police officer, driving recklessly and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, Oakland Police Department spokesman Roland Holmgren told CNN.

He's being held without bail according to Holmgren. CNN was not immediately able to determine whether he had a lawyer.

Authorities found a ski mask, loaded gun and cash at the scene. Adams has prior convictions for driving under the influence and gun possession, records show. He pleaded no contest to felony evading arrest in 2006 for fleeing an Emeryville police officer and had run from or physically resisted a California Highway Patrol officer and police in Albany and Berkeley, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Adams once complained in court that young people raised in the city like himself never got opportunities, the paper also reported.

Adams has been told about Christopher, said Holmgren.

"It doesn't matter whether it's your first day on the street as an officer or a veteran, to see a child doing something as innocent as taking a piano lesson and have this happen to him, it affects your soul," said Holmgren.

Meanwhile, doctors delivered tragic news about Christopher's future.

"He's going to face years of rehabilitation," said Dr. James Betts, chief of surgery at Children's Hospital Oakland. "We are all hoping there will be some degree of recovery. We feel like the injury is permanent, and the paralysis is permanent.

[PleaseBlitz]

Yeah, but if EVERYONE had a bunch of guns, everyone would be safe.

Its the fifth graders fault for not being armed to the teeth.

/sarcasm.

[Predicto]

*ducks behind a desk to avoid the inevitable double barrelled return fire about to come from the Second Amendment absolutist crowd*

[Enter Apotheosis]

Yeah, but if EVERYONE had a bunch of guns, everyone would be safe.

Its the fifth graders fault for not being armed to the teeth.

/sarcasm.

Seriously... what kind of an irresponsible parent doesn't provide their child with a bulletproof vest from infancy? :mad:

[Ghost of]

It's ALWAYS good to make policy to restrict constitutional rights based on freak accidents, aberrations and statistical outliers.

After all, no innocent person has EVER been killed or maimed in an accident by a stranger doing wrong or behaving recklessly with anything other than a gun.

[Teller]

Hmm...He rammed a car with a woman and two kids in it as he tried to get away as well.

Hell with it. It's not worth it. You know where I was going though. :doh:

[DCSaints_fan]

Was the gun used by the criminal obtained legally?

[Siven]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juLQBeZXmPU

[Ghost of]

Wait, what's this? A statement from the Prime Minister about getting tough on knife crime (sometimes mentioned is that in spite of what amounts to a gun ban, there is significant post-legislative proliferation on Britain's streets.)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3181965.ece

Government crackdown on knife crime in cities

Anyone caught carrying a blade will be prosecuted and will not be allowed to escape with a caution under a crackdown on knife crime promised by Gordon Brown.

Police must prosecute those of any age who are found in possession of a blade in areas where knife crime is high. London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Greater Manchester are among the 12 priority areas.

Mr Brown is bringing forward a Violent Crime Action Plan which will be announced by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, early next month.

The Government may also introduce an outright ban on some hunting knives.

In an interview with The Sun today, Mr Brown says: “You cannot be casual or cool about knives. Society cannot cope with people carrying guns and knives and threatening to use them.

“There are boundaries you cannot cross and one is this country’s zero tolerance on knives. It is neither cool nor does it make you safer to carry a knife{That's because you won't let them carry guns you silly sod--Ghost}. We must ease people’s fears. They deserve freedom from fear about their safety on the streets.”

Faridon Alizada, 18, from Bexley, southeast London; Bradley Whitfield, 16; and Nassirudeen Osawe, 17, were all murdered recently in stabbings.

Mr Brown wants the 12 worst-hit areas to receive a zero-tolerance message. In the interview he says: “It is completely unacceptable to carry a knife or a gun. We are to step up action. Where the police have previously been cautioning people there now has to be a presumption of prosecution. We will charge, not caution.”

The Prime Minister also expresses concern at computer games that show characters surviving being stabbed, but he cannot ban them. “I am very worried about video and computer games,” he says. “The industry has some responsibility to society and needs to exercise that responsibility.” [That's it. They can ban the implements of self-defense because criminals who dont RESPECT LIFE ignore laws on possession of weapons but they just can't bring themselves (yet) to regulate violent games targeted at youth. Not of course, that this is what causes violent crime. Maybe emasculating populations, not allowing or teaching manly virtue is what turns young men into 'lads' and punks into thugs. Not to mention disarming the free citizens of your society who have a right to their lives and property. No, I guess they're really all tools of the State--Ghost]

[PokerPacker]

STAB DEATH 'ACCIDENT'

By JAMIE SCHRAM

PrintEmailDigg ItRedditPermalinkStory Bottom

January 14, 2008 -- A martial-arts expert who fatally stabbed a man helping him fight off muggers is unlikely to face charges in the good Samaritan's death, sources said yesterday, as a third suspect was nabbed.

Investigators believe the stabbing Friday night near West 139th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue was accidental.

They are unlikely to hit Maurice Parks with anything more than a summons for an infraction such as carrying the possibly illegal knife he used in self-defense, they said.

Parks, a 39-year-old subway conductor, was attacked shortly before midnight by three men.

One of them stabbed him in the stomach with a curved knife in an apparent robbery bid.

The wounded man fought back with his own knife, with help from accountant Flonarza Byas, 27, but the good Samaritan was accidentally stabbed by Parks and pronounced dead a short time later.

Parks is recovering at Harlem Hospital.

Two knives were recovered at the scene - the folding knife with a curved blade and a straight knife believed to belong to Parks.

With the arrest yesterday of 18-year-old Edwin Bonilla, three suspects are now in custody. The others are a 15-year-old youth and Hector Cruz, 21.

Parks' attackers weren't the first thugs to come up short with him. In 1994, he shot and wounded a mugger.

this was just the first thing i found in a search, i just noticed, after posting this, the last line. i would like to point out that there was no collateral damage mentioned on he previous encounter with muggers when he used a gun.

[Teller]

The term "anecdotal evidence" is an oxymoron. And providing it does very little, in most cases, to sure up one's argument. For every "Person Accidentally Killed By Gun" headline TODD can pull up, I can pull up one where someone was saved by a gun. And when the dust settles, nothing will be any clearer, and no minds will have been changed.

I certainly can't argue the tragedy of the story he posted. Not by a longshot. I have kids myself, and I can't bear to think of something like that happening to them.

But ya know what? I can't bear the thought of them being seriously injured in a car accident either (God please forbid) but I don't want cars banned. (OK, sorry, couldn't resist the analogy.)

Unfortunately, there are all sorts of ways to be injured or killed by someone else's stupidity. But that doesn't mean we should ban every thing that every stupid person ever does.

[Popeman38]

There's no argument for the severe restriction of handguns.

I couldn't agree more.

[Burgold]

For every "Person Accidentally Killed By Gun" headline TODD can pull up, I can pull up one where someone was saved by a gun.

I wonder how true this statement is? Unless we're including flare guns.

[Larry]

I certainly can't argue the tragedy of the story he posted. Not by a longshot.

[pez]

Most folks know my stance.... I know it is not a popular one amongst a bunch of folks here, but I believe guns cause more problems than they are worth...

“But it — it’s interesting, because, you know, there’s things like these kids started shooting people, which you’ve had in America. Because guns don’t kill people, it’s just, uh, uhh, that certain noise they make. And umm … Uhh, it’s just a bullet ripping through people’s bodies. That’s what kills people! Erhhh … Yeah, have guns but don’t allow any ammunition. There! We got it! We got it sorted! And they just go, erhhhhhoh? *thunk*.”

-Eddie Izzard

[TODD]

It's ALWAYS good to make policy to restrict constitutional rights based on freak accidents, aberrations and statistical outliers.

After all, no innocent person has EVER been killed or maimed in an accident by a stranger doing wrong or behaving recklessly with anything other than a gun.

The thing is that it's NOT a freak accident. Think about all of the various gun "accidents" (stray bullets and kids messing around with guns provide the most mundane examples) and you have an epidemic of guns killing people and NOT people killing people.

[TODD]

this was just the first thing i found in a search, i just noticed, after posting this, the last line. i would like to point out that there was no collateral damage mentioned on he previous encounter with muggers when he used a gun.

That article is totally different than what I am talking about. Both men were directly involved a situation that had already become violent. The six year-old in question was taking piano lessons in a home, an obviously benign activity. (Unless he was laying down a new riff for the latest Fifty single.) I'm not saying the men deserved the mugging, but to call the stabbing "collateral damage" is wrong.

And don't tell me that a gun would have been less dangerous to everybody. There's a better chance that a stray bullet would have hit an innocent bystander than the situation that happened. You want to talk about freak accidents...

[TODD]

But ya know what? I can't bear the thought of them being seriously injured in a car accident either (God please forbid) but I don't want cars banned. (OK, sorry, couldn't resist the analogy.)

Unfortunately, there are all sorts of ways to be injured or killed by someone else's stupidity. But that doesn't mean we should ban every thing that every stupid person ever does.

But guns give stupid people a very, very easy way to harm others, and that's the problem. And we cannot control the flow of arms to these stupid people when they are so prevalent in our country. Worst of all, most of the time we can't tell who is stupid enough to own a gun, so people who are dangerous to society can buy the weapon "legally."

[PokerPacker]

That article is totally different than what I am talking about. Both men were directly involved a situation that had already become violent. The six year-old in question was taking piano lessons in a home, an obviously benign activity. (Unless he was laying down a new riff for the latest Fifty single.) I'm not saying the men deserved the mugging, but to call the stabbing "collateral damage" is wrong.

And don't tell me that a gun would have been less dangerous to everybody. There's a better chance that a stray bullet would have hit an innocent bystander than the situation that happened. You want to talk about freak accidents...

one man wasn't involved in fighting the other, in fact, a "stray dagger" hit the one who died. want one where someone got stuck in the face with a knife who wasn't involved? try this one:

An incredible and un-suspecting accident leaves a Utah Boy Scout just inches from death when he was stabbed right between his eyes.

Jeff Jaeger spoke to Kevin Coulter and tells 2News how this was a truly freak accident.

While raking leaves for a Boy Scout event, one of the leaders flung a knife from his hand while trying to catch another scout who had tripped.

“It was dark, it was like 8:30 and there was a light and I saw it flash before it hit me,” said Kevin.

The blade landed in between his frontal lobes. It was 2 millimeters away from hitting a major blood vessel in his brain.

Kevin's doctors told him it was sheer luck where the knife hit.

“That's the sinuses that it went through and that I guess is where the brain lobe is right there,” said Kevin pointing to an X-Ray.

It was a freak accident in every way. Few people can admit they've seen anything like it, a 1 ½ inch blade through someone's skull.

“That's the best spot you know, if you're going to have a knife in your head,” said Kevin.

It amazingly wasn’t as painful as it looks; he says he just felt pressure.

In all, Kevin's kept a light heart about the whole situation. He got to miss out on a few weeks of school and yes, he walked away with the knife as a souvenir.

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1546166/posts

http://www.neologies.net/2006/02/freak-accident-leaves-knife-in-boy.html

[sacase]

But guns give stupid people a very, very easy way to harm others, and that's the problem. And we cannot control the flow of arms to these stupid people when they are so prevalent in our country. Worst of all, most of the time we can't tell who is stupid enough to own a gun, so people who are dangerous to society can buy the weapon "legally."

THere are more traffic accidents that result in death than gun accidents that involve death. I don't see you clamoring to restrict licenses.

[PokerPacker]

THere are more traffic accidents that result in death than gun accidents that involve death. I don't see you clamoring to restrict licenses.

there are WAY more traffic accidents resulting in MUCH more death than guns. hell, there're more poisoning accidents than gun accidents

[Popeman38]

But guns give stupid people a very, very easy way to harm others, and that's the problem. And we cannot control the flow of arms to these stupid people when they are so prevalent in our country. Worst of all, most of the time we can't tell who is stupid enough to own a gun, so people who are dangerous to society can buy the weapon "legally."

How many more people are killed by drunk drivers? And based on this, where do you stand on reinitiating prohibition? Because that worked out so well, elevating the mob to such a height and what not. You outlaw guns, and you create another scathing black market for someone to rise to power operating.

[Thiebear]

The risk of being killed by a firearm in the US is higher than in any other Western nation. … There are no recent statistics available but UN figures from 2000 showed for every 10,000 Americans, 0.3 were killed by firearms, compared with 0.01 in the UK where handgun ownership was banned in 1997.”

So with 120+ million guns in the United states there is a .29 chance vs. 0 guns in the UK. you would think that number would be around 10k% .

We need to outlaw drowning and suffocation as both of those also kill more people?

[headexplode]

THere are more traffic accidents that result in death than gun accidents that involve death. I don't see you clamoring to restrict licenses.

Actually, that's the argument I use against easing gun restrictions. People have enough trouble driving cars, so why would they be any more responsible when it comes to guns?

I'm a moderate on the gun issue, though. I think responsible, law-abiding citizens should be able to own guns and protect their life and property. I don't think civilians should own assault rifles. Nor do I think people need to be armed when they head down to the local Starbucks. I think people should take gun safety training like they do for a driver's license (not that that works, but . . .). What I think is more responsible is to research the socioeconomic factors that contribute to rampant gun violence, not to blame guns themselves. The same strategy could be applied to drug abuse and terrorism. Look for patterns in areas where there is a high volume of gun violence/drug abuse/terrorism and work to remedy the problems that contribute to these concerns. Unfortunately, that is the exact approach that is anathema to politicians and "tough on crime/terrorism" conservatives who prefer platitude and machismo over long-term solutions devloped through discussion and critical analysis.

[Thiebear]

So your saying since people can't handle a 2ton car several times a day while eating and smoking and text messaging. they obviously can't handle learn to point and squeeze? o.k.