In my 18-month PoliticusUSA ride, I’ve submitted somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 gun stories if you count the Zimmerman fiasco. My fellow-contributors have added many dozens (maybe hundreds) more. And yet, the killing continues, as does the fetid gun legislation pouring out of red state and some blue state general assemblies.
The new “2nd Amendment” favorite legislation amongst those elected officials pandering to the NRA is all about territory. In what territory can you carry deadly ordinance? Pre-schools, churches, public places, government offices? Hell, why not? Recent additions are booze-laden bars and nightclubs. What better venues to arm all the patrons? Sometimes fists just aren’t enough to do the job.
Americans no longer own guns; guns own Americans. Guns own Americans when greedy fools like Wayne LaPierre command more respect than people trying to save the tens of thousands of lives sacrificed yearly on the firearms altar where families can be torn apart and when promising young lives ranging in age from infancy to late 20’s can be taken by accident, suicide or an angry whim. All this happens as gun manufacturers rake in huge money in their death industry and their upper management builds their 20,000 square foot homes on foundations of blood and ruined lives.
As a “bleeding heart” liberal, I’ve inveighed relentlessly against irresponsible gun laws as I’ve attempted to inject reason and humanity into our laughable gun legislation. Come to think of it, Trayvon Martin was also a bleeding heart at the end of his teenage life thanks to the thoughtless and cold-blooded actions of some cipher named George Zimmerman. You might want to stay some distance away from practiced killer, Zimmerman. He was recently pulled over in his pickup for speeding in Forney, Texas, population a hair over 7,500 and the “Antiques Capital of Texas”. The town and city profile site, ePodunk lists 13 cemeteries in Forney, a handy stat to know when Mr. Softie is in your vicinity.
About 7% of the Forney population is black so there’s no telling how long it would take Zimmerman to cut a swath through town if any African-American young men matched any of his 911 descriptions of Trayvon: “A real suspicious guy; this guy looks like he’s up to no good, or on drugs or something, it’s RAINING and he’s just WALKING AROUND, LOOKING ABOUT!” The Forney 10-day Weather Channel forecast doesn’t call for rain until the August 10th and 11th weekend, so lock up your teenage black sons on those days, lest Zimmerman spot them walking around in the rain, LOOKING ABOUT!
In any event, after revealing to the officer who stopped him that he had a gun in his glove compartment, Zimmerman was given a warning ticket (you want to give this killer a speeding ticket?) and sent on his way, gun still at the ready.
Pardon the Zimmerman detour. My true intent was to use two stories from local papers to provide more examples of what can happen in and around bars and nightclubs with a cocktail of alcohol, tipsy dips**ts and trigger-happy security guards. The two deadly incidents occurred in a neighboring county about a week apart and in towns less than 30 minutes distant from each other. What “happened” in the first case was a dead 21-year-old young woman, India Lomax, shot to death in a nightclub parking lot by an apparently overzealous security guard now on the receiving end of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges. He’s free on $50,000 bond. He also winged a male passenger in the arm who was apparently packing as well, but reportedly had not fired a shot.
In looking at an ‘Anderson Independent Mail’ newspaper photo of the guard, a 28-year-old named Joey Johnson, one is struck by characteristics that call to mind the blandness of George Zimmerman. Pic and lawyer here. Rimless glasses, a bit on the chunky side, with a modified Mohawk haircut favoring the Robert De Niro character in Taxi Driver. But he had a gun and faux law enforcement credentials. Someday, I’ll do a separate story on the dipsy doodles who manage to get hired as “security guards.” Think Paul Blart, Mall Cop.
According to news accounts, the young woman was shot as she drove away in a pickup from an Anderson, South Carolina club, IN THE BACK! I don’t know what set off this melee. What I do know at this point is that Joey must have had a pretty high capacity clip because authorities claim to have counted 11 bullet holes in the victim’s truck, all either in the back or on the side. This is key because Joey’s story is that the truck was veering toward him and he shot in self-defense. He greased that story with another excuse that he was afraid he’d be shot. Well, I guess if following a guy is self-defense, then surely a truck roaring away from the shooter with nary a bullet headed his way, can be self-defense
Yes, the passenger in the truck had a gun as well, though investigators say it was not fired. So, guns-aplenty at the club and a dead young women, who it turned out, was the mother of 3 toddlers.
The second fatal shooting occurred at the Time Out Bar and Lounge in Honea Path, South Carolina. This one’s a little more cut and dried. The victim, Broadus White Jr. and his alleged killer, Alex Da’mon Anderson of Due West, had supposedly had an earlier altercation. So booze, a gun and earlier hard feelings; you figure it out. When witnesses fingered Anderson as the shooter, he tried to flee, but was captured immediately and charged with murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime and weapon law violations. If convicted, I suspect he’ll face decades in the slammer. White faces infinity God knows where.
I really have no comments to add. A colleague recently provided a number of similar bar shooting examples with much sympathy and agreement from his comment section. But the laws aren’t made by people with brains and civility. The laws are made by greedy Buffoons who are purchased through campaign contributions from even greedier corporate twits and don’t give a flying fig whether the young women or Mr. White are dead or alive.
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