D.M. teen dies after friend's gun goes off (Des Moines, IA)

Des Moines Register ^ | 01/08/04 | By TOM ALEX Register Staff Writer

[Rightone]

A Des Moines teenager died Wednesday from a gunshot wound to her head suffered when her boyfriend mishandled a weapon that he had been carrying for weeks, police said.

Alexis Jordan, 16, died about 16 hours after she was shot Tuesday afternoon in her boyfriend's home at 1303 Sixth Ave. Cordara "Cory" Lewis, 16, is charged with reckless use of a firearm as an adult and involuntary manslaughter as a juvenile. He is in Polk County Jail on $100,000 bond.

[Rightone]

Here we go. 16 years old. Carrying a gun around. (???) Alternative high school. Pretending to be a criminal. (???) Parents nowhere to be found. Crisis Center at school.

But, hey, if only we had a lock on that darn gun. And, really, really... this is a good kid. /sarcasm

[Tijeras_Slim]

this thread might be worth watching.

[Monty22]

And the anti-gun group says basically accidents should never happen.

First, this was no accident.

Second, ban cars first if you want to save lives that way.

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[antiRepublicrat]

Love the anti-gun title, "...gun goes off." Guns don't just "go off" when handled -- some stupid person pulls the trigger. It should read "...accidentally shot by friend," but that would take the blame off of the gun.

[martin_fierro]

A better headline: D.M. teen dies after friend mishandles gun

[BenLurkin]

This is very sad. To say that the killer "mishandled" the firearm is something of an understatement.

[MizzouTigerRepublican]

Guns don't kill people. People kill people. I wish that could have been the headline. I am so tired of these liberal tree huggers tilting these titles and stories to further their damn anti gun agenda.

[facedown]

* Store guns and ammunition in separate locked containers.

Now that's going to make it real handy for self-defense.

[mystery-ak]

He is being charged as an adult and juvenile...I don't get it...anybody?

[EggsAckley]

Lewis had had possession of the weapon for weeks, and his mother and stepfather were aware of it

Oops.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

When I was 16, I was..

1. Not allowed to have anyone over with my parents gone.

2. Not ever ever ever allowed to have a boy in my bedroom, whether my parents were home or not.

Two good rules, that if followed, avoids problems like this.

[SoKatt]

Great parenting skills.

[Melinator]

If the parents knew about it then he may even have had legal possession of the gun. Laws don't prevent stupidity.

[Rightone]

But, the libs have an answer!

Iowa given C-plus

WHAT'S NEW: In an annual analysis of state laws, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Iowa a C-plus grade in 2003.

WHY: Iowa holds adults responsible if they leave loaded guns around children, regulates the sale of guns to children, and requires a permit to buy a handgun. But Iowa does not require child-safety locks to be sold with guns and does not have handgun safety standards, the Brady group said.

[pax_et_bonum]

When I was 16, I was..

1. Not allowed to have anyone over with my parents gone.

2. Not ever ever ever allowed to have a boy in my bedroom, whether my parents were home or not.

Two good rules, that if followed, avoids problems like this.

My parent's rules, too, and I don't understand so many parents today allowing their girls to have boys in their bedrooms, or vice versa.

[adam_az]

Kittie Weston-Knauer, principal at Scavo, said Jordan "had wisdom beyond her years."

Not if she had a boyfriend that pointed guns at people for fun, 'pretending' to be a criminal. A self fulfilling prophecy if I ever heard one, this story being case in point!

[aomagrat]

When he picked up the gun Tuesday, police said, it went off.

If fired all by itself?

[TERMINATTOR]

*bang_list

[Nebr FAL owner]

Any bets that the boyfriend was a HiP Hop gangsta wannbe also known as whiggers aka pop-up targets. Should get his stupid A$$ nailed to the wall permanantly!!!

[RonF]

"While the 16-year-old's actions were obviously irresponsible, the idea behind consumer product regulation is that people will always make mistakes and sometimes behave carelessly. But when they do, innocent people should not have to die."

Wishful thinking. Innocent people die every day from some fool's mistake. His desire to eliminate this sounds nice, but the end he's looking for is not possible.

Now, having said that, there are ways to reduce risk from stupidity. The question here is, will reducing that risk raise the cost of the article in question to unacceptable levels, or unacceptably reduce it's usability for it's intended purpose? For an extreme example, we could make all knives dull, but then they wouldn't cut.

[Who dat?]

Now that's going to make it real handy for self-defense.

Exactly. I’d suggest a framing hammer or axe over an unloaded handgun.

When I grew up we had handguns in a drawer in the china cabinet, kitchen drawer, magazine rack next to dads chair, dresser drawer(s), top shelf of the bookcase, plus rifles behind every bedroom door, kitchen door, door to the garage, and back door. All loaded and ready to go. Somehow nobody ever shot themselves or each other.

[RonF]

A Des Moines teenager died Wednesday from a gunshot wound to her head suffered when her boyfriend mishandled a weapon accidentally shot her through gross negligence.

[RonF]

Seems like good girls always want to reform bad boys. It cost this girl her life.

[facedown]

I’d suggest a framing hammer or axe over an unloaded handgun.

Well, maybe a Redhawk... :)

[semaj]

"If there were negative things going on, she didn't allow that to impact who she was."

Apparently her Jedi-powers weren't working, otherwise she would have been able to user her light-sabre to deflect the bullets negative impact upon her skull.

[Thinkin' Gal]

"In this case, a simple integral locking device, such as a key lock or a combination push-button lock, would have prevented the gun from being fired by an unauthorized person," Johnson said.

TERRIFIED CUSTOMER: Heh-heh-hello, ONSTAR? I-m in my bedroom, and suh-somebody just broke into my h-home, and they're coming upsta-airs where I-m at. PLEASE unlock my gun. HURRY!

ONSTAR REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you for calling ONSTAR. May I have the reason for your request?

TERRIFIED CUSTOMER: I... there is suh-somebody coming up the stairs and they...

ONSTAR REPRESENTATIVE: I understand completely. This will only take a few minutes while I enter your personal information and the computer processes your request. Name... Name... Hello?

[GovernmentShrinker]

Witnesses told police Lewis sometimes used the gun to pretend he was a criminal. He also allegedly had pointed it at people.

But somehow, nobody bothered to alert police to these activities -- by a 16 year old who was already on probation for "criminal mischief and theft"?

When he picked up the gun Tuesday, police said, it went off.

Bull. When he pulled the trigger, it went off. Don't the Des Moines police know how guns work?

"In this case, a simple integral locking device, such as a key lock or a combination push-button lock, would have prevented the gun from being fired by an unauthorized person," Johnson said.

His parents knew full well he was carrying the gun around. Apparently he was an "authorized person".

[waterstraat]

When I grew up we had handguns in a drawer in the china cabinet, kitchen drawer, magazine rack next to dads chair, dresser drawer(s), top shelf of the bookcase, plus rifles behind every bedroom door, kitchen door, door to the garage, and back door. All loaded and ready to go. Somehow nobody ever shot themselves or each other.

Yeah, but how often did the guns go off by themselves, like the one in this story did?

[waterstraat]

Photo of the guy who shot her?

Did I miss where he got the gun from?

[The_Macallan]

Ugh! Where to begin?

- Punk mishandles gun and shoots another and you report it as "the gun went off". No dumbass - guns don't just "go off" any more than a car just "goes off" when a drunk gets behind the wheel.

- WTF is with the focus on safety locks??? That's for TODDLERS!!! What 16 year-old DOESN'T know how to operate a lock&key???

- Other people knew he ran around like Dirty Harry pointing guns at people and they did nothing??? There's laws against that too. Why not focus on that?

- And what the HELL is the red herring about "Saturday Night Specials" doing in this story? They were BANNED many years ago! What makes you think this gun was a cheap gun? It wasn't identified as a "Saturday Night Special" by the cops - no that was YOUR hyper-biased prejudices and hoplophobic ignorance smeared across this "journalistic report" on a tragic shooting.

- And the capper - you bring in a highly-biased anti-gun spokesman just to blame the gun and gun-laws rather than the little punk-criminal-delinquent himself!

AND THEN you start quoting from the radical, gun-hating Brady Campaign and Sarah Brady herself who blames the evil "gun lobby" yet you say NOTHING about the National Rifle Association's widely-used, long-standing gun-safety programs that successfully EDUCATE tens of thousands of young children every year in proper gun-safey, handling and use.

Why not mention the NRA's "Eddie The Eagle" program which teaches gun-safety to kids in schools all across the nation and how they teach EXACTLY many of the safety rules that you placed at the end of your report???

Why not include quotes, statistics and opinions from spokespersons representing the NRA or the Gun-Owner's Of America who have FAR more members than the Brady Campaign or "Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence"???



Okay folks, I HAVE to reformulate my thoughts and send out an email to this turdball who wrote this crap. If anyone else is interested, here's his email: Tom Alex.

You can also send a letter to the editor responding to this BS hatchet-job on firearms here: Letter To Editor

---

It's Not Just A Gun...

It's My "HOMELAND DEFENSE RIFLE"!!

[Rightone]

Amen, brother. You echo my thoughts! Thanks!!!

[RightWinger]

It's a shame that a young girl died by the actions of an idiot.

Far more lives are saved by responsible citizens use of guns than are lost by the actions of idiots.

[Indrid Cold]

Per federal law, "It is unlawful to leave a loaded firearm where a child may gain access to it", probably a felony. "Child" presumably means anyone under 18. I smell lawsuit...

[HP8753]

Sounds like he was "playing" with a loaded weapon.
Total idiot.....Even with a slingshot,This guy would have been a danger to anyone around him.

The gun just made him a Fatal accident waiting to happen.

[Pharmboy]

Great quotes on your homepage. And MaCallan 18 is a slice of heaven...

[Shooter 2.5]

Witnesses told police Lewis sometimes used the gun to pretend he was a criminal.

Apparently, he became tired of pretending.

[taxcontrol]

Nice pictures of red heads on your page - I assume they are portaits of yourself?????

[Old Professer]

I'll bet it would hurt real bad to get hit in the head with a gun safe.

[Xenalyte]

D.M. teen dies after friend's gun goes off

Man, if I had a nickel for every time my .38 has gone off all by itself and shot someone, I'd have, like, three nickels.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Those are Vargas paintings from World War 2. Sheesh, I could only wish it was me.

[Bacon Man]

Man, if I had a nickel for every time my .38 has gone off all by itself and shot someone, I'd have, like, three nickels.

Hey you said the same thing about getting trapped under a mountain of books!

[Xenalyte]

I'd have six nickels for that. :)

[Ditter]

Thanks for saying it, I get really angry when I read that "a gun went off". I have non gun owning friends who actually believe that guns are like bombs with an evil brain & they can "go off" at will.