Posted on 01/03/2006 11:03:06 PM PST by neverdem
SOUTH PORTLAND, Me. - Kelly DeCambra made her way through a seven-inches-an-hour snowstorm to a dingy Maine State Police garage where, among the brake parts, transmissions and a flat-bed tow truck, she hoped to find a fragment of solace.
It would come in the form of a Ruger .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk revolver, caked with blood and the memory of Ms. DeCambra's son, 21-year-old Lionel St. Hilaire, who was shot to death with it last year.
The mother had come to watch the gun that was used to kill her son be sawed into pieces in an acrid plume of white-hot sparks.
Ms. DeCambra's act of witness was made possible by a law Maine enacted in 2001 that requires handguns used in homicides to be destroyed when they are no longer needed for evidence. Before that, guns were often sold or auctioned by police departments to raise money for other equipment.
Gun control advocates, gun rights supporters, and law enforcement officials say they believe that Maine is the only state where the police allow victims' relatives to watch a gun's destruction, and the acts of witness are arranged informally by the police, not spelled out in the law.
Supporters of the law, including the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, acknowledge that in a state like Maine, which in the last decade averaged about 20 homicides a year, destroying such weapons takes only a few guns out of circulation. But the requirement that crime guns be destroyed reflects a trend among police departments nationwide.
A few states, including New York and Wisconsin, require at least some guns to be destroyed, and others, like Washington, have rescinded bans on destroying guns used in crimes.
Several municipalities have passed ordinances to prevent crime guns from being sold, and the International Association of Chiefs...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
typical libs....what if symbolism over substance
Oh brother!
Well yeah, for the relatives, but what about the press?
After reading this stupid article, nine of the ten voices in my head are telling me to clean my guns.
She said she had been unable to see punishment imposed on her son's killer, Zachary Fenderson, who had found his ex-girlfriend with Mr. St. Hilaire one night, because Mr. Fenderson immediately shot and killed himself.
----Will that gun be "killed" too? I mean, I am sorry her son was killed ( I am not heartless) because I lost a husband and a baby boy to a drunk driver, but seeing the car destoyed that did hit and killed them, would NOT have done a thing but send the wrong message. THE driver/shooter killed them/her son. Not the objects that were used to do it. I have a gun and 2 cars, and I am responsible with all of them.
Oh brother! Indeed, maybe you can work this aspect of liberal craziness into a chapter. Happy New Year!
I'll bet the tenth one is saying "January tenth, January tenth... "
Great shot. Pun intended. I laughed so much that my wife thought I was nuts.
Secondly, you're exactly right. This kind of thing makes about as much sense as destroying a piece of industrial equipment that someone was injured or killed by.
I wonder if at some point they'll be having a day for people to destroy knives used in stabbings, or baseball bats used in clubbings.
Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter if this sort of thing actually accomplishes anything. As long as it makes people feel good, that's all that matters.
L
I think it would be fitting if the perp were executed with that same gun he used to kill his victim.
Kharma.
It's a good circular thing:)
I have two Rugers. One is a 7-1/2" Blackhawk, the other is a 5-1/2" Bisley Vaquero. Both are .357's No somma beech is going to take them away from me. I won't discuss the serious stuff.
It's hard to imagine such an irrational story being given any coverage even 20 years ago except to wonder at its lunacy, but now such swill makes it to a "paper of record" as straight news.
I assume that when the neighbors start building airplanes from coconuts and straw that the New York Times will be johnny-on-the-spot to report on their efficacy at producing cargo.
Aren't the police breaking the law in that photograph by not having a trigger lock on the firearm? Notice how it was being stored in a plain cardboard box, where a child could have grabbed it?
Well, how's about it New York Times?
Blame the gun, blame the gun, blame the gun.
In addition, if the gun was stolen, the poor slob who owned it will never get it back. What horsesh!t.
It would be much better to watch the killer sawn into pieces. One could have a chunk of the carcase, perhaps the hand or trigger finger, gold plated and set it on the mantle.
So does beating an old pillow with a tennis racket while hopping up and down and shouting at the top of your lungs, but it doesn't bring the victim back and it doesn't neutralize the perp.
So does going to the range and putting several pounds of lead down range into upper body silhouette targets, but it doesn't bring the victim back and it doesn't neutralize the perp.
So does being prepared in the first place so it's the perp, not your loved one, who leaves the scene in a body bag.
Works well either way.
Here in Virginia you have to buy one handgun a month. It's the law
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