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states, including New York and Wisconsin, require at least some guns to be destroyed, and others, like Washington, have rescinded bans on destroying guns used in crimes.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 ...
Exactly, which would, in all probability make it a stolen weapon. Why not return it to the lawful owner, if that is the case?
revolvers are good for hits because they don't leave behind brass for forensics labs to pick up.
also generally more reliable.
ok, a chief's special type i can see. small, shrouded hammer, cheap, low recoil, double action, reliable, yeah. but a single action, full frame, looks like 10" barrel, behemoth?
its not the revolver part, its the fact that's its huge and single action.
Yeah, me too. Only trouble is, so many guns, so little money.
This is so stupid it boggles the mind. So let me guess, they want to let the killer out jail, but blame the handgun? That is what the NY Slimes wants to do, right?
"Seeing the perp put down would work better plus these guns could still save lives."
I couldn't agree more. My best friend got murdered the night of the 20th by two punks who then robbed him. Ex-Marine, father of two, Class III dealer and a good man done in by two dope-heads. I don't feel the need to saw any guns up but I sure would like to use one on those two sh*theads.
Well each to his own. I'd personally get more solace from seeing the criminal destroyed by a gun-wielding victim, but that's just me...
-ccm
melt the guns into foil hats for the solaced to wear to protect their brains from the evil Ruger death ray.
or ...maybe we ought to try cutting up criminals instead and giving Ruger 3 hots and a cot.
Charming. We have no death penalty up here so we spare the murderer and kill the weapon.
There is something basically wrong with attributing evil to an inanimate object which can be used for great good as well as evil. In fact it is much more often used for positive purposes than harmful ones.
This is really STUPID!
I'd rather see the KILLER destroyed via lethal injection or the electric chair. How stupid people are ... .
Total BS sucked up by a culture (and unfortunate victims) that inculcates emotionalism rather than rational thought for every action. If those weeping at the gun cutting had trained their loved one in self defense they may not have been there to cry over a piece of steel.
One example:
Over xmas I bought my 23 yr old daughter a small pepper spray for her purse and trained her in using it as she's going to be working downtown Cleveland soon.
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