Posted on 03/14/2006 7:28:34 PM PST by MRMEAN
This year, the body of 17-year-old Jacob Bowers was found in a parking lot behind a furniture store in Cape Girardeau. He had been shot once in the back. The bullet went through his heart. A small quantity of cocaine was found in one of his pockets. He had also been carrying a two-shot derringer pistol. It was loaded. Both bullets were dented from the gun's hammer. Apparently, the pistol had misfired.
Three days later, Bernard Richards, 19, was arrested and charged with Bowers' murder. The interesting thing about the case was the total absence of virtue.
According to the state, Bowers and John Lewis decided to rob a small-time drug dealer, David McKee. Lewis called McKee and said he wanted to buy some cocaine. As McKee walked to the parking lot where he was supposed to meet Lewis, he happened upon Richards, who told him that he had seen Lewis with a second man, and that made him think that this "deal" was going to turn into a robbery. So Richards, who had a weapon, came along as protection. He hid behind a trash container as McKee met Bowers and Lewis.
Sure enough, it was a robbery. After McKee gave the men the cocaine, Bowers pulled out his derringer and put it to McKee's head. He demanded McKee's money. Which amounted to two bucks, by the way. McKee grabbed Bowers' gun, and the two struggled. During the struggle, Richards came from behind the trash bin, shooting and yelling. McKee, Bowers and Lewis all took off. Richards chased after Bowers and fired again. Bowers went down.
That is the state's theory, anyway.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
from an ex burn out.
the war on drugs is a joke. it can not be won by increasing agencies or throwing money at it.
90% of those on something could care less.
put the money into education prior to addiction and or rehab. but no amount of $ or interdiction matters 1 squat.
it is like the ol' saying, ther are no atheists in a fox -hole.
yes many of us can be thrown out with the bath water, some of us may still be useful tools.
you decide!
Great! Now I'm a racist who lives in Hollywood.
So tell me, how has the war on drugs done anything? What's it done exactly to stop drug use and demand? It's made a lot of criminals out of people who were fine if left alone. It's made a lot of money for all those involved on both sides of the laws.
It hasn't stopped the meth problem. In fact, I think you can say the meth problem has grown by leaps and bounds.
Cocaine use dropped off after they started dying off. I suspect meth use will also.
I don't know what to do about meth violence. Maybe if it wasn't illegal people might seek help for themselves or loved ones, whereas now, they are scared to seek out any type of assistance, as all their property will be taken, their children taken, and they will be thrown into jail for being an accessory. Maybe a little over the top, but I will bet it's happened before.
What do we do about alcohol violence?
but you are still correct.
Legalize it and meth goes away. Meth began as a convenient way buy legal ingredients to make a drug. Meth was created as an effort to circumvent the laws.
If drugs are legal, people will not choose meth over other drugs.
What type of patent do you have on the Chrystal ball?
Victories, you know, like the flushing of the Bill of Rights down the toilet and the government being able to confiscate money and property on mere suspicion. Victory!
It won't go away. There are a lot of stupid people in the world. Look at how many votes Kerry got.
;-)
But yes, I do agree with you, people won't be making bathtub gin, oops I mean meth, if they don't have to.
Legalizing drugs will not stop robberies.
It's called common sense and an ability to reason through a hypothetical situation. The thugs chose to rob a drug dealer because he was engaged in an illegal activity and therefore would not be able to report the crime. This isn't the first time it's happened, and it won't be the last time.
The trail of easy drug money is always littered with bodies.
I assume they meant the primers or cartridge cases (if a rimfire), otherwise, he had managed to put the ammo in backwards...
Typical media ignorance of firearms.
You're changing the subject. Don't be deliberately obtuse, it ruins the fun. No one has claimed that legalizing drugs would stop robberies. Legalizing drugs will remove one of the incentives for robberies such as this one.
How?
The incentive is 'easy' money. That won't go away.
You know, if guns were illegal, robbers wouldn't use them.
Its not easy money any more. Do you know anything about prohibition of alcohol in the 20's?
One of the incentives, as clearly stated in the article and pointed out in posts on this thread, one of the incentives for a robbery such as this one is that because the drug dealer is engaged in illegal activity he cannot report the robbery. If these thugs had walked into a liquor store and taken some Jack Daniels and the cash from the register, the store owner would have been able to report the crime.
Does legalizing drugs stop robberies? Of course not. But it does remove one of the incentives for this kind of crime.
Was there a reduction of alcohol-related violence with the end of prohibition?
Really? Name one.
Don't bother. I've already asked and have lost hope of an answer.
No, actually. There was enough violence spun off from the mobs of the prohibition era that the National Firearms Act was not passed until 1934.
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