Mother fights to change gun laws

Portland Press Herald (Maine) ^ | 2/4/07 | Nancy Grape

[clamper1797]

So let me get this straight ... some lame brain mother who's loser son ofted himself wants to punish the rest of us for her idiot sons suicide ... by banning gun sales ...

[goldstategop]

An 18 year old is an adult, not a child. Its a tragedy when someone commits suicide. But the answer isn't to ban guns simply because a few people abuse access to them.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Niteranger68]

Even as the gun ended her son's life...

NO!!!!! BS!!!!! Her SON ended her SON'S life. Period! End of story!

[D.P.Roberts]

Mommy has to find a scapegoat because she likes herself too much to put the blame where it belongs.

[nmh]

Well, Mom, perhaps if YOU had been paying attention to your son, YOU could have helped him avoid committing suicide. WHY didn't you know something was VERY WRONG with your son? WHY? Is blaming OTHERS the way to escape YOUR RESPONSIBILITY? WILL YOU EVER GROW UP? And accept the fact that YOU, as his mother, should KNOW what's going on with your son.

"He had used the gun to kill himself."

Perhaps because he sensed you didn't care? Weren't interested in his problems? Unsound communication between the two of you? Many buy guns but NOT for suicide ... .

[RonF]

Oh, I don't know. If 18 isn't adult enough to buy alcohol, it seems to me you could make the case that it's not adult enough to buy a rifle or gun.

[flashbunny]

I love people who want to save everyone from themselves.

[nmh]

The media will love this - blame WALMART!

Stupid people will do just that. It's not WalMart's fault.

[lovecraft]

The most common forms of suicide among teens involve drugs or "cutting yourself," Hemenway says. In New England, only about 3 percent succeed. Change the suicide scenario to include a gun, however, and the death rate soars ­ to 91 percent, he declares.

Well, you don't use a spatula to hammer a nail do ya? Instead of changing the law, how about somebody figure out why these troubled youths are trying to off themselves in the first place.

[ConservaTexan]

She wanted a store manager to introduce her to the sales clerk who, earlier that weekend, had sold a gun to her 18-year-old son ­ Laurier J. Belanger Jr. Belanger, dark-eyed and handsome, would not be coming in again. He had used the gun to kill himself.

Ban guns and she would want to meet the sales clerk who sold her son the rope that he hung himself with, or the clerk that sold the razor blades he slit his wrists with, or the pharmacist that filled the prescription he overdosed with, or the clerk that sold the hose he snaked from the exhaust pipe to the window of his car. Moral: although tragic, the responsible party is not a vendor or its employees, but the 'troubled' individual and the PARENT(S) who raised him.

[Taichi]

The Gun did not kill her son. Her son killed himself.
I saw this happen when my wife's brother shot himself, he was also one of my closest friends. My in-laws blamed the gun and of course I could say very little. But the reality is my brother-in-law made the decision and the gun nor its manufacturer nor the seller were responsible for his act.

When something like this happens parents in particular need to find some way of focusing the blame on someone or something else.

[word_warrior_bob]

If he jumped off a building would she want to outlaw tall buildings?

If he overdosed on sleeping pills would she want to ban them?

If he slit his wrists with a razor blade would she want to ban them?

[Cogadh na Sith]

No, strike that. For Cathy Crowley, silence wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough in 2004 and it's still not good enough today.

It's good enough for me, Cathy.

Your kid killed his own self--it's his own fault, and tangentially, it's your fault. Where was his daddy, anyhow?

But cheer up, Cathy, at least you have a hobby now!

[Lazamataz]

The gun banners are cranking up. Every third article lately is about banning guns.

[Kimmers]

Suicide is always such a horrible tragedy and a selfish act. My sympathies are with his family and friends.

Unfortunately, if someone wants to commit suicide there are other ways other than a gun and if this man was that determined he would have found a way.

[Kimmers]

Suicide is always such a horrible tragedy and a selfish act. My sympathies are with his family and friends.

Unfortunately, if someone wants to commit suicide there are other ways other than a gun and if this man was that determined he would have found a way.

[D.P.Roberts]

This is just more of the same self-important garbage that we got from what's-her-name Brady when her husband was shot: I've been hurt and now I'm going to hurt everyone else to "get even."

[kerryusama04]

I guess she would have a point if firearmswere the only thing that a person could use to kill themselves.

[clamper1797]

Exactly ...