Harris County: Deadliest in U.S. for deputies (hurl alert)

Houston Chronicle | June 15, 2002 | Kristina Woods, Texans For Gun Safety

[Marauder]

Harris County sheriff's Deputy Shane Bennett paid with his life this week for our state's lack of gun laws. Shot during a home invasion, he was one of three deputies shot in the line of duty in recent weeks in Harris County. Tommy J. Bohannon's shooting (June 9) and Harris County Deputy Robert Spurgeon's shooting (May 15) make Harris County the deadliest in the U.S.

Members of violent gangs use guns to inflict terror on citizens and peace officers, although Texas voters have the ability to take these gangs' firepower away.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reports that Texas ranks No. 1 in the number of gun shows held yearly and fourth in gun trafficking.

Voters in Texas should care enough about our law enforcement officers and the safety of our homes and neighborhoods to pass a state law requiring something as sensible and enforceable as background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows.

This would mean that Texas would no longer tolerate allowing anyone - even those prohibited by federal law from purchasing guns - to buy guns at gun shows with "no questions asked."

Asking for these background checks at gun shows would put us in good company. A variety of national and state organizations - including the U.S. Association of Police Organizations, the League of Cities and the National Education Association all have endorsed similar legislation.

A recent poll shows that 86 percent of Americans support background checks at gun shows.

If anyone needs more convincing to support such a law, here are a few more reasons: Requiring background checks would not only make guns less available to criminals, but would reduce the number of illegal guns in circulation and increase the ability of law enforcement to enforce current laws.

It would also reduce the risk of gun violence for the mentally disturbed and young people.

And, decreasing illegal gun trafficking would, of course, help to better protect our peace officers

[Marauder]

Honest to God, people: There's not a decent person anywhere that doesn't deplore the senseless killing of a peace officer, or any innocent person for that matter.

But to capitalize on these tragic events to promote an anti-constitutional agenda is cold-hearted opportunism at its lowest, before you even consider the fact that this naive twit - as are all of her comrades - is a damned liar.

[Flyover Country]

Katrina, your ignorance is beyond belief! None of those "latin Kings" (local hispanic gang) were legally able to own a gun. None would apply for a permit as they are criminals! If on the other hand the homeowners had their own weapons for self defense, maybe the officer would not have had to charge into an unsafe situation to protect them. They and only they can protect themselves, as the law enforcement agencies cannot be everywhere at the time you may need them. Apply for and get a permit to carry and protect yourself. That's the american way. Local article in paper quoted neighbors saying it might be time to acquire a weapon to insure their own safety.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Practically word-for-word what I was going to write!

We have some of these Houston gangstas up here in Alaska now- the drug trade thrives here, just as it does everywhere else, I guess. However, an invasion of MY home would be resisted a little more effectively than this one was. Anyone who thinks that Alaska doesn't have the death penalty has never tried to break into my home.

[Mo1]

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[isthisnickcool]

See the beach. There are a few bad grains of sand on the beach. Solution? Remove the beach. That's what the fools want to do.

Gun shows? Please. You can buy firarms all over the place and these particular t*rds likely didn't buy anything at a gun show.

Background checks? What a joke. "Hey, Jose! Yea! You! The guy that came across the Rio Grande and is here illegally selling drugs. Can we check your record dude?"

LOL! We can't even stop MEXICANS from killing US citizens. We don't have a clue who they are or where they are or what they are doing. How are we supposed to stop Islamic lunatics?

If you are in Houston go up to the INS office by Bush Airport. In the AM stand in front of the building for 10 minutes. People everywhere! Tons of people. And they are the ones trying to stay here legally. It's INSANE!!!! How did they get here in the first place?

And what do most of them bring? Not a penny. That's for sure. And what do most of them want? US tax dollars. And once they get some money what do they do with some of it? Send it back to Mexico.

That jerk FOX and the MEXICANS are slowly invading and taking over Texas. Same for CA. Not a shot fired.

I'm not talking about Hispanic Americans. I have a lot of friends that are Hispanic Americans. I'm talking about MEXICANS.

Close the borders!

[PuNcH]

Voters in Texas should care enough about our law enforcement officers and the safety of our homes and neighborhoods to pass a state law requiring something as sensible and enforceable as background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows. This would mean that Texas would no longer tolerate allowing anyone - even those prohibited by federal law from purchasing guns - to buy guns at gun shows with "no questions asked."

Maybe Texans should take the protection of their borders more seriously. Stopping gangs from getting guns at gunshows, if that is even where they are currently likely to get them, wont stop them from getting guns in the slightest. Note how they bring drugs in from Mexico illegally? Well they can do the same with guns. What a surprise.

In fact if all guns are declared illegal and confiscated in the USA, they could make a great deal of money smuggling machine guns, grenades, bombs, just about anything you can think of..

[bandleader]

Dear Kristina,We don't have to"Reduce The Number Of Guns In Circulation",We Have To"REDUCE THE NUMBER OF BAD GUYS IN CIRCULATION"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lentulusgracchus]

And you might have added that we need to reduce the numbers of moronic twits in circulation.

The Latin Kings are big-league bad guys. They're a nationwide gang out of Chicago, they're getting into a more Mob-like scene and going low-profile (so says Houston-area law enforcement), at least they were before this huge shootout that killed the deputy. They're perhaps not up to the level of the Hell's Angels or some of the other organized crime groups yet, and the junior members are still doing the usual gang scene (tagging, hanging, "initiations", dress-for-unsuccess fashion statements), but the senior member are beginning to change over to an organized-crime model and to try to "blend in" more.

The scene, as the twit that wrote the screed for the Chronicle does not tell us, was an armed "home invasion" (kick-robbery) by five heavily armed Chicano thugs looking for money and drugs in a house on the northeast side of Houston, where lots of bad things happen.

Bad guys in Houston have been getting bolder and colder ever since Mayoral Twit Race Pimp Lee Brown came down hard on "racial profiling". Notwithstanding that the brothers and the hermanos are doing, what, 80%? of the street crime, Lee Brown decreed interdicts of death and destruction on any cops (he meant, white cops, of course) caught "racially profiling". And he set up an elaborate system of tallying up how many of every last officer's contacts and detainees were of what ethnic flavor, and any officer that had too many contacts with the wrong flavors of people (the ones who vote Demon Rat by 70-90% margins) is going to get hauled in to defend his job. And the chief of police, who is also black, similarly went on the record with interdicts of Totally Terminate Your Sorry Sack against any fat white cop-Bubbas that hassled Our People.

And that's how five Hispanic thugs were emboldened to blow up a sheriff's deputy when he answered a 9-1-1 call from a frightened little girl in that house.

Now the good news: the good guys blew away two of the El Thug-O's on the spot, they chased down and caught two more (one of whom hid under a house for something like twenty hours, waiting for the cops to go away -- they didn't), and one other who did get away was so demoralized by the massive response to cop-killers on the loose, and so impressed by what was likely to happen if the heat caught up to him and surprised him with a gun in his hand, that he got an attorney and went down and turned himself in.

[Maelstrom]

Plus they'd create violent individuals out of people who had been merely concerned about government excess before such a policy.

I can guarantee that a successful gun ban/confiscation plan will create violent individuals out of people who are not, now.

[Free the USA]

Bump list

[Humidston]

Good timing. I just received this via email today. Maybe it's time to start letting them know what we think of them...

June 15, 2002, 11:47PM
To our readers

As part of the Chronicle's commitment to make the newspaper more responsive to readers, the newspaper is beginning a reader representative program.

Veteran Chronicle reporter and editorial writer James T. Campbell will serve as the reader representative. In this position, he will hear out those who wish to compliment, comment or complain about the newspaper's coverage.

Campbell is a Houston native and graduate of the University of Houston. In his 14-year tenure at the Chronicle, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to the city, the newspaper and its readers.

Readers can reach Campbell during normal business hours at 713-220-6303. His e-mail address is readerrep@chron.com. Send mail to: Reader Representative, Houston Chronicle, P.O. Box 4260, Houston, Texas, 77210. He looks forward to hearing from you.

TELL THE CHRONICLE WHAT WE THINK OF THIS MORON AND HER WACKO GUN THEORY.

[Flyer]

Houston Chronicle June 14, 2002

Single mother Bettina Scott said it might be time for her to buy a gun. "My God, this scares me to death. For people to come in your home in the middle of the night and shoot you," she said.

Maybe SHE would like to go to a gun show.

[Flyer]

If the home that was invaded was armed it is likely the deputy would not have been murdered. Even if the victims didn't manage to take out all four invaders, they would have run them off or, at the very least, the officers would know in advance that the thugs were armed.

[lsee]

It is well known that the Houston Chronicle is a Democrat's dream paper....and it is also pretty well shown that criminals don't rely on gun shows for their weapons...they steal them, trade for them, buy them from other criminals, bring them across state lines, etc. True, more strenuous background checks probably might slow a criminal's ability to purchase guns legitimately, but since when have criminals been likely to "go through channels"?

[earonthief]

I can guarantee that a sucessful gun ban/confiscation plan will create violent individuals out of people who are not, now

Amen, and by the millions...

[Travis McGee]

"Members of violent gangs use guns to inflict terror on citizens and peace officers, although Texas voters have the ability to take these gangs' firepower away."

The level of naivete of the gun grabbers is just astounding.

[Flyer]

Texas voters have the ability to take these gangs' firepower away.

Hey, while we're at it what say we vote away murder and rape, too. Duh, why didn't we think of this before?

[Iwo Jima]

I guess that I have a different take on this story than anybody else. Of course, I agree that the cause of the tragic death of this fine young officer had nothing to do with the ownership of guns, except of course that if the victims had been armed they would have been better able to protect themselves.

I also can see and agree with the argument that, but for the war on drugs, none of these events would have ever taken place. No one is going to invade homes to steal drugs with a street price of $1.48.

But it also appears to me that the most immediate cause of this officer's death is the fact that the dispatcher did not alert him about the known facts regarding the type of situation he was walking into. He was told that it was a "domestic disturbance," which was bravo sierra. It was, and was known to be, a home invasion. That is a significant difference which I am sure would have caused the officer to approach the known danger in a much different way, had he known.

We have seen far too many of these screw-ups where 911 and/or the dispatcher make just incredibly stupid mistakes and people die. It is time to hold them accountable.

[ChefKeith]

Voters in Texas should care enough about our law enforcement officers and the safety of our homes and neighborhoods to pass a state law requiring something as sensible and enforceable as background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows.

This would mean that Texas would no longer tolerate allowing anyone - even those prohibited by federal law from purchasing guns - to buy guns at gun shows with "no questions asked."

Unless I am wrong a 4473 form is still required at a "gun show" purchase.

That means that the whole story is B.S.

[Valin]

Ah! Another fine piece of community journalism.