Destruction of handgun adds degree of closure (murder weapon cut to pieces)

Portland Press Herald ^ | 7-12-02 | Gregory D. Kesich

[IronJack]

Understood. In some ways, I wonder if I'd keep the pistol as a totem of pity. It's almost symbolic of the terrible uses to which a thing of beauty can be put. And I'd have to look at it and wonder what strange confluence of events and circumstances put that gun -- capable of so much that's good -- in the hands of someone evil, and in so doing, cost me something as precious as my father.

Did the gun know? Did the gun care? Did it somewhere in its gun soul protest the injustice, hesitate just a split second before releasing the hammer? Did whatever forces built it war with the forces that built the killer, and fight the madness to no avail? Could I truly be that clinical, that detached about an object that wreaked such loss on me?

Now I've got to go. I'm starting to suspect the toaster of plotting against me.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Now I've got to go. I'm starting to suspect the toaster of plotting against me.

Please don't be so stupid! It's not the toaster you need to worry about it's these damn compute............aaaaaaa

[cooperj]

houston,
as a total stranger, i feel for your loss and pray for justice to be served in your father's murder, in whatever form it takes.

[Jagdgewehr]

My sincere condolences for your loss. Please take no offense at my position. Obviously, it is my emotional distance from this kind of incident that my perspective is born.

Given this, I see distinctions between you and the O'Brians.

It was a change that Debbie O'Brien fought for in the halls of the Legislature, and was one of her biggest victories as an activist for Maine crime victims.

Unless I have missed my guess, I'm assuming you did not follow this course of action.

"I feel done," she said. "All the activism I have done has kept my son alive. Now I need to grieve."

Again, I'm assuming you are working through this unspeakable tragedy on a more personal level, i.e. not using your father's death as a reason to forward an agenda.

O'Brien became a board member of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, and showed Devin's bullet-scarred jacket to a crowd at a Portland rally.

I'm assuming that you didn't join an "anti-handgun" anti-violence activist group and wave your father's clothes for affect at a rally.

Her work with that group brought her to Augusta in 2001, to speak in support of a series of gun-control bills. During the testimony on one bill, she realized that the gun Schoff used to kill her son probably would be sold to a dealer when it was no longer needed as evidence.

Given how you characterized yourself in regards to gun ownership, I'm assuming as well, that you are not crusading for stricter gun control.

It remains the single legislative victory for the two-year-old gun-control group. "It was a small symbolic step toward reducing gun violence in Maine," said Cathie Whittenberg, who represented Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence at the gun destruction Thursday. "We'll be back in Augusta next session."

Likewise, I assume you haven't served to advance the agenda of an anti-gun group, as well as being instrumental in passing bills to destroy seized guns that are "sold back to federally licensed dealers and used to cut costs for the state when it buys weapons for its officers."

I can not relate to the pain you or the O'Brians have endured. Nor will I take the position that you shouldn't destroy your father's gun. Obviously, this is your right.

Though I have felt profound sorrow at the loss of a loved one, I have never lost a loved one through the act of violence at the hands of a murderer. I can only say at this point that the gun would not be destroyed if it were I who faced your situation.

My best to you and your family. My you and yours see haapier days again.

[rockfish59]

It's always the 'right thing to do!'

[Eagle Eye]

Truly sorry for your loss. Truly.

I once went to a triple funeral for some girls who were shot and killed. If it were my gun, I know I'd never enjoy it again. When a family friend blew his brains out, I know I didn't want the gun as a keepsake. In fact, I'd probably not enjoy owning any gun again knowing it had been used so horribly.

However, the method of disposal, if one chooses to dispose of the gun, should be at the discretion of the owner and not a matter of law. If we do this with guns, then EVERY item that is involved in homicide should be destroyed out of consitency.

My opinion and opposition to the article's premise is due to the anti-gun symbolism. What other misused item would have had a similar destruction ceremony with press coverage?

[AppyPappy]

My man. Some people need killin'.

[Jerry_M]

First, let me express my heartfelt sympathy to you at the loss of your father. No, I haven't been there personally, but as a police chaplain I have often seen firsthand the grief that accompanies violent death.

Second, as personal property, it is your right to dispose of this weapon in any manner you see fit, and no one should attempt to dictate to you what you should do with it.

Third, if you notice my comments on this thread, you will see that I bemoaned the fact that the murderer received a 28 year sentence, while the inanimate tool received the death penalty. There is something terribly wrong here when the murderer will one day walk free, possibly in as few as 8-10 years depending upon the state's "good time" provisions. i am sure that you consider your father's life to have more value than this, as does the family in the lead article.

[Movemout]

I have been witness to the reactions of enough violent deaths to know that the bereaved often have odd opinions about many things. There seems to be a lot of transference of emotion to the "tools" involved in the violent death. It could be a car, a knife, a firearm, etc. I, for one, do not begrudge this transference. On the contrary, I believe that it is a way for the bereaved to relieve themselves of some pain. The grief has to be funneled away in some manner. It may be illogical but there it is. The difference being is that the bereaved have some control over the tool but very little over the perp.

[Jerry_M]

Please see my 48.

[Paid4This]

Early one morning in April 1996, Steven Schoff of Alfred and Devin O'Brien, 20, two strangers who met in a Biddeford bar, drove to a gravel pit in Lyman. There, for reasons no one will probably ever understand, Schoff shot O'Brien to death and stuffed his body into the trunk of his car, where it was found when he was arrested a few hours later.

For whatever reason, the circumstances of this crime jumped out at me. Why would Schoff have driven to a gravel pit, I'm assuming at night since they met at a bar?

I don't want to blame the victim, but sometimes I see things like that and I'm like "Sheesh, there's your Darwin award."

[Old philosopher]

"Once again, symbolism over substance"

Your response is right on!

These "piss in the pants" liberals get that warm fuzzy feeling when they can destroy an inanimate object because "it" committed a crime, what nonsense. People who allow themselves to be comforted by the destruction of an inanimate object are to be pitied, they need psychiatric help. Learn to live in the real world!

That's my opinion.

By the way if anyone is interested in a long discourse on Hoplophobes, e-mail me privately and I will send it to you, it is too long to post here.