Unannounced and unexpected, the ghastly invades our quiet reality.
On a January day in 2007 Channon and Chris went for a drive to visit friends.
They could not know that it was the last day of their lives.
The next day, the mutilated and burned remains of Chris Newsom were found along a railroad track. Two days later, Channon’s mutilated body was recovered from a trash bin.
If you believed before today that you were well educated in the evil that men do, here is another lesson.
They were taken to a nearby house, brutally gang-raped, mutilated and then murdered. They were subjected to lengthy torture in each other’s presence.
Newsom was raped, his genitals were cut off, and then he was taken to the railroad tracks where he was shot execution-style. The perpetrators soaked his body with an accelerant and burned his body.
Christian was kept alive for a while longer, repeatedly raped, mutilated, had cleaning solution poured down her throat in an attempt to destroy DNA evidence, and then stuffed inside a trash can where she suffocated to death.
Is that enough to qualify as a “hate crime”? If not, then what was missing to make it so?
Here are the beasts. I would hope that the State of Tennessee still uses the electric chair.
Of course the national media ignored this horror. After all, they would never allow anything to challenge their delusion that says that racism exists only in white folk. And now, with a black fellow—actually, a mulatto—in the White House we can safely say that this case will disappear down their memory hole. Soon the only evidence that it ever occurred will be in the cemetery down the road from the homes of the parents of Chris and Channon.
But there is another lesson here outside of the idiocy of our media, and it has nothing to do with race. It is this: Had either Chris or Channon carried a gun, they would both be alive today.
Do not expect any agent of the State to save you, no matter how humane or efficient or dedicated he is. At best he can only arrive in time to place your corpse—or what is left of it—into a body bag. The responsibility for maintaining your life in the face of barbarism is in your hands and only in your hands.
Fathers and mothers, protect your children by teaching them the art of an armed self-defense. If you yourselves are unacquainted with it, learn it and pass it on. Trust not in any government, trust in God and in Smith and Wesson.
Hat tip: The Gunslinger
67 Comments;
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Scipio August 23, 2009
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Prometheus August 23, 2009
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Prometheus August 23, 2009
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Robohobo August 23, 2009
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Geoffrey de Bouillon August 23, 2009
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SunnyJim August 23, 2009
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Bill August 23, 2009
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SunnyJim August 23, 2009
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Geoffrey de Bouillon August 23, 2009
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Prometheus August 23, 2009
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james wilson August 23, 2009
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Scipio August 24, 2009
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WAKE UP August 24, 2009
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SunnyJim August 24, 2009
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Prometheus August 24, 2009
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Glenn Arlt August 24, 2009
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« Previous 1 2Dear Kerry:
Nuts!
Bill: “for the most part our govt. does not trust the average citizen with a gun, therefore, except for LEO’s and CCW’s, the only others who routinely go about armed are criminals.”
Isn’t this idea contradicted by your mention of a town that actually required guns? Let’s face it, the U.S. has the most unrestrictive gun laws of any industreal western democracy. In 2004, 36.5% of Americans reported having a gun in their home
Kennesaw is interesting, and I’d be interested if this experiment were repeated in other places and variables controlled for. A quick google search indicates that Current statistics indicate that Kennesaw’s crime rate is lower compared to surrounding cities like Marietta, Smyrna, Alpharetta, or Atlanta and higher compared to surrounding cities like Acworth, Snellville and Fayetteville. Furthermore, I know that where I live, often guns found in the possession of criminals were stolen in break and enters. Guess those legally owned firearms didn’t prevent criminal activity; and only ended up making criminals more dangerous. A well armed citizenry will end up leading to well armed criminals. (Consider that approximately 70 percent of the total murders in the U.S. are committed with firearms, versus about 30 percent in Canada.)
The idea that guns make us safer is the subject of much debate in the U.S. Between 1987 and 1990, David McDowall found that guns were used in defense during a crime incident 64,615 times annually. This equates to two times out of 1,000 incidents (0.2%) that occurred in this time frame. For violent crimes (assault, robbery, and rape), guns were used 0.83% of the time in self-defense. Of the times that guns were used in self-defense, 71% of the crimes were committed by strangers, with the rest of the incidents evenly divided between offenders that were acquaintances or persons well-known to the victim. Of all incidents where a gun was used for self-defense, victims shot at the offender 28% of the time. In 20% of the self-defense incidents, the guns were used by police officers. During this same time period, 1987 and 1990, there were 46,319 gun homicides, and the National Crime Victimization Survey estimates that 2,628,532 nonfatal crimes involving guns occurred.
Let’s not forget as well that the majority of gun related homicides are not murders, but suicides.
Finally, even if you & scipio are correct: that a well armed citizenry deters crime and makes people safer; shouldn’t the U.S. have a lower crime rate than other industrealized western nations with more restrictive gun laws?
Bill: “Can you cite to me how many massacres have occurred at gun shows and gun ranges vs. schools and shopping malls? Take a wild guess.”
Yes, but what I find absurd is precisely the fact that in the U.S. almost anyone can get a handgun, even without training or police background checks. The Viginia Tech killer purchased a handgun at a pawn shop even though he had had contact with local police in regards to his mental instability. That is truly astounding.
The flip side to your argument is the vision of a society where every student & teacher is armed at scool; and where every shopper at the mall is armed. Really, that’s where the vision expressed on this blog seems to lead. Might make sense to some; to most, it would appear insane.
Prometheus –
Dang it, you are right. We must end this massacre of over 40,00 per year!
SO lets see, firearms deaths at about 0.2% per 100,000 gives about 60 deaths per year according to the latest stats for 2005 I could find.
Let’s ban cars!
Prometheus,
Insane or not, it has nothing to do with with what ‘most’ think. Keeping and bearing arms is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, a document that protects God-given rights from the tyranny of government or the tyranny of the the majority. Thus, government has no say in who keeps and bears firearms.
The Left increasingly states that the the Constitution shouldn’t say what it does, so they will ignore it. Well, ignore the Constitution at your own peril. The Constitution even provides a method for it to be amended, but I doubt that an amendment to repeal the 2nd Amendment would pass, even among most Leftists.
“Yes, but what I find absurd is precisely the fact that in the U.S. almost anyone can get a handgun, even without training or police background checks.”
Not in Florida. Not legally. Generalize much?
“The Viginia Tech killer purchased a handgun at a pawn shop even though he had had contact with local police in regards to his mental instability. That is truly astounding.”
And so the solution to that should be:
a) Fix the obvious problems with Virginia’s background checks and/or pawn shop regulations; or
b) Use that defect in Virginia as an excuse to enact draconian gun control laws across the board, impacting all of us who DON’T have a mental health history and do not shop at pawn shops.
Hmmm, which one do I think the gun confiscation nuts think makes the most sense…
If Va Tech allowed CC on campus and a LAW ABIDING, FULLY BACKGROUND CHECKED, adult citizen, WHO WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE TAKEN a firearms safety course and pass a test before getting his CC; had been in that classroom………..oh, never mind. You’ve already decided in your closed mind that chances are, the armed teacher would have accidently shot himself, or something, and so “it wouldn’t have done any good anyway.” Yep, that’s the ticket – keep the campus “gun free,” and the problem is solved!!
My daughter’s high school is also “drug free,” and as a result, 2000 students and NOBODY does drugs! Amazing how that works!!
“The flip side to your argument is the vision of a society where every student & teacher is armed at school; and where every shopper at the mall is armed.” No that’s YOUR straw man. Nobody has argued that “every” teacher and “every” shopper should be armed. And you know that.
There is a HUGE ongoing ammunition shortage which has been present all of 2009 and shows no signs of letting up.
If anyone wonders why…..it is because law abiding citizens who own firearms know full well that people that share YOUR attitude towards firearms, now have strong majority control of Congress and the White House. And I’m sorry Geoffrey, but a majority of the the “correct” appointed judges can easily decide that the Second Amendment (or any other provision of the Constitution) means whatever they want it to mean. After all, it IS a “living a breathing” document, to them. So, gosh…..if the Founders were alive TODAY, they would understand that “militia” REALLY means “National Guard,” and so all other legislatively enacted regulations, limitations, restrictions are “Constitutional.”
Robo, G. de B., Sunny Jim,
Thanks for the backup guys. I think you got it all.
Promteheus,
“Guess those legally owned firearms didn’t prevent criminal activity;”
You really need to get out there and read more. There are plenty of instances, some even written up in lefty fish wrappers where even just the presence of a privately owned gun stopped a crime without the need to shoot. I like the taste of MY Kool Aid much better than yours.
Bill, who reminds all that arguing with a closed mindset is pointless.
“Let’s not forget as well that the majority of gun related homicides are not murders, but suicides.”
Always be careful when people throw out statistics in a vacuum, for disengenous and misleading purposes, or to “spin” an argument.
I presume a comment like that is intended to bolster the emotion of “ooooh – all those GUNS out there — all that CARNAGE.” One is left with the impression that with all of those millions of handguns, and all of those thousands upon thousands of homocides – that the very presence of those evil guns, makes the USA a virtual suicidal killing ground.
Oh, but let’s dig just a little further, shall we? EVEN WITH all those readily available guns, randomly laying around, all set for any despondant person to use to blow his brains out…..as compared to countries where virtually NOBODY who is not a cop or soldier has a gun— how does the USA stack up in suicides per 100 thousand?
Let’s see where the USA ranks, shall we?
Suicides per 100,000 people per year:
Lithuania
Belarus
Russia
Slovenia
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Japan
Guyana
Ukraine
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Belgium
Estonia
Finland
Croatia
Serbia and Montenegro
Hong Kong
Moldova
France
Switzerland
Poland
Austria
Czech Republic
Uruguay
People’s Republic of China
Denmark
Seychelles
New Zealand
Sweden
Bulgaria
Germany
Trinidad and Tobago
Slovakia
Romania
Cuba
Suriname
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Norway
Canada
Iceland
Portugal
United States
Forty-third on that list. Behind such unarmed and therefore more civilized nations such as Canada, Norway, Finland, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand. ETC.
SunnyJim,
Good point, but I stand on my first position: the left and the elites (including federal judges) ignore the clear meaning of the 2nd Amendment as well as the intent of the Founders at their own peril. It represents a genie out of the bottle, and a gun grab would be obvious tyranny. There are enough people who would not submit to make that very costly. In fact I believe that mill be the match that lights the fuse for the next round.
The U.S. has one of if not the highest homicide by firearm rates in the industreal world. The only western European country that has a higher rate is Northern Ireland. ( http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcgvinco.html ) On the other hand, and interestingly enough, the U.S. has a higher non-gun murder rate than many European countries’ total murder rates – which indicates other factors at play besides firearms themselves. (By the way, you guys need to be careful not to jump to conclusions about my position. The fact that I question your views and logic doesn’t automatically mean that I’m “against guns”. I’ve been using fireams most of my life, but I don’t want to go off on a tangent.)
Anyway I come back to the reasoning expressed on this blog: that gun ownership by the citizenry should result in lower crime rates. Again, if that’s the case, shouldn’t the U.S., who have higher rates of gun ownership than in other countries, have lower crime rates than those other countries?
Of course, there are other variables, as indicated by the fact that the U.S. has a higher non-gun related murder rate than most other western nations. I’d actually be very interested in more independant studies on the issue.
Bill: “You really need to get out there and read more. There are plenty of instances, some even written up in lefty fish wrappers where even just the presence of a privately owned gun stopped a crime without the need to shoot.”
Yes, I’m not saying that’s not the case. As I said, that’s an interesting cause & effect. The real question perhaps is rates of “positive effect” (deterring a B&E) compared to negative effects (B&E occurs, guns now in hands of criminals). Yes, I’m inclined to believe there’s more negatives, but I’m open to independant studies & stats.
Sunnyjim: “And so the solution to that should be:
a) Fix the obvious problems with Virginia’s background checks and/or pawn shop regulations”
Yes, I agree. And yes, I know laws vary from state to state. My point was that it seems to me that gun advocates are against even this type of regulation. Not that that’s been expressed here, but I’ve seen it from others. I suppose that I should clarify that I’m not against gun ownership in and of itself; but I believe that strict regulations, licencing, and restrictions are reasonable.
Some of you are disengenuous, however. The idea of every citizen being armed is indeed the idea being promoted here, and I have only to point to the title of this entry of Scipio’s blog: “The fate of the unarmed”. If I’m way off base, then I’d like to know what exactly he & others envision – especially when I’m told that gun ranges & gun shows are free of massacres, compared to shopping malls & schools. (Not that there aren’t accidents at ranges – which of course leads to the whole topic of unintentional firearm discharges & injuries / fatalities. Which is indeed a valid point to consider as well when talking about firearms in the home. Obviously safe storage laws and enforcement are required.)
Then add to that the whole paranoid theme of an armed citizenry being necessary to prevent the tyranny of government. My God. I suppose that’s the “point” those idiots who show up with guns at a political protest in the U.S. are trying to make. Funny how other western democracies seem to avoid tyrany without an armed citizenry. However do they do it?
The point is not what would have happened had the couple been armed. The point is that were the population armed, these killers would not have evolved into what they became, if they lived that long.
No kindness was ever done to these individuals through leniency.
Dear James:
Nice point. One wonders at what stage in their ultimately worthless lives these brutes might have been turned around by chastisement properly applied.
Of what use mercy to the merciless?
“There is absolutely no proof of a hate crime,” said John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Atty. Randy Nichols. “We know from our investigation that the people charged in this case were friends with white people, socialized with white people, dated white people. So not only is there no evidence of any racial animus, there’s evidence to the contrary.”
…which, of course, to any THINKING person actually makes it WORSE. If these animals at least were guilty of race hatred, we could ascribe their vile deeds to that madness, even as we excecute them as the dogs they are. Without even that, they simply are a disgusting aberration.
” I suppose that’s the “point” those idiots who show up with guns at a political protest in the U.S. are trying to make. ”
Since President Wee Wee took office, the grand total number of citizens who have attended all of the Tea Parties and Town Hall protests is what……300,000? 500,000? 750,000? And there have been perhaps THREE(?) reported incidents of somebody foolishly pulling a stunt and coming to one of these with a firearm. Oh, but go ahead and paint the whole movement with your broad brush. What’s your real name? Let me guess……I bet it’s Nancy Pelosi. One Nazi sign (probably carried by a leftist plant) and it’s a whole-lotta Nazi going on – for the hypocritical disengenous Left, like Nan.
“Then add to that the whole paranoid theme of an armed citizenry being necessary to prevent the tyranny of government. My God. Funny how other western democracies seem to avoid tyrany without an armed citizenry. However do they do it?”
Answer: They don’t. Go read a history book, Nancy.
Ever hear of the countries known as Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Denmark, Norway, Poland…..circa 1941? If Mein Furher hadn’t overextended himself by committing 110 Divisions and a million soldiers attempting to also take the East as well as the West, but instead had installed a Siegfried LIne type of wall protecting his Eastern boundaries against Stalinist mischief with about 1/3 of those resources, leaving the other 2/3 available – you could have added Great Britain to that list.
But for the USA……..who knows how long the ruthless tyranny would have lasted over all of those helpless unarmed citizens. A decade? Two decades? Would it be like Cuba is today? 45+ years and still going… and memories beginning to fade over what it was like to live in freedom?
But for the USA, combined with Japanese hubris, strategic errors, and similar overreach in China – Japan would have had the means to add Australia and New Zealand to their tyrannical empire to which they had inserted the Phillipines, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.
I am an amatuer WWII buff, and also like to read Holocaust 1st person memoirs, as a hobby. Let’s play a little game of “what if.” The SS trailed behind the Wehrmacht as it raced East and, in Jewish village after Jewish village, it rounded up the (completely unarmed) citizenry and made them dig mass graves and then lined them up and shot them. Entire villages — 2500, 5000, etc., people…..ceased to exist; and were wiped off the map. What if in each village containing say 2500 citizens,there were 500 rifles and 500 .45 calibre handguns (along with several hundred rounds of ammo for each) distributed several months earlier to all men?
EXACT same set of outcomes, each time?
Oh but that would have been impossible of course. In a tyrannical society like Stalin’s an armed citizenry could of course NEVER be tolerated. For reasons obvious to most people.
In the larger towns and cities, the Jews were herded and consolidated into segregated neighborhoods, known as ghettos. Which were then walled and fenced off – a residential prison. From which, periodic snatches were made for those infamous boxcar journeys, until near the end when the starving remnants of what remained needed to be “liquidated,” en mass. Naturally any sympathetic locals had their hands tied, and could only watch in horror. After all, whether the town be named Minsk or Marseille, they were completely helpless. Perhaps the biggest ghetto was in Warsaw. What if their famous uprising had only been supplemented with a few hundred handguns/rifles……
And the post-War conditions in Great Britain have gradually, slowly, but very steadily….gone downhill in terms of firearm violence committed against a completely unarmed civilian populace…..as slowly encroaching “soft” nanny-state tyranny continues to erode freedoms. 150 years ago, it would not have been uncommon for an English gentelmen to have a pistol with him if going out. Now, not only is there no such thing as the Castle Doctrine in Britain — but 180 degrees to the opposite, you are subject to prosecution if you RESIST being robbed and injure the poor intruder in any way.
You can be assured of this: People like me are going to fight people like you, tooth and nail. Your kind may someday succeed in disarming the American people (I don’t believe you support gun rights for a second) and turning them from being citizens into subjects, but we won’t go there either quietly, or peacefully.
As far as my position on gunrights, I believe that people should be allowed to have rifles & shotguns for hunting & rural situations. Handguns for gun ranges only. I don’t support citizens being armed while they’re on the street. Firearms need to be safely locked & secured. There should be mandatory fireams courses & hunting safety courses before anyone is licenced to aquire a firearm. Is that unreasonable?
Sunnyjim, you’re all over the place. France, Belgium, etc. were invaded by a well organized, trained & supplied army. You think that if more of their citizens had handguns & shotguns they would have pushed back the invading Germans? Think about what you’re saying. There were in fact some resistance & partisan movements that resisted the Germans (such as the Bielski brothers) but they certainly didn’t prevent the German invasion from occurring.
But in any case, Western European nations haven’t had tyranies – internal ones or ones imposed externally – since 1945. Somehow, they’ve maintained democracies without an “armed citizenry”. And yet the logical conclusion to your position is that American democracy is so weak and unstable by comparison, that without the 38 % of American households who have a gun, America would turn into a tyranny. That’s awesome. You’re a hero – give yourself a parade.
Prometheus, my initial point was this:
When it’s white criminals against black people or latinos or heterosexuals against homosexuals, it “always” seems to suddenly become “a hate crime” but it almost never seems to work the opposite way, does it?
In fact, where is the ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox, or PBS news coverage on the TV of this trial now ongoing? It’s non-existant.
Unlike the fabricated lies of the so-called rape of some women by a hockey team some while back, which were on the tee vee non-stop for weeks, it seems.
Ever notice you never see any apologies by these lame stream media types for stories they publicize which end up to be fabrications and lies?
I’d prefer an America with the same vision that Martin Luther King and most Christian folk I know would prefer an America.
Discern people by the color of their souls and hearts, not their skin, and no special treatment for anybody.
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