The website, KSL.com came under scrutiny after Buzzfeed revealed that it was owned by Deseret Media Companies, the for-profit arm of the Mormon Church

The New York Daily News reports:

The mayor’s report said the site — where 1,327 handguns and 1,003 rifles were listed for sale Monday — allows buyers and sellers to complete a gun sale without identifying themselves.

Undercover agents performed “integrity checks” on the site, trying to buy guns while declaring openly that they could not pass a legit background check.

In eight of 12 attempts, the seller happily sold the gun to the shady buyer .

Read More At The New York Daily News

SEE ALSO:

Obama: I Deserve Re-Election

Top 5 Winter Travel Destinations

Aside from selling guns Masso also admitted to selling stolen cigarettes and conspiring to transport them in slot machines.

NBC New York reports:

William Masso, of the 68th police precinct in Brooklyn, was arrested in October on charges of conspiring to sell M-16 rifles and guns in exchange for cash payments.

Twelve people were charged in the ring, including eight current and former NYPD officers. The FBI said the ring also sought to transport stolen goods like slot machines in exchange for payments.

Read More At NBC New York

SEE ALSO:

Sick And Twisted? Man Adopts Girlfriend In Florida

Sexually Assaulted: Am I To Blame?

Corey Gunz is signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment and had a reality show on MTV featuring his father, rapper Peter Gunz and Nick Cannon.

The New York Daily News reports:

“This was a big mistake on my part,” Gunz told The Daily News early Monday morning after getting out of jail. “I didn’t have any intentions of harming anyone or committing a criminal activity. So many young people look up to me and I need to fight though this.”

The 24-year-old Young Money talent was nabbed around 2:30 p.m. at the corner of Westchester Ave. and Ward Ave. in Soundview, according to cops.

The rapper, who still lives on the Vyse Ave. block in Crotona Park East where he grew up with his grandparents, gained mainstream popularity after his guest spot on Lil Wayne’s catchy “6 Foot 7 Foot” track released in 2010

Read More At The New York Daily News

SEE ALSO:

Should Apple Be Boycotted?

Clinton: Ready To Leave “High-Wire” Of Politics

SEE ALSO: Legless Father Pursue’s Son’s Killer

And while analyst attribute the 2008 numbers to fears that Obama would outlaw certain types of firearms, they contend that the current surge is part of a long-term trend.

“When Obama was elected, I think people rushed out and stocked up on their tactical rifles,” Bret Jordan, analyst at investment firm Avondale Partners said, referring to military-style weapons that were potential targets of legislative restrictions.

More recently, though, the focus has switched to handguns. In spite of the economic downturn, “The category of firearm that has continued to sell very well is something one would have if they were concerned about their personal safety,” Jordan said.

Read more at msnbc.com

RELATED:

Targeting The Long-gun Registry

Supreme Court Debates Search Warrant In Case Of Guns, Gangs And Good Faith

Layne was the boyfriend of Afrika Owes who helped him traffic guns and received a god deal of media attention due to her private school background.

The New York Daily News reports:

“Gun violence in Harlem is the responsibility of that community,” Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin said as he sent the 21-year-old leader of the W. 137th St. gang, Jaquan “Jay Cash” Layne away for 20 years to life.

“If you do nothing, you are complicit,” McLaughlin said as he urged families to do more to turn their kids from crime.

“If your relative is not doing homework, if you are not going to their school and talking with their teachers, then you contribute to your child’s and your community’s destruction,” the judge said.

Read More At The New York Daily News

SEE ALSO:

Stars Who Date Thugs

Recently, Jared Loughner brought attention to the issue of mentally ill people and guns when he shot Congressman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona.

The New York Daily News reports:

It showed that 23 states submitted fewer than 100 mental health histories to the National Instant Criminal Background Check. The database has blocked more than 1.6 million gun-permit applications and sales to felons since it was created in 1999.

Read More At The New York Daily News

The arrest happened in a sting at the Brooklyn 68th precinct.

Related: Black Travel: Visit The Shrine In Chicago

The New York Daily News reports:

The informant and undercover agents working with him hired various members of the team to transport slot machines that the cops believed had been stolen on the way to a casino.

They took a cache of guns, including M-16 rifles and handguns that had their serial numbers defaced, across state lines.

Some of them even used a bolt cutter to break into tractor-trailers filled with cigarettes, which they then drove from Virginia to New York.

Read More At The New York Daily News

Dudus has been connected to the ruling Jamaica Labor Party and ran the Presidential Clique — which controlled his native Tivoli Gardens — and imported cocaine into the U.S. and guns from the U.S. to Jamaica.

Dudus plead guilty to racketeering charges and admitted to orchestrating the importation of guns to Jamaica and running the Presidential Clique.

RELATED STORIES

WikiLeaks Claims Kingston Mayor Collaborated With Alleged Drug Lord “Dudus”

Alleged Drug Lord “Dudus” Captured In Jamaica

His mother, Annie Bratton, says she didn’t know the teen, Staten Bratton, owned a gun. She now wants others to learn from the incident, warning parents “If you feel your child has a gun, check.”

It sounded like a firecracker”, said Annie Bratton, mother of Staten Bratton, 18, who died after fatally shooting himself Sunday night. “When I got there he was laying on his back.”

Read more at TheGrio.com

RELATED:

Stop The Violence! 32 People Shot During 1 Weekend In Philly

Randy Jackson Says Tina Turner Shot Him

Brighton Beach Shooting: HS Sophomore Tysha Jones Shot And Killed

The third-grader who made the purchase at Public School 107 Thomas Dooley took the pistol home for show and tell with his mother after class was over, police said.

The boy who sold the gun and his father, Ignacio Galvin, 54, were later arrested on three counts of criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

VIDEO:

Read more at NYdailynews.com

RELATED:

Obama To Hold Gun Meetings To Enact Policy Change

3 Kindergartners Hurt After 6-Year-Old Brought Gun To School

School Guard Stops Robbery With Cop’s Gun

One bullet discharged about 11 a.m. in the school’s cafeteria, spraying fragments at the students, said Houston Independent School District Assistant Police Chief Robert Mock.

“Either some type of chips off the floor, or it could be pieces of the round that discharged,” Mock said. “They had some cuts and stuff on their legs, they don’t appear to be life threatening.”

Two 6-year-old boys, including the one who had the gun, were wounded in the foot, said district spokesman Jason Spencer. A 5-year-old girl also suffered a foot injury, Spencer said.

Images taken from Houston television station KPRC’s news helicopter showed three children being wheeled to ambulances on stretchers. All were sitting up and appeared to be talking with emergency personnel. Upset parents rushed to the scene.

Houston is the state’s largest school district with more than 200,000 students.

RELATED STORIES

Gunman Massacres Brazilian School Killing 12 School Children

Fifteen-Year-Old Girl Charged In Shooting Death Of Teen

RELATED: Top 15 Black Biopics Of All-Time

KTLA reports:

Officers began searching the home after getting reports that the actor may have guns in the house that are prohibited by the order. His attorney was informed of the search before it began.

Sheen was at home when police arrived and was said to be cooperative. He apparently was eating outside with friends.

Read The Whole Story

RELATED STORIES

Charlie Sheen Blasts CBS, Quotes Allen Iverson’s “Practice” Rant

Charlie Sheen Trashes Plaza Hotel Room; Found Naked By Police

Prosecutors said Owes’ boyfriend, Jaquan Layne, 20, was running the gang from Rikers while jailed for armed robbery, and gave Owes her orders in phone calls recorded by the jail.

Read The Whole Story

RELATED STORIES

Black Ex-Harvard Student Indicted In 2009 Campus Murder

Columbia Students Ask For Treatment, Not Jail After Drug Bust

(HARLEM-WNYC)

Al Sharpton teamed up with the NYPD for a gun buy back on Harlem, New York City. WNYC reports:

A gun buyback held in Harlem by the New York Police Department and the Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network brought in more than 350 weapons. Saturday’s event at Saint Mark the Evangelist and Memorial Baptist Churches took place as Sharpton and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly held an anti-violence summit blocks away.

Officials say 185 revolvers, 122 semi-automatics, eight shotguns, eight rifles and 31 other firearms were exchanged for $200 bank cards, no questions asked.

Read The Whole Story

RELATED STORIES

Sean Bell’s Widow & Al Sharpton Lead Vigil On 3rd Anniversary

Rev. Al Sharpton, NYPD Team Up To Announce Gun Buyback Program

Mayo says the ammunition was taken and that King was released to continue his trip, she believes to Florida. She said she didn’t know if King received a citation.

King didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

Share this post on Facebook! CLICK HERE:

From CBS 5

Oakland Police were surprised by sniper shots coming from a high-rise building on Seventh Street in Oakland, during a traffic stop.

It happened Sunday night after police pulled over a car on 8th Street. No one was hit.

Click Here For More

RELATED STORIES

Man Killed By Oakland Police Near BART Station

Oakland Police: Don’t Call, Report Crimes On-line After Cutbacks

CBS Sports is reporting the Cleveland Cavalier guard, Delonte West will plead guilty to to carrying concealed weapons and transporting loaded weapons. West will not serve jail time but will undergo electronic monitoring, receive counseling and have to do community service.

Police say that West cut off a police officer on the highway with a three wheel ATV and had two handguns, a knife and a shotgun in a guitar case.

RELATED STORIES

NBA Player Delonte West Arrested On Gun Charges

REPORT: NBA’s Gilbert Pulled Gun On Teamate In Locker Room Argument

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s prime minister now says he will allow a reputed drug kingpin to be extradited to the U.S., ending a nine-month fight with Washington but raising fears of a violent backlash from the suspect’s supporters.

The announcement Monday night marked a reversal for Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who faced mounting public pressure to drop his opposition to the request for Christopher “Dudus” Coke. The wanted man allegedly controls a band of gunmen inside a barricaded neighborhood of west Kingston that Golding represents in parliament.

As rumors of the government’s decision spread before the official announcement, the streets of downtown Kingston emptied as businesses and government agencies closed early out of fear of violence. Coke’s supporters have been rumored to be stockpiling weapons to prevent his arrest since the extradition request was revealed in August.

But Coke’s lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, said his client is prepared to fight extradition in court. He said there would be no violence on Coke’s insistence.

“Absolutely not, he just wants us to go to court,” Tavares-Finson said.

Coke has ties of loyalty to Golding’s Jamaica Labor Party, which like the main opposition party has loose affiliations with organized crime dating to the 1970s when political factions armed gunmen to intimidate election rivals.

In a nationally televised address Monday night, Golding said his party had become improperly involved in the dispute and expressed remorse for his handling of the case.

“This matter of the extradition has consumed too much of our energies and attention and has led to a virtual paralysis that must be broken,” he said. “The minister of justice, in consideration of all the factors, will sign the authorization for the extradition process to commence.”

Golding did not indicate how long it would take before security forces move on Coke.

The prime minister had stonewalled the extradition request since it was revealed in August with claims that the U.S. indictment relied on illegal wiretap evidence.

His handling of the case, in particular his authorization of a U.S. firm to lobby Washington to drop the request, provoked an outcry that threatened his political career. With opposition parties and public sector groups calling for his resignation, the governing party vouched for him following a high-level conference over the weekend.

He said he offered his resignation on Sunday but it was rejected by the party.

Golding’s opposition to the extradition strained relations with the United States, which questioned the Caribbean island’s reliability as an ally in the fight against trafficking in a State Department report earlier this year.

A businessman known for his work as a show promoter, Coke has kept a high public profile in the ghettos west of Kingston, reportedly handing out cash and school supplies to needy children. He is also credited with helping to keep order by using his authority to punish thieves and other criminals in an area where the government has little presence.

Coke’s father was Lester Lloyd Coke, better known as Jim Brown, a leader of the Shower Posse during the 1980s cocaine wars. U.S. prosecutors say Christopher Coke took over the organization after his father died in a 1991 prison fire while awaiting extradition to the United States.

Under the younger Coke’s direction, Shower Posse members have sold marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere and funneled profits back to him, U.S. authorities allege. He faces life in prison if convicted on charges filed against him in New York.

RELATED STORIES

Why Is The Jamaican Prime Minister Protecting A Reputed Criminal?

How U.S. Drug Policies Destroy Our Inner Cities And The Third World

American Guns Fuel Jamaican Violence

FOUNTAIN INN, S.C. — A total of ten people now face charges in connection with a music video posted on YouTube last August.

Fountain Inn police say the video showed individuals handling guns in a public park within the city limits.

“It just never ceases to amaze me that people would video themselves doing something illegal and then post it where people are going to see it,” Chief Keith Morton told WYFF.

Within weeks after the video was initially posted, police were able to identify and arrest six people. Since then, four others have been also been charged.

“The claim was, of course, that these were not real guns,” Morton said. “We’ve asked them to produce the replicas or the toy guns that were used in the video so we could compare it to … the guns that were in the video, but they have not been cooperative in that.”

Morton said a closer inspect at the video revealed certain markings consistent will real guns.

Click Here For More

Watch The Video

RELATED STORIES

Police Investigate People On “Thuggin It And Lovin It” DVD

OPINION: Are Hood DVDs Criminal Minstrel Shows?

Gilbert Arenas recently did an interview with Esquire magazine. In the interview, he goes into detail on what led to him bringing in the gun to the locker room:

Over a game of five-card spades — we call it boo-ray. Javaris Crittenton was losing money. He jumped in the middle of a conversation between two other guys playing and I didn’t want to hear it no more. So I throw my cards down in the middle of the hand, tell them all, “I’m done. I’m getting on up.” Javaris is saying, “No, this is some street shit. Where I’m from, you gotta finish the game. My money’s on the line.” He and another guy say it’s a misdeal and they want me to match the pot. “You gotta pay that debt,” Javaris says, “or we gotta take it outside.” Take it outside? He said, We gotta fistfight. I start joking. I put on some music. Michael Jackson. “You wanna be startin’ something …” Everyone’s laughin’. He’s like, “Nah, nah, homey. This is real. You ain’t gonna joke with this. You owe me my money.” So I start to play “Beat It.”

It continues on the airport trolley. “We’re gonna have to fight,” he’s saying. I said, “Man, it’s snowing out there. I got on white Louis Vuitton shoes. If we get in a fight and one of my shoes falls off in the snow, I’m not gonna be able to find it. I’m gonna get frostbite. Before I get into a fistfight, I’ll burn your car.” He said, “You burn my car and I’ll shoot your knees.”

I had a big gun collection. About four to five hundred guns. The guy I bought it from was in his seventies. He’d been collecting them for years. He had First World War guns. I bought his whole collection and added to it. I didn’t need a license to keep them in my house. There was an officer who would come by and look out for them. The door was reinforced and a security system was set up

I put my four guns in my backpack so nobody could see them. I wrote the note: “Pick one.” Put the guns on a chair where Javaris would find them. I go in the training room where he was. I can see him — “What’s this? What’s this?”

“You said you were gonna shoot me in my knee. I’m giving you the guns to do it.”

“I don’t need you to give me nothing. I’ve got my own gun.” He pulls one out and puts the clip in.

From there, everything settled down. He goes into the Jacuzzi. You know what? I gotta warm my knee up anyway. I go in and sit with him. We’re just sitting in there talking. We didn’t have no problem. It was just some fun that got out of control.

RELATED STORIES

Source: Gilbert Arenas Suspended For Rest Of Season

Wizard Said He Had Gun Because He Feared Arenas Would Blow Up Car

After cars carrying the families of two U.S. Consulate employees were shot, many are beggining to see the impact of the Mexican drug war on America. America also has a big role in the Mexican drug war. Given that the casualties of the Mexican drug war are mostly Mexicans, the thousands of deaths caused by the war are largely ignored.

Drugs are a serious problem in America but, unfortunately, so is the war on drugs. Drugs mess up peoples’ lives, but not as much as the war on drugs where blacks and Hispanics are scapegoated for America’s problem. Despite the fact that studies show that blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate,  blacks are incarcerated for drugs at a rate 6 times that of whites 4.2% vs. 0.7%.

By arresting minorities, America tries to show that it’s fighting the drug problem while whites in the suburbs stay free to use and abuse drugs without solid police interference. In fact, while use of the stereotypical drugs associated with African-Americans (i.e. crack and marijuana) is declining, there are major meth and prescription pill epidemics occurring across poorer rural and more affluent white communities. This problem has gone virtually ignored even though this level of drug addiction has become a silent killer in many of these areas.

One of the biggest problems with the war on drugs is the level of guns and violence involved. By criminalizing drugs, the US puts the distribution and manufacturing of drugs in the hands of violent, competing criminals.  Gangs like the Bloods and the Crips all get their guns from US manufacturers. Often these guns are bought by gun runners who buy or ‘steal’ the firearms from Virginia and then sell them up and down the east coast. Most guns used in drug related gun violence are illegally sold, but there has been no action by the US government to crack down on these illegal sales and, whether legal or illegal, all firearm profits somehow still get into the hands of gun manufacturers.

American gun laws not only fuel the drug war at home but also around the world. Recently on 60 Minutes, Mexican officials complained that most of the guns used in Mexico’s drug wars were bought in the USA. The Mexican drug wars are caused by American need for drugs as the cartels fight over who gets to service American addictions, leaving thousands of Mexicans dead, injured or kidnapped. The high level of money that American drug addiction brings into the United States makes it impossible for the Mexican government not to be corrupted. When the only Third World billionaire is a drug dealer, it’s obvious that drugs have become that part of the world’s major industry.

And, even when it’s about fueling these international or suburban addictions, drug violence often stays isolated in our local black and Latino communities. In the film Traffic, the actor Topher Grace gave an excellent speech to Michael Douglass about this phenomenon.

America’s drug addiction and drug laws have also created narco-states in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Guyana, which serve as ports for cocaine between South America and the US. All of these countries have large amounts of drug related violence facilitated by American weapons. American drug addiction, drug laws and weapons have fueled the wars in Colombia which have resulted in thousands of deaths and on on-going civil war.  (Europe is no better: European heroin addiction has helped fund the Taliban as well as other Afghani and Pakistani warlords in the middle east. European cocaine addiction has turned African countries like Guinea into narco-states.)

America’s problem is not the availability of drugs. Cocaine is cheap and plentiful in Colombia yet they do not have an addiction problem like ours. Heroin is cheap and plentiful in Afghanistan yet they do not have a heroin problem like ours. The American problem is the desire for drugs. Drugs have become entrenched in American culture.

The correct way to solve these problems is through education and treatment, not incarceration. Incarceration only fuels the drug war. Addicts have no problem finding drugs in jail and drug dealers come out of jail stronger and smarter criminals with better connections for gun and drugs. The Mexican mafia, which controls a good deal of drugs on the west coast has most of their leadership in jail and their progress has been helped not hindered by their centralized leadership.

In order for America to stop the violence it is causing at home and abroad, it must drastically change its drug policies and national and international gun laws. Shouldn’t the gun makers bare some responsibility for the carnage caused by their product? We need more anti-drug messages like those commercials that present other activities and sports as their “anti-drugs.” It is also past due for America to legalize marijuana, a drug that has given proven relief to many long suffering cancer patients in California and elsewhere. This de-criminalization would cut off a significant portion of the drug war and lessen the amount of gang violence and incarceration rates.  By criminalizing drugs, America is putting control of an extremely lucrative business in the hands of criminals and our ineffective drug laws have led to civil wars in the third world and gang violence at home.

RELATED STORIES

Drug Gangs Accused Of Killing U.S. Consulate Employees In Mexico

American Guns Fuel Jamaican Violence

America’s Recession Proof Drug Economy Fuels Mexican Violence

From the NY Times:

When President Obama took office, gun rights advocates sounded the alarm, warning that he intended to strip them of their arms and ammunition.

And yet the opposite is happening. Mr. Obama has been largely silent on the issue while states are engaged in a new and largely successful push for expanded gun rights, even passing measures that have been rejected in the past.

Text continues after gallery …

In Virginia, the General Assembly approved a bill last week that allows people to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, and the House of Delegates voted to repeal a 17-year-old ban on buying more than one handgun a month. The actions came less than three years after the shootings at Virginia Tech that claimed 33 lives and prompted a major national push for increased gun control.

Arizona and Wyoming lawmakers are considering nearly a half dozen pro-gun measures, including one that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit. And lawmakers in Montana and Tennessee passed measures last year — the first of their kind — to exempt their states from federal regulation of firearms and ammunition that are made, sold and used in state. Similar bills have been proposed in at least three other states.

Click here to read more.

RELATED STORIES

A Dozen People With Guns Protest Obama Speech

Guns: The American Way

From ToledoOnTheMove.com

TOLEDO, OH — One man was sent to the hospital Sunday night after a fight broke out at the Chuck E. Cheese’s Restaurant in South Toledo.
The incident happened around 8:00 p.m. at the Airport Hwy. location. Customers say it started when one man was using an airhorn.

Toledo Police say they were called to the restaurant on a report of a man with a gun and shots fired.  When they arrived they saw the suspect, Javon Jude, 22, fleeing the scene in an SUV with a female and child.

Patrons say that before police arrived, a fight erupted between Jude and another man inside the restaurant.  The suspect pulled out a gun and both men exited the restaurant to the parking lot.  Witnesses say they heard a gun shot but could not see anything.

The victim, Ricky Luster, 18, told police he followed Jude out into the parking lot where he was then pistol whipped in the head.  He told police Jude fired one gun shot into the ground before fleeing in a green SUV.

Click Here For More

RELATED STORIES

VIDEO: Woman Accused Of Starting “Chuck E. Cheese” Riot

Chuck E. Cheese Sued For Racial Discrimination

From The Washington Post

A person familiar with today’s meeting between Gilbert Arenas and NBA Commissioner David Stern said the Wizards’ three-time all-star guard requested to be suspended for the remainder of the season and sources said that Stern plans to abide by the request.

According to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Arenas also told Stern that he would tell the players’ union not to fight the suspension. Stern will announce his ruling later this afternoon.

Arenas met with Stern at the league offices in New York for nearly an hour this afternoon. He was accompanied by his attorney, Ken Wainstein.

Click Here For More

RELATED STORIES

Wizard Said He Had Gun Because He Feared Arenas Would Blow Up Car

Stephen A. Smith Connects Gilbert Arenas To Black Genocide

Here are the details from the Gilbert Arenas gun incident according to the Washington Post.

The dispute between Arenas and Crittenton began on the team plane during a popular card game between players called “Boo-ray.” Crittenton lost roughly $1,100 to JaVale McGee, a Wizards center, in the game, according to a player who watched the game and who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Crittenton, already angry over a dispute over the game’s rules, became irate when Arenas began needling him.

Their barbs escalated to a point where Arenas, smiling, said he would blow up Crittenton’s car, according to two players on the flight, who requested anonymity. Crittenton replied that he would shoot Arenas in his surgically repaired knee.

Walking into the locker room two days after the dispute on the team plane, according to two witnesses, Arenas laid out the guns in Crittenton’s locker. Two other teammates eventually sauntered in and, while Arenas was writing the note in front of Crittenton’s cubicle, in walked Crittenton, according to their account.

Asking Arenas what he was doing, Arenas replied, “If you want to shoot me, I’d just thought I’d make it easy for you.” As other teammates laughed, Crittenton crumpled up the paper, tossed one of Arenas’s guns across the room, where it bounced in front of a team trainer, and said he didn’t need any of Arenas’s firearms because he had his own, according to the witness accounts.

Neither witness said the gun was ever pointed at Arenas, but both said Crittenton began singing as he held the gun.

Arenas began laughing, the witnesses said, telling Crittenton, “Look at that little shiny gun,” as two other players slowly retreated to the training room.

Crittenton then drew his weapon, loaded it and chambered a round, the witnesses said.

RELATED STORIES

Gilbert Arenas Suspended Indefinitely By The NBA

Al Sharpton Wants Gilbert Arenas To Be Punished By The NBA

WASHINGTON — Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas says he took unloaded guns from his locker in a “misguided effort to play a joke” on a teammate.

Arenas released a written statement Monday after meeting with law enforcement officials. And Arenas’ lawyer says the player voluntarily met with prosecutors and detectives and answered every question during a two-hour interview.

In his statement, Arenas repeated his earlier assertion that he brought four guns to the Verizon Center to store in his locker in order to get them out of his house and away from his children. He said he mistakenly believed that recent changes in D.C. law made it legal for him to store unloaded guns there.

Arenas said he took the unloaded guns out of his locker on Dec. 21 “in a misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate.” He denied threatening or assaulting anyone. The New York Post has reported that Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other.

“Joke or not, I now recognize that what I did was a mistake and was wrong,” Arenas said. “I should not have brought the guns to DC in the first place, and I now realize that there’s no such thing as joking around when it comes to guns – even if unloaded.”

Two officials within the league who have been briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on Saturday that the incident stemmed from a dispute over card-playing gambling debts and a heated discussion in the locker room.

The other player involved is Javaris Crittenton. His agent, Mark Bartelstein, said earlier Monday that his client did nothing wrong.

It was unclear whether Crittenton also planned to meet with authorities about the incident. His lawyer, Peter White, is on vacation and said he would not be at any meetings Monday or Tuesday.

Arenas also apologized for his actions in the statement.

“I am very sorry for the effect that my serious lapse in judgment has had on my team, my teammates, the National Basketball Association and its fans,” Arenas said. “I want to apologize to everybody for letting them down with my conduct, and I promise to do better in the future.”

NBA commissioner David Stern likely will wait until the legal process is complete before handing down penalties, but he could rule on Arenas now since league rules were broken in that instance.

At the NBA’s request, the firearms language was bolstered during collective bargaining in 2005. Players are subject to discipline if they bring guns to the arena or practice facility, or even an offsite promotional appearance.

RELATED STORIES

REPORT: NBA’s Gilbert Pulled Gun On Teamate In Locker Room Argument

OPINION: Gilbert Arenas Will Now Learn David Stern’s Wrath

NEW YORK — Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other during a Christmas Eve locker room argument over a gambling debt, according to The New York Post.

Citing an anonymous source, the newspaper reports in Friday’s edition that the standoff was sparked when Crittenton became angry at Arenas for refusing to make good on a gambling debt. That prompted Arenas to draw on Crittenton, who then also grabbed for a gun, league security sources tell the Post.

Asked by the Post about the confrontation, Arenas denied pulling a gun on Crittenton.

“This is unprecedented in the history of sports,” Billy Hunter, executive director of the Player’s Association, tells the Post. “I’ve never heard of players pulling guns on each other in a locker room.”

The Wizards said on the night of Dec. 24 that Arenas had stored unloaded firearms in a container in his locker at the arena and that the NBA was looking into the situation. On Tuesday, Washington, D.C. police said they were investigating a report that weapons were found inside a locker room at the Verizon Center.

Now, the federal government is also involved. Ben Friedman, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in DC, tells the Post “we’re working with the Metropolitan Police Department on the investigation.”

RELATED STORIES

NBA Player Delonte West Arrested On Gun Charges

NFL Player Johnny Jolly Faces Codeine Charges In Houston

From The New York Times

It’s not uncommon for teenagers to flock to the mall at the end of a school day. But something went awry on Tuesday, when thousands of high school students descended on the Atlantic Center Mall in Brooklyn and a stabbing and shootings followed.

In this case, the police pinned the commotion on — of all things — a 40-cent chicken wing promotion at a restaurant in Fort Greene.

The event, at Buffalo Wild Wings inside the mall at 139 Flatbush Avenue, was promoted to students at high schools throughout Brooklyn.

“Don’t be alarmed if the tightwad of the bunch picks up the tab,” the restaurant said in one advertisement for the special.
Nevertheless, many people were in fact alarmed — by the thousands of teenagers who showed up at the mall on the eve of Veterans Day, a school holiday, and by the violence that followed.

According to the police, gunfire broke out in two locations just after 8 p.m., following altercations that began at the restaurant and spread outside. One shooting occurred on Fulton Street — and left two teenagers wounded — and the other near the intersection of Flatbush and Fulton. A stabbing just outside the mall has also been linked to the chicken wing special. In that case, a teenager was left with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Click Here For More

RELATED STORIES

UPDATE: Oprah KFC Give Away Causes Riots

VIDEO: Man Skips Out On Bill, Steals Date’s Car

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne pleaded guilty to attempted weapon possession Thursday, and expects to receive a one-year jail sentence.

He previously had pleaded not guilty to illegal gun-possession charges that carried at least 31/2 years in prison upon conviction.

Police said a gun was found on his tour bus in Manhattan in 2007.

The rapper, born Dwayne Carter, won last year’s best rap solo performance Grammy for A Milli . His albums include Tha Carter , Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III .

His trial had been due to start Jan. 20.

The judge had been holding a hearing on a debated DNA profiling technique used to tie the rapper to the gun.

Lil Wayne, 27, also is scheduled for trial in Arizona on felony drug-possession and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, which arose from an arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in January, 2008.

Manhattan prosecutors said small amounts of DNA found on the loaded weapon connected it to the platinum-selling artist. Defence lawyer Stacey Richman said the gun wasn’t Lil Wayne’s, and the testing technique was too problematic to prove otherwise.

Police pulled over Lil Wayne’s tour bus in Columbus Circle on July 22, 2007. They said they had seen and smelled marijuana smoke wafting out the door before the bus left a concert venue minutes earlier.

Police said that as an officer approached, the rapper tossed away a Louis Vuitton bag containing a gun.
The defense disputed officers’ basis for searching the bus and noted that more than a dozen other people were aboard.

NEW YORK — Lil Wayne has a date in a Manhattan courtroom, but DNA science will take center stage.

A hearing on a DNA profiling technique used in the rapper’s 2007 gun-possession case was due to start Wednesday. It concerns a process used for identifying people from tiny amounts of DNA — including some that prosecutors say ties the Grammy Award-winner to a gun found on his tour bus after a concert.

The 27-year-old has pleaded not guilty. He faces at least 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted.
The hearing aims to establish whether what’s known as low copy number DNA profiling has general scientific acceptance.

Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, won last year’s best rap solo performance Grammy for “A Milli.” His albums include “Tha Carter,” “Tha Carter II” and “Tha Carter III.”

From The Atlanta-Journal Costituition

Police are still trying to get a description of the suspects who shot three teenage girls in Clayton County.
The girls were rushed to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after being shot in a drive-by on Plover Road in an unincorporated section of  Clayton near Jonesboro, said Clayton police spokesman Officer Kevin Hughes.

On Wednesday, Hughes said detectives are following several leads, but still do not have a concrete description of the vehicle or the gunman.

Four teenage girls were standing on the side of the road talking to a group of boys when a car pulled up,  Hughes said.

Several men were inside the car. As the car slowly drove by, one of the men opened fire.
The gunman fired at least 11 shots before the car sped off, Hughes said. Three of the girls were struck.

Read The Whole Story

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West was arrested Thursday after officers pulled him over for speeding on a motorcycle while carrying two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun in a guitar case.

Prince George’s County police spokeswoman Sgt. Michelle Reedy said Friday the Cleveland Cavaliers player was arrested about 10 p.m. Thursday.

Reedy said West was riding a Can-Am Spyder motorcycle north on the Capital Beltway in Upper Marlboro when he cut off an officer, who pulled him over.

Police said a handgun was found in his pocket, another in his pant leg and a shotgun in a guitar case strapped to his back.

Reedy said West “was very cooperative, there were no issues” during the incident.

The 26-year-old West, who lives in Brandywine, was charged with speeding and weapons counts. It is illegal to carry concealed weapons and to transport loaded guns in Maryland, according to police. Reedy said West was released on his own recognizance early Friday.

Watch The Video

Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry said the team was monitoring the situation.

“We have been in communication with Delonte and his family,” Ferry said in a statement. “We are gathering more information and will not have further comment until the appropriate time.”

Online court records did not list an attorney for West.

Last year, West left the Cavaliers’ training camp to seek treatment for depression and a “mood disorder” he said he has battled his entire life. At the time, he said he was taking medication and attending therapy sessions. West said his mood problems date to his childhood.

West has said his mood swings seem to be most erratic when his life seems to be in order.

From The Washington Post

Try a thought experiment: What would conservatives have said if a group of loud, scruffy leftists had brought guns to the public events of Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush?

Violence and the threat of violence have always been used by those who wanted to bypass democratic procedures and the rule of law. Lynching was the act of those who refused to let the legal system do its work. Guns were used on election days in the Deep South during and after Reconstruction to intimidate black voters and take control of state governments.

Yes, I have raised the racial issue, and it is profoundly troubling that firearms should begin to appear with some frequency at a president’s public events only now, when the president is black. Race is not the only thing at stake here, and I have no knowledge of the personal motivations of those carrying the weapons. But our country has a tortured history on these questions, and we need to be honest about it. Those with the guns should know what memories they are stirring.

Read The Whole Story

Former New York Giant Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and agreed to a two-year prison term for accidentally shooting himself at a Manhattan nightclub.

The ex-wide receiver pleaded guilty Thursday morning to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a lesser charge than he initially faced. Under a plea agreement, he agreed to a two-year prison sentence and two years of supervised release.

Burress was indicted earlier this month on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. He faced a minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years if convicted at a trial.

Burress’ sentencing is set for Sept. 22.

About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incidents in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn’t need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. “In Arizona, I still have some freedoms,” he said.

Phoenix police Detective J. Oliver, who was monitoring the man at the downtown protest, said police also wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him.

“Just by his presence and people seeing the rifle and people knowing the president was in town, it sparked a lot of emotions,” Oliver said. “We were keeping peace on both ends.”

Last week, during Obama’s health care town hall in Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a sign reading “It is time to water the tree of liberty” stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.

“It’s a political statement,” he told The Boston Globe. “If you don’t use your rights, then you lose your rights.”

Police asked the man to move away from school property, but he was not arrested.

Phoenix was Obama’s last stop on a four-day tour of western states, including Montana and Colorado.

Authorities in Montana said Monday they received no reports of anyone carrying firearms during Obama’s health care town hall near Bozeman on Friday. About 1,000 people both for and against Obama converged at a protest area near the Gallatin Field Airport hangar where the event took place. One person accused of disorderly conduct was detained and released, according to the Gallatin Airport Authority.

Heather Benjamin of Denver’s Mesa County sheriff’s department, the lead agency during Obama’s visit there, said no one was arrested.

Arizona is an “open-carry” state, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it’s visible. A permit is required if the weapon is carried concealed.

Paul Helmke, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said people should not be allowed to bring guns to events where Obama is.

“To me, this is craziness,” he said. “When you bring a loaded gun, particularly a loaded assault rifle, to any political event, but particularly to one where the president is appearing, you’re just making the situation dangerous for everyone.”

He said people who bring guns to presidential events are distracting the Secret Service and law enforcement from protecting the president. “The more guns we see at more events like this, there’s more potential for something tragic happening,” he said.

A call to a Secret Service spokesman was not immediately returned Monday.

The National Rifle Association also did not return a call for comment.

Related

Man Brings Assault Rifle To Obama Rally

Man Brings Gun To Obama Town Hall Meeting

Man Brings “Death To Obama, Michelle And Her Two Stupid Kids” Sign To Town Hall

From The Arizona Republic

It’s just like any other Monday in downtown Phoenix. Except for all the police, protesters, secret service agents and gnarled traffic.

In the hours leading up to the working part of President Barack Obama’s working vacation, the scene outside the Phoenix Convention Center
was bustling.

At exactly 9:51 this morning, his motorcade pulled up to the convention center.

A man, who decided not to give his name, was walking around the pro-health care reform rally at 3rd and Washington streets, with a pistol on his hip, and an AR-15 (a semi-automatic assault rifle) on a strap over his shoulder.

“Because I can do it,” he said when asked why he was armed. “In Arizona, I still have some freedoms.”

Two police officers were staying very close to the man.

“What he is doing is perfectly legal,” Detective J. Oliver, of the Phoenix police department said. “We are here to keep the peace. If we need to intervene, we will intervene at that time.”

Read The Whole Story

Watch The Video

Related

Man Brings Gun To Obama Town Hall Meeting

Man Brings “Death To Obama, Michelle And Her Two Stupid Kids” Sign To Town Hall

From The Philadelphia Daily News

AT LEAST 14 Pittsburgh Steelers participated in a shooting party with Pennsylvania State Police troopers at the Greensburg barracks, using state police ammunition and illegal assault weapons from the evidence room, sources say.

Although the gun-fun day was three years ago, someone recently began circulating photographs of the pistol-packing players among state troopers, prompting outraged calls for an outside investigation.

Critics contend it is proof of a pattern of state police ignoring or covering up misbehavior by superiors.

“It’s a state police firing range used for state police to train. When we’re there, it’s downright military,” said one state police official, who requested anonymity. “But at this event, it’s chaos. Everybody’s throwing contraband assault weapons around like they’re toys; it’s like they’re having G.I. Joe tryouts. Not only is this totally unethical, but it’s totally illegal.”

Read The Whole Story

Recently, a DVD called “Thuggin It And Lovin It” has caused controversy in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area. The DVD profiles several neighborhoods in Baton Rouge and various criminals who inhabit the area. The video shows a number of young Black men showing off their guns and bragging about violence and drug dealing.

Though the package says “performed by actors-this DVD is for entertainment use only,” it seems pretty clear that the people on the DVD are very real. If these characters are actors, where did they get their guns? I could imagine it would be harder to get a fake AK-47 in Baton Rouge than a real one. There is no plot or story line to the DVD and it seems doubtful that there was a script. What other projects have these “actors” been in?

The creators claim that the DVD is a way to promote the careers of various rappers, but there is little rapping to be found on the DVD.

Police have been investigating people involved in the DVD and it has even attracted the attention of Baton Rouge’s district attorney and mayor. News clips about the controversy the DVD has caused have been circulating outside of Baton Rouge via the Internet.

On the DVD, men with rags covering their faces, show off and recklessly shoot handguns and high-powered assault rifles. Web sites have even compared the DVD to an Al Qaida propaganda video.

In some ways, the DVD is a wake up call. Guns and drug dealing are big problems in Black neighborhoods that need to be addressed. Still, police should be investigating how these guns get into the hands of inner city African-Americans, rather than just profiling people who appear on the DVD.

While the DVD does seem to glorify and promote violence and drug dealing, it is far from the first DVD to do that. QD3′s “Beef” had 50 Cent pulling out a handgun and making threats to Ja Rule. “Beef” also showed a rapper, by the name of True Life, bragging about robbing members of another rap group, while one of his associates shot a gun in the air.

Since then, other DVDs have been promoting hip-hop related criminal activity. DVDs like “Smack,” “Cocaine City” and “Sub Zero,” all have rappers and their associates shouting out their gang affiliations, bragging about illegally earned money, showing off guns and making threats to other rappers.

Footage from these DVDs is released on the Internet, through sites such as Worldstarhiphop, Vladtv and YouTube, creating a reality TV world for criminals and rappers that anyone with a computer could see.

Its pretty clear that law enforcement is closely following these DVDs. The upside for rappers and criminals looking for notoriety is that it gives them a lot of exposure; the down side is that it exposes them to the police. After the Black Mafia Family (BMF) appeared on several DVDs, 65 members were indicted on criminal conspiracy charges.

The rise of these DVDs signifies a change in Hip Hop. Now a rapper’s street credibility, money made illegally, guns and propensity towards violence are more important than his talent as a rapper. These DVDs promote materialism, misogyny, gang violence and gun use. They have taken the rap out of “gangsta rap” and now seem to only promote gangsters.

Rather than giving an accurate depiction of the negativity that guns and drugs have in the Black community, these DVDs glamorize criminals and criminal activity, without taking a real look at the negative effects that they have on the community.

These DVDs are a problem in the community. Still, they are not the cause, but a symptom of larger problems. The causes for these DVDs are the drugs, guns and lack of opportunity in the community. Other causes for these DVDs are record labels, radio stations, websites and other companies that reward rappers who act like criminals with record deals, media coverage and endorsements.

A woman from Fort Bend County, Texas is suing Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man, for alleging shooting her with a pellet gun as she sought an autograph after a concert with Redman at the House of Blues in Houston.

Method Man, born Clifford Smith, is accused of shooting a pellet gun at Mary Anderson from the window of his tour bus, as she sought an autograph.

In the lawsuit which was filed on Thursday (July 30) in the District Court of Harris County, Texas, Anderson claims she was struck at least six times in the chest and torso area and required medical attention after the incident.

Read The Whole Story

Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica’s main harbor loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S. imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that stoke one of the world’s highest murder rates.

The volume is much less than the flow of U.S. guns into Mexico that end up in the hands of drug cartels — Jamaican authorities recover fewer than 1,000 firearms a year. But of those whose origin can be traced, 80 percent come from the U.S., Jamaican law enforcement officials have said in interviews with The Associated Press.

And as the Obama administration cracks down on smuggling into Mexico, Jamaicans fear even more firearms will reach the gangs whose turf wars plague the island of 2.8 million people.

“It’s going to push a lot of that trade back toward the Caribbean like it was back in the ’80s,” said Vance Callender, an attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

U.S. authorities are beginning to target the Jamaican gun-smuggling network as part of a broad effort to boost security in the Caribbean.

But they have a long way to go. Jamaican authorities have confiscated only 100 guns coming into ports in the last five years, along with 6,000 rounds of ammunition. That in turn is just a fraction of the 700 or so weapons confiscated on the streets each year.

Authorities know they’re only seeing “the tip of the iceberg,” said Mark Shields, Jamaica’s deputy police commissioner.

With arsenals to rival police firepower, the gangs are blamed for 90 percent of the homicides in Jamaica — 1,611 last year, about 10 times more than the U.S. rate, relative to population.

Unlike in Mexico, the vast majority of Jamaican guns seized are submitted for tracing. Jamaica and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives find most of the seized weapons come from three Florida counties — Orange, Dade and Broward — all with large Jamaican populations, according to Shields.

X-ray scanners were installed two years ago at Jamaican ports, but the gangs use bribery and intimidation to get their shipments past inspectors.

In April, a newly hired customs supervisor had his tires slashed and days later was shot at on his way home from work, authorities say. The man was known for his strict scrutiny of cargo coming into a gang-infiltrated warehouse on the Kingston wharf.

When the gangs apply pressure, “no one says no,” said Danville Walker, Jamaica’s commissioner of customs.

“It’s a massive problem,” said Leslie Green, a Jamaican assistant police commissioner. “There aren’t any checks or any controls on goods leaving the United States. Yet anything leaving here, we have to make sure it’s double-checked and tripled-checked for drugs.”

This complaint — that Americans care only what comes in, not what goes out — echoes that of Mexican authorities, who say cars going from the U.S. into Mexico aren’t searched for weapons or cash.

Now hundreds of agents are participating in a $95 million outbound inspection program, stopping suspicious-looking cars and trucks as they cross the border into Mexico. Authorities don’t know how many firearms get through, but more than 12,000 guns used in crimes in Mexico last year were sent to U.S. authorities for tracing, a number that grows as more agencies in Mexico are trained to submit traces.

The U.S. and Jamaica both prohibit the unlicensed transport of guns. But like Mexican smugglers, Jamaican ones depend on lax U.S. gun laws, corrupt customs inspectors and front men acting as buyers.

Florida gun laws make it relatively easy to buy a legal firearm, and much of the smuggling is done by family and friends, said Shields, the Jamaican police official.

The guns are concealed in container loads of blue plastic and cardboard barrels, the kind Jamaicans use to send household goods to their families on the island.

Some shipping companies advertise a no-questions-asked policy in soliciting customers, said Walker, the customs commissioner. He declined to single out individual companies.

In one of the few Jamaican gun-smuggling cases prosecuted in the U.S., Tawanna Banton, 36, of Florida was convicted of buying a Glock handgun later used in the gang killings of four island police officers. She said her Jamaican boyfriend arranged the purchase, and she was paid $15,000 to buy the handgun and a .50 caliber “Grizzly” rifle with a tripod mount, according to court documents.

She told ATF agents the guns were then hidden inside kitchen appliances and driven to Miami for shipment to Kingston.

Banton pleaded guilty to making false statements to the gun dealer in 2006 and served a month in prison.

Besides coming in on freighters, authorities say, guns are stolen or purchased from crooked police or in “guns-for-ganja” deals by fishermen, who bring homegrown marijuana to nearby Haiti and return with pistols, revolvers and submachine guns — many of them believed to be from the U.S. as well.

Callender’s ICE unit began investigations in Jamaica last year with a focus on guns. He said agents in Miami and New York have been working to “interject themselves” into the shipping networks. Indictments are imminent in two or three cases involving suspected Jamaican traffickers inside the U.S., he said, without elaborating.

Then there’s the $45 million Caribbean Basin Security Initiative on regional security, announced by U.S. President Barack Obama in April, which is designed to help the islands counter any spillover of violence from Mexico.

Meanwhile, at the ports, Jamaican customs officials are training more spotters to patrol the warehouses, including five in Kingston who process an average of 10 shipping containers daily.

But inspectors feel the odds are still stacked against them.

“The guys we’re up against, they have time, they have money, and they are very resourceful,” said Andrew Lamb, a supervisor with Jamaica customs’ Contraband Enforcement Team. “They’re pretty good at what they do.”

In a few weeks, I will begin a one-year prison sentence for being in the possession of illegal firearms. Where I come from, having a gun is just part of everyday life. But, through this painful process of going to court and being convicted, I realized that I had to make a change. I made some bad decisions. I broke the law and will accept my punishment. With deep reflection about where my life was headed, I have begun the process of redemption, and decided that before I go to prison, I want to speak to young people about responsibility as a lifestyle.

I hope that through my mistakes, young people can begin to learn, as I did, that we have to put our guns down and start to give our guns back. It pains me inside to hear about so many of our people dying because of gun violence. Just in the past weeks, a 13-year old boy was shot in the head in Harlem, a 17- and a 19-year old were murdered in a double homicide in Queens and a 15-year-old was chased, beaten, shot and burned in Chicago.

We will gather today in Harlem, with many mentors and supporters by my side, including Rev. Al Sharpton, Russell Simmons, Kevin Liles, GlobalGrind.com, Political Swagger, Mobile Regime and the C.H.A.N.G.E. Initiative to share the message that now is the time. Now is the time to speak out against gun violence. Now is the time to take responsibility for our actions. Now is the time to make our communities safer. Now is the time to support good legislation, like the S.N.U.G. bill in NY. Now is the time to give back our guns. Now is the time for me to lead by example.

We can and we will do better.

– T.I.