Breaking News for Black America » Guns

Mexico Puts Up “No More Weapons” Billboard By U.S. Border

NewsOne Staff — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:34:39 +0000

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — President Felipe Calderon on Thursday unveiled a “No More Weapons!” billboard made with crushed firearms and placed near the U.S. border. He urged the United States to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico.

The billboard, which is in English and weighs 3 tons, was placed near an international bridge in Ciudad Juarez and can be seen from the United States.

Calderon said the billboard’s letters were made with weapons seized by local, state and federal authorities.

“Dear friends of the United States, Mexico needs your help to stop this terrible violence that we’re suffering,” Calderon said in English during the unveiling ceremony.

“The best way to do this is to stop the flow of automatic weapons into Mexico,” he added.

Before unveiling the billboard, Calderon supervised the destruction of more than 7,500 automatic rifles and handguns at a military base in Ciudad Juarez.

Calderon said more than 140,000 weapons have been seized since December 2006, when he launched a crackdown against drug traffickers. More than 47,500 people have been killed since then.

One of the cities most affected by the violence is Ciudad Juarez, where more than 9,000 have died in drug violence since 2008.

Also Thursday, the country’s Attorney General said a federal prosecutor assigned to a northern state has been detained on suspicion of protecting the brutal Zetas drug cartel.

Attorney General Marisela Morales said federal prosecutor Claudia Gonzalez has been sent to prison. She didn’t say when Gonzalez was detained or give any other details.

Gonzalez was based in the city of Saltillo, capital of the border state of Coahuila.

The state on the border with Texas has seen a spike of violence as the Zetas and the Sinaloa drug cartel fight for control of drug smuggling routes into the United States.

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Mormon Church Owns Controversial Gun-Selling Website

cganemccalla — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:42:59 +0000

The Mormon Church owns a controversial gun selling website that allows people to buy guns online without passing a background check according to a report by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the website Buzzfeed.

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

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Cop Pleads Guilty To Running $1 Million Gun Running Ring

cganemccalla — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:16:31 +0000

NEW YORK-William Masso, a veteran NYPD officer has plead guilty to conspiring to sell M-16 rifles and other guns. Masso was part of a group of 28 people, including eight former and current NYPD officers charged with operating a gun-running ring.

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.

Rapper Cory Gunz Arrested On Gun Charges

cganemccalla — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:46:01 +0000

NEW YORK-Rapper, Cory Gunz, real name, Peter Pankey Jr. was arrested after police claim they found him in possession of a loaded 9mm handgun in his backpack.

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

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Why Gun Sales Are At A Record High

NewsOne Staff — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:08:39 +0000

This Black Friday, Americans bought more guns than they ever have, breaking the previous single-day record set back in 2008 by nearly a third.

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.

Judge Blames Harlem Gun Violence On Community And Families

cganemccalla — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:30:42 +0000

NEW YORK-While sentencing Jaquan “Jay Cash” Layne, to twenty years in prison, Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin lectured their families and members of the community.

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

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Report Shows Mentally Ill People Have No Problem Buying Guns

cganemccalla — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:57:53 +0000

Despite several incidents of people with mental problems killing random people, mentally ill people have easy access to guns, according to a new report by the anti-gun advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

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

Cops Arrested For Guns And Cigarette Smuggling Operation

cganemccalla — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:37:51 +0000

NEW YORK — Five New York police officers were arrested for selling illegal cigarettes, guns and counterfeit goods.

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

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

Jamaican Drug Lord “Dudus” Pleads Guilty To Gun Charges

cganemccalla — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:30:04 +0000

NEW YORK — Jamaican strong man Christopher “Dudus” Coke has plead guilty to racketeering charges in New York City. Dudus was captured last year in Jamaica after a two-month manhunt that included a violent clash between his supporters in Tivoli Gardens and Jamaican Police in which 76 people were killed.

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.

Alleged Drug Lord “Dudus” Captured In Jamaica

Teen Playing With Gun Fatally Shoots Himself

NewsOne Staff — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:50:15 +0000

An 18-year-old man fatally shot himself with a gun in his Charlotte, North Carolina home Sunday night. Several family members were in the home at the time of the incident.

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.”

Bad Parenting? 8-Year-Old Boy Buys Gun From Classmate For $3

NewsOne Staff — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:50:21 +0000

NEW YORK– An 8-year-old boy took his father’s loaded 9-mm handgun to a Queens school Thursday and sold it to a classmate for $3, cops said.

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.

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

NewsOne Staff — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:48:56 +0000

HOUSTON – A kindergartener brought a gun to his Houston elementary school and was among three students injured by fragments when it dropped from his pocket during lunchtime and accidentally fired, officials said.

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.

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Police Raid Charlie Sheen’s House To Look For Guns

cganemccalla — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:50:27 +0000

LOS ANGELES-Charlie Sheen’s house in Sherman Oaks, California was raided after there were reports that he had guns.

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.

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Elite Private School Girl Arrested On Gun And Gang Charges

cganemccalla — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:58:54 +0000

NEW YORK-Afrika Owes, a 17-year-old Harlem girl, who attended the elite Deerfield Academy in Connecticut was arrested in New York on gang and gun charges. After visiting Harvard and Yale, Owes is now at Riker’s Island along with 13 other young people arrested in an NYPD gang crackdown on the 137h St. Crew in Harlem. The New York Post reports:

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.

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Al Sharpton Joins With NYPD To Get Guns Off Harlem Streets

cganemccalla — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:33:34 +0000

(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.

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Don King Caught Carrying Ammunition In Airport

NewsOne Staff — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:09:19 +0000

In this photo taken Nov. 22, 2010, boxing promoter Don King is shown before an NBA basketball game between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers in Miami. King on Sunday night, Dec. 12, 2010 was stopped by security at Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport for having ammunition in his carry-on luggage. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

CLEVELAND – Boxing promoter Don King was stopped by security at Cleveland’s Hopkins International Airport for having ammunition in his carry-on luggage.

Hopkins Airport spokeswoman Jacqueline Mayo says the 79-year-old King was stopped by members of the Transportation Safety Administration on Sunday night. She says King had ammunition for .38-caliber and .357-caliber firearms in his bag.

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.

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Sniper Ambushes Oakland Police At Traffic Stop

Smokey D. Fontaine — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:51:21 +0000

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.

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NBA's Delonte West Will Plead Guilty To Weapons Possession

cganemccalla — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:59:37 +0000

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.

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Jamaican Prime Minister Agrees To Extradite Reputed Drug Lord To U.S.

NewsOne Staff — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:17:42 +0000

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.

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Rappers Arrested For Flashing Guns On Youtube

cganemccalla — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:44:44 +0000

From WYFF4.com

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.

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Gilbert Arenas Calls Gun Incident “Some Fun That Got Out Of Control”

cganemccalla — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:50:19 +0000

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.

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

cganemccalla — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:13:52 +0000

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.

Fearing Obama’s Agenda, States Push For Looser Gun Laws

Smokey D. Fontaine — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:19:55 +0000

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.

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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.

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Man Gets Pistol-Whipped At Chuck E. Cheese

cganemccalla — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:23:05 +0000

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.

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Source: Gilbert Arenas Suspended For Rest Of Season

Smokey D. Fontaine — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:00:56 +0000

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.

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SOURCE: Arenas Threatened To Blow Up Teammate’s Car

cganemccalla — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:10:13 +0000

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.

Al Sharpton Wants Gilbert Arenas To Be Punished By The NBA

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Gilbert Arenas Says He Pulled Gun On Teammate To “Play A Joke”

NewsOne Staff — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:04:05 +0000

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.

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

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

NewsOne Staff — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:56:16 +0000

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.”

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40-Cent Buffalo Wild Wings Promotion Leads To Gunfire In NYC

Smokey D. Fontaine — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:11:18 +0000

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.

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Lil Wayne Pleads Guilty To Gun Charges, Expects 1 Year Sentence

cganemccalla — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:05:40 +0000

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.”