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Sunday, January 31, 2016 4:08:51 AM
The Gap Between Gun Deaths in the U.S. and Other Advanced Nations Is Getting Wider, Study Finds
Shutterstock
Americans account for 82 percent of all gun deaths among 23 high-income countries.
by Kate Masters
January 14, 2016
While the United States has failed to significantly reduce its annual rate of gun deaths, other high income countries have been making steadier progress, resulting in a wider gap between the U.S. and its international peers when it comes to fatal shootings.
That’s the conclusion of an upcoming study [ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26551975 , http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/abstract (next below), full text http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/fulltext ] by public health researchers David Hemenway and Erin Grinshteyn. Using 2010 data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the academics found that firearm homicide rates were 25 times higher in the U.S. than in other high-income countries. The research is an update to a study on WHO data from 2003, which determined the U.S.’s rate to be just 19.5 times higher [ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44695809_Homicide_Suicide_and_Unintentional_Firearm_Fatality_Comparing_the_United_States_With_Other_High-Income_Countries_2003 ] than that of comparable nations. The math behind the increasing divergence comes down to this: While per capita gun deaths declined in the U.S. over the period in question, the decrease was a small dip from an anomalously high rate. In other high-income nations, already much lower rates have fallen farther.
In the new research, the U.S. accounted for 82 percent of all firearm deaths among the 23 countries studied, a fact Hemenway calls “eye-popping.”
“The difference is just so enormous,” Hemenway tells The Trace. “Death rates in these other countries were so low already, and now the big picture is that we’re still out-of-this-world horrible compared those countries. We have so many more people dying.”
To conduct their most recent study, Hemenway and Grinshteyn examined WHO data from the most recent year with complete figures for the greatest number of countries. Their goal was to compare the U.S. to countries of similar size and economic status, so they narrowed their focus to 22 high income members of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) with more than 1 million inhabitants. The researchers then combed each country’s mortality data, looking at six different categories of deaths, including firearm-related homicides, firearm-related suicides, and unintentional firearm deaths.
One of the grimmest figures in the study shows that among 15 to 24-year-olds, the gun homicide rate in the U.S. is 49 times higher than in other high-income countries, or in line with the rate of gun murders in Mexico [ http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list ]. Firearm-related suicides were also eight times higher in the U.S. than the other countries, while unintentional firearm deaths were 6.2 times higher. Ninety percent of women killed by guns in the study were in the U.S., as were 91 percent of children aged 0 to 14.
“If you look at all the women who are killed with guns in advanced countries, if you look at all the children, they’re all Americans,” Hemenway says.
Here’s a breakdown of the study’s key findings (all rates per 100,000 people):
2003
• U.S. gun death rate: 2.8
• U.S. gun homicide rate: 4.1
• U.S. gun suicide rate: 5.8
• U.S. unintentional gun death rate: 0.3
• Other high income countries’ gun death rate: 0.2
• Other high income countries’ gun homicide rate: 0.2
• Other high income countries’ gun suicide rate: 1.0
• Other high income countries’ unintentional gun death rate: 0.0
2010
• U.S. gun death rate: 2.7
• U.S. gun homicide rate: 3.6
• U.S. gun suicide rate: 6.3
• U.S. unintentional gun death rate: 0.2
• Other high income countries’ gun death rate: 0.1
• Other high income countries’ gun homicide rate: 0.1
• Other high income countries’ gun suicide rate: 0.8
• Other high income countries’ unintentional gun death rate: 0.0
“Whenever there’s a violent interaction in the United States, there’s a chance that somebody may die,” Hemenway said. “In most of these other countries, the worst thing that might happen is somebody gets hit with fists, or a glass bottle, or even stabbed, and in those cases there probably won’t be any deaths. But when there’s a gun, it really makes it so much more likely that something terrible will happen.”
Copyright 2016 The Trace
http://www.thetrace.org/2016/01/us-gun-deaths-versus-other-countries-2016/
*
Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010
Erin Grinshteyn, PhD, David Hemenway, PhD
Published Online: November 06, 2015
Abstract
Background
Violent death is a serious problem in the United States. Previous research showing US rates of violent death compared with other high-income countries used data that are more than a decade old.
Methods
We examined 2010 mortality data obtained from the World Health Organization for populous, high-income countries (n = 23). Death rates per 100,000 population were calculated for each country and for the aggregation of all non-US countries overall and by age and sex. Tests of significance were performed using Poisson and negative binomial regressions.
Results
US homicide rates were 7.0 times higher than in other high-income countries, driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25.2 times higher. For 15- to 24-year-olds, the gun homicide rate in the United States was 49.0 times higher. Firearm-related suicide rates were 8.0 times higher in the United States, but the overall suicide rates were average. Unintentional firearm deaths were 6.2 times higher in the United States. The overall firearm death rate in the United States from all causes was 10.0 times higher. Ninety percent of women, 91% of children aged 0 to 14 years, 92% of youth aged 15 to 24 years, and 82% of all people killed by firearms were from the United States.
Conclusions
The United States has an enormous firearm problem compared with other high-income countries, with higher rates of homicide and firearm-related suicide. Compared with 2003 estimates, the US firearm death rate remains unchanged while firearm death rates in other countries decreased. Thus, the already high relative rates of firearm homicide, firearm suicide, and unintentional firearm death in the United States compared with other high-income countries increased between 2003 and 2010.
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/abstract
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Christie Vetoes Gun Bill Banning Criminals Convicted Of Carjacking, Gangs And More
[ http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/new-jersey/2016/01/8588414/christie-vetoes-bill-ban-carjackers-others-owning-guns (no comments yet)]
Christie vetoed a bill - unanimously supported in legislature - preventing people convicted of various violent offenses from owning a gun.
By Tom Davis (Patch Staff) - January 19, 2016 3:42 pm ET
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have prohibited people convicted of carjacking, gang involvement, racketeering or terroristic threats from purchasing, owning, possessing or controlling a firearm.
The bill, A-4182, would have toughened current law that disqualifies a person who has been convicted of certain serious crimes from purchasing, owning, possessing or controlling firearms.
That bill had passed 37-0 in the Senate and 68-0, with eight abstaining, in the Assembly.
The vetoed bill provides that a person who has been convicted of carjacking, gang criminality, racketeering, or terroristic threats, and who purchases, owns, possesses or controls a firearm is also guilty of a crime of the second degree.
Currently, state law prohibits people convicted of the following charges from owning a gun: aggravated assault; arson; burglary; escape; extortion; homicide; kidnapping; robbery; aggravated sexual assault; sexual assault; bias intimidation; endangering the welfare of a child; stalking; a crime involving domestic violence; certain crimes concerning weapons; and certain crimes related to controlled dangerous substances.
Under current law, a person who has been convicted of any of these offenses and who purchases, owns, possesses, or controls a firearm is guilty of a crime of the second degree. A second degree crime is punishable by a fine of up to $150,000, a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years, or both.
Democratic Assemblyman Tim Eustace called Christie’s “failure to act is incomprehensible,” and accused him of boosting his presidential campaign at the expense of N.J. citizens.
“Gov. Christie likes to spout platitudes about public safety,” Eustace said in a statement. “But his failure to act on a no-brainer bill supported by Democrats and Republicans alike calls into question his ability to lead and even think clearly.”
Eustace said gun-rights groups “don’t even support giving such people guns. The governor’s failure is scary and inexplicable. Gov. Christie has put the people of New Jersey in danger.”
© 2016 Patch Media
http://patch.com/new-jersey/morristown/christie-vetoes-gun-bill-banning-criminals-convicted-carjacking-gangs-more-0 [with comments]
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Two 16-Year-Old Girls Charged With Plotting Massive Columbine-Style Attack
One wrote in her diary they planned to make school "a living f*cking nightmare."?
Jan 15, 2016
Brooke Higgins and Sienna Johnson, both 16, have been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder under extreme indifference and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder after deliberation, 9 News [ http://www.9news.com/story/news/crime/2016/01/14/2nd-teen-girl-charged-school-attack-plot/78799094/ ] reports. The two girls were thwarted before executing a Columbine-style attack they'd allegedly planned on Mountain Vista High School in Castle Rock, Colorado.
According to Westword [ http://www.westword.com/news/brooke-higgins-charged-as-adult-in-f-cking-nightmare-school-murder-plot-7516507 ], both Higgins and Johnson are being charged as adults. In a court hearing yesterday, prosecutors said the girls had a "fascination" with the 1999 Columbine shooting, and that Johnson had written in her diary that Higgins was "someone who's got what it takes" to execute such an attack and that together they'd be "unstoppable" in making school "a living f*cking nightmare."
ABC 7 [ http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/will-2nd-teen-suspected-in-mountain-vista-high-school-murder-plot-be-charged-as-an-adult ] reports Higgins allegedly used her phone to research female mass shooters and whether or not minors could purchase guns at gun shows. The defense argued having a fascination with guns and Columbine is not a crime: "This is a thought crime, at best," Higgins's lawyer said.
[...]
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a52238/brooke-higgins-sienna-johnson-colorado-shooting/ [with comments]
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Ohio Father Fatally Shoots Son He Mistook for Intruder: Police
Jan 12 2016
by Phil Helsel
Jan 12 2016, 7:29 pm ET
A Cincinnati father accidentally shot and killed his 14-year-old son after he investigated what he thought was a burglary in his home Tuesday, police said.
The fatal shooting happened at around 6:30 a.m., NBC affiliate WLET reported [ http://www.wlwt.com/news/police-on-scene-of-shooting-in-east-price-hill/37387912 ]. The 14-year-old, identified police as Georta Mack, was rushed to Children's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The boy had left for school but quickly returned, unbeknownst to his father. The father grabbed a handgun after he heard a noise in the basement, and the gun fired when he was startled, police told the station.
"These types of tragedies are so horrific, they're even unimaginable," Police Chief Eliot Isaac told reporters.
A friend of the teen said "he always kept a smile, that's what he was known for," and that the boy and his father were close.
"They had a really close bond. His dad would do anything for him," Courizma Williams, who knew Georta, told the station. "His dad always wanted to keep him out of the streets, keep him from being bad — you know, keep him safe."
The name of the father has not been released. Prosecutors will decide whether charges are warranted in the case, WLET reported.
Isaac said that if people are going to keep firearms in their homes, they should get training to use them.
Fifty children between the ages of infant to 14 years old died of what were classified as unintentional firearm causes in 2014, according to the federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. 2014 was the latest year for which data was available.
Some claim federal numbers undercount accidental shooting deaths.
The gun-control group Everytown to End Gun Violence in 2014 [ http://everytownresearch.org/reports/innocents_lost/ ] said it analyzed publicly reported gun deaths from December 2012 to December 2013 and claimed at least 100 children were killed in unintentional shootings during that period. Federal data has that number at 69.
In Florida, a mother fatally shot her 27-year-old daughter in St. Cloud on Dec. 30 after mistaking her for an intruder, NBC Miami reported [ http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Mother-Mistakes-Daughter-as-Intruder-Shoots-Her-Police-363855641.html ].
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-father-fatally-shoots-son-he-mistook-intruder-police-n495111 [with embedded video reports]
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Police investigate death of teen shot by dad
Patrick Brennan, Cameron Knight and Chris Graves
5:42 a.m. EST January 13, 2016
It was a call that can only be described as wrenching.
"I just shot my son by accident," a distraught father sobbed to a Cincinnati police 911 operator.
"Oh God. Get here quick."
"Please hurry."
The man, believing his 14-year-old son was at school, fatally shot the boy in the neck when he mistook him for an intruder at their East Price Hill home Tuesday morning.
Police say they are investigating the shooting.
The shooting at 1216 Blanchard Ave. occurred around 6:30 a.m. The father, whose name has not been released, had recently dropped his son, Georta Mack, off at the school bus stop but the teen returned home, police said.
After hearing a noise in the basement, the father grabbed a handgun to investigate. Georta startled the man, according to the frantic 911 call, and was accidentally shot in the neck.
Throughout the call Georta's father begs police to hurry, asking God why this has happened. He tells police his son is struggling to breathe as he held a cloth to his neck to slow the bleeding.
Shortly after, he exclaimed that his son stopped breathing.
Georta was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Shortly after 8:15 a.m., the boy was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital.
Police Lt. Steve Saunders says the father is being interviewed by police and has been cooperative.
Neighbors were seen crying as they shared the news of the shooting on snow-covered Blanchard Avenue hours later.
"He's only 14 years old," one woman said through tears.
Neighbors said Georta lived in the home with his 73-year-old father. They said the two seemed to get along well.
Angela Roberts, who has lived in the neighborhood in a friend's home there for about a year, said Georta was a "good kid,'' who would often mow her friend's lawn and help with yard work.
"From everything I knew, he was a pretty good kid."
Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac called the shooting a "terrible, terrible tragedy'' at a press conference Tuesday. "It's unimaginable really.''
?Isaac said the father told police the teen returned home to skip school. Isaac said the teen had some recent trouble at school but did not elaborate.
Isaac said that while owning a gun is an individual choice, that gun owners should be responsible, prepared and well-trained. He also said the everyone in the home should be aware that guns are kept in the home.
Officers were discussing the case with the Hamilton County Prosecutor's office. Isaac said he did not know if the father would be charged in the case [he wasn't - http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/east-price-hill/pd-father-shot-14-year-old-son-in-east-price-hill-thought-he-was-an-intruder (with embedded video report)].
© 2016 www.cincinnati.com
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/01/12/police-teen-mistaken-intruder-shot/78672506/ [with embedded audio of the 911 call and separate video report, and comments]
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Authorities: North Forsyth dad shoots son, 18, in accident while cleaning pistol
January 11, 2016
http://www.forsythnews.com/section/1/article/29131/ [with comment]
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JSO: Father shoots son after argument on the Northside
Jan 4, 2016
http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/jso-reported-aggravated-battery-northwest-jacksonv/40040876 [with embedded video report]
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Pennsylvania girl, 12, killed after father aims gun at constable
Ciara Meyer
[ http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Central-Pa-girl-12-shot-and-killed-by-eviction-dispute.html ]
January 13, 2016
(CNN)—Ciara Meyer stood directly behind her father as he raised a .223-caliber rifle and pointed it at the chest of a constable who'd come to serve an eviction notice at their apartment.
The constable responded with a single shot.
That bullet went through the arm of 57-year-old Donald Meyer and into his 12-year-old daughter, Ciara, killing her.
Meyer now faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report. He was flown to Hershey Medical Center for treatment after Monday's shooting in Perry County.
The man who shot him, Constable Clarke Steele, is "heartbroken" over the incident, his friend and fellow constable Bill Stoeffler told CNN affiliate WPMT-TV [ http://fox43.com/2016/01/12/friend-constable-heartsick-over-shooting-that-resulted-in-girls-death/ ].
"He was put in a position from which he couldn't retreat safely," Stoeffler said of the shooting, calling it "every constable's worst nightmare." "He had no other option, really, than what he did."
Comments on a GoFundMe page set up in Ciara's name -- ostensibly to raise money for her funeral expenses and fund a scholarship focused on domestic violence -- reflected the strong emotions her death elicited. A CNN request to verify the page's authenticity was not immediately confirmed.
Some admonished her father for putting his daughter in harm's way. One man said the constable should have stood down and walked away, saying any money owed wasn't worth it. Most paid tribute to the victim in the tragedy.
"Fly high, sweet angel," one woman wrote of Ciara. "Rest in peace."
Donald Meyer knew the constable was coming, Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert Hicks told WPMT. His family had gotten multiple notifications, with the last making it clear a constable was on the way with an eviction notice.
"When they heard the knock, they knew who it was," Hicks said.
When Steele arrived at 10 a.m. Monday, "the suspect opened the door to the residence and then shut it," according to the police report.
Meyer then reopened the door and, after "a brief exchange of words," leveled a rifle that had been concealed and aimed it at Steele.
"Constable Steele, who was in uniform, quickly removed his .40 caliber duty weapon from its holster and fired a single round," the police report said, noting that employees of the apartment complex witnessed the encounter.
That bullet "shattered the bone in (Meyer's) left arm," Hicks told CNN affiliate WHTM-TV [ http://abc27.com/2016/01/12/police-to-id-victims-of-shooting-near-duncannon/ ], then went into the body of Ciara, who had stayed home sick from school.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the police report.
Investigators recovered the rifle her father had been carrying and found it with "a loaded chamber and a magazine containing 30 rounds."
[...]
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/us/pennsylvania-constable-shoots-girl-dead/ [with embedded video report]
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Bomb and shooting threats target dozens of schools across U.S.
Jan 19, 2016
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-jersey-threat-idUSKCN0UX21C
*
Police investigate threats against schools in six states
Students were evacuated from Spotswood Elementary in Harrisonburg, Va., on Jan. 11 after a bomb threat was called into the school. No device was found in a police search. Schools in six states received threats on Tuesday.
January 19, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/police-investigate-threats-against-schools-in-six-states/2016/01/19/49ffdc92-bee2-11e5-9443-7074c3645405_story.html [with comments]
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Shutterstock
Americans account for 82 percent of all gun deaths among 23 high-income countries.
by Kate Masters
January 14, 2016
While the United States has failed to significantly reduce its annual rate of gun deaths, other high income countries have been making steadier progress, resulting in a wider gap between the U.S. and its international peers when it comes to fatal shootings.
That’s the conclusion of an upcoming study [ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26551975 , http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/abstract (next below), full text http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/fulltext ] by public health researchers David Hemenway and Erin Grinshteyn. Using 2010 data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the academics found that firearm homicide rates were 25 times higher in the U.S. than in other high-income countries. The research is an update to a study on WHO data from 2003, which determined the U.S.’s rate to be just 19.5 times higher [ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44695809_Homicide_Suicide_and_Unintentional_Firearm_Fatality_Comparing_the_United_States_With_Other_High-Income_Countries_2003 ] than that of comparable nations. The math behind the increasing divergence comes down to this: While per capita gun deaths declined in the U.S. over the period in question, the decrease was a small dip from an anomalously high rate. In other high-income nations, already much lower rates have fallen farther.
In the new research, the U.S. accounted for 82 percent of all firearm deaths among the 23 countries studied, a fact Hemenway calls “eye-popping.”
“The difference is just so enormous,” Hemenway tells The Trace. “Death rates in these other countries were so low already, and now the big picture is that we’re still out-of-this-world horrible compared those countries. We have so many more people dying.”
To conduct their most recent study, Hemenway and Grinshteyn examined WHO data from the most recent year with complete figures for the greatest number of countries. Their goal was to compare the U.S. to countries of similar size and economic status, so they narrowed their focus to 22 high income members of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) with more than 1 million inhabitants. The researchers then combed each country’s mortality data, looking at six different categories of deaths, including firearm-related homicides, firearm-related suicides, and unintentional firearm deaths.
One of the grimmest figures in the study shows that among 15 to 24-year-olds, the gun homicide rate in the U.S. is 49 times higher than in other high-income countries, or in line with the rate of gun murders in Mexico [ http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list ]. Firearm-related suicides were also eight times higher in the U.S. than the other countries, while unintentional firearm deaths were 6.2 times higher. Ninety percent of women killed by guns in the study were in the U.S., as were 91 percent of children aged 0 to 14.
“If you look at all the women who are killed with guns in advanced countries, if you look at all the children, they’re all Americans,” Hemenway says.
Here’s a breakdown of the study’s key findings (all rates per 100,000 people):
2003
• U.S. gun death rate: 2.8
• U.S. gun homicide rate: 4.1
• U.S. gun suicide rate: 5.8
• U.S. unintentional gun death rate: 0.3
• Other high income countries’ gun death rate: 0.2
• Other high income countries’ gun homicide rate: 0.2
• Other high income countries’ gun suicide rate: 1.0
• Other high income countries’ unintentional gun death rate: 0.0
2010
• U.S. gun death rate: 2.7
• U.S. gun homicide rate: 3.6
• U.S. gun suicide rate: 6.3
• U.S. unintentional gun death rate: 0.2
• Other high income countries’ gun death rate: 0.1
• Other high income countries’ gun homicide rate: 0.1
• Other high income countries’ gun suicide rate: 0.8
• Other high income countries’ unintentional gun death rate: 0.0
“Whenever there’s a violent interaction in the United States, there’s a chance that somebody may die,” Hemenway said. “In most of these other countries, the worst thing that might happen is somebody gets hit with fists, or a glass bottle, or even stabbed, and in those cases there probably won’t be any deaths. But when there’s a gun, it really makes it so much more likely that something terrible will happen.”
Copyright 2016 The Trace
http://www.thetrace.org/2016/01/us-gun-deaths-versus-other-countries-2016/
*
Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries, 2010
Erin Grinshteyn, PhD, David Hemenway, PhD
Published Online: November 06, 2015
Abstract
Background
Violent death is a serious problem in the United States. Previous research showing US rates of violent death compared with other high-income countries used data that are more than a decade old.
Methods
We examined 2010 mortality data obtained from the World Health Organization for populous, high-income countries (n = 23). Death rates per 100,000 population were calculated for each country and for the aggregation of all non-US countries overall and by age and sex. Tests of significance were performed using Poisson and negative binomial regressions.
Results
US homicide rates were 7.0 times higher than in other high-income countries, driven by a gun homicide rate that was 25.2 times higher. For 15- to 24-year-olds, the gun homicide rate in the United States was 49.0 times higher. Firearm-related suicide rates were 8.0 times higher in the United States, but the overall suicide rates were average. Unintentional firearm deaths were 6.2 times higher in the United States. The overall firearm death rate in the United States from all causes was 10.0 times higher. Ninety percent of women, 91% of children aged 0 to 14 years, 92% of youth aged 15 to 24 years, and 82% of all people killed by firearms were from the United States.
Conclusions
The United States has an enormous firearm problem compared with other high-income countries, with higher rates of homicide and firearm-related suicide. Compared with 2003 estimates, the US firearm death rate remains unchanged while firearm death rates in other countries decreased. Thus, the already high relative rates of firearm homicide, firearm suicide, and unintentional firearm death in the United States compared with other high-income countries increased between 2003 and 2010.
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.
http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(15)01030-X/abstract
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Christie Vetoes Gun Bill Banning Criminals Convicted Of Carjacking, Gangs And More
[ http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/new-jersey/2016/01/8588414/christie-vetoes-bill-ban-carjackers-others-owning-guns (no comments yet)]
Christie vetoed a bill - unanimously supported in legislature - preventing people convicted of various violent offenses from owning a gun.
By Tom Davis (Patch Staff) - January 19, 2016 3:42 pm ET
Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have prohibited people convicted of carjacking, gang involvement, racketeering or terroristic threats from purchasing, owning, possessing or controlling a firearm.
The bill, A-4182, would have toughened current law that disqualifies a person who has been convicted of certain serious crimes from purchasing, owning, possessing or controlling firearms.
That bill had passed 37-0 in the Senate and 68-0, with eight abstaining, in the Assembly.
The vetoed bill provides that a person who has been convicted of carjacking, gang criminality, racketeering, or terroristic threats, and who purchases, owns, possesses or controls a firearm is also guilty of a crime of the second degree.
Currently, state law prohibits people convicted of the following charges from owning a gun: aggravated assault; arson; burglary; escape; extortion; homicide; kidnapping; robbery; aggravated sexual assault; sexual assault; bias intimidation; endangering the welfare of a child; stalking; a crime involving domestic violence; certain crimes concerning weapons; and certain crimes related to controlled dangerous substances.
Under current law, a person who has been convicted of any of these offenses and who purchases, owns, possesses, or controls a firearm is guilty of a crime of the second degree. A second degree crime is punishable by a fine of up to $150,000, a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years, or both.
Democratic Assemblyman Tim Eustace called Christie’s “failure to act is incomprehensible,” and accused him of boosting his presidential campaign at the expense of N.J. citizens.
“Gov. Christie likes to spout platitudes about public safety,” Eustace said in a statement. “But his failure to act on a no-brainer bill supported by Democrats and Republicans alike calls into question his ability to lead and even think clearly.”
Eustace said gun-rights groups “don’t even support giving such people guns. The governor’s failure is scary and inexplicable. Gov. Christie has put the people of New Jersey in danger.”
© 2016 Patch Media
http://patch.com/new-jersey/morristown/christie-vetoes-gun-bill-banning-criminals-convicted-carjacking-gangs-more-0 [with comments]
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Two 16-Year-Old Girls Charged With Plotting Massive Columbine-Style Attack
One wrote in her diary they planned to make school "a living f*cking nightmare."?
Jan 15, 2016
Brooke Higgins and Sienna Johnson, both 16, have been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder under extreme indifference and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder after deliberation, 9 News [ http://www.9news.com/story/news/crime/2016/01/14/2nd-teen-girl-charged-school-attack-plot/78799094/ ] reports. The two girls were thwarted before executing a Columbine-style attack they'd allegedly planned on Mountain Vista High School in Castle Rock, Colorado.
According to Westword [ http://www.westword.com/news/brooke-higgins-charged-as-adult-in-f-cking-nightmare-school-murder-plot-7516507 ], both Higgins and Johnson are being charged as adults. In a court hearing yesterday, prosecutors said the girls had a "fascination" with the 1999 Columbine shooting, and that Johnson had written in her diary that Higgins was "someone who's got what it takes" to execute such an attack and that together they'd be "unstoppable" in making school "a living f*cking nightmare."
ABC 7 [ http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/will-2nd-teen-suspected-in-mountain-vista-high-school-murder-plot-be-charged-as-an-adult ] reports Higgins allegedly used her phone to research female mass shooters and whether or not minors could purchase guns at gun shows. The defense argued having a fascination with guns and Columbine is not a crime: "This is a thought crime, at best," Higgins's lawyer said.
[...]
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a52238/brooke-higgins-sienna-johnson-colorado-shooting/ [with comments]
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Ohio Father Fatally Shoots Son He Mistook for Intruder: Police
Jan 12 2016
by Phil Helsel
Jan 12 2016, 7:29 pm ET
A Cincinnati father accidentally shot and killed his 14-year-old son after he investigated what he thought was a burglary in his home Tuesday, police said.
The fatal shooting happened at around 6:30 a.m., NBC affiliate WLET reported [ http://www.wlwt.com/news/police-on-scene-of-shooting-in-east-price-hill/37387912 ]. The 14-year-old, identified police as Georta Mack, was rushed to Children's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The boy had left for school but quickly returned, unbeknownst to his father. The father grabbed a handgun after he heard a noise in the basement, and the gun fired when he was startled, police told the station.
"These types of tragedies are so horrific, they're even unimaginable," Police Chief Eliot Isaac told reporters.
A friend of the teen said "he always kept a smile, that's what he was known for," and that the boy and his father were close.
"They had a really close bond. His dad would do anything for him," Courizma Williams, who knew Georta, told the station. "His dad always wanted to keep him out of the streets, keep him from being bad — you know, keep him safe."
The name of the father has not been released. Prosecutors will decide whether charges are warranted in the case, WLET reported.
Isaac said that if people are going to keep firearms in their homes, they should get training to use them.
Fifty children between the ages of infant to 14 years old died of what were classified as unintentional firearm causes in 2014, according to the federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. 2014 was the latest year for which data was available.
Some claim federal numbers undercount accidental shooting deaths.
The gun-control group Everytown to End Gun Violence in 2014 [ http://everytownresearch.org/reports/innocents_lost/ ] said it analyzed publicly reported gun deaths from December 2012 to December 2013 and claimed at least 100 children were killed in unintentional shootings during that period. Federal data has that number at 69.
In Florida, a mother fatally shot her 27-year-old daughter in St. Cloud on Dec. 30 after mistaking her for an intruder, NBC Miami reported [ http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Mother-Mistakes-Daughter-as-Intruder-Shoots-Her-Police-363855641.html ].
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-father-fatally-shoots-son-he-mistook-intruder-police-n495111 [with embedded video reports]
*
Police investigate death of teen shot by dad
Patrick Brennan, Cameron Knight and Chris Graves
5:42 a.m. EST January 13, 2016
It was a call that can only be described as wrenching.
"I just shot my son by accident," a distraught father sobbed to a Cincinnati police 911 operator.
"Oh God. Get here quick."
"Please hurry."
The man, believing his 14-year-old son was at school, fatally shot the boy in the neck when he mistook him for an intruder at their East Price Hill home Tuesday morning.
Police say they are investigating the shooting.
The shooting at 1216 Blanchard Ave. occurred around 6:30 a.m. The father, whose name has not been released, had recently dropped his son, Georta Mack, off at the school bus stop but the teen returned home, police said.
After hearing a noise in the basement, the father grabbed a handgun to investigate. Georta startled the man, according to the frantic 911 call, and was accidentally shot in the neck.
Throughout the call Georta's father begs police to hurry, asking God why this has happened. He tells police his son is struggling to breathe as he held a cloth to his neck to slow the bleeding.
Shortly after, he exclaimed that his son stopped breathing.
Georta was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Shortly after 8:15 a.m., the boy was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital.
Police Lt. Steve Saunders says the father is being interviewed by police and has been cooperative.
Neighbors were seen crying as they shared the news of the shooting on snow-covered Blanchard Avenue hours later.
"He's only 14 years old," one woman said through tears.
Neighbors said Georta lived in the home with his 73-year-old father. They said the two seemed to get along well.
Angela Roberts, who has lived in the neighborhood in a friend's home there for about a year, said Georta was a "good kid,'' who would often mow her friend's lawn and help with yard work.
"From everything I knew, he was a pretty good kid."
Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac called the shooting a "terrible, terrible tragedy'' at a press conference Tuesday. "It's unimaginable really.''
?Isaac said the father told police the teen returned home to skip school. Isaac said the teen had some recent trouble at school but did not elaborate.
Isaac said that while owning a gun is an individual choice, that gun owners should be responsible, prepared and well-trained. He also said the everyone in the home should be aware that guns are kept in the home.
Officers were discussing the case with the Hamilton County Prosecutor's office. Isaac said he did not know if the father would be charged in the case [he wasn't - http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/east-price-hill/pd-father-shot-14-year-old-son-in-east-price-hill-thought-he-was-an-intruder (with embedded video report)].
© 2016 www.cincinnati.com
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/01/12/police-teen-mistaken-intruder-shot/78672506/ [with embedded audio of the 911 call and separate video report, and comments]
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Authorities: North Forsyth dad shoots son, 18, in accident while cleaning pistol
January 11, 2016
http://www.forsythnews.com/section/1/article/29131/ [with comment]
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JSO: Father shoots son after argument on the Northside
Jan 4, 2016
http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/jso-reported-aggravated-battery-northwest-jacksonv/40040876 [with embedded video report]
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Pennsylvania girl, 12, killed after father aims gun at constable
Ciara Meyer
[ http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Central-Pa-girl-12-shot-and-killed-by-eviction-dispute.html ]
January 13, 2016
(CNN)—Ciara Meyer stood directly behind her father as he raised a .223-caliber rifle and pointed it at the chest of a constable who'd come to serve an eviction notice at their apartment.
The constable responded with a single shot.
That bullet went through the arm of 57-year-old Donald Meyer and into his 12-year-old daughter, Ciara, killing her.
Meyer now faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report. He was flown to Hershey Medical Center for treatment after Monday's shooting in Perry County.
The man who shot him, Constable Clarke Steele, is "heartbroken" over the incident, his friend and fellow constable Bill Stoeffler told CNN affiliate WPMT-TV [ http://fox43.com/2016/01/12/friend-constable-heartsick-over-shooting-that-resulted-in-girls-death/ ].
"He was put in a position from which he couldn't retreat safely," Stoeffler said of the shooting, calling it "every constable's worst nightmare." "He had no other option, really, than what he did."
Comments on a GoFundMe page set up in Ciara's name -- ostensibly to raise money for her funeral expenses and fund a scholarship focused on domestic violence -- reflected the strong emotions her death elicited. A CNN request to verify the page's authenticity was not immediately confirmed.
Some admonished her father for putting his daughter in harm's way. One man said the constable should have stood down and walked away, saying any money owed wasn't worth it. Most paid tribute to the victim in the tragedy.
"Fly high, sweet angel," one woman wrote of Ciara. "Rest in peace."
Donald Meyer knew the constable was coming, Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert Hicks told WPMT. His family had gotten multiple notifications, with the last making it clear a constable was on the way with an eviction notice.
"When they heard the knock, they knew who it was," Hicks said.
When Steele arrived at 10 a.m. Monday, "the suspect opened the door to the residence and then shut it," according to the police report.
Meyer then reopened the door and, after "a brief exchange of words," leveled a rifle that had been concealed and aimed it at Steele.
"Constable Steele, who was in uniform, quickly removed his .40 caliber duty weapon from its holster and fired a single round," the police report said, noting that employees of the apartment complex witnessed the encounter.
That bullet "shattered the bone in (Meyer's) left arm," Hicks told CNN affiliate WHTM-TV [ http://abc27.com/2016/01/12/police-to-id-victims-of-shooting-near-duncannon/ ], then went into the body of Ciara, who had stayed home sick from school.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the police report.
Investigators recovered the rifle her father had been carrying and found it with "a loaded chamber and a magazine containing 30 rounds."
[...]
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/us/pennsylvania-constable-shoots-girl-dead/ [with embedded video report]
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Bomb and shooting threats target dozens of schools across U.S.
Jan 19, 2016
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-jersey-threat-idUSKCN0UX21C
*
Police investigate threats against schools in six states
Students were evacuated from Spotswood Elementary in Harrisonburg, Va., on Jan. 11 after a bomb threat was called into the school. No device was found in a police search. Schools in six states received threats on Tuesday.
January 19, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/police-investigate-threats-against-schools-in-six-states/2016/01/19/49ffdc92-bee2-11e5-9443-7074c3645405_story.html [with comments]
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
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