Just Sayin': Guns

These are facts; they are not all of the facts because then this post might have gone on for several pages, but these are facts: people with guns kill people.

January 1, 2014:

• A 17-year-old boy was shot in the face with a pellet gun while trying to buy marijuana in Des Moines, Iowa.
• A 43-year-old woman was shot in the shoulder as her husband was cleaning his gun in Glendale, California.

January 2, 2014:

• A 22-year-old woman was shot at a Lowe’s store in Cheyenne, Wyoming when another customer’s handgun fell out of its holster.
• A 12-year-old boy was shot in the arm and stomach by his 22-year-old cousin as the two played with a semi-automatic pistol in Taylor, Texas.
• A 14-year-old girl accidentally shot herself in the leg at a gun range in Merritt Island, Florida.
• A 15-year-old boy was shot in the head when his hunting partner’s rifle accidentally fired in Chickasaw County, Mississippi.
• Ruth Bateman Clay, 90, was killed when a bullet went through her bedroom wall, striking her while she sat in her wheelchair in her home San Antonio, Texas.
• Rosendo Ortiz, 34, was wounded in a drive-by shooting in Greenacres, Florida.
• January 3, 2014:
• A 35-year-old man was shot with a pump shotgun wielded by his wife, who mistook him for a burglar breaking into their vehicle in San Tan Valley, Arizona.
• A man in his 50s was killed in a drive-by shooting north of downtown San Antonio, Texas.
• Two men were wounded in a drive-by shooting at Sweet Daddy’s Bar and Grill in Lexington, Kentucky.
• Two 18-year-old men were shot and wounded at a party in Henderson, Nevada.
• A sleeping woman was wounded when a bullet pierced a window in her home in Phoenix, Arizona.
• Vallesha Boles, 23, was shot and wounded after she fought with a man who asked about her sexual orientation at a gas station in Little Rock, Arkansas.

January 4, 2014

• Elizabeth Blevins, 85, was shot and killed in Lexington, Kentucky; her husband, 88-year-old John Blevins, has been charged with murder.
• An 11-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were wounded when someone knocked on the front door of their home and opened fire in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• A 15-year-old boy, shot and wounded while riding a bicycle in Orange County, Florida, managed to ride to his uncle’s house before collapsing early Saturday.
• Iquan Williams, 16, was shot and killed at a party in Brooklyn, New York, hours after his brother read on Facebook that someone would bring a gun to the party.
• A 31-year-old woman and her 9-year-old son were found shot and wounded in a car in Durham, North Carolina.
• A 32-year-old woman was shot and wounded and a 21-year-old woman was assaulted at a home in Pomona, California.
• Two men, 25 and 55, were shot and critically wounded while standing on a sidewalk in Chicago, Illinois.
• A 22-year-old man was wounded in a drive-by shooting in Chicago, Illinois.
• A 23-year-old man was killed when someone opened fire as he sat on the front porch of a home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Timothy Davison, 28, was shot and killed in an apparent road rage incident along Interstate 81 near Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

January 5, 2014:

• A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in Chicago, Illinois.
• Jerry Digman, a former Arkansas state trooper and the chief ranger for Arkansas State Parks and Tourism, was shot and killed in Roland, Arkansas; his wife, Pamela was arrested.
• Sharefe Cummings, 27, was shot twice and critically injured in Orange, New Jersey.
• Two men, 17 and 20, were critically wounded when gunfire erupted in the courtyard of a Wilmington, Delaware apartment complex.
• A 26-year-old man was killed, and a 20-year-old man and two women, 18 and 19, were wounded in a shooting during a party in Erie, Pennsylvania.
• A man was shot and killed at a Shell Station in Miami Beach, Florida.
• A man in his 20s was found shot and wounded in the front yard of a home in Hacienda Heights, California.
• A woman who works at a convenience store in Lawton, Oklahoma was shot in the face and seriously injured during a robbery.
• One person was killed and two others were injured in a drive-by shooting at an apartment complex in Orlando, Florida.

January 9, 2014:

• A 17-year-old student was shot at Liberty Technology Magnet School in Jackson, Tennessee.

January 14, 2014:

• Two students were shot at Berrendo Middle School in Roswell, New Mexico.

January 17, 2014:

• One student was shot at Albany High School in Albany, Georgia.
• Two students were shot at Delaware Valley Charter Elementary in Philadelphia.

January 20, 2014:

• At Widener University, a small college near Philadelphia, a student was shot and injured.

January 21, 2014:

• At Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, Andrew Boldt, 21, a teaching assistant, was stabbed and shot to death in an engineering building classroom. Cody Cousins has been charged with the murder.

January 24, 2014:

• South Carolina State University was locked down for several hours after a fatal shooting outside a dormitory left one student dead.

January 25, 2014:

• A gunman carrying "a large amount of ammunition" and apparent makeshift explosives killed two workers at a Columbia, Maryland, mall before turning a shotgun on himself.

Why do I post this?

A bill is headed to our governor, Nikki Haley, this week that will allow South Carolinians licensed to carry concealed firearms to carry guns into bars and restaurants as long as they do not drink.

Designated shooters, I guess.

The bill passed the South Carolina House by a 90-18 vote and it is expected that Nikki Haley, who Tweeted a picture of the gun she got for Christmas for being a “good girl”, will sign the bill.

Now, I am not a gun person; I’ve said that time and again on this blog. But there are too many guns in this country and not enough regulation. I mean, we need instruction, training, testing and a license to drive a car for god’s sake, but a gun you can get with a snap of your fingers.

I don’t want guns taken from responsible gun owners, but I want guns taken from criminals; I want people who sell guns illegally, without background checks, to be arrested and punished. I want people who are mentally unstable not to be allowed to buy guns.

If I have to keep licensing myself to drive a car, why aren’t gun owners being checked regularly to make sure they still have the mental capabilities to carry a gun?

As I’ve said before, if you own a gun, you intend to use it, so let’s make sure you know what you’re doing.

Just sayin’.