Snowflakes in Hell

The clarion call has been sounded, both by the politicians in Philadelphia, and by the Philadelphia media, that the only way we’re going to prevent cop killings on our streets is to pass more gun laws.  The Philadelphia media has spent precious few resources concentrating on the three pieces of human debris that were responsible for the shooting death of Sergeant Liczbinski.  I have managed to obtain complete criminal records for all three of the murderers.

Howard Cain was the trigger man in the Liczbinski murder.  You can see his fifteen page criminal record here.  Let’s look at all the violations of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act that Cain has been arrested for.  Keep in mind we’re only looking at gun charges, since that is what this blog concentrates on.  Over Cain’s criminal career he had thirteen arrests for unlawfully carrying a firearm, that were listed “Nolle Prossed,” meaning the prosecutor chose not to bring charges.  In a further eleven arrests for violations of Pennsylvania’s firearms laws, the charges were either withdrawn or dismissed. In only three cases was he prosecuted and either plead guilty or was found guilty.  On weapons charges alone, he could have done 12 years in prison, in which case he would not have been on the streets to kill a police officer.

You can find Levon Warner’s criminal record here. His is only six pages.  We are happy to see Warner facing three charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and for unlawfully carrying firearms, in his latest arrest for conspiring to murder a police officer, and we do hope Ms. Abraham’s office will make them stick this time. Previously, the Philadelphia DA’s office thrice declined to prosecute Warner for gun law violations. The Philadelphia judicial system chose not to try him for six other violations of Pennsylvania’s gun laws.

And last, but certainly not least, Eric Floyd.  Again, hopefully this time, he’ll actually face weapons charges, in addition to the murder charges.  But again, in 1994, he was arrested for robbery, and the prosecutors declined to prosecute him for carrying firearms illegally in two counts.  Also in 1994, the courts declined to try him for two counts of carrying firearms illegally.

Now keep in mind, I’m only looking at weapons charges.  The rap sheets of these scumbags total twenty six pages, and contains all manner of things that should have kept them off the streets for good.  I think it’s time we had a serious discussion here in Pennsylvania about how absolutely and utterly broken the City of Philadelphia’s criminal justice system is, and talk frankly about things we can do to fix it.  Gun control obviously is not a solution, since the system is currently not using the laws already in the books in prosecutions. The Philadelphia media must not continue to give the politicians a free pass on deflecting blame onto others, and shame on them that it takes bloggers to bring the criminals records of these scumbags into the public light.  The citizens of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania deserve better, and they aren’t getting it from either their political leaders, or from the media.

Before the gun lobby pays attention, asks Jill Porter of the Philadelphia Daily News.  Well, how many indeed?  But we are paying attention, but here’s what we see.  Let’s take a look at Eric Floyd, one of the scumbags who gunned down Sergeant Liczbinski:

The man wanted in the fatal shooting of a Philadelphia policeman failed to show up at a prison halfway house in Erie a year before he walked away from the ADAPPT Treatment Services facility in Reading, state officials said Monday.

Eric D. Floyd, 33, of Philadelphia, who is wanted in the Saturday shooting death of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski in North Philadelphia. also has a criminal record that goes back at least 14 years, according to court records.

Floyd was charged in a robbery in Philadelphia in 1994, then convicted the next year. He spent four years in state prison for the crime.

In 2001 he was charged with a robbery in Lancaster, then convicted of the crime the next year.

Two convictions for armed robbery, and let they him out after a few years.  He quickly disappeared from the halfway house.  So how many indeed Ms. Porter, before we stop blaming the NRA, blaming the guns, and start locking these predators up in prison for a very long time?  Armed robbery isn’t stealing a car, it’s a serious, violent crime.  Who thought that after his first conviction, he should be let out of prison?  How crazy  do you have to be to think letting him out early a second time is a good idea?

The criminal who actually shot Sergeant Liczbinski, Howard Cain, also had a history of armed robbery, but he’s currently taking a dirt nap courtesy of Philadelphia’s finest.  His rap sheet?  Four counts of robbery, carrying firearms without a license, and criminal conspiracy.  What was he doing on the streets?  Especially when he got 10 years in prison for each armed robbery count.

The third suspect, Levon Warner, who the Philadelphia police have in custody, also had previously been convicted of armed robbery, and was sentences to 7 to 15 years.  That was in 1997.  I guess he didn’t end up doing the 15.

Howard Cain, Levon Warner, and Eric Floyd.  These are the people who are responsible for Seargent Liczbinski’s murder.  Making excuses for them by blaming the gun, blaming the NRA, or blaming the law, diverts responsibility for their actions, and cheapens the justifiable outrage over their crimes.  It also takes the pressure off of politicians and judges for not doing everything they can to ensure that criminals like this stay behind bars where they belong.  It should not take the death of a police officer to realize that dangerous men need to be seperated for society, for everyone’s sake.

… how’s that gun ban working for ya?

h/t Of Arms and the Law

Jeff Soyer takes the Philly media and politicians to task over the recent death of a police sergeant.

Police are still looking for the third suspect in the Bank robbery which lead to the murder of a police officer.

Could peripheral vision psychosis be responsible for mass shootings?  It sounds pretty far fetched, but I will definitely tell you, when I was in a cubicle situation where I constantly had people walking by, I found myself to be far more on edge than I’ve been in an office, even though my workplace overall stress level has been a lot higher.  Here’s what the it suggests:

When you create the “special circumstances” so that the startle is attempted many times each hour, for several hours daily, and for many days, the subliminal appreciation of threat eventually colors thought and reason.

Of course, I just found it hard to concentrate on work, but having people walking by all day definitely raised the stress level.  Could it drive some people over the edge?

Reports GunPundit.  Throwing rocks is deadly force, depending on the size of the rock.  I agree with Murdoc:

Murdoc’s weapon of choice to “fend off attackers” at the national border would not leave a “small welt.” But I still don’t think the “human rights activists” would like it.

The use of pepperballs probably makes more sense than paintballs either way.

Gunpundit notes that there are a lot of options for those intent to cause harm on a large scale, many of which are far more deadly than guns.  Joe Huffman has had issues recently with this, and one from today is right around the corner from me here.

Maybe I’m wrong on this one, but I have no plans to contact authorities, because I don’t trust them to deal with the matter with any discretion.  Could be, and likely is, a curious kid.  I could see myself googling similarly with no ill intent when I was in high school.  But in our zero tolerance world, I don’t trust the authorities and school officials to rationally investigate the matter.  I do not wish to be responsible for some family’s broken door, and ransacked house, and, quite likely an expulsion from school.

… to kill a lot of people.  Thankfully the parents didn’t figure junior had just taken up gardening.

Lynne Abraham is actually going after criminals in Phialdelphia.  This is good work from her office, and the kind of thing gun owners will support.  Now we just need judges who will be willing to send these people to prison for a while if they are convicted.  Note that one of these guys falsely reported a burglary to cover his illegal sales.  If the criminals are already reporting their firearms stolen, exactly what is this “Lost and Stolen” law going to do again?

Dave Hardy tells of a story that harkens back to how the militia used to be used, which is a supplement to law enforcement.  I think programs like this are a good thing.  A citizenry that’s playing a more active role in the safety of their own communities is far better than one which expects the government to do everything for them.

The Philadelphia Inquirer are such renowned experts on firearms and legal theory, and they believe this “Lost and Stolen” thing is a no brainer.

Come on gang, this isn’t much to ask. The concept is simple and should be noncontroversial: If you own a handgun that’s lost or stolen, you’re required to report it.

Modest? You bet. This proposal - which brought 10 busloads of Philadelphians to the capital the other week with CeaseFirePA - would help stem the sale of illegal handguns, while not infringing upon anyone’s rights.

As reported in The Inquirer last week, Pennsylvania’s lax gun laws permit traffickers to supply hundreds of weapons each year to the state’s meanest streets, as well as those in New Jersey and other neighboring states.

As I’ve stated several times, the problem with this bill is that it’s meant to reduce the state’s burden when it is unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person has engaged in a straw purchase.  When it’s difficult for the state to meet its burden, it is not, and should not be an acceptable course of action to lower that burden.  That will result in innocent people going to jail, and our system is supposed to protect against that, not encourage it.

If this law passes, there will be people who are victims of thefts, who are unaware of the law, and who have not engaged in any straw purchasing, who will end up being charged under this when they claim their firearms were stolen, after those firearms are later recovered on the streets.   The reason the suburban politicians are all behind this is because upper middle class suburanites all have insurance companies and police departments that are concerned about property crimes.   They won’t think twice about reporting stolen or missing firearms.  It’s the poorer citizen, both rural and urban, who are going to end up being victims twice.  The first time when they had their property stolen, and the second time when they end up charged becuase they didn’t know they had to report it to police.  That is not justice.  That is a travesty, and in a society that proports to care about the rights of the accussed, should not be acceptable practice.

Straw purchasing is already a serious crime, and the state should be held to its burden of proof.  That will mean that sometimes the guilty go free, but that’s generally something we’ve accepted as the cost of living in a free society.  This is a dangerous road the Philadelphia politicians are wanting to go down, and I’m disappointed and outraged that a lot of suburban politicians are willing to go along with this because their constitutents have the money to stay out of trouble.

One Stop Shopping For Stabbin’ Hobos

This time in Tokyo.  Good thing Japan has strict gun laws, someone might have gotten hurt.

Hat Tip to Tam for noticing it

Over at Crime, Guns and Videotape:

In order to buy the four firearms in Illinois, Steven Kazmierczak had to lie on four separate #4473 Firearm Transaction Forms, and his Illinois Firearms Owners Identification Application. That FOID process takes months to complete. Once the FIOD was received Kazmierczak could not take delivery until he had endured the mandated waiting periods for the guns he had already purchased.

It would appear he was prohibited from having a firearm under both federal and IL laws, yet he still managed to get past the many obstacles Illinois throws up against purchasing a firearm, including state licensing, waiting periods, and a host of other controls the Brady Campaign and others say will prevent this kind of stuff.

It doesn’t work, now can we start talking about solutions that will?

Apparently the dad who beat his kid to death over an Xbox has some competition for the vile parent of the year award:

The father of an 18-month-old child is off to jail for four years after being found guilty of using a stun gun on the boy. His reason for using the 100,000-volt Dragonfire, which resulted in muscle damage to the kid’s heart, was because he wanted his son to be “the toughest cage fighter ever.” Yeah, the toughest heart-damaged, cage-fighting 18-month-old ever.

Crazy.

Philadelphia man convicted of murder because he killed his 17 month old daughter over a broken Xbox.

In the Virginia SWAT raid gone wrong which resulted in a homeowner killing an officer. Over at Captain of a Crew of One.

I absolutely believe that Officers have every right to defend themselves and fellow officers, but “suppressive fire?” I don’t suppose any thought of innocent people living next door or walking down the street two blocks over should be any concern to Police officers now should it???

WTFO? Suppressive fire is something you use against an opposing ARMY, not something you use against one guy wh0 may be a criminal…or may just be a guy who thinks you were trying to rob or murder him.

It sounds to me like the cops who think they are an occupying force or invading army are the ones who need to “get their minds right.”

Am I wrong???

No, you’re not. Read the whole thing. I do hope the officer making that comment is unaware of what suppressing fire generally entails, and is merely talking out his ass. If that guy is on a SWAT team, that’s scary indeed.

UPDATE: Radley has more.  Go read.  I also agree about his comments about not making this about individual officers, or about the officer killed.  That an officer was killed because of these poor tactics is a tragedy.  This is a systemic problem in our society that goes beyond individual departments or people.

Dave Hardy has the story.

… this guy “won’t have the balls to try that again!“.   It would appear not.

Anyone listening to Cam’s show last night to listen into The Other Sebastian’s interview got treated to some very poignant background noise.

I’m glad the San Mateo County Sheriff in California has so thoroughly solved actual, real crimes, that they take time out to bust small time poker games.

Police in San Mateo County, California apparently first spent months investigating the small-stakes poker game. From this firsthand account, it looks like a couple of the officers were playing regularly for several weeks before sending in the SWAT team, guns drawn, last week. If California is like most states (and I believe it is), a poker game is only illegal if the house is taking a rake off the top. In this case, it looks like that “rake” was the $5 the extra the hosts asked from each buy-in to pay for pizza and beer.

Police also took a 13-year-old girl out of the home, away from her parents, and turned her over to child protective services. In addition to the charge of running an illegal gambling operation, the hosts are also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Good thing the poor girl was saved before slouching toward an inevitable life of crime.

You know, I don’t even care if the folks involved here were taking money off the top.  Can someone explain to me why this is a crime?  Is illegal gambling worth the trauma of a 13 year old girl getting a gun stuck in her face by a SWAT team and then taken away from her parents?

This is a disgrace.

It’s amazing that this woman wasn’t dead.  Apparently Oregon is the state for Extreme Drunk Driving:

Comer is pictured below in a 2006 mug shot snapped after a prior drunk driving arrest. In that case, her BAC was recorded in the relatively minor .3 range. In November, another Oregon woman, Meagan Harper, was nabbed for drunk driving with an extreme BAC. In her case, Harper’s BAC was measured at .55. Comer’s .72 edges out what TSG has previously identified as the highest BAC we’ve ever seen. That fallen record (.69) was held by Willard Ashley III, an Indiana man who was busted in October 2003. (3 pages)

Wow.

And more importantly, where were they when I was 14?  Geez.  I guess kids today who are hot for the teacher can thank Al Gore for his Internets.

Looks like some bozo with a rifle decided to take some pot shots at a water tower in North Carolina:

Catawba County Sheriff’s deputy Major Coy Reid said the tower appears to have been shot three times with a high-powered rifle. He said authorities believe the shooting took place early Monday morning.

I would have thought water towers would be pretty resistant to small arms fire.  In addition to the shape usually being rather roundish, I would have imagined the metal would need to be thick enough just to contain the water that it could deflect a hit from most projectiles.