[jdl357]

I thought all guns were banned in Chicago?

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-reed11.html

News
Man charged in shooting that killed girl, 14
March 11, 2006

BY ANNIE SWEENEY AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters

A South Side man was charged Friday with opening fire on an Englewood street last week, aiming for his girlfriend's former boyfriend but hitting and killing a 14-year-old girl as she stood at her living room window, Chicago Police said.

Carail Weeks' intended target was standing in front of Starkesia Reed's home in the 6700 block of South Honore last Friday, Wentworth Area Cmdr. Pat Walsh said. But Weeks missed his target, and his gunfire struck several houses, including the home of the Harper High School honor student, who was inside her living room eating an orange, police said.

Police were still looking for the driver of a car that Weeks was in when he allegedly fired the shots.

Weeks has told investigators he was not involved in last Friday's shooting, saying he was spending time with his mother and was not out on the street either that Friday or Saturday, a law enforcement source said.

But one witness told investigators he was outside with Weeks on Saturday, the source said. On that day, an anxious Weeks pulled out a copy of a Sun-Times article and told the witness that a story about the shooting included a description of the suspect that seemed to match Weeks, the source said. Then, to emphasize the apparent match, Weeks pulled out his identification and showed it to the witness, the source said.

Weeks was carrying that identification when he was arrested, the source said.

The news of charges against Weeks brought some comfort to the Reed family. But the weapon used -- police said they think it was an AK-47 -- stunned Starkesia's oldest brother, Antoine Reed, 25.

Duncan calls for ban

"How can a person get a gun like that?'' said Reed, who is a teacher and coach at nearby Harper. "That is something you take to a war in Iraq. Why would you have something like that walking up and down the street?"

Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan called on legislators in Springfield to stand up to gun lobbying groups and approve a ban on assault weapons such as the AK-47.

"Legislators ... have to have the courage to not be held hostage by the NRA, to get these weapons out of the hands of citizens,'' Duncan said at a news conference called to announce the charges against Weeks.

Weeks has been arrested at least seven times, according to court records, including for drug possession and other minor offenses, but he was not known to police as being particularly violent or troublesome in the Englewood neighborhood, police said.

Immediately after the shooting, investigators focused on whether gang affiliations in the neighborhood were involved.

But Walsh said Friday that Weeks' girlfriend had an argument with her former boyfriend -- and Weeks shot at him in retaliation.

When asked if this was over a girl, Walsh said, "Simply put, yes."

However, one law enforcement source said the investigation into exactly why Weeks fired was still open.

No matter what the motive, Antoine Reed said the damage is already done to his family.

"My sister ain't coming back,'' he said. "We've just been praying. And as long as we keep on praying ... God's in control."

The Englewood community has a history of gang and drug activity, but Starkesia's shooting still upset many people there. Several rallies were held during the week to remember the teen -- a JROTC member at Harper and dancer at her church -- and also to urge people with information to come forward.

Walsh credited the community with apparently helping solve the crime: "I think the good citizens of the city saw that an innocent 14-year-old girl was shot, and they took a stand."

Contributing: Lisa Donovan

[Remington788]

Maybe I need a tinfoil hat, but don't you think it strange that there just happens to be a push for the ban of "assault weapons" and then something like this happens. :scrutiny:

[SaintofKillers]

WHat you didnt know about the Chicago PDs gang membership??


Everytime an assault weapon ban comes up in Springfield and gets shot down this happens. EVERYTIME.

No tinfoil hat required.

This is the exact reason why I am leaving this state.

The key line in the story-the guy has been arrested 7 times previously. I am sure he is an upstanding citizen that walked into the local gunshop FOID in hand and bought the weapon legally.

[DKSuddeth]

check that foil beanie......didn't you know that the rumor about Daley and the mafia is most likely more than just a rumor?:what:

[whm1974]

"Legislators ... have to have the courage to not be held hostage by the NRA, to get these weapons out of the hands of citizens,'' Duncan said at a news conference called to announce the charges against Weeks.

AKs in the hands of citizens are not the problem. Crimenals are the problem.

-Bill

[Old Fuff]

But the weapon used -- police said they think it was an AK-47

It really doesn't matter, but if they haven't recovered the gun, why do they "think" is was an AK-47??? Empty 7.62 x 39mm brass (if they found any) could point toward any number of different rifles... :uhoh: :scrutiny:

But of course, in Chicago any shooting must involve an AK-47... :rolleyes:

[whm1974]

Empty 7.62 x 39mm brass (if they found any) could point toward any number of different rifles...

Yes, but the most common rifle chambered for 7.62x39mm in the US happends to be the AK...

-Bill

[Remington788]

Yes, but the most common rifle chambered for 7.62x39mm in the US happends to be the AK...

I would think the SKS would be more common, being cheaper and all.

[Don Gwinn]

1. Yes, Cook County has an "assault weapons ban." It does outlaw the AK-47 and most variants (maybe all?)

2. The head of Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence has a letter to the editor of a bunch of papers this week claiming that police recovered 29 rounds from 7 buildings. His point, of course, was that only a bullet-spraying Evil Assault Weapon (tm) would do such a thing--if the shooter had taken careful aim and squeezed off a shot or two from a double-barreled bird gun, the victim would still be alive.

If that's true, I'm sure the police are assuming that the shooter didn't reload and was probably using a 30-round magazine. That makes the AK the most likely weapon.

[mrmeval]

I thought the Ruger mini-14 was the most prolific 7.62x39 rifle?

[migoi]

it would be a Mini-30.

migoi

[Matthew748]

Hmm, lets see here. An innocent bystander is killed by a criminal, underscoring the fact that, despite their best efforts, the government and its agents cannot guarantee everyone's safety. The offered response is tool ban tools that law abiding citizens can use for self defense. Brilliant logic.

[horge]

Brilliant logic.

I thought we had a corner on that, this side of the Pacific...
:(

[Standing Wolf]

Maybe Illinois should try to control criminals, which do commit crimes, rather than firearms, which don't.

Naaagh! Too logical an approach. Sorry.

[crazed_ss]

Sigh... sad.

This is exactly what set in motion the AW ban here years ago. 1 guy does something stupid and ends up ruining it for everyone else because the sheeple hear "AK-47" or "Assault Weapon/Rifle" and automatically think they're some kinds of super killing machines.

People watch to many movies.

[whm1974]

AK-47" or "Assault Weapon/Rifle" and automatically think they're some kinds of super killing machines.


Some people get amazed after I explain to them how "weak" the 7.62x39mm is in comparson to 30-06, 308 Win, etc. And some of these guys thought that AK bullets were BIG!

-Bill

[crazed_ss]

hehe yeah...
That's why I like having a SKS and my Remington 710. When I get antis over the house, I show them the difference between .30-06 and 7.62x39.. they're always like "Oh.. wow".

I'd be much more afraid of a madman going crazy with a scoped bolt-action "hunting" type rifle in .30-06 than some person firing 7.62 indiscriminatley from an "Assault" type rifle

[LAR-15]

Chicago DOES have it's own semi-automatic ban.

It also bans any 50 caliber firearm except maybe antiques.

You could prolly find the exact text in the Chicago city code.

[panzermk2]

Maybe Illinois should try to control criminals, which do commit crimes, rather than firearms, which don't.

Then King Richard would loose all of his employees at city hall and his entire voting block

[One of Many]

The article sounds like the Police have not recovered the weapon used; that means they have no fingerprints to match, and no ballistics match either. The article does not indicate that there are reliable witnesses that place the alleged shooter at the scene; they have a possible motive for the alleged shooter, but little else. They have not found the driver, so presumably they have not found the car either.

This may be one of those cases where the police assume a particular person is guilty, and try to find enough circumstantial evidence to convict; they do not always have an open mind to consider that someone else may be guilty, and look for evidence to support that.

From most news accounts of murders, the standard assumption by police is that the person was killed by a family member, domestic partner, or close acquaintance; that is where almost all of the effort to locate evidence is directed. In this case, they have assumed that the intended victim had a secondary relationship with the shooter, and went looking for the person using a description that could match to a large number of people.

I wouldn't want to be a man in those circumstances; if you can't prove your innocence, you go to jail, even if you had nothing to do with the crime. That is why we read about people being found innocent after spending 20 or more years in jail; DNA evidence has let innocent men loose from jail, that were in the wrong place at the wrong time, circumstances were the strongest evidence against them, and no other suspects were investigated.

I am not saying that this man did not do this shooting; he may have, but there is no reason to believe he did based on the story that was published.

[whm1974]

From most news accounts of murders, the standard assumption by police is that the person was killed by a family member, domestic partner, or close acquaintance; that is where almost all of the effort to locate evidence is directed.

You are still be far more likly to be murdered by someone you know then a complete stranger.

-Bill

[DonP]

They had another 11 year old child killed by stray gunfire over the past weekend too.

The Chicago Police immediately announced that she was also "killed by an assault weapon and we need to ban these tools of death to stop this sluaghter of children". Then they trotted out the local ministers to rant and rail against these deaths and the need to outlaw these evil guns.

How the cops knew, even before they had taped off the crime scene, what weapon was used was just amazing. Even my wife asked, "how could they know what kind of rifle they used, or even if it was a rifle so quickly?"

Neither the cop spokesperson nor the ministers said a single word on TV about the drug gangs that were shooting at each other over turf, or the fact that the weapons they were describing have been banned in c(r)ook county for years.

They didn't mention the shooters previous convictions or arrests for drug dealing or even for gun crimes in Illinois or cook county (I'm SURE he had a valid FOID card).

It's much easier to blame an inanimate object for the problem on camera, rather than admit that you have failed to control your own children and your community. Or that you have accepted a culture of young, single parent households where getting an education and helping your children improve their opportunities is not a priority as normal.

They couldn't wait to roll in the blood of these casualties of the Chicago gang turf wars.

I'm also sure, that with their usual sensitivity and honesty, the Brady bunch will have a press release out "mourning" the deaths by these tools of the devil.

[sctman800]

I read about these shootings this morning on www.concealcarry.org and I noticed what might be a new trend in blaming the weapons. Two places in these articles besides blaming the guns and the NRA for the shootings and calling for an AWB in Illinois, used the expression, (semi-automatic weapons too easily can be converted to automatic weapons.)
Yes this is true for some weapons but that is allready illegal just like making pipe bombs or driving an SUV into a crowd of people. Jim.

[mp510]

And of course 7.62x39 can also come from TC Contenders, Brazilian break barrels, and various bolt actions....

[PCGS65]

It's illegal to posses any firearm in chicago(cook county)......unless your an aldermen!! Makes me want to know why chicago aldermen need a firearm for protection and we don't?????????

[Don Gwinn]

Possession of registered long guns (other than "assault weapons") is legal in Chicago, is it not?

[K-Romulus]

From the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0603100127mar10,1,6476608,print.story

Corruption killed Starkesia Reed

Fear kept Washington officials from standing up to the NRA

By Ronald S. Safer

March 10, 2006

We are focused these days, and rightly so, on public officials whose self-serving acts of corruption victimize American citizens. All well and good--provided we don't lose sight of an equally insidious, equally intractable, equally endemic form of corruption: the corruption that killed Starkesia Reed, a 14-year-old freshman honor student at Chicago's Harper High School. You've read about Starkesia. She was struck down by a stray bullet from a high-powered assault weapon last Friday morning as she stood in the sanctity of her own home.

I don't absolve the killer who fired the weapon. I think I earned my anti-street-crime bona fides as a federal prosecutor. But the killer had a big assist from Congress and our president. In 2004, those so-called public servants let lapse the federal law that banned assault weapons like the one that evidently killed Starkesia. Tuesday's Tribune reported that law enforcement sources have concluded that the shooter sprayed 29 rounds, hitting seven other houses on the stretch of South Honore Street where Starkesia lived.

It is now lawful for companies to manufacture, sell and distribute these weapons. And it is lawful for a person to buy an assault weapon if he or she is not a felon.

Why did the president and Congress allow these weapons to again fill our streets?

Not because the law banning assault weapons was unpopular; poll after poll shows that the public favors gun control, particularly a ban on assault weapons.

Not because lawmakers and the president wanted to support law enforcement; most police unions and law enforcement organizations that spoke to the issue in 2004 favored renewing the ban. That made sense. Officers and agents are tired of being outgunned by criminals.

Not to protect the rights of hunters. I know of no deer or duck hunters who use assault rifles.

Not to allow people to protect their homes. It is the rare homeowner who goes to bed with an Uzi under his pillow.

And, most chilling, not because they didn't know that Starkesia Reed would have her precious life taken by one such weapon. They knew.

They did not know her lyrical name and they did not know the date: March 3, 2006. But they knew that legions of innocent children have been cut down in the crossfire of drive-by shootings.

Those drive-bys are precisely what these semi-automatic weapons--many of them convertible to automatic--are designed to execute. They're efficient, capable of quickly spraying a broad area with lethal bullets. Anyone in that area--an intended victim or a bystander like Starkesia--risks extermination.

Our elected officials in Washington, D.C., knew. They had to know. And they let it happen. Why?

Corruption. They weren't bribed by a gang. This corruption is more subtle. They were corrupted by fear. The National Rifle Association opposed the ban on assault weapons--just as it indiscriminately opposes any legislation to ban ammunition such as armor-piercing bullets that are designed to penetrate the supposedly bulletproof vests of law enforcement officers.

What do NRA leaders have that corrupts these politicians? Votes? Absolutely not. Their members are decidedly in the minority on the assault weapon issue.

They do, though, have money. Cold cash. And organization. They can withdraw the grease that lubricates the re-election machine of members of Congress. They can support a congressman's opponent with impressive resources. They are disciplined, single-issue-oriented and relentless in their opposition to anyone who has the audacity to suggest any weapon or ammunition controls be implemented.

I understand the politicians' concern. When I wrote an op-ed piece before the assault weapons ban lapsed, urging Congress to renew it, I received approximately 1,000 e-mails from NRA members. One was careless enough to attach the e-mail from an NRA leader who had forwarded my e-mail address to the organization's members and urged them to let me know how "alone" I was in my viewpoint.

The membership dutifully responded. Some of these e-mails were thoughtful and interesting. Some were threatening and criminal. (I concluded that the people who wrote the latter messages had skipped over the 1st Amendment to the Constitution in their haste to distort the 2nd. But I suspect they could name every member of the Simpson family.)

But remember, I am a harmless and powerless voice. I can only imagine the resources the NRA can train on those with the power to protect children like Starkesia against these weapons of slaughter.

Until we change our political system so that sound ideas rather than 30-second ads bought by private contributions decide our elections, we will have to rely on the courage of our elected officials to keep our children safe. I suppose even a brave lawmaker could ask, "What good would it do for me to act on this issue if it results in my being voted out of office and losing power?"

My response would be: "What good is being in office if it gives you the power to save the life of Starkesia Reed and all those who will tragically follow, yet you choose not to exercise it?"

That failure to act ratifies the corruption. The corruption that cost Starkesia Reed her young life.

----------

During the 1990s, then-Assistant U.S. Atty. Ronald S. Safer headed the Justice Department's prosecution of Chicago's Gangster Disciples.

[DonP]

The Sun Times and Tribune had virtually identical articles.

I wrote both papers and the writers they had listed. Surpisingly I got a quick and frankly honest response from one of the authors.

Here is my Letter:

Englewood Tragedy: Here we go again!

The recent deaths by gang gunfire of two young girls is tragic in any context. But to use these deaths to further an obvious political agenda, specifically gun control, is even more tragic and frankly disgusting.

Let me try and understand the point of view, regarding the tragic Englewood shootings, that caused a Sun Time report and an official police spokesperson both to "urge a weapons ban". By that they really mean another weapons ban, I'm sure.

Unless he's been in a cave for the last 20 years, the police spokesperson certainly knows that both of the weapons they are talking about in these crimes, the Tec-9 and the AK-47, have been banned and illegal in the City of Chicago for years. I'm going to go out on a limb here and bet that the gang shooters probably didn't have a valid FOID card either and didn't buy that gun at a Federal Firearms Licensed dealer and file a federal form 4473?

So how is another banning of another specific class of semi-automatic rifle, like the AR-15, commonly used for competitive long distance high-power competitive shooting in Illinois, and 49 other states, going to stop gang bangers from shooting up the streets of Englewood?

Are you so naive that you really think another law will somehow magically reduce the flow of weapons to street gangs? No, the price on each gun will go up a few hundred dollars, and so will the cost of the drugs they sell to their willing customers.

Or are you, "if it only saves one child's life" people? If that's your point of view, then you'd better ban 5 gallon buckets and backyard swimming pools. According to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta they account for far more children's deaths than firearms in this country, by a ratio of 7 to 1 or better.

The answer is that another gun ban, to put on top of the ones you already have in Chicago, will once again have no impact on the gang members that are already ignoring a host of laws, gun and otherwise, to control their drug territory. It will just give the politicians, cops and ministers another photo-op and make it difficult for a lot of law abiding folks south of I-80 to participate in a legal sport they enjoy.

Where's the demand to enforce the laws already on the books for guns and drug dealing, the demand for the community to turn in the gang members by name right now?

Here's a radical idea punish the people that actually committed the crime and focus community energy and anger on the criminal, not the particular tool they chose. It would be nice, just once, to hear a minister or other community spokesperson stand up after one of these tragedies and say, "People, our problem is not necessarily with the weapons that are brought into our community by these criminals. It is with the hard and uncaring hearts that we allowed to grow up among us, while we as a community ignored their need for direction and discipline". I'm not going to wait for that speech anytime soon.

The thousands of legal gun owners in Illinois are getting tired of seeing tired and trite gun control solutions proposed, almost weekly, to shootings that have a root cause in the community. Banning the specific guns will have zero impact on the drug trade at the base of this violence. For background see the 2004/2005 CDC study on gun control and it's impact on crime.

(The bottom line was the independent CDC determined that after 20 years of various Federal and Local gun control programs there was no measurable impact on crime.)



And here is the response I got from the article's author:

Hi Don,

Believe me, as the daughter of a card-carrying NRA member and competitive target shooter, I understand your position.

For what it's worth, I did hear members of the community express a lot of frustration about black on black violence, too. I tried to get some of that across in the story. Basically, what you had yesterday was a giant blame game. Cops were blamed. Guns were blamed. Gangs were blamed.

Anyway, I appreciate your taking the time to write. And you're always welcome to submit your views as a letter to the editor for publication.

Thanks,

[orionengnr]

"It is now lawful for companies to manufacture, sell and distribute these weapons. And it is lawful for a person to buy an assault weapon if he or she is not a felon."

I sure would like to see where that one could have gone.

[crazed_ss]

Does anyone ever find articles like this painful to read?

The ignorance is so amazing. Why cant we get an op-ed piece published to rebut things like this. Most of the stuff written in that article is twisting words or just plain incorrect.

People read this crap and have no choice but to believe it because no one has educated them about the truth.