Darius Lee

[Knight]

The biggest problem deals with mental health, not guns. Legal system is screwed up. How about punishing gun crimes more heavily? Use a gun, first offense add five years to the punishment; second offense, 20 years; third offense, gets a life sentence.

 

[SLYFOXX1968]

The biggest problem deals with mental health, not guns. Legal system is screwed up. How about punishing gun crimes more heavily? Use a gun, first offense add five years to the punishment; second offense, 20 years; third offense, gets a life sentence.

Agree . But , we do have a problem with Criminal Behavior As Panther has mentioned . What possible motivation led the Killer of Darius to shoot him dead ? Darius was a kid who played BB and it was his outlet . He didn’t go looking to get shot . But , somebody did take his life . Why? That’s the answer I would like investigated . By the way , I’m not in NY so has his killer been arrested and jailed ?

 

[monte]

Agree . But , we do have a problem with Criminal Behavior As Panther has mentioned . What possible motivation led the Killer of Darius to shoot him dead ? Darius was a kid who played BB and it was his outlet . He didn’t go looking to get shot . But , somebody did take his life . Why? That’s the answer I would like investigated . By the way , I’m not in NY so has his killer been arrested and jailed ?

Dont believe Darius was the intended target, not that it makes his death any more or less tragic. Sounds like the story we hear over and over, gunmen shooting in to a crowd with total disregard for who they hit.

 

[Johnny Rapper]

This is a link to a public hearing where the current Lt. Governor of NC spoke to the city council of Greensboro. He was just a concerned citizen at the time, but it is pretty amazing and off the cuff. Very fitting for this discussion IMO.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1vu3P9cP4AhV5D1kFHUZJBfsQtwJ6BAgMEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbBEUlJZg5CY&usg=AOvVaw1GNbagMidZnp0JrD-vYPLH

Excellent.....I love that guy. A listen for everybody.

 

[Johnny Rapper]

If Darius Rice was born in any other wealthy nation besides America he would most likely still be alive. That isn't because we have more mental illness, more criminals, or more violent people. It is because we have more guns and more powerful guns available for sale. We allow Darius Rice and other kids like him to die because we refuse to change that reality.

If Darius was born in another country he would be alive cause other countries are much tougher are crime and criminals. There's good chance the thug who shot him had multiple arrests. In another country he would still be in jail from his first offense. Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

 

[adavis1]

If Darius was born in another country he would be alive cause other countries are much tougher are crime and criminals. There's good chance the thug who shot him had multiple arrests. In another country he would still be in jail from his first offense. Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

Legit one of the stupidest comments I have ever read. Just painfully ignorant and frankly, kind of sad.

 

[Knight]

If Darius was born in another country he would be alive cause other countries are much tougher are crime and criminals. There's good chance the thug who shot him had multiple arrests. In another country he would still be in jail from his first offense. Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

A-holes with guns kill innocent people.

 

[Demo]

As a 74 year old Black Man, I am ashamed to say that this senseless murder highlights what is a significant problem in the Black Community today. If a White policeman had been responsible for the shooting of Darius Lee, Crump, Sharpton, Jackson, and all the other "Fake leaders", would be organizing protests and planning lawsuits. However, none of these so called "Black Activists", want to address "Black on Black" crime. Why, because there is no money to be made, who can they rail against or sue? SMFH.

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution for this problem. Individuals living in certain minority communities, are at risk of being subjected to gang violence every day. If they speak out against what is going on, they put themselves and their families at risk of retaliation.

The only way the violence will stop is with a combined effort of the Mayor, Police Dept., and responsible members of the community.

As a 74 year old Black Man, I am ashamed to say that this senseless murder highlights what is a significant problem in the Black Community today. If a White policeman had been responsible for the shooting of Darius Lee, Crump, Sharpton, Jackson, and all the other "Fake leaders", would be organizing protests and planning lawsuits. However, none of these so called "Black Activists", want to address "Black on Black" crime. Why, because there is no money to be made, who can they rail against or sue? SMFH.

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution for this problem. Individuals living in certain minority communities, are at risk of being subjected to gang violence every day. If they speak out against what is going on, they put themselves and their families at risk of retaliation.

The only way the violence will stop is with a combined effort of the Mayor, Police Dept., and responsible members of the community.

Panter2, I am so glad you addressed this issue. I'm a white man who grew up in East NY Brooklyn and am aware of so many senseless murders within the same community. This is a huge issue! How about taking all that unspent COVID billions of relief funds that were not used and use it to strengthen these communities with an infrastructure so these kids can have an opportunity to succeed.

 

[Johnny Rapper]

Legit one of the stupidest comments I have ever read. Just painfully ignorant and frankly, kind of sad.

You need a reality check. stop living in make believe world and wake up.

 

[Knight]

Stop the back and forth incendiary rhetoric.

 

[NCJohnnie]

May God bless Darius Lee's family and help them through their awful loss. Let's hope Congress continues to work on some bipartisan regulations to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them whether criminals or the very troubled teenagers who are behind most school shootings.

 

[Rocket]

If Darius Rice was born in any other wealthy nation besides America he would most likely still be alive. That isn't because we have more mental illness, more criminals, or more violent people. It is because we have more guns and more powerful guns available for sale. We allow Darius Rice and other kids like him to die because we refuse to change that reality.

I disagree with your assumptions that more guns and "gun sales" in this country are causing record gun deaths (outside of suicide). First, please look at the statistics the from pre-pandemic era.

Countries with the Highest Total Gun Deaths (all causes) in 2019​

1. Brazil — 49,436
2. United States — 37,038
3. Venezuela — 28,515
4. Mexico — 22,116

In Brazil you need to be 25 to buy a gun.
In Mexico there are only TWO state approved locations where you can buy a gun. It is mostly illegal to buy a handgun in Mexico.
In Venezuela everything is controlled by its socialist government yet gun deaths per capita are astronomical.

What do they all have in common?
It is the culture of violence in the poor favelas in Brazil, the violence of drug cartels in Mexico, and in the United States the gang and drug cultures of poor inner city neighborhoods.

By comparison, our gun laws are stricter than most countries. Mexico basically bans the sale of guns.
Just two of those countries above account for almost double the deaths in the United States.

As far as I am concerned the partisan political climate in America drives the media narratives as to the causes of gun deaths. The NRA is barely a factor in the issue.
Truly independent voters see true the rhetorical posturing by both parties.
Democratic mayors deflect the blame for the crime and gun offenses in their cities to insulate themselves from blame. 19 of 20 crime ridden cities have been run by soft on crime Democrat administrations for decades.
These same cities have hamstrung police with the elimination of undercover units, stop and frisk rules, pursuit policies that basically state let the criminals get away if they choose to run, no cash bail policies, soft or no jail sentences, next to zero followup by parole officers and racial politics that hurt the inner city victims by releasing criminals back into their streets to prey on the same victims.
Yes, we have millions of guns but rather than aggressively targeting those who possess these illegal weapons politicians, mostly democrats, spend too much time on the control and registration records of the legal gun owners.
In a sick political way they try to infer that the crimes happening in their democratic controlled inner cities are the fault of the NRA members and Billy Bob and Bubba Jones in the states of Florida, South Carolina and Virginia who are likely Republicans.
The reality in the United States is that open discussion of the problems of the nation is driven by deflecting blame and censoring what really drives the crime statistics.

 

[monte]

Guess it was too much to expect that this thread wouldn't eventually turn political

 

[Rocket]

Guess it was too much to expect that this thread wouldn't eventually turn political

The entire issue of gun violence is political. Please see today's Supreme Court ruling. Once politics becomes neutral to gun control perhaps bipartisan solutions can become a reality.

 

[monte]

The entire issue of gun violence is political. Please see today's Supreme Court ruling. Once politics becomes neutral to gun control perhaps bipartisan solutions can become a reality.

I was the one who first posted on today's ruling, so I am aware of what went down today. And while I don't disagree that the issue is political, turning this thread in to a political argument will only serve to get it locked

 

[Rocket]

I was the one who first posted on today's ruling, so I am aware of what went down today. And while I don't disagree that the issue is political, turning this thread in to a political argument will only serve to get it locked

So you were actually the first to make it political? LOL!
The thread slowly turned into a quasi partisan discussion when the NRA, gun pipelines and other smoke screens started to be root causes rather than criminals.
Frankly, most should have just offered condolences to the family and not become gun control advocates which in turn divides opinions by political ideology.

 

[L J S A]

There's really no way to discuss guns without it becoming political.

Personally, I think there's a simple solution: If you get caught possessing a gun that isn't registered to you, the punishment should be conscription. If you want to play with guns that you don't have a legal right to, we can send you to Ukraine, etc. and you can play with them all you want. maybe we'll even send you to bootcamp beforehand so you don't immediately die.

But honestly, I think the top punishment should be that you get your genitals chopped off. You'd be surprised how persuasive that could be after seeing the first few criminals lose their manhood.

 

[Johnny Rapper]

I disagree with your assumptions that more guns and "gun sales" in this country are causing record gun deaths (outside of suicide). First, please look at the statistics the from pre-pandemic era.

Countries with the Highest Total Gun Deaths (all causes) in 2019​

1. Brazil — 49,436
2. United States — 37,038
3. Venezuela — 28,515
4. Mexico — 22,116

In Brazil you need to be 25 to buy a gun.
In Mexico there are only TWO state approved locations where you can buy a gun. It is mostly illegal to buy a handgun in Mexico.
In Venezuela everything is controlled by its socialist government yet gun deaths per capita are astronomical.

What do they all have in common?
It is the culture of violence in the poor favelas in Brazil, the violence of drug cartels in Mexico, and in the United States the gang and drug cultures of poor inner city neighborhoods.

By comparison, our gun laws are stricter than most countries. Mexico basically bans the sale of guns.
Just two of those countries above account for almost double the deaths in the United States.

As far as I am concerned the partisan political climate in America drives the media narratives as to the causes of gun deaths. The NRA is barely a factor in the issue.
Truly independent voters see true the rhetorical posturing by both parties.
Democratic mayors deflect the blame for the crime and gun offenses in their cities to insulate themselves from blame. 19 of 20 crime ridden cities have been run by soft on crime Democrat administrations for decades.
These same cities have hamstrung police with the elimination of undercover units, stop and frisk rules, pursuit policies that basically state let the criminals get away if they choose to run, no cash bail policies, soft or no jail sentences, next to zero followup by parole officers and racial politics that hurt the inner city victims by releasing criminals back into their streets to prey on the same victims.
Yes, we have millions of guns but rather than aggressively targeting those who possess these illegal weapons politicians, mostly democrats, spend too much time on the control and registration records of the legal gun owners.
In a sick political way they try to infer that the crimes happening in their democratic controlled inner cities are the fault of the NRA members and Billy Bob and Bubba Jones in the states of Florida, South Carolina and Virginia who are likely Republicans.
The reality in the United States is that open discussion of the problems of the nation is driven by deflecting blame and censoring what really drives the crime statistics.

Excellent post.

 

[redmannorth]

I disagree with your assumptions that more guns and "gun sales" in this country are causing record gun deaths (outside of suicide). First, please look at the statistics the from pre-pandemic era.

Countries with the Highest Total Gun Deaths (all causes) in 2019​

1. Brazil — 49,436
2. United States — 37,038
3. Venezuela — 28,515
4. Mexico — 22,116

In Brazil you need to be 25 to buy a gun.
In Mexico there are only TWO state approved locations where you can buy a gun. It is mostly illegal to buy a handgun in Mexico.
In Venezuela everything is controlled by its socialist government yet gun deaths per capita are astronomical.

What do they all have in common?
It is the culture of violence in the poor favelas in Brazil, the violence of drug cartels in Mexico, and in the United States the gang and drug cultures of poor inner city neighborhoods.

By comparison, our gun laws are stricter than most countries. Mexico basically bans the sale of guns.
Just two of those countries above account for almost double the deaths in the United States.

As far as I am concerned the partisan political climate in America drives the media narratives as to the causes of gun deaths. The NRA is barely a factor in the issue.
Truly independent voters see true the rhetorical posturing by both parties.
Democratic mayors deflect the blame for the crime and gun offenses in their cities to insulate themselves from blame. 19 of 20 crime ridden cities have been run by soft on crime Democrat administrations for decades.
These same cities have hamstrung police with the elimination of undercover units, stop and frisk rules, pursuit policies that basically state let the criminals get away if they choose to run, no cash bail policies, soft or no jail sentences, next to zero followup by parole officers and racial politics that hurt the inner city victims by releasing criminals back into their streets to prey on the same victims.
Yes, we have millions of guns but rather than aggressively targeting those who possess these illegal weapons politicians, mostly democrats, spend too much time on the control and registration records of the legal gun owners.
In a sick political way they try to infer that the crimes happening in their democratic controlled inner cities are the fault of the NRA members and Billy Bob and Bubba Jones in the states of Florida, South Carolina and Virginia who are likely Republicans.
The reality in the United States is that open discussion of the problems of the nation is driven by deflecting blame and censoring what really drives the crime statistics.

I apologize for chiming in but you asked what do these countries have in common.
What they all have in common is it is very hard to escape the cycle of poverty that you may be born into , that is the key element. If young people believe in the system, believe they have a chance for a better life, see opportunities for an education, for jobs, for training, they have much less chance of joining a Gang and engaging in violence. In the US the gap between poor and rich is growing wider by the day and there is less of a middle class, the entire world knows this and until something is done about the declining middle class nothing will change.

 

[NCJohnnie]

redmannorth wrote:

I apologize for chiming in but you asked what do these countries have in common.
What they all have in common is it is very hard to escape the cycle of poverty that you may be born into , that is the key element. If young people believe in the system, believe they have a chance for a better life, see opportunities for an education, for jobs, for training, they have much less chance of joining a Gang and engaging in violence. In the US the gap between poor and rich is growing wider by the day and there is less of a middle class, the entire world knows this and until something is done about the declining middle class nothing will change.

Agree with everything RMN said. In addition, we need to distinguish between gun violence among our young people in the cities (which RMN's post is speaking to and I agree with) and random mass shootings which are typically done by very troubled individuals who usually have purchased their guns legally and in the case of school shootings are more often than not done by teenage shooters using assault weapons they should not have access to. The latter can and should be addressed by age limits on the ability to purchase such weapons; I see no fact-based argument against that limited, common sense restriction.