First: This is an OLD number…I would venture to say it’s higher now, but when playing the debate game, I would personally want to use current stats. I’d be interested to know how many personal firearms were responsible for deterring and/or eliminating a threat. Owning and using a gun is a huge responsibility and it would also be interesting to know how many of these accidents were caused by guns that come from a responsible home.
You wrote:
Next, you mentioned “No criminal would dare have attacked Ms Hawk if he thought he would have been killed by armed neighbors or by her.” Perhaps some criminals might have had such a thought, but “no criminal”? I disagree. It is public knowledge that so many New Orleans resident already own and/or have guns in their possession. Did this function as a deterrent in Ms Hawk’s case? So, regardless of whether or not the perpetrator knew (or didn’t know) that Ms Hawk had a gun, assuming this was a sensible perpetrator, he might have considered the possibility that a gun might have come into play and been deterred. Secondly, if the perpetrator is a heavy drug or alcoholic user, it’s possible that he (if, in fact, it is a he) might not have had the foresight to consider his personal well being, or he might be so desensitized or indifferent as to not care if he was shot at. Thirdly, perhaps the person wasn’t a criminal prior to the moment of Ms Hawk’s murder. It may have been committed during a moment of impassioned anger or during a mentally ill episode.

Very good point….but if Jessie had had a means of protection, she may still be with us. The “what if” isn’t easily debatable here on either side. Protection is a personal choice and being prepared is wise.

Just my thoughts.

I attempted to share a thoughtful point-of-view about firearms and their use, but in return I feel I got a myopic and reactionary conservative dishing out insults and assuming that, like himself, every other registered and trained person with a firearm is rational, qualified, and will handle a gun as responsibly and rationally as he.

The fact is that, not unlike an automobile, guns are put into the hands of both responsible and irresponsible people. And even when a gun is in the possession of responsible people, it is not uncommon that an irresponsible person is able to get their hands on it and do harm. But that aside, there are too many cases of a responsible person with a gun making a horrible error in judgment that results in innocent lives lost.

I would rather look through and beyond the symptoms of our social ills, getting nearer to understanding the root problems behind violent crime, one being the lack of parental qualifications many parents have before bringing a innocent child into this world. I would much rather get closer to the source of our problem, to encourage our public education system to adopt a policy of teaching our teens about the many challenges, sacrifices, responsibilities, expenses, and extensive planning inherent to raising a child. This, I think, would be equal to the importance of teaching our children about safe sex and abstinence as well as self-defense and first-aid techniques.

Now allow me to challenge you on a few other points:

You said, “For hundreds of years this country was safe.” I can safely assume that many other Americans - be they Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese Americans, women, blue collar workers, homosexuals, and more recently, Muslims - would boldly disagree with you on this point.

Next, you said, “In the 1960�s we saw the dissolution of family, the brainwashing and deliberate dumbing down of America, an erosion of all of our constitutional rights, and the anti gun drumbeat echoed by YOU.” I’m afraid I wasn’t old enough in the 1960s to take personal responsibility for the anti-gun drumbeat. Nonetheless, as for the dissolution of the family and dumbing down of Americans, much of that can be blamed on the proliferation of anti-relationship building activities. These include, but are not limited to the mindless distractions, entertainment, and commercials provided through television, a divisive media that promotes an unchallenging and agenda driven viewpoint, families moving from the cities out to the suburbs, an infrastructural reliance on (and too much time spent in) the automobile, both parents being encouraged to work to support a typical Western consumer and material lifestyle, family members moving long distances from one another, our nutrition being increasingly derived from processed, modified, and fast foods, the dissolution of the extended family and a supportive surrounding community, and finally the ever changing definition of what the term “family” means.

As a side note, when you mentioned the dissolution of the family, I think you meant a family of the “Nuclear” variety, which only existed, at least in a dominant sense, for twenty to thirty years. Prior to WWII families were more often considered multi-generational clans and tribes that lived in proximity to one another rather than being defined moreso by immediate blood ties.

As for your comment about the erosion of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson said, “No society can make a perpetual Constitution… The Earth belongs always to the living generation.” I would go two steps further to suggest that future generations and the generations of other living beings be given rights in this living Constitution. But this aside, one of these early erosions to the Constitution (being the Second Amendment) seems clear enough to me when stating, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” So though, out of context, it seems to give an individual the right to keep and bear Arms, I’m pretty sure that they are supposed to be part of a well regulated Militia (which would be our State’s National Guard. Besides this, I’m quite certain that by Arms our founding fathers were referring to one bullet muskets. By 1787’s standards, today’s weapons and ammunition might be comparable to Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Nonetheless, perhaps in the case of cities, like New Orleans, that are dealing with the already present effects of a broken system, a Citizen’s Guard should be established. This would be a pared down version of the National Guard, where a geographic district should be able to choose to form a collective of armed volunteer citizens who are thoroughly screened, trained, and made accountable to as well as actively part of a democratically elected city Militia oversight committee.

Next, you mentioned “No criminal would dare have attacked Ms Hawk if he thought he would have been killed by armed neighbors or by her.” Perhaps some criminals might have had such a thought, but “no criminal”? I disagree. It is public knowledge that so many New Orleans resident already own and/or have guns in their possession. Did this function as a deterrent in Ms Hawk’s case? So, regardless of whether or not the perpetrator knew (or didn’t know) that Ms Hawk had a gun, assuming this was a sensible perpetrator, he might have considered the possibility that a gun might have come into play and been deterred. Secondly, if the perpetrator is a heavy drug or alcoholic user, it’s possible that he (if, in fact, it is a he) might not have had the foresight to consider his personal well being, or he might be so desensitized or indifferent as to not care if he was shot at. Thirdly, perhaps the person wasn’t a criminal prior to the moment of Ms Hawk’s murder. It may have been committed during a moment of impassioned anger or during a mentally ill episode.

Regardless of the statistics, my common sense dictates that, irregardless to the words written by a few wealthy, old, white men on an ancient document, be it the Bible or the US Constitution, I believe that decisions made from fear result in hastily made decisions that may further provoke an even deadlier reaction. Confronting violence with more violence creates more problems and heartbreak than any family or community should have to deal with.

Though 911 was on a completely different scale, and in retrospect, there are still many lessons to be learned, if it has taught Americans at least one thing, it should be that enormous decisions made in haste may result in some of the most horrible and long-lived of consequences.

Anyhow, you asked for some facts, so though there are also many statistics that will back up your argument, here are a few to back up my assertions:

“Less than 1% of all homicides among school-aged children (5-19 years of age) occur in or around school grounds or on the way to and from school.” (Centers for Disease Control, 1997)

“American children are more at risk from firearms than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, firearms killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States.” (Centers for Disease Control)

In 1995, Firearms accounted for 1,400 (1.5%) of fatal accidents, 181 were children 14 years or younger. (”ILA Research & Information Division Fact Sheet.” National Rifle Association of America � Institute for Legislative Action � Research & Information Division, 3/1/98. Source Cited: The National Center for Health Statistics.)

“Faulty records enable terrorists, illegal aliens, and criminals to purchase guns. Over a two and a half-year period, at least 9,976 convicted felons and other illegal buyers in 46 states obtained guns because of inadequate records.” (Broken Records, Americans for Gun Safety Foundation)

There is additional information at the following links:
http://www.neahin.org/programs/schoolsafety/gunsafety/statistics.htm
http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

I also invite you to visit my online gallery at http://www.flickr.com/photos/culturesubculture/collections so that you and others know that I am one of those who is actively seeking to provide information about New Orleans’ recent struggles and its unique culture as well as participate, just like yourself, in a dialogue that will promote a tighter community and a safer New Orleans.

Because New Orleans is buried so very deep in political indifference and systemic corruption I too believe it is up to the citizens to take to the streets and promote an active role in combating crime while, over time, systematically addressing the underlying social, economic, and political ills that exacerbate crime, violence, mental illness, and moral detachment. I can’t say that I have the solutions, but in contrast to some of the views above, I do not agree with the idea of arming our citizens, however well trained. Firearms get stolen and misused. And more often than not, when it comes to that crucial moment, emotions override rationale. Additionally, because different people practice differing levels of responsibility, accessibility of these weapons often end up in the hands of untrained innocents. At any scale, violence generally begets more violence.

In my opinion, the system is completely broken. Every level of our systems of government, economy, and media needs to be disassembled, broken down to its most fundamental components. This is so that WE may take responsibility for what follows, by taking an active role in rebuilding our society from the ground up, to make certain that our voices and actions are not only heard, but acted upon.

Guns may offer comfort to the reactionary person, and perhaps even provide a short term solution to dull the symptomatic pain of our societal ills, but it will ultimately result in a profusion of future problems. In contrast, I believe we need to begin to consider and address the root problems and put into practice measures toward long term solutions.

In editorial, after editorial, after news article after show, there are complaints about the mayor, the cops, the politicians, the schools. Never, never once, have I seen any complaints about parents. Parenting in certain segments of the population, a certain culture is DISMAL. It is a culture of violence and indifference to children, who are harangued, harrassed, slapped and beaten, screamed at, cursed and ignored. Am I lying? We have all heard and seen it. When kids aren’t nurtured and loved, allowed to explore, they never develop a conscience. They are always waiting for an outside correction. That is why more and more “criminal justice” provides no deterrent. These people just don’t care.There is no morality in this segment of the population. Getting something for nothing is desirable. Stealing is a way of life. Self control, delayed gratification is non-existent. Because these people never developed a healthy self-esteem, they flip if their ego is bruised, go for a gun. This place will never get better if the piss poor quality of parenting in some areas is not addressed.
Ms. Hawke will not be just another murder victim. Her memory will be treasured.

@Lititgator. I agree. I own many guns, and I’m trained to use them. Citizens patrol sounds good, but until the system can keep people behind bars we’re screwed. We’d literally have to “shoot to kill” every criminal in order to keep them from getting back on the streets. Which, I’m not entirely against. *sarcasm*

As for Pissed Off L. Since this is still America and we still have the 2nd Amendment in New Orleans, the answer to our crime problem is the same as our answer to our flood problem: We need to take care o ourselves.

We need to all get a gun, and learn how to use it. We should form neighborhood groups and patrol our own streets. I guarantee the crime problem will end overnight.

As Americans have relied on Da Guvment to “do for ” them, they have become helpless. This is a lesson we in NOLA know better than anywhere in this bewildered country. An city of armed citizens who care about each other will end crime and get governement criminals to start thinking twice about failing in their duties for which “services” we pay dearly.

This isn’t Deadwood. There are not people killing each other on the street corners every fifteen minutes, in broad daylight. Like most crimes, these things happen out of sight, under cover of darkness, and many are crimes on criminals. Still, it’s out of control.

We do not all carry guns. A carry permit is reasonably difficult to get, and even if it were not, this city is way to friendly for that kind of mind set. Also, were we to start vigilante justice here, we would be no better than the killers we kill. This is not a Billy Jack Movie. Murder is murder.

We are all horrified at Jessica Hawk’s terrible death. As for focusing all of our attentions on her family, please, and I mean this with all respect, understand that they are not alone. Personally, I have lost about a dozen friends to violent crime in this city, and even remember jumping out of bed to the sound of the gun shoots that killed my neighbor, Helen Hill.
Please, understand, as citizens, we are doing what we can.

While it may seem that ‘bitching’ about the city government may be a hollow act, we raised five thousand people to march on City Hall, by ‘bitching’ about the murders of Helen & Dinerral Shavers. Only by demanding that law enforcement raise the bar, and the City Government back them up, can we bring an end to this nightmare of murder.

There is another march in the works. Details will be posted on this site. Please, come and join us, in body or spirit, and stand up for Jessica, Helen, Dinerral and 480 other murder victims THIS YEAR ALONE, by insisting that those who have taken control of this beautiful city are guilty, not only of laziness and corruption, but the failure of a system of law that has left blood on their hands. It’s time for a change.

When I was little she used to date one of my dads friends, and she’d always come and hang out with me.

She really was a good person.

Rest in peace :(

Damn.