Prayers for the Death of Children

March, 2010 - Crime: Road rage, murder

Houston, Texas - Richard Calderon, a CCW permit holder, was involved in a car accident where he hit a vehicle and kept going. When the driver of the car followed him in an attempt to get the license number in order to report him to police, Calderon shot at her. Instead of hitting the driver, he hit the driver's 13 year old daughter who died of her wounds.

Our prayers go out the family.

March, 2010 - Crime: Murder, Felonious Assault of a newborn

Cincinnati, Ohio - Shamon Davis, a CCW permit holder, should still be in the process of celebrating the birth of his daughter, Kloe, who was born three weeks ago.

Instead, he's in jail under a 3 million dollar bond.

It seems on a visit to his girlfriend, Kelli Walton's home to visit the baby, they argued over child support (Little Kloe being their fourth child, the others being ages 9, 6, and 3.) and Davis pulled out a gun and, while she held the newborn in her arms, shot her. The bullet grazed little Kloe's head, fracturing her skull and entered her mother, killing her.

Once again, our prayers go out to the motherless children and to Kelli's mother who has lost her precious daughter.

Editorial comment - Texas Shell Game

January, 2010 - Crime: Felony Deadly Conduct

Austin, Texas - Texas has a bit of a problem. (OK, depending on your outlook, they may have several problems.) They have a law set up that makes it illegal to disclose the names of individuals who have CCW permits, so what do they when there's a shooting by someone carrying a concealed weapon with a permit?

Well, yesterday, a young man named Fausto Cardenas decided that the best way to impress a girl and convince her to go out with him was to discharge a gun on the Texas State Capital steps. After a young woman refused to speak with him privately, Fausto went out and started shooting. He was taken down immediately by police. Luckily, the five shots he was able to take did not wound anyone visiting or working at the Capital.

Now journalists wishing to report on the incident aren't allowed to ascertain whether this individual was carrying this firearm legally or illegally because the gun lobby got the hush law passed.

But here's the loophole - if the individual isn't charged with carrying a concealed firearm illegally, doesn't that suggest that the individual did have a CCW permit? And if you can figure out who has and who hasn't got one by what they are charged with, isn't the law just attempting to keep the fact that these people had been given permits out of the media, which could make one question how this law effects freedom of the press? Isn't it one thing to protect law abiding citizens who don't want the criminal element, i.e., everyone else, to know they have a firearm and another to document that a law put in place by the gun lobby was being misused by the criminal element? Shouldn't those who abuse the privilege be pointed out so that legislators can determine if laws need to be refined?

Texas state legislators after the shooting said that they need to beef up security. Might I suggest that they take a real good look at their gun laws and hush laws and determine who those laws are really protecting.

Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, and secure your firearm

December, 2009 - Crime: Possible Deadly Conduct Investigation
Sherman, Texas - After finishing lunch at Carino's Grill, a patron with a CCW permit stood up and started donning his coat to leave. His firearm, which was in his coat pocket, fell to the floor and fired. Luckily, no one was injured. According to another patron, the permit holder's response to situation was to say 'We gotta get out of here and he got up and left". (So much for responsible behavior by a permit holder.)

The police are have forwarded the case to the DA's office for possible prosecution.

Location, Location, Location

November, 2009 - Crime: Carrying a weapon into a prohibited space
Denton, Texas - An unidentified CCW permit holder had been brought into a mental health facility for evaluation because he had become unusually aggressive and had abused the family dog. Unfortunately, once at the facility, it was discovered that he had his .40 semiautomatic pistol tucked into his pants when he announced that he was going to shoot his way out. He surrendered after police threatened to taser him.

Hopefully he will get the assistance he obviously needs.


November, 2009 - Crime: Disorderly intoxication and improperly displaying firearm
Macclenny, Florida - We may never know what the real reason was that Patricia Perry thought she needed to buy ammo. Heck, given her state of intoxication, it's possible that Patricia doesn't know. That said, the CCW permit holder gave several stories as to why she felt she needed to bring her loaded handgun and a liquor bottle into the local Walmart, including saying the gun was a gift for her son and that she needed to go into the woods to hunt snakes utilizing her .38.

Whatever her reason, the store was evacuated and the police were able to quickly place her into custody.

Fort Hood Gunman Had CCW

Thanks to my friend, Donna, for bringing this to my attention.

Nidal Malik Hasan, the Ft. Hood gunman who slaughtered 13 people and wounded 29 at the Army Readiness Building, had a CCW permit.

You have to wonder if there were any oaths he DIDN'T betray.

Our prayer and best wishes are with the families of the victims and the survivors.