by The Last Gun- How Changes in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans
January 6, 2012—Evansville, Indiana. Two men were arrested after an early morning shooting inside a bar. The pair were apprehended as they tried to flee in a pickup truck. A loaded Glock pistol was found on the driver, Kem Duerson Jr., thirty-three. Duerson was later charged with dealing cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm.27
January 10, 2012—Raleigh, North Carolina. Steven Neal Greenoe, thirty-seven, a former U.S. marine, was sentenced to ten years in prison for illegally trafficking dozens of handguns to the United Kingdom, including Glock pistols. Greenoe used his concealed-weapon permit to buy multiple guns at a time at various gun shops in North Carolina. He concealed them in his luggage to transport them to England, where he lived with his British wife. Investigators said the guns were sold to criminal gangs in England. British authorities linked a gun Greenoe purchased to a drive-by shooting in Manchester, England, in February 2011.28
January 24, 2012—Cranston, Rhode Island. Steven T. Smith, forty-four, allegedly pulled a Glock 45 caliber pistol out of his desk and threatened to shoot Michael Emerson, forty-six, a former employee who had returned to pick up his welding equipment. Smith was charged with felony assault.29
January 31, 2012—Allentown, Pennsylvania. Enrique Manuel Ortiz, twenty-five, was charged with shooting to death Hagos Mezgebo, an Ethiopian refugee and apparent stranger, on January 7, then threatening three women at gunpoint shortly after the shooting. When Ortiz was arrested during a vehicle stop on January 9, police found a 9mm Glock pistol under his seat. Heroin and cocaine were also found in the vehicle, and Ortiz was charged with several drug trafficking–related offenses.30
January 31, 2012—Madison, South Dakota. Carl V. Ericsson, seventy-three, allegedly shot to death Norman Johnson, a seventy-two-year-old retired high school English teacher, with a Glock pistol. According to police, Ericsson’s motive was a fifty-year grudge he held against Johnson, a high school classmate. Ericsson allegedly knocked on Johnson’s door, shot him twice in the face, and walked away, leaving the victim’s wife to find the body in the doorway31
February 9, 2012—Portland, Oregon. The families of two women shot to death by an off-duty Clackamas County sheriff’s sergeant filed an $8 million wrongful-death lawsuit, claiming that county authorities knew the officer was dangerously unstable and should have intervened. On Feb. 12, 2010, Sergeant Jeffrey A. Grahn confronted his estranged wife, Charlotte, and two of her friends, Victoria Schulmerich and Kathleen Hoffmeister, at the M&M Restaurant & Lounge in Gresham. After arguing with Charlotte Grahn, he grabbed her by her hair, pulled her outside, and shot her in the head with a Glock 40 caliber pistol. He returned to the bar and killed Schulmerich and Hoffmeister with shots to the head. He then went back outside and killed himself.32
February 22, 2012—Memphis, Tennessee. Chester Wrushen, thirty-three, and Jamiel Carpenter, thirty-two, admitted to police that they exchanged gunfire in Wrushen’s front yard, but each claimed the other fired first. Carpenter’s twelve-year-old son was in the car with him, along with a shotgun and a 40 caliber Glock pistol. Both men were arrested and charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.33
February 24, 2012—New Haven, Connecticut. The city’s Shooting Task Force arrested Gary Williams, twenty-four, who was wanted in a December 17, 2011, shooting in which two men were wounded. Police seized a 40 caliber Glock pistol and a Stag Arms assault rifle from Williams’s home. Several 40 caliber shell casings were recovered at the scene of the December shooting.34
March 17, 2012—St. Petersburg, Florida. A nine-year-old boy shot his sixteen-year-old cousin in the hand and neck with a 45 caliber Glock pistol he found in the home. The elder child survived the wounds. Police also found an AK-47 assault rifle and an AR-15 assault rifle in the home. The guns, legally owned, were kept under the bed of the injured boy’s father.35
March 20, 2012—Stamford, Connecticut. A fifty-seven-year-old woman narrowly escaped injury when a bullet fired during a shootout on the street penetrated her apartment. Investigators found a bullet, which had blasted through her air-conditioner frame, under a sheet in her bed. One of the three guns used in the fracas, a 45 caliber Glock, was found in a nearby Dumpster.36
April 2, 2012—Petaluma, California. Proceedings began in the first-degree murder trial of Kenneth Doyle Mullennix, fifty-one, charged with firing a single shot from a Glock pistol into the right eye of his wife, Buapha Mullennix, thirty-seven, during an argument in the bedroom of their home in January 2010. Mullennix admitted he shot his wife, with whom he was angry because of an affair she was having. But he claimed she threatened him with the gun, and although he has no specifie recollection of shooting her, he contends that the gun must have gone off during a struggle. He was also charged with illegal possession of an SKS semiautomatic assault rifle.37
April 9, 2012—Washington, Indiana. Derek Franklin Williams, forty-nine, was sentenced to sixty-five years in prison for the murder of his wife, Kim, on February 4, 2011. Williams shot his wife twice in the head with a 40 caliber Glock pistol, then shot himself under the chin. He survived the injury. The couple’s two children were in the home at the time of the shooting.38
Apr. 12, 2012—Erie, Pennsylvania. Rachel A. Kozloff, thirty, allegedly shot to death Michael Henry, thirty, with a 9mm Glock pistol she had recently bought. Henry died in his apartment of two gunshot wounds to the torso. Four shell casings were found in the apartment.39
April 24, 2012—Port Arthur, Texas. A three-year-old boy was shot by his twenty-two-month-old brother with the family’s 9mm Glock pistol in front of their home. The gun had been left on the front seat of the family’s truck, and the two children were playing in the front yard.40
April 24, 2012—Pompano Beach, Florida. Kenneth Konias Jr., a fugitive, was arrested and surrendered to federal agents the Glock pistol with which he allegedly shot to death his fellow armored-car guard in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on February 28, 2012. Konias had absconded with $2.3 million from the truck.41
April 25, 2012—Largo, Florida. James Wolski, thirty-five, shot to death his forty-year-old wife, Stacie, with a 40 caliber Glock Model 27 in the parking lot of a Walgreens pharmacy, then committed suicide with the gun. The couple left a four-year-old daughter.42
April 25, 2012—Milford, New Hampshire. Nathan O’Brien, twenty-three, was arrested and charged with several firearms-related offenses after he allegedly fired a Glock 9mm Model 19 pistol during an altercation with another man, who was not injured.43
April 27, 2012—Atlantic City, New Jersey. After police observed nineteen-year-old Khalil Blackwell smoking pot on the steps of a home, they investigated and found two other teenagers and three handguns in the premises, including a 45 caliber Glock pistol. Blackwell was cited for marijuana possession, and the two other teens were charged with illegal gun possession.44
NOTES
Introduction: A Reign of Terror
1. David B. Muhlhausen, PhD, and Jena Baker McNeill, Terror Trends: 40 Years’ Data on International and Domestic Terrorism (Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation, 2011), 1, 9, chart 7. The report states, “The data used in this descriptive analysis by The Heritage Foundation stem from the RAND Database of World-wide Terrorism Incidents (RDWTI). The version of the RDWTI used in this analysis contains information on nearly 38,700 terrorist incidents from across the globe between February 1968 and January 2010” (2).
2. Only one or two terrorist incident databases go back as far as the RAND database, much less back to earlier dates. It is clear from the few that do go back farther, however, that there were relatively few terrorist attacks aimed at the United States before 1969, and the number of Americans killed in those terrorist attacks was a comparative handful. The total would not significantly alter these proportions. See, e.g., Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, “The CDISS Database: Terrorist Incidents 1945 to 2004,” www.timripley.co.uk/terrorism; and Infoplease.com, “Terrorist Attacks in the U.S. or Against Americans,” www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html.
&n
bsp; 3. U.S. Department of State, “Terrorism Deaths, Injuries, Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens, 2010,” in Country Reports on Terrorism 2010 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2011), 252.
4. U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Law Enforcement Officers Feloniously Killed: Type of Weapon, 2001–2010,” Table 27 in Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted 2010, www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/leoka/leoka-2010/tables/table27-leok-feloniously-type-of-weapon-01-10.xls.
5. Amy Belasco, The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2011), Summary.
6. John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart, “Does the United States Spend Too Much on Homeland Security?” Slate, Sept. 7, 2011, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2011/09/does_the_united_states_spend_too_much_on_homeland_security.single.html.
7. John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart, Terror, Security and Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of Homeland Security (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 172.
8. Lisa Riordan Seville, “How Much Is Security Worth?,” Crime Report, Jan. 23, 2012, www.thecrimereport.org/news/inside-crimirial-justice/2012-01-homelarid-security-qa.
9. “Perpetual Security State: Post-9/11 Special Powers, Budgets, Agencies Seen Needed Far into Future,” Washington Times, Sept. 9, 2011 (“When asked last month if the U.S. government could relinquish some of the extraordinary powers or shrink some of the budgets and bureaucracies created to protect Americans since 9/11, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano gave a one-word response: ‘No.’ ”).
10. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Secretary Napolitano Announces Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request,” news release, Feb. 13, 2012; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Overview, Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request (undated); The Homeland Security Department’s Budget Submission for Fiscal Year 2011, Hearing Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, 111th Cong. 39ff (2010) (Hon. Janet Napolitano, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Statement for the Record”).
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Budget Request Overviews” for FY2012 and FY2013, undated.
12. For a summary of issues the so-called “war on terrorism” has raised, see “The Full Cost of 9/11,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly, Sept. 3, 2011.
13. Adam Liptak, “Civil Liberties Today,” New York Times, Sept. 7, 2011.
14. “Remarks by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to the Council on Foreign Relations,” Federal News Service, Feb. 10, 2003.
15. The narrative of Airman Santos’s actions on November 21 is based on these sources, unless otherwise noted: 50th Space Wing Public Affairs Office, “Officials ID Barricaded Member,” news release, Nov. 22, 2011, www.schriever.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123280946; “Airman in Schriever Standoff Pleaded Guilty to Sex Crime,” Colorado Springs Gazette, Nov. 22, 2011; “Air Force Investigates Gun After Standoff on Base,” Associated Press Online, Nov. 22, 2011; “Gunman at Colorado Air Base Surrenders,” Associated Press Online, Nov. 22, 2011.
16. U.S. Air Force, “50th Space Wing,” fact sheet, www.schriever.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3909 (accessed Mar. 8, 2012).
17. U.S. Air Force, “50th Security Forces Squadron,” fact sheet, www.schriever.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3926 (accessed Nov. 24, 2011).
18. “Airman in Schriever Standoff Pleaded Guilty to Sex Crime.” For the particulars of Santos’s offense, see “Warrantless Arrest Affidavit” for defendant Nico Cruz Santos, Gilpen County (CO) Sheriff’s Office, Case No. 10CR668, Dec. 8, 2010.
19. “Rampage Was the ‘Worst Horror Movie,’ ” Dallas Morning News, Nov. 14, 2010. Eleven additional personnel were “injured” in the resulting turmoil, as opposed to having been “wounded” by gunshot. See: U.S. Department of Defense, Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood, Report of the DoD Independent Review (Washington, DC: 2010), 1.
20. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services, Legislative Text and Joint Explanatory Statement, Public Law 111—383, Dec. 2010.
21. “Pentagon vs. NRA: Will Gun-Rights Law Raise Risk of Soldier Suicides?” Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 4, 2011.
22. Joseph I. Lieberman and Susan M. Collins, A Ticking Time Bomb: Counterterrorism Lessons from the U. S. Government’s Failure to Prevent the Fort Hood Attack: A Special Report (Washington, DC: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 2011), 7.
23. For media examples of these concerns, see “Senate Committee Subpoenas Fort Hood Documents,” Associated Press, Apr. 19, 2010; and “Pentagon Report on Fort Hood Details Failures,” New York Times, Jan. 16, 2010.
24. Although Major Hasan also carried a revolver that day, investigators found that he did not fire it. “Police Recall a Torrent of Bullets,” Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 21, 2010.
25. Lieberman and Collins, Ticking Time Bomb, 15.
26. Ibid., 7.
27. Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman, “Opening Statement,” Hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, “Terrorists and Guns: The Nature of the Threat and Proposed Reforms,” May 5, 2010.
28. Unless otherwise noted, the details of Major Hasan’s purchase and use of his personal handgun are based on the following sources: “Rampage Was ‘the Worst Horror Movie’ “; “Witness: Man Asked About Gun Capacities,” Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 22, 2010; “Ft. Hood Suspect Sought Best Gun, Salesman Says,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 22, 2010; “Witness: Killer Sought ‘High-Tech’ Handgun,” Dallas Morning News, Oct. 22, 2010; “Police Recall a Torrent of Bullets”; “Nurses Recall Carnage at Post,” San Antonio Express-News, Oct. 20, 2010; “Soldiers Describe Deadly Day,” Dallas Morning News, Oct. 16, 2010; “Lawyer: Fort Hood Suspect Is Paralyzed,” Virginian-Pilot, Nov. 23, 2009.
29. “Witness: Man Asked About Gun Capacities.”
30. “Ft. Hood Suspect Sought Best Gun, Salesman Says.”
31. FN Herstal, “Five-seveN®,” www.fnherstal.com/index.php?id=269&backPID=263&productID=66&pid_product=295&pidList=263&categorySelector=5&detail.
32. Ibid.
33. “Ft. Hood Suspect Sought Best Gun, Salesman Says.”
34. FN Herstal, “Five-seveN®.”
35. “Nurses Recall Carnage at Post.”
36. “Soldiers Describe Deadly Day.”
37. For a more complete list and greater detail, see Violence Policy Center, “Mass Shootings in the United States Involving High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines,” fact sheet, Jan. 2011, www.vpc.org/fact_sht/VPCshootinglist.pdf
38. U.S. Department of Defense, Protecting the Force.
39. Ibid., appendix C, “Summary of Findings and Recommendations,” Finding 3.8 and Recommendation 3.8, p. C-7.
40. Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), U.S. Department of Defense, “Interim Fort Hood Recommendations Approved,” news release, Apr. 15, 2010.
41. U.S. Secretary of Defense, “Interim Recommendations of the Ft. Hood Follow-on Review,” memorandum, Apr. 12, 2010, attachment.
42. “In Defense Spending Bill, a Map Around Congressional Gridlock,” Washington Post, Jan. 4, 2011.
43. U.S. Secretary of Defense, “Interim Recommendations of the Ft. Hood Follow-on Review.”
44. For an exposition of the relationship between the gun industry and the NRA, see Violence Policy Center, Blood Money: How the Gun Industry Bankrolls the NRA (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2011), www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf.
45. For the bill’s text, see www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s3388/text.
46. Office of Senator James M. Inhofe, “Inhofe Introduces Gun Bill to Protect Second Amendment Rights of Soldiers, Employees of Department of Defense,” news release, May 20, 2010.
47. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services, Legislative Text and Joint Explanatory Statement, Public Law 111—383, Dec. 2010, 476.
48. Chris W. Cox, NRA-ILA Ex
ecutive Director, “Political Report,” undated, www.nrapublications.org/index.php/8685/political-report-2.
49. For a detailed discussion of the history and consequence of this trend, see Violence Policy Center, The Militarization of the U.S. Civilian Firearms Market (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2011), www.vpc.org/studies/militarization.pdf
50. Allan M. Brandt, The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America (New York: Basic Books, 2007), 11.
51. Richard Kluger, Ashes to Ashes: America’s Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), 657–58.
52. Brandt, Cigarette Century, 440.
53. 15 U.S.C. Sections 7901–3.
54. For a more detailed discussion of the Tiahrt amendments, see Violence Policy Center, Indicted: Types of Firearms and Methods of Gun Trafficking from the United States to Mexico as Revealed in U.S. Court Documents (Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2009), 4, www.vpc.org/studies/indicted.pdf.
55. Terrorists and Guns: The Nature of the Threat and Proposed Reforms, Before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 111th Cong. (May 5, 2010) (statement of Senator Susan M. Collins).
56. Brian Friel, “A New Third Rail,” National Journal, May 29, 2010.
57. “Issue of Gun Rights Still Holds Sway,” New York Times, Mar. 15, 2009.
58. “Gun Control Efforts Going Nowhere,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Apr. 9, 2009.
1. Our Daily Dead: Gun Death and Injury in the United States
1. “Copley Shooter Bought Gun Five Days Before Killing Spree,” Akron Beacon Journal, Aug. 10, 2011; “Autopsy Notes Hint at Fury with Which Gunman Fired,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 11, 2011.
2. According to the township’s website, 13, 641 people live in Copley, of whom 86.4 percent are white. The median household income is about $55, 000, and only 3.3 percent of the families live below the poverty level. Copley Township, “Demographics,” www.copley.oh.us/about-copley/about-copley/demographics.html.
