Grieving father takes center stage in gun debate

Grieving father takes center stage in gun debate

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Martinez says he never set out to be a face of the gun-control movement and has no interest in taking deer rifles and shotguns from the hands of hunters. After all, he used to be one.

Martinez just wants to do whatever he can to end the seemingly endless string of mass killings in the nation, the latest of which took the life of his 20-year-old son and five other people before the killer shot himself last week near the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Martinez, a 60-year-old criminal defense lawyer, took center stage in the gun debate when he showed up uninvited at a sheriff’s news conference a day after the May 23 killings, stepped before a bank of microphones, and in a voice filled with rage and grief blamed the death of Christopher Michaels-Martinez on “craven irresponsible politicians” who won’t pass stricter gun-control laws.

“They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’ right to live?” he asked. “When will this insanity stop?” SOURCE

Do you know how to tell when you’re talking to someone that claims to be FOR gun rights and says they support the Second Amendment, but they don’t?

The conversation, on their part, generally goes something like this, “I’m all for gun rights and I do support the Second Amendment … BUT…”

BOOM, there it is; the dreaded BUT. There is no BUT in gun support, you either do or you don’t, there’s no *middle ground* on this one.

That line about “craven irresponsible politicians” who won’t pass stricter gun-control laws is also a dead give-away too, especially when you’re talking to someone from the land of fruits and nuts, California.

I mean, seriously, where in this United States can you find any stricter gun control laws? The number of rounds that a pistol magazine can hold is limited to 10 rounds, regardless the caliber, 10 rounds is the legal limit for handgun magazines bought in the state of California.

I know Richard Martinez is hurting, I understand that. As a father and grandfather I can sympathize with what he must be feeling and with the anguish he must be suffering.

As such, I would like to look past his words about guns, gun violence, stricter gun control laws, craven irresponsible politicians and the proliferation of guns he believes led to his son’s death, but Mr. Martinez has seriously misdirected his anger and brought this castigation upon himself.

Richard Martinez is getting his 15 minutes of fame, sadly, he’s doing so while standing on the dead body of his son.

“I tell them, ‘Look, I don’t need your sympathy. What I need is for you to DO something,'” Martinez said during a lengthy, late-night phone interview with The Associated Press.

That something, he said, would be urging the nation’s leaders to engage in a serious discussion about restricting the availability of powerful, semi-automatic weapons such as the ones a lonely, troubled young man used to randomly shoot Michaels-Martinez and two other students near campus after stabbing three people to death at the apartment the killer shared with at least two of those victims.

Restricting the availability of powerful, semi-automatic weapons such as the ones a lonely, troubled young man used. That is ALL he wants, to restrict the availability of POWERFUL guns such as the ones used to kill his son.

Rodger was found to have three legally purchased firearms along with 41 loaded magazines in his vehicle. The firearms were two Sig Sauer 9mm handguns 1 Glock 9mm handgun. All magazines used were California legal 10 round magazines. SOURCE

That does NOT qualify as being all that well armed, and 9mm handguns, while indeed a deadly weapon, are not considered to be a particularly powerful weapon.

Mr. Martinez, in his grief and anger, has waded off into the muck and mire and is saying things that are simply not true as he tries to assign blame for the death of his son to everything and everyone OTHER that the CRAZY GUY that actually shot him..

The guns were *legally* purchased.

I emphasize *legally* because Elliot Roger did apparently pass the cursory background check that anyone buying a weapon in a gun store or from a dealer must pass. That only means that Roger was not in any database as a criminal, a felon, and by that standard he was entitled to buy these weapons.

Here’s the catch; no one that is deemed to be mentally unstable is allowed to buy and/or own firearms and on the form you fill out and the questions you answer there IS a question about *have you been under care for mental issues*, or something of that nature.

They can’t just come out and ask you if you’re ding-bat crazy. Who would answer that one honestly anyway?

It would appear that Elliot Roger wasn’t just unstable, in my opinion that boy was WAY out there in the land of CRAZY and took the crazy train to get there. His parents had seen a problem with Elliot Roger and had tried to get him some type of psychiatric help, it seems that this was an act of futility.

His parents had contacted the police in the area where they live, expressing their concerns for their son, his mental condition and I am assuming his 3 handguns, 41 magazines and 400 or so rounds of ammunition.

Having 3 handguns, 41 magazines and 400 rounds of ammunition doesn’t qualify you as a well-armed merchant of death, hell, here in Texas you’d be considered armed, but not very well, in fact, in certain circles a set of weapons like that, in that caliber, would get you laughed at if you tried to tell someone how well armed you were.

The point is this; Elliot Roger was as nutty as a fruitcake, but he wasn’t a felon, he passed all the required background checks. Until such time that ALL weapons sales are subject to a psychological evaluation as well as a criminal background check there is no way that things like this will ever stop. Crazy people will continue to be able to buy guns in a *legal* manner.

And if all of these background checks were coupled with some serious psychological evaluations and it all came to fruition it still wouldn’t do much to stop a determined individual. Gun are now and always WILL be available on *The Black Market*.

Oh yeah, one other thing; I wonder what restrictions Martinez and others like him would have placed on knives and persons wanting to buy them?

Additional Reading:
Police knew of but didn’t view killer’s videos