Cleveland's News Channel 5 is reporting that the Cleveland NAACP responded Friday to criticism surrounding the shooting death of a teenage boy during a robbery, and for once this organization is placing the blame where it belongs - on the criminal.

From the story:

NAACP President George Forbes and Cleveland Councilman Zach Reed said the black community failed 15-year-old Arthur Buford, NewsChannel5 reported.

They said Buford was wrong for allegedly trying to rob Damon Wells at gunpoint on Saturday.

Wells opened fire and killed Buford at East 134th Street and Kinsman. Police said Wells had a valid weapons permit and used the gun in self-defense.

"Then you have a 26-year-old young man who had every right to protect his life, protect his fiance and protect his property. But he has to life with the fact that for the rest of his lie he shot a 15-year-old boy," said Reed.

"That man had a right to do what he did. If he didn't do it, we'd be sitting here today mourning him rather than the 15-year-old," said Forbes.

In the fallout from an erroneous Cleveland Plain Dealer story claiming that the death of an armed robber at the hand of the concealed handgun licenseholder he attacked was "what appears to be the first time", Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Michael O'Malley spent time late last week discussing the facts with Buckeye Firearms Association's Chairman and Vice Chairman.

He published a follow-up story Sunday.

From the story, entitled "Gun advocates: Statistics are inadequate":

Cases involving licensed carriers of concealed weapons protecting themselves or others are difficult to find because they rarely are reported, pro-gun groups say.

Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association, said most examples are anecdotal accounts, undocumented by police investigations.

Last week, Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett wrote that she had received more than 400 letters in response to a column defending a concealed handgun license-holder who was forced to shoot a 15 year-old armed robber.

The Plain Dealer published a few of those letters along with Brett's column. Two days later, on Sunday, April 29, many more letters on the subject were published. While Brett's ratio was approximately 20 to 1 in favor on gun rights and armed self-defense, the ratio of letters the newspaper chose to publish? A nice, neat, 50-50 split...

Click 'Read More' to read the letters, headlined in the Plain Dealer as 'A friendly exchange over guns, self-defense'.