Cleveland Plain Dealer misses point on homicide data
By Jim Irvine
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has started posting data on homicides on its web site. The move was highlighted in a front page story in the Metro section on Sunday, January 25, 2009.
On the site they will "list information on every 2009 homicide in its seven-county coverage area. The searchable database ... will include details of the slayings, photos of the victims and links to stories. The site also maps each killing." A color map with "pins" marking each homicide was included.
The web site lists data about each homicide, such as the method of the killing. As it has in the past, the Plain Dealer is listing deaths of those who are killed as though they are equal or similar. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Such faulty reporting has become normal in today's so-called "mainstream media." Consider three different events, all likely to occur in the area this year.
In case "A," a young women is sleeping alone in her own bed when a violent criminal breaks into her home. She awakens to find a masked man at the foot of her bed. He rapes her, beats her and shoots her. Her phone line cut, she is unable to call for help and bleeds to death on the floor of her own room. She is a victim of violent crime, and as most of us are good people, she is an someone we relate to when we read about someone who dies from "gun violence."
In case "B", an elderly man is taking an evening walk. He is accosted by two young men who are stronger, faster, and are not constrained by the law. They need money for drugs, and this old man looks like a good target. They knock him down, produce a knife and threaten to kill him as they demand his watch, wallet and wedding ring. Fearing for his life, he draws his handgun and shoots the two violent predators. One of them dies from the wounds. It is later revealed that he had a criminal history of violence and was on parole. Even though this thug endangered the lives of others, and died in a justifiable homicide, the Plain Dealer will list him as a victim of gun violence.
In case "C" two rival gangs are involved in a turf war over who controls, and thus profits from the illegal drug trade in a specific neighborhood. In a dispute where everyone on both sides is a criminal, and regularly engage in dangerous and criminal behavior it is only a matter of when and how any given player will be injured or killed. One gang member shoots and kills another. The deceased is listed along with the above two "victims" of gun violence.
While each of the above cases produce a body "killed by a gun" only one is a true "victim." The other two are criminals who died because they engage in dangerous activities, and threaten other peoples lives. They didn't die from guns, they died because they chose "criminal" is their career. To lump them all together is a slap in the face to every real victim and their families.
One of the tactics of the anti-gun groups is to intentionally group non-associated people and events to lead people to a conclusion that they would never reach if they understood the true nature of separate sub-groups. While that has become normal for many issue-driven groups, we should demand far better from a "news" organization. The Plain Dealer does provide a link with details about each homicide, but as the list grows, few people will take the time to analyze the facts behind each death.
Clicking on the link to the January 26 shooting you will find the following:
Samuel Delshaun Peet was found shot to death about 7:40 a.m. on Jan. 26. near E. 110th Street and Parkview Avenue. Police suspect he may have been shot while taking part in a home invasion robbery earlier that morning. Police arrested three other men who may have been Peet's accomplices. A 13-year-old boy walking to school was accused of stealing $20 from Peet's body before authorities discovered the corpse.
If you dig deeper you will find the Plain Dealer story about the killing which concludes:
Stacho said Peet has an extensive criminal history and had been arrested for offenses that include drug trafficking, felonious assault, burglary and domestic violence. The case remains under investigation.
In Cleveland you have to wonder if the "investigation" is to see if they can charge the victim in the crime for not having registered his gun and paying the extortion fee to City of Cleveland. But to anti-gun groups, this dead criminal is used to pad their statistics on how dangerous guns are. They will take a case where a gun was used to defend a life (something that should be applauded) and use it to argue that "guns kill." They never let the truth get in the way of advancing their failed agenda.
Details of the January 13 homicide are listed as:
David L. Stuckey was stabbed to death Jan. 13 just across the street from where he had stabbed someone to death in 1989, police said. Officers were called at 2:19 a.m. to the multifamily home on Eddy Road, where they found Stuckey dead in his third-floor bedroom. He was stabbed twice in the back. Stuckey had spent 16 years in prison for the murder of Lance Carr, whom he stabbed in the chest.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
There were five homicides in the first five days of the year. There were 14 in the first 26 days. Nine of those (64%) have gunshot listed as the "cause." The remaining include a car crash (vehicular homicide), a strangulation, one undetermined violence (a 6 month-old girl allegedly beaten to death by her father) and two stabbings.
While every human life lost is tragic, many of those listed here were lost long before the day they died. They sealed their fate on the day they decided to prey on their fellow man. There should have been mourning back then, but it is more likely there was only denial. Such is life when society condones parents who refuse to be mothers and fathers for their children.
While our Declaration of Independence states "that all men are created equal," it does not mean that all homicide victims are equal. We should mourn when a good person dies at the hands of a violent criminal, no matter how that person is killed. We should also celebrate every time a potential victim fights back and defeats that evil which would cause unending harm. It is not that we are happy that a good person had to shoot and maybe kill a bad person. Rather it is an acknowledgment that justice has been done when a bad person decides that a someone is going to die, and it is they themselves, not some innocent victim, who should meet an untimely demise. It is not really controversial.
Thus the only way one can argue the anti-gun points is to confuse the issue with statistics that have nothing to do with what is being discussed. That is what the Brady Campaign and the Plain Dealer do. If they really wanted to provide useful information, they would include a tab for "criminal, victim or accident" to describe who died. They would note every time someone was shot by someone who could not legally posses a gun (convicted felons) that gun control laws didn't work.
The data has been clear from a long time. Criminals are dangerous people. They hurt other people. They use hands, pipes, knives and even guns to injure and kill people. But if good people are armed, they can fight back and win these encounters. That is why concealed carry and the Second Amendment are important, especially in urban areas like Cleveland where there is a real crime problem.
We may not be able to get criminals to become law abiding, but by arming good people, we can change "Case A" above to, "Women safe after killing attempted rapist in her home." Which story would you rather read in the paper? Which version would you rather happen to your family? You have a choice. Be prepared.
Jim Irvine is the Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman, and the host of Firearms Forum, Ohio's first talk radio show about guns and gun rights.
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