-Caveat Lector- Those gun-control people only mean gun control for others, not themselves. Tenorlove > MONDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2001 > > ‘Million Mom’ activist convicted in shooting > > Bereaved mother shot wrong man after son killed > > 'Million Mom' activist convicted in shooting > > By Jon Dougherty > © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com > > > A bereaved mother whose son was shot and killed nearly two years ago > -- and > who spoke out against gun violence and memorialized shooting victims > at the > "Million Mom March" rally in Washington, D.C., last Mother's Day -- > was > herself convicted of shooting a man she wrongly believed was her > son's > killer. > > Barbara Graham, the Washington Post reported Thursday, "was found > guilty in > D.C. Superior Court … of trying to avenge her son's death by shooting > a > young man" last year that "she blamed for the killing." > > Graham, who lost her own son in 1999 in a shooting death at a Martin > Luther > King, Jr. rally, became active in a Washington-area group, "Mothers > on the > Move Spiritually," in the months following her son's death. The group > helped > sponsor the MMM event, where Graham "spoke out … and helped > memorialize the > dead," the paper said. > > The Million Moms March, which becomes nine months old as an > organization > Feb. 14, has become one of the nation's leading advocates of > stringent gun > control. The group, which promotes gun-control activism among the > nation's > mothers, says it is "dedicated to preventing gun death and injury and > supporting victims and survivors of gun trauma." > > Specifically, the organization promotes nationwide gun registration > and > wants to "close gun show loopholes." Also, it supports a "one gun > purchase a > month" program, and "strict oversight of the gun industry," among > other > measures. > > Officials with the group, which has its main office in San Francisco > General > Hospital, did not return phone calls on Friday seeking comments about > Graham's involvement with the Mother's Day speech or her conviction. > > According to the Post, jurors last week returned guilty verdicts on > nine > counts against Graham, 49, for her Jan. 26, 2000, shooting of Kikko > Smith, > age 23. The shooting has left Smith paralyzed and confined to a > wheelchair > for life. > > Smith has spent most of the past year in a hospital, said the Post > account. > > Witnesses said Graham, who has three living children and who was > distraught > over the loss of her son and frustrated with police efforts to catch > her > son's killer, went to Smith's house with her son's .45-cal. handgun > and > 30-year-old Erskine Moorer, the boyfriend of one of Graham's > daughters. > > When they arrived at about 6 p.m., Graham twice asked Smith -- who > had been > called outside by friends and was talking to them as they sat in > their > car -- his name. > > Prosecutors said Graham and Moorer then pulled out guns and began > shooting > at Smith as he ran from them. However, the Post said, Moorer's > attorney, > Douglas Wood, told the jury that his client had left the neighborhood > before > the shooting. > > "Asked who confronted him with a gun, Smith pointed emphatically to > Graham, > who sat still and somber. At another point, he pointed firmly at > Moorer, > saying Moorer joined the ambush as he ran from Graham," the paper > said. > > Prosecutors said during the trial that Graham likely confused Smith > with > another young man with a similar-sounding name, and that Smith was > not the > one who shot her son in 1999. > > "Prosecutors suggested that the grieving mother probably > misunderstood > Smith, thinking he said the name 'Teacco,' a young man she blamed -- > also > mistakenly, prosecutors say -- for her son's slaying," said the Post. > > One bullet fired by Graham is still lodged in Smith's spine. He told > jurors > during testimony that doctors say he will likely never walk again. > > "From a mother to a mother, she knew better," said Smith's mother, > Mary Ann > Smith, after jurors reached their decision. "You can't tell the kids > to stop > the violence with the mothers running around like this." > > Graham faces 15 years to life in prison for three of the most serious > charges against her. She will be sentenced March 29, the paper said. > > According to information published by MMM, in 1998 a total of 30,708 > people > were killed by guns in the U.S. Of those, 17,424 were gun suicides, > 12,102 > were gun homicides, 886 were unintentional or accidental shootings, > and 316 > were shooting deaths of undetermined intent, the group said. > > Meanwhile, the Second Amendment Sisters, a pro-gun rights > organization that > also caters to women, says more gun laws and restrictions are > "anti-self > defense" and actually serve to put more women at risk of violence and > injury. > > Also, the SAS said federal crime statistics show that twice as many > children > die each year from non-gun homicide, and that eight times as many > children > die from non-gun violence, indicating that "the problem is violence, > not > guns." > > Jon E. Dougherty is a staff writer for WorldNetDaily. __________________________________________________ Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! 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