On the shooting at Lake and Nicollet last Friday, according to the Minneapolis police:
Jose Flores Gonzales, 28, of Minneapolis was arrested after a victim was shot through the head at 12:24 p.m. in a corner of the Office Max parking lot. The victim and attacker knew each other. The victim's injuries are serious. Mr. Gonzales' prior arrests include: assaulting someone with a pipe, sexual misconduct, giving a false name, 2nd degree assault, 5th degree assault, disorderly conduct, trespassing. I asked if Mr. Gonzales could have received a concealed-carry permit. Additional information isn't available right now because the investigation is pending. Whether he could have received a concealed-carry permit depends on which of these arrests resulted in CONVICTIONS, and the police department doesn't have those records. According to an article in the Plymouth Sun-Sailor May 29, the charge of giving a false name, even with a conviction, wouldn’t have been disqualifying. If he wasn’t convicted on the other more serious charges, he’d have been able to get a concealed-carry permit, too. Sexual misconduct, if it was 5th degree, is also okay for a permit. So is trespassing and disorderly conduct. The article said applicants couldn’t have more than one assault charge in three years and get a permit -- which I’m not sure how to interpret. This all makes me very curious. It looks like Mr. Gonzales’ last attempt to hurt somebody, because it was with a pipe, didn’t go that well. Guns work much better – he may be successful in killing someone this time. Thanks to the gun lobby, criminals will soon have an easier time getting guns. Some gun dealers will happily sell firearms to straw buyers, even when the buyers admit they’re getting guns for prohibited buyers. And now the gun industry is about to get blanket legal immunity from the U.S. Senate for its negligent practices (though there is still time to call co-sponsor Coleman and undecided Dayton at 202 224-5641 and 202 224-3244, respectively). Without even the threat of a lawsuit for sloppy practices, gun dealers will make guns ever more easily available to people who shouldn’t have them. The gun lobby says criminals will get guns anyway – a fascinating defense for their untiring efforts to make life convenient for criminals. They say everybody should be able to carry guns (placing the general public in more peril) because criminals do it anyway. By that argument, we should make murder legal, too, because criminals do it anyway. Heather Martens Kingfield TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
