A New Hampshire man was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison Friday for beating his wife to death with a flashlight after he came home to find she had strangled their 4-year-old son with a ribbon and tried to kill their 7-year-old daughter.
Quick reading I was surprised he was sentenced for that long, but I read further.
“When I walked into the room, as soon as I saw my son, I knew something was very wrong,” Smeltzer told the court before he was sentenced, his voice breaking at times. “I knew he was dead. And I lost all control. Enraged, I struck my wife. I did something that was not going to bring my son back.”
Smeltzer was charged with second-degree murder in the November 2010 killing at their Auburn home. Prosecutors later downgraded that to manslaughter, saying he was provoked by the sight of the still bodies of their son, Mason, and daughter, Mercey.
He didn’t actually catch her in the act, but killed her in retaliation.
Those who use the metric of “Gun Death” frequently talk about justifiable homicide laws as “Shoot first, ask questions later” or “License to Murder”. Nope, even if he had used a gun he would still be facing the same charges, even in Gun-Friendly New Hampshire.
And let’s look at the weapons, ribbons, and a flashlight. How many of us have those items around our homes? How many of us have dead bodies in our homes?
Its the people, not the tool.
As for the People, I will say I sympathize with the Father, I don’t know if I could have acted differently in the same circumstances.
I never hesitate to point out that in the debate for gun control the other side is plain-and-simple wrong. I know this, and the antis at least on a subconscious level must know it too, because their talking points are CONSTANTLY changing.
As cliche as they are, our saying like “If we outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns”, and “If guns cause crime, forks make people fat”, and “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, (Any doubt on that last one, you need to read the “Gun Death?” Files) are just as valid as the days when people first started bringing them up in discussions, and distributing them in publications, T-shirts, and bumper stickers.
Still the antis seem to pick up a talking point and carrying it around until every pro-gun person who they encounter knows why their statement is untrue, then they abandon it and move on to the next lie. Stuff like “A gun in the home is more likely to kill a family member than a stranger”, or “If we allow conceal carry we’ll have wild west shootouts over parking spaces and traffic accidents”, “Semi-automatic isn’t one shot per trigger pull, its a finger twitch”, “Assault weapons are readily convertible to full-auto military arms”, and “‘Assault Weapons’ are weapons of war.” among others.
The latest one circulating is a response to the valid point that most current gun control laws are meaningless or are completely redundant. The recent example can be found here. It’s a Mayors against illegal guns ad calling for making private sales of firearms illegal. We covered this in depth here, and the big smoking gun of dishonesty is that they quoted Boston Mayor and MAIG co-chair Tom Menino in asking for this legislation. Odd given that his home state of Massachusetts doesn’t allow private sales, and all sales are registered with the state and require a permit. All this and we still have massive amounts of violent crime, and when guns are traced about 90% of them come back to Massachusetts. So what they claim this law will do has been proven false, and the results are the same everywhere its tried. When I mentioned this here in the video, a MAIG shill responded with the latest talking point:
@WeerdBeard While we are at it we ought to get rid of laws that make it a crime to rob a store too. Those laws haven’t stopped robberies in MA either. It’s just more infringement.Laws don’t stop crime. Am I right?So why bother? Get real. There is no right to deliberately arm a five year old child, there is no right to arm a criminal or a psychopath or schizophrenic. Just a desire for gun dealers to make more money and spread fear among gun users.
This comment is a little hyperbolic, but I’ve seen Joan Peterson and others make the similar statement. When we point out that the law is bullshit they ask us if we want to repeal the laws on other criminal acts.
Here’s the crux of that. Laws don’t PREVENT anything. They persuade and punish. Some people make it a point to stick on the right side of the law, others don’t. I disagree with Massachusetts Safe Storage laws, among many others, but I comply with them, and work to repeal them. But now others disobey the laws. Turn on your local news, you’ll see a story on a robbery. You think that criminal didn’t know robbery was illegal? You’ll hear about a rape. You think the rapist didn’t hear her screaming “NO!”? They knew it was bad, and did it anyway. In this case the law can now just punish them for their crime.
OK let’s look at the person’s examples. five-year-olds with guns. *yawn* still a youth with unsupervised possession of a firearm is illegal. Doesn’t matter if private sale is legal, or illegal, doesn’t matter if you’re in Massachusetts or Texas. The law ads nothing new to the table, except ad extra steps to people NOT doing something illegal. The law is pointless. People with mental illness owning guns? Well depends on that person’s history, but let’s say they’re a prohibited person for mental illness (substitute substance abuse, felony charges, domestic abuse, restraining orders, outstanding arrest warrants, they all work), it’s illegal for that person to have a gun. Background checks or not, Massachusetts, Texas, anywhere. The law adds nothing new for the cited problem, but it does infringe on the rights of those who are NOT a problem.
MAIG is currently making these videos.
Now fist up I have no idea what’s real and what’s staged in this. Still if we assume its ALL correct that the buyer is a prohibited person, and tells the seller that, and the seller makes the transaction, that’s a felony right there. Likely this is staged entrapment and the buyer is legal and lies about it. (FYI the laws are a bit convoluted on what is prohibited and what isn’t, so some people honestly believe they can’t legally own a gun, but they can…and there are people who have minor felonies in their past who never thought would make them prohibited) then this is an education moment.
Instead they seek to add yet another law that would make ignorant sellers like this unable to make a sale, but malicious criminal sellers wouldn’t notice a difference…and of course people doing nothing wrong would pay the price.
Amazingly MAIG put up this video too.
That’s how its supposed to be done, and again another law won’t change a thing. If this is really a problem (and honestly I have my doubts) the only solution is EDUCATION, not new laws.
Why doesn’t the anti-rights people push education? Easy A) That would show results, and they don’t want the problem stopped! B) Because they simply want to ban guns, and will tell any story they think will accomplish that.
So keep an eye out for this latest silly point, and keep them on the defensive.
Fast and Furious was NOT a Botched operation. There was NEVER an attempt to do ANYTHING but allow these guns into the hands of criminals so they could be retrieved at crime scenes. The purpose was to artifically create a problem with gun sales that the BATFE could “Fix” with more enforcement and regulation.
He’s babbling about the “Gunshow Loophole” which has nothing to do with Gun Shows, and isn’t a loophole. He also calls Gun Shows “Unregulated”. Maybe the knives, books, MREs, and surplus clothing. But the guns? I can’t think of a single car that I can’t sell in the next state over. Yet a Resident of lax-gun-law New Hampshire, attempts to sell a rifle or shotgun to a resident of Lax-Gun-Law, and next-door Vermont, that’s a Federal Felony unless they get a licensed dealer into the mix. If the gun is a handgun the gun will need to be SHIPPED from New Hampshire to Vermont via Licensed dealers for the sale to be legal.
I could go on with all sorts of other fucked up laws that apply to guns but no other goods. I wouldn’t be doing a lick of good because this guy has already decided what he knows, and has decided its true.
And all of this in the backdrop of Project Gunwalker where the guns weren’t sold at gun shows, they were sold from Dealers to ATF and FBI agents, or the ATF DEMANDED the dealers sell directly to the criminals.
What’s the point on passing another law when the criminals here are the Federal Government?
Bonus points for his stupid stuttering, and “Automatic Assault Rifles”. You are my opposition, and I know you because you are stupid.
This story is getting a lot of play and its one of my hot buttons so I thought I’d give it a shot. First my home state of Maine…in the Wal Mart I used to shop at.
During the 2010 and 2011 summers, I was a cashier at Wal-Mart #1788 in Scarborough, Maine. I spent hours upon hours toiling away at a register, scanning, bagging, and dealing with questionable clientele. These were all expected parts of the job, and I was okay with it. What I didn’t expect to be part of my job at Wal-Mart was to witness massive amounts of welfare fraud and abuse….a) People ignoring me on their iPhones while the state paid for their food. (For those of you keeping score at home, an iPhone is at least $200, and requires a data package of at least $25 a month. If a person can spend $25+ a month so they can watch YouTube 24/7, I don’t see why they can’t spend that money on food.)
b) People using TANF (EBT Cash) money to buy such necessities such as earrings, kitkat bars, beer, WWE figurines, and, my personal favorite, a slip n’ slide. TANF money does not have restrictions like food stamps on what can be bought with it.
c) Extravagant purchases made with food stamps; including, but not limited to: steaks, lobsters, and giant birthday cakes.
d) A man who ran a hotdog stand on the pier in Portland, Maine used to come through my line. He would always discuss his hotdog stand and encourage me to “come visit him for lunch some day.” What would he buy? Hotdogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, etc. How would he pay for it? Food stamps. Either that man really likes hotdogs, or the state is paying for his business. Not okay.
Abuse of the Electronic Benefits Transfer cards that are issued to needy families in Massachusetts is apparently so rampant that we won’t be surprised if drug dealers start hanging “We Accept EBT!” signs in their car windows.
The latest scam was revealed this week, with prosecutors alleging that employees of four Lynn convenience stores allowed customers to withdraw hundreds of dollars from their EBT accounts, which was then used to buy crack cocaine. The stores kept half the withdrawn cash as a fee, authorities allege.
I think at this point we must ALL know somebody who has or is abusing the system. Hell back when they had actual food stamps people would buy the stamps from the junkies for 50c on the Dollar so they could eat on the cheap, and the junkie can stay balls-deep in their sweet-sweet vice…and on the government’s dime!
I’m sure there are lots of people who don’t cheat the system and DO use EBT and other welfare programs to feed themselves and their families…but at this point the well is officially poisoned and we need to 100% re-think how things are done.
You may remember this self-centered Lesbian who shoved her kid into Michelle Bachman’s face so he could recite Mom’s talking points. And like a Brave activist Mom beats feet before Michelle can respond to the person who ACTUALLY said the lines, not the mouthpeice.
There’s a reason why Mom-and-Dad didn’t let us play in traffic or on the train tracks…and it was NOT so we wouldn’t interrupt the supply chain of the Capitalist Bourgeois. Its because you might get killed by heavy machinery.
BTW notice Mom’s name? Lotus. Not sure if she changed her name, or was born into it. Either way any adult with such a name will see similar results.
I heard this story over the wire and had my suspicions on what was driving it.
In the findings, “sarcastic” media-savvy comedies and morally murky antiheroes tend to draw Dems. While serious work-centered shows (both reality shows and stylized scripted procedurals), along with reality competitions, tend to draw conservatives.
Oh those Conservatives! They have no sense of humor! But look at the listed shows.
Sure we have things that are expected, like Lefties liking The View, and Conservatives liking Swamp Loggers and Top Shot.
But what’s with Conservatives not liking comedy? Do conservatives have no sense of humor? Odd, I consider myself conservative, and I run in both circles of Liberals and Conservatives, and it seems that the more extremist you are the less likely you are to be happy, but overall both seem to be equally likely to laugh.
Now I don’t watch TV at all, so many of these shows I’ve never seen. I will say I can see why Lefties won’t like Myth Busters. I mean if you’re demanding laws based on Global Warming, the last thing you want to watch is a show that proves that things you passed off as fact as untrue.
Still look at the Comedies the Left loves: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia , etc.
I haven’t watch some of these shows, and only seen a few shows of others, but I know many of them are left-leaning shows, and others have a reputation that proceeds them.
Conservatives don’t like “Sarcastic Comedies”? Yeah, because you’re definition of “Sarcastic Comedies” are shows that make fun of Conservatives.
Check this, if you had a show that constantly made fat-chick jokes overweight women would click by. People like a good laugh, but they won’t sign on for a bully they can’t fight back with.
What’s really interesting is my Left-Leaning Father constantly sends me joke emails that make fun of Democrats and the left. I doubt he enjoys them as much as I do, but that market is quite saturated. Meanwhile network TV? That’s a monoculture, and we can tell.
**UPDATE** Bob has a great post up with a video. Go have a watch it dovetails nicely!
James Steffen, Acting New Port Richey Police Chief, said the victim met the suspects at a motel located nearby where the homicide took place.
“He in fact was going to engage in some illicit behavior surrounding some narcotics and/or some sexual favors. He was lured into this vacant house across the street under the pretense they were gonna engage in this act,” he said. “What he could not possibly have known was that these four suspects conspired prior to taking him over there that they were going to rob him and they were prepared beat him to death with a blunt force object.”
Now first up this story takes place in Florida, which is both gun-friendly and in the South. Two things frequently vilified by those who use the metric of “Gun Death”. They claim that restrictive states that have high “Gun Death” have it because criminals buy their guns in gun-friendly states and bring them back to unfriendly states. Of course they have no evidence to support this.
Still look at this story. We’re talking drugs and prostitution…not to mention murder. All are 100% illegal no matter what state you live in, or licenses you apply for. And of course the weapon was a blunt object, not a gun. So much for that.
Why not one more. No link, but you can all find it on the Web, but this is in response to this fiasco:
Some of the writers (even I am guilty of this) have appropriated content from other places without permission and publishing it on this site, something they did not for malicious reasons but simply because they didn’t understand the way the law works. It’s a problem that we will try to fix going forward by educating the writers on the basics of copyright law and by streamlining the “takedown” process for those whose content has appeared on the site without their permission.
What else is there to say? We used the photo under Fair Use provisions. We do so with thousands of pictures per year. If you’re the snapper, be advised: if it’s on the net it’s fair game. (Note: I didn’t make the rules. )…Mr. McNally came at us all guns blazing, accusing the site of intellectual thievery. I’m sorry he’s offended by this internet standard practice. Really, I am. But I will not apologize for doing my job in full accordance with the law.
both quotes are by Robert Farago of The Truth About Guns. The big part that I feel obliged to point out is the “…something they did not for malicious reasons but simply because they didn’t understand the way the law works.” The above response to a polite request to take down property they feel is being used in an unflattering way, or improperly is practically universal. He certainly gave the same response to me, and about a dozen other people who requested he take images he didn’t generate down.
This response shows FULL contempt, not a mistake or an oversight. It wasn’t like people on a twitter feed or a blog thread he didn’t read were bitching about it. He came, he saw, and he told them to pound sand.
Remember this next time he tells you he isn’t in TTAG for money, or that TTAG is a Pro-2nd Amendment Website. In the words of President William Jefferson Clinton:
“But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false.”
