DOWNLOADS: (141)

PLAYS: (1419)

Embed

A 69-year-old war veteran and former missionary was arrested over the weekend on the suspicion of killing a 22-year-old Cuban immigrant who mistakenly arrived in his driveway because of faulty GPS directions.

Gwinnett County jail records obtained by The Atlanta Journal Constitution indicated that Phillip Walker Sailors was charged on Sunday with the murder of Rodrigo Abad Diaz.

Friends who were in the car with Diaz told WSB-TV that they were trying to pick up a friend on the way to ice skating on Saturday but their GPS directed them to the wrong address. The friends said that they waited in the driveway for a few minutes before Sailors emerged from the house and fired a gun into the air.

Gandy Cardenas, who was in the car, recalled to WAGA that the homeowner made no effort to speak to the group before opening fire.

"He didn't talk to them, he just started shooting," Cardenas explained. "The first shot was in the air."

At that point, Diaz tried to turn the car around to leave, but Sailors fired another shot, striking the immigrant on the left side of the head. The group, which included a 15 and an 18 year old, said that Sailors held them at gunpoint until police arrived.

The arrest warrant suggested that Sailors had shot Diaz with a .22 caliber pistol. He was charged with malice murder.

WSB-TV's Tony Thomas reported that Sailors was a war veteran and a former church missionary.

DOWNLOADS: (190)

PLAYS: (906)

Embed

The 2012 campaign season and a year of high-profile shootings have resulted in big profits for one of America's top firearms companies.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation announced on Thursday that sales had spiked 48 percent in its second fiscal quarter of 2013, setting a record of $136 million.

"The increase was led by continued strong sales across all of the company's firearm product lines, including M&P™ branded products, such as pistols, modern sporting rifles, and the recently launched Shield™ pistol designed for concealed carry and personal protection," the company said in a statement.

Smith & Wesson also predicted year-over-year growth of 30 percent for the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year.

Stop Handgun Violence founder John Rosenthal told Current TV's Elliot Spitzer on Wednesday that gun companies were making record profits because lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association had been successful at making sure that the industry was largely unregulated.

"The dirty little secret is that the NRA loves high-profile mass shootings," Rosenthal explained. "The more gun violence, the better. The more fear, it causes people to buy guns, more profits for the gun industry. And then they funnel it into intimidating Democrats into submission. And then they fund the Republicans and the Republicans just roll over."

In 2012 alone, there have been mass shootings at a spa in Georgia, Oikos University in California, a cafe in Seattle, a theater in Colorado, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and a sign factory in Minnesota. Most recently, NFL football player Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, and then killed himself in Kansas City.

Texas gun store owner Jerry McCall told WOAI last month that firearm sales were a “madhouse” on Black Friday because President Barack Obama was re-elected and people were stocking up to prepare for the Mayan-predicted “doomsday.”

DOWNLOADS: (172)

PLAYS: (1241)

Embed

Fox News host Dana Perino engaged in some victim blaming on Wednesday when she declared that women who had suffered from violence should "make better decisions."

The conservative hosts of Fox News' The Five on Wednesday continued their week-long effort to defend gun culture in the wake of a murder/suicide involving NFL football player Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, by claiming that "bedding" and vehicles were more deadly than guns.

"This isn't an issue about gun control," co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle insisted. "This is an issue about domestic violence and a man who had a troubled past; had a history documented of being, unfortunately, sadly, abusive to women; an inability to be able to control his temper and his emotions; a lack of impulse control."

"I'm glad you brought that up," Perino remarked. "On the same day that Jovan Belcher committed this crime, there was a man who beat his wife with a baseball bat and killed her. Okay? He wasn't a pro football player, he doesn't drive a Bentley, didn't make millions of dollars. But on the same day -- that's why I think talking about the gun culture so-called issue is actually a copout and not dealing with the real issue about mental health, anger management and domestic violence."

"Can you name me one person you know that saved their lives by a handgun?" liberal co-host Bob Beckel asked.

"Bob, I think that skirts the issue that women are victims of violence all the time," Perino replied.

"Should have guns," co-host Greg Gutfeld interrupted.

"Or maybe make better decisions," Perino added.

"Why don't we just strap a gun on everybody and walk around the street?" Beckel quipped.

"It'd be safer," co-host Eric Bolling asserted.

"Beautiful!" Gutfeld exclaimed.

(h/t: Media Matters)

DOWNLOADS: (218)

PLAYS: (3939)

Embed

Fox News co-host Greg Gutfeld on Tuesday seemed to find something amusing the deaths of children in cities like Chicago as he asserted that all 17 year olds killed by guns were in gangs.

Fox News' The Five devoted a segment of their Tuesday show to talking about what -- other than a gun -- contributed to the tragic murder/suicide involving NFL football player Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins.

Co-host Dana Perino noted that Rush Limbaugh, who has been divorced three times, suggested that there might have been a better outcome "if there had been a marriage."

"There are many babies born out of wedlock in -- all across America and all races, in particular in African-American families and growing in Hispanic and White families as well," Perino explained.

"In this case, there's no doubt in my mind that alcohol played a direct result in this guy shooting his girlfriend and shooting himself," co-host Bob Beckel remarked. "I don't think anybody -- myself included, who's a recovering alcoholic -- anybody who has a history of alcoholism should not -- underscore -- not be allowed to buy guns."

"Okay, but we already did the gun argument," Perino said, attempting to change the subject.

"Bob, it's not the gun," co-host Eric Bolling volunteered. "It's fast money, it's quick celebrity, it's alcohol, it could be brain injury, it's the decay of the America family, it's all of them. But you can't blame the gun. Just can't blame the microphone when [sports broadcaster Bob] Costas says something really ridiculous. It's not the gun."

"I'm glad Costas used the opportunity to get to it and I'm going to continue to use it right now," Beckel continued. "The fact is there are more kids killed in this country..."

"What do you mean by kids, by the way?" co-host Greg Gutfeld shouted. "Give me an age!"

"Children, five to 17," Beckel replied.

"What do you think that's from?" Gutfeld asked. "Why don't you just say what it is? What's a 17 year old who's killed by a gun? What do you call that, Bob? That's called gang violence. Where does that occur? Chicago. There you go. Welcome to Chicago."

"That's ridiculous," Beckel insisted as Gutfeld began to smile. "All industrial countries combined have less deaths of children than the United States."

"When you say kids, it's 17 year olds in gangs," said a grinning Gutfeld. "We're talking about gang violence. Where does most of the gang violence occur? In gangs."

"I didn't say gang violence," Beckel pointed out.

"Look, I'm right on this," Gutfeld quipped with a hearty laugh.

According to the Children's Defense Fund, two-thirds of the 5,740 children and teens killed by guns in 2008 and 2009 were victims of homicide. About one-quarter were victims of suicide. And another 5 percent died from gun accidents or other unknown causes. During that same period, 173 preschoolers were killed by guns, compared with 89 law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty.

(h/t: Media Matters)