On Sunday, a three-year-old Ohio resident got ahold of a firearm and shot a one-year-old boy in the head, killing him. Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told the press that the person responsible for bringing the gun into the boys’ home may face charges. After that announcement, Williams went off-script. He told reporters that America’s gun culture bears responsibility for the tragedy. “Everybody has to know [that] this fascination with handguns, not just in the city, but in the country, has to stop,” he told cleveland.com. “We need to take a long look at what we’re doing on the state, local and national level to keep these guns out of our communities.” The backlash in the comments section includes this gem . . .

ooohhya2 hours ago
Fascination with sex and taking no responsibility with the results must end.

No doubt TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia will have similar insight into the Chief’s lack of insight, even as the Campaign to Stop Gun Ownership, Moms Demand Action for Civilian Disarmament in America and Americans for Final Solutions pick up the anti-gun ball and run with it.

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93 COMMENTS

  1. America’s obsession with armed police officers, who do not shoot as well or as accurately as civilians, must end.

    Boom!

    • I hate to be “that guy”, but I feel compelled to point out that (notwithstanding their penchant for dressing up in pointless camouflage and playing soldier) America’s police officers are civilians.

      • No, definitely be that guy.

        Funny how it’s the cops who seem to need the most frequent reminders that they are civilians.

        • The police may be civilians, but then why do they use military terms for some ranks in the department, like “sergeant”, “lieutenant” and ‘captain”? Why are police trainees who graduate the academy called “cadets”?

          • Airlines, cruise ships, merchant marine, sports teams, cheerleading squads, marching bands, and more all borrow military terms.
            Police would be paramilitary civilians.

        • Whelp, no one around here takes much notice when companies give military AND law enforcement discounts. Maybe that should stop.

        • The U.S. Military considers them to still be civilians unless they are in the reserves or National Guard.

    • When I read stuff like that I think “Who the hell do you people think you are?” Cleveland’s fascination with facism must end.

      The right to keep and bear arms will outlive even the idea of America.

      Keep your guns for end of America, and then disrupt the lives of facists everywhere. Hunt them and their kids [no sporting purposes tag limit], urinate on the bodies, destroy everything they’ve invested their lives in, enslave the fence sitters. If that sounds a little inflammatory and extreme, you should know that (in light of all previous human history) that’s what calls for gun control sound like.

      • Puissant Federales from Puissant States Unite!

        Get out in your streets enmass, shaking your fists in the air.

        Bunch up real tight. China doesn’t want to fight you house to house.

  2. America’s obsession needs to end with law enforcement that will kill innocent citizens based upon “no knock” search warrants, mistaken identity, over response to perceived provocation, and those arrogant pricks of law enforcement who tell us we need less of the Second Amendment, rather than more, as if the Bill of Rights is an out-dated set of guarantees against government over-reach.

    • Maybe he is just mad that the 1 year old never made it to the age that a officer could shoot him and claim self defense.

      Was that too harsh? Yes it was. Me lumping all law enforcement officers as killers is wrong. The VAST MAJORITY of LEO are good professional people. Just like the VAST MAJORITY of gun owners are good responsible people.

  3. America needs to think seriously about its habit of employing police chiefs who are all too willing to do the gun-control blood-dance at any opportunity.

    • On the contrary. Big city chiefs are employed at the whim of politicians (mayors) and generally parrot the mayor’s views on civilian disarmament if they want to keep their jobs.

      County sheriffs, on the other hand, are politicians. They answer directly to the voters and are known for speaking their minds as long as it’s politically expedient in their own counties.

      Case in point: Milwaukeee County Sheriff David Clarke
      http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pro-gun-milwaukee-sheriff-wants-ar-15-on-u.s.-seal/article/2562844

    • Another political butt kisser with a badge that should keep that ignorant clap trap under his nose shut. This is not a police state therefor he should stop farting through his mouth.

      • Another political butt kisser with a badge that should keep that ignorant clap trap under his nose shut. This is not a police state therefor he should stop farting through his mouth.

        Without new restraints nationwide, we will reach a police-out-ofcontrol state. Police are hired and trained to act as peace officers, not frustrated rejects from Blackwater. It’s lucky for Cleveland, Captain Williams is not a butt kisser, otherwise, he would never have issued his warning about the feckless love affair with guns. I witnessed the aftermath of two 14 year old boys, one of whom shot and maimed the other showing off a firearm. It’s sadness beyond relief the 3 year old shooting of the 1 year old. Responses to Williams’ cautionary statement are irresponsible, immoral and show much about the macho, red-blooded persons talking.

    • He sounds like the typical lefty: “I don’t understand why people would want to own guns, therefore they must have some kind of perverse ‘fascination’ with them. They are clearly deranged.”

      • Sounds like he’s indulging in some pop psychiatry. I would suggest the mental disorder surfacing here is the chief’s projection of his own psychosis on the public.

  7. “Americans ability to postpone tyrannical attempts thanks to guns must end” is what he really meant to say.

    • Does it really matter? If you leave a loaded gun laying around in such a way that a 3 yr old can just pick it up it does not matter what race or income level you are from. This is why you need to put them some place where they are locked up or on your hip and you need to teach kids gun safety at as early an age as possible.

      • What makes us think any of that BS is the truth? 1-yr-old is dead, 3-yr-old has no idea what happened, I suggest an adult murdered the kid because he cried and disturbed the adult’s cocaine high. Nobody is going to imprison a 3-year-old, we’ll just say it happened this way, we are so sly! I really, really doubt this is what happened, but everybody just swallows that crap.

      • @Pascal-

        I’d make book that the dramatis personae in this episode had ancestral origins from south of Algeria.

        And yes, race does matter. It matters in things like homicide, crime statistics, economic indicators, health statistics, college admissions, food stamp programs, the number of Bantu coaches in the NFL, quota systems and Pell Grant recipients.

        If you don’t know that by now…

  9. “Investigators are trying to determine where the gun came from,. . . ” Why is it so hard to figure out where the gun came from? “Neighbors said a mother lived in the house with at least three small children.” Hmmmm. I wonder who the gun owner might have been. Apparently, not the mother. Maybe it was her Gun Safety instructor; or, perhaps her choir director. Being skeptical, I wonder if it wasn’t a gentleman-caller with a rap sheet.
    We need more demographic detail on the background of child gun accidents. Are these incidents the fault of law-abiding gun owners who are trained in gun safety; but, despite their training, are negligent? Or, are they the fault of prohibited-persons who live lives of diverse negligent behavior?
    If the majority of incidents are the fault of “the gun culture” then let the chips fall where they may and we all need to roll-up-our-sleves and instill more self-discipline in our keeping and bearing of arms. Conversely, if the majority of incidents are at the hand of prohibited-persons and negligent parents who associated with illegally-armed acquaintances then the trail of blood leads in a different direction.

  10. Americas obsession with swimming pools must end today. According to the CDC about ten deaths per day are from drowning in swimming pools.

    Here is a tip chief, there is no way to prevent all tragic accidents. If it was not a gun, according to the CDC at least one child would have died from drowning that day, or in car accident, or from falling from a tree. All death cannot be prevented.

  11. If only there was a law that prohibited shooting 1 year old children in the head, none of this would have happened.

  12. I gotta wonder – If the 3-yr-old pushed his little brother into the bathtub where he drowned, would the Chief call for an end to our fascination with bathtubs?

  14. America’s fascination with becoming an idiot when cameras are running needs to end.

  16. America’s obsession with trying to place blame anywhere but where it is deserved, must end.

    Americans’ obsession with shirking personal responsibility must end.

    Americans’ obsession with OTHER PEOPLE’s guns must end! (It’s okay to be obsessed with your own, everybody needs a hobby.)

  17. “Everybody has to know [that] this fascination with handguns, not just in the city, but in the country, has to stop,”

    Every urban police chief and ward politician has to know, that the mass of handgun-involved murder and abuse takes place within their jurisdictions. We know they feel impotent to fix the problem in their small geographic areas. We further know that the problem in these urban crime zones is the unwillingness of most police chiefs and mayors to make demands of their own constituents…demands for better behavior. We also know that outside these culturally decayed precincts handguns are not a problem, but a tool providing safety against the criminal fraction of the population. “Physician, heal thyself.”

  18. I like how the commenter about sex and responsibility name is “ooohhya2”. And that there is an “ooohhya1” and “ooohhya” out there already taken. Gotta love the Internet.

  19. Has anything worthwhile come out of Cleveland?

    Other than the Cleveland Steamer, of course.

  20. This man sees freedom in action and he doesn’t like it. People are free to be idiots. The Courts have a process for dealing with negligent fools whose actions result in death. But blaming an inanimate object for the stupidity of its owner does not add to collective wisdom.

    • “People are free to be idiots”

      Up to the point where one person’s idiocy threatens another’s freedom.

      That’s the whole gun “debate” in a nutshell really. Personally, I’m fine with banning idiots from having access to guns. Problem is, I don’t trust that there exists any system to say who is and is not an idiot.

  21. His concern is understandable. He’s on the wrong side of a “discussion” with the largest and most heavily armed body of people in the history of the world and he wants to take away one of the instruments that keeps the free (at least more so than the rest of the world).

  22. Nearly 1,000 children drown a year in backyard pools, left unlocked or unattended by adults. About 250 kids ingest poison such as Drano or pills left under the sink or in a cabinet. About 130 kids fall out of windows left open by adults. These are usually very young children not being supervised. While this accident is tragic and very avoidable. There are FAR more children killed by adults who didn’t secure the items I mentioned above which result in many many more deaths…

  24. It turn out that the mother is a felon. she said the gun belonged to her male visitor. He is also a felon
    Expect some charges coming down the road.
    Paul in Texas

    • So it wasn’t the mother’s Gun Safety instructor or her choir director. Who woulda thunk!
      Now that we have more clarity on the underlying demographics, we need to ask the good Chief just how depriving OFWGs of the RKBA is going to change the situation on the ground in his hood.

      Likewise, we know that 90+% of both victims and attackers in gun-homicide pairs are black and that black-on-black homicide are disproportionate to the percentage of blacks in the population. Just how would depriving OFWGs of the RKBA is going to change the situation on the ground in the hood?

      Likewise, we need to inquire into the demographics of gun suicide. How many gun suicides are of an age, education and profession that they would be unlikely to figure out a way to kill themselves but for Messrs. Colt, Smith & Wesson?

  25. Trying to see if I have this straight. If there was less fascination with guns and actions were taken to get “some” guns out of the community this kind of tragedy would have been avoided. Proper gun handling and storage, better parental supervision and personal accountability? Do these even make his list after taking “some” of the peoples guns?

  27. Child shot by his baby brother in Chicago. This thug fascination has got to end…”but it was my boyfriends gun”…

  28. Fascination with guns? Again, the ant-freedom zealots keep projecting their own insecurities and fears on the rest of us.

    They are the ones that keep making the irrational and delusional attempt to blame an inanimate object for the negligent acts that cause injury and death by irresponsible people.

    They keep attaching magical powers to an inanimate object that supposedly has the power to turn a law abiding and peaceful human being into a homicidal maniac.

    They keep placing the childish belief that a picture with a circle and slash placed over a gun hung in a public place will protect them from a homicidal maniac from mass murder with a gun.

    They keep showing a consistent and overpowering need for the control of others of qualities that are prominent in their own crippled psyches.

    I am coming to see that liberal/progressivism/ statism truly is a mental disorder.

  29. On Sunday, a three-year-old Ohio resident got ahold of a firearm and shot a one-year-old boy in the head, killing him.

    Parental responsibilities found lacking. Small curious toddlers and children need to be protected from a variety of things:
    Stairs, kitchens (and the wondrous objects within), chemical storage areas, sharp objects, potentials poisons, potential drowning areas (including toilets, amazingly), machinery, work working tools, drills, saws, etc. I’m sorry, but i’m not seeing why guns are any different. Anyone’s fascination with any of the above are quite frankly – none of the chief’s business. Again – not sure why guns would be any different.

    Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told the press that the person responsible for bringing the gun into the boys’ home may face charges.

    I can somewhat agree with this – depending on circumstance. But again, if small toddler fell down the stairs and died would the responsible person face arrest? Gun’s aren’t special and if you are going to arrest for one accident you should arrest for them all.

    He told reporters that America’s gun culture bears responsibility for the tragedy.

    Uh. No. I had nothing to do with the tragedy. Likewise, if I manufactured stairs or advocated for the construction of stairs or swimming pools in homes, I would not have anything to do with associated accidents in conjunction with such. A man who sells ladders is not responsible for people who fall off ladders.

    “Everybody has to know [that] this fascination with handguns, not just in the city, but in the country, has to stop. We need to take a long look at what we’re doing on the state, local and national level to keep these guns out of our communities.”

    Uh no. Do they not have a right to their possessions? If a man has a table saw and someone dies from it, do we ban tablesaws? The freedom hating statist would say “but tablesaws are not designed to kill people, tablesaws serve a useful purpose.” What they are missing is that firearms have a legitimate and useful purpose as well (sporting/range/hunting, self defense, collecting, etc). It is oppressive behavior to forbid people from owning objects, when they have no intent to do harm nor ever will. Responsibility should be placed on the individual – not blanketed on real people treating them like a statistic, a metric.

  30. Sweet, I fully expect him to disarm his own officers to prove he’s a man of substance.

    Or not.

  31. We as a people cannot fix stupid, although our court systems can at times put them in there proper place for fixed amounts of time!!! If the comment above concerning the felons in possession, well then if gun laws worked like the chief wishes and inclines then this tragic incident would have never occurred. It all comes down to training, personal safety, proper handling, storage and yes a higher level of intelligence. We can control our personal environment and home safety to a point where another crosses that threshold, But in the end there is still no fix for Stupid, it’s a shame it doesn’t take care of itself not innocent that are under there supervision!!
    It’s sad and the fix is training, storage and perhaps the enforcement of existing Laws, Aye CHIEF!!!!

  33. Many goofy Americans are fascinated by Government Unions. How ’bout we abolish those. Sound good Chief?

  34. Lets see if I can make this real simple:

    Disarmed Subjects = Victims = Job Security for inner city police chiefs.

    If the general population is armed, and there is a cause and effect of reduced crime, that denies the Police Chief the argument that he needs: a bigger budget, more cops, more $ going to the police unions and political machines and a bigger paycheck.

  35. Chief Williams, I am a LEO and part of the gun culture. From me to you, shut your f-ing pie hole. The last time I checked, the RIGHT to keep and bear arms was protected by the U.S. Constitution. So again, shut your pie hole and keep your personal beliefs to yourself. Your personal beliefs have no place in doing your job. Your job is to enforce laws on the books and DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION. If you cannot do your job without bias, resign.

    • Gregory,

      Thank You Sir !!!

      You are the type of LEO that I find to be a refreshing & very much appreciated reminder that we do have rights that have been infringed upon already to the point of absolute hilarity, if not for the terrible truth that all these infringements have done SO MUCH MORE HARM than any measurable good, causing countless deaths from different areas of the country where Law Abiding Citizens ARE NOT able to carry a weapon to fend off some low life thug that will gun you down, stab you to death or beat your brains out for a couple of bucks ( LITERALLY ) for a fast dope fix, etc.

      This country has been SO SUCCESSFUL at remaining invasion-less BECAUSE we have SO MANY RESPONSIBLY ARMED, Law Abiding, hard working or over-worked retired citizens that can & will take up arms at a moments notice, it even hints &/or infers in the constitution that we SHOULD bear arms to defend ourselves/country in the event of an invasion &/or oppression ……….. ” A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. ” I’d define that in itself to be a form of ” Civil Service ” in it’s own right ………..

      That means not only bearing arms to stay free of these infringements upon us by CRIMINALS &/OR FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC INVADERS, BUT OVERZEALOUS, TYRANNICAL, UNETHICAL GOVERNMENTS TOO …….. That is the way I define what is stated in the constitution, or do I see something in a different light than MOST other ” Freedom Loving Gun Rights Activists/Owners ” ?!?!?!

      Look at places like Australia, Nazi Germany & countless other places/times throughout history where the crime rate, genocide & the like, LITERALLY SKYROCKETED &/or OCCURRED OVERNIGHT – When the citizens were disarmed ……. When our guns are taken away, lives are naturally & inevitably forfeited, whether it be immediate, soon or slowly allowed to occur, it is historically accurate & absolutely inevitable that the moment one gives up or has their rights taken away to bear arms, people may as well be sure & swift to give their heart to God Almighty, because their ass belongs to the criminals, by WHATEVER NAME(s) they choose to go by or are given in the action !!!

      CRIMINALS & TYRANTS will ALWAYS have guns, ESPECIALLY IF DECENT LAW ABIDING CITIZENS DO NOT HAVE GUNS !!! I thank GOD we have LEO’s like yourself that STILL BELIEVE & DEFEND the constitution & realize that there are MANY MORE responsible people in this country than irresponsible &/or CRIMINALS …………

      Were this NOT the case, then I too might be thinking again before defending such rights with the conviction that I have, but in fact it is we whom are harassed, picketed, railed against, hated, called names, are called nut jobs with obsessions, etc. when we are merely exercising our rights as Law Abiding Citizens that DO obey the laws, do NOT commit crimes & responsibly protect our families, hunt to feed our families, hunt for sport, hunt to help feed OTHERS’ families & charitable organizations, support & keep a massive industry going that supplies jobs, homes, cars, create massive amounts of money flowing to purchase our firearms, ammunition, accessories, etc. with all our ” OBSESSION ” money & even defend our property against all those whom wish to perpetrate, instigate, take lives for no other reason than evil purposes, general mischief & mindless criminal activity of all nature, YET we must be on the defensive night & day just to keep our God-Given rights to bear arms, the criminals & irresponsible thuggish felons hiding guns under couches that come along & the MSM ARE ALWAYS ready to blame it on ” OUR OBSESSION ” with guns ……….. WHERE IS THE BLAME FOR THE STUPIDITY OF THESE IDIOTS ??? WHERE IS THIS OUR FAULT ???

      WHEN A DRUNK DRIVER GETS BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A CAR & KILLS A CAR FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE WHERE ARE THE MSM & THE WACKOS AT THAT SHOULD BE SCREAMING TO BAN ALCOHOL, CARS, BARS, DISTILLERY’S, BREWERIES, LIQUOR STORES, ETC. ?!?!?! HYPOCRITES ABOUND WHEN IT COMES TO ALL THE DOUBLE STANDARDS SET BY THE MSM & IT’S HYPNOTIZED, CRAZED, MANIACAL, CULT FOLLOWING ……… SHAME ON YOU DECEIVERS !!!!!!!!!!!!

  36. Calvin Williams is the perfect example of the “new” American police executives who have no sense of history or the importance of armed civilians. He is thoroughly steamed in the “blame the gun” genre. He lives in resentment of the Second Amendment.

    To diffuse this kind of dribble………always ask the “police executive” about his agency’s response time to critical incidents. To further stuff the cabbage, ask about on-scene arrest rates at critical incidents.

    When seconds count…………the police are minutes away. Hopefully.

    • Also ask him can I sue you for failing to perform your job of protecting me since you believe I should not be armed to defend myself yet rely on you to protect me? See how that turns out with the multiple Supreme Court decisions in favor of the police that say otherwise….

  37. Oh sure, and how about we give up our fascination for smoking while we’re at it. Smoking kills 440,000 folks in the US each year. What’s the total gun death count, including cops shooting black folks in the back? Around 30,000 or so each year.
    The fascination isn’t going end, plain and simple.

    Wrap your brain around safe and secure storage!!

  41. Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams’ Brother Fatally Shot
    2/25/2015

    A woman suspected of killing the brother of Cleveland’s police chief is in critical condition after shooting herself, authorities said.

    William D. Williams, 34, the brother of Chief Calvin Williams, was shot to death and found early Tuesday, Cleveland Police said in a statement. Officials named Dana Johnson, 36, as a suspect in the homicide issuing a warrant for her arrest and an alert for the car she was driving.

    Williams and Johnson were in a relationship and have two children together, NBC station WKYC reported.

    Pennsylvania State Police found Johnson after recognizing her vehicle on a state highway, according to the statement from Cleveland police.

    As authorities tried to stop her car, Johnson pulled out a gun and shot herself. She was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital where she is listed in critical condition, officials said.

  42. This TURD in a white shirt is a typical cop-whore Chief. Whoring to the anti gun Bolshevik city councils. He is probably running for deputy attny general.

    Ray

  43. America’s fascination with politically appointed, brown nosing police chiefs needs to end, particularily in Liberally controlled cesspools referred to as “cities”.

  45. Sorry Chief of Police Williams but my fascination is with my Constitutional Rights…especially the 2nd!

  47. Or maybe Cleveland’s Democrat voting obsession needs to end. Right? Right! A large Democrat low information voter base means automatic Democrat election. It also means you have a large population still hanging on to false hope that Democrats are for them and going to lift them out of whatever situation they feel they are in without any effort on their part. Same cycle. Same outcome. 50 years and counting…what is said about the definition of insanity?

    • The Chief seems to think that he will solve his gun violence problem by pursuing OFWGs rather than felons-in-posession. When are his subjects going to figure out that OFWGs are not at the heart of their gun-problem?

  48. It’s Cleveland, who cares about what anyone from there says or thinks? Everything there sucks anyway. If you want proof, look no further than the Browns. You know that spot between your junk and your sphincter? That’s Cleveland to the rest of Ohio.

  49. Hey Calvin, American’s “fascination” with guns will be tempered when lefties like you get armed criminal action in our urban areas under control and not one minute sooner! Make our cities safe and much of the need will simply go away. Until then shut the hell up.

  50. Any government official that advocates against fundamental, individual, human/CIVIL RIGHTS that they swore an oath to “uphold, protect and defend”, is an USURPER and, therefore, a justified target of Freedom Fighters.

  51. Black and white liberals run cleveland. Their socialist polices created the envirorment that foster high inner city crime and created a slave population of disarmed people. The best way to reduce the crime is to encourage law abiding citizens to arm themselves. Then a population of free people will be able to control their own lives.

  52. Raoul Duke/13Apr15@18:56 et al.,

    In line w/ your comment, you/others may find the following of interest.:

    No LE duty to protect citizens 1

    No LE duty to protect citizens 2

    No LE duty to protect citizens 3

    I’ve used the above decisions against the anti-2A/pro-thug cult’s “You don’t need guns because the police will protect you” line successfully on numerous occasions, really shuts down that avenue of attack & causes quite a bit of consternation among those who were unaware of what the ‘inconvenient truth’ is regarding the relationship of LE to the citizenry. And to validate the previous even more, all that’s necessary is to remind people of what happened in L.A. after the Rodney King decision was handed down & LA after Katrina then ask the anti-2A cultist why LE wasn’t held liable for the deaths/injuries/looting/property damage that occurred after LE’s desertion. The reaction of the cultist/s is VERY, informative, to those who observing it & can be counted on to gut them/their position each & every time it’s used.

  53. MarkPA/14Apr15@11:26,

    He/the other anti-2A cultists already know that, disarming/apprehending genuine criminals is fraught w/ physical (& also political & economic) peril whereas going after the stereotypical (decent, hard working, law abiding, system revering) gun owner doesn’t entail such unpleasantness. It’s the simple cost/benefit analysis of the opportunist/predator which, if you think about it, isn’t much different from assessments criminals make. Funny thing that, idnit.

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