Yup, that’s the headline at abc11.com: ’13-YEAR-OLD KILLED BY GUN AT RALEIGH HOTEL, MAN CHARGED.’ Kinda makes you wonder why the cops didn’t charge the man. Oh wait, they did. As well they should. “Police say a 13-year-old boy is dead after a gun discharged in a hotel room and the bullet went through a wall into another room, hitting the teen. It happened around 11 p.m. Friday at the Comfort Suites hotel at 1309 Corporation Parkway. Randall Louis Vater, 42, of Knightdale has been charged with . . .

involuntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The victim has been identified as Nathan Andrew Clark, of Lewisville, N.C.

Clark was in Raleigh to play in the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL) shootout this weekend. His team has since pulled out of the tournament.

And gun owners shocked and horrified by this heinous crime should click here to contact the station and protest their decision to cast blame on an inanimate object, rather than the judicial process that allowed the release of a dangerous man from the prison where he clearly belonged.

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23 COMMENTS

  3. And for those well-meaning people who want to restore gun rights to felons, this is what you will get.

    Felons aren’t like us.

    • Should felons, in your opinion, be denied other rights as well? Do rights, in your opinion, come from the government? and can be taken away by the government? You’re on a dangerous path, amigo, much more dangerous that the threat of felons to relatively few individuals, for once the government starts killing, as many other governments have done throughout history, the killings will be en mass and much more difficult to stop than an individual criminal. Has it occurred to you that criminals existed during the time that the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution and that they were aware of them? And yet, they clearly considered the potential danger of a criminal government to be much greater than the danger from individual criminals.

      • Ideally, if they’ve done their time, that should be the end of it. If releasing someone into society would cause a danger, then they shouldn’t do it, and therefore all released felons should have all rights restored, because if we don’t trust them to behave in normal society, what are they doing out in the first place?

        Of course the real world doesn’t work that way.

      • The founding fathers took away the rights of those who were found guilty of crimes all the time, as long as there was due process.

      • Should felons, in your opinion, be denied other rights as well?

        Yes. Felons are denied the right to live outside of prison, to hold certain jobs, to acquire firearms and to vote.

        Do rights, in your opinion, come from the government? and can be taken away by the government?

        No, rights do not come from government, but yes, they can be taken away from government. What do you think a prison sentence is?

        Ideally, if they’ve done their time, that should be the end of it.

        Really? What about their victims? Was restitution paid? Were their deceased love ones miraculously restored to life? Were their wounds healed?

        Do you know how often restitution is paid by criminals who have “served their time?” That would be — never. So the criminal goes home, all is forgiven, and the victims still suffer. Hideous. Absolutely hideous.

        • I thought my question was clear that by the word “felons” I meant those that have already done their punishment, not those in prison. Of course rights are forfeited by the felon for the duration of the punishment. But isn’t the concept of punishment is to correct the behavior and return a person to the society? Otherwise, why don’t we eliminate everyone guilty of anything? If a person was guilty of shoplifting and has paid the price or even drunk driving and never touches alchohol again, is that a reason for denying him constitutional rights after his official punishment is over?

    • It depends on the nature of the felony. With violent crimes, I agree completely. But the solution isn’t laws against felon gun possession; rather, the solution is to keep violent felons behind bars permanently.

      • Wow – seriously? One prison sentence – life in prison without possibility of parole – for all violent crime that currently results in a prison sentence of 1 year or more in the penitentiary? Am I reading your comment correctly?

  4. Careful, everyone can be one traffic stop away from being a felon in today’s militarized police state (and federation) no pun intended.

  5. As well they should???

    I dunno, not if the gun did it… I’d hate to be charged for something one of my guns did afterall.

    (Sarcasm in case anybody’s detector is on the fritz)

  6. This is certainly a tragedy for the boy and his friends and family. The felon is an idiot for letting an unintentional discharge happen. Ignorance of handling firearms is not limited to law abiding citizens. Perhaps law enforcement should teach good safety practices to gang bangers and felons about to be released. The knowledge of how to use a weapon safely would benefit them more than most of us, who have taken concealed carry classes, as they are far more likely to need the knowledge on the streets.

    • “Ignorance of handling firearms is not limited to law abiding citizens. ”

      I have been following gun deaths in the local news the last decade or more, particularly accidental gun deaths, and it’s my suspicion that most of them involve illegal guns. Kid accidentally shooting his friend with a gun that belonged to mom’s boyfriend who is out on parole, for instance.

      I would love to see some solid stats on the percentage of gun accidents involving legal versus illegal owners. Legal owners may be more likely to make the national news, but I’m guessing that the guys who shouldn’t legally have guns in the first place are kicking up the numbers considerable.

  7. “Lewisville teen killed after Felon shoots through hotel wall with an illegally acquired gun”

    They need to hire me to write for them. Oh wait, thats the truth and the MSM can’t tell the truth.

  9. True, more felons than, er non-felons are evil, but the guy caught with a dime-bag, left in his car by his girlfriend, probably isn’t that bad a dude. I’d be comfortable with non-violent felons having their RKBA restored.

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