Syracuse teen charged with deadly sniper shooting

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in a sniper-style slaying of a public works employee in Syracuse, N.Y., after police learned that his friend falsely confessed to the crime.

Police say 16-year-old Ja-Le Johnson originally gave a statement admitting he shot 47-year-old Casimir Snyder on Jan. 4. But they’re now charging Shawn Rhines with second-degree murder.

Police say Johnson intentionally misled authorities in a test of loyalty to see if his friend would step forward or let him take the blame.

Police say the buddies would hang out in the attic of Johnson’s brother’s house and target practice with their rifles. They started by shooting at objects, then squirrels and rabbits.

Rhines was arraigned Tuesday. His lawyer had no immediate comment.

SOURCE:
Syracuse teen charged with deadly sniper shooting

I wonder? Is it just me or does there appear to be a definite anti guns tilt in the 3rd paragraph of this story?

It seems to me that the author is pointing out some natural progression in the development of a shooter. ‘They started by shooting at objects, then squirrels and rabbits.’ so it’s only natural that they would progress to murder and becoming cold blooded killers, that’s the implication that I am seeing here.

Maybe I’m just overly sensitive. Maybe it’s because I have been a shooter for close to 50 years now and I never once went out and murdered anyone. Maybe that’s why I take umbrage at the tone of this article. Maybe it’s because the 2nd Amendment has been under attack and the rights of shooters and gun owners is hanging precariously in the balance.

All over this nation, millions of gun owners and shooters will ‘hang out’ today. They will practice their craft, whether it be a handgun, a rifle, a shotgun or any combination of the previous. Millions of guns will kill no one today. Millions of gun owners will murder no one today. Millions of gun owners will never fire their weapons in anger or in an act of self defense, today or any other day.

The implications made by the anti gun cabal every time some criminal uses a gun only serves to hurt ALL of us that are legal, safe and responsible gun owners. Why does the mainstream media hate gun owners so much? Why won’t they give gun owners a fair break?

How many gun owners are there in the United States of America? Most estimates range between 39% and 50% of US households having at least one gun (that’s about 43-55 million households). The estimates for the number of privately owned guns range from 190 million to 300 million. Removed those that skew the stats for their own purposes the best estimates are about 45% or 52 million of American households owning 260 million guns). SOURCE

Just once I would love to see this headline: ‘300 million legal guns and gun owners in America did NOT kill anyone today!’ Yeah, like that’s gonna happen…

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