Gun

Victor Guzman tried to pull his son away from the man he'd been arguing with on his front stoop in Frankford Sunday night. Before he could get him back into the house, it was too late. The man Guzman's son, 25-year-old Edward Pagan, had been fighting with pulled a gun and opened fire in front of their rowhouse on Adams Avenue near Wingohocking Street, wounding Guzman and killing Pagan. "I was trying to drag my son into the house," Guzman, 49, said quietly as he stood outside the house Monday, his left arm bandaged from elbow to knuckles.

Bill Cosby went on CNN's "State of the Union" yesterday to discuss the Trayvon Martin case with host Candy Crowley. Tattle has no idea why he was on. Or what he said. Cosby tried to make the point that the Martin shooting was about guns and not race, but his reasoning and syntax got so convoluted, his point got lost. Cosby: "I believe that when you tell me that you're going to protect the neighborhood that I live in, I don't want you to have a gun. I want you to be able to see something, report it, and get out of the way, because you happen to be a part of the neighborhood.

A Philadelphia man showing off what he thought was an unloaded gun the day before he was to start a job as a security guard accidentally shot a friend in the face and killed her, police said. Sandrea Smith, 35, of the 2900 block of North 26th Street, was shot once in the left cheek and died at the scene, according to police. The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The incident happened in a bedroom of a home in the 2100 block of East Somerset Street in Kensington.

"I tossed him my gun. . . . He put on the gloves. . . . He walked her into the woods and we heard a shot go off. " Kareem Harrison, one of four Philadelphia men charged in the Sept. 2, 2009, carjacking and murder of a woman, described her final moments without emotion as he testified Wednesday before a jury in the Burlington County Court House in the trial of the alleged organizer of the crime. Harrison, who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty last year to a charge of aggravated manslaughter in return for the dismissal of a charge of murder.

Renee Fareira was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in a New Jersey state prison for aggravated manslaughter in the slaying of her husband of 20 years, Edison High School principal John C. Fareira, one of Philadelphia's most popular educators. The sentencing by Superior Court Judge Rudolph Rossetti came after the prosecution presented documents aimed at rebutting the defense's contention that she had loaded the gun that killed her husband with the intention of taking her own life.

At 2:38 a.m. on Nov. 15, Kevin Neary found himself sprawled on the sidewalk of Bodine Street near the pretty brick rowhouse where he rented an apartment. He couldn't feel his arms or legs. He tried calling, "Help," three times, but with each attempt, as though in a nightmare, his voice grew weaker. Why could no one hear him? Minutes passed. Neary opened his eyes to see a police officer kneeling beside him. "Don't let me die," he pleaded. Over the next few weeks, he sometimes wondered whether he'd have been better off dead.

WE'RE SURE Officer Vanessa Carter-Moragne feels terrible about her gun discharging and hurting a 10-year-old boy. She's a mother herself, after all; in fact, she was at school to pick up her son Wednesday when a group of students asked to see her gun. She removed the clip and passed the automatic weapon around; apparently, there was one bullet in the chamber. When she returned it to her holster, it discharged, grazing a student, who required five stitches and was sent home. But the fact that something far worse didn't happen doesn't mean she should get off easy.

ONE THING to remember about the Philadelphia Gun Violence Task Force is not how many guns it confiscates, but the people it arrests. And there is one other thing: the amount of noise it makes on the streets. Last week the task force, funded by a $5 million state grant championed by state Sen. Vince Fumo, announced 19 people had been charged with illegally transferring handguns. Since December 2006, the task force, which includes representatives of the offices of the district attorney, attorney general and Philadelphia police, has arrested 165 people and taken in 262 firearms.

TO letter-writer Albert Whitehead: As is clearly indicated in the picture on Page 6 (July 22), that is a revolver that doesn't eject its spent casings. The primers (center of the bullet) is indented, indicating the firing pin hit them and indeed blasted away in Southwest Philly - most likely at cops hired to protect you, your family and me when entering the city to work. Thanks to all the brave cops who put their lives on the line every day. Mark Daughterman, Langhorne Mr. Whitehead, before you start thinking that the police did wrong, look at the picture carefully!

Upon reading Christopher Hepp's Oct. 26 article, "Why prominent people hold gun permits," I feel compelled to respond to some of the issues discussed. I agree with the Police Commissioner Kevin M. Tucker that the number of gun permits should be reduced. But I believe that the more detailed application form, which now requires a fuller explanation of why the gun is needed and asks whether the applicant has tried other means before seeking a gun permit, is not enough. First of all, those interviewed for the article said that they rarely carried their guns.

Yi Qi Dong was outside cleaning his West Philadelphia Chinese takeout after 11 p.m. on May 1 when three men, two with guns, rushed up to him and forced him inside. Over the next three hours, the thugs terrorized Dong, his wife and 11-year-old daughter at the restaurant, at 42nd and Ogden streets. They searched for money, pistol-whipped and punched him and his wife, and pulled her and their daughter's hair. Dong, 48, who came here in 1993 from the city of Fuzhou in southeastern China, testified through a Mandarin interpreter in Family Court Wednesday about the frightening ordeal that ended only after a passer-by, who noticed something suspicious, notified police.

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a measure that could help keep guns out of the hands of career criminals by imposing a mandatory five-year prison sentence on any felon caught carrying a weapon. But since there's usually a catch whenever new gun laws are the subject, you might be asking, What is it going to be this time? Harrisburg, after all, is known for letting sensible gun-violence prevention proposals die. Many never even make it to a committee vote, due to the vise-grip of the National Rifle Association on any item related to gun rights.

This whole incident is madness. The school officials should have just told the boys not to bring the gun to school. The toy pellet gun hitting the girl occurred off school property. The girl was uninjured, and is not complaining. "Corpus delicti" (plural: corpora delicti; Latin: "body of crime") is a term from Western jurisprudence that refers to the principle that it must be proved that a crime has occurred before a person can be convicted of committing the crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it can be proven that property has been stolen.

After spending 10 days in juvenile detention for an incident involving a toy gun, 12-year-old Gerald McNeal's first meal when he was released Friday was shrimp, mac and cheese and spinach. Yes, spinach. Gerald, whose favorite color is peach and whose favorite Phillies player is Vance Worley, isn't a typical 12-year-old. The incident that landed him in juvy on a felony assault charge May 8 isn't typical either. Gerald, a tall, thin, quiet boy with long lashes and even longer limbs, had taken a plastic toy gun away from his little brother Isaac, 9, and put it in his bookbag because their mother doesn't allow them to play with toy guns.

Victor Guzman tried to pull his son away from the man he'd been arguing with on his front stoop in Frankford Sunday night. Before he could get him back into the house, it was too late. The man Guzman's son, 25-year-old Edward Pagan, had been fighting with pulled a gun and opened fire in front of their rowhouse on Adams Avenue near Wingohocking Street, wounding Guzman and killing Pagan. "I was trying to drag my son into the house," Guzman, 49, said quietly as he stood outside the house Monday, his left arm bandaged from elbow to knuckles.

A former detective-sergeant in the Hatboro Police Department stands accused of stealing firearms, cash, and narcotics from the police evidence room, and also of using a police informant to buy illegal drugs for him. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office said Thursday that John Becker, 42, of Horsham, had been arraigned before District Judge Paul Leo on numerous charges and had been released on $10,000 bail pending further court action in...

Stephanie Thompson wanted justice for the death of her 4-year-old son Brandon. The energetic, happy, and loving child was playing near his uncle in August 2008 in Camden when he was killed instantly, caught in cross fire between his uncle and another man fighting a petty feud. On Wednesday, the gunmen — Martin Pierce, 23, and Donnald Lindsey, 24 — left the Camden County Hall of Justice with lengthy sentences issued by Superior Court Judge Michele Fox. The justice meted out, however, was not exactly what Thompson wanted.

By the time he appears in court on Friday, 12-year-old Gerald McNeal will have been in custody for 10 days for doing what he thought a big brother should do. His little brother, Isaac, 9, meanwhile, has been racked with guilt and feels responsible for the serious criminal charges that his brother faces because of Isaac's toy gun. "Mostly, I was crying because if I never would have bring it this would have never happened," said Isaac....

In the streets surrounding the Republican National Convention in Tampa this summer, water pistols, slingshots, brass knuckles and glass bottles will be prohibited. But loaded guns? Not a chance. While the spoilsport Secret Service won't let civilians carry guns inside the Tampa Convention Center, outside is a different story: Anyone with a concealed weapons permit will be permitted to pack heat almost anywhere he wants. And yet, the NRA-manipulated paranoia about nonexistent threats to gun ownership has become even more pronounced since Barack Obama became president: The fact that Obama has done nothing to restrict guns — and, in fact, signed a law allowing people to take them into national parks — apparently is proof to them that he intends to take everyone's guns away.

IT WAS A DAY to be proud of the uniform, a sunny August afternoon to honor the badge at the Jersey shore and remember those officers who made the greatest sacrifice. Two sources familiar with the Margate, N.J, Police Department say the 2010 Hero Thrill Show was also the day colorful Philadelphia lawyer and law-enforcement philanthropist Jimmy Binns, who likes to dress up in police uniforms, should have been arrested for illegally carrying a handgun. He wasn't — the sources say — because he's friends with the Margate chief.