Olympic 'Blade Runner' Murder Case Puts Spotlight on Domestic Gun Violence

Prosecutors say Oscar Pistorius fatally shot his super-model girlfriend after a shouting match

A high profile South African murder case involving Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee Olympic track star known as the "Blade Runner," has put a spotlight on the issue of domestic gun violence.

Pistorius, who became an international hero when he ran on carbon fibre blades in the London 2012 Olympics, faces charges of "premeditated murder" of his super-model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Prosecutors say he fatally shot her through a locked bathroom door in his home when she fled there after the two had a shouting match on Valentine's Day.

Pistorius denied Tuesday that he intended to take her life. He said he thought he was shooting at an intruder when he opened fire at the bathroom door after hearing noises, the New York Times said.

Media reports say outside the courtroom Tuesday several dozen women protested against domestic violence and waved placards urging Pistorius be refused bail. "Pistorius must rot in jail," one placard said. The South African Medical Research Council said at least three women are killed by a partner every day in the country of 50 million, Fox News reports.

Shootings are the most common method by which women are killed by an intimate partner in the United States, according to the Center for Gun policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University.

Via Fox News and New York Times and Johns Hopkins University

Does having a gun in the house increase the likelihood of death in cases of domestic violence?

[miketost]

So lets focus on the gun not the fact Blade Runner was abusing steroids.Once again a mental condition be hind the gun.

[martydotcom]

let's focus on pure statistics. Johns Hopinks a fairly unimpeachable source in for the most fanatical

"In 2007, there were more than 18,000 homicides in the U.S.3 While men are more likely to be homicide victims, women are over 3 and a half times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner compared to men.4
According to federal data collected from police departments, in 2005 approximately 40% of b female homicide victims ages 15–50 were killed by either a current or former intimate partner. In over half (55%) of these cases, the perpetrator used a gun. Among male victims 15–50 years of age, 2% were killed by either a current or former intimate partner. About 37% of the male intimate partner homicides involved a gun.4
Women are a greater danger of being killed by a current or former intimate partner than More than twice as many women are killed by a husband or intimate acquaintance than are killed by a stranger using a gun, a knife, or any other means."

http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-ins...

[miketost]

@martydotcom How many were killed by cars ?Life is tough ,you and those like you out to save the world need to start at the top and work your way down.Guns will be near the bottom .Solve all the other causes then i will applaud you.

[martydotcom]

@miketost I just posted the facts related to incidence of gun violence in Domestic violence in the home from an impartial source unbiased source. a statement of facts you wish to deflect from the topic that's your privilege, I chose to answer the question posed factually not take a piercing glimpse into the obvious about car deaths.

Why do you have such a the problem admitting to the very simple fact that if there is a gun in the home, in the event of domestic violence, the odds are the female will be shot?

[John_Matrix]

Steroids don't cause people to kill anymore than guns do.

[miketost]

@martydotcom I had a male friend that died at the hands of his abused wife.Was she to go on being abused silently?It works both ways its not just women killed.

[texas_cutie75]

How tragic!

[PoliticalSpice]

Not the most romantic valentines day!

[texas_cutie75]

@PoliticalSpice
Nope. I have been looking, why is he a double amputee?

[PoliticalSpice]

@texas_cutie75 I meant for them, not for you. And after reading that story one would stop looking! He's a double amputee because of the two prior fights he had with this girlfriend. Guess it was his turn to win a round!

[Keyjo]

@texas_cutie75
Pay no attention to the Spice Man. He was born with some sort of condition that required double amputation in early childhood. He grew up a double amputee. I don't recall the name of the condition, but I heard part of his past interview on Pierce Morgan.

[Keyjo]

@PoliticalSpice
Good tale!

[PNWest]

Had he not had easy access to a gun then she would probably be alive. I heard the prosecutor said they should have a pretty easy case. They say the defendant doesn't have a leg to stand on. I know that's bad but you laughed any way didn't you?

[texas_cutie75]

I'll admit, I chuckled at that.

[PoliticalSpice]

Not as in as bad taste as some jokes I make, but I thought you were more pc then that!:)

[mtkopf]

I'm still laughing

[NTBFW]

If she had easy access to a gun she could have shot back.

[PNWest]

@NTBFW And if she had wings she could have flown away. She didn't get there first. If the gun wasn't there she would still be alive.

[bsking]

No it puts focus on domestic violence.

[DrFunkenstein]

Guns don't kill people, morons kill people. Guns just make it easy for morons to kill people which is the reason so many morons support expanding gun rights. They are afraid that they might get beat up by their wife so instead they want a gun so she can't beat him up like all the girls in school used to. If girls would stop beating up the dumber students then no one would want a gun.

[Russell797]

You are correct, most of the time guns don't kill people, unless pistol whipped to death, most people are killed by bullets.

[DrFunkenstein]

@Russell797 Bullets don't kill people, only scared little morons with guns kill people by squeezing the trigger of a gun that flings a bullet at the person which may kill them as damage is done to the body so technically the blood leaving a person's body kills them so we should ban all blood.

[Russell797]

@DrFunkenstein The cause of death is the bullet entering the body causing catastrophic damage. The blood would not have been lost if not for the bullet. The person pulling the trigger has the intent of piercing the person with the bullet, but it is the bullet which does the damage and is the proximate cause of death. Ban blood? We need blood to live, we don't need bullets to live.

[DrFunkenstein]

@Russell797 so it comes back to my original statement that Morons kill people. The tool is irrelevant, the way of reducing these deaths is to make it less easy for morons to get and use more dangerous weapons but then again banning blood might be the next NRA talking point.

[Hoosierdaddy]

In this case I don't think it mattered there was a bloody cricket bat. Too me this is a domestic violence case period, and it should raise awareness for the attitude in sports that women are objects. I'm not referring to that espn guy talking about the beauty queen and calling her beautiful. But a broader sense that might makes right

[falco_alba]

The domestic violence would occur anyway, but guns sure do make it easy to kill someone.

[Russell797]

Whenever someone "goes off" for whatever reason, the availability of a gun amplifies the threat to all involved.

[Buzzfriendly]

So using that logic we should eliminate knives right?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-die...

[mtkopf]

@Buzzfriendly I'm so tired of that asinine NRA argument consistently regurgitated by gun nuts here. The purpose of guns is to kill or injure. That is why they were invented. One may ise yhem now for shooting skeet but, the primary function is to destroy flesh. That is why i am a gun owner. But, Knives have other purposes. Bats have other purposes. Cars have other purposes. At least use a tiny bit of logic in your argument.

[Buzzfriendly]

@mtkopf Look I could easily address the uses of a gun other than killing which should be fairly obvious to anyone capable of walking upright. But since Google seems to be broken on your PC I will simply ask you to show me the label on any gun that states that it is to be used for the sole purpose of killing. Come back with that and we will talk.

[Russell797]

@Buzzfriendly Well, to answer your question directly, yes the availability of knives increases the likelihood of a bad outcome, but not with the same ease and lethality as with a gun. Besides, killing someone with a knife is a misuse of the knife. Killing someone with a gun, is using it for it's intended purpose.

[Buzzfriendly]

@Russell797 So the Olympic shooting team should use human targets? We certainly wouldn't want them to use a gun for something it wasn't intended for.

[PNWest]

Reeva Steenkamp isn't on of the 1929+ and counting on this list of people that have died by gun violence since the Newtown massacre. This list only contains gun deaths in America since then. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politi... The gun violence deaths continue to add up.

[miketost]

Does it also show police shootings and justifiably killings.I would bet it does not break the numbers down?

[PNWest]

@miketost Why don't you make your own list then? 1929+ people have died by gun violence since the Newtown massacre. And the bodies keep piling up and up and up.

[miketost]

@PNWest It only shows numbers .There are justifiable killings because fools choose to cross paths with innocent gun owners that can defend them selves.Without such protection of armed citizens the death numbers would be even higher.

[Yank]

@miketost per the slate article it shows all gun deaths (not just by gun violence). It includes suicides, accidental shootings, and justifiable shootings.

[PNWest]

@miketost "Without such protection of armed citizens the death numbers would be even higher. " - That is an out and out lie. Look at the number of violent deaths in any civilized country with strict gun control. They are all far lower than the USA.

[Buzzfriendly]

Let's get it right people. It is domestic violence and a gun was used during that violence. This is domestic violence where knife was used during that violence http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-die...

Again people it is not the tool it is the violent behavior of our fellow man.

[GmanGSW]

It is the violent person holding, and using, the tool; not the tool, itself. I agree.

[RICKKY]

Reportedly, some type of racket was found with blood on it. Could be he beat the hell out of her and when she didn't die, he then uses the gun to make sure. A real sicko like so many others in sports.

[MarkJM]

So, something that happened in South Africa is akin to a Domestic Gun issue here in the USA? Kind of stretching it there if you ask me. But hey, anything to push a BS gun control agenda.

[PoliticalSpice]

It has nothing to do with the u.s. Here we never kill a lover or wife. Thats why they aquitted o.j. That kind of violence only happens in other countries.

[wonka45ACP]

Domestic gun Violence Where in Africa! Don't other countries have their own statistics? or are we using theirs to push ours? this story would NEVER! get this much
coverage if the libs didn't need it, you know im right! can't deny it!

[jessejaymes]

A bloody cricket bat would leave me wondering if the gun didn't cut short some suffering on her part. It's pretty obvious it seems that she was going to die regardless.

[AlexMIA]

Piss off with that crap already and just lock the bad guys up!

[justapirate]

I just tried to look up the actual breakdown for methods and reasons of domestic violence deaths and every bloomin' link was slanted as hell. From all sides of the issue. I couldn't get anywhere near what is really going on out there. Tried for about 15 minutes. Seems there ain't nobody out there that wants to get it right.

[tomincali]

riodrage?

[DerivePI]

"Translation for Dummies" - Would she be alive if Pistorius was limited to 5 rounds in a clip and didn't use an assault weapon? Would she be alive if Pistorius was limited to a 5" kitchen knife?

[Fishbone345]

Considering he shot her through a door, I imagine he'd really have to work the blade pretty hard to stab her through a door, just sayin.

[DerivePI]

@Fishbone345 - The door to the bathroom was broken through.

At least a little imagination next time. The man competed with some of the best athletes in the world. An interior door can be defeated by many 13 year olds. You might think his handicap disables him, but I do not.

[Fishbone345]

@DerivePI "An interior door can be defeated by many 13 year olds. You might think his handicap disables him, but I do not."
Then why did he shoot her through the door?

[DerivePI]

@Fishbone345 - you can't think of a reason to shoot her through the door?

[Dan_Tien]

Trick question. The likelihood of death during an incident of violence always increases when a gun is involved. That is why they are called deadly weapons.

[NTBFW]

She should have had her own gun