H. Lee Sarokin, writing at Huffington Post,waxes emotional over the effects of gun violence in America, using the example of Trayvon Martin as the springboard.  Rather, he wants you to wax emotional.  The comments range from the delusional (e.g., more regulation would mean less gun violence), to the badly mistaken (people hunt with fully automatic weapons – can you imagine such a thing?).  Sarokin himself mixes in some bad statistics, or allusion to things that statistics in fact do not prove, but the beginning paragraph is the best part of the commentary.

When innocent people are gunned down in schools or offices or when someone like George Zimmerman shoots and kills Trayvon Martin, how do members of the NRA and gun-advocates truly feel? I really want to understand. I think I understand the desire to have a gun for self-defense or sport. But when a gun owner sees statistics such as these, how do they react?

“Statistics such as these” made me think of this sad and recent case near Orlando.

A tip to Crimeline has led to the arrests of two men in a brutal beating that occurred a week ago in the Midway community east of Sanford.

Julius Ricardo Bender, 18, and Yahaziel Isaac Israel, 19, face charges of attempted first-degree murder, burglary with assault or battery and armed burglary.

The victim, a 50-year-old Winter Springs man whose name has not been released, is on life-support at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Deputies were called to the area of Lincoln Street and Beardall Avenue about 6:30 p.m. March 26 to investigate a report of a man being beaten, Seminole County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Smith said.

They found the victim in the woods on the north side of Lincoln Street.

According to arrest affidavits:

A witness told deputies he heard someone screaming for help and saw two men pull the victim from his vehicle. He said he watched as one man held the victim and the other beat him in the head with a hammer.

After they dragged the victim into the woods, the men drove away in his sport utility vehicle, which was later found abandoned about a half-mile away on Garbo Jack Lane.

Beaten into a coma with a hammer.  In fact, this isn’t as uncommon as one might think.  In March of 2012, Jun Hyuk Chang beat his father to death with a hammer in or near LA.  In July of 2011, Jean Simon beat his stepdaughter to death with a hammer in NYC.  In July of 2011, Tyler Hadley beat both of his parents to death with a hammer in Port St. Lucie and then threw a party with the bodies of his parents still lying on the floor.  In 2008, Clayton Jerrod Ellington killed his wife and two twin boys with a hammer in DeKalb County.  In November of 2011, Craig Stephen Frentzel was found beaten to death with a hammer in St. Louis.  In September of 2011, Benjamin Singleton was beaten beaten to death with a hammer in Myrtle Beach, S.C.  Then there was poor little Zander Martino who perished after being beaten with a hammer in Las Vegas.  From the very young to the old, Jessie James Durham beat his great-grandmother, 78-year-old Elizabeth Armismier, to death with a hammer in Campbellsville in February of 2012. Violence is even perpetrated against dogs and cats with hammers.

In order to obtain my concealed handgun permit, I had to give the Sheriff of Mecklenburg County permission to access all of my medical records.  Any admisions to any hospital for substance abuse or mental health issues would have been reason to have denied my permit.  I also had to have a background check and have many other records examined for the sake of public safety.

Given the easy availability of hammers – I can go to Home Depot, Lowes, or even Walmart and purchase a hammer with no background check whatsoever – I am calling for the increased regulation of carpentry tools.  Given the outrage of hammers and the fact that anyone can purchase them just about anywhere, what reasonable person could oppose such a thing?  And finally, studying these cases of beatings with hammers actually made me sick to my stomach.  I want to know how everyone feels about all of these senseless acts of violence perpetrated with the weapon to which we commonly refer as hammer?  How does it make you truly feel?