In Concerning Guns, Hammers and Violence, I discussed no less than ten instances of deaths, maiming and injury with hammers on men, women, children and animals. Continuing with this theme, we should note that David Gotshall, a homeless veteran, was beaten and lost an eye to hammer-inflicted injuries. Kansas is the scene of another crime with a hammer.
Sgt. Scott Brunow said police were called to Wesley Medical Center a little before 9 p.m. Friday where the 44-year-old man, who has Down syndrome, was being treated for a number of injuries, including broken fingers and a hematoma to his head. Brunow said the victim had been beaten with several tools, including a hammer, pliers and a screwdriver.
In Lake Worth, Florida, a woman was recently beaten with a hammer by her boyfriend because she recommended that he go to the polls and vote. At the end of July there was a hammer attack in Manhattan Park.
A Spanish tourist was bashed in the head with a hammer by a well-dressed Brooklyn man inside Manhattan’s City Hall Park Monday afternoon, police sources said.
Hugo Alejandre, 31, who is from Barcelona, was sitting on a bench in the downtown park near Murray Street and Broadway when he was targeted him in an unprovoked attack shortly after 3 p.m., the sources said.
Clad in a suit, John Yoos, 43, of Crown Heights, struck Alejandre with the claw part of the hammer on the left side of his head, just above his eye, police said. The blow fractured his skull.
Alejandre also suffered defensive wounds to his arms and hands, police said. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center and later listed in stable condition, officials said.
Witnesses to the horrifying assault held Yoos until police officers arrived to place him under arrest, cops said.
Police recovered the hammer and charged Yoos with first-degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, authorities said.
A hammer surely is a weapon, and a terrifying one at that. In Texas a 13 year old boy used a hammer to beat his mother. Sure, a hammer has been used to stop a rapist recently, too. But the fact that a hammer can be used for good is no excuse to ignore the horrible violence that can be perpetrated with such a horrible weapon.
I have previously called for increased controls on hammers. “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?”
If you cannot see your way clear to support this effort for the violence perpetrated against adults, then do it for the children. Think of the children. I am also calling for even more stringent controls on assault hammers, or those hammers that have certain features that make them more amenable to use against humans (such as no-slip rubber grips, ripping claws, extra heavy heads, etc.).
Do you want to see more people die at the hands of assault hammers?
