When it comes to the futility of gun control, Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett "gets it"

By Chad D. Baus

Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett, whose series on the thug culture earned her title as a top-three finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary, has written another article that proves she "gets it."

That year, after the death of a teen-aged armed robber who attacked a concealed handgun license (CHL)-holder, and in response to community outrage insanely focused against the robber's victim for protecting himself, Brett wrote a series of columns that explored inner-city violence, poverty and hopelessness among black teenagers and young men.

This time, Brett's focus is on a man who police say took the lives of Lechea Crawford, 30; Rose Stevens, 25; Destanee Woods, 5; and twins Deon and Davion Primm, both 2. And once again, Brett is placing the focus where it needs to be: on the criminal that commmitted the heinous crime, rather than on the tool he used.

From the story:

You can point fingers all you want, but all the fingers should be focused on one target: Davon Crawford, the man who police say fired the gun.

This isn't a gun control issue.

This isn't a story about how Cleveland is a violent place to live.

This isn't a reflection of the neighborhood or the West Side or the man's race.

From what we know, it appears to be a story about domestic violence, which happens all over the country, among rich and poor, black and white, on small scales and grand scales. And in rare instances like this, the violence is off the scale.

According to separate news coverage by the Plain Dealer, Crawford has a violent history.

In 1995, when he was 19, Crawford pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for shooting and killing another young man in a dispute over a girlfriend. He and was sentenced to five to 25 years in prison. He was set later set free, and according to the Plain Deale's search of Cuyahoga County's online court records, he was sent to prison again in 2002, after pleading guilty to felonious assault with a firearm, endangering children, having weapon while on parole, and failure to comply with an officer's order. That time, a judge sent him to Lorain Correctional Institution for at least five years.

But Brett says that while people are second-guessing the prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and parole officers who dealt with Crawford over the years, it's too early to know if the shootings are an indictment of the criminal justice system. "Those folks can't read minds."

...[T]here are men with worse rap sheets who turn their lives around. There's no accurate science to predict which ones will and which ones won't.

Don't allow plea bargains. Keep them all locked up, you say.

Are you willing to pay for it? How clogged up do you want the courts? How many cities of prisons can we build?

Crawford's mom once wrote a letter supporting his release from prison: "He has taken almost every program available to change and better himself as a man."

Crawford had a whole resume of prison programs to his name: Cage Your Rage. Domestic Violence. Emotional Awareness. Emotional Control. Positive Solutions. Responsible Family Life Skills. Stress & Anger Management.

We only know in hindsight that he flunked them all.

He begged a judge for release with this letter: "I apologize for discharging a firearm inside my home. I made an insensible choice in a moment of anger that could have actually cost me my wife and children, let alone, seriously injured one of them.

"If you grant me judicial release and provide me with a second chance, I swear to you from the bottom of my heart that I WILL NOT let you down. Let my wife or children down. Let my family down. Let society down. Or especially, let myself down."

On Thursday, he let everyone down. There's no one else to blame for that.

Perhaps if there were a few more people at the Plain Dealer who understood these issues as Regina Brett does, the newspaper could actually become a positive force for change in the city of Cleveland.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.