European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 7, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Andrew h. Malcolm new York times t a time when americans Are negotiating disarmament internationally they continue to Arm themselves against one another at a frantic Pace. Each hour in the United states tour people die in shootings. Each year 33,000 die from guns 18,000 of those deaths Are suicides guns which Are used in 60 percent of All homicides Are now the eighth leading cause of death in the United Stales Well behind cancer and heart attacks but ahead of liver disease. There is no cure in sight. Pies Donl Bush has temporarily slopped imports of semiautomatic weapons but they Are Only part of the problem. Conservative estimates put the local number of firearms of All kinds in the United states Al 130 million one third of Ihm handguns. The National Rille association estimates the total at 200 million nearly one Lor each american. A new gun comes Oil an Assembly line every nine seconds. More americans were killed by guns in the past two years than during 16 years of hostile actions in Vietnam. It s  said Joseph Mcnamara police Chiel of san Jose. Calif., one of the cities experiencing a surge of gun murders. To drive a car we require lessons a written lost a porn Chical lest an Eye lest a  he says. To buy an assault Rille we require Only Money they Check your credit card closer than your  researchers say a major motivation Lor buying guns is sell Protection. But 58 percent of All those arrested Lor murder Are in ends or relatives of their victims. Only 20 percent of murders occur in connection Wilh other crimes loading experts to suggest that instead of Willering safely More guns in More Home simply make homicide and injuries More common. As the shootings increase the gun Issue May become More a debate Over Public health than Over constitutional rights a gun in the Home is 18 times More Likely to kill a household member than an intruder said or. Garen wine Ronulo. Who teaches Lainily Medicine Al the University of California Davis. Ten years ago even the worst criminals needed a reason to shoot said police sol. Gregory Mills of Kansas City to now a bad look can set it  taken together with details provided by scores of interviews and Access to police court and Coroner records one month s fatal shootings in one cily can present an alarming pattern of killing made easy in 1987, san Jose had 26 murders Only seven involving guns. Last year 39 murders were committed. 19 of them by gun. This year it. Richard Gummow s homicide squad has already logged 25 murders 13 by gun. January was a month of 13 murders in san Jose Wilh a population of 740.000 the nation s 13lh-Largosl cily. There were 10 killings by gun. The stories Here Are of some of those deaths and the weapons that killed Jan 6 for his own safety death in a Home fourteen months ago the Sacramento police department began issuing new rapid lire 9-millimeter pistols to its 577 Ollices. It was a popular decision the kind being made across the United Stales by hundreds of police departments concerned Over criminals More powerful Laster living weapons. The old revolvers were auctioned off. As usual with surplus City property to a local wholesaler who resold them to gunshots in and Oul of California. That is How last sept. 22, the Blue steel Smith & Wesson .38. Serial number so 68076. Came to be lying in the lighted display Case at Reed s sporting goods store on Alum Rock Avenue. The shop is a Low minutes drive irom the Small aging House Al 269 chalet drive where Carlos Oliveira lived Oliveira 24, a grocery store clerk was angry like millions of americans every year to had been visited by burglars who ransacked his car. He talked Loo. Of concern Lor the safely of his girls Nind. Maria Barros 19. Oliveira paid $195 plus lax Lor the gun while the clerk completed a background form according to California Law. The police have 15 Days to Check a would be handgun buyer Lor drug use felony convictions or mental instability. No police warning War received so on ocl 7 ii Cua proudly picked up his new gun. When in late december. Barros began living in Ihu same House. Oliveira kept the gun by the Bod on now year s Avo. He showed the weapon Oil to friends and dramatically fired five rounds into Tho a div jul sky. One Bullet remained. Six Days Laler. On Friday night the couple got Inlo an argument Over Barros Lide Lily a Lew minutes later she sough to make up. Bill Oliveira shoved her aside cot the hell Oul of Here he yelled furious Barros grabbed the gun. Pointed in Al the coiling and pulled the trigger Click then she air and it at her own car go ahead. So j Oliveira. Instead Barros slowly turned the gun toward Oliv Cim and lir cd. The Bullet entered Iho Man s lace just below his air jul Eye and lore through the brain. Long in seemed like a member of the family. Since the operations on his leg. However and the problems with water on his brain mrs. Velarde had hidden the gun Between the mattresses. Her husband was frequently depressed and sometimes abusive which he was on her return irom a bar where she had watched the 49ers playoff game that afternoon. Clay Hinshaw 33, mrs. Velarde s son irom another marriage exchanged angry words Wilh his chair bound Stepfather. About 7 p.m., mrs Velarde was seen leaving. Hinshaw Tell too and wandered around the apartment Complex. When mrs. Velarde returned 30 minutes later her arms loaded Wilh hot dogs and buns she found the door locked which was strange. A neighbor with keys opened the apartment and stood stunned. The Rug around Velarde s chair was soaked in blood. He had been shot four times in the neck Chesl and Tell Arm detectives David Harrison and Santiago Trejo found the murder weapon. The old gun lucked Back Between the mattresses but they were intrigued by the locked door. The killer had a key. When the report of a fatal shooting went out on Iho police radio patrolman James Werkema recognized the Velardes checkers drive address. He remembered family disturbance Calls there. He also remembered the address of the Stepson s female Friend. When the two policemen arrived Al her House they stepped to both sides of the front entry As police officers instinctively do in Case someone shoots through the door. When another Allicer was in place in the dark Oul Back they knocked slowly the door opened standing there was the 6 Lool-3-Inch, 230-Pound Hinshaw i m the one you  to said Jans one of the family and part of its grief the Smith s Wesson 38 special with its worn wooden handle and4-Inclt barrel made Margaret Velarde very nervous. She did i know where in came irom but her husband. Raymond 58, had had the gun so Jans men come and grand death stays As detectives Harrison and Trejo were examining the Velarde apartment a gun Wilh no known history that would cause their third assignment in As Many Days was about to tie carried into a living room on won Derama drive. Aboul a dozen Young vietnamese men had gathered on cushions strewn Aboul the floor that sunday evening. They talked smoked cigarettes drank Beer played cards and sipped Lea. Throughout the evening some men came and left Iho room. When Khang Thuc Huynh returned he casually pulled Oul a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum. Before anyone could scream he shot Hora Haile three times in the head and once in the neck. Then he swiftly put the barrel of the powerful revolver just in front of his right ear. The Bullet blew Oil the Back of his head. Huynh was one of the City s two gun suicides in january. Surrounding Santa Clara county with a population of 1.4 million had nine others making it a quite Normal month according to John Manok the medical examiner s Chiel investigator. Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday