Sunday, April 12, 2015

NC: Craig Hicks becomes symbol in gun politics

 Murder defendant Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, sits quietly in Durham Criminal Superior Court for his Monday, April 6, 2015, death penalty hearing. Hudson found that the Hicks case, in which Hicks is charged in the shooting deaths of three Muslim college students at Finley Forest residential complex in Chapel Hill in February 2015 eligible for the death penalty.

Craig Stephen Hicks, the unemployed community college student accused of killing three college-age Muslims, almost instantly became a social-media portrait for questions about religious bias and hate crimes.

Now the 46-year-old self-described atheist has become a symbol for gun politics, too. Opposite sides in the gun-control debate are using his case to bolster very different appeals for policy change.

The advocates for more controls say the aggressive behavior cited by Hicks’ neighbors illustrates why they endorse fuller background checks with hopes of limiting gun access.

Those advocating more gun freedom argue that such violence might be prevented in the future if more weapons, not fewer, were in the right hands.

                                                            More @ The News & Observer

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article18279290.html#/tabPane=tabs-b0710947-1-1#storylink=cpyM

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