Davien Martinez was four years old when he took a round to the head, fired by gang bangers in a nearby drive-by shooting, while sleeping in bed. A year later, the boy has all sorts of issues and therapists believe a service dog would allow the young boy to better recover from his injuries.
The Tampa Bay Gun Runners gun club heard about the boy’s plight and organized a fundraiser, which netted $14,200 – more than enough to secure a trained service animal for the boy.
We’d post the article from Bay News 9, but we view it as damning of gun owners in general. It reads as though “some” gun owners are good people and they are trying to make up for the damage “guns” do, instead of laying responsibility for the boy’s injuries on gang-banging thugs out committing horrific criminal acts.
Legitimate and legal firearm owners don’t go out and commit drive-by shootings in their spare time.
The article quoted the gun club’s inarticulate co-founder saying “All gun owners are not bad”. Nice thing to say, pal. And the horse you rode in on, sir.
Last year Davien was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting.
“A bullet went through my mommy’s bedroom window and went down my head, all the way to my right eye and lodged in my jaw,” said Martinez.
Davien Martinez, 5, stands with 6-year-old Timothy Cribbs who donated his own gun to help fund Davien’s service dog. Bay News 9 photo.
Since, he has been in and out of the hospital. In May he had another surgery to remove a plate that was coming out. Now he suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Baldwin says meeting Davien was inspiring.
“It was absolutely amazing,” said Baldwin. “He is such a great little boy with the biggest smile.”
The fundraiser was a big success, with a six-year-old boy donating his own rifle to the auction to help Davien get a service dog. The gun raised another $150 towards the fund.
The family of Davien is overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from gun owners and others.
Getting Davien a trained service dog costs around $11,000. Davien got the chance to meet a real service dog on Saturday, as well as the man who will be training his dog.
“Were going to be able to give him confidence,” said Michael Giannetti, trainer at Pendragon Acres in Weeki Wachee. “Were going to give him structure and he is going to have the availability to go out in front of people and be confident in his issues.”
Davien’s mom is in shock over the outpour of support.
“It means so much that there are so many people that are willing to help out a person who is a complete stranger to them,” said Diana Lopez.
4 thoughts on “GOOD GUY GUN OWNERS: Florida gun club gets injured boy service dog”
A sad thing to happen to a little boy, but concerned, loving, honorable people step up to support and help Davien and his family, doing something they enjoy doing. You can bet the punks that caused this were nowhere around, ya think? They probably haven’t been caught, unless it was for some other despicable act.
Hello, I am Diana Lopez. Daviens mother. In reply to the above comment. No the “wonderful” manatee county police are doing nothing to make an arrest. The case as of November 2013 was marked at “Inactive” because they don’t have enough “evidence” to make an arrest even though they know who it was. The guy who was shooting lives one town over from me and i am constantly on a look out to make sure that we don’t run into him.
To the author of the article,
The whole interview was not posted. This was just a little snippet of the conversation between the co-founder and the reporter. I assure you, all of the points you covered above were in fact stated. The interviews weren’t for acoldades for the gun club, they were to help spread the word about helping Davien Martinez.
Sincerely,
Brian Doughty
Tampa Bay Gun Runners
Admin
Miami Guns Range has a state of the art facility with cold air-conditioning and a sound proof Shooting Range where you can rapid fire at Miami and Hialeah. Our staff is knowledgeable in all firearms that we carry.
A sad thing to happen to a little boy, but concerned, loving, honorable people step up to support and help Davien and his family, doing something they enjoy doing. You can bet the punks that caused this were nowhere around, ya think? They probably haven’t been caught, unless it was for some other despicable act.
Hello, I am Diana Lopez. Daviens mother. In reply to the above comment. No the “wonderful” manatee county police are doing nothing to make an arrest. The case as of November 2013 was marked at “Inactive” because they don’t have enough “evidence” to make an arrest even though they know who it was. The guy who was shooting lives one town over from me and i am constantly on a look out to make sure that we don’t run into him.
To the author of the article,
The whole interview was not posted. This was just a little snippet of the conversation between the co-founder and the reporter. I assure you, all of the points you covered above were in fact stated. The interviews weren’t for acoldades for the gun club, they were to help spread the word about helping Davien Martinez.
Sincerely,
Brian Doughty
Tampa Bay Gun Runners
Admin
Miami Guns Range has a state of the art facility with cold air-conditioning and a sound proof Shooting Range where you can rapid fire at Miami and Hialeah. Our staff is knowledgeable in all firearms that we carry.