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30 June, 2008

Some points from the recent SCOTUS ruling

This morning, I'm noting a lot of ill informed .or perhaps just informed by misunderstanding of the text. opinions and statements regarding the historic Heller ruling on the scope and applicability of the 2nd amendment. This of course is unsurprising when many people of varying levels of knowledge about law, history, and firearms have just a short time to digest a 90 page majority opinion and another 70 pages of dissents and cites. In the table below, I've selected out the critical passages, and highlighted some of those I consider most instructive or important. Briefly, I need to specifically address some points:

1. Incorporation: Scalia makes it clear in his majority opinion that the second amendment is a fundamental right, that must be treated the same as other fundamental rights such as the first amendment. He specifically notes it in respect to the 14th amendment NUMEROUS times. This decision will be applied universally within the domain of the court, and should be considered controlling upon the states (this is clarified in the later references by the way).

2. Universality: This decision applies to all within the jurisdiction of the court. Excepting prohibited persons (and there is a clear definition under federal law of who those persons are by the way), all individuals under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, have the right to keep and bear arms.

3. Scrutiny: Again, this issue is clear. Though in the opinion itself Scalia does not explicitly state that second amendment issues should be reviewed with strict scrutiny, this is made clear in the text by equating the 2nd amendment with the first, 4th, 14th etc. Further, Scalia explicitly dismisses Stevens call for a "balance of interests" standard of medium scrutiny. This is in effect strict scrutiny, with certain well defined exceptions (such as for felons, the insane, and weapons of mass destruction).

4. Class III (machine guns and other): This one is mixed. Although the majority expresses that some restrictions are permissible, it also explicitly denies outright bans. It is clear that weapons that are in the common usage and available to citizens, are protected. That includes machine guns (machine guns are not illegal for the general public to own, they are just very expensive and tightly restricted). Although Scalia points out that Miller said it was OK to ban short barreled shotguns, he also noted that the decision is flawed, because it only took judicial notice of what was presented to the court, and the original apellant (Miller, though technically he was the respondent for the appeal to the supremes) never presented a case (he died before the date set for arguments, and his attorney didn't bother to show up).

Based on my reading, I would say that the current law prohibiting the new manufacture of machine guns for civilian sale after May of 1986 (actually that's not what it says, but that is how the ATF chose to interpret it) is out; after some long and difficult litigation. However, the door is open for other laws restricting such weapons, fi properly written to pass constitutional scrutiny.

This of course applies to other weapon types specifically targeted for bans; for example the requirement that all weapons imported into the United States have a "sporting purpose", and that certain shotguns are considered "destructive devices" simply by arbitrary features; are also disallowed (again with the caveat that new laws could be written to pass a constitutional standard).

5. Scope: I think it is clear, though it will require significant litigation to hash out details; that no outright ban on any type of weapon (including machine guns as currently construed), excepting weapons of mass destruction, can stand muster. This means that all state "Assault weapons bans" will be struck down. eventually; along with magazine capacity bans, hollowpoint bullet bans etc. (though likely the ban on "armor piercing" handgun ammunition will continue).

I also think it is clear that there is significant room for licensing programs, and standards (including standards for weapons features and functionality)to be set, so long as the requirements for licensing are not discriminatory, arbitrary, capricious, or onerous. Of course, again, that is going to require years of litigation to define better.

I do think that clearly this means the end of Chicago gun laws, and most likely the radical reformation of laws in Massachusetts, New York, California, Hawaii, and New Jersey. I should note that this does not mean universal "shall issue" concealed carry, but it almost certainly DOES mean that all states which allow concealed carry must allow it on a "shall issue" basis; using those standards as a guideline. Unless someone is a prohibited person, as spelled out under law since 1968, you MUST license them (presuming licensing exists).

Additionally, I believe this actually DOES set a requirement for lawful OPEN carry throughout the country; in that self defense is a recognized lawful, and traditional purpose of the bearing of arms.

And of course, this ruling does specifically allow for the restriction of carry of firearms in some ways, and some locations. As Scalia repeatedly says, no constitutionally protected rights are absolute (under the law).

Finally, any legislation that does not EXPLICITLY violate the above prohibitions, but would have the effect of doing so, is certainly disallowed. This means that standards for licensing, firearms design, dealer sale regulations etc. cannot be set so as to constitute an effective ban, or an onerous burden. Now we just need to spend the next 15 years suing to define what constitutes an onerous burden.

Summary of Impact: So you can't ban guns, or any particular types of guns; you can't keep anyone not a prohibited person from buying, owning, keeping, bearing, and using guns for all lawful purposes (including self defense); you can license and set standards for guns to be sold, and for persons to purchase, own, keep, and bear them; but those standards cannot be discriminatory, arbitrary, capricious, or onerous.

Oh and of course, that doesn't get into the halo effect this has on other cases dealing with fundamental rights issues (remember how many times they state that this is simply protecting a pre-existing right).

Source




South Dakota: No charges filed in shooting case: "The decision has been made by the Moody County State's Attorney not to file charges against Matthew Heinricy in connection with the death of Jason Clough on May 25, 2008 outside a rural Colman Residence. The facts of the case indicate a justifiable homicide as defined by State law, SDCL 22-16-34. The Moody County Grand Jury has also investigated the case and taken testimony and has decided not to issue any indictments in connection with the incident. Jason Clough had attempted unsuccessfully to force his way into the Heinricy home on May 25. From outside the house, he fired his shotgun twice at a door, once through the kitchen window at occupants of the house and had raised his shotgun at another window when Heinricy fired back from inside the house, killing Clough instantly. State law provides that homicide is justifiable if committed while resisting an attempt to commit murder, or, in other words, in defending oneself, or, when necessary to save his own life or others' lives, or avoid great bodily harm when attacked in his own home."



Minnesota: Shot-at meth addict is sentenced for St. Paul burglary: "As he stood awaiting sentencing Friday in Ramsey County District Court, Michael G. Spencer had become more than just a methamphetamine addict convicted of burglary. District Judge Michael Monahan told Spencer that he now was a poster boy for this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying Americans had a right to own guns for self-defense. Spencer, who was sentenced to 34 months in prison, was arrested in April after he broke into a St. Paul home but then was subdued by a homeowner armed with a gun. The homeowner fired at him, and, although the bullet missed, Spencer, 31, feigned unconsciousness until police arrived, court records show. His attorney told the judge that Spencer had been a drug user for 14 years and that he was hopeful he could get treatment to turn his life around."



Neighbors with gun nab rapist: "A 20-year-old man is accused of breaking into a Gary home, holding a knife to three children inside and then raping their 16-year-old baby sitter. Cornelius Hines, of Gary, was lying naked, with a pair of socks on his feet and a rag on his head when Gary police arrived, Lake County Criminal Court records state. The teen had just given the two young girls and little boy she was baby-sitting some cookies and tea Saturday when a man, later identified as Hines, came out of the master bedroom holding a knife in his right hand, police said. He told the three children to stand against the wall, adding he would kill them if they said anything, court records state. Hines then grabbed the teen by the arm and pulled her into the bedroom, threatening to kill her if she didn't do what he said, court records state. One of the children ran next door to the neighbor's house and told them what happened. Someone knocked on the bedroom window while Hines and the teen were inside and then knocked on the front door. Hines let the teen go, and she opened the door, records state. The man at the door gave her a shirt to cover herself. Police said Hines entered through a back window into the home. Hines told police he went to the house to visit a friend, saw the teen in the bedroom and asked what she was doing. He said he started to take off his shorts and a knife fell out of his pocket, which scared her, police said. Hines said the kids heard the teen scream and then some "dudes" came in and one had a gun, records state."



29 June, 2008

Wyoming man acquitted by jury : "A 12-person jury declared Randal Cosgrove not guilty of attempted second-degree murder and not guilty of aggravated assault Friday. Cosgrove, 47, was accused of shooting his fiance’s 43-year-old son, Joe Hansen in September. Cosgrove’s attorneys, Greg Blenkinsop and Traci Sampson, argued that Cosgrove acted in self-defense when he shot at Hansen. Cosgrove said in a taped interview with Teton County Sheriff’s Office investigators that he shot at the tires of Hansen’s car when Hansen tried to run him over. Blenkinsop argued that Hansen’s recollection of events the night of the shooting were ever-changing and unreliable. He said there was a shortage of physical evidence and there was no way to know “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Cosgrove was not acting legally in self-defense when he fired at Hansen.



Vermont man cleared: "A St. Albans man has been found not guilty for shooting another man on a city street. Matthew Martel, 22, was charged with aggravated assault with a weapon last August. Police say he shot Jonathan Bushee, 20, in the leg during a confrontation on Federal Street. Martel told police he shot Bushee in self-defense. A jury cleared Martel of the crime." [Background here]



McCain applauds ruling: "Presumptive Republican presidential nomine John McCain criticized his Democratic rival Thursday, accusing Barack Obama of having "elitist" gun views. The comments came after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns and ruled that Americans have the right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, The Financial Times reported. McCain hailed the ruling as a "landmark victory" for gun rights. Referring to remarks Obama made during the primary campaign, McCain said Obama is out of touch with Americans on gun rights. "Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today's ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right -- sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly," the Arizona senator said."



Obama waffles: "Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama Thursday sought to clarify his position on a Supreme Court ruling striking down a Washington gun ban. The high court struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handgun possession, ruling that Americans have a constitutional right to keep guns in their homes for self-defense. When asked about his reaction, Obama disputed the one outlined earlier by his campaign, ABC News reported. When a reporter noted in November that the District's handgun law was constitutional, Obama distanced himself from the campaign, the network reported. "I don't know what my aide said but I've been very consistent, I teach constitutional law," Obama said. "What I said was that I believe Second Amendment as being an individual right and have said that consistently. I also think that individual right is constrained by the rights of the community to maintain issues with public safety. I don't think those two principles are contradictory and in fact what I've been saying consistently is what the Supreme Court essentially said today." Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, said although the District's gun ban was overturned, the court did affirm the right of local communities to engage in background checks and other "common sense laws."



28 June, 2008

HOORAY!

All American gun owners know what the above Hooray is all about but, for the benefit of others, one report below:

The US Supreme Court has ruled that Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, ending a ban on owning handguns in Washington DC in its first ruling on gun rights in 70 years. The court's 5-4 decision - on whether the right to keep and bear arms is fundamentally an individual or collective right - upheld the second amendment of the US constitution on the right to bear arms. "The second amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defence within the home," the court said in a resume of the decision.

It was a victory for gun rights advocates and could have a far reaching impact on gun control legislation across the country. The high court had never before issued a precise ruling on the interpretation of the second amendment to the constitution, which states: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Washington, home to the White House and the US administration, has some of the toughest gun control laws in the country. Private possession of handguns is strictly banned, and any rifles or shotguns must be kept unloaded in homes or under a trigger lock. City government officials argued the ban, instituted in 1976, was necessary to stem rising gun violence, and that the second amendment protects gun rights for people associated with militias, not individuals.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case, District of Columbia vs Heller, first argued in 2003 that the DC gun ban violates the citizens' second amendment rights. Alan Gura, the lead lawyer for the plaintiff, questioned the anti-crime impact of the city's laws, saying they have "accomplished nothing except to prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising their constitutional right to keep and bear arms."

The case, originally brought by a federal building guard who carries a handgun on duty and wanted to keep it in his home for self-defence, attracted national attention and a flurry of "friend of the court" amicus briefs filed on both sides. Supporters of gun rights include groups as varied as Pink Pistols and Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, 126 Women State Legislatures, and the powerful, well-financed gun lobby, the National Rifle Association.

On the other side, law enforcement groups, the American Bar Association, US mayors and coalitions against domestic violence have argued that easy access to handguns causes murder rates to rise. The Supreme Court last took up the issue in 1939, but its ruling on a case involving alleged bank robbers and registration of certain firearms did not directly address the question of the individual versus collective right to bear arms.

Source




The dissenters

The decision was a close-run one in that the majority was only 5-4. And some of the dissenting judges can only be called Leftist lunatics. For instance, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that: "In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."

As a reader writes:

"In my opinion the above ranks as the silliest remark ever to come from someone who is supposed to have intelligence. Where is a weapon more likely to be needed? Does he also advocate that troops in a war zone not carry loaded weapons? Why should police be armed?"




Consequences already:

Following Thursday's (5-4) ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right to keep and bear arms, and that a municipal gun ban violates that right, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) filed a federal lawsuit (complaint) challenging the City of Chicago's long-standing handgun ban. "Chicago's handgun ban has failed to stop violent crime," SAF founder Alan Gottlieb stated. "It's time to give the Constitution a chance."

In addition to SAF and ISRA, plaintiffs include Chicago residents Otis McDonald, a retiree who has been working with police to rid his neighborhood of drug dealers, and who wants to have a handgun at his home; Adam Orlov, a former Evanston police officer; software engineer David Lawson and his wife, Colleen, a hypnotherapist, whose home has been targeted by burglars. Attorney Alan Gura, who argued the District of Columbia challenge before the high court, and Chicago area attorney David G. Sigale, represent the plaintiffs. "Our goal," Gura said "is to require state and local officials to respect our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Chicago's handgun ban, and some of its gun registration requirements, are clearly unconstitutional."

"The right to defend our homes and families against those who would do them harm, whether a random criminal, violent ex-domestic partner, or other wrongdoer, is one of the principles upon which America was founded," Sigale said. "It is time the City of Chicago trust its honest, law-abiding residents with this Constitutional right." "The city has been denying gun owners their civil rights for a long time and I think this lawsuit could have a profound effect on their registration law," ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson added.

Under the gun law currently in place, firearms must be re-registered annually. "Each time," Gura said, "a tax is imposed, forms must be filled out, photographs submitted. A person who owns more than one gun will find herself or himself constantly in the process of registering each gun as it comes due for expiration. If registration is to be required, once is enough."

He further noted that Chicago's bizarre requirement that guns be registered before they are acquired often times makes registration impossible. The penalty for failure to comply with the registration scheme is that a gun not re-registered on time can never be registered again. Gura likened it to a requirement to dispose of a car if it is not re-registered on time with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Source




And we might soon see more of this

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Armed neighbors are now patrolling the Central Avenue business district in response to a shooting and three armed robberies at nearby businesses. Overall, neighbors and police say the area is safe. The Neighborhood Watch Alliance, started by Scott Yamanashi, includes nightly patrols from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Yamanashi says there are up to 20 members who wish to remain anonymous. Nearly all, he says, have conceal and carry permits and take their handguns with them during their patrols.

"It's the pattern of crime, the brazenness of criminals and me getting shot, which may have culminated into this movement," Yamanashi said. He was shot in the arm earlier this year while breaking up an armed robbery at the Snug Harbor Bar. "We want to draw a line in the sand and say this is enough," he said. His injury prompted the idea of armed citizen patrols. "We just want to be an added set of eyes and ears. A neighborhood watch that has some teeth," he said.

Yamanashi says the patrols are already paying off by calling police about strangers hanging around people's homes and businesses. "Casing, I guess you could call it," he said.

Police say they support the group's Second Amendment rights. But one blogger says he'd feel better if the guns stayed at home and hopes wisdom and patience prevail if there's ever an armed encounter.

Police caught the man who shot Yamanashi but his accomplice is still out there. Yamanashi says if he comes across him, he's reaching for his cell phone. He says it's about neighbors being vigilant, not becoming vigilantes. "If I take the law into my own hands then that would be vigilantism. But, under the Second Amendment I have the right to basically patrol my neighborhood and carry a firearm for my own protection," he said. Yamanashi does not have a conceal-carry permit. He says even for members who do, their first action will be calling 911 if they see a problem.

Source





27 June, 2008

Maryland: Invader shot in butt: "A man was shot during an attempted robbery at a home in Cumberland Wednesday morning. Investigators with the Allegany County Combined Criminal Investigation Unit say there was an altercation at a home in the 300-block of Pulaski Street. Residents heard gunshots just before 6:50 a.m. Police say Michael Evans and Corey Adams of Petersburg, Virginia came into the house and demanded money. Evans was shot at several times in the buttocks and leg. The two ran out of the home and drove out of the area. When officers arrived at the home, there was one victim with non life-threatening injuries. The people witnesses gave police a description of the suspects and their vehicle. Officers stopped the suspects on Interstate 68 and Evans was taken to Cumberland Memorial Hospital. He was later taken to Baltimore Shock Trauma for more treatment. Evans and Adams face several charges of armed robbery, assault and theft."



Ireland: Acquitted man wants his shotgun back: “Manslaughter acquitted Padraig Nally says he now wants gardai to return the gun he used to kill burglar John ‘Frog’ Ward.The Mayo farmer has demanded the return of his shotgun, claiming he is living in fear of being attacked at his home again.Mr Nally (64) was cleared of manslaughter after shooting dead Traveller Mr Ward, who he caught breaking into his home four years ago.He now maintains: ‘Everyone is saying I should have a gun.’”Mr Nally said he was informed at the time of the trial that he would not be allowed to have a firearm again under any circumstances, but had since been told he was now entitled to one because of his acquittal.”



Intruder on couch shot: "A man who shot and killed an intruder inside his Mardonna Way home in the middle of the night last week indicated to police and his wife that the trespasser beat him up and he acted in self-defense, according to a court document. With Cramer detained following the 3 a.m. shooting, two Sutherlin police officers entered the home and found Michael Shane Smith, 35, dead on the couch. Smith was “lying on his side with his feet propped up on the couch, facing the center of the living room,” according to the search warrant affidavit filed in court Tuesday. He appeared to have been shot in the upper chest, according to the affidavit. Police had been called to the home early that morning after Cramer’s wife, Christy, discovered an unknown man passed out on her couch. She grabbed her young daughter and left the home, heading to a nearby bar to retrieve Keith Cramer, according to police. When they returned, Christy Cramer followed her husband into the home to get a phone while their daughter waited in the car. Christy Cramer told police she heard her husband shouting something to the man on the couch, according to the affidavit. .. On Monday, Cramer’s attorney, Danny Lang, said Smith had made “sudden aggressive movements” toward his client before the shooting and that Cramer feared for his own safety and his family’s safety. No charges have been filed against Cramer, and Lang said it appears the man was acting in self-defense. A Douglas County grand jury is expected to hear the case and decide whether a crime was committed."



Colorado: Drunken quarrel. Wife shoots husband. Gets off: "A woman accused of shooting her husband during a struggle will not be charged in his death. 38-year-old Robin Gall was arrested after authorities arrived at her home on June 9th to find her husband shot to death inside. Robin was sitting on her porch in tears with the couple's three daughters. She freely admitted to shooting him. During the investigation, police pieced together that the couple had been out drinking throughout the afternoon. When they arrived home around 8:30 p.m., Robin's husband Brent Gall got upset about an incident at the bar when Robin hugged another man. The couple began struggling, which eventually led to Robin pulling out the family's gun and shooting Brent in the chest. Robin is now released from the Fremont County Jail because the District Attorney didn't believe a jury would convict her, so no charges were filed. He confirmed that it was ruled she acted in self defense."



26 June, 2008

SC: Charges dropped against woman who shot boyfriend: "A Ladson woman who admits she shot her live-in boyfriend three times and killed him won't go to trial after the Solicitor's Office dropped charges against her. They say all the facts all point to self-defense. 31-year-old Stephanie Morosi admitted to killing Jason Pruitt in September of 2006. She had known Truitt for five years and he had just been evicted from her home. Morosi told police Truitt had been violent with her on several occasions. She even attended domestic violence workshops and then bought a gun, which was eventually used to kill him. Morosi told police that Truitt came after her during an argument in her home. She believed he was going to kill her, so she said she grabbed her gun and shot him three times. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office found a hunting knife on his belt, and a steak knife next to him on the ground. In South Carolina, self-defense does not have to be proven by the defendant. It is the burden of the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was not self defense. The Solicitor's Office says they had no choice but to drop the charges. Morosi was released on bond three months after the shooting". [Three months jail on "no chance" charges??]



Weapon theme boosts Beirut cafe : "A fast-food restaurant in Beirut has adopted a terrorism theme to attract customers. Diners at Buns and Guns eat to the sound of gunfire instead of muzak, weapons and ammunition decorate the counters, and camouflage netting hangs from the ceiling, reports the BBC. Owner Yousef Ibrahim presents dishes like `rocket-propelled grenade' (chicken on a skewer) and `terrorist bread.' Other meals include the Kalashnikov, Dragunov, Viper, B52."



WV: Pressure scuttles city gun ban: "The Ranson City Council is expected to abandon efforts to pass a proposed ordinance that would ban firearms from city-owned property due to pressure from gun rights groups. Groups such as the National Rifle Association and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League have sent letters to city officials decrying the proposed ordinance and have threatened to take action should the council attempt to pass it. "I think it's enough to say that we've heard from the interested parties - without being specific about who the interested parties are - and we feel that it is probably in our best judgment to forgo any further action relative to this situation," Ranson Mayor A. David Hamill said Monday. The proposed ordinance was brought up at the council's last general meeting, but consideration of the ordinance was tabled because of concerns its wording might be too vague. The intent of the proposal was to ban firearms from city-owned properties such as city-owned buildings and parks, but not within the entire city limits itself. The issue arose after an individual showed up with a gun about a month ago at a semipro football game at Ranson's Charles C. Marcus Field. The man did have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but agreed to remove the gun from the public field".



Seattle mayor could learn from small town colleague : "Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels could take a lesson from Montesano Mayor Ron Schillinger, who has properly vetoed an ordinance that would have banned firearms in city parks, even those carried by legally-licensed citizens, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. The ordinance was passed June 10 by the Montesano City Council on a narrow 4-3 vote, one day after Nickels announced that he plans to ban guns from all Seattle city property, even if a citizen has a current concealed pistol license, or if they are legally carrying openly."



25 June, 2008

Alabama: Shots Fired in Parking Lot Leave One Injured: "A man who authorities say was trying to break up a fight Sunday night apparently felt threatened and pulled a gun. The man, who has not been identified, fired his gun in the parking lot of a shopping center. The shooting happened just outside the Pratt Pub Oyster Bar on Main Street. According to officials, a man saw a couple arguing and tried to intervene. However, the couple didn't appear to want his help. The victim began approaching the man and, according to authorities, despite warnings that he had a gun, the victim did not stop. The man then opened fire. The victim was taken to a Montgomery hospital. The extent of his injuries are unclear at this time. Authorities say the shooting appears to have been in self defense, so it's unlikely any charges will be filed. So far, no names have been released."



Thousands sign petition to make Texas an open-carry state: "If Duane Suddeth had his way, he could strap on a handgun and wear it - anytime, anywhere - without concealing it. That day has not come in Texas, but the 42-year-old Bedford man is among thousands hoping it is on its way. "This is the public's right," Suddeth said. "Whether they choose to exercise that or not is up to them." Texas, despite its independence and frontier reputation, is one of only six states where handguns cannot - in some form - legally be worn in plain view. Suddeth is among a group of residents wanting to change that who have joined a growing nationwide "open-carry" movement. Some say it harks back to constitutional rights and frontier days when settlers carried their weapons where everyone could see them."



SF wastes public money supporting futile bans: "San Francisco's budget crisis underscores the frivolity of the city's stubborn and expensive defense of its doomed-from-the-start 2005 gun ban, the Second Amendment Foundation said today. SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb said the city administration's pursuit of this case - which was almost a carbon copy of a similar court action 23 years ago that was also won by the Foundation - is a clear indication that "fiscal and philosophical irresponsibility run hand-in-hand on the Board of Supervisors and in the mayor's office." "Mayor Gavin Newsom should have, and probably could have, stopped this case dead in its tracks after the city's first loss in the trial court," Gottlieb noted. "Instead, the city doggedly appealed, and appealed again, and for what? To make a political statement of some sort? When you're hemorrhaging money from the city budget, pushing a court case that you already know you're going to lose is remarkable carelessness with the public's money."



Vitter to introduce concealed carry reciprocity: "Senator David Vitter (R-LA) is planning to introduce a concealed carry reciprocity bill next week. Senator Vitter had been working closely with Gun Owners of America to draft and file a reciprocity amendment a few weeks ago, but that amendment, unfortunately, never saw the light of day - thanks to powerful opponents inside the Senate. However, Sen. Vitter has continued undaunted and last week sent a Dear Colleague letter to his fellow senators, asking them to cosponsor his forthcoming bill, the `Respecting States Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act.'"



24 June, 2008

Georgia homeowner wounds would-be burglar: "Fulton County police said they will consult with the district attorneys office before deciding on whether to charge a homeowner who shot and wounded a teenager charged with breaking into his townhouse Saturday evening. "We're still looking into the homeowner," Fulton County police spokesman Scott McBride said Sunday. "We don't know if charges will be filed. [Investigators] have to talk with the [Fulton County] district attorney's office about that." The homeowner, identified as Desonte Lindsey, 28, shot and wounded a teen breaking into his townhouse in the 6200 block of Flat Trace, near Union City, police said. "The guy hears the front doorbell ring" just before 6 p.m., McBride said. "When he goes down to answer it, a 16-year-old kicks in his back door." The man got a gun and fired twice at the teen, hitting him once in the arm, McBride said. The youth ran, and the man chased him into a nearby wooded area and lost him. Lindsey told police it was the second time this month his home had been broken into. The teen was arrested after calling 911 to report he'd been shot, McBride said. He is charged with burglary and criminal trespass, McBride said. The teen underwent surgery at Southern Regional Medical Center on Saturday to remove a bullet from his arm."



Kentucky man shoots intruder, police say: "Kentucky State Police are investigating a shooting in McCreary County that happened after a 19-year-old Pine Knot man awoke to being assaulted. Charles Murphy told police that about 6 a.m. Sunday he woke up to an attack by Rusty L. Hayes, 20, who had entered Murphy's home on Ky. 1651. Murphy retrieved a handgun and shot at Hayes, hitting him twice, police said. Hayes was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville for treatment. No charges have been filed pending completion of the investigation."



TN: Three nabbed after manhunt: "Three people are in custody after an all-day manhunt after an attempted home burglary on Sherrilltown Road in the Norene Community, south-southeast of Lebanon, on Thursday. Wilson County Sheriff Terry Ashe said the incident began around 7 a.m. yesterday when a home on Sherrilltown Road was allegedly broken into. Alan Ricketts, brother of the man who owns the home, and their father, heard the break-in and ran and confronted the three suspects as they were leaving the residence. Ricketts and their father reside nearby. Ashe said the three suspects tried to run over Ricketts and his father in their truck. Ricketts and his father then began shooting at the three. The gunshots damaged the truck which ended up in a ditch. The three suspects escaped on foot. The three suspects have been identified as Timmy Dewayne Tomlinson Jr., 22, of Holloway Circle, Lebanon; Jeffery Craddock, 26, of Trousdale Ferry Pike, Lebanon; and Shanna Seibers, 29, of 441 Grant Highway, Gordonsville. The sheriff praised the actions of Ricketts and his father, noting they fired their weapons only to disable the truck the suspects were in and not to hurt them."



The wonderful power of signs: "Following a shooting at the recent Folklife Festival - Seattle’s Mayor Greg Nickels signed an executive order asking all departments to come up with a plan to ban guns on all property owned by that city. What stands out in my mind is that, if you look at all of the shootings that have occurred in “Gun Free Zones,” it’s obvious that the rules are obeyed only by law-abiding citizens (aka: victims) and are completely ignored by criminals. Were it otherwise, we could easily expand upon such ideas and simply post signs everywhere saying: “No crime beyond this point” and what a wonderful, fear-free society we’d all then have. It’d be great if we lived in a world wherein people intent on perpetrating acts of violence weren’t present. It’d be great if we lived in a world wherein protection for all was only seconds away. It’d be great if we lived in a world wherein, when confronted by goblins, each of us knew with certainty that we could turn them away on our own. Unfortunately, we don’t live in such a world and protecting ourselves sometimes requires a lot more than harsh words, flinty stares, or - in other cases - asking for mercy from our assailants."



23 June, 2008

Baltimore man shoots back: "A 22-year-old Baltimore man charged with murder pleaded guilty yesterday to a handgun charge and was sentenced to time served in prison and probation.... He said that the two teens had tried to rob him on the front steps of his house in the 2100 block of Garrison Blvd. and fired at him first. "Christopher Ford and Neil Rather walked up to my client's front steps and pulled a gun on him," Haskins' defense attorney, Janice Bledsoe, said yesterday. If Haskins, who until yesterday had no criminal record, violates his probation, Baltimore Circuit Judge John P. Miller could sentence him to up to three years in prison. "The outcome of this case rests squarely on the issue that the defendant had a viable self-defense argument," said Assistant State's Attorney Diana Smith."



Ohio shooter cops drug charge only: "David Klamer Jr., the 49-year-old city man charged with aggravated drug trafficking and killing a drug dealer who had come to his house to rob him, has pleaded guilty to the drug offense. In court Friday, Martin P. Desmond, an assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, said the prosecutor's office decided to drop the murder charge against Klamer... Police said Richard Helms, 43, of Himrod Avenue, and Jones, 30, of Wampum Drive, went to Klamer's home to sell him OxyContin and rob him. Helms and Klamer drew handguns and fired at each other, police said. Helms died of a gunshot to the head.... Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, who presided over Klamer's hearing Friday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, said he never believed Klamer deserved to be charged for the shooting. "You shot somebody who was there to rob you," he said. "These are bad guys with guns, but you're not lily white in all of this either. Judge Krichbaum said he would probably sentence Klamer to between two and three years in prison after the Adult Probation Department conducts a presentence investigation."



Highly variable rules: "There was his birth certificate, driver's license, and the utility bill he handed over to prove who he was and where he lived, he says. Plus the letter verifying his membership in a gun club, and the copy of his safety certificate, and that passing grade on his marksmanship test. Not to mention being photographed, and fingerprinted for the background check. By the time he was finished with the process of applying for a license to carry a concealed handgun in Boston a few years back, Jim Lynch says, he was made to feel like an outlaw. Except, he notes, the bad guys don't bother getting a license. "It's ironic," says Lynch, a 38-year-old writer for a computer-publishing company. "The gangbangers don't pay any attention to the rules." Though he eventually got a license and a .40-caliber pistol - albeit with strict limitations on its use - Lynch did what any frustrated citizen might have: He moved to New Hampshire. There, he says, the application to carry a concealed gun is a veritable breeze: valid ID, three references, a background check - and a 14-day maximum wait time versus up to eight weeks in Boston. "You're not treated as a criminal in New Hampshire," says Lynch, who is gay and says he carries a firearm for self-protection. "You're an actual citizen." Many local gun owners are now similarly upset over what they see as licensing measures that are chokingly tight and widely inconsistent - not only from state to state but from city to town".



Ohio man illegally harassed by cops: "Bryan Ledford, an Ohioans For Concealed Carry member, was walking down a street in Willowick, OH yesterday when he was ordered to his knees at gunpoint by several police officers. Our member was exercising his right to Keep and Bear Arms by openly carrying a firearm. He did also have a concealed handgun license. A Willowick Police Sergeant showed up at the scene, and our member was berated by several of the officers over his choice to openly carry, even being told that, "you can't just walk around with your gun exposed" and that he "made a piss-poor decision. It has to be concealed." As people educated about Ohio law know, there is absolutely nothing illegal about open carry of a firearm in places not prohibited by federal or state law. Our member recorded the incident (audio is available in .mp3 format at the end of this story), verifying what appears to be numerous incidents of officers displaying an ignorance of the law and possibly civil rights violations. If nothing else, they were grossly misinformed when threatening to arrest him for disturbing the peace."



22 June, 2008

Michigan store owner kills intruder: "The owner of a clothing store, with a gun pointed at his head by a would-be robber, shot and killed the intruder on Friday. Flint police Sgt. Jeff Fray said the owner used his left hand to push Paul C. Lee Jr.'s gun away. That gun discharged, and the owner of LT's Clothing and Accessories pulled his own gun out and "proceeded to fire several shots at close range," Fray said. Lee was hit multiple times, and died. "Everything appears to be as (the store owner) said," Fray said. "It appears to be what we consider a justifiable homicide." Fray said he believes the round fired from Lee's gun hit the Clio Road store owner's left hand. The owner was released after treatment from Hurley Medical Center. Lee came into the store wielding a gun around the 9 p.m. closing time on Friday, Fray said. Gibbs said someone pointing a gun at you is about as cut-and-dry a self-defense case as you could have. Lee, 42, was released from prison in October 2007, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections Web site. He had served more than 20 years on a murder conviction. Lee escaped from the downtown YMCA halfway house in 1985 and stabbed a man after an argument at East Lyndon Avenue, according to articles in The Flint Journal from 1985."



Guns OK in Michigan County Courthouse, judge says: "As far as Circuit Judge Michael Smith is concerned, it's perfectly legal for visitors to the Hillsdale County Courthouse to carry guns. Smith says signs prohibiting firearms in the courthouse were taken down about a month ago. Smith tells the Hillsdale Daily News that courthouses are not exempt from state concealed weapon laws, so there's no way to lawfully stop people from carrying a concealed weapon if they're licensed properly."



Castle doctrine needed here: "An attorney for the Minneapolis firefighter charged with fatally shooting his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend recently filed a motion in court to dismiss the charge. Kyle Huggett, 32, acted lawfully when he fatally shot John Peach after Peach sent him threatening text messages, came over uninvited and broke into Huggett's rural Wisconsin home on Jan. 20, Huggett's attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said Wednesday. Huggett is charged with second-degree intentional homicide. Huggett told authorities that he did not see a weapon on Peach, according to the criminal complaint. Wisconsin law allows the use of deadly force only when one is faced with deadly force, Burnett County District Attorney Ken Kutz has said. According to the complaint, filed June 9, Huggett didn't warn Peach before he fired two shots into his chest."



21 June, 2008

Setting an example

Have you ever watched a Western movie and noticed the cowboy who looked out of place, but you couldn't figure out why? At some point in the movie it is pointed out that ol' Slim doesn't pack iron because he killed/nearly killed an innocent man/woman/child years ago and he swore he'd never touch another gun. How Slim deals with his demons is his own business; the point is that he stand out because he's not wearing a six-shooter.

These days the tables have turned and now most people are not seen with a handgun perched on their hip. When one sees someone carrying a gun, one usually assumes the armed person is either an off-duty police officer or someone up to no good. Most likely both assumptions are wrong.

There is a growing cadre of law-abiding gun owners who use their everyday interactions with others to educate them about firearms and our rights. According to a Los Angeles Times story, most states allow people who aren't barred from owning or carrying firearms to carry them openly. That is the way things should work in a free society; what isn't specifically forbidden is allowed. And government must have a good reason to forbid something.

Open carry is legal in Colorado, except where specifically banned. Locally, open carry was the subject du jour in 2003 when a man began carrying a shotgun with him as he went about his business. When his business included attending City Council meetings, council members took notice and banned open-carry in city-owned buildings. El Paso County has a similar law. Other than government buildings, including public schools and post offices, carrying firearms openly is legal most places in the Pikes Peak region.

Property owners have the right to forbid customers to carry on their property. We'd urge them to err on the side of freedom. When people see firearms owners as the friendly guy ahead of them in line at the grocery store or the woman sharing a joke with them at the coffee shop, they're likely to have a good opinion of firearms owners. Too often, the only thing non-owners hear about firearms is in connection to criminal activity. That unfairly casts legitimate owners in a bad light.

It's not just men packing iron these days, either. More women than ever before are attending firearms safety classes and carrying guns, openly or concealed. They know that firearms can be a safety factor for someone who knows how to use them. A 250-pound thug will think twice when he discovers his 130-pound intended victim is not inclined to do his bidding and has the ability to protect herself and her rights.

Firearms dealers and shooting clubs are presenting classes specifically aimed at educating women about firearms. Manufacturers are responding to this new market by rolling out firearms designed for women's smaller hands.

Open carry is not without its problems, though. Many police officers might not be aware of the legality of the practice and are apt to err on the side of caution when they come in contact with an armed citizen. Other people can feel uncomfortable in the presence of a firearm and might complain to management or call the police. Those who carry openly must be ready to explain their rights and let others know they don't present a threat.

It can be a dangerous world, and the recent budget cuts show there won't always be a police officer or sheriff's deputy around to protect everyone. Even if government had enough money to put an officer on every block, he could be at the other end of the block when some bad actor demands your wallet or kicks in your front door. Ultimately, each person is responsible for his or her own safety. And if gun owners can educate the public on positive aspects of firearms, everyone is better off.

Source




South Carolina pizza driver fights back: "A pizza delivery driver fought back at a group of suspects who tried to rob him, pulling out a gun and wounding one of them. Greenville Police say the incident happened early Monday morning at 1105 A Masters Lane when the Chanellos Pizza driver said three suspects began hitting him as he was delivering the pizzas. Police say the delivery driver then pulled out a gun and began to fire. One of the three robbery suspects was struck. Elvis Deans Junior, a 17 year-old student at South Central High School, is listed in stable but critical condition. He'll be charged with Common Law Robbery and Assault Inflicting Serious Injury. Police also arrested 18 year-old Thomas James, 18 year-old Sunil Persaud, and 17 year old Kevin Haynie all of Greenville. They are charged with common law robbery. Police also say they charged a 14 year old who they say planned the crime. The pizza delivery driver was taken to the hospital and was treated and released."



N.Y.'s Gun Laws May Be Next to go: "If gun enthusiasts are victorious this month when the Supreme Court declares what rights exist under the Second Amendment, their next target may be New York City's strict gun control laws. The federal high court may issue its historic decision on gun rights as early as today, and certainly by no later than month's end. Obtaining a gun license in New York City is now a lengthy and costly endeavor. In the span of a decade, a New Yorker with a licensed handgun at home will pay more than $1,000 in fees. Some of the obstacles facing prospective gun owners in the city may change if the Supreme Court rules that individuals have a constitutional right to keep a gun for protection. "If there is an individual right, then bureaucratic discretion in permitting and registering guns is going to be minimized," a lawyer who financed the case currently before the Supreme Court, Robert Levy, said, adding that "you cannot allow bureaucrats the option of denying people constitutional rights."



Chicago: Of course it's fair that they have guns and you don't: "Criminals are often poor people who are led away in chains and go to state prison, for decades or lifetimes, for using guns as weapons against taxpayers. Politicians wear nice suits, drive luxury cars, and when they go to prison-federal prison, and only for a few months-they go away for using government as a weapon against taxpayers. Criminals get guns the old fashioned way, by stealing them or buying them illegally. Politicians write the anti-gun laws, and wonder of wonders, they often exempt themselves and call themselves peace officers. In Chicago, our politicians often go around surrounded by armed bodyguards on the city payroll. Or they walk our streets strapped. Or they know a guy who knows a guy in some suburb, and they become deputized peace officers so they can carry. Meanwhile, the taxpayers, who live without bodyguards, are told that if they want to protect themselves with a handgun just like the politicians, they themselves will be criminalized. It is all about power in the end."



20 June, 2008

Indiana: Road rage shooting being called self-defense: "Police are calling it a case of violent road rage after a man is shot at a Jeffersonville, Indiana intersection. WAVE 3's Scott Harvey reports on the incident that happened at the corner of Allison Lane and 10th Street around 3 p.m. Tuesday. It is a case of road rage with a twist. Detectives working the case tell us the shooter hasn't been charged, because it appears to be a case of self defense. Investigators say it started as an altercation between a man riding a motorcycle and a woman driving a SUV behind him. "He said they came flying up on him when he was getting ready to turn," said Bagshaw. "So he slowed down on his turn, next thing you know they rolled up a little bit more. They had a few words. He jumped off his bike." "She never got out of the vehicle and that is where the shooting occurred," said Det. Todd Hollis with the Jeffersonville Police Department. Bagshaw says the man had a single gunshot to the chest. He waited with the motorcycle rider until EMS arrived. He told us the man kept talking about the argument at the car. "Supposedly she thought he had spit at her, but he said his false teeth fell out, so she shot him," explained Bagshaw. "So, I mean, there may be a little more to it than what the other guy is saying of course." And investigators say there is. No charges have been filed against the woman, because police say at this point it appears to be self-defense. The man was taken to University Hospital in Louisville and at last check was in surgery. His condition is unknown at this time."



Alaska man shoots bear: "A power plant supervisor in the city of Galena is credited with saving the lives of his neighbors as they were under attack by a bear. Howard Beasley says the large male black bear had recently been in the area feasting on moose calves. When those ran out it started coming in closer to homes. Beasley stepped in to help in the middle of the night after a neighbor - Chris Kriska and his little sister, couldn't shoo the aggressive bear away. The Galena Police Chief John Millan says the Kiska's dog, Scooby, distracted the bear until help arrived. Beasley says after he showed up the bear charged out of the woods hunched low, snarling and clearly was not ready to back down. So with a single shot, he killed it. "People came out and shook my hand, said it was the first good night of sleep they'd had in a long time," Beasley said. "People were having nightmares. I had no idea it had such a big impact on people." Millan calls the shooting clearly justified."



Canada: Watchdog calls for temporary Taser ban: “The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are using stun guns too often and their use should be temporarily banned if levels are not curbed, a watchdog has said. Its report, prompted by the death of a Polish immigrant stunned by police last year, said the guns should only be used against ‘combative’ people. … The review was initiated after amateur video emerged showing Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers fire a stun gun at least twice at Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, who died shortly afterwards. Mr Dziekanski spoke no English and had become agitated after waiting in a secure area of the airport for 10 hours. The police were heavily criticised for their treatment of Mr Dziekanski.”



Canada: Public Safety Minister rejects gun ban : “A handgun ban isn’t the answer to Toronto’s gun violence, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day insists. ‘Studies in a variety of jurisdictions around the world show that if you want to see gun crime reduced you’ve got to go after the criminals,’ Day said during a press conference at Polson Pier yesterday. He said a Canada-wide handgun ban would divert limited police resources to ‘going after innocent firearm owners.’ Day’s comments come after a weekend of gun violence in the city that started with a double murder Thursday night.”



19 June, 2008

Pennsylvania: Female Intruder Shot After Stabbing Woman: "Police are investigating reports that a female intruder was shot in the hand after entering a house in Pittsburgh's Spring Hill section. According to police, a woman entered a home in the 100 block of Rhine Place, spraying another woman with Mace before stabbing her, according to a witness. The boyfriend of the victim grabbed a gun and shot the intruder in the hand, police said.



KY: City councilman pulls trigger: "A City Councilman in Eastern Kentucky says he was about to be the victim of a robbery, when he pulled out a gun and fought back. Magoffin County Sheriff Bob Jordan says three people approached Royalton City Councilman Ray Nichols at his home. Police say one of them threatened to rob and kill Nichols. After the threats Nichols says he opened fire because he thought his life was in danger."



Indiana man shoots dog that ran out of house at him: "Jose Aquila said his pit bull was just trying to protect his 2-year-old when she was shot and killed about 7:40 p.m. Monday. Aquila said the 6-year-old pit bull, Sapphire, charged out of his house at 4445 Schmucker Drive and began barking at a man who was holding Jose Jr.'s hand to keep him from running into the street. The man, who has a permit to carry a concealed pistol, fired twice from close range, striking Sapphire in the neck and spine and grazing his own toe, according to Aquila. "She never bit him. She was just kind of warning him to get away," Aquila said. "She seen a stranger grabbing my son." The man told Fort Wayne Police he backpedaled as the dog came charging out of the home, but he fell on his back and the dog started coming for his feet. "I knew (it was going) to bite me, so I pulled out my pistol and shot it twice," the man said in the report. Aquila said Sapphire had never bitten anyone and was not normally an aggressive dog. Aquila said police told him the man - whom The News-Sentinel could not reach for comment - will not be charged because he had a right to defend himself. The police report confirmed the man would not be charged."



Michigan: Bank customer stops suspected would-be robber, holds him until police arrive: "A longtime customer brazenly stood up to a suspected would-be bank robber at a Comerica bank on Monday and detained the man until police showed up. At about 9 a.m., police said a 54-year-old Washtenaw County man walked into a Comerica branch in the 45400 block of Michigan Avenue and handed the teller a handwritten note demanding money. It also indicated he was strapped with a bomb, police said in a release. When the suspect demanded "bands of 50s and 100s," police said, the clerk hit the bank's silent alarm and began placing money in a bag. A teller at an adjacent counter noticed the incident and alerted the longtime customer. Police said the customer then pulled out a gun, pointed it at the suspect and told him, "You are not robbing this bank." "But I have a bomb," the suspect said, according to police. The customer replied: "I don't care. You are not robbing this bank!" The customer, who has not been named, then led the suspect to a chair, sat him down and held him at gunpoint until police came."



18 June, 2008

Canada: Jury acquits man for shooting cop: "Awakened before dawn by police officers who battered down the door to his home, Basil Parasiris said he acted in self-defence when he shot at a stranger at his bedroom door. A jury agreed yesterday, acquitting the Montreal-area businessman of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Constable Daniel Tessier, a father of two. The verdict was the latest slap in this case for the Laval police. The trial had revealed that the force's search warrant relied on dubious evidence and didn't allow a night-time raid; that officers didn't properly check whether Mr. Parasiris owned guns; and that they fired by mistake into a child's bedroom. The jurors agreed with Mr. Parasiris's defence that he thought he was the victim of a home invasion."



Vet on trial for shooting: "Walter Laak still looks like a Marine... Defense attorneys contend that Laak was trying to defend himself and others when he shot and killed 19-year-old Juan Cordova on June 5, 2007, during a confrontation at a friend's house. Authorities said Laak pulled out the Beretta and two of the three men fled. Cordova then advanced on Laak. Orozco testified that Cordova was swinging his fists at Laak. Laak fired a round that ricocheted off the ground and then fired again, Orozco said. The second round struck Cordova in the abdomen, killing him. Defense attorney Edward Kane said Laak fired the first round as a warning shot. After the shooting, Laak and Oscar Orozco fled. Laak turned himself in to Las Vegas police the following day. Laak said that the three men who came to the house were armed with knives and he shot "in self-defense," a Las Vegas police report states. Laak refused to give police a recorded statement and was arrested and charged with murder with a deadly weapon."



Will churches be the next gun-free zones? : "My guess is that 100 years ago, before we started down this road, bringing a gun to church was far more commonplace than it is now. And nobody shot up any churches. We were an armed society and, hence, a more polite society. Moreoever, preachers devoted far less energy to worldly political and social entanglements and had no inhibitions about preaching against sin. Perhaps the reason that you almost never hear, even nowadays, about a church shooting is that churches are not yet gun-free zones? God tells us to learn from history as it does repeat itself - Ecclesiastes 1:9. But we don't learn."



The uncompromiseable right to keep and bear arms: "For years Gun Owners of America (GOA) and its sister organization Gun Owners' Foundation (GOF) have worked tirelessly in support of a robust Second Amendment guarantee of the right of individual Americans to keep and bear arms. Fighting against gun control in the trenches - in the state and federal courts, in the court of public opinion, in state legislatures, city councils and Congress - every step of the way is a dog fight. And GOA has become known as the "no compromise" gun lobby.Our Supreme Court brief in the Heller case was recognized by USA Today as so distinctive that our GOF legal team was invited recently to write the counter-point to that paper's pro-gun control position."



17 June 2008

Gunslinger Obama

Post below recycled from J1Minute. See the original for links

Barack Obama channels his inner Sean Connery as he describes his approach to the upcoming campaign:

Barack Obama is warning supporters that the general election fight between him and John McCain may get ugly, but the Illinois senator is vowing not to back down. "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," Obama said at a fundraiser in Philadelphia Friday, according to pool reports.

Uh huh. I hope he also brings a gun permit, a trigger lock, and a good lawyer. And a health care plan. In his next fantasy I suppose Obama will want to channel his inner Clint Eastwood, who once explained that "I've got a firm policy on gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be the one controlling it."




Florida shooting follows firebombing: "The shooting happened early Tuesday morning after deputies said two men threw a firebomb at a car parked in Richard Stockdale's driveway. Authorities said Adam Stockdale, 19, came out with a gun and waited for the men to return. When they returned, investigators said one of the men, Micah Colton Cox, 19, came at Adam and hit him with a baton. Authorities said Stockdale fired his gun and struck Cox in the stomach, critically injuring him. Investigators said Stockdale may be protected by Florida's Castle Doctrine, a law that allows a person to shoot in self defense anytime they feel threatened. Several neighbors who also own guns said they support the law. The Osceola County Sheriff's Office is investigating whether any charges will be filed in connection with the shooting. However, the two men suspected of initiating the attack, Cox and Dennis Fredrick Lawyer, 23, both face charges of arson and firebombing."



Israel getting a castle doctrine: "The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee yesterday approved for second and third readings a broad version of the "Shai Dromi Bill," which absolves from criminal responsibility anyone who kills or injures an intruder in his home, business or farm. This decision means that the law can be passed in second and third plenum readings before the Knesset is potentially dissolved. It is expected to pass in the plenum within two weeks... Negev rancher Shai Dromi was charged with manslaughter after shooting intruders on his ranch. The Shai Dromi Bill is aimed at avoiding a trial in these cases. During the Knesset's winter term a severe disagreement arose between the MKs and officials in the attorney general's office, regarding whether the law would apply only to homes, or also to businesses and farms. Ben-Sasson referred the matter for decision to the ministerial committee on legislation, which decided on a broad interpretation that includes farms and even grazing land. According to the version approved yesterday, "a person shall not be held criminally responsible for an action that was necessary immediately to repel someone breaking into or entering a residence, place of business or fenced farm, with the intention of perpetrating a crime, or someone trying to break in."



16 June 2008

Michigan: Would-be robber dies after being shot by Flint store owner: "A man has died after police say he was shot by a Clio Road store owner Friday evening in what was believed to be an attempted robbery. A male entered LT's Clothing & Accessories, 3014 Clio Road, shortly after 9 p.m. Friday and pulled a handgun on the store's owner. The two grabbed at each other and the owner took his own gun and shot the man, a news release said. That man was pronounced dead at Hurley Medical Center and police today hadn't yet identified him. The case will be sent to the Gensee County prosecutor's office for review, police said.



Arizona: Intruders, homeowner trade gunfire: "Four people forced their way into a Mesa home early Thursday and got into a gun fight with somebody inside, police said. The incident occurred in the 2400 block of East Diamond Avenue, near Gilbert and Broadway roads around 2 a.m. The victim was armed when the intruders entered the home and both sides traded gun fire, police said. Police found a blood trail at the home, apparently from one of the intruders. A K-9 unit was brought to the scene but the intruders were not found. Police said the homeowner appeared to be targeted incident and that the attack was not random."



Arizona: Security officer shoots, kills local man: "Metro police responded to the Sierra Point Apartments located on Sierra Vista Avenue and Cambridge Thursday night, following a report that an individual had been shot. When police arrived, they found the deceased 34-year-old Roberto Simmon lying on the ground outside of his apartment. Police say that a security officer responded to a complaint of loud music at Simmon's apartment. According to witnesses, when the security officer knocked on the door, Simmon attacked the officer and tried to wrestle his gun away from him. Neighbors say it was an uneven match between the two men, and that Simmon was physically much larger than the security guard. As a result of the struggle, the security officer fired one shot at the man and killed him. Neighbors say Simmon got along with most people at the Sierra Point apartments where he lived. They say he often hosted community barbecues in the courtyard in front of his home."



Gun owners pleased about new Ohio law: "Criminals could be in the crosshairs under a new law signed Wednesday by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, reports News 11's Tim Miller. Under the current law, you have to prove your life was at risk if you kill someone who tried to force their way into your home. When the new law goes into effect in September, you'll be free to fire away. Gun owners across Ohio are fired up about the new law, called the "Castle Doctrine." You'll no longer have to prove someone breaking in is out to do you bodily harm. It will be assumed that anyone who kills or injures an intruder will have acted in self-defense. Some folks in the area are pleased about the new law. "Sure, I understand stealing a TV set is not as valuable as a life, but you don't know that's all that person is in there to do and you've got that right to defend your castle," says Tom Urbanski, who runs Ski's Firearms Training in Oregon. He's also pleased the new law protects homeowners from civil suits by an intruder who survived being shot and that it extends to someone attacking you in your car. Urbanski believes the new law will contribute to a decrease in the crime rate."



15 June 2008

Defending the Second Amendment

Supporting nine out of the first ten Amendments to the Constitution is not enough

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"

I don’t own a gun.  I never have, and probably never will.  In fact, I’ve never even fired a weapon.  Not in anger, not for self-defense, not even for fun.

And yet, as someone who has never exercised my Constitutional right to bear arms, I’m as adamant about preserving and protecting this right as I am about preserving and protecting my right to free speech, which I tend to exercise frequently.

Over the years I’ve seen many defenses of the Second Amendment.  They range from leaving out the “well regulated militia” part and focusing on “the right of the people,” to the general admonition that tyrannical governments prefer a disarmed citizenry. Critics, of course, attack the people’s right to bear arms by assuming that only card-carrying militia members (the kind authorized by the government, not those self-defined groups populating the state of Montana) can own or carry weapons. Or, in an appeal to emotion over Constitutional language, focus on why the average citizens needs an arsenal of pistols, shotguns, rifles, rocket launchers, and AK-47s.

A lot of this discussion, in my opinion, misses the point. If I was defending the Second Amendment — and yes, unfortunately, given the state of political education and public discourse today it needs to be defended — I’d approach it something like this:

The Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights, although technically no different than any other provision or amendment of the Constitution, does enjoy a political distinction. It was part of an understood agreement that helped ratify the Constitution itself. This means that we must look at Amendments 1-10 through this prism, rather than just say they reflect the thinking of one period of history. By contrast, the 18th Amendment (prohibition) had the same force of law as all other Amendments and original articles/provisions of the Constitution, but it was clearly just a response to an historical moment. 

Understanding the Second Amendment as part of the overall Bill of Rights, not as a stand-alone 27-word fragment of the Constitution, is important because the making of a Constitutional provision cannot be separated from the politics of the time.  Each article of the Constitution and each Amendment to the Constitution has its own “history” that the Court will refer to in order to discern its original intent; assuming, of course, that the individual members of the Supreme Court are actually interested in determining the constitutionality of an issue, rather than imposing their own standards of “fairness” on constitutional matters.

With the first 10 Amendments, it is not merely individual histories that matter, but a recognition that each Amendment is part of an additional, over-arching logic and special place in history. They are a “package” so to speak that collectively says something important about the people’s core, basic right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right against self-incrimination, and so on.  Each right is bound to the other; some flowing from a previous right, others there to protect the exercise of the other rights.

Changing the Constitution

Looking at the Second vs. the Eighteenth amendment (prohibition), another proof of the Bill of Right’s special place is seen. We can overturn the 18th Amendment with the 21st Amendment, as we did in 1933, without provoking a constitutional crisis. We can even change the way a president is elected, the date a president is inaugurated, limit a president’s term in office, and change the line of succession for a president. And each of these constitutional provisions could be changed again at some future point without public outcry. 

But fundamentally change any one of the first 10 Amendments, and people will perceive that the basic rights embodied in the Constitution itself are under attack. It may be more accurate at this point to say “may” perceive instead of “will” perceive because, as I’ll explain later, the public needs to be aware that a fundamental right is in danger before it will react to that threat. And this recognition depends on a couple of factors that I’ll discuss in more detail shortly. 

Free speech is one case where the public is generally aware that a basic right exists, although they may not be entirely aware of exactly what that right entails. The First Amendment entitles one to speak freely without undue governmental constraint, with speech defined not just as words being written or vocalized, but encompassing the methods of free speech as well (with the unencumbered use of money being a principle vehicle to exercise this right). It does not, as some people contend, also demand the right to be heard. George Soros has a perfect right to spend millions, if not billions, to spread his bilge.  I, however, am not obligated by the First Amendment to listen to his rantings, or if I do listen, believe what he says.

In recent years the Court has eroded some of the protections normally associated with the right of free speech — upholding Campaign Finance Reform, to name the most prominent example — provoking a long, sustained, ongoing public outcry. However, as vociferous as these complaints are to a sizeable section of the population who not only want a full restoration of their Constitutional rights, but fear even further erosions of the Right to Free Speech by political sleights of hand like the “Fairness Doctrine,” this outcry would become a deafening roar if the First Amendment itself was formally overturned and replaced with an entirely new concept.

This is why changes to the Bill of Rights are normally of the “frog in boiling water” kind.  That is, they are small and gradual modifications whose impact is felt over the long passage of time, like placing a frog in a pan of water and gradually turning up the heat. By the time the cumulative changes have been recognized, the water is at full boil and the frog is dead. No such subterfuge is needed to change a presidential succession policy, or alter the way in which a senator is elected to office.

This gives the first 10 Amendments a de facto status over and above any other Amendment, or even any other Articles of the Constitution itself. Interstate commerce has been radically changed over the years through Supreme Court interpretations. And even such things as the president’s power to fight a war has been altered by legislation (the War Powers Act), or simply by the changing world situation that makes formally declaring war no longer practical in all cases. 

Some people will point to this last example and contend that the Constitution is not simply being changed; it is being subverted. There is room for legitimate debate here, and the passion it provokes is noticeable and real. But that passion and debate is not widespread. The overwhelming majority of those opposed to the use of US military force in Iraq do not point to the Constitution’s declaration of war provisions to ground their argument. This is a debate among academics and ideological political activists. But use the government to close down a newspaper for saying unkind things about Bush, McCain, Hillary or Obama, and even the guy who never heard of Adams, Jefferson, or the Federalist Papers will see a threat to his/her basic Constitutional rights.

More here




Reality speaks for itself: "Niccolo Machiavelli, who was a sort of Karl Rove of his day, said of the Swiss that they were "the most free and most armed people" of Europe. Get it? The connection between arms and freedom? That statement is still true of the Swiss. Many people know that they practice neutrality, but not many know that they practice armed neutrality. If the gun controllers' claim that the mere presence of arms leads to mayhem were true, the Swiss would have wiped themselves out years ago. There are guns and gun ranges all over the place. You would be hard-pressed to find a Swiss home without a firearm and ammunition. Yet, the Swiss have a very low crime rate. If you were a robber or a rapist, who would you rather have as a victim? Someone who is armed, or someone who is defenseless? Even a stupid criminal knows the answer to that question. If the police can protect us -- which is another claim the gun-control people make -- then why are so many people murdered, raped and robbed? Even the television fictional stories tell you the answer to that. The cops get there after the crime has been committed. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a crime scene. Nearly all the cop shows open with the police looking at a dead, unarmed body."



Defense fund set up for jailed AZ hiker: "Former Valley teacher Harold Fish has spent two years in prison for a deadly shooting he still insists was self-defense in the forest north of Payson. And if his supporters have their way, this Father's Day will be Fish's last behind bars without being able to spend it with his wife and seven children. He faces eight more years in prison for second-degree murder in shooting 43-year-old Grant Kuenzli on a Coconino National Forest trail four years ago... Fish was involved in a May 11, 2004, shooting that stirred passions in Arizona and nationally about self-defense, gun rights, the dangers of unleashed dogs and hiker safety in the wilderness. Fish, now 61, was completing a long day hike when he encountered Kuenzli, who was camping with his dogs in the forest near Strawberry. Fish said he was defending himself from a violent attack after two dogs and then Kuenzli charged at him. Fish shot Kuenzli three times. Kuenzli died at the scene with no witnesses and limited forensic evidence. Debbie said the jury would have exonerated her husband if Judge Mark Moran had allowed testimony about Kuenzli's history of menacing behavior, particularly when confronted about his dogs. That omission is one of more than a dozen issues raised in Fish's appellate-court filing. The fundraising letters on Fish's behalf ask for donations of $25 to $1,000 or more."



14 June 2008

Minnesota Home Invasion: "Authorities say no charges will be filed against a Truman man who shot an intruder in his parents' home. Mark Sauk arrived at the home Tuesday night to find his mother being attacked by a man police identify as 30 year old Douglas Bennett. Police say Sauk struck the intruder with his handgun, and when that didn't work, fired two times, striking him once in the leg. Authorities tell News 12 that a review with the county attorney found that Sauk's actions were justified. Both Marcella Sauk and Douglas Bennett are both currently at St. Mary's hospital in Rochester." [More details here]



Dubious murder indictment in Kansas: "Troy L. Taylor, 46, and Jeffrey D. Halstead, 41, had been drinking heavily at Abuelos Monday night when they were cut off and asked to leave by the restaurant’s management. The two got into a fight in the parking lot about who would drive home about 10:15 p.m. The men arrived at Halstead’s house in Rosalia where he went to bed and Taylor stayed outside. Taylor entered the home with a shotgun. That’s when Halstead heard him loading it and grabbed his handgun. He began shooting at Taylor hitting him in the mid-section. Halstead called 911 shortly after 11:30, but the shots proved to be fatal. The men had been friends for 30 years. Halstead was booked into the Butler County jail on charges of second degree murder. He will face a judge Thursday in Butler County District Court at 8:45 a.m." [Sounds like self-defense to me]



Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace 'open carry': "For years, Kevin Jensen carried a pistol everywhere he went, tucked in a shoulder holster beneath his clothes. In hot weather the holster was almost unbearable. Pressed against Jensen's skin, the firearm was heavy and uncomfortable. Hiding the weapon made him feel like a criminal. Then one evening he stumbled across a site that urged gun owners to do something revolutionary: Carry your gun openly for the world to see as you go about your business. In most states there's no law against that. Jensen thought about it and decided to give it a try. A couple of days later, his gun was visible, hanging from a black holster strapped around his hip as he walked into a Costco. His heart raced as he ordered a Polish dog at the counter. No one called the police. No one stopped him. Now Jensen carries his Glock 23 openly into his bank, restaurants and shopping centers. He wore the gun to a Ron Paul rally. He and his wife, Clachelle, drop off their 5-year-old daughter at elementary school with pistols hanging from their hip holsters, and have never received a complaint or a wary look."



The BATFE Mafia: "As part of its Asset Forfeiture training program for agents, the BATFE ordered 2,000 Leatherman tools inscribed with the words "Always Think Forfeiture." The program urges agents to focus on seizing private property. Rep Sali believes the agency should be thinking `Freedom,' not `Forfeiture.' The Idaho Republican complained about the program and received a letter from Acting ATF Director Michael Sullivan, who apologized for the "confusion" over the issue. While Rep. Sali appreciated the apology, he said that, "My constituents deserve to know the truth about this marketing program, which has been interpreted by many Idahoans as anti-gun and anti-private property." The agency halted distribution of the tools in the face of public outcry, but "[t]he fact remains that the ATF thought it was OK to think `Always Think Forfeiture' instead of focusing on protecting our constitutional rights," Sali said. In a letter to his fellow Congressmen, Sali noted that "the inscription raises serious concerns to law-abiding citizens as to the intent of an ATF agent who is performing investigations, particularly with respect to law-abiding gun owners."



13 June 2008

Miami Herald: 2nd Amendment is 'Mythical Right'

Post below recycled from Warner Todd Huston, my esteemed co-blogger at STACLU

The Miami (FL) Herald let lose with another propagandistic broadside against the 2nd Amendment on Thursday featuring some more moaning and false statements about how horrible it is for America that the misnamed "assault weapons ban" has lapsed. There is much wringing of hands, waterworks, histrionics and over dramatics by the aptly named Fred Grimm here. In "What's a few dead cops to the gun lobby?" Grimm's final pronouncement is that the 2nd Amendment is a "mythical right" but in between there are many misstatements and out right lies.

Grimm starts out putting on some faux "shock" that a modern "semiautomatic assault rifle" he had the occasion to handle was so light. "The shock was in the weight of the thing. Less than six pounds," Grimm writes. And, what exactly does this mean? A butcher knife weighs less then a pound and can kill, too. What does weight have to do with anything?

Then the scare tactics:

I thought how easy it would be for some kid, some 110-pound wild-dog street punk, to heft an AR-6520 and wield it to hellish effect.

OK, so the gun is not heavy. This makes the gun somehow less than safe? Guess what, Mr. Grimm. Cars weigh in the tons and teenagers kill themselves by the thousands each year with them. In fact, they kill themselves FAR more with cars than they do guns. Yes, thousands die a year, Mr. Grimm, even though cars are really, really heavy.

Shocking, eh?

Then Grimm goes off lamenting that police forces are spending money on "assault rifles" because of the lapse of the so-called "assault weapons ban."

No wonder Fort Lauderdale is spending $82,000 for guns designed to kill enemy soldiers. Police know that since the expiration of the federal assault weapon ban, young criminals have ginned up the arms race.

So, Grimm seems to make the claim that "assault weapons" are suddenly everywhere? Naturally, Grimm doesn't bother to give us any facts and figures to buttress this wild claim. He just states it as fact and moves on. He also makes the absurd claim that small time criminals can easily come up with the "three grand" that he says the street price for one has reached, saying that illegal gun dealers...

...Sell them out of car trunks at twice the price to gangbangers, drug dealers and armed robbers who want to upgrade to cop killers. Sell them to felons. Sell them to kids. Sell them to certifiably crazy people as long as crazy people can ante up a cold three grand.

Nice scare tactics and propaganda. Lacking in truth, but nice propaganda.

Then Grimm makes with what he must think are "facts."

In 2004, Congress allowed the ban on assault weapons to expire. The federal law suffered major loopholes, but it still had the effect of tamping down the firepower cops faced on the streets. Since the ban was jettisoned, police groups like the International Association of Chiefs of Police have lamented that the bad guys have the cops outgunned.

But, there is no evidence whatsoever that this gun ban really did have the "effect of tamping down firepower." Even those in the Senate that support this gun banning law said that the rate of so-called "assault weapons" used in gun crime was only at 3.5 percent of gun crimes before the ban went into effect. And that is using their own numbers which are probably suspect because they are being used for their own propaganda.

Three percent of anything is statistically insignificant. In 1999 a study was done by Jeffery A. Roth and Christopher S. Koper of the National Institute of Justice and paid for by the Clinton Administration. The study of 15 states found that there might have been a 6.7% decline in murder rates where the Federal gun ban "could have" made a difference. But, in the end, even this Clinton paid for study admitted that assault weapons had been used in such a tiny number of crimes before the ban that it wasn't really provable that the assault weapons ban had any significant effect at all. Saying, "it is highly improbable that the assault weapons ban produced an effect this large," the report didn't do much to help Clinton prove the ban worked in 1999 and things have not changed that much since.

It should also be noted that the claims of "cop killer bullets" linked with the word "assault weapon" is meaningless rhetoric. The same, high power, so-called "cop killing" bullets that some military weapons fire can also be fired by some hunting rifles. So, to link these high powered bullets only with "assault weapons" as if only those sorts of weapons can use them is disingenuous to say the least.

Our Grimm one ends his propaganda with some suitably dramatic nonsense.

Congress demonstrated in 2004 how much value was placed on the mythical right of private citizens to own semiautomatic military assault rifles.

How much? More than a few dead cops.

I see. So the Second Amendment is a "mythical right," eh? Sorry, but the Founders just don't agree with you, Mr. Grimm.




Maryland Dry Cleaner Owner Shoots Robber: "Dennis Edwards reports a would-be robber, armed with a knife, demands money from the owner of a Charles Village cleaner... It appears this is a case of a store owner turning the tables on the robber who tried to take away his hard-earned money. Right around 1:45 p.m., a man armed with a knife enters a dry cleaning shop at St. Paul and 32nd Street demanding money. The store owner pulls out a gun and shoots the suspect several times. The injured suspect was taken to the hospital, and arrested, and he'll survive. Police say the store owner was shaken but not hurt. Police say there will be a full investigation to determine if this was justified use of force on the part of the store owner, but right now he's not being charged with any crimes.





Oregon Man shoots and kills stray pitbull: "A man who shot and killed a vicious dog on a neighborhood street will not face charges because he acted in self-defense. Neighbors say the man followed in a car after seeing two dogs, a pit bull and a doberman, stalking the neighborhood and attack a cat. He got out of the car when he saw the dogs attack another cat. The pit bull turned on the man, at which point he fired two shots and killed the dog. The cat was taken to a veterinarian, but its injuries were too severe and had to be put down. Both dogs were licensed. The owner of the second dog came and took his dog when contacted by LCAS, Howard said.



12 June 2008

Obama the anti-gun nut

Post below recycled from Taranto. See the original for links

Back in April, columnist Robert Novak noted that Barack Obama was performing a "dance" on the topic of gun rights:

Obama, disagreeing with the D.C. government and gun control advocates, declares that the Second Amendment's "right of the people to keep and bear arms" applies to individuals, not just the "well regulated militia" in the amendment. In the next breath, he asserts that this constitutional guarantee does not preclude local "common sense" restrictions on firearms.

The government of the District of Columbia is defending a gun ban before the Supreme Court, with a decision expected this month. The National Rifle Association Web site has a list of those "common sense" restrictions Obama has favored. One of them caught the eye of blogger David Hardy:

Barack Obama supported a proposal to ban gun stores within 5 miles of a school or park, which would eliminate almost every gun store in America.

The reference is to a post by David Bernstein of The Volokh Conspiracy, which quotes from a Chicago Defender article of Dec. 13, 1999:

He's proposing that all federally licensed gun dealers sell firearms in a storefront and not from their homes while banning their business from being within five miles of a school or a park.

Five miles? As Hardy notes, the effect of this would be to "eliminate almost every gun store in America." Alan Korwin, a Phoenix-based gun-rights advocate, has a series of maps of his hometown, showing areas that are "gun-free school zones" under a federal law that bans possession of firearms within 1,000 feet of a school. Phoenix is a sprawling city; to show the effect of such restrictions on an older, denser town, Korwin also has a map of downtown Cleveland, which shows dense concentrations of 2,000-foot-diameter circles.

The proposal Obama endorsed in 1999 would have banned gun stores within five miles, or 26,400 feet, of a school. Imagine the same maps with each of those circles 10 miles across. Gun stores would be permitted only in the most remote rural areas--and only if there is also no park within five miles.

The Defender article also reported that Obama proposed "to make it a felony for a gun owner whose firearm was stolen from his residence which causes harm to another person if that weapon was not securely stored in that home." This sentence is clumsily worded, but it seems to be saying that if someone breaks into your house, steals your gun, and uses it to rob a liquor store, Obama would send you to prison for failing to store it "securely."

To be sure, these are positions Obama took as a state legislator. It is unlikely that he would stand by them today, and even unlikelier that Congress would enact them. But it does lead one to think that Obama's instinct is to trash, rather than protect, the Constitution.




Florida: Gun scares off kidnapper: "A woman said she used a gun to scare away a man who was trying to lure her teenage daughter into a truck. The mother, who did not wish to be identified, said the man approached her 16-year-old daughter on Alhambra Circle near their home. "She was walking her dog in the median right out in front of our house here, and a man approached her in a truck and tried to get her to come to the truck," the woman said. The teenager ran to nearby Coral Gables Elementary School, calling her mother and 911. The mother confronted the man and showed him her 9-mm gun. "It's not until I showed him that I was armed and that I meant business to protect my daughter that he backed off," she said. Coral Gables police arrested Ramon del Risco in connection with the incident."



California man shoots would-be burglar : "An armed East Oakland homeowner who tried to dissuade a burglary suspect with several warning shots ended up shooting the man in the leg Monday in the most recent in a string of incidents in which victims have shot suspects. Neighbors of the home on the 2200 block of 100th Avenue said the house had been broken into before. "The guy is exasperated because they target his house," said the shooter's next-door neighbor, who declined to give her name. Police said the 37-year-old homeowner, who has lived in the house most of his life, was home a little before 11 a.m. Monday when he saw someone walk toward his garage, then reappear and try to pry open a back window with a garden tool. The homeowner walked to his deck and fired warning shots with a pistol, which seemed to drive the man away. But when the homeowner stepped out his front door, the suspect reappeared and began moving toward the house, as if determined to get in, according to a statement the man gave police. The homeowner fired two more warning shots into the ground, but the suspect kept coming forward, at which point the homeowner shot the suspect in the upper leg. Police identified the burglary suspect as Marcus Holoman, 51. He did not have a gun. Officials said he has a criminal record that includes arrests and convictions for burglary."



11 June 2008

California - Handgun Ammunition Control

(Sacramento, California) California State Assemblyman Kevin De Leon has proposed legislation to require that sellers of ammunition obtain a state license, conduct background checks of employees and track people purchasing ammunition.

The bill, AB 362, has passed the California Assembly. It's now with the Senate. This is a bad idea, I think, simply another attack on the Second Amendment.

From the Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary for AB 362:

Amendments proposed by the author would require the study to include the feasibility of an instantaneous screening process limiting the approval of handgun ammunition sales to qualified purchasers, and maintaining a file of handgun ammunition records of sale that shall be integrated with existing criminal justice information systems.

Applicability will be any vendor who sells more than 50 rounds per month. If it passes the Senate, the bill is slated to become effective on June 1, 2009.

50 rounds! What's that? One box? And you go into a government database with background checks? Sheesh!




Kansas: Attempted robbery led to shooting deaths: "Police say an attempted robbery led to Saturday’s double homicide, and a 16-year-old boy arrested in the crime is likely to have his first court appearance today. Police also identified one of the deceased as Gage Hauk, 18, of nearby McLouth in Jefferson County. Police said Hauk and the 16-year-old suspect attempted to rob the residence just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday when the 20-year-old resident shot Hauk with a shotgun. The 16-year-old, who has not been identified, then allegedly shot the resident before fleeing on foot, said Lawrence Police Sgt. Paul Fellers. A firearm believed to have been used in the incident was found a block away. The resident has not yet been identified, Fellers said, pending identification by the coroner. The two would-be robbers were acquainted with the resident, Fellers said. The teen was arrested Sunday on suspicion of felony murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery, Fellers said. He is being held at the county’s juvenile detention center. Police responded to the home where the incident occurred after several neighbors reported gunshots. One of the bodies was found inside the residence, in the 1300 block of Delaware Street. The other man was found outside.



North Carolina: Homeowner hits home invader with shotgun blast; Deputies following blood trail: "A Lincoln County man picked up his shotgun and fired twice when he saw a flashlight beam shining under the bedroom door and then heard someone grabbing the door handle, according to a Lincoln County Sheriff's Office release. The incident took place around 2:50 a.m. Monday at a home on the 4400 block of Catawba Burris Road in eastern Lincoln County. At least one person was hit and officers followed a blood trail out of the residence, down the driveway and a short distance south on Catawba Burris Road, according to the release. Lincoln County Sheriff's officers are searching door-to door and a reverse 9-1-1 call went out at 4 a.m. The homeowners told Lincoln County investigators they were awakened by the sound of breaking glass around 2:50 a.m. Officers do not know if more than one person was inside the residence. Deputies including the Tactical warrant Team and K-9 units have been searching the area looking for the suspect."



Kansas bar owner shoots at fleeing suspects: "Police are looking for two suspects linked to a clash Thursday night that prompted a bar owner o fire several shots at the men as they fled. The owner of Stix Bar, 2785 S. Meridian, asked two men to leave the bar shortly before 10 p.m., police said. One of the men reportedly told the owner, "I can do what I want, because I have a gun and you don't." The suspects went outside and were still in the parking lot when the bar owner stepped outside. He ordered them to leave again, and they got into a red two-door Saturn. They drove toward the bar owner and struck him with their car, then struck him again as they fled the lot, police said. The 43-year-old bar owner fired several shots at the car, police said, and three bullets hit an unoccupied house in the 2400 block of West Greenfield. Police don't know if the Saturn was hit. Police are looking for a 22-year-old man known by name, and an unknown 18-year-old man. He is about 5 feet 6 inches tall, 150 pounds, with dark hair. The bar owner suffered only minor injuries in the incident and was treated at the scene."



South Carolina Home Invasion Ends in Shooting: "A man who investigators say was shot, while breaking into a home early Monday morning in Fountain Inn, is undergoing surgery. A total of three men invaded the house. The Laurens County Sheriff's Office has not released the name of the man who was shot or his condition. Authorities say this happened during a home invasion on Fairview Road around 12:45am Monday. We're told three people kicked in the door of the home and dragged the resident out of his bed. Deputies say the homeowner was beaten, but he was able to get a gun and shoot one of the three robbers. That victim was able to get to Saint Francis Hospital where the surgery is being done. The homeowner was injured and was taken to Hillcrest Hospital in Simpsonville."



10 June 2008

NM: Homeowner fires shot, burglar flees: "Police are searching for a man who tried to steal $20,000 worth of natural gas equipment during a residential burglary in Mentmore early this morning. Deputy Police Chief John Allen, a spokesman for the Gallup Police Department, said someone broke into a garage of a residence on the 3400 Block of Blue Hill Avenue at about 5 a.m. The homeowner noticed his van that contained the valuable equipment had been stolen from the driveway. He then found the burglar inside the garage trying to steal additional equipment. Allen said the homeowner fired a shot from a handgun over the thief's head and demanded he remain inside the garage until police arrive, but the man fled on foot and has not been arrested."



Ohio: Grandpa Comes to the Rescue, Grabs Shotgun from Intruder: "As the door to the garage swung open, Sutton came face to face with an intruder. "The guy just came in and looked straight at me and pointed his gun at me," said Sutton. At first Sutton thought it was a joke, but as the man approached her, she knew her life was at stake. She started screaming for help as she turned and ran for the front door. What the gunman didn't realize was that Sutton's 72-year-old grandfather, Joe Sabol, was also in the family room, sitting in a chair, when the gunman came into the house..... That's when Joe sprang into action. The great grandfather sneaked in on the gunman for a surprise attack of his own. He quietly walked up behind him. Sabol saw his opportunity when the gunman turned the barrel of the gun to the floor as he cocked it. Sabol seized the moment. "I reached down then and I got a tight grip on the stalk of the gun and when I got a hold of (it) there was no way he was gonna get that back," said Sabol. When the struggle was over, Sabol had control of the gun. The intruder turned on his heels and ran back the way he had come in, through the garage, and off into a wooded area. Sutton quickly called the Carroll County Sheriff's Department. Deputies came out to search the area. They found 30-year-old Jason Haught hiding in the woods. He's been charged with one count of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and kidnapping, all of them are felonies of the first degree. According to court records, Haught has a criminal past, including a prison term served for domestic violence in 2007, another domestic violence case in 2005, drug paraphernalia in 2004 and in 1999 a DUI -- just to name a few of the charges."



CA: Gun, ammo bills go to Senate : "In the future, you may have to leave a copy of your driver's license if you want to buy .22-caliber rounds from your local big-box store. The California Assembly further reinforced the state's reputation as having the most stringent gun laws in the nation by passing two bills late last month that would put more restrictions on buying and selling handguns and handgun ammunition. Both bills must now win state Senate approval. One bill . would require any new handgun sold in the state to have a device installed that prohibits anyone other than the owner from pulling the trigger. . the technology for such devices isn't yet available for sale and the bill wouldn't take effect until after it is, according to the legislation."



Abusive customer tased: "A convenience store clerk used a stun gun on a customer after an argument got out of hand, authorities said. The altercation reportedly stemmed from the customer's attempt to purchase $3 worth of gas and an alcoholic beverage. Shaan Gandotra was behind the counter at Shannon's Grocery and Gas Station in Merced when the customer made his unusual demand. "He threw $5 in front of all the customers and said, 'Hey, give me $3 of gas,'" he said. The man then walked to the liquor aisle and brought back a bottled alcoholic beverage, and Gandotra said he became verbally abusive. "He started cussing, saying 'I want my gas now, hurry up,'" Gandotra said. He refused service to the customer. The 42-year-old man then threw the bottle at him, Gandotra said. "There's no other way I could have gotten him out of the store," he said. "I pulled out my stun gun." Merced authorities say the man was tased, and then called for an ambulance from a nearby friend's house. Authorities have not released the name of the customer, and are reviewing the surveillance footage of the incident to determine if the use of the stun gun was justified."



9 June 2008

Texas woman shot to death by woman neighbor: "A 35-year-old Frankston woman was shot to death at a trailer park near Lake Palestine Saturday morning in what authorities are describing as an apparent act of self-defense after first charging the shooter with murder. Randhi Jo Allen, 35, of Frankston was deceased and had been shot once in the front of the head from "close range" when sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene of the shooting at a trailer park near Deep End Marina, approximately 5 miles east of Frankston, around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, according to Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor. The women lived next door to one another and had been involved in some type of ongoing dispute in recent days, according to authorities. During interviews conducted Saturday, the sheriff said investigators learned "the victim admitted to some people this (Saturday) morning that she beat up this woman (Fountain) last (Friday) night. "She (Allen) went over this morning to get some more," Taylor said. "From what we understand, the victim was told not to come in the house, but she came in the house anyway...The gist of it is, it appears to be self-defense."



Indiana: One jailed, one shot in alleged attempted robbery: "One man is in jail and another still in the hospital after being shot while allegedly attempting to rob a Greene County business. The Greene County Sheriff's Department reported Saturday evening that Chad Rollins was in jail on allegations of theft, burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. John D. Lawson remained Saturday in Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. A condition update was not available. Rollins and Lawson were reportedly shot by the owner of K and H Auto in Greene County early Friday morning when he saw them on the property and ordered them to show their hands. One of the men allegedly pointed something toward the owner and the owner fired his weapon. The item was reportedly a flashlight."



South Carolina: No charges after barber shoots man: "A Columbia barbershop owner says he was just protecting himself. Johnny Cole admits he shot a man at his business Monday, but Tuesday he told WIS News 10 he had no choice. Now Columbia police say they're not charging either man in the incident, and are considering the case closed. Cole says it was self-defense, that he was trying to protect himself from a guy who punched him in the face and body-slammed him on the floor of his barber shop. Cole says he's never had trouble here before until Monday afternoon, when a car stopped at the intersection then backed up. Cole recognized a woman passenger, and spoke to her. He says next thing he knew, the man with her was on the attack. "He hit me first. And then I defend myself and when I defend myself, he reached for the bag I had on my shoulder," says Cole. The fight moved inside, and finally Cole says, he grabbed his gun. One shot was fired, hitting 44-year-old Anthony Sylvester Williams in the forearm."



Arizona homeowner shoots, kills armed would-be robber: "A homeowner shot and killed a suspect who was allegedly trying to break into his West Valley home early Thursday morning. It happened at about 1:30 a.m., in the area of 59h Avenue and McDowell Road. Police said the family of four was asleep at the time. The homeowner reportedly woke up when he heard somebody kicking in the door. That man grabbed his shotgun and waited near his bedroom door. When the bedroom door swung open, the man said he saw a man with a gun. That's when he opened fire. That suspect died on the scene. Police did find a gun near him. Investigators said there were two other suspects who took off, running to where their truck was parked a block away. Those suspects are still on the loose. Police said the homeowner was acting in self defense so he likely will not face any charges."



8 June 2008

D.C. Police to Check Drivers In Violence-Plagued Trinidad

The people who run DC must be mentally diseased. The measures described below are even more futile than their ban on guns. And it certainly shows how much the gun bans have achieved

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area. Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a "legitimate purpose" to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away.

The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area. "In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."

The checkpoint will stop vehicles approaching the 1400 block of Montello Avenue NE, a section of the Trinidad neighborhood that has been plagued with homicides and other violence. Police will search cars if they suspect the presence of guns or drugs, and will arrest people who do not cooperate, under a charge of failure to obey a police officer, officials said. The enforcement will take place at random hours and last for at least five days in Trinidad, with the option of extending it five more days. Checkpoints could be set up in other neighborhoods if they are requested by patrol commanders and approved by Lanier.

The strategy, patterned after a similar effort conducted years ago in New York, is not airtight. There are many ways to get in and out of Trinidad, not just on the one-way Montello Avenue. And pedestrians will not be stopped, which is something critics say might render the program ineffective. "I guess the plan is to hope criminals will not walk into neighborhoods," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large). "I also suppose the plan is to take the criminal's word for it when he or she gives the police a reason for driving into a neighborhood."

Since taking over as chief in December 2006, Lanier has struggled with the issue of violent crime. She has added patrols, revived a unit specializing in getting guns off the streets and changed commanders in six of the city's seven patrol districts. Last weekend, officers were close enough in one case that they heard the barrage of gunfire coming from a triple homicide on Holbrook Street in Trinidad.

The program is aimed at the city's most troubled areas. The 5th Police District, which includes Trinidad, has had 22 killings this year, one more than all of last year. Since April 1, the Trinidad neighborhood has had seven homicides, 16 robberies and 20 assaults with dangerous weapons, according to police data. In many cases in Trinidad and across the city, gunshots are fired from passing cars, victims are found in cars or cars are used to make fast getaways.....

One of Lanier's plans, the Safe Homes initiative, has yet to get off the ground because of a community backlash. The plan, announced by Lanier and Fenty at a news conference in March, called for police to go door-to-door in crime-ridden areas and ask residents whether they could go inside and search for guns. Residents and some council members voiced concerns that homeowners would feel intimidated by police. Lanier backed off, but said she plans to move forward soon by having residents call police to set up appointments.

Another plan, to arm hundreds of patrol officers with semiautomatic rifles, starting this summer, also got mixed reviews from residents.

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AZ: Resident kills home invader: "A Phoenix homeowner shot and killed a home invader who had kicked in the front door of the house and was attempting to break into the bedroom where he and his family were sleeping, Phoenix police said. The victim died at the scene near 59th Avenue and Thomas Road, investigators said. The unidentified 38-year-old homeowner awoke and found the man was carrying a weapon, police said. The resident pulled out a rifle and opened fire, killing the intruder, officers said. Police said they found the intruder's weapon by his body. The homeowner, his wife and two children were not injured.Two other people who were with the intruder fled the scene,"



Maine machine shop owner surprises metal shop thieves with shotgun : "The owner of a machine shop where thieves stole $3,000 worth of scrap steel, iron and aluminum wasn't going to let it happen again. After Saturday night's theft, Joseph Lord loaded his shotgun and laid low, expecting the thieves to return. They came back on Tuesday, in broad daylight. When Lord saw their 2008 F-250 pickup truck, he shot out its tires and windshield and blasted its radiator, Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty said. The startled thieves took off on foot, but investigators quickly tracked down the truck's operator, who will be charged with theft, Liberty said. Charges are pending against an accomplice, the sheriff said."



7 June 2008

Man shot, killed during confrontation in apartment parking lot: "Metro Police say a 17-year-old shot during a confrontation in the parking lot of a Las Vegas apartment complex early this morning and died later at the hospital. At 5:46 a.m. Monday police received several 911 calls reporting a shot fired at the Wellington Meadows Apartment complex at 9550 West Sahara Ave. Police and emergency medical officials found Johnny Boyd Eagletail with a gunshot wound to his torso. He was taken to University Medical Center where he died from his injuries hours later. A man at the apartment complex confronted Eagletail and asked about damaged vehicles in the parking lot. The victim allegedly pulled a knife and moved toward the man who fired one shot from the pistol, police said. The man with the gun remained at the scene and spoke with Metro detectives. He was not arrested. The case will be submitted to the district attorney's office for review."



Texas man kills suspected burglar: "Authorities in Cass County are still sorting out the details surrounding an alleged burglary, where a suspect was fatally shot. Cass County investigators say an Antioch, Texas man came home Wednesday afternoon to find a burglar inside the residence. The homeowner told police he grabbed a gun and found a woman running out the back door. He confronted her and another man in the back yard. He called 911, telling the operator he was holding the pair until authorities arrived. By the time deputies got to the scene, some kind of altercation had taken place and the male suspect was dead from a gunshot wound. Authorities have not released the name of the man who was killed. The woman also at the house was last seen leaving in a white car. So far no charges have been filed."



PA: Court voids victim disarmament ordinances: "A judge ruled that the City of Philadelphia could not enforce new ordinances that would ban assault weapons and limit handgun purchases to one per person per month. The judge, Jane Cutler Greenspan of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, ruled in favor of the National Rifle Association, which argued that only the legislature had the right to make gun laws. But Judge Greenspan denied on procedural grounds the association's request to overturn three other gun ordinances. One would allow guns to be removed from people who were declared to be a risk to themselves or others, and another would do the same for those under a protection-from-abuse order. The third would require the reporting of lost or stolen guns."



Gun manufacturers continue to aid gun banners: "Having just devoted a substantial chunk of pro bono legal work fighting governments committed to destroying your gun rights, I was horrified to read the March 2008 editions of several of my favorite gun magazines. Prominently featured in each edition was a feature story about a large manufacturer of 1911-type guns, breathlessly detailing the 'gee whiz' details of their newest model dedicated to a California police agency. Each of the stories went into the history of the department the gun was designed for, yet one critical piece of background information was omitted from the tide of 'fanboy' coverage.'These guns were all designed for a local government committed to stripping civilians of the right to own this same gun."



6 June 2008

Kentucky: Two teen intruders shot: "Two teens are dead, but police aren't charging the man who shot them with a crime. The shooting happened Tuesday at a house in west Louisville. "For sure, there's not a doubt in my mind, my wife and I would be dead if I didn't do what I did," said property owner Billy Jackson. Jackson said he was sprucing up an apartment in the house he owns at 3517 West Broadway when two masked men forced their way inside. He said one had a large gun, and threatened to kill him and his wife. "I figured I was going to die and they were going to die, too," said Jackson. "I faked a heart attack; shot him in the side." The coroner released the names of the alleged intruders late Wednesday afternoon. They are Earl Springer and Dazmond Turner, both 19. "At least one of the suspects was armed with a handgun," said Metro Police Detective Phil Russell. "The property owner was assaulted. He sustained minor injuries." Police said Springer died at the scene, while Turner died early Wednesday morning at University Hospital. "They will confer with the commonwealth attorney's office in order to determine if charges need to be placed," Russell said. "At this time in the investigation, it looks as though this was self-defense."



TX: Shooter avoids charges in man's death: "Harris County Sheriff's investigators said Wednesday they do not plan to file charges against a Spring man who said he shot another man to death in self-defense. Thomas Hightower, 24, was gunned down about 4 p.m. Tuesday during a fight involving two groups of people in the 4440 block of Quailgate and the 4440 block of Hickorygate, investigators said. The shooter, whose name has not been released, admitted he shot Hightower and handed investigators his pistol, said Harris County Sheriff's Sgt. Larry Davis. He has a concealed handgun permit, Davis added. He was not arrested. Davis said shell casings from two handguns were found at the scene of the shooting. He also said witnesses told investigators that Hightower had a gun. "We feel confident (of the witnesses)," Davis said. The shooting occurred after a feud started between two Spring High School girls, Davis said. Friends and relatives got involved in the dispute that erupted into a fight. "It just wouldn't stop," Davis said. "It continued to fester and came to a boil Tuesday."



Assault Weapons: Evil Black Rifles (or perhaps not): "Assault rifles" are being demonized by many politicians, media-types, and other anti-gun folk who actually have no idea what it is they are demonizing. Most people who hear the truth are quite surprised to find out just how off-base and factually wrong these nay-sayers are. Actually, many of the national leaders in the gun banning community know they are lying to the public. Josh Sugarmann, author of the 1988 book "Assault Weapons and Accessories in America" laid out the strategy for all to see. "Assault weapons-just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms-are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons-anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun-can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons."



Gun shop quits?: "The trial of a Georgia gun shop, which Mayor Bloomberg has accused of selling a high volume of guns that were subsequently trafficked into New York City, has been postponed indefinitely. The trial had been set to begin tomorrow at a U.S. District Court at Brooklyn. The judge hearing the case, Jack Weinstein, had decided last week that he - and not a jury - would decide the case. That decision apparently discouraged the lawyer for the gun shop, John Renzulli, enough to default the case. Mr. Renzulli, who has long accused Judge Weinstein of bias against the firearms industry, said that the default was a procedural maneuver to rush the case up to an appellate court to seek an order requiring Judge Weinstein to dismiss the case or hold a trial by jury. In an interview, he said that the gun store, Adventure Outdoors, would continue to fight the city's lawsuit. The city, however, counted the development as a win".



5 June 2008

AZ: Homeowner shoots robbers: "Police say a homeowner confronted two men who forced their way into a house with the intention to rob it, shot and killed one of the men and injured the other. The robbers injured the unidentified homeowner, who was rushed to the hospital, in the Monday morning incident at 2809 W. Almeria Road, Sgt. Andy Hill said. His condition was not immediately known. "I heard two shots, real loud, then saw dust on the ground," said Josie Carillo, a neighbor. "Don't know if it was a bullet or what." Police said they were are especially concerned because children also live in the home. "We believe two suspects came to rob the house, do a home invasion, and forced their way in," Hill said. The other intruder who was hurt is believed to have jumped in a getaway vehicle parked down the street. Police gave no immediate description of the robber.



Arkansas Homeowner shoots man stealing gas: "With prices nearing $4 a gallon, sheriff's deputies say Mark Holsted wanted to steal some gasoline from an unsuspecting resident of Crawford County. However, that high price likely kept a homeowner armed with a 9mm pistol alert as well. Deputies say an unidentified homeowner shot Holsted in the arm and thigh late Sunday night after spotting him stealing gas from a car parked outside a home in Rudy. Officers say Holsted was armed with a rifle at the time of the shooting and had an accomplice and a getaway driver. Holsted was listed in stable condition at a Fort Smith hospital Monday. Deputies say he'll face charges once he is released from the hospital's care."



California: Robber In Fatal Store Holdup: "Authorities released the name today of an alleged robber killed in an exchange of gunfire that erupted during a holdup at a small East County business, seriously injuring the shop's two proprietors. Phillip Lashon Whitmore, 29, died at the scene of Tuesday afternoon's shootout at Travel Wizard in the 7700 block of University Avenue in La Mesa, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office. Whitmore allegedly was robbing the business -- a combination vacation-planning agency, currency-exchange outlet and coin shop -- when gunfire erupted shortly before 1 p.m., according to police. It was unclear who fired first. Whitmore suffered two to four bullet wounds, LMPD Lt. David Bond told reporters. The La Mesa resident ran out of the business with a satchel of stolen money, fell to the ground about 50 feet away and died, Bond said. Medics took the wounded business owners -- a 59-year-old man and 58-year-old woman, both of whom suffered at least two gunshot wounds -- to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego. Their names and conditions were not released."



Angelina Jolie Touts Gun Ownership: "When it comes to worldview, Angelina Jolie is gaining fame for standing out from the Hollywood crowd. After meeting with Gen. David Petraeus a while back, Jolie made clear her preference that the U.S. not withdraw from Iraq as quickly as some prominent Democrats wanted to. Most recently, Jolie is talking as if she's adopted some of the late Charlton Heston's viewpoints. The actress reveals that she and Pitt are gun owners and keep firearms in their home. "I bought original, real guns of the type we used in `Tomb Raider' for security. Brad and I are not against having a gun in the house, and we do have one," Jolie tells the U.K. Daily Mail. In case you're wondering whether a Malibu celeb would really use a firearm for self-defense, Jolie supplies the answer: "Yes, I'd be able to use it if I had to. I could handle myself. I think there are certain combat skills that would come out. "If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I've no problem shooting them," the someday Mrs. Pitt says."



4 June 2008

SC: Property owner charged with shooting: "A North man charged with shooting an alleged burglar on family property last week was released on a $15,000 surety bond Monday. Officials said 30-year-old Stanley Weber of 262 Breezehaven Road was released Monday after a bond hearing before Orangeburg County Magistrate Don West. Weber was arrested on a charge of assault and battery with intent to kill, with police alleging he shot an individual around 6 p.m. Friday. The warrant against him alleges that Weber, "did intentionally, with total disregard for human life, fire a .22-caliber rifle at the victim (Justin Kemmerlin), striking him in the mouth area." Meanwhile, 18-year-old Justin Kemmerlin is charged, along with his sister Amanda Kemmerlin, 35, with third-degree burglary. Justin Kemmerlin was expected to be released from the hospital on Monday evening, Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said. Deputies believe the Kemmerlins were trying to steal fuel from a backhoe on the property Friday afternoon. "On private property, there is no duty to retreat," Pascoe said, "unlike public property." With the attention of the solicitor's office, the decision to amend or stay the charge against Weber could be made by week's end."



Arizona: 1 Dead, 2 Hurt In Phoenix Shooting: "Police say a homeowner confronted two men who forced their way into a house with the intention to rob it, shot and killed one of the men and injured the other. The robbers injured the unidentified homeowner, who was rushed to the hospital, in the Monday morning incident at 2809 W. Almeria Road, Sgt. Andy Hill said. His condition was not immediately known. "I heard two shots, real loud, then saw dust on the ground," said Josie Carillo, a neighbor. "Don't know if it was a bullet or what." Police said they were are especially concerned because children also live in the home. "We believe two suspects came to rob the house, do a home invasion, and forced their way in," Hill said. The other intruder who was hurt is believed to have jumped in a getaway vehicle parked down the street. Police gave no immediate description of the robber."



Ohio set to expand limits on self-defense: "Potential victims who harm or kill apparent intruders in their homes or vehicles would get the legal benefit of the doubt under a just-passed bill destined to get Gov. Ted Strickland's signature. Sponsored by state Sen. Stephen Buehrer (R., Delta) and pushed by the National Rifle Association, the measure served as a magnet for changes to Ohio's 4-year-old law allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns. The changes will make it easier for motorists to carry weapons in their cars and in school zones and will prohibit landlords from forbidding tenants from having guns in their rented residences. The measure was among a flurry of bills sent to the governor this week as lawmakers near summer recess. It won strong bipartisan support in both chambers, despite a lack of support from some law enforcement organizations. The bill would take effect 90 days after Mr. Strickland signs it. "He believes the legislation provides law-abiding gun owners with appropriate and reasonable protections, and he's looking forward to signing the bill," said Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey. Commonly called the "Castle Doctrine," the bill shifts the burden away from the apparent victim to prosecutors and police to prove that an individual did not act in self-defense. The bill specifies that the legal resident does not have a duty to retreat when someone is illegally entering or attempting to enter his home or car.



McCain not good on guns: "John McCain sponsored an amendment to S. 1805 on March 2, 2004 that would outlaw the private sale of firearms at gun shows. According to GOA, the provision would effectively eliminate gun shows, because every member of an organization sponsoring a gun show could be imprisoned if the organization fails to notify each and every "person who attends the special firearms event of the requirements [under the Brady Law]." John McCain also sponsored an Incumbent Protection provision to the so-called "Campaign Finance Reform" bill, which severely curtails the ability of outside groups (such as GOA) to communicate the actions of incumbent politicians to members and supporters prior to an election. The GOA report of the 106th Congress reveals that out of 15 votes relating to the right to keep and bear arms, Senator John McCain voted favorably only 4 times. Put that into a percentage and McCain's pro-Second Amendment voting record is a pathetic 27%. In addition, GOA warns that John McCain supported legislation that would force federal agents to increase efforts in arresting and convicting honest gun owners who may inadvertently violate one of the many federal anti-gun laws, which punish mere technicalities, such as gun possession."



3 June 2008

US army uses bullets ill-suited for new ways of war

As Sgt. Joe Higgins patrolled the streets of Saba al-Bor, a tough town north of Baghdad, he was armed with bullets that had a lot more firepower than those of his 4th Infantry Division buddies. As an Army sniper, Higgins was one of the select few toting an M14. The long-barreled rifle, an imposing weapon built for wars long past, spits out bullets larger and more deadly than the rounds that fit into the M4 carbines and M16 rifles that most soldiers carry. "Having a heavy cartridge in an urban environment like that was definitely a good choice," says Higgins, who did two tours in Iraq and left the service last year. "It just has more stopping power."

Strange as it sounds, nearly seven years into the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bullets are a controversial subject for the U.S. The smaller, steel-penetrating M855 rounds continue to be a weak spot in the American arsenal. They are not lethal enough to bring down an enemy decisively, and that puts troops at risk, according to Associated Press interviews.

Designed decades ago to puncture a Soviet soldier's helmet hundreds of yards away, the M855 rounds are being used for very different targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of today's fighting takes place in close quarters; narrow streets, stairways and rooftops are today's battlefield. Legions of armor-clad Russians marching through the Fulda Gap in Germany have given way to insurgents and terrorists who hit and run. Fired at short range, the M855 round is prone to pass through a body like a needle through fabric. That does not mean being shot is a pain-free experience. But unless the bullet strikes a vital organ or the spine, the adrenaline-fueled enemy may have the strength to keep on fighting and even live to fight another day.

In 2006, the Army asked a private research organization to survey 2,600 soldiers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly one-fifth of those who used the M4 and M16 rifles wanted larger caliber bullets. Yet the Army is not changing. The answer is better aim, not bigger bullets, officials say. [Big deal! Don't they think that the troops already aim as well as they can??] "If you hit a guy in the right spot, it doesn't matter what you shoot him with," said Maj. Thomas Henthorn, chief of the small arms division at Fort Benning, Ga., home to the Army's infantry school.

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North Carolina: Man shoots bear in backyard: "David Jenkins woke Wednesday morning to the barking of his dog, Sammy. He soon discovered the cause of the commotion — a black bear in the backyard of his Henderson County home. Jenkins said he grabbed his shotgun for protection. He told his wife to stay in the house as he went to try to scare the bear and rescue his dog. “The bear was standing up on his hind legs and I knew it was going to kill my dog. ... I had to do something,” Jenkins said. After an attempt to scare off the bear failed, Jenkins said he knew he had to protect his dog and himself. So Jenkins fired his shotgun in the direction of the bear. The shot hit the bear. “The bear started to wander off and I didn’t want to leave a wounded bear wandering around the neighborhood,” he said. “So I followed the bear and shot him again.” Jenkins said he immediately alerted the local game warden about what happened. He said a biologist came to his house first and extracted a tooth from the bear to determine its age. Jenkins said the black bear was about 2 years old. It weighed about 250 pounds, he said. “When the game warden arrived he said that I was fully justified in the shooting because I had attempted to scare the bear away before firing my first shot,” he said. “It was a very unfortunate situation.”



Idaho man shoots, kills agressive pit bull: "Police say a Boise man shot a pit bull with a shotgun after the man says the animal was being threatening towards him. It happened on the 2700 block of Westland Place in Boise near Ustick and Cole. Officers say Dave Davies called police just before 8:00 p.m., saying his neighbor’s pit bull was being aggressive toward him. Two minutes later – Davies called back and said he shot the dog. Davies said he was outside working on his motorcycle when the dog jumped a fence and came toward him in an “aggressive” manner. When Davies was inside calling police, he grabbed his shotgun. Police say he went back outside and shot the animal. Boise Police Lt. Ron Winegar said the man may have a warranted defense. "We would never advocate it happening within the city limits in this kind of a neighborhood can be very dangerous,” Winegar said. “At the same time, depending on the circumstances, we always have the right to defend ourselves." Davies says he has reported the pit bull in the past – and said he was told he has the right to defend himself on his property if an animal is being aggressive."



2 June 2008

Texas: Store clerk fatally shoots robbery suspect in N. Houston: "As a gas station attendant, "Ash" Hussain had heard the horror stories about convenience store robberies and deadly shootings. On Friday afternoon, he would find himself in just that situation. Loaded with cash taken from the Texaco gas station in the 9400 block of North Freeway, the robbers left the store headed for their getaway car. The 22-year-old clerk had followed with his own pistol, hoping to get the vehicle's license plate number. Then one gunman turned and pointed his pistol at Hussain. The clerk fatally shot him - something he thought he'd never have to do. "This is a day I'll never forget," said Hussain, who has worked at the store for about a year and a half. "I wish it hadn't happened, but it did." Authorities have not identified the dead man, who was found in a field about a quarter-mile from the store. Police dogs found his alleged accomplice hiding in a nearby abandoned trailer, said Houston Police Department Homicide Division investigator Dan Arnold. No charges have been filed against Hussain".



Pennsylvania: Armed homeowner foils invasion: "Eugene Johnson reacted in a flash when his wife heard someone kick in the back door of their Carlisle home at 2:30 a.m. Friday. Johnson, 75, a retired Army sergeant first class who fought in the Korean War, grabbed his pistol. He was ready when a silhouette of a man appeared in the darkened doorway of his bedroom. "He said, 'Don't move, I have a gun,'" Johnson recalled. "I said, 'Buddy, I've got a gun, too, and it's [aimed] right on you. "Things got quiet then," he said. They got quiet because the would-be home invader had high-tailed it out of there, police said. Johnson would have been legally justified in pulling the trigger, Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said... The back door that was damaged in the earlier burglary had not yet been repaired when the invader or invaders kicked it in Friday. Once inside, the culprit or culprits turned off the home's electricity, he said. "My wife heard the back door being smashed. All at once the lights went out, and she told me, 'Get your gun,'" Johnson said."





SC burglar shot: "On Wednesday at about 6:30 a.m. a 54-year-old Spartanburg man told officers he shot at a man attempting to steal from a building outside his home. Andre Maurice Curenton [above], 17, of 425 King Court, Inman, was later charged with third- degree burglary. The homeowner said a motion alarm from the building woke him up, and he saw a man inside the shop. He said he shot into the shop toward the ground, and Curenton came out with his hands up. The homeowner then shot at the man's legs. Maj. Dan Johnson of the sheriff's office said Curenton was treated for minor injuries resulting from shotgun pellets".



Pennsylvania: Burglar Shot: "A man is in the hospital and facing multiple charges today after police say he and another man broke into a South Side home in a burglary attempt. Police say Dale Boehm, 19, is facing charges of burglary, robbery, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and criminal conspiracy. According to police, the owner of the Josephine Street home was watching television when he heard breaking glass and his back door being kicked in around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Authorities say that's when the homeowner retrieved his weapon and then found two men in his kitchen. Officials report that the men fired at one another. Authorities say one of the suspects fled the scene after the gunfire. He has not been found, but police say they recovered a baseball bat and firearm while searching in the woods. Police report that Boehm suffered a gunshot wound and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He is listed in critical condition, officials say. Police say they have questioned the resident. Meanwhile, Boehm will be taken to the Allegheny County Jail when he is released from the hospital."



1 June 2008

TX: 14-year-old shoots 13-year-old assailant: "Police say a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed about 20 times by a 13-year-old friend in his south Fort Worth home shot and killed the assailant on Wednesday. Investigators said the 14-year-old told police Danny Allen, 13, was visiting his house on Buffalo Springs Drive near Interstate 35 when an argument ensued and Allen began stabbing him at about 5:30 p.m. According to police, the two teenagers struggled before the 14-year-old grabbed his father's handgun and shot Allen several times."



SC: Homeowner wounds burglar: "A homeowner told deputies that when he saw a burglar breaking into his outbuilding Tuesday morning, he grabbed his shotgun and fired a couple rounds. Deputies said the wounded suspect was found a couple miles away. Spartanburg sheriff's Maj. Dan Johnson said the man lives on Bellew Carver Road off Blackstock Road. He said he saw the burglar trying to break into the building at about 6:30 a.m. Johnson said the wounded suspect ran about two miles to a Chevron Gas Station on New Cut Road off Interstate 26, where deputies found him about 40 minutes later."



Canada: Mayor seeks to ban guns with bylaw: "Mayor David Miller wants guns out of Toronto -- and he's backing a tough new bylaw that would ban the manufacture and warehousing of guns in the city. And while Miller says handguns are the particular target of the proposed bylaw, a staff report doesn't distinguish between handguns and rifles and shotguns used in hunting. The bylaw, proposed in a staff report, would give the city zoning powers to restrict or ban the manufacture and warehousing of firearms. Miller said he wants to add ammunition to the bylaw as well."



Preparation, not fear: "People who are not 'firearms enthusiasts' often react predictably when the notion of carrying a handgun enters the discussion. ... One such predictable reaction is 'what are you afraid of? I can't imagine being so fearful all the time that you feel like you need to carry a gun. Why do you feel you need to have a gun all the time? Are you really that paranoid?' Or other words to that effect. ...Owning a gun is not at all about being 'fearful' or paranoid. It is about being prepared. If someone has fire insurance or a fire extinguisher, it's not because he or she is afraid his or her house is going to burn down, it is so that he or she is prepared to deal with the (hopefully) unlikely event of a fire."