Thursday, October 31, 2013

TX: Resident wins Gunfight, Drives off Invaders

Deputies said two men kicked open the door to the upstairs apartment. The resident opened fire on them and at least one of the suspects shot back. The suspects then left. No injuries were reported.

More Here

TX: Homeowner Shoots, Kills two in Gunfight

DONNA, Texas (AP) - Investigators say a South Texas homeowner has shot and killed two people who asked about buying roosters then drew guns on the resident.

 More Here

WI: Bill Would Remove Schools as Forbidden to CCW Holders

MADISON — Anyone with a concealed weapons permit could carry a gun onto school grounds in Wisconsin under a proposal being put to a vote Thursday by the Republican chairman of the Assembly Criminal Justice Committee.

The proposed amendment would dramatically broaden the scope of a bill that would allow off-duty, out-of-state and retired police officers to bring concealed weapons into any private building, including schools, where concealed weapons are not permitted.


Allowing any of the roughly 203,000 people who have a concealed weapon permit to bring a gun to school doesn’t have enough votes in the Republican-controlled committee to pass, said its sponsor, Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc. The goal, he said, was to start a discussion about school safety.

More Here

Seattle public libraries opt to obey the law…finally by Dave Workman

The long-standing, and wholly illegal, ban on guns in Seattle’s public libraries comes to an end next week, according to Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat, who reports today that the rule change was a long time coming, more than a year after a Second Amendment Foundation legal victory defending state preemption was allowed to stand by the State Supreme Court.

This policy change is as late as an overdue book, and Times readers are having some fun with it.

In recognition of this announcement, SAF and this column will donate an autographed copy of Washington Times Senior Editor Emily Miller’s recently-released “Emily Gets Her Gun…But Obama Wants to Take Yours” to the Seattle Public Library. The book describes Miller’s efforts to buy a handgun for personal protection in the District of Columbia, where she lives.

UPDATE: Miller writes, via private e-mail, "I love it!!!"

 More at Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Here

 Related:
Gun Free Zones are Designed to Spread, Like Smallpox

AL: Update on Suspect Shot, killed in Selmont (Dallas Co.)


Grantham said when the wife came into the house, she noticed glass from a glass door on the ground. It was then, Grantham said, the two burglars came from the back of the house, one of them attacking the husband.

“In the exchange, the husband was hit in the head and received a cut on the hand. He then was able to retrieve a pistol he was carrying and shot one of the burglars,” Grantham said. “The other suspect fled the scene.”
He said the burglar who was shot was pronounced dead at the scene by responding authorities.

TX: Louisiana Man Shoots Suspected Robber (Houston)

Leaving the scene of a shoot may be a good tactical decision, especially if you are a stranger in the neighborhood.   Robbers may have accomplices, relatives, and associates.  The police usually accept the first account given to them as the baseline, and judge others against it.  That is why it pays to be the first one to call the police.  Just remember that everything you say on 911 is recorded and can be used against you.   

HOUSTON -– A robber chose the wrong person to try and steal from and ended up getting shot, Houston police said late Tuesday.

According to officers with the Houston Police Department, it happened as two brothers were in their car outside an apartment complex on Northborough Drive at Rushcreek Drive. As the men waited for a girlfriend to come outside, the would-be robber walked up and pushed a gun through the driver’s window.

More Here

KS: Regulation Means Ban in Prairie Village

When liberal fascists say that they have the right to regulate something, they mean they have the power to ban it.    This has been shown over and over again in  in the field of firearms legislation.  The Texas people, removed the reconstruction  governor by force, after  he refused to abide by election results.  Then they  restored the right to keep and bear arms that had been gutted by the carpet bagger constitution of 1869,  with the new state constitution of 1876.  Unfortunately, they left in a legislative loophole:

 "Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defence of himself or the State; but the Legislature shall have power by law to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime."
An ordinary person would think that the legislature would have the authority to say that pistols had to be carried in holsters, or perhaps that they had to be carried openly.  But the legislature elected after the constitutional convention, simply kept in place the carpetbagger law that prevented the carry of pistols or knives nearly everywhere.  It made it easy to disarm the freed slaves and anyone else a local government wanted to.

In Mississippi, a ban on the carrying of concealed weapons was interpreted to mean a ban on all carrying of weapons.

Now, in Kansas, the legislature recently removed a ban on the open carry of handguns, but left in a clause to allow local governments to regulate the manner of openly carrying a loaded firearm, as quoted below:

(a) No city or county shall adopt any ordinance, resolution or regulation, and
no agent of any city or county shall take any administrative action,
governing the purchase, transfer, ownership, storage or transporting of
firearms or ammunition, or any component or combination thereof. Except
as provided in subsection (b) of this section and subsection (b) of K.S.A.
75-7c10, and amendments thereto, any such ordinance, resolution or
regulation adopted prior to the effective date of this 2007 act shall be null
and void.
(b) Nothing in this section shall:
...
(2) prohibit a city or county from regulating the manner of openly carrying a
loaded firearm on one’s person; or in the immediate control of a person,
not licensed or recognized under the personal and family protection act
while on property open to the public.
The City of Prairie Village does not believe that the law applies to their regulation:

The City has received a lawsuit challenging the sections of the City Code that prohibit the open carry of loaded firearms in public places. The lawsuit alleges that the City Code is in conflict with the Kansas Constitution and a Kansas Statute. The Mayor and City Council do not believe that the City Code violates the Kansas Constitution or the Kansas Statutes. 

The City prohibits the open carry of loaded firearms in public places such as parks, streets, sidewalks and city buildings. The City does not restrict open carry of legal firearms on private property such as a person's residence or fixed place of business. The restrictions specific to open carry do not apply to any person carrying a concealed weapon as authorized by Kansas Statutes.
I do not believe that the Mayor and City Council of the City of Prairie Village are unable to read.  I believe that they are fully literate.   They are simply inebriated with their sense of power and are unwilling to abide by the law.   It is not totally unreasonable for them to believe so, as they have been able to abrogate the state and federal constitutions for decades without any serious repercussions.   It was the Kansas Supreme Court the initiated the "Progressive" mythology that the second amendment was only a "collective right" in their 1905 decision Salina v. Blaksley.

I do not think the Prairie Village regulations will stand.  Two other cites, Overland Park, and  Lexana, have already changed their local laws to come into conformity with the Kansas State law and Constitution.

What this demonstrates is that the battle to maintain liberties is continual, and any reduction of those liberties will be used as a base to further reduce them.  If Kansans had removed those Supreme Court justices in 1906, when they created the "collective right" myth, our history would be considerably different.

Many have noted that the loss of liberty comes in small, almost undetectable steps.  Liberal fascists have used this to their advantage for decades.   Now is the time to roll back those steps and to restore Constitutional liberties city by city, state by state, and finally, through repeal of federal legislation.


©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Gun rights advocates must not 'negotiate' with anti-gun zealots by Kurt Hoffman

Kurt does his usual good job of explaining  below.  The link to the complete article is at the end.

As Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman reported yesterday, rumor has it that the NRA is in negotiations with anti-gun fanatic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on new legislation to turn non-violent "gun crimes" into felonies, requiring long prison times for mere possession of an "illegal gun":
Two more people were murdered and 14 other wounded in weekend shootings in Chicago, according to today’s Chicago Sun-Times, but according to today’s Capitol Fax blog, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s lobbyists “are engaged in serious talks with the NRA” about how to crack down on criminals and lower the body count.
Presumably, the legislation under discussion is Illinois House Bill 2265, discussed here earlier this month (which also seems to have the behind-the-scenes support of rabidly anti-gun NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg), and/or the identical language, introduced by HB 2265's sponsor, Rep. Mike Zalewski (D-Chicago), as an amendment to SB 1342, which has already passed (as an entirely different and unrelated bill) in the Senate. If Zalewski's amendment is approved, and SB 1342 passes in the House, the amended bill would have to return to the Senate for that chamber's concurrence.
As this column observed previously about HB 2265:
Under HB 2265, carrying a loaded firearm without a permit, or even an unloaded one, with ammunition "immediately accessible," would be a felony, for which the judge must sentence the offender to three to seven years in prison. A second offense would make it five to ten years.
Furthermore, if "caught" carrying a gun before the state's concealed carry law finally goes into effect, you become a felon for exercising a right that the federal court system has already ruled is guaranteed in the Constitution:

More at St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner here

AZ: Another set of Dog Related Killings


This Ithaca pump shotgun is typical of the tens of millions used for home defense and hunting in the United States every year

A troubled Phoenix man shot and killed a family of four on Saturday, the 26th of October, in a case that is reminiscent of the Peach House Gunfight of last year in Texas.

That case also involved a disagreement about dogs.  A couple was killed, but a neighbor made a long range pistol shot that stopped the killer as he was firing at a police officer.

In the Arizona case, the armed neighbor did not open his door, and the deranged gunman fired through it, missing him.  The neighbor retrieved his gun, and dodged another shotgun blast directed at him when he opened a second story window.  The killer then committed suicide.

Apparently, the initial killing occurred indoors when the shooter killed four members of a family and their two dogs.   A building acts as a giant silencer.  Gun shots are rarely recognized when they are fired indoors.

In the Peach House gunfight in Texas, all the shooting occurred out of doors.

The deranged killer in Phoenix used a pump shotgun, one of the most common and popular firearms in the United States.   There may be 50 million  of them in the country.  They are extremely popular for home defense and hunting, and are commonly used by police.  They are seldom used in crime.  In 2010, the FBI recorded shotguns as being used in 373 cases out of 12,996 murders, or less than 3% of all murders.   That includes all shotguns, of which pump shotguns are a fraction.

Shotguns are commonly used to defend against criminals.  Here are some recent examples:   Texas Washington, Oklahoma, and the famous case of the teen age young mother from January of 2012.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

SC: Cheap Gun Opportunity Georgetown County Turn In (buy back)


Some handguns turned in for $100 at a Phoenix event in May.  Note the nice Ruger and Colt.


Georgetown County, South Carolina, will be having a gun turn in even on Saturday, 2 November,  2013.  While these events are commonly labelled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them.  It appears that the event is for handguns only.

The event will be held at the substation in Pawleys Island at 291 Parkersville Road to collect handguns.

Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2013/10/28/3800776/georgetown-county-holds-gun-buy.html#storylink=cp.

The event is scheduled to run from 9 am to 11 pm.  People often turn up early at these events.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/08/04/2899569/sumter-police-department-offers.html#storylink=cpy

The incentive for the gun turn in will be a $100 Walmart gift card.  That price should bring out a number of guns, even for such a short time.    Private sales are legal in South Carolina, as they are in most states.

The tactics that will be used at this turn in event are similar to those that were used in Phoenix this last May.  People are asked to store the guns in the trunk of the vehicle, and then have a police officer remove them.  If there is much of a turn out at the turn in, private buyers should look for easy places for people to park so that the merchandise can be looked at prior to purchase.  Often people bring several guns to these turn in events.

You might want to read about the Phoenix event to see how things were handled there.

Be prepared for a percentage of people who refuse to talk to anyone but police.  All the private buyers that I saw in Phoenix were very polite and let these ideologically driven people turn in their guns for a fraction of what they would be worth on the open market.

Signs are helpful, as are good grooming, cash, and a friendly attitude.  Dale Carnegie's advise for dealing with people works very well.

Across the country, communities, police departments and churches are sponsoring gun turn-ins to get "guns off the street". At many of these events, private buyers are showing up, offering cash for the more valuable guns. These private additions to the public turn-in are effective, no doubt, in getting more guns off the street, because they add to the resources that are available to those who want to get rid of guns for something of value, be it a grocery card or a number of twenty dollar bills.

You can help make the turn-in in your area more effective by standing on the curb with your "Cash for Guns" sign, or at a folding table, willing to offer more than the gift card for firearms that are more valuable. It would be best if numerous private parties were available, as more good guns could then be transferred into responsible hands.

This action serves many useful purposes. It stretches the turn-in budget so that more guns can be taken off the street. It helps keep fearful widows from being defrauded of most of the market value of the gun they are turning in. It prevents valuable assets from being destroyed by bureaucratic inflexibility. It is a win-win-win situation.

It also dispels the pernicious message that guns are bad and should be destroyed.

Link to article with numerous examples of private sales at gun turn in events
 
Link to most recent article about private buyers at Detroit event

Link to Phoenix Article: pictures of private buyers

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch




Tuesday, October 29, 2013

NC: Invader with Hammer Shot by Homeowner

STONEVILLE, N.C. -- Rockingham County Sheriff's Office deputies are investigating after a homeowner shot at a suspect during a home invasion early Saturday morning. 

(snip)

 
Christopher told deputies he fired a shot at the intruder who was armed with a hammer. He said the intruder fled the home and yelled to another subject outside to get in the car.

 More Here

CA: Fake Police Shot Dead

Authorities say two armed men posing as law enforcement officers forced their way into a home in Orange Cove Sunday night and exchanged fire with the homeowner.
   
One of the suspects was shot and killed, while the homeowner was hit numerous times.

More Here

KY: Intruder Stayed out, but Took Gun

I believe this is the first time I  have seen two of these in one year.    The intruder must have been very close to take the gun.  Did the woman leave the house and go outside, or did the intruder stick his arm inside?

According to the Bullitt County Sheriff's Office (BCSO), the man did not get into the house. A woman who lived there aimed a gun at the would-be intruder, but according to detectives, the man was able to take control of the firearm.


More Here

CA: Father Shoots Intruder

A Yorba Linda resident shot and killed an intruder who broke into his home early Sunday, authorities said.

(snip)


Deputies said they were looking into what, if any, charges might be filed against the man who fired the gun, but said it appears to be self defense.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

TX: Guard wins Gunfight with Masked, Armed, Suspects

Deputies said an armored car guard was approached by one of two armed masked suspects as he was walking into the bank. The suspect ordered the guard to get on the ground. Instead, the armored car guard fired at the suspect.

(snip)


The guard ran for cover, but another suspect hunted him down.
"He took cover and noticed another individual, carrying a hand gun coming from another direction, also again, began firing" said Shauna Dunlap with the FBI

"I saw a guy running from the Chase Bank," Averitt said "He had a ski mask, holding a shot gun, running around to the passenger side of the car and took off in a black car."


More Here

OH: Man Shoots Person Attempting to Break into his House

The caller reported a man entered the home and he shot the man. The burglar then left the home in an unknown direction, Smith said.

More Here

Just because By Massad Ayoob

I generally recommend that people buy guns the way they'd buy power tools, or automobiles, or homes. Assess your needs, analyze your budget, correlate it all with your ability to utilize the thing you're buying, and you'll probably be happy with your purchase and get a lot of productive use out of it.
It's the logical thing. Unfortunately, we humans are not always creatures of logic. Sometimes, we are creatures of emotion, and anyone who has dealt with emotion-driven arguments that are without logic — oh, most of the "gun control" arguments, for example — know the downside of that. But emotion isn't always a bad thing.
A gift from someone who loves her, engraved and fitted with ivory grips, this S&W Chief Special Airweight .38 is worn on special occasions by a Backwoods Home reader...just because.

Consider the emotion of "sentiment." Anything can go bad on you, but sentiment is less likely to do that than most other emotions, so long as it is leavened with logic.

I'm sitting here writing this in Connecticut at the moment, up to my hips in sentiment mixed with logic, applied to the gun. It's the last week of a month-long training tour teaching firearms and deadly force, a tour that has taken me through multiple states which have "assault weapons bans" which limit magazine capacity. Some of those states have a ten-round cap, and one, New York, allows no more than seven rounds to be in a ten-round magazine unless one is on a shooting range. Since I'm legal to carry under the Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act of 2004, but bound by local laws as they would apply to private citizens, those limits apply to me.

 More at Backwoods Home

CT: Suspect has been Making Guns Since he was 7

Guns are fairly easy to make.  I have made legal guns that are simpler than the ones in this story, even four shot pistols that cost $12 in hardware store supplies, 30 years ago.

NEW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) -
Zip guns are dangerous and shockingly easy to make, according to police. One New Haven resident has been making them and has been doing it for a while. These homemade weapons were powerful enough to kill.

More Here

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Open Carry Becoming Cool in Dallas

If you were driving south on Green Oaks Boulevard in Arlington on Thursday around 7 p.m., your headlights might have caught a glimpse of a group of people walking along the sidewalk carrying what looked like rifles and shotguns over their shoulders. No, the fading dusk wasn't messing with your vision. Yes, those were really long guns slung across their backs.

A group called Open Carry Texas was expressing their Second Amendment right with a group of about 20, including two preschoolers. They walked from an Albertson's parking lot, up north for a bit (a mile or so), then back south, past a church where an officer in a cop car was keeping an eye on things.

Cars honked and some folks hung out their windows and hollered in support. The marchers hollered back. When asked for a photograph, they couldn't have been nicer and waved for the camera like queens on a float. The walk continued to a Starbucks, where only one of the marchers went in and the others stayed outside. Eventually they all posed for a group picture in front of Starbucks, then carried on.

 More Here

UK Police Obsessed with Plastic Guns

I think the UK police are so insane about guns that they do not realize that guns can be made from hardware store materials.  They show the depths that people who want the public to be disarmed have to go, when they are questioning someone about making gunpowder.   It is only a technology that was mastered in the 1500's. 

LONDON (TheBlaze/AP) — British police said they seized components of a gun made from plastic on a 3-D printer and would test to see whether it was a viable weapon. But after photos were released, technology experts said the parts appeared to be for the printer itself.

 More Here

AL: Homeowner Shoots Intruder, Second Intruder Flees

The sheriff says the couple surprised two burglars when they came home and one of the burglars ran -- but the other was shot and killed.

More Here

GA: Homeowner on Phone with Police, Shoots to stop Intruder

Two alleged home burglars picked the wrong Gwinnett County house to break into Thursday morning. Not only was the homeowner inside, but he was armed with a gun, police said.

(snip)

 “The homeowner retrieved a handgun and fired at the suspect, striking him,” Smith said in an emailed statement. “Both suspects retreated to a black passenger car and fled the scene.”

More Here

WA: Homeowner Holds Suspect at Gunpoint

A Spokane Valley homeowner caught a suspected burglar trying to break into his home Tuesday night and detained him at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office reported.

More Here

FL: Resident Shoots one Intruder

A confrontation began in the home. The victim armed himself with his personal weapon and shot the male suspect.  The female fled the scene.

The male suspect, was taken to the hospital in critical condition.  Police said the man has a history of mental illness.

WA: Homeowner Shoots to Stop Intruder

The homeowner told investigators he confronted a man in his driveway and told him to leave.

The man didn’t respond.   Instead, he kept walking toward the house.  The man’s wife and children were inside the house. Police say the man kept going and went in the front door; the homeowner fired one shot and hit the man in the back.

More Here

MI: Pizza Guy Shoots Armed Robber

Redford Township police say the pizza delivery driver opened fire as he was being robbed by 20-year-old Tajuan Boyd.

Boyd was later pronounced dead at a Michigan hospital.

TN: Store Owner Shoots one, Holds one

The owner of an Alcoa jewelry store shot a masked robbery suspect in the abdomen, then held him and held a second man at gunpoint until authorities arrived Wednesday afternoon, police said.

 More Here

Belize: Shooting, Shovelling, and Shutting up Fails

In early October of this year, a man who followed the common Internet advise of shooting, shovelling, and shutting up, is in big trouble.  It is much easier to talk about not having any involvement with police than it is put such talk into practice.  From plustvbelize.com:

A man has been shot and killed in the Cayo district. He is 49 year old Pedro Ruben Luna Andrede. Mr Andrede was shot in Camalote village, Cayo, on a 400 acre private ranch in the roaring River Area, supposedly on Friday September 27. But no one except the shooter knew that Mr Andrede was dead. Pedro Andrede’s family got worried when he did not return home and by Saturday night a search party had formed. It is a bizarre killing because the shooter claims that it was self defense. However, after the man shot Pedro Andrede, he proceeded to burn and then bury the body. On Wednesday at the location we met up with the Family of Mr Andrede, waiting for a report from the Police. We spoke with one of his 9 children, 20 year old Esmeralda Luna, who told us what they know.
Small scale robbery with a machete used to be fairly common in Belize, but I do not know if it still is.  It is possible that the farmer, who has been taken into custody, was justified.  Belize is also known for having a police and judicial system that are not up to first world standards, so one can at least understand the desire not to involve the authorities.

What actually happened though, should give pause to those who advise people to follow in the Belizian farmer's example.  The person who was shot had a family.  The family looked for him, and got the police involved.   The police interrogated the farmer, and the farmer admitted what had happened, though he claimed self defence.

His self defence claim is now undermined by his attempts to dispose of the body, and the fact that he did not contact the police.

Hiding a homicide is not easy in the days of advanced forensic techniques.   A human body is not easy to dispose of.   I recommend that a person who has to shoot in self defense contact the authorities, or have someone else contact them.  You know that you did what had to be done.  The facts are on your side, but you have to be able to present them in the proper way to be sure that justice is done.

Remember that everything that you say on a 911 call is recorded and can be used against you in a court of law.

 Massad Ayoob recommends giving a limited amount of information to police.  This can be done, but it can be difficult in practice.    As with most things, a rehersal, even if only mental,  can help a great deal.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch 

OK: Thief Slanders Homeowner who Shot Car Burglar

This would be a fairly common "homeowner defends life and property" story, but it has a couple of interesting twists.

John Becker was watching TV, saw the dome light on his truck go on, and took his shotgun to investigate.  The car burglar refused to obey commands, kept coming at him, and reached into his pocket.

This is where it gets interesting.   As is common in deadly force situations, time seems to slow for John.  The phenomena is called tachypsychia.   In John's words, from newson6.com,
"It happens fast, but to me its like things just slow-motioned," Becker said. "For some reason, something told me to lower my gun and shoot him in the leg. And he's lucky he's got that."
It is easy to criticise these decisions when you are in a comfortable chair without a deadly threat facing you.   I respect John's decision.   Maybe God was giving John a message.   In any case, the message is one of the  things that makes this case stand out.   What happens later is also interesting.

When the police arrive, they find a knife in the pocket that the criminal was reaching into, and John's personal effects on the criminal's person.  The police do not release John's name.   An article is published by a local station, and the comments show overwhelming support for John's actions.   This is a very common reaction.

But then, a commenter, Sasha Ayala, accuses John of being a felon and that he and his wife have warrants!

Then another commenter states that Sasha Ayala was caught stealing from  John, and has been charged with felonies five times and misdemeanors four times.   Sasha is told that she is living in "a glass house" and she should not throw rocks.    Sasha is asked if her employer knows that she is a convicted felon.

Now John comes on line.  He reveals that he tried to render aid after he shot the criminal, and says that he is glad that he did not kill him.    This sort of statement would have been common before 1940, but in today's litigious society, where the old media often excoriate people such as John, I do not recommend it.  Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.

The comments continue to be favourable to John, but many wish he had aimed higher.

A prime lesson form this incident is the observation that criminals lie.   They will lie to attempt to gain revenge on someone who stopped them from completing their criminal acts.   They will do this when the only thing to be gained is harm to the person who stopped them.

This is often difficult for ordinary people, who do not lie as a matter of course, to understand.   It is one of the reasons that Arizona passed its "Defensive Display" law, which makes it legal for people who carry guns to let people know that they are armed, without worrying about being charged with aggravated assault simply for stopping an attack.  This was documented in Arizona in one of the first cases where a concealed weapon permit holder defended himself by merely displaying his firearm.  He was accused of aggravated assault, and was walking into the courthouse for the trial, when his defence attorney was told of a 911 call that collaborated his story.  The charges against him were then dropped.

He had been put through months of uncertainty and legal maneuvering because of the lying, vengeful people that he had prevented from carrying out their attack on him.

Massad Ayoob noted decades ago, that a common story from muggers who were shot, was that the person who shot them demanded homosexual favors from  them, and when they pulled out a knife to defend themselves, their (falsely accused) attacker pulled a gun and shot them. 

Remember, criminals lie.   They do it reflexively, so expect it and prepare for it.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

   


Friday, October 25, 2013

AL: 82-year-old Shoots, Kills, Intruder

An 82-year-old homeowner shot and killed an intruder who broke into in his home Monday night near Birmingham, Ala., authorities said.

 More here

CA: Husband fires shot to drive off Burglar

SAN DIEGO - A Paradise Hills man fired his handgun into the air while chasing away a home burglar early today but no one was hurt, police said.

 More Here

NC: Grass Roots North Carolina Warns Police Chief: Stop Illegally Registering Gun Purchasers

In a strongly worded letter, as reported in the ncgunowners.com forum, second amendment supporters at Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC), have warned police chief Rodney Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department to stop his attempts at illegal gun and gun owner registration.

According to sources referenced in the reported letter, including internal documents from the police department, the police have been attempting to force dealers at gun shows to record gun sales from individuals to dealers, and possibly between private parties, on a special department form.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
601 East Trade Street
Charlotte, NC 28202

Attn: Chief Rodney Monroe


Dear Chief Monroe:


Reports from gun dealers at two recent gun shows, as well as internal communications within your department, indicate you are attempting to regulate gun sales from individuals to dealers, and possibly between individuals who are not dealers under N.C.G.S. Article 45, (Part 1, "Pawnbrokers and Cash Converters") by classifying them as "cash converters." Specifically, your officers have been distributing and requiring use of the enclosed "CMPD Gun Show Gun Purchase Form."


Please be advised that: (1) As outlined below, the "cash converter" statute clearly does not apply to gun shops or private transactions; and (2) The imposition of a local gun law or regulation is in violation of § 14-409.40 ("Statewide uniformity of local regulation").


As passed in Session Law 2011-325 and then recodified in S.L. 2012-46, § 66-387(2) defines "cash converter" as follows:


(2) Cash converter. - A person engaged in the business of purchasing goods from the public for cash at a permanently located retail store who holds himself or herself out to the public by signs, advertising, or other methods as engaging in that business. The term does not include any of the following:


a. Pawnbrokers.


b. Persons whose goods purchases are made directly from manufacturers or wholesalers for their inventories.


c. Precious metals dealers, to the extent that their transactions are regulated under Part 2 of this Article.


d. Purchases by persons primarily in the business of obtaining from the public, either by purchase or exchange, used clothing, children's furniture, and children's products, provided the amount paid for the individual item purchased is less than fifty dollars ($50.00).


e. Purchases by persons primarily in the business of obtaining from the public, either by purchase or exchange, sporting goods and sporting equipment, provided the amount paid for the individual item purchased is less than fifty dollars ($50.00).


Please note that neither gun show vendors who purchase firearms from individuals nor private transfers between individuals meet the definition of "cash converter" for the following reasons:


1. Although your form is entitled "CMPD Gun Show Gun Purchase Form," nothing in the statute addresses gun shows any more than it addresses flea markets or other venues, leading any reasonable person to conclude that you are attempting to stigmatize gun shows;


2. A gun show vendor is not "a person engaged in the business of purchasing goods from the public for cash at a permanently located retail store." Not only do gun show purchases not take place at a "permanently located retail store," many gun show vendors do not even possess such locations.


3. By any reasonable plain language interpretation of the statute, it even more clearly excludes private transfers between individuals not engaged in a firearms-related business;


4. I am unaware of any gun show dealer who "holds himself or herself out to the public by signs, advertising, or other methods as engaging" the business of buying firearms particularly at the show itself, with the possible exception of pawnbrokers, who are specifically exempt as described below;


5. The cash converter statute specifically exempts both "Pawnbrokers" and "Persons whose goods purchases are made directly from manufacturers or wholesalers for their inventories," which would, in all likelihood, encompass nearly all gun show dealers.


Accordingly, Grass Roots North Carolina strongly advises you to cease and desist in your apparent attempt to register guns and gun owners in contravention of both Article 45 of the North Carolina General Statutes and § 14-409.40. Failure to do so will result in legal action. Please note that under § 6-21.7 ("Attorneys’ fees; cities or counties acting outside the scope of their authority"), we will also seek to recover associated legal expenses.


I can be reached directly at (704) 907-9206. To preclude further action, please reply within five (5) business days.


Respectfully,


F. Paul Valone


President, Grass Roots North Carolina


Executive Director, Rights Watch International
Link to Grass Roots North Carolina website

I have not found the letter on the GRPC website.  Perhaps a GRNC member can validate it.

Dean Weingarten  Link to Gun Watch

MT: Property Dispute Leads to Defensive Shooting,


 A shooting in the Dearborn River Canyon area Friday afternoon resulted in the death of a Great Falls man who had a cabin in the area. Timothy B. Newman, 53, was shot in what has been described as an ongoing dispute over property access.

(snip)

According to the Sheriff, who has not yet released the name of the shooter,  there is no evidence that the shooting was a homicide, but was instead self defense. The investigation into the tragedy is continuing, according to Dutton.


 More Here

Thursday, October 24, 2013

ME:Portland Police Chill Second and First Amendment Rights


Armed Israelis may get a second glance

The police Chief in Portland, Maine, Michael Sauschuck, does not like the "bear arms" part of the second amendment, and he and other Portland officials are quite willing to work to chill its exercise.

There have been recent cases where police have stopped people who are legally openly carrying guns in the Portland area.  One has become popular on YouTube,  where a well read open carrier civilly schooled the police officer on the limitations of detainment under the Constitution and case law.

In December of 2012, an activist was legally carrying an AR-15 type rifle, and was stopped twice.  He was a law student and recorded the incidents.  He was not arrested.

The police know that open carry is legal and not against the law.  It appeared that there would be another case similar to the above when Carlos Reed, an Iraq war veteran and college law enforcement student, was stopped at gun point for doing nothing but exercising his second amendment rights, though he did it at night, so as not to attract undue attention.   People in other states have won settlements for this type of overreaction by police.

It did not happen that way.  The police confiscated Mr. Reed's rifle and pistol while they tried to figure something to charge him with.    When Mr. Reed later told an instructor that he would continue the walks as a way to exercise his second amendment rights, and to prepare for a military training mission,  the police and prosecutors decided to charge him with "threatening display of a weapon", though Mr. Reed had never threatened anyone or pointed his rifle at anyone.    The appearance of a desire to "chill" the exercise of constitutional rights is clear.

They obtained a warrant, arrested Mr. Reed, and then tried to get him committed to a mental institution.   While they held him for evaluation, he lost his job, lost his college credits for the semester he had enrolled in, and was finally released on his own recognizance, with a court order not to possess guns or ammunition in the intervening period.

Mr. Reeds car was impounded as part of the arrest.  Carlos Reed had to pay $700 to have it released.

The police then issued a press release that described Carlos Reed as a danger to the community, and characterized his desire to exercise his second amendment rights as this:
 “He said he’s going to arm himself again and force confrontations with the police,” Chief Michael Sauschuck said at a news conference Friday. “If somebody is saying he has piles of firearms and is going to have conflicts with police, that’s a concern for us and the community.”
The article in the Portland Press Herald seems to imply that Reed's statement that he was preparing for a "military training mission" was somehow frightening or irrational, yet they state in the article that Mr. Reed entered the reserves after leaving active duty.    With 8 years of active duty, entering the reserves would appear to be a very rational act.

The police say that they found a "hypodermic apparatus"  in the car, and a substance that they suspect of being steroids, and they have charged him with possession of a hypodermic apparatus and illegal drugs as well.

I do not have any personal knowledge of Carlos Reed, but when a police Chief states that he does not approve of the law on open carry in Maine, then goes to considerable lengths to find a way to charge someone who open carries, I tend to wonder about the Chief's motives.

The police have already done a great deal to punish Carlos Reed without ever having to go to court.   They have cost him his job, a semester of college, and $700 to have his car released.    They could easily have arrested him by calling him and asking him to come down to the station.  He was found to be competent and not a threat to himself or others in the mental evaluation.   While the evaluation may have been an exercise to "protect the police", it reminds one of how the Soviets used mental institutions to punish those who were political dissidents.

The hypodermic and unknown substance are troubling, but they are also the sort of things an overzealous officer might produce in order to please his chief, or to put those pesky "civilians" in their place.   It is even possible that they are completely innocent.  Both my father and a good friend have or had hypodermics for their diabetes.  The unknown substance has not been tested.

A later editorial in the Portland Press Herald changes the tone a bit, merely praising the police for chilling the second amendment while saying that Carlos "displayed poor judgement".

I have long believed that openly carrying weapons is an exercise of both first and second amendment rights.  Those who oppose open carry are not acting out of a concern for public safety, because criminals and terrorists almost never carry weapons openly.   Virtually all of the time, people who carry openly are doing it in part or completely, as a political statement.  It educates those who refuse to believe that the second amendment actually has teeth.

If Carlos Reed had slipped a loose cover over his rifle, he would not have been bothered, but it would not have changed his abilities in any significant way.  Rifles are almost never used in crime, and openly carried rifles are a much tinier subset of those.  If the police can chill the open carry of rifles, then they can do so for pistols.  If openly carried pistols are a threat, then concealed pistols are more of a threat.

Open carry is speech that the Portland Police Chief does not like.  It shows that there are constitutional limits that he must respect.  We may agree or disagree that the speech is effective or not, but we should agree that it must be protected.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch 


MILLER: D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing


Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4.

The police banged on the front door of Mr. Witaschek’s Georgetown home at 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, to execute a search warrant for “firearms and ammunition … gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts.”

Mr. Witaschek’s 14-year-old daughter let inside some 30 armed officers in full tactical gear.

D.C. law requires residents to register every firearm with the police, and only registered gun owners can possess ammunition, which includes spent shells and casings. The maximum penalty for violating these laws is a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.

Police based their search on a charge made by Mr. Witaschek’s estranged wife, who had earlier convinced a court clerk to issue a temporary restraining order against her husband for threatening her with a gun, although a judge later found the charge to be without merit.

 More Here at the Washington Times

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Op-Ed: California - Living Proof of the Slippery Slope of Rational Apathy

"It started with a coffee date. Now I'm married with kids. How the heck did that happen?"

How indeed? Life sneaks up on us. Change occurs in tiny increments. Before you know it, the order of life has been inverted.

It's the same with the law. Aristotle knew what he was talking about when he wrote "Jealously maintain...the spirit of obedience to law, more especially in small matters; for transgression creeps in unperceived and at last ruins the state, just as the constant recurrence of small expenses in time eats up a fortune."

The California slippery slope of anti-freedom legislation – whatever the political agenda – has been a model for the rest of the nation. This is the ceaseless, incremental strategy of the California gun control movement that continues to this day. On gun control, thankfully, the rest of the nation has mostly failed to follow. But here in the Golden State, the Golden Rule of gun control has always been to swipe freedoms one small step at a time. Over, and over, and over again.

The "slippery slope" is legal jargon for the decline of a rule or law once exceptions are made. It matters not if it is religious law, the Bill of Rights, or even the rules you make for yourself – the first step is one tiny “exception.” Pass a law that chisels one corner off a right, and after a while another politician will want to lob off another corner. Soon, the cherished right ceases to exist – death of your right by incremental steps. California is now the poster child for gun control's inevitable civil rights mud slide into history's open grave.

 More at buckeyefirearms.org

IN: Pastor Uses Gun to Stop Robber


When he got inside he witnessed a man trying to rob a store clerk with what appeared to be a gun wrapped in plastic.

"He was coming at me saying, 'get on the ground,'" said Sanders. "But I couldn't see what he had... That's when I pulled my weapon and say, 'No, you get on the ground.'"


 More Here

CT:Protective Orders and Firearms, the Salem Witch Trials of Today

One might think that some 300 plus years down the line we might have evolved over such knee jerk
 reactions and rushes to judgment but when it comes to gun owners that is often not the case.
 In particular, a person can request a protective order in many states by simply saying they were
 threatened. No proof is needed, no evidence required. 
 
Yet for a falsely accused gun owner they are completely stripped of their 2nd Amendment rights,
 as a condition of a protective order is that you must forfeit your firearms for the duration of
 the order.
 
That doesn’t seem like due process to me. That seems like you are going to be treated as guilty
 until you can somehow prove your innocence. Yet considering that you were condemned in the first
 place by someone who didn’t produce any evidence proving you did anything wrong, disproving it
 may be difficult. 
 
I bring this up because of a story in neighboring Connecticut where a Fire Lieutenant is facing
 this type of baseless accusation and the repercussions it brings.
 
 
 More Here at bulletsfirst.net

One might think that some 300 plus years down the line we might have evolved over such knee jerk reactions and rushes to judgment but when it comes to gun owners that is often not the case.  In particular, a person can request a protective order in many states by simply saying they were threatened.  No proof is needed, no evidence required.  Yet for a falsely accused gun owner they are completely stripped of their 2nd Amendment rights, as a condition of a protective order is that you must forfeit your firearms for the duration of the order.
That doesn’t seem like due process to me.  That seems like you are going to be treated as guilty until you can somehow prove your innocence.  Yet considering that you were condemned in the first place by someone who didn’t produce any evidence proving you did anything wrong, disproving it may be difficult.
I bring this up because of a story in neighboring Connecticut where a Fire Lieutenant is facing this type of baseless accusation and the repercussions it brings.

Read more at http://bulletsfirst.net/2013/10/21/protective-orders-firearms-salem-witch-trials-today/#40IJVh61QPDxksTq.99
Hartford Fire Lt. Michael Patterson had a protective order issued against him on Oct. 1st after his mother-in-law, Cynthia Chevannes,  said that he threatened him.  That’s it, that was the extent of her proof.  She said so.  The mother-in-law lives in the family home with Patterson, his wife and their two children.  As such the police came and confiscated all of Patterson’s firearms and ammunition.
Finally, three weeks later Patterson took the stand in Superior court to challenge the protective order calling it baseless and asked simply that the protective order be lowered to a no contact order.  Patterson has no interest in seeing his mother-in-law but takes issue on his 2nd Amendment Rights being violated.  The no contact order would have returned his firearms yet kept him from interacting with his mother in law.  The judge summarily ruled, based on nothing but Chevannes original statements,  with audacity stating: “There is a clear indication in the state’s case that Cynthia Chevannes felt an imminent fear.”

Read more at http://bulletsfirst.net/2013/10/21/protective-orders-firearms-salem-witch-trials-today/#40IJVh61QPDxksTq.99

Hartford Fire Lt. Michael Patterson had a protective order issued against him on Oct. 1st after his mother-in-law, Cynthia Chevannes,  said that he threatened him.  That’s it, that was the extent of her proof.  She said so.  The mother-in-law lives in the family home with Patterson, his wife and their two children.  As such the police came and confiscated all of Patterson’s firearms and ammunition.
Finally, three weeks later Patterson took the stand in Superior court to challenge the protective order calling it baseless and asked simply that the protective order be lowered to a no contact order.  Patterson has no interest in seeing his mother-in-law but takes issue on his 2nd Amendment Rights being violated.  The no contact order would have returned his firearms yet kept him from interacting with his mother in law.  The judge summarily ruled, based on nothing but Chevannes original statements,  with audacity stating: “There is a clear indication in the state’s case that Cynthia Chevannes felt an imminent fear.”

Read more at http://bulletsfirst.net/2013/10/21/protective-orders-firearms-salem-witch-trials-today/#40IJVh61QPDxksTq.99
One might think that some 300 plus years down the line we might have evolved over such knee jerk reactions and rushes to judgment but when it comes to gun owners that is often not the case.  In particular, a person can request a protective order in many states by simply saying they were threatened.  No proof is needed, no evidence required.  Yet for a falsely accused gun owner they are completely stripped of their 2nd Amendment rights, as a condition of a protective order is that you must forfeit your firearms for the duration of the order.
That doesn’t seem like due process to me.  That seems like you are going to be treated as guilty until you can somehow prove your innocence.  Yet considering that you were condemned in the first place by someone who didn’t produce any evidence proving you did anything wrong, disproving it may be difficult.

Read more at http://bulletsfirst.net/2013/10/21/protective-orders-firearms-salem-witch-trials-today/#40IJVh61QPDxksTq.99
One might think that some 300 plus years down the line we might have evolved over such knee jerk reactions and rushes to judgment but when it comes to gun owners that is often not the case.  In particular, a person can request a protective order in many states by simply saying they were threatened.  No proof is needed, no evidence required.  Yet for a falsely accused gun owner they are completely stripped of their 2nd Amendment rights, as a condition of a protective order is that you must forfeit your firearms for the duration of the order.
That doesn’t seem like due process to me.  That seems like you are going to be treated as guilty until you can somehow prove your innocence.  Yet considering that you were condemned in the first place by someone who didn’t produce any evidence proving you did anything wrong, disproving it may be difficult.

Read more at http://bulletsfirst.net/2013/10/21/protective-orders-firearms-salem-witch-trials-today/#40IJVh61QPDxksTq.99

Protesters Support N.H. Gas Station Clerk Who Pulled Gun On Robber

About 50 protesters rallied Saturday in front of the Shell gas station where Shannon Cothran, whose nickname is “Bear,” worked until his encounter with a robber. Car horns honked as they drove by the crowded sidewalk with colorful signs.

“Bring Bear back. He did the right thing,” 9-year-old Trey Philbrick wrote on a poster board.

More Here

TX:Second Amendment Supporters Exercise Their Rights in Dallas

A group of gun enthusiasts meets every 3rd Saturday of the month at Dealey Plaza to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights.  The rally comes at a time when the right to openly carry long guns in Texas is being tested in the court system.

 More Here

Obamacare Tech Firm Tried, Failed to Build Gun Registry in Canada



CGI, the Canadian company whose U.S. subsidiary built the failed Obamacare website, was once contracted to build a federal gun registry for the Canadian government, Breitbart News has learned.

CGI's contract was canceled in 2007 after a report by the Auditor General found that the Canadian Firearms Information System (CFIS) being built by CGI was "significantly over budget" and that it had been plagued by delays.

The Conservative government that took power in 2006 canceled CGI's gun registry contract, and eventually repealed the Canadian gun registry entirely.

In another parallel to the Obamacare controversy in the United States, the gun registry had been passed in 1993 over vehement Conservative objections, and was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2000, before finally being repealed in most of the country in 2012.


More Here at breitbart.com/Big-Government

Texas Concealed Handgun License Murder Rates




Texas is one of the few states that tracks crimes committed by concealed carry weapon permit holders.  In Texas, the permit is called a concealed handgun license, or CHL.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has filed annual reports of the convictions of CHL holders from 1996 through 2011.   They wait two years to obtain final conviction information before publishing the totals, so 2011 is the last year that they have data for.

The number of CHL holders that commit murder or manslaughter is remarkably low.  From the DPS reports for 1996 through 2011  the number of murder and manslaughter convictions for CHL holders totalled 30 over the 16 years. 

Link to Texas DPSpdf files, ConvictionRatesReports 1996 - 2011

DPS also reports on the number of active CHL holders for each year.   Those numbers were totalled to obtain the number of CHL holder-years.   The total number of CHL holder-years for 1996-2011 is 4,295,434.  

Link to calendar year Texas DPSpdf files Reports on Active License and Instructor Counts1996 - 2012

The two numbers give us the ratio of CHL holder convictions for murder and manslaughter per 100,000 CHL holders.  That number is  .70 per 100,000.  Yes, the decimal point is in the correct place.

The rate of  murder and manslaughter for the general population of Texas averaged for the years 1996-2011 is 6.0 per 100,000. 

Link to site with UCR Texas murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rates 1996 - 2011


©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch 








Tuesday, October 22, 2013

AL:Resident Opened Fire on Invaders

Authorities in Alabama and Florida are on the lookup for two home invasion suspects that fled after the resident opened fire at them Sunday afternoon.

(snip)

 “The homeowner greeted them with a firearm,” said Escambia County (Ala.) Chief Deputy Mike Lambert. “He fired multiple rounds at the suspects and their vehicle. It is not known at this time if he hit the suspects.”

 More Here

Interpol Secretary General: After Nairobi Attack, Consider an Armed Society

In the wake of the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, many have turned to the issue of security and a debate over how to protect against similar terrorist attacks on soft targets.

Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble had some interesting comments for ABC News today in a post titled Exclusive: After Westgate, Interpol Chief Ponders ‘Armed Citizenry.’  The comments are likely to spur even more debate between proponents of gun control and 2nd amendment advocates.

 More Here at legalinsurrection.com

KS:Woman Drives off Intruder with Gunfire

Perhaps we will get a follow up story.   People are usually reluctant to shoot someone unless there is a good reason.

Police were called to the 2200 block of South Lulu shortly before 12:00 midnight. A woman there claimed she reached for a gun when she heard a strange noise, and found a man at her back door. Police say after an argument, the woman ordered him to leave. Then she fired a shot.

 More Here

More Open Carry in Arkansas



Arkansas continues to move toward recognition of constitutional carry.  ACT 746 changed the law in Arkansas so that carrying weapons is only illegal "with the purpose to attempt to unlawfully employ the handgun, knife, or club as a weapon against another person".

 The  Arkansas AG Dustin McDaniel has written an opinion that open carry of firearms is not legal in the state, but does not quote any law to show where it is illegal.  He simply claims that Act 746 does not make open carry legal.    A successful open carry march was held in Fort Smith on August 25th.

Hot Springs officials have said that they will not arrest open carriers when they are walking together, but that they might do so if the individual were alone.

Now, there has been another successful open carry walk, this time in Bryant, Arkansas.

I do not know of any person that has been arrested for open carry in Arkansas since Act 746 went into effect on the 16th of August, 2013.

On its face, the act appears to go further than merely making Arkansas a legal open carry state.   Act 746 does not differentiate between concealed and open carry.  What law would be quoted to charge someone with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit?

It is worth noting that Vermont, which was the only state with "constitutional carry" for many years, uses very similar language in its law.

Vermont Title 13: Section 4003.  Carrying dangerous weapons

A person who carries a dangerous or deadly weapon, openly or concealed, with the intent or avowed purpose of injuring a fellow man, or who carries a dangerous or deadly weapon within any state institution or upon the grounds or lands owned or leased for the use of such institution, without the approval of the warden or superintendent of the institution shall be imprisoned not more than two years or fined not more than $200.00, or both.
I would not recommend that anyone be the test case in Arkansas.  But it seems unlikely that AG McDaniel will be able to push his interpretation of Act 746 on the courts.

The reluctance of the authorities to arrest people who openly violate the AG's interpretation speaks volumes.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

PA:CCW Holder Shoots Felon and Ex who Attacked Girlfriend

A woman's boyfriend fatally shot the armed ex-boyfriend who attacked her in her Brighton Heights home early Sunday, Pittsburgh police said. 

The Allegheny County Medical's Examiner's Office identified the dead man as Curtis Edmonds, 37, of Brighton Heights. Police did not identify the shooter or the woman. The shooter, a 39-year-old man from Penn Hills, was not charged.

Monday, October 21, 2013

NYTs calls Open Carry of Rifles a "little-known priviledge"

I have come to expect the New York Times to denigrate America's gun culture and the second amendment at every opportunity.      It is interesting that they fail to note that Texas is one of only six states that have banned the open carry of handguns.    This small and shrinking minority of states (Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi recently changed their laws to recognize the constitutional right of open carry), which consists of California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, South Carolina, and New York, does include the state where the New York Times is located.


There are strong legislative challenges to the bans on open carry in Texas, Florida, and South Carolina.   I would not be surprised if five years from now, only California, Illinois, and New York still have such bans.  Even Illinois carries a bit of uncertainty, as the Supreme Court there has recognized the right to carry outside of the home.

It shows progress that the ultimate paper of liberal fascists felt compelled to cover the gathering of those who wish to restore the second amendment to the consideration given it before the Kansas Supreme Court created the "collective right theory" in 1905.


©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Mississippi Carry comes to life

Mississippi’s newest Gun Rights Organization: Mississippi Carry 



www.MississippiCarry.org and join today.  Also checkout their Facebook Page.

Its time we rally behind an organization and fight for our rights.  Mississippi Carry can make a difference if we stand together.  We can not divide ourselves and spend our energy arguing with each other.  I believe those organizing Mississippi Carry are ready to work with other organizations to further the cause of liberty and freedom through protecting our right to carry a firearm for protection. So it doesn’t matter if you open carry or conceal carry,  join Mississippi Carry and help protect your right.

Mississippi Carry is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to advancing the fundamental civil right of all Mississippians to keep and bear arms for self defense as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 3 Section 12 of the Mississippi Constitution.

About Mississippi Carry, Inc.

On Friday, June 28, 2013, the last day before Mississippi House Bill 2 was to take effect, representatives from Hinds County law enforcement and several anti-gun state lawmakers filed a motion to block the new law from taking effect. A circuit court judge in Hinds County granted the motion and one week later upheld a permanent injunction against the new law.

Earlier Attorney General Jim Hood released an official opinion on the new gun law, and his office held a meeting with the Chief’s of Police Association. Soon after this meeting law enforcement across the state began using public funds and resources to print “No firearm” signs that they handed out to many businesses in nearly every town in Mississippi.

Towns began putting up “No Firearms” signs in all public buildings followed by ordinances at every level of local government. The Mississippi Association of Supervisors distributed Hood’s opinion on their website highlighting the section identifying “sensitive places” as being legal to regulate firearms. Many of these places are in direct violation of state firearms preemption laws.

Gun owners across the state were in shock. Never had gun rights in Mississippi seen such an attack from law enforcement, public officials, and business owners. Gun forums became the central collaboration point for those wanting to resist the onslaught against their civil rights. However, when it came time to support the overturning of the House Bill 2 injunction at the Mississippi Supreme Court, there was no Mississippi gun rights organization with standing to file an amicus brief.

Mississippi Carry, Inc. is the gun rights organization born out of these attacks on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Mississippi. Gun owners in this state are now wide awake and realize that we must take back the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens.

 Source: Mississippigunnews.com

AR: Pharmacist Retreats, then Shoots, Kills Robber

The pharmacist initially retreated, but when he could retreat no longer, he pulled his own concealed weapon and shot and killed the masked gunman.

More Here

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Early Alamo Open Carry Report by Mike Vanderboegh

Successful rally and march.  Police presence minimal and respectful.  No arrests that I saw.  To paraphrase  Nathan Beford Forrest, we slapped their jaws and forced them to resent it.  To do this in Temple was one thing.  To do it in a major Dem stronghold city like San Antonio is just huge.  You may judge the quality of my speech from the transcript below.  Got a great deal of applause and shouts at the right places.  I'll have a more complete report tonight.  Right now I've got two meetings and a nap to work in before my report tonight and then (and only then) can I finally turn in tonight.

Link to Mike's Speech at Sipsey Street Irregulars

Live WebCam of Alamo Open Carry Today

Update: The event ended at 1 pm local, so the web cam no  longer shows the rally.

The Web cam at the link shows the open carry event going on now.  There is a pretty good crowd, but my browser is only showing an image about every half a second, I would say.

Here is the link:

 Alamo Open Carry Live Web Cam Link

I can hear some noise in the background, but I cannot make out the words.

Lots of Gadsten flags and a "Come and Take It" Gonzales flag. 

The crowd looks well over a thousand to me.  It extends beyond the frame of the camera.

 Dean Weingarten
Link to Gun Watch

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Maneater of The Boundary Waters Canoe Area



It was in the summer of '09 when I first heard of the remarkable events involving  the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (hereafter referred to as the BWCA) maneater.

I have known the public servant involved for several decades, and I can vouch for his integrity and veracity.   Out of respect for his privacy, I will not reveal his name.  He has since retired from government service and now lives a modest but invigorating lifestyle in the remote reaches of the upper midwest, not far from the shores of Gitche Gumee.  A few minor details may have been mangled.  Such is the risk in any narrative.  All faults belong with the author.  I am honored by being allowed to tell the story.  I set down these events as they were related to me.  As is common in these long years after the ascendancy of the progressive media, no mention of them will be found in the local or national journals.

The population of indigenous pulp savages* has been much reduced, though many have adapted to modern forestry, and game populations have climbed to levels not seen since the end of the last glacial event.

In early '08, the official involved, well known for his prowess in the field and on the target range, discovered that permits could be had for hunting bear in the BWCA reserve, a large area that has been set aside for the worshippers of the Earth Goddess and other acolytes of nature.  Few bothered to obtain said permits.  The taboos set on the area forbid any motorized transport other than as a limited exercise of government power.   Even sails are forbidden.  Only water-craft propelled by muscle-power are allowed.  In effect, this means canoes, though a few kayaks are seen.   Hides could rot and meat spoil in the days required to transport bear harvested in the area. I will henceforth refer to the official as D.  D had spent more time in a canoe than on a bicycle while growing up, as had his faithful hunting companion, a Christian pulp savage who he had trusted with his life on numerous occasions.

In preparation for this expedition, he had urged his companion to obtain the government permit required for legal carry of a firearm into the reserve.  Due to necessity and procrastination, the permit had not been obtained.  The companion would be legally limited to the traditional pulp savage belt knife and hand axe. 

The growth in bear population in recent decades, and the taboos that had been placed on the use of firearms for defence, had resulted in increasing numbers of bear attacks.  Only lately had permits become available to carry firearms in the BWCA for anyone other than government officials.  

D had received numerous reports of problem bears in the BWCA.  He carefully crafted his application for a permit to center in those areas.  The appointed time came.   D and his companion approached the sacred canoe launching place at the border of the BWCA.     A  group of young women from Chicagoland were in the process of exiting the area.    It was clear that they had had a very bad encounter with a rogue bear.  As luck would have it, D had spent an early tour in his career undercover in the tribal district of Racine.   The tribes there are closely related to those in the Chicagoland district, so D was easily able to understand the Chicagoese dialect.

The attack had been prolonged.  The food had gone first, pillaged and dragged off into the underbrush.   The next night, in a scene worthy of a horror movie, the satellite telephone was disabled with a savage bite.   No doubt it was the scent of warm human flesh that brought on the attack, rather than any supernatural bruin understanding of electrical vibrations.  

The blond local guide, descended from Vikings, and a sharp contrast with the dark Chicagoese, had elected to sleep under the stars.  Grabbing the young woman's  foot in its powerful jaws, the beast had dragged her screaming toward the undergrowth.  Only the loud ululations and angry shouts of the Chicagoese had caused the beast to stop the attack and momentarily lope into the darkness.  Fear gripped the women the rest of the night, as the most effective weapon that they possessed was a canoe paddle.

The women made for the canoe launch site, their sacred root touching ceremonies abandoned in the terror of the attack and the loss of their supplies.    The attack was the culmination of a summer of increasingly aggressive actions on the part of the beast.  In spite of numerous reports, some of which had attracted D to the area, the authorities had declined to take action. 

Now that the beast had tasted human blood, it would have to be terminated.   It had come to associate humans with food.  D's long preparations had put him in the right place at the right time.

Good information was obtained from the Chicagoese and the local guide about the location of the attack.   D and his companion quietly formulated a plan to spend a night in danger, in order to achieve the best chance to prevent any tragedy by prompt action at this early stage.  On the paddle to the remote location, they encountered other travelers who were fleeing the area, their food supplies pillaged and necessary gear destroyed.

After a long paddle, the canoe was beached, camp was prepared, and darkness was approaching.    Much sign was evident that this was a favored haunt of the rogue bear.   Food wrappings were strewn about.  Destroyed gear was scattered back in the undergrowth.   It was as described by the Chicagoese women.  Trails had been packed by repeated use.

D and his companion are both skilled woodsmen with decades of experience in reading sign.   The most likely approach of the beast was determined.  A hasty blind was constructed of bracken and dead branches, with enough surrounding space to allow for sighting the beast at distances further than hand axe range.  One side was protected by lake shore.  There was no time to build an elevated platform in the style of Jim Corbett.   In any case, it was forbidden to do so by reserve taboo.  The men would have to face the maneater on the ground.

The night would be tense.  The companion had his hand axe.    Hand axes have been used to kill bears, but the effective range can be measured in inches.  D preferred, for reasons of efficacy and health, a large caliber rifle.

D had brought his custom .416 rifle, with a Redhawk .44 magnum as a sidearm.  Based on the best of the colonial actions, the trusted Ruger model 77, the rifle had been put together by a smith who specialized in such work.  Chambered for the .416 Taylor cartridge,  its gleaming, traditional stainless steel and composite stock were impervious to the notoriously fickle BWCA weather.   Topped with legendary Leupold glass, it could accurately deliver 315 grain solutions from specialized hand loads deliberately crafted for the task at hand.

Just after dark, the cry of a loon was heard in the distance.  The stars slowly wheeled by in their nightly procession.   Small noises were examined for limited information.  Each sound could be the approach of a hungry and frustrated bruin.    Electric torches lay close at hand, next to the rifle, revolver, and hand axe.   The sky started to lighten in the east.  The plan was set in motion.  D took up his rifle and left camp for the hasty blind that had been prepared.  Another taboo forbid hunting within 150 yards of the camp.  Scent was not a problem, as there was no wind, and this creature associated human flesh with food.

His companion started the fire and began to cook a traditional pulp savage breakfast involving copious amounts of bacon fried in its own grease, in a large cast iron skillet over an open wood fire.   The beast was used to such normal activities, and might well be attracted to them.  The hand axe was near to the fire.

A light fog lay over the area.  The air was still.  Small sounds carried long distances. Only the lapping of tiny wavelets could be heard from the lake shore.  At such times, you can hear the beating of your own heart.

Alert for any small noise, the two men were startled as the loud sounds of  thrashing brush and the breaking of dead branches reached them through the still air.    The companion later said that it sounded like a bull moose was crashing through the undergrowth.  He gripped the most effective weapon available to him.

The crashing grew nearer.   D tried to detect the approaching creature through the thick forest.   It had to be very close.  Every sense was stretched to the limit.  Nothing existed except the forest, the noises, and the familiar rifle in his hands.  Was it a moose?  The bear? Something else?   A waving branch caught his attention.  Then, there it was, less than 20 yards away.  It was coming right at him.

He shouldered the .416 in a fraction of a second, slipping off the safety as the rifle butt fit to his shoulder in a motion made smooth by years of practice.  The cross hairs of the Leupold found the deadly spot; the trigger broke without detectable motion.

The beast had learned to announce its arrival, no doubt certain that it would terrify the weak beings that it had so easily dominated in previous encounters. Now it learned that another hunter was higher on the food chain than it was.  The prescription of high velocity  lead was delivered as required to terminate the threat.  The career of the maneater of the BWCA was stopped just as it had barely started.  The old adage had been correct.   A fed bear is a dead bear.

D returned to camp and retrieved his .44.

The men now joined in the hard work of skinning and quartering the fallen beast.   It had been in good health and had obviously been larding up for the winter.  The sweet flesh of humans had proven to be too much of a temptation after a long association that had taught it nothing but contempt for their abilities.

Camp was broken, the canoe packed, the return trip started.  Gliding along with silent paddles, the buzz of an aeroplane disturbed the autumn air.  An official float plane with a kayak strapped to the pontoons  flew over the scene, seeking to land at a nearby lake.  D surmised that it had been sent to scout the area of the attack.

On the way out, two forest protectors accosted D and his companion.  As is often the case, the official response was too little and too late.   However, all was not lost.   The official responders would receive copious overtime while searching for the bear that was in float bags in the bottom of D's canoe.  The forest protectors did not insist that the canoe be emptied to access the official tag while the canoe was floating on 60 feet of wilderness water.

After returning to their home environs, D's hunting companion took his advice to heart.  D had assured him that with his name as a reference, he was nearly certain to be granted a permit to bear weapons in the BWCA.  On the next trip, he could proudly carry his own sidearm without worrying about legal difficulties.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch 

Related WI: Third Bear Attack This Year

*Pulp savage is a term of endearment relating to occupation more than race. The group involved made much of their living harvesting pulpwood in areas of northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, with crude chain saws and hand tools. A primary and interesting tool was the “spud” a sharpened curved blade made of a bit of automobile spring.

The “spud” was used to peel the bark from the pulp trees, which then brought a higher price at the mill.

Update:From September 11, 2010 startribune.com:
Problem bears in BWCA

As any camper knows, once bears get a taste of camp food, they can become problems.

And that's what happened on Ensign Lake near Ely in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. A woman camper was nipped in the foot while in her sleeping bag recently by a problem bear that had been pilfering food packs from campers.

The camper's skin wasn't broken, but it likely was a frightening experience, said DNR conservation officer Marty Stage.