South Africa: New gun law chaos: "No new firearm licences have been issued in the Western Cape since the new Firearms Control Act came into effect. And experts believe that at the rate that renewals are now being handled, it will take literally thousands of years to complete the process. The latest statistics on this act paint a gloomy picture for firearm owners in the Western Cape. The police's Phuti Setati said that up to 15 August only 16 firearm licences had been renewed in the Western Cape and that no new licences had been issued in the province. "



Texas: Mom acquitted in shooting of boyfriend: "A woman who shot her boyfriend and then allowed her 9-year-old son to initially take responsibility was acquitted of murder today in a Harris County courtroom. Jurors apparently accepted Erika Lynn Ruiz's contention that she was protecting herself and her son from abuse when she shot Jose Flores Martinez once in the head in her southwest Houston apartment last year. . Ruiz, a former Sharpstown High School security guard, told jurors that Martinez was physically abusing her when she grabbed a pistol from the bedroom and shot him as he continued approaching her. She said she thought he might assault her son, who witnessed the shooting.After police arrived, however, the boy told them he had fired the gun at the man he knew as `Pepe.' After spending the night in police custody, however, the boy recanted and told police his mother had shot Martinez. Ruiz's son, now 10 and living in Kansas, testified this week that he saw Martinez assault his mother and slam her to the floor before she ran into the bedroom and grabbed her gun. She then backed into a corner, but Martinez continued advancing toward her, the boy said."

CANADA BLAMES THE USA FOR THEIR OWN FAILED POLICY

If you have a problem, it's often easier to blame someone else rather than deal with it. And with Canada's murder rate rising 12 percent last year and a recent rash of murders by gangs in Toronto and other cities, it's understandable that Canadian politicians want a scapegoat. That at least was the strategy Canada's premiers took when they met last Thursday with the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, and spent much of their time blaming their crime problems on guns smuggled in from the United States.

Of course, there is a minor problem with the attacks on the U.S. Canadians really don't know what the facts are, and the reason is simple: Despite billions of dollars spent on the Canada's gun-registration program and the program's inability to solve crime, the government does not how many crime-guns were seized in Canada, let alone where those guns came from. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported in late July that they "cannot know if [the guns] were traceable or where they might have been traced." Thus, even if smuggled guns were an important problem, the Canadian government doesn't know if it is worse now than in the past.

Even in Toronto, which keeps loose track of these numbers, Paul Culver, a senior Toronto Crown Attorney, claims that guns from the U.S. are a "small part" of the problem.

There is another more serious difficulty: You don't have to live next to the United States to see how hard it is to stop criminals from getting guns. The easy part is getting law-abiding citizens to disarm; the hard part is getting the guns from criminals. Drug gangs that are firing guns in places like Toronto seem to have little trouble getting the drugs that they sell and it should not be surprising that they can get the weapons they need as well.....

Many things affect crime: The rise of drug-gang violence in Canada and Britain is an important part of the story, just as it has long been important in explaining the U.S.'s rates. (Few Canadians appreciate that 70 percent of American murders take place in just 3.5 percent of our counties, and that a large percentage of those are drug-gang related.) Just as these gangs can smuggle drugs into the country, they can smuggle in weapons to defend their turf.

With Canada's reported violent-crime rate of 963 per 100,000 in 2003, a rate about twice the U.S.'s (which is 475), Canada's politicians are understandably nervous. While it is always easier to blame another for your problems, the solution to crime is often homegrown. [Hey! Maybe it is a bad idea to take guns off law-abiding citizens!]

More here






What did this guy do wrong?: "A 23-year-old McMinnville man faces a trio of criminal charges after allegedly pulling a 9 mm handgun on a truck driver during a Tuesday traffic dispute. According to Newberg-Dundee police, Kevin Forsman was northbound in a white 1999 Honda Accord. They said he set off the chain of events when he used a left-turn lane to pass a log truck as he approached a red light coming into Dundee. At the light, the truck driver got out and approached Forsman to confront him about the traffic maneuver. Police said Forsman responded by pointing a Polish-made Makarov P-64 semi-automatic at the man, who returned to his rig and called authorities. Police tracked Forsman down at First and Edwards streets in Newberg. They seized his highly concealable pistol and his concealed-carry permit, then cited him on charges of menacing, reckless endangering and pointing a firearm at another."

Oklahoma:Shooting said to be self defense : "Osage County authorities said a shooting northwest of Sand Springs that left one man dead appears to be self-defense and no charges are expected. Investigators said Larry Cunningham was shot and killed after pulling a gun and firing a shot during an argument with men who had gone to the home of Cunningham's girlfriend to pick up a motor home."


Louisiana: St. Mary man killed after break-in : "Deputies are investigating the death of a 31-year-old Jeanerette man, who was shot when he attempted to break into his ex-wife's home late Tuesday night, officials said Wednesday. St. Mary Parish Sheriff David Naquin said Anthony Sparrow died from multiple gunshot wounds he sustained during the confrontation. Naquin said the incident occurred shortly before midnight in the 1100 block of La. 318 in Jeanerette. Sparrow, who was armed with a gun, allegedly broke into the home and was confronted by another man, who also was armed. `It was apparent that there was an exchange of gunfire. The guy in the house wasn't hurt,' Naquin said, and neither was the ex-wife."

Alabama: Gun trumps knife and baseball bat : "A man armed with a fork found out the hard way it's not a good instrument for a robbery.The man approached a clerk at a convenience store after spending 40 minutes in their bathroom. `He stuck his hand under his shirt and said, `This is a robbery. I got a gun,'' Shreveport police Detective Russell Ross said. The clerk told the man she knew it wasn't a gun, sparking a brief argument before the man went around the counter, Ross said. `They scuffled. And during the scuffle, she felt something sharp poke her,' he said. `She reached over and grabbed a baseball bat she had behind the counter and started waling on him when she realized what he had under his shirt was a fork . which was no match for a baseball bat.' The clerk chased him out of the store and continued to hit him with the bat. `A customer saw what was going on, took a pistol from his vehicle, came over and fired his pistol into the ground,' Ross said. Then, both the fork and the bat were dropped, Ross said."


Stop endangering employees : "Gun-free zones may appear like the solution to violence, but consider an analogy: Suppose a criminal is stalking you or your family. Would you feel safer putting a sign in front of your home saying, `This Home Is a Gun-Free Zone?' The answer seems pretty clear. Since law-abiding citizens will obey the signs, such 'safe zones' simply mean that criminals have a lot less to worry about. Indeed, international data as well as data from across the United States indicate that criminals are much less likely to attack residents in their homes when they suspect that the residents own guns."

Michigan: Library's gun ban conflicts with law: "As Waterford Township officials prepare to revise the township's library rules, they've decided the issue of carrying guns into libraries isn't one they'll take further. The library board has worked with a city attorney for a couple of months to adopt new regulations -- one of which would ban guns from the public facility. But board members soon learned that prohibiting guns from the library is in direct conflict with state law. While Michigan's law does not allow anyone with a concealed weapon into schools, bars, sports stadiums and other facilities, it does not include such municipal facilities as libraries. So it's legal for anyone with a valid permit to carry a firearm in those facilities. Now trustees must vote on changing the policy so it doesn't ban weapons, a move that Supervisor Carl Solden said he supports."


A good historical quote: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive." From Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia, 1787).

North Carolina: Gas station clerk shoots suspect : "A convenience store clerk shot a man who was trying to rob the store early Sunday morning. Witnesses called police after a man entered the Express Mart on the 3400 block of Wilkinson Boulevard around 6:40 a.m. They said a confrontation was going on between the clerk and the man on the property. 'We do know that the clerk fired shots in self-defense and one of the rounds did strike the suspect,' said Sgt. Steve Huber, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Freedom Division. The man fled from the store on foot, but police tracked him down just a few blocks away. With the help of a canine unit, they had the man in custody in under a half hour."



Ohio: Bloodied intruder flees, shot by business owner "A South Toledo business owner apparently shot a man attempting to break into his sheet metal fabricating shop through a roof vent last night. The man fled, leaving a blood trail, a work glove, and tools on the roof, police said. Thomas Lloyd, 58, the business owner, told police he heard noises coming from the roof of the building that houses his residence and Great Lakes Standard Manufacturing Inc., 2970 Airport Hwy., at about 7 p.m. He got a shotgun, went to the shop area of the two-story building, and spotted a man entering feet first from the vent, police said. Mr. Lloyd repeatedly told the man, 'Stop and get out or I'll shoot,' but the man continued coming through the vent. Mr. Lloyd fired one shot, and the man reversed course, climbed back onto the roof, and fled, police said."

Florida: Minister wounds two in shootout: "Sixty-three-year-old grandfather Joe Dixon clutched a Bible as he sat in his Jacksonville home Friday and, after a sleepless night, asked himself yet again: 'Why did I do this? Why did this happen? I'm a preacher. I'm a Christian. I try to do things right. I don't like to see people get hurt.' ... The shooting on the football field at Grand Park on Henrietta Street came as more than two dozen children practiced -- Dixon's 9-year-old grandson and the brothers' 11-year-old sibling among them. After a pushing match that witnesses said involved the brothers and at least one football coach, police said the brothers took out guns and fired at an unidentified person with whom it's believed they wanted to settle a score. The gunfire sent cheerleaders, football players, parents and coaches scrambling. Dixon himself left, helping his grandson into his vehicle while noticing the gunmen walking back to their black Crown Victoria just a few yards away. Dixon, a Bethel Baptist Institutional Church preacher who has a concealed weapons permit, told his grandson to hit the floor of their Toyota Sequoia. Then he made the choice he lived over and over Friday."


Illinois: Alleged vandal shot twice: "A man who allegedly beat on a house, garage and two vehicles and broke a satellite dish at 2:57 a.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of Kent Street was shot twice by the elderly occupant of the house, according to Wamac police. Jaime Matthew Evilsizer, 19, of Brookside Trailer Court was taken to St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of wounds to his abdomen and thigh, police said. ... Wamac police said Evilsizer was shot by Roy J. Miller, 76, who lives on the property where Evilsizer allegedly was causing a disturbance. Marion County State's Attorney Matt Wilzbach said Tuesday afternoon that he had just received preliminary verbal reports on the incident and was not sure what charges might be filed against Evilsizer."

Brave Australian: "A shop attendant has overpowered a man wielding a sawn-off shotgun during an attempted robbery at a southwest Melbourne milk bar. Police say a 29-year-old man was arrested at the Herne Hill shop in Geelong and charged with several armed robberies on milk bars and a post office in the area between July and August. A police spokesman says the man, from Bell Post Hill, appeared in an out of sessions hearing charged with five counts of armed robbery and one count of attempted armed robbery. He's been remanded in custody to appear at the Geelong Magistrate Court today".


Minutemen to carry guns: "A controversial volunteer patrol unit will be allowed to carry weapons in the State of Texas. This comes from leaders of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps in Texas. They said volunteers who have a state concealed handgun license can carry firearms while observing day workers in Houston. Initially, they were allowed to only videotape suspected illegal immigrants. Critics fear violence could follow the change. In April, the group got national attention when members patrolled the Arizona-Mexico border to report suspected illegal immigrants".

Guns in Russia: "The Russian News & Information Agency carries this fascinating look at how the nation is considering more liberal firearm ownership laws. A 1996 law improved the process of legal gun ownership from impossible to extremely arduous. Political analyst Vladimir Simonov relates his personal experiences in clearing the bureaucratic hurdles to owning a gun. Freedom-stifling bureaucrats around the world think alike, apparently. The process required Simonov to see several medical specialists. In California's Bay area, at least one jurisdiction required concealed carry license applicants to get an evaluation from a psychologist. Even after jumping through all the hoops, Simonov writes, "Russians can only buy smoothbore hunting rifles of minimum 80 centimeters, gas pistols, or revolvers shooting rubber bullets." Only the rifle would be useful for home defense, and that is not nearly as safe as a handgun of suitable caliber. Russian firearm advocates cite the American experience of lower violent crime rates in areas of more liberal gun laws. And Latvia experienced an 80% reduction in street crime after a liberalization of gun laws".


Virginia: Nelson supervisors ease curbs on firearm noise: "A noise ordinance that originally appeared to have restricted the shooting of firearms in Nelson County was amended last night to satisfy hunters, target shooters and even the NRA. The Nelson Board of Supervisors re-adopted the noise ordinance, adding an exemption that places no restrictions on 'sounds generated from the discharge of firearms,' except at commercial sport-shooting ranges. 'That should alleviate all these worries people have about target shooting or sighting in rifles,' said Supervisor Thomas H. Bruguiere Jr. Hunting live game and nuisance or predatory animals is also exempted from the ordinance. The supervisors said the ordinance, first passed at an emergency meeting June 30, was just meant to control any disturbing noise that would affect neighbors."

North Carolina: Bill encourages victims to buy guns: "Courts in North Carolina might soon be required to give something extra to battered spouses seeking a restraining order -- information on how to apply for a concealed weapon. But many [victim disarmament advocates] believe the measure could end up causing more problems by bringing guns into already volatile relationships. 'It ups the violence level,' [whined] June Kimmel, who is with the North Carolina Council for Women. 'And I don't think we ought to be in the position of suggesting to people that they arm themselves, because that also gives them a false sense of protection that they don't really have with that gun.' A gun-rights group called Grass Roots North Carolina pushed for the measure, which was overwhelmingly approved by legislators. The group's president, Paul Valone, said it's about helping victims help themselves."


Texas: Man fatally shoots girlfriend's ex: "In the Hill Country, a man is dead after an alleged domestic dispute and apparent break in. Thirty-three-year-old Brandon Joseph Steele died Monday after being shot at a duplex on Granite Shoals Street. Authorities believe that he broke into his ex-wife's house through a bedroom window. The woman, her boyfriend and a 5-year-old child were in that room. Steele allegedly threatened them. The boyfriend told police that's when he shot Steele. The ex-wife claims he had come to the house earlier, intoxicated and belligerent. 'This is a situation which has all indications of being a self defense issue. Unfortunately, there was a life taken in this event, so we have to proceed with it as if it is a homicide,' Chief Bill Lane of Horseshoe Bay said."

New Zealand: ACT upholds right to self-defence: "All New Zealanders should have a right to defend themselves, their families and their property from criminals without being prosecuted, says the ACT party. Justice spokesman Stephen Franks yesterday announced the party's self-defence policy, which emphasises that the law should ensure criminals are afraid, not their victims. Mr Franks presented a medal to Auckland man Michael Vaimauga, who was arrested for assault after he stopped a burglar breaking into a shop. Mr Vaimauga went through five court hearings before being discharged without conviction and ordered to pay $150 to the Salvation Army. The would-be burglar has never been charged. 'The state has no right to punish citizens for defending themselves and their property when the state cannot defend them,' said Mr Franks."


Tennessee: Memphis seniors fight back in home invasion: "Two Memphis seniors took matters into their own hands and fought back against burglars, and an old Smith & Wesson will forever remind retired Naval Officer Bryant Green of his Tuesday morning ordeal. He said it all began when his doorbell rang at 10 a.m., 'I got up quickly and did not see anyone.' However, his 76 year old wife Gwyneth saw four men breaking into a backyard window of their West Crestwood house. Bryant Green came out the front door, crept around his house and into the back courtyard where he saw one of the suspects with a shotgun. Green said he and the young man exchanged a few rounds, but no one was hurt. ... police do not have a detailed description of the burglars or the get-away car, but they might have fingerprints."

Victim disarmament at airports on record pace: "The government is grabbing firearms from U.S. airline travelers at a record pace, according to information obtained by MSNBC.com. The record haul of guns comes at time when the Transportation Security Administration is considering a proposal to allow some previously banned items, including small knives and razor blades, back onto commercial flights."


Canada: Gun-grabbing mayor tries depot ploy: "Gun owners in Toronto may soon be prohibited from keeping their firearms at home even if they are properly licensed and registered, Mayor David Miller said yesterday. 'There's no reason to own a gun in Toronto -- collector or not. If you are a collector and you have a permit, the guns need to be stored in a way that they can't be stolen. And perhaps a centralized facility of some kind could accomplish that goal,' Mr. Miller told the National Post. 'The law requires gun owners to have proper storage, but obviously not everyone adheres to that.' Following a spate of shootings in Toronto, the Mayor has asked city lawyers and the police to determine whether the municipality has the 'legal ability' to require individuals to store their weapons at a secure facility such as a gun club."

Virginia: Victims not: "Since March, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, three residents of that city have killed criminal attackers. Authorities will press no charges against at least two of the shooters. One dispatched former NFL football player Mike Brim with a single shot after an armed Brim had followed the man, apparently a romantic rival, to a house and opened fire on him. The other self-defender was a pizza deliveryman who killed a robber. ... [T]he bearing of arms by the law-abiding cited above brings an obvious thought: Had the intended victims in Richmond dwelt in Washington or New York City ... they likely would have joined many of those cities' other crime victims on a slab. Does anyone not prefer the other outcome?"


Texas: Mexican victim disarmament creates black market for US weapons : "Mexico's strict gun control laws are contributing to an illegal gun market and easier access to weapons, according to U.S. law enforcement officials that are close observers of a recent upswing in border violence. Since January, more than 600 people have been killed in an ongoing war between rival drug cartels using high-powered handguns and assault rifles fighting for control of drug smuggling routes on the Texas-Mexico border. Federal gun seizures show that a majority of weapons used in violent crimes in Mexico were smuggled into the country from the United States or bought through other sources in a lucrative black market. Mexican law requires its citizens to apply for a permit from the Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA) before they can buy a handgun or rifle for hunting or self-defense."

New Mexico: Pistol Pete mascot to lose pistol : "New Mexico State University's mascot, Pistol Pete, is being disarmed. University officials have also stripped the word 'Pistol' from Pete's name. The new logo shows Pete twirling a lasso. The old Pete toted a pistol. ... The decision to remove the pistol had more to do with a consensus when picking from several designs of the new logo, rather than any push for the mascot to stop brandishing a weapon, Boston said. He acknowledged there are mixed feelings among alumni, but said he has heard more positive feedback than negative."


Canada: Fewer guns seized at US border: "As Canadian politicians express alarm about a rising tide of guns smuggled from the United States, statistics suggest federal border guards are seizing fewer firearms than in previous years, the Globe and Mail reported this morning. The Canada Border Services Agency said it has intercepted 318 guns so far in 2005, below the more than 1,000 seized guns that border guards have averaged annually during the past five years, and far fewer than the 1,500 seized annually in the 1990s. ... And while Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair was widely quoted last week as saying his officers have seized more than 2,000 guns so far in 2005, civilians in his statistics department say the chief inadvertently 'misspoke.' Their official tally is only 1,151, consistent with the pace of seizures in recent years."

Worker right or workplace danger?: "Jason Smith is in a tough spot. He works for a company he has been asked to boycott. In an effort to keep weapons out of the workplace, his employer, ConocoPhillips, is challenging state law and has forbidden workers to leave guns in their cars in company parking lots. Now, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is encouraging gun owners to stop buying ConocoPhillips gasoline. The boycott is the latest skirmish in an expanding battle over gun control. Now that many states allow citizens to carry concealed weapons, the NRA is pushing to eliminate remaining restrictions on where those guns can be taken. Gun-control groups -- and some employers -- are fighting back."


Alabama: Bill to justify deadly force: "Rep. Albert Hall and Sen. Jeff Enfinger are sponsoring a bill that would expand [sic] citizens' rights to use self defense in the state of Alabama. The bill has been pre-filed for the upcoming 2006 regular session of the legislature. Hall said that 60 co-sponsors have joined him in support of this bill. 'Your home is the family castle and refuge; this bill will give [sic] the citizens a right to protect and defend their home from intruders and themselves from possible subsequent litigation,' Hall stated."


Oklahoma: Pawn shop burglary under investigation: "Tulsa police are searching for a group of men suspected of breaking into the Green Country Pawn shop near 31st and Mingo early Thursday morning. Authorities say the business owner was notified by his alarm company and went to check on things. He says he shot at four hispanic men as they escaped through a hole in the roof.The suspects all got away."

COMMENT FROM A READER ABOUT ANTI-GUN PSYCHOLOGY

It's interesting that the psychiatric article you referenced on 8th placed "projection" first.

My local talk show host Bill Handel is a practicing attorney. He believes any liberalization of concealed-carry laws is a recipe for disaster. As evidence, he cites himself.

He claims that he gets so angry at other drivers, if he had a CCW permit and a loaded gun in his car, the next time some a**h**e did something stupid in front of his car, he'd be pulling out the gun and ventilating car, driver, passengers, and any by-standers anywhere in between.

One of these days, when he's on this theme, I'd love to call up and point out that I don't think he should be behind the wheel of another deadly weapon, and maybe the DMV should re-evaluate his suitability for a driver's license.



Florida: Two killed in separate robbery atempts: "Two suspects were killed in separate armed robberies Saturday night in Orange and Lake counties. Lorenzo Baker, 29, was shot in Orlo Vista and pronounced dead later at a hospital, officials said. The incident began just before midnight. David Mathis, 20, said he was heading to a club with friends when four men forced them back into his mother's Orlo Vista home, demanding the keys to her shimmering green show car. ... after the thieves ran out, they heard shots. The older brother of someone from the house was called and arrived in a red Ford Explorer to confront the suspects, Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman Barbara Miller said. The man, whose name was not released and who is not expected to face charges, exchanged fire with the suspects."


Top Gun -- NRA's new Jewish President: "Just as there are no atheists in the foxholes, there are no gun control advocates locked in their apartments with a large, menacing burglar attempting to batter his way in. That was Sandra Froman's experience nearly two decades ago. Her shouting, banging on the wall and even cranking the stereo to 11 didn't scare off the would-be intruder, but he eventually proved inept enough at his chosen profession that he abandoned his effort to enter her domicile. Still, the minutes of sheer terror left an impression on the San Mateo-born and raised Froman, and it would prove to be a life-altering moment. 'The next day, I went to the gun store. I didn't even know where the gun store was -- I had to look in the Yellow Pages. I was determined to protect myself,' said Froman, who became the National Rifle Association?s first Jewish (and second female) president earlier this year."

Prohibition of nuisance suits on target: "A few years ago, the strategy of gun-control advocates was obvious: File frivolous liability lawsuits against gun-makers and distributors, knowing that, whatever the ultimate merits of the cases, the manufacturers would be hard-pressed to keep fighting. Many would go out of business, profits would decline for others, and the high costs imposed by endless litigation would drive up the costs of guns and make it more difficult for many people to afford to buy them.It was a cynical strategy, but one that is about to end."


Texas: Ex-husband shot breaking through door: "A 41-year-old man was shot to death early Sunday morning when he tried to break into the house where his ex-wife was staying with another man. Chief Deputy Miguel Larsen of the Titus County Sheriff's Office said officers found William Joe Baker lying on the front porch of Marty Crocker's residence on County Road 3435. According to a news release, Baker went to Crocker's home seeking his ex-wife, Anita Baker, 41. Crocker called the police, saying that William Baker was hitting the door and threatening to kill them. ... She and William Baker had been divorced almost a year, he said. While deputies were en route to the scene, Larsen said the emergency call was disconnected. Crocker called back moments later and told the dispatcher he had fired his semi-automatic rifle multiple times through the door, hitting Baker in the head."


Tennessee: Victim strikes back "He said they'd gotten him two weeks ago in his front yard, forcing him to the ground with a gun and stealing $400. But this time, 59-year-old Jacob Evans was ready. Tuesday, the same two robbers returned, telling him to withdraw $10,000 from his bank, or die, he said. Instead, Evans deposited six bullets in one of them. "I got prepared for them," Evans said, standing outside the Criminal Justice Center Tuesday night. "Today they acted a damn fool and came back." Shortly after 2 p.m., Memphis police arrived at First Tennessee, at 1200 S. Third, and found one of the robbers shot to death, lying face down in the back seat of Evans's Lincoln Towncar. About 20 minutes earlier, Evans was pulling up to his home in the 300 block of Edsel in South Memphis, when the two 20-something men came out from behind some hedges with guns, forced a friend of his out of the car and jumped in. Evans was in the driver's seat, one robber was in the front seat and another in the back.... The man kept turning around nervously to look at the security guard, Evans said. That's when Evans reached under his seat and pulled out a .357 Magnum. "When he turned around, I unloaded six rounds in him," Evans said. "He didn't have a chance." Evans bought the gun in the parking lot of a gas station the day after he was robbed two weeks ago. He'd cleaned it up, putting baby oil in the revolver, so it'd be ready if he needed it... After being questioned by police, Evans said they told him he was free to go".

Virginia: More Richmonders acting in self-defense : "Richmond is armed and dangerous. And we're not just talking about the bad guys. Since March, there have been at least three fatal shootings of armed suspects by armed victims. In at least two of those cases, Richmond prosecutors say it was in self-defense. The Richmond commonwealth's attorney's office has concluded that the martial-arts instructor who fatally shot former NFL cornerback Mike Brim during a confrontation last April in South Richmond acted in self-defense. Prosecutors have also decided that a pizza deliveryman acted in self-defense in March when he fatally shot a teen who attempted to rob him in the Hillside Court neighborhood, also in South Richmond."


Ohio: Homeowner stops burglar with bullet : "A man was shot in the leg after he terrorized residents in one Dayton neighborhood, according to police. It all happened around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning on Tampa Avenue and Paul Lawrence Dunbar Street. Officials told 2News that the suspect was banging on doors, trying to break into homes. One homeowner got fed up and fired a warning shot. When the crook wouldn't go away, this same homeowner fired another shot, hitting the suspect in the leg. He was taken to the hospital for treatment. Police say he will be charged with attempted aggravated burglary. The homeowner isn't facing any charges at this time."


Feinstein gun ban could come up in the Senate soon: "While the big news of the day is President Bush's pick for the Supreme Court (more on this below), Gun Owners of America is hearing rumblings that the Senate will soon be considering legislation to slow down the number of frivolous lawsuits against gun makers. Although GOA is supportive of this legislation, S. 397, we must remember that anti-gun Senators used this legislation last year to load it up with all kinds of anti-gun riders -- things like gun show restrictions, semi-auto bans and more. In the end, pro-gun supporters were forced to vote against (and kill) the lawsuit protection bill in order to defeat the anti-gun amendments."

Illinois: Four shot, killed in Southland : "Four men were fatally shot in the Southland over the weekend, including an alleged burglar who was killed by an Evergreen Park homeowner, officials said. Evergreen Park police declined to comment Sunday on the death of Lawrence Edgeworth, a 41-year-old resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Edgeworth was possibly burglarizing a home in the 9000 block of South Utica Avenue Sunday about 2 a.m. when he was discovered by the homeowner, officials said. The homeowner fired a .44-caliber Magnum revolver at Edgeworth, striking him once in the chest, officials said."


Oklahoma: Self defense or murder? : "A man is shot and killed in Texoma. Now, investigators must determine if it was self-defense or murder. KTEN's Noelle Newton reports. OSBI officials say around 9:00 Saturday night, 28-year-old Jeremy Edward Hines of Swink drove up to a residence near Rufe and started an argument with the homeowner. Hines shot at the home and the homeowner fired back ... killing him. Hines was apparently a stranger to the homeowner. The homeowner's wife and two small children inside the home at the time of the shooting. No charges have been filed."


Israel: Settlers hand over weapons: "Dozens of residents in the Gaza settlement of Ganei Tal handed over their weapons Monday to local security officials, who in turn returned them to the IDF. Shlomo Vasertil, one of those who handed over their weapons, told Ynet this was a sad day for him. 'It's a day where a law abiding citizen who used the weapon to protect himself is asked by the State of Israel to return it,' he said. ... At 9:30 this morning, dozens of residents of Ganei Tal handed in their weapons to the settlement's head of security. Many of the weapons were handed in wrapped in ribbons, while others were returned with stickers and letters from the residents, including one which was addressed to the IDF chief of staff. 'This gun went with me for 26 years, during the winter and summer, in the heart and cold. It was there to protect my life and my family's life. It makes me sad to hand it back today because the defense minister is threatening us over the media. It's a sad day for me,' Vasertil told Ynet moments before handing in his weapon."

Washington: Officials back shooting range: "The owners of the Kenmore Gun Range property shouldn't be pressured into building hundreds of homes or condos, despite occupying 80 tempting acres of mostly vacant urban land, county officials said. Instead, it should remain an oasis for shooters surrounded by hundreds of homes on culs-de-sac in the county's urban core between Bothell and Brier. 'We promised we would be an outdoor recreation area forever,' said Vic Alvarez, a board member of Wildlife Committee of Washington, which owns the gun club. 'We provide a very necessary service not only to law enforcement and the military but to the community.'"


Missouri: Salvage yard owner says he shot intruder: "Early Monday morning, a prowler was shot at A/3 Auto Tire and Wheel at 14th Street and Jackson Avenue -- and it wasn't police doing the firing. Paul, who asked that his last name not be used, said he couldn't sleep, so he came into work before dawn. 'I couldn't sleep because they keep stealing from me down there,' Paul said. 'If you're going to catch a thief, you have to act like one.' Instead of using the front gate, Paul climbed through a hole in his chain link fence. 'I went in like an old rat, just the same way those scumbags do,' Paul said. He soon found himself face to face with a man who was stealing from Paul's truck. He told KMBC he fired two warning shots into the air. '(The man) raised his hand up like he was going to hit me with one of the wrenches he stole out of my truck,' Paul said. The owner said that's when he fired two shots at the prowler -- once in the buttocks, the other in the arm."


Wisconsin: Area police stand for victim disarmament: "Some local law enforcement agencies are joining the Wisconsin Anti Violence Effort against a new concealed-carry act even before it's introduced. 'We are not anti-gun, anti-hunter or anti-NRA,' Green Bay Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle said at a press event held by WAVE at the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay. 'This is an officer-safety issue and a community-safety issue. Green Bay, Appleton and Brown County are very safe communities, and concealed carry is a very dangerous proposition.'"

Michigan: Homeowner captures break-in suspect: "Isabella County sheriff's deputies didn't have to look very far for the man they believe broke into a Fremont Township garage and tried to get into a nearby home; the suspect was facing the business end of the homeowner's shotgun. The homeowner, Rust Brown, said his grandparents were murdered in a home invasion in Kingman, Ariz., on Feb. 26, 1999, and he wasn't about to let something like that happen again. Brown was awakened by his wife, Shannon Brown, 30, early Wednesday morning when she heard a noise, according to a sheriff's department report. The Browns discovered a screen had been removed and the window opened. Rust Brown grabbed his 12-gauge Winchester shotgun and went outside, following tracks in the wet grass to a nearby 1975 Ford pickup truck. There, he said he found the suspect hiding underneath. 'He was just hiding up in there,' Brown said. Brown is a former security guard, and he had a pair of handcuffs that he put to use."


Ohio: Motel clerk shoots would-be robber: "Police said a desk clerk shot a man who was attempting to rob an east side motel on Saturday night. Officers said that shortly before 9:30 p.m., a man walked into the Super 8 Motel, located at 2055 Brice Rd., showed a gun and demanded money. Police said the desk clerk on duty then shot the alleged robber, Antoine Stephens. Stephens, 20, was transported to Grant Medical Center and was in serious condition on Sunday morning, NBC 4 reported. Police said he would be charged with aggravated robbery. The motel clerk's name was not released. It was unclear as to whether he would be charged."


Man, 71, says he shot burglar: "A 71-year-old Leavenworth man told police Monday that he shot a man who had broken into his home. The homeowner, who lives in the 1100 block of Pawnee Street, told police that he heard someone breaking into his home about 8 a.m. Monday, said Leavenworth Police Maj. Patrick Kitchens. The homeowner said he saw a man standing at the top of a stairway near the garage. The homeowner told police he fired shots at the man, who fled out the door. Police think the intruder is a 24-year-old Lansing man who showed up at a Leavenworth hospital at 10:30 a.m. His injuries were not considered life-threatening. Kitchens said the Leavenworth County attorney would determine whether charges would be filed against the suspect. Prosecutors could also consider charges against the homeowner, Kitchens said, although the decision to use deadly force could be justified if the suspect was committing an aggravated burglary."

Vermont: SWAT team show off: "A police SWAT team raided an apartment house after shots were fired Tuesday afternoon. ... Eyewitnesses said it all started when a man armed with a knife broke into the building and threatened one of the tenants. One woman -- who was inside the apartment at the time -- said the man refused to leave, so her ex-boyfriend shot him in self defense. The standoff that followed shut down several streets in the neighborhood while more than a dozen officers surrounded the building to search for weapons or shooters inside."


The real protectors of freedom: "Our framers decided that the natural right of each individual to own weapons, and to form a militia with his neighbors, was the best guarantor of freedom. Further, there is no provision in the Constitution for a permanent, standing army -- to the contrary, the framers considered a standing army a constant threat to liberty. That was the essence of the Second Amendment which recognizes the importance of the militia -- a reference to all able-bodied males who owned guns -- and the right of Americans to keep and bear arms. In short, a well-armed citizenry is more important than any army when it comes to the defense of liberty. For proof of this, look no further than the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The most powerful military in the history of civilization was unable to prevent the hijacking of four commercial airliners. One or two guns on each of those planes, however, could have saved 3,000 lives. And yet we continue to think that a Second Generation military is key to winning a Fourth Generation war."

ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SLANT

The New York Times is far from alone in its habit of twisting the news. The Australian State of Tasmania was the site of a notorious massacre by a gunman some years ago and the following article from Tasmania's main newspaper is determined to find something bad about what has happened since. What it finds is that in the years since the massacre there has been a big rise in gun ownership in Tasmania -- but ......

There are now more firearms in Tasmania than before the Port Arthur massacre. The number of registered firearms has increased every year since tighter gun laws were introduced in 1996. And the past two years have seen an unprecedented explosion in registered weapons. Tasmania now has one of the highest rates of firearms per licence holder in the country -- an average of about four weapons per licensed shooter. Tasmania Police says there are 145,028 firearms now registered in the state. That is about 3000 more than Auditor-General Mike Blake recently estimated were in Tasmania in the year of the Port Arthur tragedy. The number of registered firearms has exploded by about 20,000 in the past two years.

National Coalition for Gun Control chairman Roland Browne said he was "astounded" by the latest figures. "It's astonishing," Mr Browne said. "There are too many guns kept in houses, there are too many guns, it poses a risk to the community." Mr Browne said the explosion in guns had to be explained. He said the issue ought to be addressed in an ongoing review of the state's gun laws.

Tasmanian Firearms Association president John Green was not surprised by the rise in gun numbers but said the new gun laws meant firearms were better regulated. He said the sharp increase in guns registered in Tasmania was not cause for concern to the community. The community's never been safer," Mr Green said.

Mr Blake's May report titled Gun Control in Tasmania found the new laws had been effective in reducing gun-related violent crime and suicide. The report found that since 1996 there had been a substantial decline in the use of firearms to commit violent crime and suicide. There had also been a parallel reduction in hospital admissions for firearm trauma, particularly as a result of accidental shootings......

So in a triumph of dishonest reporting that would do the New York Times proud, the newspaper has made a FALL in gun deaths into a problem!




Missouri: Carrier scares off assailants with gun: "A veteran contract carrier for The Kansas City Star parked close to the store at 5th Street and Troost Avenue like always early today. It meant a quick trip back to the safety of his van. But one of his four attackers, the biggest guy, was too quick for the carrier to drive away. The assailant and perhaps others in his group rained punches on the 66-year-old carrier through his driver-side window. He used a gun to fend them off, firing three times..... According to police, the carrier was assaulted just before 3 a.m.. The carrier said he saw the men emerge from Garrison Park and run toward him. �I thought at first they were probably just going to ask (for) money,� the carrier said. �I�ve been asked before by people, �I�m not here for trouble; I just need some help.� � He sometimes gives lose change. But these men, probably in their teens or 20s, were running at him. �He just said �Hey,� then pow,� the carrier said. While the carrier was being hit, the van, which he had already put in drive, moved a short distance and smacked into the concrete and brick of the store building. The carrier pulled a .380-caliber handgun from a holster he keeps near his seat. The attackers fled, running east, as the carrier fired a shot out his window. He got out of the van, stumbling, the carrier said, and fired two more shots above his assailants� heads. Investigators were unsure if the gunfire hit any of the attackers. The victim, police said, appeared to be within his rights defending himself."

Raging Against Self Defense: A Psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality

"You don't need to have a gun; the police will protect you."

"If people carry guns, there will be murders over parking spaces and neighborhood basketball games."

"I'm a pacifist. Enlightened, spiritually aware people shouldn't own guns."

"I'd rather be raped than have some redneck militia type try to rescue me."

How often have you heard these statements from misguided advocates of victim disarmament, or even woefully uninformed relatives and neighbors? Why do people cling so tightly to these beliefs, in the face of incontrovertible evidence that they are wrong? Why do they get so furiously angry when gun owners point out that their arguments are factually and logically incorrect? How can you communicate with these people who seem to be out of touch with reality and rational thought?

One approach to help you deal with anti-gun people is to understand their psychological processes. Once you understand why these people behave so irrationally, you can communicate more effectively with them.

Defense Mechanisms: Projection

About a year ago I received an e-mail from a member of a local Jewish organization. The author, who chose to remain anonymous, insisted that people have no right to carry firearms because he didn't want to be murdered if one of his neighbors had a "bad day". (I don't know that this person is a "he", but I'm assuming so for the sake of simplicity.) I responded by asking him why he thought his neighbors wanted to murder him, and, of course, got no response. The truth is that he's statistically more likely to be murdered by a neighbor who doesn't legally carry a firearm and more likely to be shot accidentally by a law enforcement officer.

How does my correspondent "know" that his neighbors would murder him if they had guns? He doesn't. What he was really saying was that if he had a gun, he might murder his neighbors if he had a bad day, or if they took his parking space, or played their stereos too loud. This is an example of what mental health professionals call projection - unconsciously projecting one's own unacceptable feelings onto other people, so that one doesn't have to own them. In some cases, the intolerable feelings are projected not onto a person, but onto an inanimate object, such as a gun, so that the projector believes the gun itself will murder him.

Projection is a defense mechanism. Defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological mechanisms that protect us from feelings that we cannot consciously accept. They operate without our awareness, so that we don't have to deal consciously with "forbidden" feelings and impulses. Thus, if you asked my e-mail correspondent if he really wanted to murder his neighbors, he would vehemently deny it, and insist that other people want to kill him.

Projection is a particularly insidious defense mechanism, because it not only prevents a person from dealing with his own feelings, it also creates a world where he perceives everyone else as directing his own hostile feelings back at him.

All people have violent, and even homicidal, impulses. For example, it's common to hear people say "I'd like to kill my boss", or "If you do that one more time I'm going to kill you." They don't actually mean that they're going to, or even would, kill anyone; they're simply acknowledging anger and frustration. All of us suffer from fear and feelings of helplessness and vulnerability. Most people can acknowledge feelings of rage, fear, frustration, jealousy, etc. without having to act on them in inappropriate and destructive ways.

Some people, however, are unable consciously to admit that they have such "unacceptable" emotions. They may have higher than average levels of rage, frustration, or fear. Perhaps they fear that if they acknowledge the hostile feelings, they will lose control and really will hurt someone. They may believe that "good people" never have such feelings, when in fact all people have them.

This is especially true now that education "experts" commonly prohibit children from expressing negative emotions or aggression. Instead of learning that such emotions are normal, but that destructive behavior needs to be controlled, children now learn that feelings of anger are evil, dangerous and subject to severe punishment.7To protect themselves from "being bad", they are forced to use defense mechanisms to avoid owning their own normal emotions. Unfortunately, using such defense mechanisms inappropriately can endanger their mental health; children need to learn how to deal appropriately with reality, not how to avoid it.

(This discussion of psychological mechanisms applies to the average person who is uninformed, or misinformed, about firearms and self-defense. It does not apply to the anti- gun ideologue. Fanatics like Charles Schumer know the facts about firearms, and advocate victim disarmament consciously and willfully in order to gain political power. This psychological analysis does not apply to them.)

Denial

Another defense mechanism commonly utilized by supporters of gun control is denial. Denial is simply refusing to accept the reality of a given situation. For example, consider a woman whose husband starts coming home late, has strange perfume on his clothes, and starts charging flowers and jewelry on his credit card. She may get extremely angry at a well-meaning friend who suggests that her husband is having an affair. The reality is obvious, but the wronged wife is so threatened by her husband's infidelity that she is unable to accept it, and so denies its existence.

More -- much more -- here





Mississippi: No indictment for teen in fatal shoting: "Police say a Jackson teenager who killed his mother's live-in boyfriend last year acted in self defense. A grand jury has decided not to indict 17-year-old Michael Smith, who was accused of killing 47-year-old Robert Day August 3rd, 2004. Police say Day allegedly shot the boy's mother, 35-year-old Margaret Smith, in the head before the 17-year-old pulled a gun on Day. The shootings occurred in a field, blocks from the couple's home. Margaret smith died the next day at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Day was pronounced dead at the scene. "

L.A.: A dead Katz: "A Santa Monica man was shot to death by one of the victims who he attempted to rob at gunpoint at the drive-through area of Jack in the Box, 2025 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, early Thursday, July 21st, Santa Monica police said. Santa Monica police responded to the fast-food restaurant at Lincoln Boulevard and Grant Street at 4:43 a.m. after receiving a call regarding shots fired at the scene, police said. Officers spoke to two male victims who said that they were inside their commercial van at the restaurant drive-through when a man wearing a hooded shirt and a ski mask allegedly approached the passenger side of the vehicle and displayed a handgun and a knife, Santa Monica Lt. Frank Fabrega said. The alleged robber � who has been identified by the county coroner's office as Steven Alexander Katz, 27, of Santa Monica � allegedly held the handgun up to the passenger's head and demanded money, Fabrega said. The passenger then grabbed the suspect's hand and a struggle ensued. "At that time, the suspect stabbed the victim (passenger) in the hand with the knife," Fabrega said. During the struggle between the passenger and the suspect, the driver of the vehicle retrieved his own gun that he had inside the vehicle and shot the suspect in the upper body, police said. The suspect then fled from the vehicle and collapsed a few feet away near the alley, police said. The two victims, one from Inglewood and the other from Venice, waited at the scene until police arrived. Santa Monica Fire Department paramedics also responded and pronounced the suspect dead at the scene, police said."


Ohio: School security guard fires at gunman: "A security guard told police he shot at a man who pulled a gun on him in front of a school Wednesday morning .... Police said they are looking for 52-year-old Thomas Edward Wright Corn, a convicted kidnapper who is out on parole. Police have charged him with felonious assault and carrying a concealed weapon. ... The guard said he walked up to a man and a woman arguing in front of Life Skill School at 7710 Reading Road in Roselawn. The guard said students were about to go on break, and he was doing a routine walk around the school building to secure it. The guard said he thought the argument was escalating, so he approached the couple to try to calm them down. The man pulled a gun and pointed it at him, the guard said. The guard said he fired and the man ran."


Indiana: Police rule shooting self-defense: "Police in Clay County, Indiana responded to a shooting around 4:00pm Tuesday. Police say the victim [sic] attempted to break into the house of his girlfriend at 8062 North County Road 400 East when he was shot. The Clay County Sheriff`s Department says they found Doug Fulk shot in the leg. He was air-evaced to St. Vincent Clay Hospital and then to Methodist hospital in Indianapolis with non-life threatening injuries. Police say Jaimee Gillen, a male acquaintance of Fulk's girlfriend who was in the house at the time, shot Fulk with a rifle. Gillen was detained briefly but released after police determined he acted in self-defense. The investigation continues as they attempt to track down all people involved."

Ohio: Pharmacist opens fire in attempted robbery: "Authorities said a man tried to hold up a Dayton pharmacy, but the pharmacist decided to fight back. The attempted robbery happened Monday afternoon at Ray's Pharmacy on Catalpa Drive. Police said a man in a mask entered the business and tried to hold it up. Officers said that is when the pharmacist opened fire. Authorities said the robber was not injured and ran away. Police continue to search for him."


Louisiana: Robber, clerk in shootout: "A would-be robber and a convenience store clerk got into a shootout early today in Shreveport. It happened at a Citgo on South Lakeshore Drive. Police said a man walked into the store and demanded money. Rather than give up any cash, the clerk pulled a handgun. Both men started shooting at each other. Neither was wounded."

NRA TAKES ON OIL COMPANY

The company wants its workers to be totally defenceless against workplace attacks

The National Rifle Association and ConocoPhillips, one of the nation's largest energy companies, headed toward a showdown over gun control on private property on Tuesday, with the rifle association vowing to put up hundreds of billboards casting the oil giant as an enemy of gun owners. "We didn't seek this fight, and we're not running away from it if it means taking on one of the largest corporations in the world," Wayne LaPierre, the rifle association's executive vice president, said in a phone interview from Washington after returning from Oklahoma, where he had announced the boycott on Monday night.

The association is focusing its wrath on ConocoPhillips because the company joined a federal lawsuit to block an Oklahoma law that allows employees to keep guns in cars parked in company lots. The law was enacted after 12 workers were fired from a Weyerhaeuser paper mill in southeast Oklahoma in 2002.

ConocoPhillips - the largest company based in Houston and the largest oil refiner in the country, with assets of $97 billion - did not respond in detail. A spokesman, Jeffrey Callender, said the company had been "in touch with the N.R.A. throughout the process" and "at this point was continuing to maintain its stance." ConocoPhillips also issued a short statement saying that it supported the Second Amendment and the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns. "Our primary concern is the safety of all our employees," the company said, adding, "We are simply trying to provide a safe and secure working environment for our employees by keeping guns out of our facilities, including our company parking lots."....

The companies involved in the lawsuit say that with about 17 killings a week in American workplaces, it was sound policy and within their rights as property owners to ban weapons from their parking lots.

Mr. LaPierre said that "nobody is proposing you be allowed to walk into a nuclear plant with a gun," but that workers had a constitutional right to keep legal weapons secured in their cars when they went to work. The rifle association, which says 90 million Americans own guns, is asking its 4 million members and others not to patronize Conoco or Phillips 66 gas stations. Just last month, it canceled plans to hold its 2007 national convention in Columbus, Ohio, after that city enacted a ban on assault weapons.

The dispute in Oklahoma stems from a crackdown at Weyerhaeuser against employee drug abuse. A company spokesman, Bruce Amundson, said trained dogs sniffing in the parking lot of the paper mill in Valliant found a dozen cars with rifles, shotguns, handguns and some automatic weapons, violations of a new policy banning weapons in cars. The gun owners, including contract workers for Kellogg Brown & Root, were fired....

In response to the firings, Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill that would bar property owners from restricting those without felony records from keeping firearms in a locked vehicle. But that measure, to take effect in November, has now been blocked by the companies' lawsuit.

More here




Machine gun gala: "But why have a machine-gun shoot? What's the purpose of this little exercise, given that full-auto firearms don't have a lot of use in the everyday world? I mean, you wouldn't want to shoot a deer with a fully automatic weapon. Potting a burglar with one would be the very definition of 'overkill.' Not to mention the very definition of 'lawsuit.' Even in combat, for which machine guns were developed, in most cases Our Very Own Government considers short bursts more PC and less wasteful than stereotypical 'spray and pray' (as the gun-haters like to put it). Why do it? Because it's a howling hoot. Because learning to master virtually any shooting skill makes people more self-confident and capable. Because it's a first-class fireworks display (as you see when night falls on the happy machine gunners). And because these are, after all, real-live military weapons in the hands of American civilians -- where they belong."

Aggressive SC teens get the bullet: "Two area teenagers were shot by a Burton man Monday morning after they reportedly broke into his home, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. Michael Shane Kearney, 19, of Beaufort, was charged with second-degree burglary and sent to the Beaufort County Detention Center after being treated at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. The second suspect, a Burton 16-year-old, was still at the hospital Monday night and will be charged with burglary once released, according to a Sheriff's Office report. He'll probably be charged as an adult and his name will be released at that time, spokeswoman Debbie Szpanka said. The suspects entered the Goethe Hill Road home at about 11:30 a.m., which woke the resident from a nap, according to a Sheriff's Office report. When the resident confronted the suspects, they came toward him, and the man shot them several times, according to reports. One of the teens was picked up at the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Burton and the other at the McDonald's in Beaufort".


Gun bill only sold out lawyers: "I'm not a member of the National Rifle Association. It's never furnished me with a dime, and I don't expect any campaign contributions anytime soon. That should make me unique because, to hear media accounts, I must be the only person in America who isn't on the NRA payroll yet agrees with the bill the Senate passed Friday banning frivolous liability lawsuits against gun companies."

Pennsylvania: 83-year-old fires at two suspected of break-in: "An 83-year-old resident of Rod and Gun Road fired several shots at two men he thought were burglarizing his Millcreek Twp. house, but the men escaped in a truck. Millcreek Twp. police are trying to find the men. According to police reports, a newer-model white Chevrolet truck with two ladders attached pulled up to Herman Smith's home Friday. One of the men got out of the truck and talked to Smith about doing work on his roof. ... Smith refused the work, but the man asked Smith to use his bathroom. Smith told him to use the field behind his property. Smith, who had been sitting on his porch, then went inside and saw that his screen window had been smashed. He grabbed his rifle and went back outside, seeing the truck with the two men leaving. He fired several shots with his .22-caliber rifle, police said."


Selling guns to the gun shy: "Experiencing sluggish sales largely because hunters represent an aging demographic, the $2 billion-a-year gun industry has launched bolder marketing pitches to attract novices into the world of weaponry. Gun makers see potential growth in the self-defense, security and target-shooting markets, and the young, edgy, camouflage-clad Gen Y crowd is squarely in the cross hairs. 'You don't have to be a hunter to go shoot,' says Scott Blackwell, division manager for manufacturing, product development and law enforcement at Beretta USA. ... Taking advantage of a prevailing pro-gun political climate in Washington, a fear of terrorism, and the steady liberalization of gun ownership spreading through statehouses across the country, Smith & Wesson and other makers and sellers of guns are touting a host of new products and features."

ATTEMPTED SHAKEDOWN BY NAACP (AND OTHERS) FAILS

The NAACP this week did not distinguish itself in the advancement of black Americans, or any Americans, for that matter. Instead it became the latest in a long list of losers � liberal activist power cliques � to fail in a frivolous lawsuit against gun manufacturers. But the word "frivolous" trivializes the damage done to companies like Colt's Manufacturing Co. and Smith & Wesson, who for a century and a half have outfitted civilians and the military with good quality firearms. All the companies together spent $10 million just defending themselves against the NAACP's shakedown lawsuit. The formerly reputable civil-rights group made a sleazy grab for the same money that over a dozen big-city mayors had gone for, with the same humbling results.

It all started back in 1998 when New Orleans mayor Marc Morial filed suit against a group of firearm manufacturers, claiming they were responsible for criminal abuse of firearms in his city. No groundswell of support motivated Morial. He was a crusader for the liberal cause of gun control, and he urged his fellow mayors to bring similar actions. Gun-control lobbyists like the Brady Campaign (then known as Handgun Control, Inc.) joined in, bringing along the enormously wealthy foundations that had long been their patrons.

Soon the firearm industry faced a flying wedge of mayors, gun-control activists, and plaintiff attorneys, all pushing the outlandish claim that gun makers were responsible for the criminal misuse of their products. The argument started with the assumption that guns are a "public nuisance." Manufacturers knew that some of their product was being diverted to the criminal underground market and were therefore to blame. Nowhere was it alleged that the criminals themselves might have played a part, or heaven forbid, that the cities' own police departments had failed to stop crime.

But courts all over the U.S. have rejected the suits, one by one. Appeals courts have mostly agreed. The lawsuits filed by officials of New Orleans, Boston, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Bridgeport, Conn., Wilmington, Del., Camden County, N.J., and Miami-Dade County have all been tossed out of court and denied on appeal, according to a scorecard kept by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Chicago, Gary, Ind., Washington, D.C. and the states of California and New York all had their cases dismissed by trial courts and are now appealing.

In an increasingly unhinged world of litigation, courts have shown refreshing wisdom in rejecting the claims. As the Florida appellate court said in throwing out Miami-Dade County's suit, "The judiciary is not empowered to 'enact' regulatory measures in the guise of injunctive relief. The power to legislate belongs not to the judicial branch of government but to the legislative branch." Hijacking legislative power is, of course, what the mayors and their gun-control-activist comrades had in mind.

The worst part of it all is the utter contempt that even top government officials have for due process. Clinton Cabinet member Andrew Cuomo threatened gun manufacturers with "death by a thousand cuts," a brazen reference to the strategy of bankrupting them with defense lawyers' fees. The mendacious litigants knew their end run around orderly lawmaking was not likely to succeed, and they forged ahead anyway.

Mayor Morial was shut down by the Louisiana legislature, which invalidated his lawsuit and any others like it. Boston city lawyers realized during the discovery phase that their case was so weak they petitioned the court to dismiss it. Ironically, in their withdrawal statement the city acknowledged that gun manufacturers were "committed to the safe, legal, and responsible sale and use of their products." Cincinnati's city council, watching their own litigation costs mount, voted unanimously to drop that city's suit against gun makers. Being slapped down by both the trial court and the court of appeals convinced them that their case was no more likely to win than Boston's.

In summary, small groups of elite powerbrokers around the country have abused the judicial process in an attempt to destroy the firearm-manufacturing industry. They have fraudulently harmed a highly regulated industry that deals honestly in a legal product. The estimated $100 million that gun makers have spent so far to defend themselves is already jacking up the price of guns those same cities will have to buy for their police departments. And so it goes.

That small urban-power elites could wreak such damage outside legitimate government channels is an outrage that cries out for a legislative solution. Thirty states have already passed laws barring malicious litigation against innocent gun manufacturers. A federal law would put a stop to judicial abuses and leave gun policy to the legislatures. What an agreeably democratic change that would be.

Source

Canucks too embarrassed to prosecute natives: "A First Nations activist arrested in a dramatic police take-down on the Burrard Bridge last month says he still hasn't been charged with anything. David Dennis, a member of the West Coast Warriors -- and two other men -- were stopped in their van and arrested at gunpoint on June 27 by the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET). The police seized 14 hunting rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The three men were released a short time later. Dennis says his lawyer has told him a charge of possession of a dangerous weapon with the intent to commit a crime is being considered. But Dennis doubts it would ever stand up in court. 'I can't see where they would try to find a charge that would precede a crime. Because no way have we committed any crime in the past, and no way will be committing a crime in the future.' Dennis also argues that his rifles were fully registered, and he wants them back. ... RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Tom Seaman will only say the investigation is ongoing, and the guns are not being returned for now."



Atlanta oldster shoots alleged home invader twice : A 69-year-old man stopped two alleged home invaders when he met their rush into his southwest Atlanta home with shots from his handgun. One of the alleged home invaders, a 16-year-old, was shot in the chest and arm. Atlanta police Sgt. Kevin Iosty said a woman knocked on the door of Robert Evans' Ira Street home about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, asking for beer. When Evans opened the door, two males rushed in, one armed with a shotgun, Iosty said. Evans "retrieved his own handgun and shot one of the perpetrators twice, at which point both males and the female took off running, jumped in a black Saturn and fled," Iosty said. Arriving officers broadcast a description of the Saturn, and other officers spotted the car on the Downtown Connector at Fulton Street. Police stopped the car and found a 16-year-old male in the back seat with gunshot wounds. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. His condition was not available Wednesday afternoon. Two women, ages 19 and 38, also were in the Saturn, which had been stolen. The wounded youth and the women were charged with armed robbery and theft by receiving, Iosty said. Police declined to release the names of those arrested because one of the suspects remained on the run. No charges have been filed against Evans, Iosty said.