Why gun bans don't work � and what to do: "In November, voters in San Francisco approved a ballot measure to ban the sale and manufacture of firearms in the city, and ownership of handguns. Backers of the measure claimed that San Francisco taxpayers spent at least $31.2 million responding to gun violence every year. Proponents often said they "just didn't like guns around." The NRA has already filed a lawsuit to overturn the measure, but the vote sends a message. San Francisco joins Chicago and Washington, DC, Great Britain, Australia and Canada, in enacting draconian firearms regulations. Such bans are being pushed by a large, well-funded movement to restrict, license and ban firearms on the pretense that such bans will somehow reduce violence. And they are likely to grow in momentum, unless some drastic steps are taken. No one, except criminals, wants crime and mayhem. But however well-intentioned anti-gun folks may be, research shows that gun bans are likely to get the opposite results of what they are intended to achieve, because legal gun owners by and large are not criminally inclined. And without self-defense, people become easy prey for human predators. Simon Fraser University professor Gary Mauser finds that a year after the British obediently surrendered 160,000 legal handguns, London muggings were up 53 percent, gun murders up 90 percent and robbery up more than 100 percent. By the year following, annual gun crimes overall had risen 39 percent. This pattern has continued. The rate of violent crime in England and Wales is more than double the United States. It is now more dangerous to walk the streets of London than New York".



CO: Co-owner held in bar shooting : "The co-owner of the Funky Buddha bar is facing a criminal charge of first-degree aggravated assault in connection with the shooting of a burglar earlier this week. Christakes Christou, 60, is being held at the Denver County Jail on $50,000 bail. Denver police said he shot Dwayne Stepp, 44, about 3 a.m. Tuesday during a burglary inside the bar at 776 Lincoln St. Stepp, who was shot in the abdomen, is expected to survive. ... Police spokesman Sonny Jackson declined to say whether investigators believe Christou acted in self-defense, but emphasized the charge Christou faces indicates an aggravated assault. Business owners do not fall under the protection of Colorado's 'Make My Day' law that allows homeowners to defend themselves if they encounter an intruder, Jackson said."