Arkansas pharmacy robber shot: "Marion, AR - A would-be robber is recovering in the med after being shot by the store clerk he was trying to rob. It happened this afternoon at the marion discount pharmacy in marion arkansas. Tonight.. Locals are calling the shooter a hero. It's well-known around town that Marion discount pharmacy had been robbed three times before. Locals are fed up. And when they heard how an attempted robbery got foiled.. Some.. Called the shooter a hero. "There was a guy laying in front of the door," says Nicky Glover a bystander who hadn't seen anything like this happen in Marion before. Marion Discount Pharmacy had just been robbed two weeks ago. But this latest attempt sent the would-be robber to the hospital. The shooter? A female pharmacist who was tired of being scared. "I think she probably solved a lot of problems here in Marion," says a friend who came to give support when they heard pharmacist Susan Burns shot a robber in her store. "We're all tired up and down this mall of robbers, thieves. She's my hometown hero." Police say around 3pm, the suspect, 26-year-old Jeremy Johnson, walked in with a gun. Police say Johnson then told a pharmacist behind the counter to get down on the ground, and ordered another to get him drugs. Somehow, Burns pulled a gun from behind the counter and fired. Police say the last time a robber came in, that robber had stuck a gun to her head. This robber didn't get far. Police say Johnson already had a warrant out for his arrest stemming from another robbery in Tennessee."


Idaho teens make a point: "Two home-schooled teenagers in this northern Idaho town say they are carrying loaded guns to the library, grocery store and other public areas for self-defense, as a crime deterrent, and to educate others about their rights. Zach Doty, 18, carries a loaded Glock handgun on his hip. His 15-year-old brother, Steven, carries a .22-caliber rifle in a sling on his back. Police have been called on several occasions to question the teens but have not found the teens to be in violation of the law. In Idaho, residents 18 and older can openly carry a firearm in public. And those ages 13 to 17 who have parental permission can carry a rifle in public. "I certainly don't anticipate that I'll need to use it, but I'd rather have it and not need it than to not have it and need it," Zach told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "There's no reason for me to hide a weapon." Zach was stopped April 17 on his way to Bible study. On Friday, police again responded when someone reported the brothers with guns in a park. But police left after confirming it was the Doty's."


Comment by economist Walter Williams: "Now let's turn to gun control laws. What do Virginia Tech's 32 murders, Columbine High School's 13 murders, Jonesboro Westside Middle School's five murders, Germany's Gutenberg High School's 16 murders, the murder of 14 legislators in Zug, Switzerland, and the murder of eight city council members in a Paris suburb all have in common? Answer: All the murders were committed in "gun-free zones." So a reasonable question is: Does legislation creating gun-free zones prevent murder and mayhem? In 1970, Israel adopted a policy to arm teachers and parents serving as school aids with semi-automatic weapons. Attacks by gunmen at Israeli schools have ceased. At Appalachian Law School in Virginia, a gunman who had already murdered three people was stopped from further carnage by two armed students. Gun possession stopping crime is not atypical, though it goes unreported by the media. According to various research estimates, from 764,000 to as many as 2.5 million crimes are prevented by armed, law-abiding people either warning a criminal that they're armed, brandishing their weapon or shooting a criminal. In the interest of truth in packaging, I think we should rename "gun-free zones" to "defenseless zones."