MN: Homeowner thwarts burglars, provides clue: "A homeowner who chased off two burglars and shot at one of them might have provided the clue that led Wright County deputies to the suspects. The homeowner awoke about 5:50 a.m. Tuesday to find two thieves in his Victor Township house. He grabbed his gun and fired as he chased one of them down the stairs and into the yard. The suspect got in a Chevy Tahoe that had been reported stolen and took off, the sheriff said. The homeowner went back inside and found that the second suspect had fled out a window and that several items had been taken, the sheriff said. Tuesday afternoon, deputies found the Tahoe at an elementary school in Cokato, Minn., with a bullet hole in the side. That night, deputies investigating a call about a car prowler in Cokato found and arrested a 20-year-old man from Blaine on outstanding warrants. He provided information tied to the home invasion, the sheriff said. Deputies then searched the apartment of another man, and they found two men and most of the items taken in the home invasion, a news release said. Police arrested an 18-year-old Coon Rapids man and a 24-year-old from Cokato. Charges are pending. The men also are suspects in two bank robberies in Cokato".



Self defense in Vermont? "At around 9 p.m. Saturday, police were called to 76 Smith St., where they found Sean Grant, 36, shot to death in his first-floor living room, according to State Police Lt. Tim Oliver. Oliver, whose detectives worked with investigators from the Rutland County Sheriff's Department, said police have recovered a revolver they believe was used in the shooting. Four other people were inside the white, two-story home at the time of the shooting including Grant's wife, Wendy Pelkey-Grant, her two children Alyssia Pelkey, 21, and Eric Hall, 18, as well as Alyssia Pelkey's boyfriend, Glen Rathjen, police said.... Police said witnesses told police that during a heated argument with his step-daughter, Alyssia Pelkey, Grant left the room, returning with a revolver that he set on a table before continuing the debate. During the exchange, Alyssia Pelkey's brother, Eric Hall, intervened on his sister's behalf. Witnesses told police that Grant turned on Hall and grabbed him by the throat. As Hall, Alyssia Pelkey and Rathjen said they struggled with Grant, Pelkey-Grant told police she picked up the handgun and shot her husband once in the hand and twice in the chest. Pelkey-Grant told police that she was in fear for her children's safety and only wanted to stop Grant when she acted. Witnesses also told police that Grant was drunk at the time of the shooting." [Four people could not restrain him?]


OH: `Open carry' walk to be held Saturday : "In commemoration of the 'shot heard round the world' that started the American Revolution 233 years ago, two local men have organized an `open carry' walk in Urbana for Saturday, April 19, `Patriots' Day.'Tom Horch of Urbana said . the issue of the right to keep and bear arms has become more prominent in this election year." 'Back in March, I saw an article where a man was minding his own business, not doing anything wrong, and he was harassed by the police,' Horch said.... we usually get together every year on Patriots' Day to do something, and it just dawned on me that we should do this.'Horch said open-carry is legal in Ohio, but many residents need to be reminded of that fact."


Good citizens and guns: "April 16 marks one year since the massacre at Virginia Tech by mentally disturbed student Seung-Hui Cho. Last week the university offered anguished parents a settlement of $100,000 per murdered child. There are three things wrong with this: First, even in financial terms, it is hopelessly inadequate to redress the deaths of these talented young people. Second, it does nothing to correct the useless, symbolic policy which facilitated their deaths. Third, if you don't think that the policy is wrong,Virginia Tech has no liability for the deaths it facilitated. That policy is the 'gun-free zone.' Even if the victims had possessed permits to carry a gun, Virginia Tech forbade them to have that means of self-defense while on campus. This ensured that only the killer (who, of course, violated the 'gun-free zone' policy just as he violated the laws against murder) and uniformed police would have guns."