SC: Suspect in shooting claims self-defense: "A Spartanburg teenager continued to recover from a gunshot wound to the neck on Sunday, but police remained unsure as to the path that took him to the hospital. Martinez "Dee" Nesbitt, 17, of 548 Pierpont Ave., was taken to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center late Saturday after officers found him lying on the floor of an apartment on Vernon Street and bleeding from his head. Initially, he was in critical condition. On Sunday, he was upgraded to serious condition.... Witnesses said that Nesbitt, the teenager, went into that apartment and put a gun to the head of Wanda Phillips - Paul Dawkins' girlfriend. Phillips told police that Nesbitt held her, her two daughters and the Dawkins' mother at gunpoint until Paul Dawkins arrived. At that point, he attempted to rob them of cash and cell phones, the report states. Police worked through the night trying to sort out details in the shooting, and they returned to the scene Sunday afternoon, Capt. Steve Lamb said. No one has been charged in the shooting so far."


Prosecutors have yet to prove case in NY police shooting: "The testimony in the Sean Bell trial has been dramatic and heartbreaking, particularly when the dying man's last words to a friend -- "I love you, too" -- were retold last week. But it's unclear if four weeks of such evidence will be enough to convince a Queens Supreme Court judge that three detectives are guilty of manslaughter and other charges in the Nov. 25, 2006, police shooting that killed Bell and wounded two of his friends. A group of defense attorneys, none with any connection to the case, believe that so far, Queens prosecutors have not proved their case against the cops. The lawyers said they've seen nothing that would disprove the cops' central assertion -- that they acted with legal justification when they fired 50 shots at Bell and his friends after the pals had spent the night partying at the Kalua Cabaret strip club." [Case summary here]


John Lott on Obama: "Obama was on the board of directors for the Joyce Foundation, which funded such anti-gun groups as the Violence Policy Center, the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, and Handgun Free America. Both the Violence Policy Center and Handgun Free America, as its name suggests, are in favor of a complete ban on handguns. During his tenure on the board, the Joyce Foundation was probably the major funder of pro-control research in the United States. In fact, I knew Obama during the mid-1990s, and his answers to IVI’s question on guns fit well with the Obama that I knew. Indeed, the first time I introduced myself to him he said “Oh, you are the gun guy.” I responded “Yes, I guess so.” He simply responded that “I don’t believe that people should be able to own guns". When I said it might be fun to talk about the question sometime and about his support of the city of Chicago’s lawsuit against the gun makers, he simply grimaced and turned away, ending the conversation. If taken literally, Obama’s statement to me was closer to what the IL State Legislative National Political Awareness Test found, indicating that Obama's bans would extend well beyond handguns. Obama also opposes the current laws in 48 states that let citizens carry concealed handguns for protection claiming, despite all the academic studies to the contrary, that "I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations."


An interesting slidesow here with 34 pictures of military firearms and asssociated stuff from 1871 onwards.