Texas robber dead: "Gunfire broke out during a holdup at a family-owned roofing company early Sunday, leaving one attempted robber dead and the business owner seriously wounded, Houston police said. Detectives said Sergio Rodriguez, his brother and a co-worker were preparing to open about 6:50 a.m. when three or four armed men forced their way inside the building in the 10500 block of Foy. "Somewhere in the middle of the (robbery), Mr. Rodriguez was shot," said Houston Police Department homicide investigator Fil Waters. One of the roofers managed to grab a gun and began shooting, fatally striking one of the intruders and wounding another. Rodriguez also was struck during the gunfire exchange, police said. "My understanding is that he's in surgery and will recover," Waters said. Sergio Rodriguez Jr. stood outside the crime-scene tape later Sunday as police continued their investigation. "To me, he's the man of steel," Rodriguez said of his wounded father. "He works every day, trying to take care of the family. Without him, I don't know what to do. Police recovered a vehicle at a nearby supermarket that may have been involved in the robbery. "It has bullet holes in the windshield. Evidence inside the vehicle would indicate that someone was probably hit," Waters said, declining to elaborate. Police plan to question a third man who later showed up at an area hospital with at least three gunshot wounds."


Florida: Robber in critical condition after being shot by handyman: "A man working on a home just north of Springfield this afternoon shot an armed man who tried to rob him, said Sgt. Derrick Lewis of the Sheriff's Office. The shooting occurred about 1:15 p.m. on West 24th Street near North Pearl Street. Police said a man armed with a gun approached the man working on a house and the worker, who was also armed, opened fire. The wounded man fled south on Pearl Street and collapsed outside a music store at West 23rd Street, a witness said. The wounded man was taken to Shands Jacksonville hospital and listed in critical condition, Lewis said. The worker is being questioned by police, but has not been charged. Their identities have not been released. Police recovered both guns, Lewis said. Lewis said the worker carried a gun because of his concerns about crime in the area, where shootings and drug deals are common."


House Democrats Seek Less-Rigid D.C. Gun Laws: "Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have agreed to allow a vote next month on a bill that would end local handgun control in the District, making it easier for D.C. residents to acquire pistols, including semiautomatics, while eliminating the strict handgun-storage requirements imposed by the city. Supporters say the bill has a good chance of passing the House, where pro-gun measures are popular. But it is unclear whether it would succeed in the Senate, where complex rules make it harder to push through legislation. The measure, filed Thursday by several conservative Democrats, adds more fuel to the debate over gun control in the nation's capital. After a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision June 26 ended the city's 32-year-old handgun ban, the District replaced the ban with strict handgun limits, which critics say violate the high court's ruling. The bill would scrap those limits, allowing residents to own handguns without registering them with the D.C. police department, provided they meet federal requirements for firearms ownership."


Chicago: Daley hints he may drop fight to keep handgun ban : Mayor Daley on Friday cracked the door open to abandoning the costly fight to uphold Chicago's 1982 handgun freeze -- if he can fashion a replacement ordinance that protects the safety of first-responders. Until now, Daley had promised to defend Chicago's ordinance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, despite what he called the dangerous precedent set by the court. The National Rifle Association then filed lawsuits seeking to overturn handgun bans in Chicago, Morton Grove, Evanston and Oak Park. Wilmette and Morton Grove preemptively repealed their bans. Now that both suburbs have thrown in the towel, and newspaper editorials have urged Daley to do the same to save millions in legal costs on a fight he can't win, he appears to be having second thoughts. At a news conference called to tout the 6,848 guns collected at last week's gun turn-in program, Daley was asked point-blank whether he would continue the legal fight to keep Chicago's handgun ban. "We don't know yet. ... We're not gonna run away. We're gonna try to figure this out," he said."