Florida Shooting Was Self-Defense: "A jury agreed that a 26-year-old Winter Haven man was acting in self-defense when he shot a man in his mother's yard, but that he shouldn't have ruined the man's Christmas decorations. Matthew Lankford was charged with attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and criminal mischief. On Saturday, a jury acquitted Lankford of attempted murder and assault. However, he was found guilty of criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. He was released with time served. Prosecutors said that Lankford shot Douglas Sheldon with a .45-caliber handgun when a neighborhood dispute got out of control. During opening statements, Shearer told jurors that Sheldon's drunken behavior was what got him shot. Shearer said Sheldon assaulted Lankford's mother, who was struck to the ground. A fight then erupted between Sheldon and Justin Pellegrino, a friend of Lankford. Lankford went into his truck and got his handgun but kept the weapon holstered, Shearer said. Lankford told Sheldon repeatedly to leave, but Sheldon wouldn't go even when the gun was drawn and pointed at him, Shearer said. Lankford fired a single bullet when Sheldon came toward him, Shearer said."


DE:Gun purchase glitch examined : "Delaware State Police stopped Alvina Vansickle from purchasing a .22-caliber pistol for self-defense because she was too old and a woman, said Superintendent Col. Thomas MacLeish.The outrage that followed led to the revelation that Delaware State Police had been keeping lists of gun buyers for years; state law requires them to destroy these records after 60 days.Without so much as a traffic ticket, the 81-year-old Lewes resident should have sailed through the mandatory state police background check when she tried to buy a Taurus revolver from Charlie Steele's Lewes gun shop last August."


ACORN uses public funds to steal elections, now your gun rights : "ACORN, the publicly-funded national organization linked to voter fraud in several states is now actively interfering with the exercise of firearm civil rights in New Jersey, and the Second Amendment Foundation is calling for an immediate federal investigation. `ACORN has, since 1998, received an estimated $31 million in government funding,' said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb."


Australia: Stupid fake-gun film-makers: "Four filmmakers have been charged on summons after Carlton residents mistook a gun-wielding confrontation for the real thing. Police locked down an apartment building and blocked off streets in Carlton about 10.40pm after a distressed woman told police she'd seen a man with a gun. Sen Sgt Stephen Cooper said the filmmakers' actions were extremely dangerous. "They hadn't notified any persons what they were doing down here today, there were no permits, they hadn't had the courtesy to notify even the security within the premises here,'' Snr Sgt Cooper told the Nine Network from the scene last night. "Police went to the apartment block on Canning St and saw a man pointing a firearm at the head of another," police spokesman Wayne Wilson said. Sen-Con Wilson said it was only when officers recovered the filming equipment that they realised it had all been an act. The four men in their 20s face charges of possessing a firearm - which includes imitation weapons - and causing a public nuisance."