Minnesota: Gutsy woman honored "Two years ago, Susana Khalil, eight months pregnant and with a toddler daughter at her side, shot a would-be robber at her husband's convenience store on St. Paul's East Side. Police Chief John Harrington, who lives near the store at Earl Street and Maryland Avenue, honored Khalil on Thursday for her heroism. During a ceremony at police headquarters, he said he was amazed she had the presence of mind to protect herself and her daughter with a woman bearing down on her with her hand in a bag pointed at Khalil's head. "Horrific," the chief called the threat. The suspect, Angel Star Kaster, shot by Khalil in the left shoulder, pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated robbery in the 2007 incident. She'd used a TV remote control in the bag to simulate a handgun. She went to the store that night, she said, to have pizza with her husband, Joe Khalil, who then asked her to mind the counter while he made a quick run to Cub Foods. Before he left, she said, he told her there was a gun under the cigarette racks. Kaster entered the store, she said, while daughter Vivian was playing with lottery tickets beside her. The woman headed toward a cooler near the counter, but then charged at the pregnant Khalil. Khalil managed to push Kaster into a corner, she said, at which time she grabbed the gun. Kaster approached again, Khalil said, and made a move toward the girl. Without aiming, Khalil said, she shot her. "I don't know if she have a gun -- or if she have a knife," she said. Police said it was legal to have a gun at the store."


Grandpa carries a gun: "An old grandpa once said, `Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' knee caps. Usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin'.' He goes on to say the following: `I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed. I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.'"


Senate votes to ease DC gun restrictions: "District of Columbia residents would have far greater access to firearms, including semiautomatic weapons, under a measure the Senate approved Thursday. The 62-36 vote was a victory for the pro-gun lobby which has waged a lengthy battle against the tough antigun laws imposed by the district on its residents."


AR: Guns in church bill dies: "A state Senate panel has rejected a bill that would allow concealed handguns in Arkansas churches, a proposal that divided religious leaders. The measure would have removed churches and other houses of worship from the list of places where concealed handguns are banned in Arkansas. Only churches and bars are on that list. . Nathan Petty, a pastor at Beech Grove Baptist Church in Fordyce, said churches should have the right to decide whether to allow concealed handguns. `It's not the role of the state to preserve the sanctity of the church, and it's not the role of the state to impose religious judgment calls on churches,' Petty said."