Ill: Gun shop employee shoots robbery suspect: "Five suspects were in custody after a shooting incident Wednesday afternoon at Schrank's Smoke 'N Gun where police said robbery was the apparent motive. One male suspect was flown to a hospital after suffering three gunshot wounds. An employee of the gun shop was treated at an area hospital. According to witness accounts, a subject went behind the counter at the store at 2010 Washington St., and was engaged with a store clerk in a verbal altercation that turned physical, Waukegan Police Cmdr. Wayne Walles said. At one point, the store clerk produced a pistol and fired at the subject, striking him in the chest twice and once in the leg. The injured male suspect was flown by Flight For Life to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge where he was in surgery late Wednesday. The store clerk inadvertently shot himself in the hand during the struggle, police said. Two men outside the store were taken into custody immediately after the shooting. Police Chief William Biang said they were detained because they had been inside the store with the other suspect at some point. Police later said a total of four people, besides the male who was shot, were taken into custody in connection with the incident. The shooting is the second by a store employee in Waukegan in less than six months. A store clerk fatally shot a 20-year-old robber who tried to flee the scene of a grocery store on Lincoln Avenue in October after the North Chicago man entered the store carrying a gun and demanding money. In January, the clerk was cleared of any wrongdoing by a Lake County grand jury which ruled the shooting was in self defense."


NE: Vet denied gun permit over PTSD: "Tim Mechaley . fought in the battle for Fallujah and received a combat medal with a `V' for valor. Back home, he uses a rifle for target shooting. Yet, when Mechaley sought to buy a 9-mm Ruger pistol for protection at his midtown apartment, the Omaha Police Department rejected his application for a gun permit. . Mechaley, 32, has received counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder related to his service in Iraq. While completing an application for a gun permit, he responded `yes' to a question that asked whether he was being treated for a mental disorder. . As explanation, he wrote `PTSD from Iraq Marine combat veteran' on the form. Mechaley's application . was rejected, he was told, because of that answer."


Proposed assault weapons ban threatens a fundamental right: "Gun owners across America weren't surprised last week when the new U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder stated the intent of the Obama administration to renew the expired ban on sales of `assault weapons.' The proposed ban was part of the agenda announced during Obama's campaign, and now the head of the Department of Justice appears to be making it a priority. Whether or not a ban renewal will pass in Congress is questionable, as similar bills in 2007 and 2008 never made it out of subcommittee. Nevertheless, Americans must recognize the ban as a significant infringement of the Second Amendment."


Mexico's gun laws responsible for violent holocaust? : "Research from the United Nations (UN) indicates that it may be Mexico's own restrictive gun control laws which contribute to the country's rising murder rates. In Mexico, possession of firearms above .22 caliber is practically prohibited, though there is a second set of rules for the wealthy. Mexico also requires registration for all civilian gun owners, and federal and state governments actively discourage firearms ownership. Nevertheless, over 6,000 Mexicans have been murdered in the last year - 700 in the past month - due to the battle over the drug trade."