Rhode Island liquor store owner outwits armed robber: "The quick-thinking owner of a Social District package store turned the tables on a man who had a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him for money Tuesday, police said. After a violent struggle with the robber, the owner of U-Save Liquors at 399 Clinton St. convinced him that he was too tired to fight anymore and he was giving up. In an attempt to put the robber at ease, John Quinn then offered him the keys to the store and invited him to lock the front doors before he looted the store. As 20-year-old Kevin Mortimer was busy fumbling with the keys, however, Quinn, 56, slipped into his office and emerged with a Walther PPK 9mm handgun, the police said. With the firearm trained on Mortimer, Quinn reached for a phone with his free hand to call the police, at which point Mortimer ran from the store. Moments later, Patrolmen Michael Flood and Sean Carpenter captured Mortimer on a footpath that hugs the Blackstone River, just behind the store. Mortimer was arrested after a wrestling match with his arresting officers that ended only after he was in handcuffs and leg irons, said Detective Lt. Eugene Jalette. “They put shackles on him, and that’s not something that normally happens unless a person is really kicking,” said Jalette. “He was quite combative.” Mortimer, of 59 Salisbury St., was charged with first-degree robbery, two counts of assaulting the police and resisting arrest. Mortimer was also booked for obstructing because he allegedly refused to identify himself after he was taken into custody. This may be Mortimer’s first arrest in Rhode Island, but Jalette said he has a lengthy criminal record in Massachusetts, where he used to live."


A closer look at the Second Amendment : “In the traditional American view of the relationship between citizens and government, all power ultimately derives from The People. The phrase ‘Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,’ from the preamble to the Declaration states unequivocally the view of the Founders on the proper role of government in society. A view the same men later enshrined in the constitutional federal republic created by the ratification of the United States Constitution. As quite carefully explained in that remarkable document, many basic ‘natural’ rights were placed FOREVER beyond the purview of the federal government. Immutable rights such as freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of association, protection from arbitrary and capricious acts of government, AND the right to keep and bear arms were explicitly placed off limits in the Bill of Rights, which should more properly be called the Bill of Restrictions on Government.”


Watch lists, guns and government: “The secret government ‘Terrorist Watch List,’ reportedly already swelled to more than 1.1 million names, will have an addendum, if gun control advocates in Congress have their way. This new addendum — also to be cloaked in secrecy — would empower the U.S. Attorney General to deny a person the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights to purchase a firearm. While it is not surprising that some members of Congress are again using fear of terrorism to implement a gun-control agenda, the openly unconstitutional legislative language proponents are employing is troubling.”


AZ: Bill would allow guns in bars: “The Arizona Senate has given final approval to a bill that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry a gun into a business that serves alcohol. The 19-to-8 vote completes legislative action on the bill and sends it to Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican. She has not said whether she will sign it, but she has long been a supporter of gun rights. The measure has pitted powerful groups representing gun and bar owners against each other, sparking a debate about whether guns and alcohol can coexist without bloodshed. Critics of the measure say guns and alcohol are a dangerous combination. … Supporters say they should be able to protect themselves even if they happen to be inside a business serving alcohol.”