South Carolina Homeowner shot intruder: "A security alarm went off at a Holly Hill accountant’s residence in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday, rousing the sleeping homeowner who grabbed his gun, confronted an intruder standing in his doorway and shot the burglar in the shoulder. L. Glenn Littlejohn, 71, of 1244 Peake St. interrupted the suspect, Roosevelt Elmore Jr. [above], at around 4:55 a.m. as Elmore stood in the doorway of Littlejohn’s home, according to police. Holly Hill Police Chief Robert Wunderlich said an unarmed Elmore allegedly forced his way though a doorway into the kitchen of the victim’s home. Littlejohn, after being awakened by the alarm, “grabbed his shotgun, went out the back door and went around to the side of the house where the suspect made entrance and confronted the suspect in the doorway,” Wunderlich said. He said Littlejohn shot Elmore in his right shoulder with a 12-gauge shotgun. The wounded Elmore fled the scene, and Littlejohn called 911, the chief said. Moments later, Wunderlich said, a 30-year-old male resident of Gilmore Avenue called law enforcement after observing a man with a gunshot wound standing on his front porch. Wunderlich said the suspect ran nearly 300 yards from Littlejohn’s house before arriving at the Gilmore Avenue residence. Holly Hill officers were able to follow a trail of blood in tracing Elmore’s escape route from Peake Street to Gilmore Avenue, he said. “He (Elmore) had several pellet punctures in the upper shoulder area,” Wunderlich said. Elmore was charged with felony first degree burglary, Wunderlich said."


Do minors have a constitutional right to possess guns?: "A fascinating gun rights case was argued today before the Supreme Court of Washington involving a tangle of state and federal issues. In 2007, Christopher Sieyes, a 17 year old, was charged and convicted with unlawful possession of a firearm. State law (RCW 9.41.040(2)(a)(iii)) prohibits minors from possessing firearms (with certain exceptions). While the case was on appeal to the Court of Appeals (Div. II), the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, striking down D.C.’s handgun prohibition. The Court of Appeals asked the litigants in Sieyes to supply additional briefing to address Heller, and then the court transferred the case to the state Supreme Court. One of the major unanswered questions in Heller is relevant here—whether the Second Amendment applies to states. Since Heller, several federal circuits have ruled on this issue. The Second and Seventh Circuits have said the Second Amendment does not apply against individual states, while the Ninth Circuit says it does. This circuit split (plus the specific issue involved) all but guarantees that the U.S. Supreme Court will address this issue its next term."


CA: Victim disarmament bills have stores up in arms: “Two new pieces of legislation related to guns are making their way through Sacramento — and making gun store owners in the Mid-Valley frustrated at what they call political myopia. … AB 962 would compel those who sell ammunition to be licensed the same as gun dealers, and mandate a face-to-face transaction when someone buys ammunition. … SB 697, would mandate safety measures be included in every gun sold in California. That technology would be used to tell how many unfired cartridges remain in a gun, to avoid accidental shootings when thought to be empty. Guns would also have to have biometric technology to prevent them from being fired if someone other than the registered owner tried to do so.”


TN: Cities rush to ban guns in local parks: "The handgun battle is heading from Capitol Hill to City Hall. Local governments and advocates for firearms owners are gearing up for a summer face-off over how far to take a new state law that lets people with carry permits bring handguns into parks. City councils across Tennessee, including Nashville and Hendersonville, are moving to reaffirm their bans on handguns in parks following passage of a new state law. But people opposed to handgun restrictions are mobilizing to block their efforts. … A state law signed earlier this month by Gov. Phil Bredesen has touched off the debate. The law is meant to let handgun permit holders carry their weapons into every park in the state, wiping out local policies governing handguns.”