FL: Store manager was a good shot: "It was pouring rain just after 1 p.m. Monday, July 20, when a man burst into a Honduran grocery store on NW 36th Street in Miami. A shirt was wrapped around his face as he gripped a black semiautomatic handgun. Twenty-year-old Charles Bell shoved the pistol into the face of a manager behind the counter. Then he demanded the contents of the cash register and cartons of cigarettes in a plastic bag. Next he began herding customers to the back of the small market. But when he returned to the counter to collect his loot, a short, well-built 24-year-old manager named Valentin Fiallos pointed a .38 and squeezed the trigger. As Bell scampered from the store, he turned and shot back several times. Fiallos, shielding himself, squeezed off several more rounds. The would-be robber missed every time, but the manager's aim was true. Bell burst out of the store and ran several steps before flopping onto the wet asphalt. A bullet to the chest killed him. Cops termed it "justifiable homicide."


GA: Schoolteacher exchanges gunfire with carjackers: “A DeKalb County schoolteacher carjacked early Sunday scored a measure of revenge against his attackers — thanks in part to their poor sense of direction. Derek Harper, 47, had just returned to his Lithonia home around 1:15 a.m. when two unidentified gunmen surprised him from behind, forcing the Evansdale Elementary teacher out of his car and onto the ground, demanding money. ‘After they figured out I didn’t have any cash on me they got into my van,’ he said. His narrow garage helped Harper sneak away. ‘One of them was having trouble getting into the passenger’s side, so while he was doing that I took off,’ said Harper, also the assistant track coach at Stephenson High. As he ran the gunmen started firing, striking Harper once in the arm before speeding off in his van, heading directly toward a dead end on Phillips Place. Knowing they’d be forced to turn around, Harper ran inside and grabbed his .380 pistol. ‘I was waiting for them,’ he said. Harper estimates he fired two to three bullets, which might have contributed to the driver crashing the van less than a block away.”


Support the Second: "Unfortunately, the Second Amendment is under assault. … It’s with that in mind that Ranger Up and I want to know YOUR opinions on the Second Amendment. … It’s along those lines that we want to hear from you. In 100 words or less (you won’t be penalized for writing more, but I may get bored quicker) tell us your opinions about the Second Amendment. Send your submissions to cj@soldiersperspective.us by 25 August with ‘2nd Amendment Essay Contest’ in the subject line. Why 25 August? On August 25, 1789, the Second Amendment resolution was sent to the Senate from the House. For the next two years, the amendment would be debated and changed made to make it what it is today. Now, 220 years later, it is under attack.”


Are you a hoplophobe?: “Years ago, the late Col. Jeff Cooper … coined a term that has now become part of the American lexicon and has actually been recognized as a genuine phobia. Hoplophobia: An irrational fear of firearms and other forms of weaponry. … Hoplophobia should not be mistaken for outright social bigotry against firearms and the people who own them. One often leads to the other, but they are not the same thing. The social bigot believes himself or herself to be superior to the firearms owner in any number of arenas, including education and salary, whereas the hoplophobe is genuinely fearful of firearms. So I’ve cooked up a little quiz that may help people determine if they are suffering from hoplophobia.”