TX: Off-duty agent Shot in Botched Robbery Attempt: "Houston police responded to a robbery in progress on Friday afternoon at the Hilton Garden Inn at the 3200 block of Sage Road in southwest Houston. TABC agent Michael Sehon was working an off-duty security job for a jewelry salesman when the two men stopped at the hotel to run an errand. While the jeweler went inside the hotel, Sehon stayed inside the car when he was approached by two masked men. "They broke out the window and placed a gun to the TABC agent’s head," said Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva. The 40-year-old agent was shot in the left leg above the knee. He was taken to Memorial Hermann hospital but was released several hours later. Police say the agent did shoot at least one of the suspects. The pistol packing pair drove away from the hotel in a maroon sedan, but officers believe that they may have switched cars at the apartment complex across the street where blood now stains the pavement. Police think they might already have one of the suspects in custody. A man with two gunshot wounds to the back was left at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital soon after the shooting took place. Police are questioning the man. His condition is not known."


AZ: Man held in gun death outside bar on east side: "A 31-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting outside an east-side bar, police said Tuesday. John Majalca was involved with others in an assault Friday night of a 24-year-old man outside the bar, according to a news release from the Tucson Police Department. During the assault, the victim pulled out a firearm and shot one of his assailants, police said. Majalca is facing charges of aggravated assault with serious injury or dangerous instrument, attempted aggravated robbery, attempted armed robbery and first-degree murder. He is facing the murder charge under the state's felony-murder rule. Arizona law allows those involved in the commission of a felony that results in the death of another person to be held responsible for the death. The fight left Shawn Conrad, 27, dead of gunshot wounds... Conrad and the other men assaulted the 24-year-old, Lopez said. One of the men had a weapon, Lopez said, but she would not say what type. The 24-year-old pulled out a handgun and shot Conrad, Lopez said."


D.C. Appeals Court Upholds Mandatory Gun Licensing: "An appeals court in Washington, D.C. has upheld the city's extremely restrictive law requiring residents to obtain licenses to carry handguns outside of their homes. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year in the high-profile D.C. v. Heller Second Amendment case did not invalidate the District of Columbia's licensing requirements, and even appears to have endorsed them, the appeals court ruled. The case arose out of a criminal prosecution of a fellow named Manuel Brown, who was charged with crimes including carrying a pistol without a license. On appeal, Brown claimed the ordinance violated his Second Amendment rights. (The relevant law says: "No person shall carry within the District of Columbia either openly or concealed on or about their person, a pistol, without a license issued pursuant to District of Columbia law, or any deadly or dangerous weapon capable of being so concealed.") Still, it's worth noting that the Second Amendment Foundation filed a federal lawsuit against the District a few weeks earlier on a very similar question: the constitutionality, post-Heller, of the city's licensing scheme. Alan Gura, the Alexandria, Va. attorney who filed the civil suit, told me on Wednesday evening that he doesn't think the recent appeals court decision will make much of a difference. "We're not challenging the requirement for a license," Gura said. But, he added, "there has to be the ability for people to quality for a license."


Michigan legislator's proposal would allow concealed guns on college campuses: "Someone walks into your classroom with a gun and threatens to open fire. Your best defense is to try to escape the room or take out your cell phone and call for help, but under a proposed change to Michigan legislation, you may have another option. Sparked by the shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, Michigan Sen. Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, has proposed a change to Michigan law to allow permit holders to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. Currently, the open carry of weapons is permitted anywhere, so long as the owner has a license to own the gun. Concealed carry is prohibited in churches, sports arenas, taverns, hospitals, casinos, day cares and college campuses including dorms and classrooms, according to the Michigan State Police. Richardville would like to amend the law to remove the clause prohibiting the carry of concealed weapons on college campuses, saying it would make campuses safer if students were prepared to defend themselves. Grand Valley State University President Thomas J. Haas, who leads the Presidents Council, said, "All 15 presidents and chancellors of Michigan's public universities favor the current law that bans firearms and weapons on campus."