CA: Purse snatcher followed and killed: "Police and family identified a purse-snatching suspect who was shot and killed by a retired deputy earlier this week as a 35-year-old Las Vegas man. Gonzales was shot and killed after a chase that ended in an apartment complex at 401 W. Imperial Highway in La Habra. La Habra police spokeswoman Cindy Knapp said Gonzales, who was a passenger in a Honda, produced a handgun after the pursuit. Shots were fired and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the gun turned out to be a replica. The incident started Monday night with a purse snatching in the 1300 block of South Beach Boulevard. A man called police later to say he was chasing a Honda carrying the robbery suspects. The caller was identified as the retired deputy."




NC: 19-Year-Old Suspect Shot Dead By elderly Homeowner: "A man broke in and pulled a gun on me, and I shot him and he's laying out here," 80-year-old Charles Haithcock told a 911 dispatcher early Wednesday morning. Haithcock was asleep at his home on Walnut Street when police said Michael Lamont Medley Jr., [above] 19, broke into the home. Haithcock told the dispatcher it appeared Medley was carrying a shotgun, then tried to force his way into Haithcock's bedroom. "He came back into the bedroom," Haithcock told the operator. "I was laying in bed, and he pulled it out. It looked like a shotgun and he was pointing it at me." That's when Haithcock said he pulled out his gun and fired at least three shots, critically wounding Medley. "I shot him about three times through the door and he ran out the door and he's laying out there in the yard," Haithcock said. No charges have been filed against Haithcock. According to North Carolina law, the use of deadly force is allowed in self-defense when the person feels his or her life may be in eminent danger. Michael Lamont Medley has a long history of criminal charges, including common law robbery, drug possession and possession of stolen property.


Experts see little hope for Chicago gun ban: "Most experts seem to agree that this recitation of ancient cases coupled with the court’s eagerness to take up the issue of incorporation even with no conflict among the lower circuits indicate that a majority of Justices are not satisfied with the status quo. Recently, Steve Chapman reported in the Chicago Tribune that ‘law professor Ronald Rotunda of Chapman University told me that he gives the Chicago law only a one in five chance of surviving.’ And Rotunda is not alone. Avery Friedman … sees little hope for Chicago’s gun ban at the Supreme Court. ‘Unless Justice Kennedy does an about-face,’ Friedman says, ‘the chances of the survival of Chicago’s ordinance are about as high as Sonny Corleone in the toll booth.’”


California AB 962: Much more than ammo?: "California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed California AB 962. AB 962 requires registration (complete with thumbprint) of purchasers of handgun ammunition, requires retailers to keep the ammunition inaccessible to customers, forbids mail order purchases of handgun ammunition, etc. Although proponents of this legislation reassured hunters and others that the new law would only affect handgun ammo, leaving rifle ammunition unaffected, this ignores the fact that many calibers are chambered in both rifles and handguns. Given the state of California’s politics and ‘justice’ system, I would certainly not want to bet on getting much benefit of the doubt on what is counted as potential handgun ammo, and what is not.