GA: Store employee fatally shot; store owner exchanges fire with robber: "One man was killed Friday night during an east Atlanta liquor store armed robbery, and the suspect was injured in a shootout that followed with the store owner, police said. Just before 10 p.m., a man walked into the Moreland Package Store at 15 Moreland Ave., and pulled a handgun on the clerk, demanding money, Atlanta police Det. Lt. Keith Meadows said. The 21-year-old clerk was shot in the stomach and buttocks, and later died at the scene, authorities said. "A second employee in the back heard the clerk shout, ‘I've been shot,'" Meadows said. "He came out to the front with his own gun." The second employee, who Meadows said was the store owner, exchanged gunfire with the robber, shooting the perpetrator in arm and leg. The suspect fled on foot was arrested a block away on Mortimer Street by officers in the area responding to a report of shots fired, Meadows said. Authorities have not named the man who was killed, pending notification of his next of kin. The suspect was taken into custody pending charges, but no charges were filed against the store owner, police said."


OK: A man shot and killed as he broke into woman's home: "Billy Dean Riley, 53, of Sparks, was drunk and high on some type of opiate at the time of his death on Friday, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department. Deputies said Riley crashed a vehicle near the home of Donna Jackson, 57, between 12:30 and 12:50 a.m. Friday. Riley went to the back door of Jackson's home nearby and started to break in. Jackson told authorities that she picked up a shotgun and called 911. "There's a man at my back door. He's trying to get in," she said to the dispatcher. "He's close to the door. I'm going to go ahead and get the gun out." "She told him that she was armed and that she had called the police and that he needed to leave," said Lincoln County Sheriff Chuck Mangion. In return, deputies said, Riley started screaming vulgarities at the homeowner. He picked up a patio table and threw it through Jackson's glass patio door. The dispatcher told Jackson that she was advised to defend her property if she needed to. Jackson said she fired one shot into Riley's chest when he started to enter the home. Riley was pronounced dead by a medical examiner at about 1:50 a.m."


The crime of disarmament: "Those who are willing to commit acts of violence are rarely intimidated by the possibility of criminal prosecution. This fact is demonstrated daily. In the paradoxical world of disarmament politics, outlaws are rewarded for their criminality while harmless individuals are penalized for obeying the law. The result is both predictable and proven: gun control encourages gun crime. While we needn’t look farther than our own neighborhoods, England provides a stark example of our future if gun control advocates get their way. In a 2002 Reason Magazine article, Gun Control’s Twisted Outcome, Joyce Lee Malcolm documents the escalation of violence that has rocked England under rigid gun bans".


Anti-gang gun law in Chicago: "Gang members caught with loaded guns would face mandatory prison time under a new law signed Thursday by Gov. Pat Quinn and hailed by Chicago authorities as a unique tool for fighting street crime. The statute sets a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of 10 years behind bars for unlawful use of a weapon by a gang member; under previous law such an offense was punishable by probation. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who pushed for the measure, said she believes it is the first state law to include gang membership as an element of the criminal offense. At a news conference with Quinn and Mayor Richard Daley, Alvarez predicted the law will withstand any legal challenges alleging it unfairly targets a particular group of people. "There could be a challenge to anything. We can't predict that. But we feel confident," Alvarez said. Daley likened the law to federal criminal statutes targeting organized crime. The statute defines a gang as any group of at least three people with a hierarchy that engages in a pattern of criminal activity. The law specifies it is not necessary for prosecutors to show the criminal group has a name, insignias, colors, territory or other symbolism commonly linked with street gangs in order to apply the law to members. "If they're on a corner throwing up a gang sign or wearing the colors, it's pretty self-evident," Alvarez said. "There's a lot of self-admittance on the police reports themselves, tattoos, prior history. There's a lot that comes into play to support the fact that they are members of a gang." Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the group is not taking a position on the legislation because the definition of "gang" in the statute has withstood court challenges in DuPage County"