MO: Just the threat that he had a gun saved a man: "It was all part of a bizarre crime spree police say crossed two Missouri counties and ended in Illinois. One of those victims they say thought fast to protect his home and future wife. When 26 year old Nick Barr got up for a drink of water just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, he flipped on the light and saw a stranger in his home holding a rifle. "He just said, 'don't move,' were the only words he said," says Barr. "Soon as he said that it was like telling me to run. I just bolted immediately." And he was thinking fast, too. Barr says he switched off the lights, shut the bedroom door behind him and yelled the first thing that came to mind. "I was yelling at him and told him I had a gun and a phone," said Barr who was trying to protect himself and his fiancé.... when asked if he did in fact have a gun said, "Not that I could reach. But you got to do something so that's what I told him." And, just around the corner from Barr, they say the four tried to break in to another home. Three of the four were caught after several departments chased them down across the river in St. Clair County, Illinois."


California: Man shot by pawn shop worker was in middle of day-long crime spree: "Detectives said El Monte resident Rudy Barbosa, 24, started a crime spree at 5 a.m. when he robbed a 7-Eleven in in El Monte. He went on to carjack someone in Los Angeles before he was shot by a worker at Alamo Jewelry and Loan, police officer said. Shortly before 11 a.m., Barbosa donned a mask and attempted to rob the pawn shop at 544 N. Azusa Ave. in West Covina, West Covina police Lt. Rudy Lopez said. Two employees saw a masked man carrying what they believed to be a rifle trying to enter the front door while shouting out orders, police said. One of the store employees fired a single shot from a handgun and the masked intruder fled, Lopez said... El Monte police found Barbosa driving nearby and chased him several blocks until he crashed into another car at Santa Anita Avenue and Bodger Street, Lopez said. Officers then arrested Barbosa without further incident"


More gun control in Britain?: "Recent events in Cumbria have led to an entirely predictable concern among UK libertarians that even more restrictions on gun ownership and usage are on the way. But on this occasion, I don’t share their pessimism. UK domestic gun legislation is already among the tightest in the world (which is a bit ironic for a country that is one of the world’s largest arms exporters). Furthermore, even the most dyed in the wool statists are currently resigned to having their budgets (and therefore their de facto powers, at least) cut in the short to medium term. These facts, combined with the rarity of shooting sprees in the UK by licensed gun owners using their own weapons, make any attempt to administer further restrictions uneconomic.”


Fourth Circuit decision restores rights of minor offenders: "Gun owners in West Virginia and many other states whose right to possess a firearm may have been denied because of a conviction for a ‘misdemeanor crime of domestic violence’ may no longer be prohibited from possessing firearms based on a decision last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which covers West Virginia. In the case of U.S. v. White (PDF), the 4th Circuit held that a conviction in Virginia for simple assault, without evidence in the record of conviction showing the use or attempted use of ‘physical force,’ did not constitute a ‘misdemeanor crime of domestic violence’ for which federal law prohibits the possession of firearms.”