MD: Attorneys: State faces uphill battle in dog-shooting case: "While local animal lovers clamored and petitioned last week for county prosecutors to file additional charges against a federal police officer who shot and killed an off-leash Siberian husky earlier this month, seven criminal defense attorneys and former prosecutors openly questioned if the state would be able to secure convictions on the two misdemeanor animal cruelty and weapon charges already filed. "I certainly wouldn't want my dog shot, but if the man felt threatened ... (prosecutors) are going to have a real tough time proving anything beyond a reasonable doubt," said defense attorney Gill Cochran. They noted he has no known criminal record, is an Iraq war veteran, and has maintained from the beginning he fired in defense of himself, his wife, Wendy, and his German shepherd, Asia.


Freedom-Hating antigun Lawyers Work to Undermine laws: "Take the latest from the so-called Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV), a handful of freedom-hating lawyers operating out of an office in San Francisco, California. Mimicking the Brady Campaign—probably not a good business plan, given that Brady Campaign is not exactly a thriving enterprise these days—LCAV is now ranking the states according to how “strong” their gun laws are. LCAV ranks California best in the nation, though its firearm-related death rate is higher than those of 16 other states, including Vermont, the gun owner-friendly laws of which LCAV ranks third worst in the nation. LCAV ranks Maryland 7th-best, just ahead of New York and Rhode Island, the firearm-related deaths rates of which are only 42 percent and 29 percent that of Maryland. Joining the declaration of ideological war by some in California against neighboring Arizona, LCAV ranks the Grand Canyon State worst in the nation."