Some lessons from history

What criminals think of gun control







KY: Father shoots two in home invasion attempt: "Marty McKinney didn’t know what to think at first, when his quiet night was interrupted by two car loads of people, who came up to his house on Charles Burton Rd. in Eubank just after 2 o’clock Sunday morning. “They must have run up here ...They threw a rock about this big through the bedroom window,” said McKinney Monday, while pretending to hold up a basketball size rock. Police say Hank Smith kicked in McKinney's front door and Anthony Thomas and Damian Demond Boyd threw rocks through his windows. “And they started kicking on the door. Kicked this window out of track. I got my gun and started shooting,” said McKinney. McKinney’s 4 and 6 year old children slept through the whole ordeal, and no one inside his house was hurt, but the same cannot be said for two of the alleged intruders. Police say Smith and a 15 year old were hit by the gunfire. Neither had life threatening injuries. Boyd, Smith and Thomas are facing charges relating to attempted burglary, theft and kidnapping. Police say they believe McKinney acted in self defense."


AZ: Man says self defense led to criminal charges -- later dropped: "A dispute between motorists on a rural stretch of Highway 61, July 1, 2010, led to 16 months of uncertainty, mired in the legal system, for a Concho man who was charged with a felony, disorderly conduct with a weapon. An Apache County Sheriff’s deputy charged Andrew Noel Pino with the felony in the case and determined that the Iowa truck driver involved in the altercation was a victim. The Apache County Attorney’s office dropped the charges in the “Interests of Justice,” on May 27, 2011."


New Hampshire man arrested for firing gun into ground while catching suspected burglar: "A New Hampshire man who fired his handgun into the ground to scare an alleged burglar he caught crawling out of a neighbor's window is now facing a felony charge -- and the same potential prison sentence as the man he stopped. Dennis Fleming, 61, of Farmington, was arrested for reckless conduct after the Saturday incident at his 19th century farmhouse. The single grandfather had returned home to find that his home had been burglarized and spotted Joseph Hebert, 27, climbing out of a window at a neighbor's home. Fleming said he yelled "Freeze!" before firing his gun into the ground, then held Hebert at gunpoint until police arrived. No one was injured in the incident. County Attorney Tom Velardi told Foster's Daily Democrat he will review the case and determine if the charge against Fleming is appropriate under the state statutes regarding self-defense and defense of property."