WA:  Homeowner cleared after fatal shooting:  "A Newman Lake homeowner did nothing wrong when he shot his girlfriend’s ex to death after the irate man showed up at his house with loaded guns last month, according to prosecutors.  Spokane County prosecutors said Tuesday that no criminal charges will be filed against Doug Snarski, 55, for the homicide of Sean Parsons on May 13.  Parsons, 43, was armed with a shotgun, handgun and an ammunition-stocked belt when he entered Snarski’s home early that morning and said he planned to kill everyone.  Snarski called 911 and left the phone on as the confrontation with Parsons ensued. Dispatchers heard the gunfire that killed Parsons.  “There’s no surviving this. You’re dead,” Parsons told Snarski, according to a recording of the call released Tuesday. “There’s nothing you can do.”  The recording begins with Snarski yelling at Parsons to leave after Parsons apparently fired a shotgun.  About 2 1/2 minutes into the call, three gunshots rang out. “I told you you were making a mistake!” Snarski yelled at Parsons.  Snarski said he fired at Parsons as soon as he reached the top of the stairs."




TRIPLE-BARRELLED shotgun from 1891:  Now the gun - built by Edinburgh gun makers John Dickson & Son - has a new owner, having just been sold in London for £43,000.   The lightweight weapon, which weighs just 7lb, is fitted with a leather case and a gold Dickson label.  It was made for Scottish aristocrat John Adrian Louis Hope, who became the first Governor General of Australia in July 1900.  But with its three-barrelled ejector and three triggers, the 16-gauge gun was so complicated that no more were ever made.  'The gun maker, which still exists in Edinburgh, looked back in their records and found this was the only single 16-bore, round action side by side by side ejector ever made. 'The mechanism was too complex to make more, but it still works fantastically well today and is capable of shooting three game birds with its three barrels.'


MI: Gun-toting advocates protest charges against teen in Birmingham:  "Gun toting advocates filled the Birmingham commission chambers Monday night, displaying their firearms in holsters and strapped to their backs in protest of charges against a teen they say had the legal right to do the same in public.At issue is the April 13 arrest of Sean M. Combs, a Troy High School student, after he strolled Old Woodward Avenue in downtown Birmingham with a M-1 rifle strapped to his back.  He faced three misdemeanor charges for brandishing a weapon, resisting and obstructing police, and disturbing the peace — each punishable by up to 93 days in jail.   In April, Birmingham Police Chief Don Studt acknowledged the constitutionality of Combs' decision to carry his gun, but said "this guy was creating a disturbance and he wouldn't cooperate."


FBI: Violent crime rates in the US drop, approach historic lows:  "Violent crime rates in the U.S. are reaching historic lows, according to new FBI data released Monday. Instances of murder declined overall by 1.9 percent from 2010 figures, while rape, robbery and aggravated assault declined by 4 percent nationwide, according to records from more than 14,000 law-enforcement agencies around the country, FBI spokesman Bill Carter told msnbc.com." [The big increase in gun ownership in recent years wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?]