LA: 76-Year-Old Woman Shoots Burglary Suspect

NEW ORLEANS -- Police say a 76-year-old woman shot and wounded a suspected burglar she found in her bedroom early Saturday morning.

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OH: Girlfriend Disarms Boyfriend who Attacked her, Shoots him

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police say a woman whose live-in boyfriend struck her in the head with a gun at an Ohio hotel fatally shot him when she got control of the weapon.
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TX: Armed Homeowner Shoots Aggressive Suspect

In a news release Saturday, police identified the homeowner as Kevin Clifton. Police say Clifton heard the "burglary suspect" banging on his windows attempting to enter the home.

When he confronted the suspect, police say Clifton began to fear for his life and shot the man.
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Contradict President and Constitution, No Appointment

Presidents correctly and rightfully expect their appointees to at a minimum, remain silent about policy differences, especially in areas where they have no  expertise. President Trump is not one to suffer fools at high levels. A recent potential appointee seemed to wish to score political points at the expense of the President.  Dean L. Winslow made a basic, rookie error. He lost. From washingtonpost.com:

At my hearing, jet-lagged and in mourning over those killed, I was asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) about the military discharge status of the shooter. He had been given a bad-conduct rather than dishonorable discharge and — despite episodes of domestic violence and a stint in a psychiatric hospital — was able to buy several weapons, including an AR-15-style gun. Although I stated that discharge status was not my area of responsibility, Shaheen pressed her point. I acknowledged that the Air Force dropped the ball and recommended an inspector general’s investigation focusing on systems failures that contributed to the tragedy.

Then, I blurted out what was in my heart: “I’d also like to . . . just say how insane it is that in the United States of America a civilian can go out and buy a semiautomatic weapon like an AR-15.” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) interrupted, warning this was not in my “area of responsibility or expertise.” Soon after, my confirmation was put on hold.

The unasked for, unrelated response outside of Dr. Winslow's expertise, disqualified him for the appointment. If he could not control his response in the high intensity, one of a lifetime hot seats of a Senate Committee hearing, how could he be relied on to avoid similar blunders in the future.

If his opinion, in direct opposition to the well known policy of the Commander in Chief, was "heartfelt" enough to be stated in this venue, how could anyone trust him to avoid it in the future?

No one required Dr. Winslow to support policies in defense of the Second Amendment (though his oath of office would reasonably require it). His job would have little to do with defending the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights. If he wanted the job, all he had to do was keep silent about his anti-Second Amendment proclivities. He was not asked directly about them.

I recall my reaction when when the media triumphantly blared Dr. Winslow's verbal blunder to the American public.  Was President Trump allowing his appointees to be infiltrated by anti-Constitutional idiots, ignorant of the Second Amendment debate, and all too willing to be used against him?

The Trump administration answered those concerns. Dr. Winslow proved himself to be an unreliable person for the responsibility he was offered.  The Trump administration showed it could prevent further loss of credibility, once a source of problems manifested itself.

Public officials are required to take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  Over the last 50 years, that oath has been laughed at, mocked, and made into a parody. The foundational concepts of Progressivism require the oath be taken with the understanding it will be violated whenever it is convenient to do so.

Patriots have railed for years over the lack of accountability for government officials who violate their oath of office with impunity. Perhaps we have started to turn the corner on that proclivity.


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Followup CT: "Just Missed" Suspect Charged with Burglary

TOLLAND, Connecticut - A 45-year-old Southbridge man who apparently just missed being shot by a homeowner during an attempted break-in earlier this month was returned to Connecticut Friday to face burglary charges, according to Connecticut State Police.

Dale Laliberte of Cohasse Street, Southbridge is charged with burglary in the 3rd degree, larceny in the 3rd degree, and first-degree criminal mischief. The charges are related to a Dec. 12 incident in Tolland where a homeowner come home that night and interrupted a break-in, police said.
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OH: Pharmacy Owner Wounds 1 of 3 Robbers

According to authorities, three men, all wearing black clothing with their faces concealed, entered the pharmacy and two of them jumped over the counter and told the owner not to move.

When the men reached into their pockets and started pulling out plastic bags, the store owner, fearing for his life, pulled out a handgun and fired several rounds at the men, police said.
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TX: Cafe Owner Disarms 1 of 3 Suspects, Drive them Off

The cafe owner managed to wrestle the gun away from the suspect and fired it inside the store. A bullet shattered the front door of the business. No one was hurt.

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Attorney General: Carry of Guns in Church Protected by Texas Law

In 1994 Texas passed a shall issue concealed carry law, reversing infringements on the Second Amendment going back to Reconstruction. As part of the passage of the bill opponents insisted on a large number of gun free zones, including churches. In the original statute, Penal Code Section 46.035 (b) (6), list one of the prohibited places as:

(6) on the premises of a church, synagogue, or other established place of religious worship

Then, in 1997, the legislature decided that forbidding people from exercising their Second Amendment rights in church, was likely a violation of both the First and Second Amendments. The legislators added subsection (i). They should have simply removed subsection (b) (6), (b) (5), and (b) (4).

(i) Subsections (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6), and (c) do not apply if the actor was not given effective notice under Section 30.06 or 30.07.

The words "was not given effective notice" are an awkward English construction, leading to a small amount of confusion. Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion to clarify the meaning. He wanted people to know they could exercise their Second Amendment rights in church after the horrific church mass murder in Sutherland, Texas. 26 Church goers were killed before a neighbor used an AR15 rifle to stop the murder. The opinion was issued on December 21, 2017.  From texasattorneygeneral.gov:

Licensed handgun owners can legally carry loaded weapons into Texas churches that do not have posted signs banning weapons, Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a legal opinion released today. The opinion also clarified that a new law passed this year by the Legislature exempts churches from state fees for creating volunteer security teams.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick requested the opinion on December 1, and asked Attorney General Paxton to expedite his responses “so that churches may know what legal options they have to improve security” in the aftermath of the Sutherland Springs tragedy.

“If a church decides to exclude the concealed or open carrying of handguns on the premises of church property, it may provide the requisite notice, thereby making it an offense for a license holder to carry a handgun on those premises,” Attorney General Paxton wrote in his opinion. “However, churches may instead decide not to provide notice and to allow the carrying of handguns on their premises. Unless a church provides effective oral or written notice prohibiting the carrying of handguns on its property, a license holder may carry a handgun onto the premises of church property as the law allows.”

Senate Bill 2065, which took effect September 1, exempts churches from state fees private institutions must pay to form their own security forces. The lesiglature ended the fees because they imposed a significant financial burden on smaller churches, such as the one in Sutherland Springs where 26 people were killed last month in Texas’ worst mass shooting.

“The regulations of the Private Security Act, including the fees required thereunder, do not apply to Texas churches when providing volunteer security services consistent with the requirements of section 1702.333 of the Occupations Code,” Attorney General Paxton concluded.

The opinion has been issued in time for Christmas services.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

WV: Armed Grandmother Stops Break-In Attempt

After she heard the noise at the window, she called 911 and grabbed her gun.

"I told him 'you're going to die' and he fell over to the side," Gatens explained to WSAZ.

Putnam County Sheriff's deputies responded to the woman's call, but they were unable to find the person.

Despite losing a sense of security, Gatens is relieved everything ended up OK. Now she's encouraging her neighbors to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.
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Followup FL: Michael Patterson Justified in Fatal Shooting of Marcus Indigo Mulinix

Patterson approached Mulinix at the door but could not understand what he was saying. Mulinix then began shaking the door knob and trying to enter the home. Patterson’s elderly mother woke up and dialed 911.

Patterson went to a bedroom and retrieved a 30-30 rifle, stepped out the back door and walked around to the front of the house. He saw Mulinix in his front yard holding a baseball bat and trying to get into his home. Patterson yelled at the man to stop, but instead Mulinix “raised the bat and began to walk towards Patterson,” according to the report

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MD: Homeowner Shoots Suspect, Investigation Ongoing

“Caller thinks that there’s more than one suspect. Advised that they were trying to steal her dad’s truck and then shots went off,” said a dispatcher during a 911 call. “He’s shot in the head.”

Parker was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting.

Neighbors say several children were inside the house at the time of the shooting.


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GA: Anti-Gun Senators Attemp to Legislate Destruction of Valuable Firearms

In 2012, the Georgia Legislature passed a statute to prevent valuable firearms from being destroyed by police. Instead, the statue requires that firearms in possession of police, whether confiscated, seized, or otherwise acquired, be sold to legal dealers, with the proceeds to cover administrative costs.  The surplus goes into the general fund of the administering political subdivision.

Similar provisions have been enacted in other states to prevent the destruction of valuable assets. Assets that could be sold for the public good.

Once the law went into effect, a number of political subdivisions in Georgia have violated the law with impunity. The chief of them is the City of Atlanta, which pays the cost of warehousing thousands of firearms rather than sell them to legal dealers for the benefit of the public. From 11alive.com:

The law requires police agencies to sell guns confiscated in burglary and robbery cases. A bill has already been filed to repeal it.

The Atlanta Police Department has thousands of confiscated guns sitting in its property room – despite a law on the books requiring APD and other police agencies to do so.

Is it bad when police routinely violate the law? It sets a bad example.  People may wonder what other laws police violate when they have a difference of opinion with legislators. Guns sold at auction by police usually bring between $100 and $200 each.  Atlanta was sitting on at least 6,000 guns more than two years ago.

Atlanta has likely added two thousand more guns since then. Assuming $150 per gun, and eight thousand guns, that is $1.2 million dollars the city refuses to put in its general fund.  The figure does not count the cost of storing and securing the valuable property, or the cost of organizing a sale.

Three Democrat senators, Lester Jackson from Savanna,  Ed Harbison from Columbus, and Gail Davenport from Jonesboro, have introduced legislation to allow police to destroy legal, valuable, guns.  The legislation would amount to the repeal of the 2012 law.

It seems unlikely to pass. The legislature, losing patience with the scofflaw antics of Atlanta and other jurisdictions in Georgia, is more likely to amend the proposed legislation to add penalties for the officials who refuse to follow Georgia law.

That happened in Arizona. Tucson City officials refused to follow a law requiring the sale of firearms. The legislature passed new legislation, that withheld state funds from the City until the City complied with the law. The City fought the law to the State Supreme Court, where they lost. Cities are not above the law. They are not constitutionally separate entities who can chose what state laws to follow, and what state laws to violate.

Will Georgia legislators step up to the plate and stop the scofflaw cites in Georgia from wasting taxpayer resources? We will see in 2018.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

WA: Gun Beats Sledge Hammer

Ralph Wending told deputies a man had grabbed a sledgehammer from a truck and came at him with the hammer.

Court documents said Wending warned the suspect he had a gun and fired a warning shot. He said the suspect continued to come at him in a violent manner so he shot him in the leg.
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MD: 1 of 2 Home Invaders Shot, Wounded

The homeowner reported two male suspects kicked open his front door and, at gunpoint, demanded money. A male occupant of the house heard the robbery, grabbed a gun, and hid in a nearby room. The suspects entered the room and pointed the gun at the man who then fired shots at the suspect with the gun. Both suspects fled and were subsequently located nearby. One of the suspects had a gunshot wound to his neck. He was transported to a hospital and treated for an injury that was not life threatening.
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AL: Trajic, Mistaken Identity, Unjustified, Father Shoots Son

Family members are mourning the death of 22-year-old Logan Trammell, who was driving away from his parent’s home in Cullman County just before midnight on Christmas Eve in one of his father’s vehicles. His father, however, happened to be sitting in his camper outside of the house and was unaware that his son was coming over to borrow his truck. He yelled and fired off a warning shot at the driver, whom he assumed was a car thief. When that was unsuccessful, he shot at the truck, which immediately stopped.


He then opened the truck door to discover he had just accidentally killed his own son.
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IN: Nine Year Old Stops Truck Theft with Pellet Gun

“When I saw my truck door open, I was like, ‘oh my God, what am I going to tell my wife?'” Cooksey said. “I was thinking, I hope my son knew what to do in that situation.”

Larimore said that he was scared “as soon as he opened the door.”

“So I pulled out the pellet gun and pointed it to his head,” he recounted.
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HI: 1 of 2 Intruders Shot, Investigation Continues

Defensive shootings are usually dynamic. "Back" shooting can be justified multiple ways. If the suspect was moving (common) when shot, turning so the back is hit can happen easily.

According to sources, a 51-year-old resident found two men that were wearing masks on his property.

He told the men he had a gun, and then shot one of them in the back as he was trying to run away.

Some wonder whether he really did anything wrong.

The man that was shot took himself to the hospital and was listed in stable condition.

Attorney Victor Bakke says Hawaii’s self-defense law will protect you, but it depends on the amount of force used.

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MD: Homeowner Shoots, Kills Car Burglar, Appears Justified

A homeowner in Maryland shot and killed a man who he caught breaking into his vehicle hours after Christmas Day, police say. Sources tell News4 the shooting, which occurred in an area repeatedly hit by car break-ins, appears to be justified.

Deontae Parker, of no fixed address, died after he was shot the day early Tuesday outside a home in Chillum, Maryland, Prince George's County police said. He was 32.
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GA: Armed Citizen Saves Deputy in Georgia

A kind-hearted Deputy was rewarded with a potentially deadly attack in Dawson County, Georgia on December fifth, about 2:40 P.M.  Sargent Randy Harkness has been with the Dawson County Sheriff's office for more than 23 years.  He gave a courtesy ride to Justin Alan Foster to the local Chevron station. He was in the process of providing some personal charity to Foster in the form of a small cash gift, when Foster attacked him.  From fox5atlanta.com:

“He then began to give the gentleman some money just to help him out and the suspect began to physically assault him,” said Sheriff Johnson.
The sheriff said an unidentified woman in her late 20s in a car at the Chevron witnessed the assault, got out of her car, gun in hand, and fired at suspect Justin Foster while he was attacking Harkness.

Eyewitnesses in the gas station saw it unfold.

“She shot off, a round. The guy got off the police officer and she shot another round and he was running that way I think, there was three shots,” said Aseem Kahn, owner of the station.

Sheriff Johnson says he believes the armed woman saved Sgt. Harkness' life.

Dawson County District Attorney’s Office is involved in the investigation. The sheriff says the Good Samaritan will not face charges.

“I truly believe she’s a hero I believe she thankfully saved this officer’s life,” said Sheriff Johnson.

The suspect, wounded by the armed woman, then ran off and assaulted others, including an elderly woman. Two more good Samaritans subdued the attacker.  From dawsonnews.com:

Foster then fled across the road to the McDonald’s parking lot where he assaulted an elderly woman.

Additional “good Samaritans” at the McDonald’s detained Foster until officers arrived, Johnson said.

Johnson said earlier this week that a female bystander who shot Foster as he was assaulting Harkness likely saved the officer's life, as well as other potential victims.

"I truly believe through her actions he's here today," Johnson said Tuesday.

Officials have not released the identity of the bystander. It is not likely she will face any charges.

There have been a number of cases where good Samaritans who are legally armed have saved police lives.  There have been several in the last couple of years. In addition to the event in Georgia, in 2017 an Arizona armed citizen saved a State Trooper who was wounded and under assault.

In 2016, armed citizens saved police in Florida, Ohio, and in Pennsylvannia.

There has been an accelerating number of police saves by armed citizens as more and more citizens are carrying defensive firearms on a daily basis.
Dozens of instances of armed citizens saving police officers before 1996 are recounted in  the nraila.org article published in 1999.

The many police lives saved by legally armed citizens are a major contributor to the positive attitude that police have about legally armed people.

An armed people and local police are natural allies. When locally controlled police and a population who trust them work together, crime rates plummet to very low levels.

When police are not trusted, the crime rate soars.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Wolfphobia on Dog Island by Matt Bracken: A Parable of Socially Unspeakable Matters

Now you young pups sit down and listen to an old dog who didn’t get to be old by being a dummy. Try to sit still and pay attention, because some folks will tell you otherwise about what happened, but they have their own reasons and I have mine, and mine are right and theirs are wrong. After you hear the true story of what happened with the wolves on Dog Island, you’ll understand why you should never forget it. I was there, and this is what happened. Stop fidgeting and pay attention.

In those days, before the wolves came, there were a lot of show dogs on Dog Island, just like now, but back in those days the Standard Poodles were in charge, because for some reason everybody gave them credit for being the smartest dogs around. And compared to most show dogs, Poodles are geniuses, I’ll give them that.

Supposedly that’s why they were put in charge of dividing up the dog food, keeping the water bowls filled, and things like that. And despite their silly fur, Standard Poodles can grow pretty big, so they are not pushovers. And of course the show dogs loved it that the Poodles were in charge, and gave them dog food even though they didn’t work. If you can believe it, the show dogs had almost everybody convinced that they should get fed just for looking so good and raising everybody’s morale. And the poodles agreed with this nonsense and kept the show dogs fed for doing nothing but looking good.

And a big part of the reason for this crazy state of affairs was the fact that Apollo, the boss of the Poodles, was such a damned good bullshit artist. He could really lay it down thick, so that even some of the working dogs agreed with his ideas, such as feeding the show dogs even though they don’t work.

Of course, then like now, us working dogs did all of the work on Dog Island, but even so, Apollo and the other Poodles ran the show. They said that their breed’s specialty was brain work and consisted of managing things for everybody day-to-day. But that was okay, as long as there was enough dog food, and the water bowls got filled. Even though it griped us that the show dogs got fed for doing nothing.

But one thing we all agreed on, working dogs and show dogs, was that we could not let any wolves onto Dog Island. Wolves and dogs were enemies, and that was that.

We knew all about wolves on Dog Island. We could hear them yipping and yapping and mostly howling at the moon the way they do, on their own island which is farther out on the river and downstream a bit. Occasionally a stray wolf will fall into the river or be driven into exile, and they will show up trying to get onto Dog Island, but we never permit this. That was always a big important rule on Dog Island. No wolves. Period.

But then apparently there were some worse-than-usual problems over on Wolf Island. Their moon howling became extreme, and some wolves tried swimming upstream to Dog Island. Normally we drove them off, but this time some Poodles met a smallish male wolf on the beach, and Apollo proposed that we should not drive him back into the river, as was customary.

When I heard about this, I met up with Duke and we went down to the beach to see what was going on. Duke is the biggest German Shepherd, and all the Shepherds and Dobermans and Rottweilers look up to him.

I’m not as big as Duke, but nobody messes with a male Labrador-Pitbull mix who is bigger than any other Labrador Retriever or Pitbull on the island. I like hanging out with Duke, we get along well, and the working dogs all look up to him. When we are running together, Spike and Duke, nobody messes with us, and most of the working dogs want to follow us. And the show dogs know enough to stay the hell out of our way.

But now Apollo was trying to convince us to let one poor wolf who had been forced to flee his home island stay and live among us on Dog Island. Apollo said that all canines are equal, and we must not show prejudice toward our cousin the wolf. He did not choose to be a wolf, he was born that way, and conditions on Wolf Island have become unbearable.

Apollo explained that our guest was a gray wolf, and they were always fighting with the red wolves on Wolf Island. All the game was wiped out by over-hunting, and the wolves were down to hunting each other, with no quarter given and the losers eaten. The refugee wolf had some old and new wounds and was truly a pathetic sight. And I’ll admit there was some satisfaction in seeing one of our eternal enemies reduced to this wretched state. He would even roll over on his back and show his throat, like a complete sissy lap dog. Yes, I’ll confess that it was enjoyable to see a wolf roll over and be submissive before us dogs.

There was plenty of dog food to go around, so we decided to go along with Apollo, and let this one miserable cringing gray wolf stay on Dog Island. It would be a death sentence for him to be sent back to Wolf Island, Apollo said. And we had no trouble with one wolf on Dog Island, even after he regained his strength by eating lots of our dog food. Apollo promised us that this wolf had given up his former carnivorous habits. This wolf must not be judged as a wolf at all anymore. We must not judge him negatively merely for being a wolf, which he did not choose and he cannot help. To do so would be wolfophobic.

But the next day, there were two more wolves who had come ashore, forlorn and desolate like the first wolf had been. These three wolves then became inseparable, and as they became healthy they would run all around Dog Island and generally be a pain in the ass to everybody.

First of all, they could not control their sexual emotions, and if they saw a female dog they would just mount her, if she was in heat, or not. Naturally this angered the female dogs no end, especially when they were not in heat.

And after a week, a golden retriever puppy went missing, and a day or two later, a year-old cocker spaniel. The wolves claimed to know nothing about them, and the Poodles offered no further information.

When Duke heard about the second missing puppy, he came to find me, and together we went down to where the Poodles hang out, which was now also where the three wolves were hanging out. Probably because it was where the Poodles divided up the dog food for everybody.

Me and Duke trotted right up to Apollo, between all the show dogs in the front of the Poodles. At least twenty or more working dogs were following right behind us, so we weren’t worried. Duke said he wanted to have a word with Apollo about the new wolf policy. One wolf had been okay, but not three. He said this while staring at the three wolves, who were lying on their bellies watching us.

The wolves bared their teeth and growled, but continued lying down, muzzles low. Duke said to Apollo, Two puppies are missing, and we think those wolves right there did it. Apollo acted angry and said Duke must not accuse them of such a terrible thing without proof.

And Duke said the wolves are mounting every female at every chance, and this must stop. Apollo responded that this is part of their wolf culture, and we must respect this cultural difference, and permit a certain amount of it, for the sake of good relations between the wolves and dogs.

Duke said, But we don’t want good relations, we want them gone! They are our eternal enemies, and they will kill and eat any dog they catch any chance they get, no matter what they promise.

Apollo got very angry and barked out that Duke and Spike were the leaders of the wolfophobic bigots, and we should be ashamed of how badly we spoke of our new canine cousins, and all canines are equal. Now that they had arrived on peaceful Dog Island, they would live in peace with us. Believe it or not, most of the show dogs were nodding their agreement at this utter nonsense.

And Apollo wasn’t finished. He said that more wolves were going to be accepted as refugees and immigrants from Wolf Island. The ongoing war between the reds and the grays made conditions just too dangerous for any of them to endure.
I asked Apollo, Why are only male wolves swimming over to Dog Island, where are the females and the puppies if it was so dangerous over there?

Apollo said something about the males making it safe for the females and puppies, but Duke said it was already safe here, before the wolves came at all.

Apollo said, You wolfophobic bigots had better get used to it, because more wolves are coming, and that is official policy. It’s just too dangerous for them on Wolf Island, and we have a duty to take them in and offer them food and shelter.

To me this sounded ridiculous. Things were bad over on Wolf Island because they were all red and gray wolves, and all they knew was hunting and killing. By Apollo’s logic, we would have to take every wolf that arrived, and soon we would be another Wolf Island, because they would eat us one by one until we were all wiped out. No matter what Apollo said about all canines being equal, Duke and me and most of the working dogs knew this was a lie, that wolves and dogs are very different, and cannot coexist peacefully. And, for that matter, wolves cannot even coexist peacefully among themselves, which is why Wolf Island is always such a terrible place.

The next day, there were six wolves, and they were hanging out down with the Poodles, who were still in charge. And all the moron show dogs, who went along with anything Apollo said, were gathered in their groups around them in turn. One of the sillier Irish Setter females said that even with being forcibly mounted, and missing a few puppies, this was still only a small price to pay for making Dog Island so much more wonderfully diverse. There was even talk among the Poodles and show dogs of renaming it Dog and Wolf Island, so that the newly arriving wolves would feel more at home.

When we saw there were now six wolves, we didn’t bother trying to talk with Apollo about it again. We scattered, but I met up with Duke at the other end of the island, bringing my toughest crew, and he brought his. We all agreed that we had to do something about the wolves. If any more arrived, they would form a super pack that we could never defeat. Even now, it would take a bloody battle to vanquish them and expel them from Dog Island. In a fair fight, a wolf could usually whip two or even three big dogs. Six wild wolves might take quite a toll before we put them down. If we even could.

I said that I had an idea about how to defeat them without a bloody battle. When they heard it, Duke and all the other big working dogs agreed it was a very good plan, and we would do it. Wolves were wild and ferocious fighters, and very big, bigger than Duke even, so we could not let our strategy turn into a wild melee of a half-dozen skirmishes, or the wolves would destroy us. We would cooperate, and stick to my plan, Spike’s plan, and we would win.

When all the working dogs were ready at our end of the island, I trotted down past where the Poodles and now the wolves hung out, through all the show dogs, but I just continued on past them, out onto the little point that juts into the river down at that end. It’s steep there, where the river runs fast around the point. Once on the point I turned around to face the Poodles and wolves, and I barked out that the Poodles, even the male Poodles, let the wolves mount them, and the Poodles were such craven yellow cowards that they didn’t even care about some of their own puppies being eaten by their new friends. And the wolves are so stupid they spend all night howling at the moon like idiots, and they mount their sisters, and as well their brothers.

My legs are not as long as Duke’s, and I’m not as tall at the shoulder, nor do I have a pelt of thick fur like him, but I have a big chest, and I can bark pretty damn loud. Pretty soon the six wolves got up, and began to slink toward me, baring their fangs and growling. As they approached, I backed up, but I kept insulting them, saying that they mounted their sisters, and their brothers, and their mothers, and even their fathers.

They were all glaring at me as they crept nearer, six sets of snapping wolf fangs arrayed in a line across. But being so preoccupied with me, they did not notice that behind them, Duke was leading a solid cohort of the biggest and meanest working dogs, including a few Rotties and Dobermans, and all the Pitbulls and toughest mixed breeds. They were creeping in on padded paws, not yelping or yipping, making no sound at all.

I was backed up all the way to the end of the point, and when the wolves were just a few yards away, I said You mother-mounting morons are all going to die, turn around and meet your doom! The wolves wheeled to face the phalanx, going berserk at the sudden sight of thirty or more big dogs so close behind them. I was ready for this and turned and plunged out into the river, the bank there being more than a yard high, and steep where the current undercut it.

Now, I’m half Labrador Retriever, and I love to swim. I can swim all day. I can even dive to the bottom and grab things. The river current was flowing, but I could handle it. From down below in the water I couldn’t follow what was happening up on the point, but in a few moments the first wolf came flying over and splashed into the water. He paid me no attention, but turned to try to regain the bank, which was steep and undercut. While he was distracted, I dove at him and bit hard into his rear leg, shaking and tearing at it, and dragging him down deep under water. When I went up for air, there were two more distracted wolves in the water, and I found ways to dive down and grab their legs and drown them too. The others paddled away downstream toward Wolf Island.

Only when Duke appeared atop the end of the point did I know the battle was over, and I swam around to the beach and rejoined the victorious working dogs. Duke still seemed concerned and said, Spike, come walk with me for a minute. We went off together, and he told me what had happened on the point after I dived into the water. There were enough working dogs shoulder to shoulder to form a solid wall of teeth across the width of the narrowing point, and most of a second rank behind, to fill any gaps caused by battle casualties.

And it was a good thing, because the treacherous Poodles, in the heat of battle, attacked us from the rear, trying to break our wall and allow the wolves to escape our cordon. The second rank of dogs was able to hold off the treacherous diversionary attack of the Poodles, but only just. If there had not been a second rank, the Poodle’s rear attack combined with the frontal assault of the wolves might have succeeded in breaking us up. The Poodles failed to save their new wolf allies, but it was a close run outcome, and might have gone the other way.

I said, Duke, I think it’s time we do something about Apollo and the Poodles, and he said, Spike, I agree 100%. He said Why don’t we use your same plan again, but modified for Poodles? So we got all the working dogs together again, and explained our idea, and they agreed. This time I was in the solid phalanx, standing shoulder to shoulder between Duke and a big Rottie named Max, as we backed the Poodles toward the end of the point. Rather than fight us, they all turned and plunged into the water. When they tried to climb back up the bank we snapped at their paws. When they tried to swim to the beach, we blocked them.

Duke barked out, You Poodles love the wolves so much, well, you’re just going to have to swim down there and join them on Wolf Island! See you later, mother-mounters!

And since then, there have been no more purebred Standard Poodles on Dog Island, only some mixed breeds and harmless miniatures. So when you young pups grow up, and you hear the show dogs talking about how good it was back when the Poodles were in charge, just keep in mind that they are just mad that we make them work now. No more getting fed just for being pretty or fancy. Now it’s a rule that everybody has to work for their dog food. Even the show dogs.

And we don’t ever let wolves take even one step onto Dog Island. We understand that we are eternal enemies, and like oil and water, we can never mix. Them to theirs, and us to ours. If they have managed to constantly foul things up on Wolf Island, and turn it into a living hell, what does that have to do with us? And why in the hell would we want to bring any of that chronic wolf violence and dysfunction here to Dog Island?

So, pups, that’s why we dogs are wolfophobic. It’s literally insane to be anything else.

Permission is freely given to copy and share anywhere our social media masters deem permissible.

---

CA: Victim Disarms 1 of 2 Home Invaders, Shoots 1

Revolver used in home invasion. 1 fired cartridge

A man living with his elderly parents in a home along eastbound Highway 26 near North Pinasco Road woke up to two people striking him with a wooden pole. Joshua Keamohuli, 27, and Alicia Agundez, 34, were demanding money from the victim, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.

One of the suspects pulled out a revolver and the resident began fighting with his assailants. The sheriff’s office reports during the struggle the victim got hold of the gun and shot Agundez in the leg with it.

Deputies arrested the suspects and located their getaway car. They also confiscated a sawed off shotgun found inside the vehicle.

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GA: Gunfight, Armed Store Owner, Suspect both Dead, Employee Wounded

Police say 19-year-old Brandon Doe of Sparks, Georgia, entered the store with a gun and told everyone to get down. The owner, Tea Mo, 55, who was behind the register, produced his own gun, which resulted in a shootout between the owner and suspect.

Both Mo and Doe were killed.

Mashona Robers, 35, an employee, was also shot. She was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
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IL: Robbery Suspect Shot, Killed by Armed Victim

A man was fatally shot when he attempted to rob another man Sunday evening outside a store in the South Loop, police said.

The 31-year-old victim was walking out of a store about 6:15 p.m. in the 1200 block of South Jefferson when the attempted robber pulled out a gun and demanded money, according to Chicago Police.

After the suspect stole his property, the victim — who has a permit to carry a concealed gun — shot the man in the chest, police said.
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.22 LR on Shelves 3.6 Cents per Round

The .22 LR bubble is over. With the Trump Presidency, gun owners are no longer worried that ammunition might be hard to find in the indefinite future.

I visited the WalMart in Northern Dallas on the corner of Marsh Lane  and Frankford Rd. It has had more ammunition available, at lower prices, than the others I have visited in Arizona and Texas.

As seen in the photo, take on December 20, 2017, Federal bulk packs of 550 rounds of 36 grain high velocity .22 Long Rifle cartridges were priced at $19.94.  According to my calculator 1994/550 is 3.62 cents a cartridge. That is the lowest price I have seen in a store, on the shelf, since the end of 2012, when the great .22 ammunition bubble was inflated by the Sandy Hook mass murder and President Obama's attempt to use the tragedy to enact strong restrictions on gun ownership in the United States.

That attempt ultimately failed. But for long years, with tens of millions of gun owners determined to stockpile a few hundred or a few thousand rounds of .22 ammunition, shelves were bare and middlemen made large profits as the price of .22 ammunition doubled, redoubled, and redoubled again.

At the height of the bubble, 500 rounds of .22 LR ammo went as high as $100, or more. That is 20 cents a round! Just before the bubble I purchased bulk Federal .22 LR on sale at 2.6 cents a round.

I predicted, that with the election of Donald Trump, .22 LR prices would go below 4 cents a round by October of 2017. Many scoffed at the idea, saying that manufacturers would conspire and never allow prices to fall that low.  On line sources showed multiple sources for .22 LR below 4 cents a round in October.

The question is how low will .22 ammunition prices fall? Stockpiles of .22 ammuntion have been purchased by tens of millions of gun owners. Millions of new gun owners have been created. My hunch is that most gun owners will not want to shoot up their stockpile, but keep it "just in case".

On the other hand, at a recent gun show in Yuma, Arizona, I saw 10,000 rounds of .22 ammunition for sale for $420, or 4.2 cents a round.  The price was reduced from 6 cents a round, after I told the sellers that WalMart had plenty on the shelf, locally at 4.2 cents.

.22 LR production has been increased by about 20% in the industry.

There are bound to be ups and downs in the market. Metal prices and energy prices are considerably lower than they were in 2008.

Here is a new prediction: Before the end of the Trump Presidency, we will see .22 LR on sale for 2.5 cents a round or less. It may not be common, but it will happen.

Report it here when it happens, so we can all say the "good old days" are back.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

NC: 2:30 A.M. Home Invasion, One of Several Suspects Shot, Killed

The homeowner woke up and gunfire ensued between the homeowner and the suspects, according to the NHCSO.

According to Lt. Jerry Brewer, one of the suspects was shot and killed by the homeowner. The other suspects fled the scene.
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OK: Gunfight being investigated

When they reached the intersection at 11th and 129th E Ave in their vehicles, officers say the driver of the pick-up truck pulled out his gun. The other man involved saw the weapon and pulled his gun out, and fired at the truck several times.

The victim said to be in his 60's was struck in the left arm, and the bullet traveled to his shoulder. He was taken to the hospital and said to be in stable condition.
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NM: Domestic Defense, Armed Ex Breaks in, Shot by New Boyfriend

“The estranged boyfriend or husband made it to her apartment. Kind of came in through the window armed, and there was confrontation somewhere inside the apartment,” said Albuquerque Police Officer Simon Drobik.

Police say the woman and her new boyfriend were in an apartment and that the new boyfriend shot and killed the intruder in what appears to be self-defense.

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WI: Gunfight, Robbery Suspect and Restaurant Employe Trade Shots

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee Police responded to a report of a masked gunman entering a restaurant near 34th and National around 8:10 p.m. Saturday evening. A worker at the restaurant pulled out a gun and chased the robber. Both the robbery suspect and worker fired shots.

According to police, the suspect is still at large and they don't believe anyone was hit by gunfire.
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TX: Mother, Gun and Dog Scare off Intruder

About an hour later, she heard the home alarm beep and her back door open.

Her instinct kicked in.

"I froze for a second and then I realized I needed to spring into action, I mean, I had my baby in the house. I was alone. My husband was away on business, so I had to take care of things," she said.

She grabbed a gun and went towards the back door, where she found a man standing in her kitchen.

She yelled at the man while pointing the gun at him, and her dog ran towards him, scaring him out of the back door.
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Falling Prices: Cheap AR15 Clone: $375 Del-ton Echo, $8 Shipping

I have believed that Modern Sporting Rifles would hit an oversupply after the election of President Donald Trump, for some time.

Price cuts and sales were a near certainty.

I have no knowledge of DEL-TON products. They claim "Mil-Spec" for at least some of the parts.

$375 with $8 shipping is very reasonable.

Here is the link to the sale site.  Minimum wage in the U.S. is now $7.25 per hour, $6.71 after 7.65%  is taken out for federal Social Security and Medicare.

At that rate,  an AR-15 clone is available for 57 hours worth of work at the minimum wage.

In 1937, a 1903 Springfield rifle could be had for $18, or .9 ounces of gold.

 Today gold is $1,278, so the DEL-TON rifle would be about .337 ounces of gold.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

MA: Portugese Market Owner Shoots Armed Robbery Suspect

Max, 25, saw a robber pointing a gun at the other co-owner of Valentina's, located at 886 Central St.

Max, who declined give his last name out of fear of retaliation, immediately stepped back around Portuguese imported cheese and cereals, pulled out the gun he's licensed to carry, cocked his gun and waited for the thief.

"I fired. Boom. Boom," recalled Max Thursday morning. "I thought he was dead right there, but he got up. I fired two more. Boom. Boom. He was ducking, though. I would have got him if he was standing up."



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FL: Pawn Shop Owner Shoots Robbery Suspect

Police say it appears a man was trying to rob the City Pawn shop on Hillsborough Avenue when he was shot by the shop's owner just before 2 p.m. Thursday.

Police said the suspect, identified as Eric Jerome Norton, 20, parked a car in front of the pawn shop, left the engine running, and went inside.
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IA: 17-Year-Old Shoots Mountain Lion in Self Defense

Jake Altena was hunting deer in Iowa, on private property near the Little Sioux River.  Jake is 17 years old. He started hunting when he was 12. On Saturday, 9 December, he heard a noise. He carefully and quietly investigated the origin of the sound. From siouxcityjournal.com:

Armed with a Savage bolt-action 20 gauge shotgun, Altena found an uprooted tree that appeared to have enough clearance for a person or creature to be able to move underneath the branches.

“I was about 15 feet away and a mountain lion poked his head out and it was looking at me dead in the eyes,” he said.

“I immediately pulled my gun on him; I was pretty scared at the moment. When I had him in my sights, he kind of made a quick jump at me and I instantly pulled the trigger.”

The shot hit the creature in the shoulder and fatally wounded it.

Shot at close range in the front of the chest, it is clear the big cat was coming at Jake.  The projectile appears to have traveled lengthwise in the body without exiting.  A 20 gauge slug has plenty of power for most big game in North America.

Only shotguns were legal for hunting deer in Iowa until 2017, when rifles shooting straight walled pistol cartridges were added to the the list of legal firearms available to deer hunters. Jake's 20 gauge is camouflaged and has a telescopic sight. It has been designed and manufactured for big game hunting.

After the Department of Natural Resources reviewed the law, they returned the lion to Jake. He intends to have it mounted.  It is one of only five mountain lions that have ever been recorded as shot in Iowa, according to the Department.

There is no law in Iowa that prohibits the shooting of mountain lions. In the United States, conceived in liberty, everything that is not forbidden is allowed. In some countries, the philosophic basis of government is that anything not allowed, is forbidden.

 It is legal to shoot mountain lions anywhere in the United States, in self defense.

Mountain lion attacks on humans are extremely rare. They have increased in the last few decades as the lions have been protected. Mountain lion populations are increasing. The lions are extending their range into areas frequented by humans.

Only a tiny number of humans have been recorded as being killed by mountain lions. There were 10 fatal attacks recorded between 1890 and 1924, three from 1949 to 1953, and 14 fatal attacks since 1971.

Two mountain lions were killed as they attacked hunters in 2017.  Dylan Ross shot a lion that attacked him in Colorado, on five November, 2017, while he was hunting mule deer. Jake shot his cat on nine December, a little over a month later.  Both of those attacks happened at extremely close range, 16 feet for Dylan, 15 feet for Jake.

The odds of being attacked by a mountain lion are tiny, but improbable things happen. It does not matter if they are rare, if they happen to you. In overall numbers, you are tens of thousands of times more likely to be attacked by a human than a mountain lion. The estimates of mountain lion numbers in the United States are about 30,000. There are about 330 million humans, or about 11,000 humans for each mountain lion. Fortunately, most of those humans are concentrated in large cities. 

Jake and Dylan have fantastic hunting stories to tell the grand kids, and pictures to prove they were real.


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Followup WV: Home Invaders who Killed Armed Defender Identified

The victim, 77-year-old Eugene Stevens, died after being shot while attempting to defend himself against 4 people who were inside his home.

Police say Stevens fired several shots from his own gun, wounding Travis Boggs, before he was fatally shot by the suspects.

Investigators say the suspects left the scene in an SUV and dropped Boggs off at Minnie Hamilton Hospital in Grantsville, where he is currently being treated for his injuries.

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PA: Armed PA: Man Shoots Armed Robber who Demanded he Empty Pockets

A robbery suspect was shot in the wrist after the man he held up at gunpoint pulled out his own gun and opened fire on the man, police said.

The robbery attempt and shooting happened around 12:10 a.m. Thursday along Stenton Avenue near Beachwood Street in Philadelphia's West Oak Lane section.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said the 28-year-old robbery victim was talking to a friend when a man walked up, pulled a handgun, and demanded everything from the man's pockets.


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OH: Clerk Shoots Armed Robber

COLUMBUS - Columbus Police are on the scene of a shooting after a store clerk shot a suspected robber in south Columbus.
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Followup OH: Home Invader who was Killed, was Released from Prison 1 Day

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The 20-year-old man shot and killed early Wednesday after he broke into a man's home in Cleveland was released from prison three days before the home invasion.

Cornelius Love of Cleveland was released from prison on Sunday, according to state prison records. He would have been on probation until 2020.

Love broke into a man's home about 3 a.m. in the 10600 block of Elgin Avenue, south of St. Clair Avenue in the city's Glenville neighborhood, according to police.

The 41-year-old homeowner saw Love breaking into the home and shot him several times, police said. Officers found Love dead in the home near a staircase, according to police.
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CO: Common Sense Prevails, No Charges for Rep Who Forgot Gun was in Carry-on

In a show of common sense, no charges were filed against State Representative Lori Saine, R-Firestone.

Lori had forgotten that her personal, legal, self-defense firearm was in her carry-on luggage. From thedenverchannel.com:

DENVER — The Boulder County District Attorney has decided not to press charges against Colorado State Rep. Lori Saine, R-Firestone, who was arrested December 5 after carrying a loaded gun through security at Denver International Airport.
In a statement released Thursday, Boulder District Attorney Stanley Garnett's office said a criminal case against Saine could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and charges “are not appropriate.” She was facing a possible class 6 felony charge.

This type of incident happens thousands of times a year. In 2015, the number was 2,653 firearms discovered in carry- on bags. In 2016, 3,391 firearms were discovered the same way.. The number is increasing every year. I expect the 2017 numbers to be higher yet.

Denver is in the top 10 airports for discoveries of legal firearm owners who are inadvertently caught up in TSA security apparatus. There were 98 of these incidents in Denver in 2016.

The U.S.A. has over 16 million people with firearm carry permits, about 6.5 percent of the adult population. With so many people legally carrying firearms, it is inevitable that a few will be distracted at a critical time, get rushed in packing a bag, or otherwise make an innocent mistake that leads to a problem such as Representative Saine encountered at the Denver airport.

Most of these situations are handled with common sense, such as the Boulder County District Attorney demonstrated.

Legal gun owners caught up in TSA security apparatus, should not be subject t o the same penalties as terrorists and assorted criminals.

Being pulled off a flight, losing the cost of the ticket, missing your appointments and family events, and going through the criminal justice system, are more than enough punishment for an innocent mistake.

The job of a prosecutor is to seek justice, not to win cases and prosecutions.
This incident serves as a warning to all gun owners in the United States, and particularly to the millions who routinely carry firearms.

When traveling by air, be extremely cautious about your luggage. Search your carry-on twice to make sure it does not contain so much as a single round of .22 ammunition.

A number of years ago, I found I had traveled hundreds of miles by air with a box of .22 shells in my computer bag. It was a wake-up call.  TSA never discovered the box of ammunition, but they could have. It would have ruined my day.

Do not make that mistake. It is much easier to do than you imagine. The vast majority of people are careful and avoid problems. There are about a hundred million gun owners in the United States. 3,391 were found with a gun in their carry-on last year. It is a tiny percentage.

The numbers are rising as are the number of gun owners and people who regularly carry. Carry a gun enough, and fly often enough, and it can happen. Check your bags twice. When you are tempted to rush, slow down.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

NC: Domestic Defense, No Charges for Mother who Shot Daughter's Boyfriend

MORGANTON, N.C. - A man was shot in the head and killed early Thursday in Burke County by his girlfriend's mother in what deputies were told was an act of self-defense, deputies said.

On Friday, the district attorney said that the shooting was justified self-defense. No charges will be filed.
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TX: Mistaken Identity Shooting, Woman Shoots Boyfriend

According to police, Solomon Hodges, 35, arrived home and was unable to turn off the alarm system. As he walked into the bedroom in the dark, he ran into his girlfriend.

Startled and threatened for her and her children’s safety, the woman shot Hodges once in the chest with a pistol, police said. After realizing Hodges was not a burglar, she drove him to Ben Taub General Hospital.
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OH: Homeowner Shoots, Wounds 1 of 2 Suspects

The Liberty Street homeowner called 911 shortly after 1 a.m. Friday and told officials he shot his 9 mm handgun toward two men, whom he said broke into his home, according to Bowling Green Police Lt. Daniel Mancuso. The two men then fled the home, police said.

The threatening suspect was shot three times — twice in the arm and once in the lower back — the lieutenant said. He was located about a block and a half away near North Main Street and Evers Road. His injuries were described as not life-threatening.
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MO: Gunfight, Victim Shot in Leg

The incident started around 5 a.m. at the 5 Star Kitchen on the 3900 block of South Broadway. The store owner heard his car alarm and went to see what was going on.

He saw a suspect in his vehicle, who immediately fired several shots at him. The store owner returned fire but wasn't sure if he struck the suspect. The victim was struck in the leg and transported to a hospital where his condition is unknown.
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TX: Home Invasion Gunfight, Suspect Shot, Critically Injured

The suspect was said to be carrying a short-barreled rifle and demanded money from the occupants, according to information from the Port Arthur Police Department.

One of the occupants of the home retrieved a handgun and shot the suspect multiple times. He was initially brought to Christus St. Mary Hospital, then later transferred to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont where he underwent surgery.
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CT: Gun 'Buyback', New Haven 16 December, 2017 and Results

Gun turn in events, known by the Orwellian term 'buyback' (you cannot buy back what you never owned), have become rare outside of those states which ban private sales. Connecticut requires that every gun sale be granted permission and be registered with the government. New Haven Connecticut is hosting a gun turn in event.  From nbcconnecticut.com:

The New Haven Police Department gun buyback will be at 710 Sherman Parkway in New Haven, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. People turning in working guns will get gift cards for American Express, Stop & Shop, Target, Walmart, Kohl’s or Amazon while supplies last.

Single and double-shot (Derringer style) handguns will be worth $25; rifles and shotguns will be worth $50; pistols and revolvers (handguns) will be worth $100 and assault weapons (to be determined by New Haven Police) will be worth $200.

Guns must be delivered unloaded in clear plastic bags and any ammunition must be delivered in a separate bag. The person dropping off the gun will not be charged with illegal possession of that specific firearm, according to police.

They said no questions will be asked and no identification will be required.

710 Sherman Parkway in New Haven is the address for the New Haven Police Academy.

A licenses to purchase rifles, shotguns and handguns are required in Connecticut. Paperwork for the sale or transfer of all firearms is required by the State of Connecticut.

In 2016, the event collected 85 handguns, thirty eight rifles and shot guns, an SKS, an AR15, and two sawed off shotguns that were counted as four "assault rifles". 15 inoperable guns were also turned in.

The gift cards ran out early, and more than a dozen people were turned away.  The prices offered for guns are ridiculously low. In any state where people are free to sell and buy guns without government permission, any working single shot or derringer pistol would be worth $75.  Working rifles or shotguns would be worth a $100, minimum. "Assault Weapons", an imprecise term at best, could be worth from $200 to many thousands.

It looks difficult to make a profit at this event. The prices are low. The administrative burdens required to purchase a firearm are burdensome.

It was difficult to find pictures that were not restricted, from the last event.

If any one near New Haven can obtain photographs from the event this Saturday, it would be useful.

Update: The New Haven gun turn-in collected 138 firearms, Harford had 68 firearms turned in.

From wfsb.com: 

Community Renewal Team spokesperson Jason Black told Eyewitness News that the organization received 68 firearms at the event, including 3 assault rifles, 1 machine gun, 25 pistols, 20 revolvers, 8 rifles, 8 shot gun, and 3 Derringer pistols.

New Haven Chief of Police, Anthony Campbell told Eyewitness News that 4 Derringer handguns, 74 handguns and 60 rifles and shotguns were collected in New Haven. Amongst the group, police collected 2 assault rifles.

Looks like a Marlin 336 lever action hunting rifle, second above the script.


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

IL: Gunfight, Shop Owner Wounds Robbery Suspect

The 17-year-old suspect was armed and attempted to rob a Metro PCS store. The owner confronted the suspect and gun fire was exchanged.

The suspect was hit in the shoulder and taken to the hospital in good condition.

Police say the owner has a conceal and carry card.
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NC: Richard Childress Fires at Three Home Invaders, Offers Reward

Investigators said Childress armed himself and fired shots at the three robbery suspects. Sheriff Grice said it does not appear that any of the suspects were injured before getting away.

Sheriff Grice said due to the NC Castle Doctrine a person has the right to defend themselves against this type of intrusion.

Childress told Grice that he felt, “the only reason he and his wife were here today was because of God and the Second Amendment.”
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NC: Domestic Tragedy Woman's Ex and Boyfriend both Killed

Police said late Wednesday that Peek was the live-in boyfriend of Theresa Moore, who lives at the Hudson residence with her son Jonathan Masterson, 28.

Peek and Theresa Moore were in a domestic dispute when her estranged husband, Jeffrey Moore, arrived and began to fight Peek, according to a KSP news release. Peek then shot Moore.

Police said Masterson attempted to help Moore when Peek allegedly fired a shot at him. Masterson then pulled out a gun and fired it multiple times at Peek, according to the release.
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AZ: Mt Lemmon Bear Attack, Details from 1996

Over 20 years ago in 1996, I was driving to Phoenix, Arizona to catch a flight to Wisconsin.

I had the radio on. The news was reporting a horrific bear attack on Mount Lemmon, near Tucson, Arizona. A teenage girl had been badly mauled by a bear, in her tent, as part of a 4-H outing.  A camp counselor had accessed a handgun and shot the bear, driving it off. As the hours rolled along, the AP stories started getting more vague and the story less heroic.  The Internet wasn't well developed in 1996. It took me several years to track down the "camp counselor".  Then, the notes and email were lost. Finally, in 2017, I made contact again.

The "camp counselor" who shot the 356 lb black bear off of Anna Knochel was Brett Kramer.  He was the supervising adult in charge, an employee of the University of Arizona, in his official capacity as an Extension Agent. The details used to fill in and correct newspaper accounts of the time come from my interviews with Brett.

In 1996, it was the twilight before dawn when the big black bear entered the girls tent at 5:15 in the morning of 25 July. He pinned 16 year old Anna Knochel down and started biting and tearing at her.  Anna did not make a lot of noise. She tried to protect her vitals and managed to get on her stomach.  The bear bit at the back of her head, her shoulder, and back. It tore her leg open from the buttocks to the knee.  The were extensive claw wounds from her scalp all down her back.

It took minutes for people in the camp to be alerted that a bear was attacking Anna in her tent. More time went by until Brett Kramer was told of the attack. He was in charge of 13 counselors and 71 children at the camp. Anna was one of the junior counselors.

He grabbed a flashlight and a canteen and ran down to Anna's tent, 50 to 60 yards away from the storage building where he was sleeping. He saw movement in the tent as he approached. He opened the front flap. Anna's cot was on the right. The bear was on top of her. He banged the canteen with the flashlight. He shouted. The bear didn't leave.

Brett remembered his .44 magnum, under the seat of his truck, two hundred yards away. He ran uphill, back to the storage building to get his truck keys. Fortunately, it was on the way to the parking lot. After a 150 yard sprint uphill to the truck, he grabbed his blued Ruger Super Blackhawk with a 7 1/2 inch barrel. 

The pistol was loaded with six lead semi-wadcutter 240 grain bullets in .44 Magnum handloads. Brett is and was an avid reloader. He said the loading manuals put the load at about a 1000 feet per second, a hot load for a .44 Special, but mild for the .44 Magnum.

The pistol had been taken to camp by mistake. Brett had grabbed his pack, and the pistol happened to be in it. He was already on his way when he discovered it, so he locked the revolver in his truck when he got to the Boy Scout camp on Mount Lemon.  It was legal to have the pistol in camp, but Brett wanted to keep it separate from the children he was supervising.

Other counselors tried beating on the tent and making noise. The bear was in full predatory mode. It ignored the disturbance.

Brett ran back to Anna's tent, about 200 yards, downhill. When he got back, the bear was still on top of Anna.

The first shot was from the front. It went through the shoulder and clipped a lung on the way to the abdominal cavity.  The big boar immediately took off. Brett hesitated a moment for a clear shot, then fired again at the retreating bear, hitting it in the hind quarters.  It was light enough to see and shoot. The sun would rise in  a few minutes. Brett was 29 years old.  He had just gotten a lot older.

A couple of hours later, two Pima County Sheriff's deputies were able to track down the bear. It was lying down, mortally wounded from Brett Kramer's handloads. They made sure with a couple of 12 gauge shotgun slugs.

Brett was able to attend the necropsy of the bear.

Anna Knochel was 16 and in excellent physical condition at the time of the attack. She was a high school swimmer and a cheerleader. The damage the bear inflicted was extensive. On the day of the attack, she was in surgery for 12 hours. It was the first of several surgeries, including an experimental transplant of a nerve from Anna's left leg to her severely damaged right leg. After months of re-constructive surgery and physical therapy, Anna was able to walk again. She eventually obtained an advanced degree, married and has a young son of her own.

The bear that attacked Anna was a known problem bear. Arizona Game and Fish, the University of Arizona, The U.S. Forest Service and the Boy Scouts were sued by the Knochels for negligence. A settlement with Arizona Game and Fish was reached for a reported 2.5 million dollars.  The lawsuit had repercussions far beyond Arizona. I have not found results for the other defendants.

All over the country, departments responsible for the management of wildlife changed their policies. Problem bears were no longer treated to "catch and release", especially adult boars.  Moving a problem bear moves the problem to someone else.  Bears that become acclimated to humans, and associate them with food, are a problem. In modern parlance, a fed bear is a dead bear.

Research on black bear attacks showed that when a bear intends to eat you, fighting back is better than playing dead.

The Mount Lemmon bear attack case is one of many where bear attacks have been prevented or stopped with handguns. The calibers, so far, have ranged form 9mm to .44 magnum. Research is ongoing. I hope to have an updated article soon.

If you find an instance where the use of a pistol failed to stop a bear attack, please let me know.  Such failures should be out there. The mythology is that such failures are common. I have not found one yet.


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

TX: Meat Market Owner Shoots, Kills Burglar who Charged Him

A man believed to have been burglarizing a meat market in Dallas was shot and killed this morning. According to police, the owner of the Tienda Mi-Mexico Meat Market, on Northwest Highway near Dallas Love Field Airport, saw two people inside the store when he went to open up around 6:30 a.m.
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Followup IL: No Charges for Permit Holder who Shot Naked Man

A person with a permit to carry a concealed gun has been released without charges after shooting a man Monday night at a Near West Side store.

About 5:30 p.m., a 55-year-old man who was naked except for the socks he was wearing caused a “disturbance” outside a retail store in the first block of South Western Avenue, according to Chicago Police.

The naked 55-year-old broke a glass and was acting menacingly toward others when the concealed carry holder fired a shot, striking the man in the leg, police said.
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IL: Concealed Carry Permit Holder Killed in Chicago Gunfight

A concealed carry holder was shot to death in West Humboldt Park over the weekend after three men surrounded his car as he was parking in a garage, authorities said.

The man, 33, was shot in the head but managed to return fire during the attack in the 4000 block of West Iowa Street about 1:55 a.m. Sunday, Chicago police said Tuesday, updating their initial information about the shooting.
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PA: Homeowner Drives off Home Invaders with Gunfire

Multiple people attempted to force the door of the residence open, but the homeowner shot at them before they entered, police said. The homeowners were not harmed. The suspects fled the scene and were not identified, police said.
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Junk Science: "Surge" of Accidental Gun Deaths After Sandy Hook

A recent study from Wellesley College economists, published in Science magazine  is a good example of how to torture data until you get the result you want.

The mass murder at Sandy Hook took place on December 14, 2012. President Obama of the need for more gun control on 19 December.  He talked about specific restrictions on 16 January, 2013. The events are so close to the end of the year, that an increase in accidental deaths should show in the annual data.

WISQARS CDC data base

The article in Science make the following claim. From sciencemag.org:

About 60 additional unintended shooting deaths, roughly 20 of them in children, occurred in the 5 months after the shooting, conclude the study’s authors, economists Phillip Levine and Robin McKnight of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. For all of the 2012 calendar year, there were 545 accidental shooting deaths, or about 45 per month, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So a 60-death bump in a 5-month period is a considerable one.

Look at the actual numbers as shown by the CDC. 2011 had 591 deaths from firearm accidents, a rate of .19 per 100,000.

2012 had 545 deaths from firearm accidents, significantly lower than 2011. The rate was .17 per 100,000. Sandy Hook happened at the very end of 2012.

According to Science, an increase of about 60 accidental firearms then occurred. Those 60 did not occur in 2012, because 2012 had 43 fewer accidental firearm fatalities than in 2011.

In 2013, the number of fatalities from firearm accidents was 505. That is 40 deaths lower than the number in 2012. Where are the supposed 60 fatality increase? They do not exist. It is a made up number based on extremely short term statistical trends tortured out of very limited data.

Between 1945, (the earliest figure available for per capita firearms, Kleck) to 2014 ( the latest figure, using BATFE numbers and Kleck's methodology), the number of per capita firearms has risen from .351 to 1.176. That is more than a three-fold increase.

During the same period, the per capita rate of fatal firearm accidents has declined from 1.84 per 100,000 to .15 per 100,000, over a 91% drop.

Using the earliest number for fatal firearm accidents, in 1933, the drop has been nearly 94%.

A clue to the torture of the data are the significant findings the authors refused to publish in their paper. Good science publishes findings both for and against a thesis. Junk science only publishes findings that are in favor of their thesis.

The authors tested the data against homicides and suicides. They found that their was no "systematic effect".  They chose not to publish that information in the abstract, or to make charts or tables about it. They mention it briefly in a paragraph near the end of the paper. From the study at sciencemag.org:

A third limitation is that our reported analysis has focused only on accidental firearm deaths, ignoring the potential impact on firearm-related suicides and homicides. Individuals who responded to concerns about gun control by purchasing or handling a firearm are unlikely to be motivated by an intention to kill themselves or others with those guns. We have also examined these mortality outcomes and found no systematic effect of the spike in gun sales. This finding is consistent with prior research that analyzed the short-term impact of increased firearm purchases due to local gun shows on homicides and suicides and found no evidence of impacts on those outcomes (19).

They misstate the results of the gun show study. That paper found homicides were decreased in a statistically significant way, with increased purchases at gun shows. The authors of the gun show study downplayed the effect, but they published it. From the gun show study:

"But our results provide little evidence of a gun show-induced increase in mortality in Texas. In fact, we find that in the two weeks following a gun show, the average number of gun homicides declines in the area surrounding the gun show. Aggregating across all gun shows in the state, we find that there are approximately 16 fewer gun homicides resulting from the 200 gun shows in the average year. In the sections below, we discuss several possible explanations for this counterintuitive finding. However, it is important to keep in mind that while these results are statistically significant, they are quite small – representing just one percent of all homicides in Texas in the average year."

The Wellesley study published in Science has many red flags that indicate junk science. It uses a very abbreviated data set, only looking at one event, while there are several events that show jumps in gun purchases.

The authors include all of December in their post Sand Hook period, when December was half way through when the Sandy Hook event took place. The authors focus on rates of very small numbers, but do not show us the actual numbers.

Finally, the authors ignore significant results of their own studies, choosing to publicize fatal gun accidents while ignoring homicides and suicides.

There are about 9,000 annual homicides with guns. A bump up of guns after Sandy Hook did not result in any increase.

There are about 18,000 suicides with guns annually. The bump up of guns after Sandy Hook did not result in any increase.

There are about 550 fatal gun accidents with guns annually, trending downward. The authors were able to torture the data to show an imaginary increase (fatal accidents were actually reduced) over the next year. That is what they publicized, and what was blared out over the world media.

The Science article was picked up by at least 83 news outlets.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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MO: Armed Clerk Captures Suspect at Gunpoint

The customer allegedly raised his shirt to show a gun a tucked in his waistband.

But police say the manager had already drawn his 9-millimeter handgun.

By the time officers arrived at the gas station at about 1 a.m. on Dec. 9, the would-be robber was lying face down on the ground while the manager held him at gunpoint, court documents say.

The incident is described in a probable cause statement used to charge Anthony Hetherington, 18, with first-degree attempted robbery.
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FL: Pizza Driver Shoots Armed Robber

He assumed it was the person who ordered the pizza.

“I was thinking maybe it could have been a mistake in address,“ Parker said.

Then, he said Reaves pulled out a gun and demanded all of his cash.

Parker paused and said he told Reaves he had more cash in the car he could give him.

“I was able to get distance between me and him and get back to my vehicle and disclose my weapon,” Parker said.

Parker said he opened fire and shot Reaves in the legs and pelvis.
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Followup FL: Craigslist sale/robbery attempt leads to Gunfire

“From the interviews th at we received,I think that Barry felt they were going to try and get the phone back after there was the exchange of money for the phone, and that these two individuals may flee with both the money and the phone,” Engle said. “But that is purely speculation on my part.”

The store had about a dozen shoppers inside when the shooting happened just before 1 p.m. The store is south of the intersection at Griffin Road, a neighborhood that has three colleges nearby and is especially busy at lunchtime.

After retreating inside the CVS, Barry repeatedly asked clerks to call 911.

He “made discreet requests several times as he traveled through the front of the store, with Mr. Smith pursuing him,” Engle said. “The surveillance video clearly shows that Mr. Barry enters the store and that Mr. Smith is right behind him. It looks like Mr. Barry is attempting to get away from Smith.”

Barry, who has a valid concealed carry permit, pushed Smith and pulled out a handgun, Engle said.

Barry fired several times, striking Smith, according to Engle. No one else in the store was injured. Davie Fire Rescue paramedics took Smith to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood where he died Wednesday night.
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OK: Gunfight, Defender Wounded, Home Invaders Flee

“They just came and scared the crap out of us,” Mario said. “They got him at gunpoint, asking him for money.”

The home-invader pistol-whipped Oscar, and a gunfight broke out. The home soon was riddled with bullets and shattered glass after a second burglar broke in through the back.

“I got out of my bed, grabbed my handgun,” Mario said.

Mario then exchanged gunfire with one of the burglars.

“His partner had a gun on my father, and that’s when I pointed a gun at him and he shot me,” Mario said. “I went to the floor, but I was able to return fire.”
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ND: Proper State Driver's License or Sanctioned ID equivalent to "Concealed Weapons License"

North Dakota passed Constitutional Carry in the 2017 Legislative session.  The legislation allowed people who had North Dakota drivers licenses or nondriver identification cards to carry concealed weapons, thus becoming a practical Constitutional Carry state.

However, another provision of North Dakota law prohibits most people from carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

State legislators asked the Attorney General if the Constitutional Carry provision applied to carrying a loaded firearm in vehicles.

He wrote an official opinion stating that it did so apply.  Here are the relevant conclusions.  From nd.gov:

Thus, even though a concealed weapons license is no longer required, an individual must still provide a valid North Dakota driver’s license or nondriver identification card issued by the North Dakota Department of Transportation upon demand of law enforcement. It is reasonable to conclude that the required identification is in lieu of a physical class 2 concealed weapons license.10

This interpretation has the practical benefit of preserving the prohibition in N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-10 against keeping or carrying a loaded firearm in or on any motor vehicle. As long as an individual produces a valid driver’s license, and otherwise meets the requirements for constitutional carry, that individual is producing the “valid concealed weapons license” which meets the exemption under N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-10(3). Likewise, if the individual does not have the proper identification, the prohibitions against driving with a loaded gun in a vehicle remain in place.

It is my opinion, that an individual’s valid driver’s license or sanctioned identification card is the equivalent of a “valid concealed weapons license” as required under N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-10 with regard to what was previously only known as a class 2 concealed weapons license. Therefore, it is further my opinion that when an individual meets the qualifications for constitutional carry in North Dakota, a loaded gun may be stored in a vehicle but proper identification must be revealed to law enforcement upon a traffic stop or other in-person contact, as required in N.D.C.C § 62.1-04-04. This interpretation is consistent with the Legislature’s intent and accomplishes the statutes’ goals and objectives.

 North Dakota recognizes concealed carry licenses from 39 other states.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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