Bear Conflicts Heat up in Idaho, 2021

File Image of grizzly bear  by Troy Nemitz, permission to use granted; scaled and cropped by Dean Weingarten

There have been a spate of bear - people conflicts in Idaho from July through September. Three of them happened near Island Park, which is in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). A sow with at least one cub mauled a hiker on July 10, 2021. From ksl.com:

Although the bear that Whitney estimated between 350 and 400 pounds began to swing its claws and bite him, he lay in the fetal position and covered his head and neck. The bear's cub stayed a short distance away from the attack.

"All I could hear is the growling and I honestly thought, 'What a way to go, and this might have been it,'" Whitney said. "I said a quick little prayer hoping things would de-escalate, and next thing I knew, the bear took off."

On  July 31, a bike rider was very happy he was faster than the grizzly chasing him. This bear was also a sow. The Idaho Fish & Game believes the bear had cubs. From ksl.com: 

ISLAND PARK, Idaho — A mountain biker avoided injury after being chased by a grizzly bear near Island Park in northeastern Idaho Friday morning.

The U.S. Forest Service for Caribou-Targhee National Forest posted on Facebook and said a female grizzly bear was sighted in the Stamp Meadows Road area. The bear chased the biker but did not catch or hurt him.

Then, on 23 September, a sow grizzly, reportedly with cubs, in the area, was shot and killed when it attacked archery hunters near Island Park. The hunters deployed both bear spray and a pistol. The incident is still under investigation, but it appears the bear was shot at very close range. It is elk archery season in Island Park, Idaho.  From idaho.gov: 

On Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, Idaho Fish and Game received a report of a sow grizzly bear that charged two elk hunters in the Stamp Meadows area near Island Park. As the bear charged, one of the hunters deployed bear spray while the other discharged a firearm at close range, mortally wounding the bear. Neither hunter appeared to be injured during the encounter.

If the sow and cubs were the same in all three incidents, the sow and her cub(s) will not be a threat to people in the Island Park area any longer.

Black bears were contributing to the problem in other parts of the state. On September 9, 2021, a black bear sow with cubs was killed, illegally, near Priest Lake in the northern panhandle. The bear had been a problem bear for weeks. The Idaho Fish & Game had attempted to live trap it, but were unsuccessful. A few days earlier it had wounded one pet and killed another. Priest Lake has an abundance of both grizzly and black bears. From Idaho.gov:

Initially, Fish and Game staff provided local residents with assistance and suggestions for bear awareness and securing trash and attractants to try and reduce potential for human and bear conflicts.

In late-Aug. the sow quarreled with two dogs at separate residences in the area as she was defending her young.  The incidents resulted in the death of one dog and multiple stitches for the other.

From Sep. 1 to Sep. 8, Fish and Game staff attempted to trap the bears in the area.  In situations like this, the hope is the bears can be trapped and relocated unharmed.  The trapping attempts were unsuccessful, and reports of the bears in the area continued. 

Between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Sep. 8, rifle shots near the dumpsters in Hills Resort were heard by residents in the area.

On Sep. 9, Fish and Game staff located the dead sow.  She had been shot several times and her body was left to waste.  The cubs were not in the area and have not been seen since the time of the incident.  If they are located, they will likely have to be put down as they will likely not survive the winter months on their own.

 In Boise, on the Southwest part of Idaho, two bears were killed by Idaho Fish & Game on September 18 and 24.  From idaho.gov: 

Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/boise/article254504012.html#storylink=cpy

Fish and Game officials attempted to chemically immobilize the bear. Before the immobilization drug could fully take effect, the bear fell out of the tree and ran downhill toward Hill Road. Officers from Fish and Game and the Boise Police Department dispatched the bear before it could move further into more densely populated residential areas.

This is the second incident involving a bear in Boise in the past week that has resulted in the bear being euthanized. On Sept. 18, Fish and Game officers euthanized a black bear in a southeast Boise industrial park compound between South Federal Way and I-84. The black bear was a subadult male that had been captured and moved from a north-end Boise residential neighborhood 4 months earlier.

The September 9 incident at Priest Lake had to be on the mind of the local Fish and Game officials. When private citizens become frustrated at the inaction of government agencies, government agents may be incentivized to be more vigilant. Even dedicated animal lovers become irritated when their pets are killed in town, by animals encroaching on their territory. 

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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IN: Woman Shoots Intruder who Broke in, Claimed to be "Police"

“Neighbors had videos of him parking in front of the residence and looking through windows, ultimately breaking through the door and pulling a weapon out,” said Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings.

Prosecutor Cummings says the suspect could also be heard on video asking for money and pretending to be law enforcement.

“There was audio, and you could hear what he was saying inside. He said, ‘It’s the police.’ He was claiming to be police officer, but he had a mask on,” said Cummings.

After retreating upstairs, police claim the homeowner shot the suspect then ran to a neighbor’s house, and police were called.

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SC: Domestice Defense, Ex Wounded, Current Boyfriend Killed at Rock Hill Apartment

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 22-year-old is dead following a shooting at a Rock Hill apartment complex late Saturday night, according to the Rock Hill Police Department.

Officers responded to the incident around 10 p.m. along Celanese Road where they found Rayquan Steele, 27, laying in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds, the department said.

Another 22-year-old man was found inside an apartment with a single gunshot wound, police said. EMS pronounced the victim dead on the scene, the department said.

A press release from the York County Coroner's Office on Monday, Sept. 27, confirmed the victim's identity as Yorel Milton.

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ATF did not Officiallly Define Shoulder Stocked Pistols as "Short Barreled Rifles" until 1961

 

 

Image from Rock Island arsenal

A proposed rule change about arm braces on pistols prompted this correspondent to research the history of shoulder stocks, pistols and the National Firearms Act (NFA).

When the National Firearms Act of 1934 was passed, pistols with shoulder stocks were not mentioned. Short barreled rifles were not intended to be in the law. They were inserted at the insistence of a confused congressman on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Fitting a pistol with a shoulder stock had always been an option.  The 1934 NFA was imagined to be regulating shotguns which had been shortened to create concealable, awkward pistols, not pistols which had a stock added to them, creating a carbine more accurate, but less concealable than a regular pistol.

The primary targets of the 1934 bill had been pistols, revolvers, sawed off shotguns, silencers and machine guns. Through lobbying by the NRA and concerned citizens all over the country, pistols and revolvers were taken out of the bill. 

The resulting law regulated things most people did not have. 

Homer Cummings was the first Attorney General of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) administration.  Cummings pushed hard for  national restrictions on firearms. He had a long run as Attorney General. Cummings helped engineer the U.S. v. Miller test case of the law before he left office in 1939.  Cummings is credited with many of the laws which vastly expanded Federal power in criminal matters. 

The economic failures of the New Deal, then World War II, removed most interest in the National Firearms Act. For many years, there was little enforcement. Returning servicemen brought back war trophies of shoulder stocked Mauser and Luger pistols.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) was a part of the Department of the Treasury.  The firearms act had been passed as a tax act to circumvent the Second Amendment, the Commerce clause, and the Tenth Amendment. The reason was openly acknowledged by Cummings and others during the Ways and Means Committee hearings.  

The ATF did not officially rule on shoulder stocked pistols until 1961. 

This correspondent contacted Rick Vasquez, an acknowledged expert on ATF history and federal firearms law, to ask when the ATF had formally included shoulder stocked pistols as short barreled rifles under the NFA. Rick lived up to his reputation. Within a few hours, Rick had forwarded the documentation showing the rule change in1961:

A hand gun of the Luger or semi-automatic Mauser type having a barrel less than 16 inches in length with an attachable shoulder stock affixed, or held by the possessor of such a weapon, is held to be a short barrel rifle.

However, a handgun of this type permanently altered by removing the stock attachment device on the hand grip so that a stock may not be attached is held to be a pistol.

Revenue Ruling 54-455, C.B. 1954-2, 34, revoked.

Shoulder stocked pistols have always been available. They were in common use before the NFA was passed. They were never "dangerous and unusual" weapons. 

The ATF has recognized this fact by placing the aforementioned Luger and Mauser shoulder stocked pistols into the "Curio and Relic" category, nullifying the poor judgement shown about those particular firearms with the rule change in 1961.  The placement of Luger and Mauser pistols, made with shoulder stocks, before 1946, into the Curio and Relic category, appears to have been made in 1981. Here is a letter reproduced from a Luger forum:

Dear Dr. :

This refers to your letters of March 13 and March 30, 1981, in
which you ask that certain Luger and Browning Hi-Power pistols
equipped with reproduction shoulder stocks be considered for
removal from the provisions of the National Firearms Act.

It is not the policy of this Bureau to render a classification on
a shoulder stock which in and of itself is not subject to the
provisions of the Gun Control Act or the NFA. However, as you are
aware, certain Luger and Browning Hi-Power pistols when accompanied
by original shoulder stocks have been removed from the purview of
the NFA.

Another letter on the forum references Mauser pistols.

The National Firearms Act (NFA) was a botched disaster from the beginning. Reading the transcripts of the Ways and Means Committee hearings is like a re-run of gun control hearings of the today. The same mix of arrogance and ignorance is displayed. 

The original disaster of the NFA should not be compounded by the recent proposed rule to declare pistols with arm braces to be short barreled rifles, subject to the $200 NFA tax stamp. It would be better to remove short barreled shotguns and rifles from the NFA altogether. 

Because of the Gun Control Act of 1968, removing them will take an act of Congress.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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TX: Suspected Thief of Vehicle and Auto Parts Shot, Killed in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A man is now dead after police say he attempted to steal another man's pickup truck full of auto parts inside.

Authorities said a father and his son were inside their home in The Heights after picking up the pieces. A family member of the father and son said the parts were worth $3,000 total.

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IL: Ban on Guns in Forest Preserve District is Unconstitutional

 

From wikimedia commons CC BY-SA 3.0 Part of Forest Preserve District  of Cook County

On September 13, 2021, Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr. rendered an opinion and order. The ban on possession of firearms by concealed carry license holders in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC) is unconstitutional. The judge issued a temporary stay on the order to give the Illinois legislature six months to address the issue if it so desires. From patch.com:

CHICAGO — A state law that bans the concealed carry of firearms in the Cook County Forest Preserve District is unconstitutionally broad, according to a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow issued a ruling Monday that found a section of the Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act violates the Second Amendment by forbidding people with concealed carry licenses, or CCLs, from carrying guns anywhere in the 70,000-acre forest preserve.

Judge Dow holds court in the Northern District of Illinois, the Eastern Division, which includes Chicago. This is a federal court. The case, Solomon v. Cook County, deals specifically with the issue of whether the ban on the possession of firearms by people with concealed weapons licenses violates the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights. The Judge rigorously followed precedent set by the 7th Circuit, which has recognized the Second Amendment extends outside the home. From the decision P. 25 :

 In sum, the Seventh Circuit has recognized a right to carry firearms outside the home for self-defense purposes, and the record contains little evidence about the history of that right on publicly owned land, whether developed into a public recreational space or undeveloped and left as a wilderness. The historical and textual evidence does not persuade the Court that licensed concealed carry of firearms for self-defense in public recreational areas was categorically outside of the scope of the Second Amendment as it was understood in 1791. 

The Defendants, including the State of Illinois, claimed the FPDCC was a "sensitive place" using the terminology in the Supreme Court's Heller decision dicta. The judge did not accept the argument. To do so would give any government the power to declare any place as "sensitive", thus gutting the Second Amendment. Judge Dow mentions some places inside the FPDCC may be "sensitive places", but the entire 70,000 acres may not be simply declared a "sensitive place" to remove it from the protections afforded by the Second Amendment, on page 26 of the decision.

Judge Dow continues with his well reasoned opinion, using intermediate scrutiny. He follows the unnecessarily convoluted process put in place by the Seventh Circuit to determine if a particular law or regulation infringes on Second Amendment rights. Then, if it does, is the infringement deemed reasonable under an interest balancing test? Judge Dow is required to follow this procedure by precedent in the Seventh Circuit.

Judge Dow does this rigorously. He does not allow the government generic claim of "public safety" to collapse intermediate scrutiny to rational basis.

A simple explanation of the terms:

Intermediate scrutiny requires the government to show a compelling government interest for the law or regulation. Then it requires the government to show a reasonable fit between the law and the government interest.

Rational basis merely requires there be some interpretation of the law which could be a rational basis for the law. In practice, virtually no laws are struck down under the rational basis standard.

In his analysis, Judge Dow reaches the following conclusions on the pages listed:

P. 41

 The record, however, shows no relationship between CCL holders  and threats to public safety, and no evidence that the regulations reduce crime or prevent injuries or death.

P. 42

Similarly, Defendants here offered no evidence connecting concealed carry by CCL holders to any threat to public safety, much less a threat withing the regulated area, the FPDCC.

P. 44

Furthermore, the government has shown little threat to public safety in the FPDCC, and even less involving concealed firearms, and none by CCL holders. 

Judge Dow does his job. He requires the government Defendants to show how a ban on possession of firearms by concealed carry permit holders increases public safety, and not with mere opinion. He requires facts. The government cannot provide any, because there are none.

The government is relying on the simplistic formulation of people who fear an armed population. Their simplistic formula is: guns are dangerous; more guns, more danger; fewer guns, less danger. This simplistic formula has never been true. In a great many cases, more guns = less danger.

It is the problem of much of the Progressive approach to government. Take what sounds plausible, and make it governmental policy based on the opinion of a government bureaucrat. When applied with a heavy hand, such an approach creates many of the terrible problems, seen since time immemorial, with central planning. Disaster after disaster after disaster has been documented.

The Bill of Rights (along with other mechanisms) was designed to prevent such disasters by limiting what governments have the authority to do. Some policies have been placed, by the Constitution, outside of legitimate tinkering by government officials.

The problem faced by the framers of the Constitution is: some government is necessary. Too little government creates problems as bad as too much government. The Constitution has done a commendable job in finding the golden mean between too much and too little government.

Multiple problems have been solved by centralized power.  Consider our magnificent transportation system, vigorous economy, and superb defenses.  Those solutions are allowed by the Constitution.

Our ruling class has discovered multiple ways to subvert the checks and balances set up in the Constitution. Multiple problems created by centralized power plague the United States.  Consider the bureaucratic minutia required under the "commerce clause"; infringements on Second Amendment rights; federal control of much of education; federal interference and regulation of local land use; federal collusion with the Tech Oligarchs to subvert the First Amendment.

The Second Amendment is a bright spot where Constitutional prohibitions on government power are being recognized and restored, even if incrementally and hesitantly.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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IL: Two Teen (plausible carjackers) Wounded at Hoffman Estates

Earlier in the morning, Hoffman Estate police said a carjacking took place just before 5:45 a.m. in the 0-block of West Golf Road. Police said a man, who had a valid concealed carry card, fired shots at the vehicle as they fled the scene.

“I live down the street and I work right here,” neighbor Jennifer Emberton. “It’s kind of scary.”

The vehicle was found a short distance from the scene. Later Friday, police confirmed that the two teens who were shot are persons of interest in the carjacking case.

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GA: Apartment Resident Discovers, Shoots Intruder, Cooperates With Police

An intruder was shot and killed late Wednesday inside a Midtown Atlanta apartment after a resident came home and discovered him, officials said.

Investigators remained at the scene into Thursday afternoon at The Mark Atlanta apartments on Spring Street, which is near the Midtown MARTA station and marketed as student housing. According to Atlanta police, officers were called to the complex about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday after shots were fired.

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National Firearms Survey of 2021 Validates Estimates of Private Guns, Defensive Gun Uses

The number of private firearms in the United States has no correlation to the murder rate.

On July 13, 2021, William English, PhD, made a summary of the latest National Firearms Survey (NFS) available to the public online. The survey uses the advanced techniques created with digital technology and the Internet to quantify numbers about firearms ownership, carry, and defensive use.

Surveys for information on defensive gun uses (DGU) have been absent for most of a quarter century.  This is because of the difficulty and expense of conducting such surveys by telephone. 

Surveys about gun ownership have reached significantly different conclusions.

Surveys about defensive uses of firearms have fallen into two camps. Most surveys have found large numbers of defensive uses of firearms, from about 500,000 per year to three million per year.  From the CDC study commissioned by the Obama administration: 

Defensive use of guns by crime victims is a common occurrence, although the exact number remains disputed (Cook and Ludwig, 1996; Kleck, 2001a). Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million (Kleck, 2001a), in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008 (BJS, 2010). On the other hand, some scholars point to a radically lower estimate of only 108,000 annual defensive uses based on the National Crime Victimization Survey (Cook et al., 1997). The variation in these numbers remains a controversy in the field. The estimate of 3 million defensive uses per year is based on an extrapolation from a small number of responses taken from more than 19 national surveys. The former estimate of 108,000 is difficult to interpret because respondents were not asked specifically about defensive gun use.

Significantly, the CDC conducted surveys in 1996, 1997, and 1998,which found numbers which agreed with the majority of the surveys.  The CDC chose not to publish those numbers.

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is what those who oppose an armed population routinely refer to. It is the outlier. It is a very large survey, but it is not designed to determine the number of defensive gun uses. 

Gary Kleck  published a paper in 2018, on the sources of errors in surveys of defensive gun uses.  It appears the information was used to formulate the recent large survey, leveraging the latest technology to minimize errors.

The new survey has an order of magnitude greater respondents.

The previous surveys about defensive gun uses started with less than 5,000 people. The 2021 National Firearms Survey starts with 54,000 people. Gun owners are determined from this initial number. 16,708 gun owners, self identified from a carefully neutral question, participated in the more detailed survey. 15,450 completed all the questions. Over three times the number of gun owners complete the 2021 survey than the number of all respondents per survey in the previous multiple surveys outside the NCVS.

The NCVS interviews about 100,000 people, mostly by telephone.  The focus is not on gun ownership of defensive uses of guns.

The NFS of 2021 is the most careful, complete survey about gun ownership and defensive gun uses to date. There were enough respondents to gain statistical data by state and demographic groups.

Some key results of the National Firearms Survey, 2021:

About one third of US adults own guns, 81.4 million people. The result is in close agreement with many polls.

57.8% of gun owners are male. 42.2% are female.

The average gun owner owns five firearms. 

Nearly 21 million gun owners carry defensive firearms in public with some frequency. 

Over 25 million gun owners have used a gun in self-defense.

Defensive gun uses number between 1.67 million a year (reported in the survey by gun owners and extrapolated) to 2.8 million a year, based on research indicating about 40% of defensive gun uses are by people who do not personally own a gun. 

This is a preliminary paper. The survey will be extensively analyzed in book form later.

Several things stand out. 

The number of firearms found in the survey agrees reasonably well with current estimates of private firearms in the United States. Five firearms times 81.4 million is 407 million firearms. The National Firearms Survey was done from February 17 to March 23, 2021.

The Small Arms Survey estimated 393 million private firearms in the US as of 2017.  Over 47 million private firearms have been added to the US stock from 2018 through the end of 2020. Adding those to the Small Arms Survey would predict 440 million privately owned firearms in the U.S.A. at the end of February, 2021. 

This Correspondent's  estimates, published on AmmoLand, calculate 468 million firearms at the end of February, 2021, using the methods pioneered by Newton and Zimring, and extended by Gary Kleck in “Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America”. The 2020 and 2021 numbers are estimated from the National Instant background Check System (NICS).

The numbers are in contrast to a survey finished in 2015. The survey, done in collaboration at Harvard and Northeastern Universities, estimated the number of private guns in the US at 265 million, with only 45 million gun owners. The study agreed the average gun owner owned 5 guns. About 80.4 million private firearms have been added to the private stock from the end of 2015 to the end of February, 2021.  Millions of new gun owners have been added as well. The updated estimate would be 345 million private firearms, making this estimate the lowest one.

The National Firearms Survey of 2021 estimated about 21 million gun owners carry guns in public with some frequency. This is in reasonably close agreement to the 19.48 million carry permits in the United States at the middle of 2020. As of September, 2021, 21 states do not require a permit to carry a firearm concealed in most public places.

The estimates of defensive gun uses (DGU) each year of between 1.67 and 2.8 million in the NFS of 2021 are in reasonable agreement with most of the earlier, smaller, and less comprehensive surveys. The National Crime Victimization Survey remains an outlier. Professor Kleck expands on possible reasons for this in his paper published in 2018. 

It is not difficult to see why increased restrictions on gun acquisition, ownership, and use are resolutely opposed in the United States. 25 million gun owners who have personal experience of using a gun for self-defense create a strong political force to contest such actions.  Most of the over 81 million gun owners in the United States likely have interaction with someone else in the gun culture who has personally used a firearm for self-defense.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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TX: In Tranquility, Mark Castro Shot, Killed as Intruder

During an investigation, detectives say they learned that Castro forced his way into the trailer and was confronted by the owner.

Detectives say Castro refused to leave and the owner felt threatened and shot Castro.

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WA: Warning Shot Leads to Struggle for Gun

Police say a 28-year-old woman was driving to meet the 37-year-old Pasco female suspect. Police say the two women were in some sort of dispute. Police say the victim had a pistol and does possess a Concealed Weapon permit. Witnesses say they saw the suspect climb onto the roof of the victim's car and began hitting the female with her fists. The suspect also allegedly pulled off the victim's wig. During the alleged assault the suspect climbed into the car through the sunroof and continued to hit the victim.

During the assault, the victim allegedly fired one round from her pistol as a warning shot. Shortly after this, an officer arrived on scene to see the women fighting over the gun. The officer quickly separated the women and secured the pistol.

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ID: Man Uses .45 to Stop Attacking Moose

Moose Image USDA public domain

On 22 June, 2021, a bull moose repeatedly charged an Idaho backpacker and his dog, who had set up camp at Harrison Lake, a pristine wilderness site, about a 4.6 mile hike from the trailhead.  Harrison lake is a near oval mountain lake with one outlet, known as pack river.  From spokesman.com:

The moose tore apart the campsite and charged at the camper and his dog. The camper hid behind a tree, but the moose did not stop charging. The camper discharged a firearm at the moose in self-defense from close range, according to the release. Fish and Game responded to the incident and located the deceased moose.

The Forest Service has closed the Harrison Lake trailhead to hikers to prevent possible conflicts between hikers and any bears that may feed on the carcass. The trailhead will be closed for a week.

It’s unclear whether the dog was leashed or not but it was in the man’s camp, IDFG spokeswoman Kara Campbell said. A .45 caliber handgun was used, Campbell said.

 Attacks by moose are rare in the lower 48 states because moose are not common. 

In Alaska, attacks by moose against humans are more common than attacks against humans by bears. However, more people are killed by attacking bears than by attacking moose. There are about six times as many moose in Alaska as grizzly bears, and about twice as many moose as black bears.

 Harrison lake from Google Maps

The range of moose in the lower 48 states seems to be expanding, but the populations appear stable. Common handgun calibers seem to be effective in stopping moose attacks.  Moose have established populations in 18 states. Moose populations in Idaho and Maine are high enough the authorities have established regular hunting seasons.

Because moose attacks are rare, shooting the occasional moose who attacks humans has no significant effect on moose populations.

The authorities in Idaho investigated the shooting of the moose, verified the moose had been attacking the man and his dog in their campsite, and had done considerable damage to the camp before the man felt compelled to shoot the bull in self defense.

Other campers noted the dead bull and the risk it of attracting bears. From alltrails.com: 

Backpacked up here Thursday night 6/25/21, set up camp and called it a night. Friday morning was beautiful and we were the only ones there and started walking around the lake when we came upon the dead moose that had been shot. My fiancé and I immediately left because grizzlys are in the area. On the way down we ran into 4 Forest Service employees who told us they had closed the trail and were going up to take care of the moose. Glad we didn’t run into any bears up there.

In a more sane civilization, the camper would be enjoying moose steaks and trying to turn as much of the meat into jerky as possible before it all spoiled.

In our prosperous society, where one of the biggest problems for poor people is obesity, where people have to deliberately avoid help to suffer serious hunger, the waste of hundreds of pounds of meat is accepted as necessary to prevent poaching.

 

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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MO: Homewoner Shoots, Kills Intruder who Attacked Him

Police say a 40-year-old homeowner shot the intruder after he came into the home and tried to assault him. It happened on the 4500 block of Alcott Monday night around 11:40 p.m.

Police have identified the intruder as 58-year-old Michael Norman.

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Canada: Coyote Attacks Finally Trigger Official Response in Vancouver

 

Urban coyote, public domain, National Park Service image

In Vancouver, Canada, an infestation of urban coyotes, particularly in Stanley Park, has lead to dozens of attacks on humans by the coyotes since December of 2020. Over 45 attacks were reported as of September 1, 2021. Most of the attacks involved adults, with five involving children. It is suspected a great many attacks have not been reported. The number of attacks in the last nine months is four times greater than the total of the previous 40 years, as reported in the Guardian.  A local TV station reported on the attacks.    From ctvnews.ca:

Although many encounters have likely gone unreported, so far 45 people, including five children, have been attacked by coyotes in Stanley Park.

The B.C. Ministry of Forests confirmed in a statement Wednesday that it is stepping in as soon as possible and “undertaking direct coyote management controls that include lethal removal to ensure human safety."

The problem is not limited to Vancouver. The city of Pitt Meadows, a few miles to the North, is also experiencing problems. From mapleridgenews.com: 9 Autust, 2021

The City of Pitt Meadows is warning residents of coyotes on local trails.

At least one report has come in to the city of coyotes on the trails near Mitchell Park.

In an online post the city is asking residents to be cautious, to leash their pets and keep children close at all times.

The common reason given for the problem, as explained in the Canadian press, is the feeding of coyotes by humans. This habituates coyotes to humans and associates humans with food. It is a contributor.  This is not a new problem. It has been studied extensively.

The primary reason is *not* people feeding coyotes. It is the increase in coyote population beyond the available food supply. This is expected and natural. There is no "balance in nature" beyond what is achieved through starvation and death. 

The problem of attacks on humans occurs when the increase in the population of coyotes is combined with their artificial protection from humans. When coyotes are protected from human predation, they lose their fear of humans. They start to explore the potential of humans as prey. From Management of Conflicts Between Urban Coyotes and Humans in Southern California  p. 310:

The motive for predatory behavior of coyotes is not always hunger (Connolly et al. 1976) or protection of dens, as demonstrated by many of the attacks discussed in this review. While the availability of food from humans in urban and park settings contributes to the attractiveness of the habitat to coyotes, their loss of fear of humans would not occur without a lack of aggression by people. Human activities, including organized trapping programs, sport hunting, and other activities that resulted in scaring coyotes away, reinforced the coyote’s inherent wariness of people. But, changes in human attitudes toward the protection of all wildlife have resulted in coyotes, taking advantage of their opportunity to frequent prey-rich, human-created environments without harassment.

Valerius Geist shows this is a predictable pattern with both wolves and coyotes. In North America, wolves were not a problem because the population was commonly armed. Wolves quickly learned to avoid humans.  From When do Wolves Become Dangerous to Humans?

Why did wolves kill no human that we know of in the 20th Century in North America (but did so in the 19th?)

The short answer is that (a) wolves were historically very scarce, in part due to severe prosecution, (b) the North American population is heavily armed, (c) because hunted wolves are exceedingly frightened of humans and (d) because an open hunting season leads to the quick removal of “misbehaving” wolves, well before they can cause damage.

Wolves have killed, and continue to kill many people in Russia and India, because of political preferences. The governments of those people want to keep them disarmed. In the Soviet Union, news of wolves killing people was censored to prevent a demand for arms among the rural population.  From When do Wolves Become Dangerous to Humans?

This policy of silence pertaining to wolves killing people also explains earlier actions, such as failure to record wolf attacks on people after the fall of the Czar in the October Revolution, as well as the subsequent reports by some Russian authors that all tales of man-eating wolves were fictitious. It was not in the interest of the communist party to permit an armed citizenry, which is the only effective antidote to wolf attacks.

When Texas Governor Rick Perry shot a coyote which had targeted his dog, his action was emblematic of what is necessary to keep coyotes respectful of humans.

Perry says he needed just one shot from his laser-sighted pistol to take down a coyote that was menacing his dog during an early morning jog in an undeveloped area near Austin.

Texas recently removed restrictions on the ordinary person carrying handguns in most public places, most of the time. Thus, the ordinary person in Dallas, confronted with an aggressive coyote, has the option of terminating the encounter without having to go through the burdensome process of informing a large bureaucracy, waiting for the bureaucracy to respond, and hoping sometime in the future, other people will not be victimized.

In spite of dozens of attacks by urban coyotes in Vancouver, there are thousands of people in British Columbia, who do not want the coyotes culled. From dailyhive.com: 4 September, 2021

Thousands of British Columbians are calling on the province to stop the coyote cull it has planned for Stanley Park. Over the next two weeks, officials will be trapping and killing up to 35 coyotes.

This comes after 45 coyote attacks were reported in the past nine months in the park.

A petition started by Leilani Pulsifer a month ago, Save Vancouver’s Coyotes, has already gained more than 9,520 signatures (as of Saturday afternoon), and people continue to digitally sign their names.

This shows the power of propaganda in portraying coyotes as furry humans who should be protected by the rule of law.  Humans would not tolerate furry humans who have no concept of right or wrong, who view other humans as potential food, who cannot understand of the rule of law, and who may attack at any instant.

There is no lack of coyotes. Coyotes are commonplace animals. 

Humans are the top predator in the food chain all over the planet. With this power comes a responsibility to manage the natural world to preserve what we find beneficial for future generations.

The British Columbian approach uses top-down management. It is expensive, with concentrated power to implement centralized decisions.

The individual rights approach, demonstrated by Governor Perry, uses dispersed power in the population to enforce safety with minimal expense, at the individual level.

The management of dangerous wildlife populations by humans can be done well by bureaucracies which are responsible to their constituencies.

Examples can be seen in the Wisconsin and Montanan approaches to controlling wolf populations.

Effective self protection does not conflict with wildlife management.  The political desire to disarm people is a separate issue. 

If Canadians were allowed to carry guns and to use them responsibly against aggressive animals, the urban coyote problem would be quickly eliminated in Vancouver.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

  

OH: 69-Year-Old Wife Shoots 21-Year-Old Intruder who was Attacking the Wife's Husband

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (WOIO) - A 21-year-old woman was shot and killed after police said she forced her way into a couple’s North Olmsted home.

According to the North Olmsted Police Department, the woman broke into the husband and wife’s home on Mastick Road just before 11 p.m. Sunday.

Police said the intruder fought with the 72-year-old husband. It was then that the 69-year-old wife grabbed their gun and pulled the trigger, hitting the intruder in the stomach.

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OK: Homeowner Shoots Intruder Attempting to Enter Through Window

Investigators say 50-year-old Buddy Driver attempted to break into the home.

 At that point, officials say the homeowner shot Driver several times from inside the home as Driver attempted to get into the house through a window.

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FL: Manatee County Shooting of Hearing Impaired Man Claimed to be Self Defense

A 43-year-old hearing impaired man was shot to death Sunday afternoon, and the man who shot him is claiming self-defense, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office released few details Monday morning, naming neither the victim nor the suspect. The Bradenton Herald was able to confirm the victim’s identity but is not naming him yet as the sheriff’s office says it is still working to notify his next of kin.

Read more here: https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/crime/article254381343.html#storylink=cpy

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Texas Grand Jury: No Bill for Russel King, who Shot a Plain Clothes State Trooper

 Myra and Russell King of Haslet, Texas

On 23 April, 2021, about 2:15 p.m., Russell and Myra King, a married couple, were driving to their home in Haslet, Texas. Haslet is a small community on the North edge of Tarrant County, part of the Fort Worth-Dallas metroplex.  It had been cloudy with showers all day; but the sun peaked from behind the clouds in the afternoon of the 23rd.

According to reports on nbcdfw.com, which includes video, Russell noticed two pickup trucks moving past him much faster than the traffic flow. One of the trucks exited the highway, the other pulled in front of him and brake-checked him (requiring the vehicle behind them to forcefully apply the brakes to avoid a collision).  The pickup truck is said to have followed them into a WalMart parking lot, with the driver giving them the finger, then pursuing them in traffic and making several dangerous maneuvers in the pursuit. 

When the Kings arrived home, they backed into their garage and called 911. A few minutes later they were shocked to see the pickup in front of their house. Russell said he believed he saw the driver retrieve a gun from the vehicle.

What happened next is not in dispute. Here is the report on 28 April, from nbcdfw.com:

A state trooper who was shot in the shoulder near Haslet on Friday afternoon has been released from the hospital and the sole suspect is in custody, officials say.

  The incident happened before 3 p.m. in the 500 block of Salida Road. Officials said they arrested one person at the scene.

The trooper was hospitalized at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth on Friday. His injuries were described as serious but not life-threatening, a MedStar spokesman said.  

Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Lonny Haschel said Saturday that the trooper, a special agent assigned to the criminal investigation division, was released from the hospital.

Here is another report, originally from the Star Telegram, also on the 28th of April.  From msn.com, reprinted from Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Apr. 28—A man may have shot a Texas Department of Public Safety special agent on Friday near Haslet without knowing the man he fired on was a law enforcement officer approaching his residence, the agency said. 

A caller to 911 reported that a pickup truck followed the caller to a house in the 14400 block of Mainstay Way and that he saw a man walking with a gun, according to a Fort Worth police call log. 

The man who shot Special Agent William Wallace in the shoulder has not been charged, and DPS declined to release his name. Wallace was seriously injured but was released on Saturday from a hospital and is recovering at home.

 The actions of Special Agent WIlliam Wallace were captured on the King's live camera surveillance system, so there was no dispute.  From 5nbcdfw.com:

 The trooper, later identified as William Wallace, was a special agent assigned to criminal investigations and worked in plainclothes.  

"There was no identification whatsoever,” King said. “There was no vest. There was no badge. Just a brown shirt and jeans."  

The doorbell video shows Wallace shouted "police" when he knocked on the door. King said he never heard it.  

Wallace was rushed to a hospital where he was treated and soon released.

In early reports, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wallace was conducting an investigation. As reported on 23 April, from nbcdfw.com:

The trooper was driving an unmarked pickup and was conducting an investigation in the Haslet area when he encountered the suspect who shot him. The agent did not return fire, Haschel said.

Haschel declined to give details on the nature of the investigation or release the names of the suspect and officer.

Later reports did not mention any ongoing investigation involving the Kings. 

On 7 September,  It was reported a grand jury had decided there was no crime to be prosecuted. This is called a "no bill". King said he felt intense relief when the grand jury declined to charge him with any criminal act. 

Russell King was handcuffed, detained, and questioned in the back of police car shortly after the incident. He was never arrested or held in custody. Russel King has no criminal record.

The Department of Public Safety has not releases a report on the incident yet, saying it is still under investigation.

In this case, the door camera video does not clearly exonerate Russell King. Added to the testimony of the car chase, it becomes important. 

Speculation: There is other digital evidence, perhaps vehicle logs, perhaps dashcam video, or other surveillance video evidence used in the investigation. As  mention of an ongoing investigation by William Wallace has disappeared, the reason for Wallace following the Kings to there home becomes suspect.

This is the first case this correspondent has read of where a peace officer was shot by a citizen, and no charges were brought, at least since 1900.

 

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

 

 

 

GA: Man Shoots Intruder who Kicked in Door

The man who was shot was transported to a hospital for treatment. The man who shot him was at the home and told police that the man who he shot had kicked in his door and confronted him.

He said that he was unsure of the intruder's intent and shot him.

Investigators contact the Fulton County District Attorney's office and presented elements of the case. At this time, no charges are pending.

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WA: Mistaken Identity, Son Shoots Father as Intruder

A 63-year-old Washington man called 911 early Friday to report he’d been shot by his son, who mistook him for a burglar, Mill Creek police said.

The son fired several shots toward who he believed to be an intruder at 12:30 a.m., police reported on Facebook. One of the shots hit his father.

Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article254363713.html#storylink=cpy

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TX: Domestic Defense, Juvenile Shoots Man Assaulting a Family Member

According to the DA's office, the juvenile and the woman moved to a home to escape the family member. That relative, who sources identify as Tracy Landry, showed up to the home with what officials said appeared to be a sack filled with canned goods to use as an assault weapon on the woman.

That's when the juvenile allegedly shot Landry in the back and chest with a handgun and called police. Landry died from the gunshot wounds.

Police said they did not take the juvenile into custody because they considered the shooting an act of defense of a third party.

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NY: Armed Property Manager Stops Mass Killing in Syracuse

Reported scene of Demetrius Jackson shooting in Syracuse, New York Google Maps

At about 2:30 pm on Tuesday, 31 August, 2021 near 1808 Lodi Street in Syracuse New York, a 29 year old man threatened a crowd of people with a 9mm handgun. When they did not comply, he started firing into the group. From localsyr.com:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Demetrius Jackson, the man killed in the Lodi Street shooting on Tuesday, was in possession of a loaded 9mm handgun while outside of 1808 Lodi Street, District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said.

Jackson threatened multiple people at the location and fired the loaded handgun in the direction of those people, officials said.

Another man, who was on scene and in possession of a 9mm handgun returned fire striking and killing Jackson, Fitzpatrick said.

According to Fitzpatrick, this man has a valid pistol permit for the 9mm handgun.

The District Attorney said in a statement that based on preliminary investigation, it appears the man who shot Jackson saved the lives of several individuals.

The man who stopped the attack by shooting Demetrius Jackson, is reported to be the property manager, Richard Morose. He is 39 years old. It is not easy to shoot back accurately while being fired upon. From syracuse.com: 

Syracuse, NY — A Syracuse property manager has been identified as the person who shot and killed a 28-year-old man Tuesday after the man allegedly fired a gun of his own at multiple people.

The property manager, Richard Morose, was at 1808 Lodi St. when he pulled a legally possessed 9mm handgun and killed Demetris Jackson, the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday in a news release.

Morose shot Demetrius in the head. Both combatants are reported as using 9mm handguns. We do not know what the distance was. It appears Demetrius did not fire any more shots at the multiple threatened individuals, once he was hit. 

It has been reported Demetrius did not live at the Lodi address. The incident is under investigation.

This is not a case of an armed Samaritan, because Richard Morose was one of those being attacked. It remains to be seen if this incident will be included in the FBI data base of mass shootings stopped by armed citizens.

Syracuse.com is reporting Morose and others have been receiving threats and property damage. 

During the ongoing investigation, Morose and others at the scene have received threats and “suffered property damage in what appears to be retaliation,” the release added.

There is often more to the story. There may be a domestic connection, or criminal affiliations. The ongoing investigation should determine if those connections exist.  

It is much easier to obtain a permit to carry a pistol in upstate New York than it is in New York City.  It may become easier in New York City when the case concerning carry outside the home is decided by the United States Supreme Court next year. Oral arguments for the New York Rifle & Pistol Association case are scheduled for early November of 2021.

There may be situations in which the defense of self and others is more justified than when an armed attacker is firing at a group of people, but they are not many. If the situation is found to be as initially described, this is a clear example as one of the many cases where armed defenders saved lives.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

VA: No Charges for Man who Shot Pit Bull Running Loose on His Property

GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va (WRIC) – Goochland County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Caudill said Friday no charges will be forthcoming for the person who shot and killed a family’s dog in front of them on Aug. 15.

Caudill said the decision was made after reviewing the current county ordinance and meeting with the dog’s owners.

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NM: Subway Employee Shoots, Kills Armed Robber

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) -- An employee fatally shot a man who attempted to rob a Subway restaurant in New Mexico, police said.

Around 5:20 a.m., officers were called to a shooting at the restaurant in Albuquerque. 

"After preliminary investigation, talking to some of the employees at the business, it appears that the male had entered the business and attempted to rob one of the employees," said APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos. "There was an employee who was armed, that came out of the backroom, I think, to help the other employee who was being robbed."

According to Gallegos, the Subway employee shot the suspect, killing him.

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PA: Landlord Justified in Shooting of Leonard Williams, Jr. of Washington County

With the landlord inside the vehicle, Walsh says witnesses told police a struggle ensued over the driver’s side door. Saying he feared for his life, the landlord shot Williams.

Walsh says evidence shows that Williams was the aggressor and the landlord fired in self-defense. Based on that evidence, Walsh says there will be no charges because it’s a justified homicide under Pennsylvania law.

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Research Paper: Most Firearm Offenses in Illinois are for Firearms Possession by Black Men in Chicago

From wikicommons maps, South Deering on the South side of Chicago, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten

In a paper published at Loyola University Chicago, describing the make up of people convicted for firearms possession, few surprises are found. These are the major  findings listed in the executive summary of the paper, published in July of 2021. From luc.edu:

1) The majority of felony firearm possession convictions in Illinois occur in Cook County, primarily involve Black men, and are disproportionately concentrated in specific Chicago neighborhoods;

2) The majority—52%--of felony firearm possession convictions in Illinois involved Class X, 2, or 3 felony offenses of a person with a prior felony conviction possessing a firearm; 34% involved a Class 4 felony offense;

3) For the least serious felony firearm possession offense (e.g., a Class 4 felony), one-third (33%) of the statewide convictions stemmed from arrests in 11 of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods. Of those convicted of a Class 4 felony firearm possession offense, 74% were 18-24 year-olds;

4) As a result of increased arrests, and mandatory prison sentences for most firearm possession offenses, prison admissions for these crimes increased 27% between 2014 and 2019, while admissions for all other crimes fell 38%;

5) Legislative changes in 2011 and 2018 to Class 4 felony firearm possession offenses primarily impacted sentencing practices in Cook County;

6) Of those firearm possession offenses where prison is not mandatory under all circumstances (i.e., the Class 4 felony offenses), those convicted in Cook County were more likely to be sentenced to prison than in the rest of Illinois;

7) The vast majority of those sentenced to prison for firearm possession offenses were not arrested for a violent crime within 3 years of release from prison. Having a prior conviction for a violent crime was a stronger predictor of a subsequent arrest for a violent crime, and the majority of those convicted and sentenced to prison for firearm possession offenses do not have prior convictions for violent crimes;

8) Those sentenced to probation or prison in Cook County for a Class 4 firearm possession offense had similar, and relatively low, rates of arrests for a violent crime within 3 years of sentencing after taking into account other characteristics correlated with recidivism, including age, sex, and prior criminal history.

Many young black men are being arrested for firearms possession. These men are from some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the United States. Most of these men would rather take the chance of being arrested compared to the chance of being defenseless when attacked. Some of these cases are arrests when the firearm is being used in defense of self and others. We do not know the percentage.  From AmmoLand.com:  

On Monday, 22 March, in Chicago, 15 people were recorded as being shot. Three of them were killed. One of those shot is recorded as acting in self-defense, on the South Side of Chicago.

In the gun culture, the phrase is: better tried by 12 than carried by 6.

Many of the arrests are for not having an Firearms Owner IDentification card (FOID). The requirement to apply to the state to obtain permission to own a firearm is repugnant to the Second Amendment. From AmmoLand.com:

Judge T. Scott Webb, of White County, Illinois, Found the requirement to obtain a (FOID) before owning a firearm in Illinois, to be unconstitutional.

Gun Control in the United States has racist roots. The purpose of gun control was to disarm disfavored minorities, so the establishment could better control them. At first, this was mostly applied to black people. As time went on, it was applied to more and more people. 

Black people have been severely discriminated against in their legal ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights. 

Once someone is convicted of felony gun possession, their chance of ever regaining their ability to legally exercise Second Amendment rights is almost non-existent. 

This sets up a vicious feedback loop, where people in dysfunctional black communities do not trust the police. They do not get FOID cards or concealed carry licenses. They are arrested for carrying for self defense. They are now felons. The distrust of the police and the system grows. 

Shall issue permits only started gaining ground in the late 1980s. Constitutional Carry stated increasing in 2003.

 From progress in right to carry, wikimedia

The establishment of Chicago has done everything it can to perpetuate this cycle. There is not a single public range in Chicago, because of local government restrictions. Certified shooting instruction is required to obtain a concealed carry permit in Illinois. The wait time for concealed carry permits and FOID cards is measured in months, approaching years. For a young man of 18, who faces daily threats to his life in the worst of Chicago neighborhoods, carrying legally becomes an impossibility. 

Because legal carry and training is exceedingly arduous in Chicago, maintaining a gun culture of responsibility and training becomes difficult, unlike much of the rest of the United States. 

Training and legal exercise of Second Amendment rights could help reverse this cycle. From foxnews.com: 

After last week's appearance at CPAC, Toure told Politico that he began advocating for gun rights in the inner cities after seeing friends locked up for avoidable gun possession charges. He wants to continue the legacy of Malcolm X, the black nationalist who was assassinated in 1965, who expressed softer views on race following his pilgrimage to the holy Muslim city of Mecca.

"We go where there's high violence, high crime, high gun control — high slave mentalities, to be perfectly honest — and inform urban America about their human right, as stated in the Second Amendment, to defend their life," Toure told the magazine.

In spite of the barriers, some black people in the dysfunctional neighborhoods are legally arming themselves. They serve as examples of how people can protect themselves legally, and have the police as allies instead of adversaries. Former Police Chief James Craig in Detroit, and Sheriff Clarke in Milwaukee County, earned much praise for championing concealed carry as a way to stop crime.

Trust in the police is paramount. Trust has to be earned. It is a feedback loop. Where there is trust in the police, crime drops to low levels. Where police are not trusted, crime rises astronomically. 

The BLM and Antifa platforms seem calculated to destroy trust in the police. They appear designed to move the United States from a high trust nation to a low trust nation. 

Examples of a high trust nations would be Switzerland or Canada. Examples of low trust nations would be Mexico or South Africa. 

It is possible to have a high trust nation like the United States, with pockets of low trust communities, such as we exist today. Those who wish to see the United States in chaos or destroyed, are working hard to increase and spread distrust.

 

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Guam: Man Shoots Intruder who Broke into Barber Shop

An early morning shooting in Dededo has sent one man to the hospital with a possible gun shot wound.

Guam Police Department officers responded to David’s Barber Shop in Dededo, along Marine Corp Drive, after receiving a report of a shooting that occurred at the barbershop.

Police arrived on scene early Wednesday morning, GPD Spokesman Sgt. Paul Tapao said, they are currently investigating the incident.

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MO: Homeowner Shoots, Kills Burglary Suspect

JEFFERSON COUNTY — The owner of a home near Festus fatally shot a man during an early morning burglary Thursday, the Jefferson County Sheriff's office said. 

Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies were called around 1:40 a.m. to the 400 block of Sequoia Drive and found a man later identified as 36-year-old Wayne D. Roam, of House Springs, lying dead on the porch, according to court documents.

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TX: Road Rage Incident: Warning Shot Misfires

Velasco says that's when the driver punched him in the face.

“I start backing up in my truck and so I back up to my truck and I do a warning shot and shot my pistol in the air," Velasco said. “I put my truck back in drive and as soon as I turn back I see a shotgun in my face and boom he shoots me.” 

Velasco believes it was more than road rage. He thinks the suspects mistook him for someone else and he was a targeted hit. 

“I don’t know if it was me being targeted or the truck that I was driving that was being targeted," Velasco said. "That’s why I got out of the car and get to the bottom of it but the driver just wanted blood.” 

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Shelf Life of .22 Rimfire Ammunition: Test of 65+ Year Old Ammo

Ammunition as stored at 5809 Taft Street in Middleton, Wisconsin
 

How long can ammunition be stored before it degrades? Much depends on the storage conditions. With reasonable care, ammunition has a shelf life of many decades, as verified by tests done with military centerfire cartridges. 

How long does .22 rimfire last before it starts to degrade? There has not been much systematic long term storage testing of .22 rimfire. It tends to be used as an expendable item. Some people have found an old box or two of ammunition and checked it for viability.

This correspondent was able to obtain a large cache of 65+ year old .22 rimfire ammunition with a good pedigree. The bulk of the ammunition was Remington Standard Velocity .22 Long Rifle ammunition made before 1956. 

I met the owner at the University of Wisconsin in 1970. We started a friendship that lasted 48 years, to his death in 2018. The friend was Don Cowling from Middleton, Wisconsin. He is the world record rat hunter who this correspondent wrote about in 2016, when I became aware of the provenance and extent of the ammunition cache.  From that article:

The .22 ammunition has been in the jars for over 60 years.  He allowed me to crack the seal on a mason jar that had been filled before I entered first grade.  I anticipated an odor of acetone, as you often find in old smokeless powder.  I could not detect any, nor could my friend.  There was a faint hint of old wax, barely noticeable.

My friend gave me an even two dozen rounds to test to see if it had been degraded.  I shot the ammunition out of a Mossberg target rifle of similar age.  I fired the rounds at my brothers long established range behind the garage on family land in Northern Wisconsin.  Every round fired as though it were new.  I fired four five shot groups at 50 feet from a rest.  The first was the largest at .56 inches, center to center.  The rest were .32, .31 and .31 inches. Not enough to win matches, perhaps, but perfectly good for hunting. My brother fired the last four shots offhand.

Don treasured his privacy, so his name was not mentioned in the 2016 article. The ammunition was mentioned, with a picture. Don knew I would reveal his name after he died, and did not object. 

Don was a star handgun competitor at the University of Wisconsin. A top handgun competitor can easily run through 50,000 to 100,000 rounds a year. Don told me the ammunition was put in the quart jars before or during 1956.  Don was on the University of Wisconsin Varsity ROTC pistol team when they won the regional championships in 1955. Don always paid for things in cash, or in trade or barter. I suspect the ammo was obtained in a special deal. 

Placing the ammunition in quart jars sealed it from the atmosphere. It likely prevented the bullet lubrication from oxidizing.

Ammunition obtained later was so noted in his records. His records showed the pre-1956 ammunition to be Remington Standard Velocity. His records match the ammunition headstamps.

 

Article from Wisconsin State Journal, March 21, 1953.

Don kept meticulous records. After he died in 2018, this correspondent had access to his lifelong records and journals. 

I was able to purchase his .22 ammunition cache of tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition from his estate. Over 20 thousand rounds of the cache was Remington standard velocity ammunition obtained in or prior to 1956, transferred to quart jars from boxes by 1956. It was stored for 15-17 years in an attic at 17 Mills Street in Madison, Wisconsin, then underground from 1970-72 to 2018 in a basement at 5809 Taft Street in Middleton, Wisconsin. After the ammunition was purchased from the estate, it was moved across country, then stored in a secure underground location. 

The ammunition was purchased to conduct rigorous long term storage testing of .22 rimfire ammunition. If there are other caches containing significant amounts of 65+ year old .22 rimfire ammunition, they are unknown to this author.

The initial test procedure used a control of 500 rounds of CCI Standard Velocity ammunition, lot H05S, manufactured on 5 August, 2012. The ammunition was tested in a Mossberg 702 semi-automatic rifle with factory 10 round magazines. The rifle is expected to be used throughout the long term test.  The rifle was purchased new in anticipation of the ammunition test.  

A few hundred rounds were expended through the rifle before the test, from various manufacturers. The same rifle was used with the old Remington ammunition, to limit test variables. Accuracy testing was done at 25 yards. Velocity testing was done with a Caldwell Chronograph G2 eight feet from the muzzle. 

10 fouling shots were fired, followed by 5 five shot groups from a rest at 25 yards. The rifle was equipped with an inexpensive Simmons 4x32 .22 Mag scope. 

After accuracy testing, 50 shots were fired to register on the chronograph to obtain average velocity, standard deviation, and extreme spread.

The rest of the 500 rounds was fired for reliability. The manufacturer recommends the rifle be cleaned after firing 200 rounds. The rifle was cleaned at the beginning of the test, and each 250 rounds after that, so test conditions would be the same for both sources of ammunition. Most shots were fired with a few seconds between shots. Nearly all shots were fired from magazines loaded with 10 rounds.

The test is for the ammunition, not the rifle. A semi-automatic rifle was used for uniformity of action.  A semi-automatic is considered a bit more ammunition sensitive than single shot rifles or manual repeaters. If the ammunition will cycle a semi-automatic action, it should work in manually operated repeaters or single shot firearms.

The same procedure was used to test 500 rounds of the 65+ year old Remington Standard Velocity ammunition.

Test results:

Accuracy, average of 5 five shot groups at 25 yards, measured center to center:

CCI Standard Velocity:                    .502 inches

Old Remington Standard Velocity   .565 inches

Velocity measurements for 50 rounds, average velocity, Standard Deviation, extreme spread in feet per second (fps).

CCI Standard Velocity:   Average 1072.3 fps, SD 17.5, extreme spread 84 fps, 1035 to 1119.

Old Remington Standard Velocity: Average 1098.9 fps, SD 19.8, Extreme spread 101 fps, 1041 to 1142. 

Reliability for 500 rounds fired:

CCI Standard Velocity: 1 failure to fire, round 102, strong firing pin strike, rotated round, fired on second strike.

Old Remington Standard Velocity: 1 failure to fire, round 252, second round after cleaning. Very light primer strike (probably a mechanical rather than ammunition failure). The round was rotated. It fired normally with a second strike.

Light firing pin strike before rotation and firing with second strike.

For practical uses of .22 rimfire ammunition, there is no significant difference between the nine year old CCI ammunition and the 65+ year old Remington ammunition. 

This correspondent intends to make this testing a regular event. Data will be collected about the storage life of .22 ammunition, to the point of finding significant degradation, or of running out ammunition.

There is enough ammunition to extend the test to over 100 years of storage, if  500 rounds is fired each year. 

Alternatively, 500 rounds could be tested each two years, or five years, extending the test.

Enormous quantities of .22 rimfire ammunition have been purchased in the last two years. Much of it has been stored. If stored at reasonable temperatures in airtight containers, it should be useful for at least 65+ years. As no degradation has been detected in the stored Remington ammunition, the upper limit of storage life is unknown.

The author expects the test project to extend beyond his lifetime. The intention is to find viable candidates to continue testing to at least 2056.

 

 ©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

 

MT: Gunfight at Kalispell Fuel Fitness, 1 Dead, 2 Wounded

An argument ensued and the male opened fire on one of the employees, killing him.

A bystander reportedly grabbed a gun from his vehicle and engaged the suspect male, disabling him.

The bystander received a gunshot wound during the exchange.

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Followup WI: Domestic Defense? Family calls for Investigation into Shooting of Ben Brewer

RICHLAND COUNTY (WKOW) -- A Richland County woman says she and her children were attacked before she fatally shot her boyfriend, but the victim's family members are calling for further investigation into the death.

Richland County District Attorney Jennifer Harper ruled Lori Miller's July 31 deadly shooting of her boyfriend Benjamin Brewer, 33, was carried out in self-defense.

An Iowa County judge granted Miller a restraining order against Brewer's father, Patrick Brewer last month. Brewer became belligerent and harassing with Miller at a police station, banging on glass windows and making an obscene gesture.

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Followup PA: Charges Against Brandon McLaughlin dropped in Shooting of Edward Brooks Kreutzer

In a statement released about the decision, it was stated that the evidence showed there had been a physical altercation between the men in the kitchen of the home. Injuries showed the Kreutzer, who weighed 215 pounds, was in an offensive position while McLaughlin’s injuries, who weighed 160 pounds, were defensive in nature. Blood test results confirmed both men were significantly intoxicated.

Further evidence presented in the report showed Kreutzer was either entering or inside a bedroom where McLaughlin had retreated when he was shot. Testing determined both men’s DNA was present on the firearm, but it is unknown how that occurred. The statement said it was a reasonable possibility there had been a physical struggle over the weapon.

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Estonia: Supreme Court Finds for Reasonable Self Defense

 

 

Mustakivi Bridge in Tallin, Estonia, Public Domain image

On 1 July, 2021, the Supreme Court of Estonia resolved a case which has been  moving through the courts for almost two years.

On 1 August, 2018, a road worker in Estonia used his legally owned and permitted pistol to defend himself against a drunken attacker.

The first court sentenced him to six years in prison.

The circuit court  (appeals court) reduced the sentence to a conditional prison sentence of 18 months with two years of probation.

The facts of the case were not in dispute. 

The road worker with the pistol and permit was Dmitri Doroškevitš. His attacker was a drunken resident of a nearby apartment, who punched him, broke his headset, retreated, ignored a warning shot, and attacked Dmitri again. 

The Criminal Law Chamber of the  Supreme Court of Estonia heard the case and reversed the decisions of the lower courts. From news.err.ee: 

According to the Supreme Court, the courts did not take sufficient account of the course of events in this case. It was a continued attack by the victim. He did not give up the attack even after the warning shot was fired, but instead insulted, threatened and provoked the accused and waited for just the right moment to attack him again, which he finally did. The victim continued the attack, even though he knew that Doroškevitš had a firearm.

The Chamber noted that the victim suddenly started running towards Doroshevich, his hands in a fist, and the distance between them was very small at the time of the shooting - only about five meters. This means that the accused had to react to the attack in just a few seconds. Therefore, he did not have the time or opportunity to think about exactly how to defend himself with a weapon.

The decision is strikingly similar to that of the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown V. United States, in 1921:

Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife. Therefore, in this Court at least, it is not a condition of immunity that one in that situation should pause to consider whether a reasonable man might not think it possible to fly with safety or to disable his assailant, rather than to kill him.

The understanding of the Estonian court is much the same as the doctrine in the United States about how fast an attacker can close the distance and inflict serious bodily harm, or death, on the defender. 

This is a welcome and reasonable view of the law of self defense. If a person is so hampered by requirements for reflection and potential alternate courses of action, that they are unable to make a decision to defend themselves in time for the defense to be viable, the law, in essence, nullifies their ability to effectually and legally defend themselves. 

The Supreme Court of Estonia recognized these facts about human nature.

This case is a victory for the inherent rights of self defense everywhere.

In many countries, the purpose of self defense has been defined, by law, as an illegitimate reason to own a firearm.

In England, Australia, and Canada self defense has been deliberately written out of the law as a legitimate purpose to own a firearm. If a owing a firearm for defense of self and others is not legitimate, all other uses of firearms become trivial, easily attacked, regulated, and often, eliminated.

If self defense is a legitimate reason to own a firearm, nearly the entire population can reasonably claim a viable reason to own a gun. In England, where this pernicious doctrine seems to have originated, the claimed purpose of the law was to reduce crime, while the actual reason was political. 

The ruling class wanted to prevent violent uprisings. If such an uprising occurred, they wished to be able to disarm their opponents and arm there friends. This has been documented by research by both Constable Greenwood at Cambridge and Joyce Lee Malcolm of the United States. 

Estonia is a small country which has had considerable experience in oppression under the former Soviet Union. 

Their Supreme Court appears to be learning the lessons of liberty.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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