Missippi takes Active Approoach to Guard against Mass Murder in Schools

 

On October 1, 1997, school principle Joel Myrick (a U.S. Army Reserve Major) stopped further shooting by the perpetrator at the Pearl Mississippi High School, by holding the killer at gunpoint until police arrived. A student had assisted by blocking the killers car with their car. The killer attempted to drive around the other vehicle, but became stuck. At that point, Joel Myrick pointed his .45 Colt auto at the killer and the killer surrendered.

At the time, it was illegal for Joel Myrick to bring his personal weapon on to the school property. He had to retrieve it from his car. No one attempted to prosecute Myrick for breaking the federal gun free school zone act.

Thirteen years later, in 2011, Mississippi passed a bill creating a shall issue enhanced carry permit, which allows the possessors to carry in several otherwise prohibited locations, such as schools and colleges, places which serve alcohol, polling places, meetings of the legislature, airline passenger terminals (excepting federally secured areas) and churches. This effectively allowed carry in schools by people with the enhanced permit.

In 2016, Mississipi passed a state version of Constitutional Carry (permitless carry). The permitless carry law did not apply to schools. From Mississippitoday.com:

In 1990, the board created a policy which prohibited weapons in schools, except in the possession of law enforcement officials. The policy also allowed districts to create additional rules about weapons in their district. But in 2012, when state lawmakers passed an enhanced carry law that allowed enhanced permit holders to carry weapons on school campuses, the board never updated its policy.

The board voted in July to adopt a temporary rule change to address this issue, and after receiving and reviewing public comment, the board made its temporary change permanent on Thursday. The new policy reads “each local school district shall have a policy concerning weapons on school premises.”

In the July meeting, the Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE) general counsel referenced an attorney general opinion from 2013, which clarifies that possessing a gun on school property is a felony according to Mississippi law unless one possesses an enhanced concealed carry permit.

No mass murder at a Mississippi school has taken place since 1997.  To further enhance Mississippi school safety, Republican Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi has recommended the creation of a school guardian program which would pay volunteers in schools to be armed and responsible for the defense of the students and staff. Volunteers would undergo training and be paid about $500 a month. From mcusercontent.com:

Enhance School Safety

There are few issues of higher importance than ensuring the safety of Mississippi children. When parents send their kids to school, they should be able to rest comfortably knowing that their kids will be safe and protected. Every child should be able to focus solely on learning, and Mississippi intends to provide the security necessary for that.

To better protect our kids, I propose creating the Mississippi School Safety Guardian Program. Guardians will be trained to provide armed intervention in the event of an active shooter threat. They will be employees of the school district and nominated by the district to be trained and certified by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Guardians will receive a monthly stipend of $500 dollars, be issued a firearm, a holster, and ammunition by DPS. They will graduate from a training program hosted by DPS and must recertify with the Department annually. I propose allocating $5 million to cover the cost of an initial rollout for the program across 450 schools, with the goal of ultimately expanding the program to every public school across the state.

Additionally, Mississippi should allocate a dedicated source of funding to identify and provide an annual threat assessment for every school across the state. I propose $1 million toward this effort.

School Resource officers cost about $100,000 a year. $500 a month per guardian would cost about $6,000 a year. About 16-17 school guardians can be trained and available for each School Resource Officer.

The enhanced permit in Mississippi costs about $115 dollars and can be renewed every five years for $72. There are reduced fees for retired and active duty military or spouse and law enforcement officers. Applications must be made in person, but people who have carry permits from other states may apply.

Republicans hold more than two thirds of the Senate and about 63% of the house seats in the Mississippi state legislature. It appears a bill supported by Governor Reeves has a reasonable chance of passage.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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IN: Fort Wayne Man shoots, wounds Intruder

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — A man shot an alleged home intruder Wednesday morning, leaving the other man in non life-threatening condition, according to police.

At approximately 7:00 a.m., police responded to reports of a shooting at a home along the 1900 block of Hillside Avenue.

 

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Polar Bear Attack, Krosspynten near Svalbard, .44 magnum, 1988

 Image from wikimedia naturepics online, 2010

At 6 a.m., on September 12, 1988, a trapper and his friend were staying at a cabin at Krosspynten, part of the Svalbard archipelago, which is under the jurisdiction of Norway. They were woken by a polar bear boar which had gained entrance to the cabin hallway (probably the air or weather lock to the cabin). The trapper had a .44 magnum revolver. Krosspynten is about a hundred and fifty  miles north and eighty miles east of Longyearbyen. Mushamna is about one hundred miles north of Longyearbyen.

Map of Svalbard, public domain

The incident report was uncovered with a Freedom of information Act (FOIA) request by AmmoLand. Individual names have been redacted. The report was translated to English, so it has been lightly edited for readability, and a fictitious name substituted. From the FOIA account, incident 142.

Oscar and a friend were staying at the cabin at Krosspynten. At 6AM a bear had entered the hallway of the cabin and woke them up. The bear had been rummaging in there for a few seconds before they knocked on the wall to drive it away. The bear went outside. A few seconds later it came around to the front of cabin and smashed the window of the room where they were. The bear backed up then accelerated  and threw itself at the window. It destroyed the window bar and made the wall of the cabin bulge dangerously inwards. At that moment Oscar thought the wall would collapse. The bear was halfway inside the cabin, its front paws, head and a part of the upper body were through the window.

Oscar thought the wall would collapse if he didn't do anything. He had no choice but to shoot the bear. He had his revolver by the bed, and fired one shot in the throat of the bear. The bear tumbled out of the window. Oscar got up and fired one more shot with the revolver.  The bear retreated. Oscar accessed his rifle. The bear managed to get about 100m from the cabin before Oscar was able to kill it with the rifle. The revolver was a .44 caliber magnum.

Oscar  skinned the bear and hung the meat up at Krosspynten. He took the skin back to Mushamna, where he called up the Governor of Svalbard and reported what had happened. Oscar is an experienced trapper. His experience with polar bears began before polar bears were a protected species.  Last winter he had over 140 polar bear visits at his trapping station near Mushamna. The last polar bear he shot was in 1973.  He believes he has significant experience in dealing with polar bears. This bear was skinny. Everything indicates the bear was coming inside to get food no matter what. Oscar did not like to have to kill a protected animal, but the choice, at that point, was the bear or Oscar and his friend.

Opinion:

This was almost certainly a predatory attack. The bear knew there were people in the cabin. It was hungry. It directed its assault on the structure toward a way to get at the humans inside.  This shows the advantage of having a pistol close by. Oscar was able to access the revolver and shoot the bear in the throat without having to fumble with a rifle at close quarters, or perhaps to chamber a round. Revolvers are normally kept loaded. The bear was probably mortally wounded with the pistol shots, but remained ambulatory until Oscar was able to access his rifle and kill the bear from a hundred meters away. Oscar was able to avoid killing a polar bear since 1973, the year polar bears became a protected species by international law.

Polar bear and human conflicts have increased since 1973, exactly what would be expected with increasing polar bear populations (recovering from unregulated hunting) and increasing tourism in the area.

 

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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UT: Salt Lake City Shooting was likely Self Defense

The argument reportedly continued outside and one of the men, later determined to be the gunshot victim, pulled a knife.

In response, another man pulled out a gun and shot the man with the knife in the lower body.

The third man involved in the argument inside reportedly left before police arrived, but has been identified. The shooter remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation.

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Amicus Briefs Filed to Defend Serial Number Gun Ban in Fourth Circuit

In a previous article on AmmoLand, the West Virginia case was described where the federal ban on possession of a firearm which has had the serial number removed, was found to be unconstitutional. The case is USA v Randy Price.

Serial numbers were never designed as a means of confiscating firearms. They have been subverted for that purpose.

Demanding that firearms have serial numbers, and that they be kept so firearms can be linked to particular individuals, is key to setting up a system for gun confiscation. Those who wish for an unarmed population understand this. They have marshaled vast resources to keep the federal ban on possession of firearms which have had the serial number removed.

The Biden administration has appealed the district court ruling to the Fourth Circuit. The defendant is represented by an attorney appointed by the court. It is unclear what defense of the district court ruling will be heard by the Fourth Circuit.

Amicus briefs have been filed to reverse the district court ruling by:

• Everytown for Gun Safety
• Brady and March For Our Lives
• The District of Columbia joined by 20 state attorney generals.

The amicus briefs may be viewed on the PACER system.

In the District Court opinion, no attention was paid to the direct and clear threat requiring firearms to have serial numbers and the prohibition on the possession of firearms where the serial number has been removed, to maintaining an armed population.

A ban on firearms which have had serial numbers removed, is a direct seizure of power over the ownership of arms, which the Second Amendment is designed to protect against.

The federal law makes confiscation of guns from the population much easier. The serial number law makes gun registration possible. Gun registration is gun confiscation. House to house searches are not necessary when a particular firearm can be linked to a particular person. This is the reason those who want a disarmed population are pulling out the stops to keep this law, although it is a clear infringement of the Right to Keep arms, protected by the Second Amendment.

Several European countries require serial numbers on all major gun parts, such as on barrels, slides, and frames. This is seen on Glock pistols.

A court appointed attorney has relatively limited resources. No amicus briefs have been filed, as of the December 22, 2022, by any of the organizations which are dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms.

The foremost argument by those fighting to keep the ban is the claim that firearms with the serial number removed are not in common use for legitimate purposes.

This is sophistry of the first order. The removal of a serial number does not change the function of a firearm at all. A .38 revolver with or without a serial number is still a .38 revolver. Revolvers are a type of firearm in common use.  It is a change in legal nomenclature, which was required by the federal government in the first place.  The argument is circular. It states firearms may be banned if the federal government defines them as contraband.

The argument could as easily be made that pink guns are not in common use, therefore they can be banned.  The banning of colored guns has been proposed.

California uses its handgun roster to ban guns based on non-functional criteria. If a model is offered in a different color, it has to be tested in that color, an expensive and time consuming process. The California handgun roster is being challenged in court.

There is no historical precedent for a ban on firearms which have had the serial number removed. It is recent law, enacted in 1990. It has almost no effect on crime.

The secondary argument in the amicus brief is the claim that tracing guns is an effective crime fighting tool. It is not, and never has been.  Showing numbers of people which have been prosecuted for possessing a firearm with the serial number removed, does not show any ability to stop crime; it only shows prosecutions of victimless crimes.

Firearms tracing is a failed system, designed to move to a universal firearms registration system. Showing the ban on possession of firearms with the serial number removed to be unconstitutional renders the decades long project to enact universal firearms registration futile.

Opinion: Organizations in support of rights protected by the Second Amendment may not wish to invest scarce resources in a case with a less than stellar defendant. It may be worth the effort to get the argument on the record that the ability of the government to ban the possession of firearms which have had a serial number removed, is an infringement on Second Amendment rights.

It  illegitimately transfers power to the government from the people.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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MI: Truck Driver Shoots Suspect who Ambushed him

DETROIT – Police are investigating after a tow truck driver allegedly shot and killed a suspect who tried to rob him.

According to Fox 2 in Detroit, the shooting occurred at 7 Mile and Kelly Road at 9:35 a.m. on Monday.

The truck driver was meeting the suspect to buy a car for parts when he was ambushed, police said.

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Prospects for States to pass Constitutional Carry in 2023

Alabama passed their Constitutional Carry bill or (permitless carry) in 2022. The bill does not go into effect until January 1, 2023. This correspondent considers Alabama's Constitutional Carry to have been established in 2022. Including Alabama, there are 25 states, half the states in the Union, which have Constitutional (permitless) carry laws in effect.

Constitutional Carry is considered to be when no government permit is required to carry a handgun, concealed or openly, in most public spaces.

In 2023, there are two prime candidates to pass Constitutional Carry bills. They are Florida and Nebraska.

Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida, has repeatedly said he will see a Constitutional Carry bill passed while he is governor. After his resounding success in re-election, and the election of large Republican majorities in the Florida legislature, this appears to be plausible. Over the last several years, Constitutional Carry bills have been kept from passage by the Republican leadership.  Governor DeSantis has changed the equation of power in the Republican party in Florida.

At a press conference on at about 21:00 on the video, Governor DeSantis is asked if he is going to pass Constitutional Carry on your own. The Governor says he has been willing, and the Republicans have had a majority the whole time. Then he asks the new House Speaker, Paul Renner: "Are you going to do it?" and Renner replies: "Yes." With Governor DeSantis and the new Speaker of the House on board, it will be the Florida Senate as a possible stumbling block. If Florida passes Constitutional Carry, two of the three most populous states will belong to the Constitutional Carry club.

In 2022, Nebraska came very close to passing Constitutional Carry.  The stumbling block has always been senators from districts in Omaha and Lincoln. Legislative procedures are unique to Nebraska, which is the only state with a unicameral (single bodied) legislature among the United States. Nebraska is almost surrounded by Constitutional Carry states, with just a fraction of its borders touching Colorado. Nebraska Senator Brewer, who has been a significant force pushing for passage of Constitutional Carry. Senator Brew thinks just enough changes happened in the 2022 election to pass the bill in 2023. From klkntv.com:

Sen. Tom Brewer said that includes his gun rights bill, which would bring permitless concealed carry to Nebraska.

The proposal fell just two votes short of the 33 needed to overcome a filibuster last legislative session.

Brewer said in a column last week that November’s election made the
Nebraska Legislature slightly more conservative, so there are finally
enough votes to advance several priorities.

Other possibilities:

Louisiana is a strong contender to pass Constitutional Carry, but is unlikely to do so while Bel Edwards is governor.

In 2021, Louisiana passed a Constitutional Carry bill by veto proof margins in the House and and Senate, on 27 May.  Democrat Governor Bel Edwards vetoed the bill, as he promised he would. Governor Edwards is term limited in 2023, and a new Governor may sign a Constitutional Carry bill, or refrain from vetoing one.

Wisconsin has legislative majorities to pass a Constitutional Carry bill, but such a bill would be vetoed by Democrat Governor Evers. Pennsylvania is in a similar position to Wisconsin.

South Carolina will have a Constitutional Carry bill introduced in 2023. South Carolina now has open carry, which has not caused any problems this correspondent has found in recent searches. This is the typical experience. South Carolina might pass Constitutional Carry, but it is uncertain at this time.

In general, the Supreme Court's decision in Bruen adds to the push for the restoration of Constitutional Carry in the states. The protection provided by the Second Amendment of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, is now clear law from the Supreme Court.

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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TX: Apartment Resident Shoots, Kills Maintenance Worker

Wilson is not associated with the case.

“[It’s] certainly a sad and tragic situation,” said Wilson. “One is, did the apartments notify the apartment owners that they were going to be having individuals on their balconies? And two, what’s the location of the pipes? Has this type of incident, the repair of the pipes, occurred before? And, has it always been done in that way?”

Wilson says the Castle Doctrine could be applied in the case. It allows homeowners to defend their property, which extends to their balconies, against ‘an anticipated burglary,’ said Wilson.

Homeowners are not required to retreat in their own homes, he said.

 

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Tucson Bar Shooting Was "Active Shooter Situation" according to Bar Owner

 

Arizona State Flag

 On December 18, 2022 at about 6 p.m., a previous customer returned to Famous Sam's bar in Tucson, Arizona, and fired round into the ceiling. Another customer pulled his pistol and told the person with the rifle to drop the gun.

When the suspect started to point the rifle at him and another customer, he shot the rifle toting shooter.

The story was originally reported in KOLD as this:

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - A man is battling for his life after a bar fight ended in a shooting near Grant and Silverbell in Tucson late Sunday, Dec. 18.

In an interview with KVOA, Mark Rhude, the bar owner gave a more detailed account of what happened. From kvoa.com:

TUCSON (KVOA) - A shooting at a bar on Tucson's west side Sunday was initially reported by multiple media outlets as a "bar fight", but Famous Sam's owner Mark Rhude said it was a much different situation that could have been more serious.

Speaking exclusively with News 4 Tucson, Rhude said it was an active shooter situation stopped short by a heroic customer with a gun.

Arizona was the second state to re-establish Constitutional Carry. Vermont always had Constitutional Carry, from the time the Bill of Rights was ratified. Alaska re-established Constitutional Carry in 2003. Arizona re-established Constitutional Carry in 2011. In Arizona law, there is a local wrinkle in Constitutional Carry. A person may carry in an establishment which serves alcohol, but the person who is carrying is not allowed to consume alcohol while they are carrying a concealed firearm. The firearm has to be concealed. From AZleg.gov:

 A. A person may carry a concealed handgun on the premises of a licensee who is an on-sale retailer unless the licensee posts a sign that clearly prohibits the possession of weapons on the licensed premises.

As private property, establishments may ban the carry of firearms altogether, if the owner desires to do so.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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SC: Jim Duggan, "Hacksaw" pro Wrestler, Hold Intruder at Gunpoint for Police

Jim Duggan is one of the most recognizable names in pro wrestling and earlier this month he needed to put some of those moves to good use when he was faced with an intruder in his South Carolina home.

Duggan, who goes by “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan in the wrestling world, revealed in an interview with Wrestling Inc. on Friday that his home was broken into on Dec. 8 and that he faced the intruder himself.

The 68-year-old told the wrestling news outlet that a man in his mid-20s entered through his and wife Debra’s front door. Duggan said he took the man down by himself and grabbed his .44 caliber pistol and held the man at gunpoint. The retired wrestler added that he heard more people outside and thought there could be more trouble, so he turned off his Christmas lights and told the man to keep silent.

 

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More People Exercis Right to Bear Arms: More People Caught with Firearms at TSA Checkpoints

 

 

As more and more people have been exercising their right to bear arms in the United States, the number of people who forget they have a firearm in their carry-on luggage has been steadily increasing.  The number of firearms caught at TSA checkpoints is shown in the chart above.

The number of people with carry permits has grown rapidly in the last decade, as have the number of states which do not require a permit to carry a concealed  firearm. The legal system is known as Constitutional Carry or permitless carry.

In 2011, there were  6.06 thousand permits holders for every firearm discovered at a TSA check point. Three states had Constitutional carry.

In 2014 there were  5.26 thousand permit holders for every firearm discovered at a TSA check point.  Five states had Constitutional Carry

In 2018, there were  4.08 thousand permit holders for every firearm discovered  at a TSA checkpoint.  Thirteen states had Constitutional Carry

In 2022 there were  3.49 thousand permit holders for every firearm discovered  at a TSA check point.  Twenty-four states had Constitutional Carry. Alabama will become a Constitutional Carry state in January, 2023.

This graphic shows the growth in Constitutional Carry (permitless carry) (green) states.

As more and more people are exercising their right to bear arms, more and more of them are making the error of forgetting they had their firearms in the luggage they intended to carry on an airplane. The vast majority of people who make this error do so inadvertently.  TSA discovers about 10 undeclared firearms for every million passengers screened, as shown in the numbers from 2021.

TSA has been increasing the maximum civil penalty over the years. On December 16, 2022, it was raised from $13,910, to 14,950, or 7%. In 2018, the maximum penalty was $13,000. In four years the maximum civil penalty has increased 15%. From TSA press release December 16, 2022:

 Firearm possession laws vary by state and local government, but firearms are never allowed in carry-on bags at any TSA security checkpoint, even if a passenger has a concealed weapon permit. In order to reduce the threat of firearms at checkpoints, TSA has increased the maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation to $14,950. TSA determines the penalty amount for a violation based on the circumstances in each case. TSA will continue to revoke TSA PreCheck® eligibility for at least five years for passengers caught with a firearm in their possession. TSA may conduct enhanced screening for those passengers to ensure no other threats are present. Depending on state or local law in the airport's location, passengers who bring firearms to a checkpoint may be arrested by law enforcement.

The penalty which will apply depends on a number of factors, such as whether this was the first offense, or if the firearm were loaded. Here is the  Table of Ranges of Civil Penalties for TSA for individuals, among others:

(3) Violations Committed by All Other Entities Including, but Not Limited to Airport Operators, Indirect Air Carrier, CCSFs, Individuals, Contractors, Small Businesses, etc.

Maximum $11,290-$14,950

Moderate $5,900-$11,290

Minimum $1,450-$5,900

People are not perfect. When you have well over 22 million people who legally carry firearms, some are going to get busy and make mistakes. Some will leave a firearm in luggage and forget to take it out in the rush to the airport, as they are delayed for an unexpected reason.

As the number of people exercising the right to bear arms increases, the number who make mistakes and bring a firearm to TSA checkpoints also increases.

 ©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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SC: Domestic Defense, Father Shoots, Kills Son

When deputies arrived, they reported finding the father on the front porch of the home with another deputy, and the son was lying on the floor of a bedroom inside the home, with an injury to the left hip area consistent with being shot.  After arriving on the scene, EMS determined that the son was deceased.

The Fairfield County Sheriff’s office reported that it was later ruled that the shooting was in self-defense.

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Australia: Queensland Police Killing used to Call for National Gun Registry

 

Wieambilla, Queensland,  police killing scene, shortly after the event

 A bizarre police killing in a sparsely populated part of Queensland, about 170 miles northwest of Brisbane, Australia, happened on Monday, December 12. The accused police killers had all worked for the Queensland Department of Education. Two were brothers, Nathaniel and Gareth. Gareth was married to Stacy, who had been married to Nathaniel. Both Nathaniel and Stacy were school principals at one time. Gareth resigned from his school position in 2016, Nathaniel in 2020, and Stacey in December of 2021, reportedly because of the mandatory Covid vaccination policy. Both Nathaniel and Stacy were reported to be well regarded in their schools before becoming radicalized.

Four officers were investigating the property, on a "welfare check" requested by police in the neighboring state of New South Wales. The welfare check was instigated by a call from the estranged wife of Nathaniel Train. The three assailants were reported, in the Daily Mail, to be methamphetamine addicts. Meth is known to make people paranoid.  From dailymail.co.uk:

It is understood Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, arrived in the first vehicle, and met up with a second car containing Constable Keely Brough and Constable Randall Kirk, both aged 28, before approaching the property.

McCrow and Arnold then honked their horn to alert the residents of their presence. When there was no movement from inside the house, the four officers got out of their cars and jumped over the locked fence.

Seconds later, a shower of bullets descended on the four officers, believed to have been fired by Nathaniel and Gareth Train and Gareth's wife Stacey.

(snip)

On Tuesday, Daily Mail Australia revealed the Trains had spent years fortifying the wooden home into a makeshift
bunker to try to fend off an assault by police which they had long anticipated.

They had also been bingeing on methamphetamine, with Gareth posting increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories online that claimed the 1996 Port Arthur massacre was a military operation and Princess Diana was killed as a 'blood sacrifice'.

This correspondent has not found any confirmation of Meth use or addiction. No toxicology reports have been found.

After the initial killing, the Train trio posted a video online claiming the police came to kill them, and they killed the police instead.  From theguardian.com:

After ambushing police officers with a hail of bullets, Stacey and Gareth Train huddled together in the dark at their remote Queensland property and recorded a video.

“They came to kill us and we killed them,” Gareth said in the video, uploaded on Monday night and still circulating online.

“If you don’t defend yourself against these devils and demons, you’re a coward.”

Devils and demons are descriptions often used by methamphetamine addicts when involved in violent crimes in the United States. The Guardian article mentions several Christian end of times references as well. In the Guardian article, the Trains claim several previous "welfare checks", and harassment by authorities.

The Premier of Queensland, Australia, Annastacia Plaszczuk. has used the incident to call for a national gun registry. Paszczuk has been the leftist labor party PM in  Queensland since 2015. From abc.net.au news:

Ms Palaszczuk echoed her comments, saying a national register should be discussed at national cabinet.

"Anything we can do to tighten gun laws in this country would be a good thing," she said.

Australia has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. The laws vary by state, but conform to a set of national standards. The standards were agreed to by the Australian states in the rush to pass draconian gun restrictions after the Port Arthur mass killing in 1996. The extreme gun laws have had little effect on homicide or suicide levels. Mass killings have occurred after the 1997 laws were implemented.   From news.com.au:

National cabinet will consider options to better regulate gun ownership in Australia in the wake of two police officers and a bystander being killed in Queensland, the Prime Minister has announced.

The rush to use the killing of the young police officers to impose even more restrictive gun measures seems well supported in the Australian media.

How a national gun registry could have prevented these police deaths is far from clear.  Firearms possession is not uncommon in rural Australia.

The tragedy bears some resemblance to the killings at the Branch Davidians in Waco, in the and the Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho in the USA. A key difference is the potential presence of Meth in Australia, and the ambush of police.

Opinion:

Much remains unclear in this tragedy. Were the Train trio Meth users or not?

How often did the police have contact with the Trains?

How was it four police officers were deemed necessary for a "welfare check"?

A video supposedly put out by the Trains, claimed Nathaniel was a whistleblower on corruption in the New South Wales Department of Education and the New South Wales police.

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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NY: Man Shot by Transit Worker was Habitually Aggressive

The 39-year-old straphanger who was shot by an MTA worker in Brooklyn on Tuesday night was allegedly angry that the transit employee blew him off when he tried to fist-bump, sources said.

The incident happened about 9 p.m. at the Brooklyn R train station when Renaldo Gurrier tried to make the hand gesture to one of a pair of MTA workers, but the employee refused over COVID concerns, police sources said.

Gurrier allegedly followed the men onto an R train, threatening to “beat them up,” NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said at a press briefing about the incident at the scene Tuesday. 

 

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Polar Bear Attack near Paulabren, Norway, Stopped with Revolvers, in 1993

 Image from wikimedia naturepics online, 2010

 

On July 20, near Paulabren, Norway, in 1993, three people fought off a polar bear using two handguns. Paulabren is part of the Svalbard archipelago, under Norwegian administration, north of the arctic circle, south of Longyearbyen.

This story was uncovered as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by AmmoLand. The names of the individuals involved were redacted. The original account is a translation. Names have been added to make the report more understandable. The report has been lightly edited for ease in reading. The attack was by a single sow polar bear, on polar researchers in their camp.

From the FOIA account, incident 157:

Paul was sitting outside the tent in his sleeping bag. John and Ian were also outside the tent. Suddenly Paul became aware of a bear coming towards them at great speed over the moraine heap that was about 5 m away. The bear came directly at the 3 people being outside. First it looked like it was coming at John, who was standing, but suddenly he realized that it was
coming at himself.

Everything happened very fast, in about 2 seconds. Paul had a revolver, a Smith & Wesson, lying on his left side. The same moment he saw the bear he bent over and grabbed the gun. Before he had the gun ready to fire, the bear was at him and he pulled his legs back. The sleeping pad he was sitting on had claw marks on it.

Paul kicked out with his legs and fired the gun. He didn't see if he hit, but he was sure he must have, at that range, about 1 m. He fired one more shot immediately. The bear then turned around and ran away. John could not see if the bear was bleeding from a gunshot wound. Ian also came to the tent opening and fired one shot at the bear, but thinks he didn't hit the bear.

The bear ran back the same way it had come. First it stopped at about 400 m away. They saw it was bleeding from a wound in the chest. They didn't have any rifle with them (it was left in town for another expedition that was going to come up on the 26th of July.) They tried to get closer to the bear to finish it. When they closed the distance to about 80 m it ran away.

They followed it a while down the moraine, but had to give up since the bear vanished  from sight once in a while. The moraine was full of small heaps and hollows and they found it too dangerous to follow a wounded bear without being certain of its whereabouts. They continued to follow the bear at a distance. After it had walked 2-3 km it stopped and stayed there from around 2 PM until the Governor's representatives came to kill it at midnight.

Paul was asked why they hadn't secured the camp with tripwires. He said that he knew they had brought them out in the field but couldn't find them when they came to Paulabreen. He also said he and another person had come up from the shore the day before and they hadn't seen any bears or tracks.

The FOIA return has a space for comments, presumably by the person maintaining the database.   This correspondent found the comments interesting. They were terse, in four lines:

• Bad shooting
• No trip wires
• Bad camp location
• No adequate weapons.

It appears, with a polar bear coming at the three people at a fast pace, in a couple of seconds, from 5 meters away, they did well. All three escaped injury. The polar bear immediately broke off the attack and fled after being shot. It was almost certainly mortally wounded.  What good would trip wires have done, at most a few feet from the exposed people?

While the caliber of the handguns used was not reported, they were almost certainly .44 magnum revolvers. .41 magnum revolvers are fairly unusual compared to .44 magnums. The .44 magnum meets the energy criteria for adequate firearms for protection against polar bears in Svalbard. The .44 magnum has a good reputation for dealing with attacking bears.  The X-frame .500 and .460  Smith & Wesson revolvers had not been introduced in 1993.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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NM: Gunfight, Shooting in Albuquerque may be Self Defense

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) responded to a shooting on the 1400 block of 3rd. St., north of Avenida Cesar Chavez on Wednesday. Later in the day, officials said the shooting was possibly a case of self-defense.

APD said officers went to the area around 10:24 a.m. Wednesday for reports of a shooting. 

 

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Ill: Bill proposed to Ban Firearms to 18, 19, and 20 year old Citizens, and Dozens of Popular Arms

HB5855 is a bill which heavily infringes on the right to arms protected by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. Ironically, it is titled the "Protect Illinois Communities Act".

The bill has been introduced into the Illinois House of Representatives by Representative Bob Morgan, (D) of the 58th District in Springfield, Illinois. Representative Morgan is a prolific introducer of bills. In 2022, he has introduced 38 bills, none of which has moved beyond the introduction and passed the House of Representative.  He introduced 36 bills in 2021. None of them passed the House. HB5855 is up for a committee hearing on December 12 at 11 a.m. While Morgan introduces lots of bills without success, this bill is being pushed in the Media, which gives it a somewhat better chance.

Here is a brief summation of what the bill would put into law. From the bill:

Amends the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Eliminates provisions that permit a person under 21 years of age who is not an active duty member of the United States Armed Forces or the Illinois National Guard to obtain a Firearm Owner's Identification Card with parental consent. Amends the Wildlife Code. Provides that when a person under 21 years of age is hunting under the supervision of a adult, the adult must possess a Firearm Owners Identification Card. Amends the Firearms Restraining Order Act. Provides that the State's Attorney of the county where the petition is filed may act as a friend of the court in any action filed under the Act. Provides that a petitioner may request a one-year (rather than 6-month) firearms restraining order. Amends the Criminal Code of 2012.

The problematic parts of the bill are fairly clear:

1. It bans the ownership and use of firearms to American residents who are 18, 19, and 20 years old, en mass.  This is a novel infringement on their right to keep and bear arms.

2. It bans the sale of dozens of commonly owned firearms, and requires registration of those firearms currently owned in Illinois.

3. It bans future sale of magazines which hold more than 10 rounds.

4. It gives the State' Attorney's standing to file Firearms Restraining Orders (Red Flag Law). Such authority now only exists for police officer and family members, and extends the duration of the ban on the individual exercise of the right to keep and bear arms from six months to a year.

Representative Morgan does not appear to understand the limits on government placed by the Second Amendment, as applied to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The bill is only introduced. It has 30 sponsors, all Democrat, in the Illinois House of Representatives.  There are 117 members of the House, so about 59 are needed to pass a bill. This many sponsors is a good start. The more important question is: Does the House leadership support the bill?

Democrats have 72 of the seats in the House, Republicans have 45. In the Senate, Democrats have 41 seats, Republicans have 18 seats.

If the Democrat leadership wants to pass this bill, it will pass. The committee hearing on December 12 will provide a clue as to the prospects of the bill.

It is questionable if the Firearms Owner IDentification card (FOID) itself will withstand judicial scrutiny. The Illinois Supreme court has punted on ruling whether the FOID card passes Constitutional muster, twice.

 

 ©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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AR: Teen was Shot during Carjack Attempt

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Affidavits released Monday show investigators believe a juvenile died after being shot when he and two teens attempted to carjack a woman outside a Little Rock apartment Sunday night.

The teens, identified as 18-year-old Daryl Jones and 15-year-old Tamarion Jones, now both face a charge of capital murder in the case.

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Texas School District Moves to Train More Staff to be Armed for Defense

Image from the Hayride

On Monday, December 12, 2022, the Keller School District board voted to implement the School Guardian program for the District. The Keller Intependent School District, (ISD) with over 35,000 students, is one of the largest in the state. From  The epochtimes.com :

A large North Texas school district is moving forward with its plan to allow armed staff members to protect students in the event of an active shooter situation.

On Monday night, the board of trustees for the Keller Independent School District (KISD) approved the decision in a 4–3 vote. The district, which serves more than 35,000 students, is set to become the largest in North Texas to implement a guardian program.

The new policy would be on a volunteer basis with a high degree of oversight. The program would require a rigorous selection process. Participants would undergo a law enforcement psychological exam, a physical, and firearm testing with requalification twice a year.

In September, 2013, Texas passed legislation which authorized School Districts to participate in programs designed to aid in the protection of schools. One was the school Marshal program, which required intense training and limited School Marshals to one per 200 students; the other was the school Guardian plan which allowed much more flexibility and required 15 to 20 hours of training per school guardian.

It appears relatively few school districts have participated in the School Marshal program. Ballotpedia lists 1022 school districts in Texas.   445 school districts are participating in the School Guardian program, as of October of 2022, according to the article in the Epoch Times.  The vote for the program was 4 to 3. Keller ISD Board President Charles Randklev gave an explanation for his decision to vote for the program. From communityimpact.com:

For Board President Charles Randklev, it came down to timing.

“The average time it takes for police to arrive on campus when there’s an active shooter is between two and a half to three and a half minutes. What can we do to help protect our students and staff during that time?” he said. “The guardian program is meant to help students and staff from an active shooter prior to law enforcement's arrival.”

Trustee Micah Young echoed Randklev’s point about addressing those critical first few minutes before law enforcement arrives on scene.

“At Sandy Hook, we lost a child every two seconds. At some point we have to ask ourselves, 'At what point do we put the opportunity in our favor and stop the violence? How long are we willing to wait?'” Young said.

Parent Dixie Davis disapproved of the idea of armed teachers. From campussafetymagazine.com:

“I do not want this program, period,” she said. “There is no way I would feel safe sending my kid to school knowing a teacher is packing, no matter how well-trained. Why haven’t we seen details about how this program works?”

Keller ISD currently has 16 School Resource Officers (SRO), currently assigned.  The cost of the 16 SROs is over 1.7 Million dollars a year.  That is over $100,000 per year
per SRO. School Guardians cost about $800 - $1000 to train a year. A school can have about 100 trained Guardians for the cost of one SRO.  A number of private companies offer the training.

The Overton ISD, a small district east of Dallas, is also considering joining the Guardian program: From dentonrc.com:

Overton ISD is considering joining the Texas Guardian Program, which would allow district employees who have passed a series of requirements to be armed on campus.

The district is expected to vote on the measure in the coming months and has reached out to the community for input. Overton ISD recently announced its interest in the program on Facebook, providing a survey to get feedback.

This correspondent has been unable to find a school district using the Guardian program which has had a mass murder event.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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AZ: Man Shoots Rifle in Tucson bar, is shot by Armed Customer

Speaking exclusively with News 4 Tucson, Rhude said it was an active shooter situation stopped short by a heroic customer with a gun.

Rhude wasn't at work at the time but based on his staff's account of what happened he said a man at the bar began hurling racial slurs and talking about violence.

"He was throwing out some stuff about the KKK and something about I'll bring a bomb back or something," Rhude explained.

Staff was able to get the man to leave but about an hour or so later, just after 6 p.m. on Sunday, the man returned with a rifle and fired a shot into the ceiling.

"Everybody heard that a little panic came on. So, he came around and was moving that gun on people," he said.

But then two customers stepped in to try and convince him to drop the weapon. One of those customers was armed with a gun of their own.

"He [the customer] then said drop your gun to the bad guy three times and bad guy wouldn't and he leveled it right at the guy and our customer here, he shot him, apparently three times," Rhude said.

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OH: Domestic Defense, Man rams Truck with Jeep, opens Fire, Fire Returned, Initiator Killed

The Sheriff says deputies found that the man, later identified as Robert Harris, and a woman were arguing in a Jeep when another man drove up in a truck to pick up the woman. 

Deputies say the man who showed up had a two-year-old child with him and that he put the child in the house with his wife before attempting to leave and take the woman back home.

The Sheriff says the Jeep began ramming the pickup truck until it was run off the road into a wooded area, and both men pulled guns and exchanged gunfire.

Deputies say Harris fired shots first, with the passerby returning fire, hitting Harris in the torso multiple times, killing him. The driver of the pickup truck wasn't injured.

 

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PA: 72-Year-Old Homeowner Shoots, Kills 22-Year-Old Intruder

 

On December 10, 2022, at about 3 a.m., the Bedford 911 service received and urgent call.

According to the Pennsylvania State Police at the Bedford station, the Bedford 911 received a call reporting a home invasion and an assault in progress. The call was disconnected. After the call was re-connected, there was a report of shots fired. When the State Police arrived, they determined one shot had been fired, and the intruder, Dakota Lance Hall a white male, was struck and had died at the scene. WTAJ reported this. From wtaj.com:

State Police out of Bedford said they received a call of a home invasion and assault along Shoups Branch Road in Liberty Township shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday. While on the phone with the 72-year-old male homeowner, they said the 911 call disconnected. When the call reconnected, there were reports of shots fired.

When police arrived, they found the alleged intruder, Dakota Hall, 22, of Huntingdon, with a gunshot wound. Police said Hall died of his injuries at the scene.

The 72-year-old was taken to UPMC Bedford for injuries suffered in the assault.

Bedford is a rural community in Pennsylvania.  The population of Liberty Township  is modest at 1,382 as of the 2020 census.  Shoup's Branch Road is a short street in a development of what appear to be about 15 mobile homes in the satellite image. An athletic field is across the street.  On the other side of the athletic fields for baseball and football is a middle school and a high school.

The identity of the 72-year-old white male is unknown. Dakota Hall's address is reported as in Huntingdon, PA. The homeowner is reported as being from  Saxon, PA, which is in Liberty Township. Huntingdon is about a half hour drive, northeast from Liberty Township.  In Hall's obituary, he is listed as 26 years old. His parents were stated as being from Saxton, in Liberty Township. Hall is reported to have been booked on a charge of domestic assault on March 16, 2020.

The police have not reported if Hall was related to the 72-Year-old male who shot him, or if there were any connection at all.

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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AL: Gunfight, Homeowner Shoots 1 of 2 Home Invaders

WINSON CO., Ala. (WBRC) - The Winston County Sheriff’s Office says a home invasion on Dec. 13 resulted in the homeowner shooting and killing one of the intruders.

The invasion happened at a home off County Road 21 in the Poplar Springs area. Deputies arrived on scene and found a male dead in the home.

WCSO says they learned two suspects entered the home, one of them armed with a handgun. That suspect hit one of the residents in the head with the handgun.

The sheriff’s office says the suspect then began shooting inside the home.

 

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NV: Pahrump Homeowner Shoots Home Invader who Possessed Stolen Shotgun

The Nye County Sheriff's Office says a homeowner in Pahrump shot an armed intruder who was wanted for violating their parole.

On Thursday, December 15, at around 9:30 p.m., Nye County Sheriff's Office Deputies responded to the 6000 block of East Kellogg Road for a report of a shooting.

During their investigation, deputies learned 48-year-old Shawn Richard of Pahrump had unlawfully entered a home.

During the invasion, the homeowner, who was armed with a firearm shot and critically injured Richard as he attempted to enter the bedroom of the home.

 

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Video shows Graphic Evidence of Bear Killings of Young Bears

 Image of grizzly bear  by Troy Nemitz, used with permission. 

Video on Instagram

On May 22, 2022, visitors at Yellowstone national park witnessed a common, but seldom seen, killing of a young grizzly by a much larger adult boar. The mother of the young bear was also seen attacking he offspring. Some people think she was attempting to convince the young bear to leave the area. 

The mortal wounding of the young bear, which was the size of a average human, (about 150 lbs) is brutal. The speed and power of the attack is sobering to watch.

The video shows how immensely powerful a boar grizzly is. This boar was estimated at over 500 lbs.

Less than a month later, three more cubs were almost certainly killed by a large boar.  On June 16, grizzly 793, known as "Blondie" likely had her three cubs killed by a big boar. 

On Saturday morning, a bear thought to be Blondie was seen moving rapidly around an area in the park.

“The thought is that Blondie lost her cubs to a male bear on Friday night or early Saturday morning and was looking for them,” Bayles said on social media this week.

Bayles told one of his social media followers that a male bear was likely cause of the cubs’ demise.

“It is the single leading cause of baby bears,” Bayles said.

Studies of cub mortality show about 25% of sub-adult bears are killed by other bears every year. Nearly all the killing is done by large boars. The study above was for grizzly bears, but black bears boars kill cubs with as much gusto. Black bear cub cannibalism bearbiology.org:

 Abstract: From 1982 to 1985, 23 Arizona black bear (Ursus americanus) cubs were equipped with motion-sensitive, breakaway radiocollars while in winter dens. Eleven (48%) of these cubs died, but cause of death was determined in only 8 cases because of collar loss. Fifty percent of these deaths were the result of cannibalism by other bears.

The phenomena was observed in a study Ralph Flowers, the famous professional black bear hunter and trapper, was involved in. From Bears & Flowers, page 135

In a radio-collar survey done in February of 1982, of denned sow black bears, 

"We also picked up the signal from the largest male bear on the island - a 300 lb bruiser - and were surprised to find him out of his den and moving about in February. 

The objective of his mid-winter wanderings became apparent the following spring when it was determined that he had been roving the island, searching out denned females with cubs. At one den he killed and partly devoured the mother bear, and also made breakfast of her two cubs. At the den containing three cubs, he had killed and devoured them all, although the mother bear had escaped."

Bear cubs are about 1/3 of the population, before the end of hibernation. Roughly 8% of a bear population is every year by adult bears.  For every thousand bears, about 80 are killed each year by other bears.

Numerous incidents of polar bear predation on cubs and sub-adults have been observed. What percentage of young polar bears are killed by other bears is difficult to measure. From uccalgary.ca:

Intraspecific killing of one polar bear (Ursus maritimus) by another, including both infanticide and predation on older bears, as well as cannibalism, has long been known to Inuit hunters in Canada and Greenland, and several observations have been reported in the scientific literature (Lunn and Stenhouse, 1985; Taylor et al., 1985; Derocher and Wiig, 1999; Dyck and Daley, 2002; Amstrup et al., 2006; Stone and Derocher, 2007; Stirling et al., 2008). Both male and female adult polar bears are also known to scavenge on the carcasses of polar bears killed and skinned by humans (e.g., Larsen and Kjos-Hanssen, 1983). Most intraspecific kill-ing is focused on cubs and subadults, though some adult females are known to have been specifically preyed upon as well (Taylor et al., 1985; Amstrup et al., 2006; Stirling et al., 2008). In all observations of such killings recorded to date, the predators have been adult males. When fully mature, adult male polar bears are roughly twice the size of adult females (Kingsley, 1979; Derocher et al., 2005).

Much of the false image of bears as innocent furry forest creatures, as portrayed by Hanna-Barbera with Yogi and Boo Boo, or Disney in The Jungle Book, can be corrected with the knowledge of big boar bears as cub killers. In the real world, if Yogi and Boo Boo had met, it is likely Yogi would have killed Boo Boo.

Velma Flowers, the wife of Ralph Flowers, who  made the family livelihood by the commercial hunting and trapping of bears which were doing immense damage to trees in Washington State, was not immune. She strongly protested the killing of cubs. Then she strongly called for the killing of large boars, after she had complained of Ralph killing an orphaned cub.  From The Education of a Bear Hunter, P. 125, from his wife, Velma:

She then explained that this bear was in a different situation; he was a big bear and probably a mean old daddy bear. He had probably killed some cubs himself and was undoubtedly guilty of destroying many fine trees, while the little cubs had done nothing to deserve such a sad fate.

There is evidence that the harvest of large boars increases the overall bear population. From The Dynamics and Regulation of Black Bear Ursus americanus Populations in Northern Alberta:

Numbers of black bears on the study area varied little from 1968 through 1971. The removal of 26 large adult males in 1971 and 1972 was followed by an apparent increase in the bear population in 1972 and 1973, primarily in the subadult component. Alternate years of high cub production in 1968,1970 and 1972 probably were solely a function of the number of adult females breeding. Evidence from other studies indicates no significant change in annual litter size.

Human hunters disproportionately harvest large boars. They open up niches for more cub survival, with increases in the population of bears and increases in the harvest of bears at the same time.

It is likely the regulated hunting of bears is better for bear populations than allowing unregulated killing of large numbers of cubs by mature boars.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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IL: Chicago, Permit Holder shoots 2 in Domestic Defense

CHICAGO RIDGE, IL — A concealed carry permit holder shot two people outside a restaurant at Chicago Ridge Mall Thursday evening. Police believe it is related to an ongoing domestic disagreement.

Around 8:20 p.m., a couple was approached by three men as they were entering their vehicle in the parking lot. The concealed carry permit holder shot multiple rounds at the men, police said. Two of the trio suffered non-threatening gunshot wounds.

One of the men who approached the couple was arrested, police said. The man, identified as Reginald T. Williams, of Chicago, who turns 24 on Sunday, was charged with battery. He is also being held on an unrelated arrest warrant.

 

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WA: Homeowner Shoots, Kills Suspect who Broke in Through Second Story Window

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A would-be burglar was shot and killed by a homeowner Thursday night after he reportedly broke in through the window of a Vancouver house, police said.

Vancouver Police officers were called out at about 11:20 p.m. on reports of a burglary in progress at a home in the 2900 block of Northeast 157th Court.

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GA: Charges against Bemjamin Cox in Death of Father-in-Law Dropped: Self Defense

Charges have been dropped for a man after a review of the evidence in the case showed he acted in self-defense in an incident that led to the death of his father-in-law.

On Thursday, the Rome Circuit District Attorney’s Office dropped charges pending against 27-year-old Benjamin Tobias Cox Jr.

“Rome Police Department detectives in this case had probable cause to arrest this defendant on Oct. 7, 2022. They continued to work the case along with staff in my office. Evidence developed that pointed to Mr. Benjamin Cox having a valid justification defense under several statutes, including self-defense, defense of habitation and the stand your ground statute,” Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson said.

 

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India's Switzerland, where Everyone has a Right to Arms

 Kodava flag Link to wikimedia.org by Prathikponnanna 

 In a district of about a half million people in southwest India, not far from the West coast, the residents have the right to keep and bear arms.  Kodagu (earlier Coorg) is about 20% larger than the smallest American state, Rhode Island, with about half as many residents.

The Kodavas have a longstanding martial tradition similar to Switzerland. From the quint.com:

“When it comes to the issue of kovi (gun), in Kodagu, it is an integral part of the identity of a Coorg. It has become
a part of our culture. The right to own guns came in the 1800s from the British Raj, when they gave this right not just to the Kodavas, but also those with ancestral land living in Kodagu.” Harry Thammaiah, Resident, Kodagu

According to Colonel (Retd) CP Muthanna, the Kodavas have been keeping weapons from the time of the Lingayat Rajas, who ruled the lands way before the British or the Muslim rulers.

“The Kodavas and certain other communities were keeping weapons and ammunition in their house. And as and when the king called them to battle, they would take their weapons and go to battle at the behest fo the king. It is similar to what is being practiced in Israel by the reserves. Then came British rule. When the Disarming Act came, they exempted the Kodavas by race and Jumma holders from this regulation under the Disarming act,” he said.

The disarming act is what the British rulers used to impose gun control on the peoples of India after the Mutiny/uprising which occurred in 1857. Much the same philosophy was extended to England and Wales in the 1920's after World War I. The Kodavas were loyal to the British regime. The British rewarded them by allowing them to keep their weapons.

In current India, the federal government has caused much hardship in Kodago by indiscriminately outlawing all  hunting in India in 1972.

Kodava youth are taught, at a young age, to handle firearms. Marksmanship contests are common. Most Kodava households send at least one member to join the military, continuing their martial tradition.

In 2015, a petition was filed in the Karnataka Supreme Court. The petition challenged the exemption of the residents of Kodagu from the 1959 Arms Act, which codified the British imposed gun control after independence. Karnataka is the larger India state of which Kodagu is a part. 

In September of 2021, the Karataka High Court upheld the exemption for Kodagu.  From indiaexpress.com: 

The Centre had decided to continue the British-era rule of exempting Kodavas and Jamma land holders in the hill district of Kodagu from obtaining licence for firearms such as pistols, revolvers and double-barrelled shotguns.

LiveLaw.in confirms the residents in Kodagu have the right to keep and bear arms without obtaining a license from the government.

From  livelaw.in:

 The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs granting exemption to every person of Coorg by race, and Jumma tenure landholders in Coorg (Kodagu district), from the requirement to obtain a license to carry and possess firearms.

As might be expected, the crime rate in Kodagu is about half of what it is in India as a whole. While the India statistics only give the overall crime rate, in Kogadu it is 233.18 per 100 thousand. In India, as a whole, it is 445.9 per 100 thousand.

In a small part of India, the Kogadu and Jamma land owners have a right to keep and bear arms similar to the the American right to keep and bear arms. It comes from the same place, the right and duty of residents to defend their lives and their state. The Kogadu have managed to keep this right from before the Muslim invasion, through Muslim rulers, through the rule of the British Raj, and through the independent India rule to this day, a history which exceeds the history of personal firearms.

It remains to be seen if the Kodavas will retain their rights. The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear an appeal to the Karnataka High Court decision, on March 29, 2022.

 

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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DC: Man, Who Shot Man who Attacked him at D.C. Gas Station, Claims Self Defense

On Wednesday, a man and a woman got into a minor car crash at a gas station on Good Hope Road in Southeast D.C. The woman's boyfriend showed up, according to court documents, and began punching the driver of the other car. That driver, identified as Anthony Williams, then shot and killed the boyfriend, court documents detailed.

An employee of the BP gas station said the woman attempted to get the security guard to help, but they declined. Williams stayed on the scene and was taken into custody.

The US. Attorney's Office charged Williams with carrying a pistol without a license.

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GA: Restaurant Worker Attempts Disarm, Shoots Robbery Suspect

 

video link

On December 2, at about 9:45 p.m.   in Warner Robins, Georgia, Joshua Hickey attempted to rob a restaurant at 1307  Watson Blvd.  Warner Robins is about 70 miles southeast of Atlanta, about 8 miles south of Macon, Georgia. The restaurant was an American Philly-N-Wings on Watson Blvd near Vernon Drive.

A restaurant worker attempted to disarm Hickey. But the robbery suspect is said to have pistol whipped the worker, attempting to gain compliance. The worker was struck to the floor, then drew his own handgun and shot Hickey three times. Hickey fled the scene. From 13wmaz.com:

 Sergeant Justin Clark with Warner Robins Police says Hickey jumped the counter and attempted to make his way to a door in the restaurant while demanding money. That's when things escalated, Hickey allegedly pistol-whipped a worker and the two men fought over the gun.

"The restaurant worker was struck, hit the ground. As he was coming back up, he drew his own legally-owned firearm and fired three shots at Mr. Hickey. Mr. Hickey was struck twice and fled on foot,” Clark said about the tussle.

The police responded to the 911 call.  They found Hickey with serious wounds, outside the restaurant, on Vernon Drive.  Hickey was 23 years old.

Hickey was taken to the hospital where he died. Police said the restaurant worker was not hurt, but an earlier report stated he had minor injuries.

Opinion: The pistol whipping must have been ineffective. A pistol used as a blunt instrument often draws blood. It is a serious attack. A strike to the head with a metal club can be fatal. 

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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AZ: Amazon Worker Wounded, Collegue Returns Fire, Kills Attacker

The alleged gunman was shot and killed by a second Amazon contract worker who returned fire, investigators said.

The incident occurred in the parking lot of an Amazon Flex facility in Chandler, Arizona, around 9:30 a.m. local time, police said.

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MO: Woman who Organized Burglary, Charged in Death of Burglar

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against a local man who shot and killed a burglar over the weekend in self-defense. However, prosecutors charged the woman who helped organize the burglary that ended with the burglar’s death.

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KY: Homeowner Shoots, Kills Burglary Suspect who Charged Him

The homeowner continued, “He started coming after me and stuff. I feared for my life.”

Said Sanders, “Ultimately, this comes down to a matter of self-defense.”

Sanders says the homeowner told Hammons several times he had a gun and not to come near, but Hammons charged him nonetheless.

“When this person, who we can only describe as a criminal, keeps coming towards him, I think it was completely reasonable for the homeowner to fire in self-defense,” Sanders said.

 

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Washington AG files Consumer Protection Lawsuit for Claims of Violation of Magazine Ban

The Attorney General of Washington State, Bob Ferguson, filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Federal Way Discount Guns, claiming the store illegally sold magazines which held more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

It has generally been illegal for anyone to sell magazines which hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition in Washington State, since July 1 of 2022, this year. There are some specific exceptions. The law is being contested in the courts.

From the complaint:

Plaintiff State of Washington, by and through its attorneys Robert W. Ferguson, Attorney General, and Ben Carr, John Nelson, and Bob Hyde, Assistant Attorneys General, brings this action against Defendants Federal Way Discount Guns, LLC, and its owner Mohammed Baghai. The State alleges that Defendants engaged in unfair and deceptive acts or practices, as well as unfair methods of competition, in violation of the Consumer Protection Act, RCW 19.86, and RCW 9.41.375. The State alleges the following on information and belief.

When the law was passed, it contained both a straight criminal statute, RCW 9.41.370, and a peculiar criminal statute which defines the distribution of magazines as an "unfair method of competition" under 9.41.375. This allows a civil suit to be brought, instead of a criminal action. From wa.gov:

RCW 9.41.370

Large capacity magazines—Exceptions—Penalty.

(1) No person in this state may manufacture, import, distribute, sell, or offer for sale any large capacity magazine, except as authorized in this section.

 RCW 9.41.375 

Large capacity magazines—Unfair method of competition.

Distributing, selling, offering for sale, or facilitating the sale, distribution, or transfer of a large capacity magazine online is an unfair or deceptive act or practice or unfair method of competition in the conduct of trade or commerce for purposes of the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW. [2022 c 104 § 4.]

Civil suits are easier to prosecute than criminal cases. In a civil case, the plaintiff only needs to show a "preponderance of the evidence" instead of establishing guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt". 

Washington State provides for jury trials on all civil cases except for traffic infractions.

Official prosecutors are unusual in the law. They have been given almost unlimited immunity from lawsuit themselves by an unprecedented legal decision at the Supreme Court in 1976.  In the case of Imbler v. Pachtman, the Progressive Burger Court declared prosecutors could not be sued.

Prosecutors may lie. They may present false evidence. They may withhold exculpatory evidence. But, according to the decision, no lawsuit can be brought against them.

In the recent Bruen decision at the Supreme Court of the United States of America, Magazine bans, which had been ruled to be constitutionally valid, back to the Third Circuit and the Ninth Circuit. The cases were granted certiorari, vacated by the Supreme Court, and remanded to the two circuits to be reheard, considering the restoration of the protection of the right to keep and bear arms under Bruen. 

It seems likely magazine bans such as the Washington state ban will be found to be unconstitutional under the protections of the Second Amendment.  Court actions are not certain. Some of the courts seem to be playing delaying games, perhaps in the hope of progressive judges replacing those who say the Constitution has to be understood as it was written, when it was ratified.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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