Polar Bear Attack Stopped with Three Shots from .44 Magnum Revolver

On Thursday, 19 March, 2015, a woman with a .44 magnum stopped a polar bear from attacking Jakub Moravec, 37, in the Svalbard archipelago. Polar bear attacks are expected there, and tourists are not allowed unless they carry a high powered firearm. In this case, the rifles were left outside the tents, but inside the protective alarm wire. The armed woman, mother of Zuzanna Hakova, shot the bear three times with the revolver.

From telegraph.co.uk:

They were lucky to be alive after a polar bear broke into their tent on a remote Norwegian island and tried to maul them.


But tourists who shot the animal three times with a revolver have now been fined nearly £800 by the local government - because they failed to put a member of their group on “polar bear watch.”


The group, from the Czech Republic, were travelling in the Svalbard archipelago when they were attacked by the bear during the night.


Jakub Moravec, 37, said he awoke to find it “standing over him” in his tent.


“It went straight to my head. Luckily my colleague shot it,” he told local radio NRK shortly after the incident in March.

Zuzanna Hakova, who was part of the same tour group, said her mother then shot the bear three times with a revolver and it fled.

An earlier account mentioned gunfire, but did not mention that a revolver was the firearm used. The Czech Republic is one of the most gun friendly countries in Europe. The local publication in Svalbard did a better job on reporting details. From svalbardposten.no:

The Governor of Svalbard is continuing to keep some details under wraps about the confrontation between a group of six Czech tourists and a two-year-old polar bear last Thursday. One man suffered slight injures after the animal, which later had to be euthanized, entered the tent camp at Fredheim early in the morning.


What is known:
• 5:30 a.m. (approx.): The bear entered the campsite without triggering the flare alarm system set up around the two tents. It appears the group did not have a guard watching for polar bears at the time. Jakub Moravec, 37, the injured man, said he was dragged out of the tent and another person in the group fired three shots with a .44 Magnum at the animal. The bear subsequently fled.

The local account mentions the wounded bear had to be euthanized by local authorities. The polar bear was wounded in the neck and body by the revolver shots and was leaving a blood trail when the authorities dispatched it.

The attack appears to have been a predatory one. Predatory attacks are often slower and the bears more willing to flee than territorial or sow with cub attacks. If bears suffered significant harm each time they predated on other large animals, they would not survive long. Bears often test unfamiliar prey to determine if the prey is a significant danger.


©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Followup NY: Three Judge Panel Reverses Manslaughter Conviction: Self Defense

The former CO, Darryl Brown, shot Vonde Cabbagestalk with his Glock pistol in the lobby of his Bronx building in March 2014 after warning him to “stay away from my daughter,” according to a witness.

The three judge panel ruled Tuesday that the jury should have been instructed on the “defense justification” because Cabbagestalk repeatedly tried to hit Brown, who was holding the gun at his side, in the face while warning “You going to pull a gun out, you better use it.”
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PA: Gun vs. Stalker with Car

One of the victims told police on Saturday night, he saw Bigler inside a vehicle as he returned home. The victim said as he was walking up his driveway towards his home, Bigler drove towards him like he was going to hit him, according to court documents.

The victim told police he feared for his life so he pulled out a gun and fired two rounds. Police have not charged the victim and believe he acted in self defense.

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Followup NC: Suspect Accomplices Charged in Catawba County Fatal Shooting Case

Captain Brian Kelly with the Catawba County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division said with the assistance of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and Lincolnton Police Department, Gates and Ingram were arrested Friday and charged with attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon. They were jailed, each under a $25,000 bond, pending a district court hearing in Newton Monday (Feb. 12th).

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WY: "Stand Your Ground" bill Advances

On 15 February, 2018, a "Stand Your Ground" bill passed the Wyoming House with an overwhelming majority. Only one Republican voted against it.

The bill, HB 168, passed the House 51 to 8. 49 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted for the bill.   7 Democrats and 1 Republican voted against the bill. One Republican was excused during the vote.

Representative Bob Nicholas was the sole Republican voting against the popular measure.  From wyomingnews.com:

More than 40 co-sponsors from both political parties signed onto House Bill 168 before it was brought for introduction Thursday. The legislation would take the castle doctrine, which doesn’t require a duty to retreat in self-defense within the home, and expand it. Essentially, it provides immunity from criminal prosecution from liability in self-defense-style shootings in public settings.

“This bill simply expands it so anywhere you are allowed to be, that castle doctrine comes with you,” Rep. Tim Salazar, R-Dubois, said on the House floor. “You do not have to retreat if you are in fear of your very life, the life of yourself or your family members. This bill is needed in the state of Wyoming because we’re the only state in the entire West that does not have it.”

The bill provides for immunity from arrest after a court hearing on self defense. It also grants immunity in civil actions, including civil asset forfeiture. From gilleteenewsrecord.com:

The measure provides immunity for anyone who uses “defensive force in order to prevent an injury or loss to himself or another person” so long as he or she was not doing anything illegal or trespassing when attacked. Wyoming currently considers a person to have acted in self defense if he or she “held a reasonable fear” of death or serious injury. The stand your ground bill advanced Thursday changes that definition to a “good faith belief” of danger, specifying that a person is immune from civil liability or prosecution for using force even if it turns out they were not actually facing injury or death.

Civil asset forfeiture abuse has become more common as police departments have used it as a significant source of funding. From  HB168:

...is immune from civil action for the use of the force, including any civil forfeiture action brought by the state of Wyoming.

The "Stand Your Ground" reform of self defense law in Wyoming seems likely of passage.  27 of the 30 senate seats are Republican. The Governor, Matt Mead, seems likely to sign this relatively uncontroversial, and popular bill. The popularity of "Stand Your Ground" bills appears to rest on reining in the power of prosecutors to prosecute people in self defense cases, punishing them by process, even though they are likely to be found not guilty.

The case of George Zimmerman, who was found not guilty in the self-defense shooting of Trayvon Martin, is often mentioned when "Stand Your Ground" laws are discussed. In fact, the Florida "Stand Your Ground" law had nothing to do with the case. It was never used by the Zimmerman defense, as it was not applicable.

HB 168 seems likely to pass. Its purpose, to keep law abiding people who are forced to defend themselves from being bankrupted during later legal processes,  may well be achieved.


©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

NBC’s Chuck Todd Promotes Abolishing the Second Amendment

In an appearance on NBC’s Sunday Today early that morning, moderator Chuck Todd lambasted Republicans for being the reason gun control efforts were making no progress since they were in control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency. Todd ratcheted up his anti-gun stance during Meet the Press by promoting radical calls to abolish the right to bears by repealing the Second Amendment. And he did it by highlighting the writings of Bret Stephens, a never-Trumper turned liberal.

“Isn’t the difficulty here legislatively, the constitution,” Todd lamented to his largely liberal panel. “Which is Bret Stephens' point in The New York Times, he’s calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment.” He then emphatically read from the liberal’s talking points:

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NM: Armed Good Samaritan Saves Mother, Daughter from Death

Police say the man who opened fire in a deadly southeast Albuquerque shooting, likely saved the lives of a mother and daughter.


Albuquerque Police Department Public Information Officer Simon Drobik said a woman and her daughter were on their way to the Sunport Sunday night when the woman's estranged husband crashed into them on Gibson and Yale Boulevards.

According to police, he got out and fired into the vehicle, hitting the daughter in the arm. Then he pulled her out and began beating her on the road.
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AL: Church Protection Act Advances

An Alabama representative, Lynn Greer (R), has filed a bill to clarify Alabama law to include churches with dwellings that have protection under the law to use deadly force to protect the people inside from attack.  On 15 February, 2018, the bill was passed with overwhelming support, 40 to 16, in the House.  39 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted for the bill, 2 Republicans and 14 Democrats voted against it. From montgomeryadvertiser.com:

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lynn Greer, R-Rogersville, would add houses of worship to the state’s 2006 law, allowing a person to use physical force against anyone committing a crime, attempting a crime or attacking an employee, volunteer or member of a church.

“If you have someone coming into a church with a gun that starts shooting folks, you want to have someone that’s going to shoot back,” Greer said during the debate.

The House approved the measure 40 to 16. In the Montgomery delegation, Rep. Reed Ingram, R-Pike Road voted for the bill; Reps. John Knight and Thad McClammy, both D-Montgomery, voted against it. Reps. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery; Kelvin Lawrence, D-Hayneville; Dimitri Polizos, R-Montgomery and Chris Sells, R-Greenville were listed as not voting.

The bill extends the protection to offsite church social events and does not specify that the protection of church members needs to take place in a church itself, and opponents of the legislation have said it would extend Stand Your Ground well beyond houses of worship.

 The bill is one of a number of legislative measures to remove legislative obstacles that prevent effective defense of self and others in "gun free" zones.
From the bill, HB 34:

"(2) CHURCH. A bona fide duly constituted religious society or ecclesiastical body of any sect, order, or5denomination, or any congregation thereof."

(2)(3) DEADLY PHYSICAL FORCE. Force which, under the circumstances in which it is used, is readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury." 

(3)(4) DWELLING. A building which is usually occupied by a person lodging therein at night, or a building of any kind, including any attached balcony, whether the building is temporary or permanent, mobile or immobile, which has a roof over it, and is designed to be occupied by people lodging therein at night.

It was not entirely clear that churches would be included as "dwellings" under the old law. The intent of HB 34 is to amend the law to insure that churches  have the same protection as dwellings, under the law.  From al.com:

The bill says a person is presumed justified in the use of deadly force if they reasonably believe someone is about to seriously harm a church member at a church function.

Rep. Lynn Greer said he proposed the bill at the request of a church in his district after shootings in other states.

The Alabama Legislature is pushing to restore Second Amendment rights in the state.  Alabama approved of a strong state constitutional amendment protecting the right to keep and bear arms in 2014.  From ballotpedia:

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction on this right would be subject to strict scrutiny; and to provide that no international treaty or law shall prohibit, limit, or otherwise interfere with a citizen's fundamental right to bear arms.

Earlier in 2018, Senate Bill 3 was introduced to make Alabama a Constitutional Carry state.

To become law, HB 34 will have to be passed in the senate, and signed into law by Governor Kay Ivy.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Limbaugh suggests armed security is only answer to mass shootings at schools

Conservative talk radio star Rush Limbaugh on Sunday returned to the argument that allowing concealed weapons in classrooms -- not demonstrations or blaming the NRA -- is the way to stop school shootings, speaking three days after 17 people were killed in a Florida high school.

“The solution is we need concealed carry in schools,” Limbaugh told “Fox News Sunday.” “We need a mechanism to be defensive. It’s better to have mechanisms in schools to stop it when it breaks out.”

This is not the first time the idea of having security guards or perhaps teachers carry guns has been raised, with Limbaugh and others arguing that a shooter could be stopped more quickly, compared to having to wait for armed police officers and tactical units to arrive.

“We have armed security at every public entity except schools,” Limbaugh said.

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Followup CA: Domestic Defense Shooting of 40-Year-Old Son Continues

A Klamath River man arrested Monday, Feb. 12, in connection with his son’s shooting death has since been released, according to Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus.

On Tuesday, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office reported that Stanley Mortensen, 76, had called to report that he had been involved in a shooting in the 1000 block of Barkhouse Creek Road in Klamath River.

Deputies responded to the scene and found Mortensen’s son, Henry Lee Mortensen, 40, also of Klamath River, deceased with an apparent gunshot wound.

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MO: Armed Homeowner Holds Suspect for Police

Police set up a perimeter around the woods. Helicopters flew overhead. However, a homeowner, who noticed an open shed door, investigated and found the suspect asleep inside, according to the Post-Dispatch. No shots were fired as the homeowner held the suspect at gunpoint until authorities arrived, according to the Post-Dispatch.

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A possible gun regulation compromise?

Leftists regularly argue while having no apparent knowledge of the relevant facts.  And the current outcry for gun control after the Florida shooting is a prime excample of that.  They act as if nobody had ever tried gun control before. 

Yet gun regulation varies greatly across the fruited plain -- so the data to assess the proposal is readily available.  And the fact is that in places like Chicago guns are very heavily regulated.  Yet Chicago, Detroit etc are also the places where gun deaths are at their highest. 

So the existing facts on the ground tell us that gun control does more harm than good.  Criminals are greatly encouraged when the rest of the population has little or no protection so shoot with every expectation of impunity.

But a conservative writer has come up with a suggestion that may have some merit.  It may not however pass constitutional muster:

Instead of debating gun regulations that would apply to every gun owner, we could consider limits that are imposed on youth and removed with age. After all, the fullness of adult citizenship is not bestowed at once: Driving precedes voting precedes drinking, and the right to stand for certain offices is granted only in your thirties.

Perhaps the self-arming of citizens could be similarly staggered. Let 18-year-olds own hunting rifles. Make revolvers available at 21. Semiautomatic pistols, at 25. And semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 could be sold to 30-year-olds but no one younger.

This proposal would be vulnerable to some of the same practical critiques as other gun control proposals. But it is more specifically targeted to the plague of school shootings, whose perpetrators are almost always young men.

And it offers a kind of moral bridge between the civic vision of Second Amendment advocates and the insights of their critics — by treating bearing arms as a right but also a responsibility, the full exercise of which might only come with maturity and age.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/opinion/sunday/no-country-for-young-men-with-ar-15s.html

CA: Couple Both Shoot Career Criminal Home Invader

Police say a man broke into a home in the 1700 block of South State Street after midnight Tuesday. Jeff and Von Sagmeister, residents of the home who are in their 70s, confronted the burglar, who was hiding in a bathroom.

"I just opened the door and boom! That's all it took, and he was on me right away," Jeff Sagmeister said.

As the two struggled, Von Sagmeister ran into the living room and grabbed her gun. All the while, her husband eventually got the upper hand.
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AR: Conway Teen Claims Self Defense in Fatal Shooting of Demarco Taylor

Harris said Taylor and the resident of the home knew each other and that Taylor had tried to rob the resident after being invited inside the home. The resident told authorities that he fired in self-defense.

"This was not a random act of violence," Harris said.
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IL: Video of failed Carjack, Successful Defense April 2017, Chicago

This carjacking attempt occurred on 8 April, 2017. It did not end well for the would be carjacker, who was fatally wounded.  From the dailymail.co.uk:

The shocking moment a man shot and killed a gunman in a shootout has been captured on surveillance video - and police say he won't be charged.

A motorist pulled out a gun when Ronald Morales, 43, approached his car at a gas station in Elmwood Park, Illinois.

The men shot at each other multiple times in broad daylight before Morales ran away and the driver sped off.

Morales eventually died from his injuries - but police say they won't be charging the man who killed him because he was acting in self defense.

The event was widely reported, but I do not see it on Gun Watch, so we report it here, 10 months later.

Dean Weingarten

One Teacher’s Brilliant Strategy to Stop Future School Shootings—And It’s Not About Guns

Every Friday afternoon, she asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student who they believe has been an 
exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her.

And every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, she takes out those slips of paper, places them in front of her, and studies them. 
She looks for patterns.

Who is not getting requested by anyone else?

Who can’t think of anyone to 
request?

Who never gets noticed enough 
to be nominated?

Who had a million friends last week and none this week?

You see, Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed 
by their peers. And she’s pinning down—right away—who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.

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1 of 200,000 Passengers Forgot Gun in Carry-on

In 2017, 771,556,886 passengers traveled through 440 federally secured airports. Of those, only 3,957 forget that a firearm was in their carry-on baggage.

There are over 400 million private firearms in the United states, 16 million people with permits to carry firearms, and 13 states where no permit is required to carry a concealed weapon.  That less than 4,000 forgot that a firearm was in their carry-on is amazingly low.

That is one for every 200,000 passengers.

Just a little over 1/3 or 34.8% of the firearms had a round in the chamber. They could not have been accidentally discharged in the luggage.

TSA says 84% were "loaded", so 50% must have had rounds in the magazine, but not in the chamber.

Most of the firearms found in carry-ons were brought without the intention of doing so. TSA gives this advice:

If you’re grabbing a bag, suitcase, briefcase, jacket or other item you haven’t used in a while, be sure to give it the onceover so you don’t accidentally take something prohibited to the checkpoint. Many people who have brought guns, ammunition, knives and other prohibited item say that they did so unknowingly. You can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be declared to the airline. You can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure.

People make mistakes. They get in a hurry. They grab a jacket or bag on the way to the airport and do not carefully check all the compartments or pockets. I ended up carrying a full box of 50 .22 rimfire cartridges on a flight one year, without any intention of doing so.  Noting unusual occurred with that misadventure, except that I left the .50 rounds instead of bringing them back with me.

Many people have remarked how they inadvertently brought a knife or other prohibited item in their carry-on.

As more and more people carry firearms for their personal protection and to exercise their Second Amendment rights, more and more will slip up and unintentionally bring a firearm to the secure area of an airport.

A quick look at the map shows that states that do not honor the exercise of the Second Amendment, and consequently have few people legally carrying firearms, do not have the airports with the largest number of people who are inadvertently caught up in the TSA net.

Chicago's O'hare International Airport, New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport are conspicuously absent from the top ten shown on the graphic above.

It appears that few people caught in Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, or Miami are prosecuted with heavy jail time or large fines for their momentary lapse of judgment.  Celeberities that are caught up sometimes make the news. The last I recall was former Governor Haley Barbour on January 2nd of 2018. He  ended up a paying a $3,920 fine for a lapse of memory.

The penalty is too high. If the person was otherwise legally carrying the firearm, the lost of time and money on the flight should be enough. At most, a small fine would sufficient.

Heavy fines and jail time act as a means to chill the exercise of the Second Amendment.


©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Followup MS: Armed Robber shot by Clerk Died in Hospital

They say one of them showed the clerk a handgun and demanded money from the register.

Police said the clerk grabbed a gun and and fired at the two. The man and woman ran out of the store. Police said the man was found suffering from a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
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Followup OR: Grand Jury Finds Shooting of Kenneth McBeth to be Justified

McBeth then gave a final ultimatum to open the front door or he was coming in anyway, Whiting said. McBeth then counted to three, picked up a nearby patio chair and threw it through Hoevet's front window. The patio chair and shattered glass landed on the living room floor.

Hoevet told authorities that he was in fear for his life, believing McBeth was trying to enter his home through the broken front window. So he fired two shots in the direction of the broken window, striking McBeth in the left chest with one of the bullets. McBeth was able to retreat from the house to a nearby parking lot before collapsing where several citizens came to his immediate aid.

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Followup NC: No Charges in Shooting, Killing of Daniel Lashawn Wright

HUDSON — No charges will be filed against a Caldwell County man involved in a shooting that led to the death of a 31-year-old Hudson man.


District Attorney David Learner determined after reviewing evidence, witness statements and the investigative findings of the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office that the man who shot and killed Daniel Lashawn Wright acted in self-defense, according to a press release from Learner’s office.


On Feb. 8, Wright engaged in the assault of a physically handicapped family member at the assault victim’s residence.


“After being knocked to the floor while being attacked by Wright, the victim fired one shot from a 9-millimeter handgun that struck and killed his assailant,” the release states.

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