Was Accidental Discharge by Illinois Judge a Dry-Fire Mistake?

Judge O'Shea's revolver

It happened on 15 September, 2017. An Illinois Judge, Patrick O'Shea, 67, accidentally fired a short barreled Smith & Wesson five shot in his apartment in Wheaton, Illinois. The bullet went through a mirror, the wall, and into the next apartment. No one was hit, and there was little property damage. He checked to see if anyone was in the apartment. There was not. He may have thought "No harm, no foul", and proceeded to attempt to lie his way out of the problem. Big mistake. It changed his life. From dailyherald.com:

On Sept. 24, the neighbors told police they found what appeared to be a spent bullet on their living room floor. They turned over the bullet to police, along with photographs they had taken of their damaged wall.

Police reports say O'Shea gave property managers at least three excuses for the hole, including that he accidentally put a screwdriver through the wall while hanging a mirror and that his son accidentally caused the hole while using a pneumatic nail gun.

Ekl previously called the shooting an "accidental discharge of a gun" that O'Shea believed to be unloaded.

As a condition of his bond, O'Shea was ordered to turn in all his weapons, ammunition, FOID card and concealed carry permit to Wheaton police.

I have a strong suspicion that this was a dry fire accident. They happen to people who take carrying a firearm seriously, and while rare, happen often enough to take precautions so they do not happen to you. The common situation goes something like this:

A person is dry firing a firearm (People who do dry firing tend to be serious about maintaining proficiency with their firearm).

They decide to stop dry firing and load their carry gun.

At this precise moment, they are distracted. Perhaps by a telephone or other item that demands immediate action without leaving the area.

The distraction stops. They consider - where was I?-

The memory of dry firing comes up.

They pick up the firearms, aim it, and ... blam!

If they are lucky, no one is injured. Many televisions have given their lives for the sake of dry firing.   In the Judge's case, he lost months of income, was lambasted in the media, and was criminally charged.  Five months later, another judge, in another county, dismissed the charge against him because it did not meet the legal requirements of the law. From chicagotribune.com:

A DuPage County judge who fired a bullet through his apartment wall and into a unit next door was acquitted Friday of misdemeanor reckless conduct charges.

The case against Patrick O’Shea was tossed out at the midpoint of trial by Kane County Judge Keith Johnson. The judge agreed with O’Shea’s attorney, Terry Ekl, that prosecutors had failed to meet their legal burden of proof and filed a complaint against O’Shea that was legally deficient.

“There was no evidence that there was anyone even in the building when the gun went off, so it could not be reckless conduct, and he should have never been charged with reckless conduct,” Ekl said afterward.

 (snip)

The judge was alone in his Wheaton apartment in September when he fired the snub-nosed revolver and the round penetrated a mirror and went through the wall.

 It is the mirror that makes dry firing a likely culprit.

If you wish to avoid this type of life changing accident, here are things you should do when dry firing:

Unload and load in a separate location from where you will be dry firing.

Aim at something that will stop the bullets you normally carry. A fireplace, or a bullet resistant vest can work.

Create a simple ritual before dry firing: Say unloaded, unloaded, unloaded.

When you reload, say: Loaded, Loaded, Loaded.

These simple steps can prevent a tragedy or the sort of life changing accident Judge Patrick O'Shea experienced.

These incidents tend to happen to people who are serious about being proficient.

People who read this article tend to be serious. Follow the rules above, and avoid dry firing accidents.

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

Gun Watch

Followup WA: No Charges in Motorcycle Defense Shooting on I-5

The prosecutor's office says that according to witnesses the incident began when Jones boxed Bowlin, who was riding a motorcycle, "into a location she could not drive away from. After exiting his (Jones) vehicle, he (Jones) aggressively approached her (Bowlin) on the shoulder of Interstate 5."

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TN: Resident Fatally Shoots Home Invader

Deputies say 40-year-old Terry Lee Haynes of McKenzie was shot after he broke into the apartment by kicking in a sliding glass door and confronting the resident of the apartment in his bedroom.

Haynes died at the scene.
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WI: Gun Beats Crowbar as Son Prevents Break-In

The intruder attempted to attack the man at which time the homeowner's son shot at the man, police said.

"He's got a crowbar in his hand, so he trying to hit my son with the crowbar, and my son take his gun out, and he shoots two times," homeowner Pedro Cruz said.

Milwaukee police are looking for the intruder who witnesses said was shot in the leg.
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Utah Police Officer Saved by Armed Citizen

Corporal Corey Waters Springville Police, UT

On February 2nd, 2018, just before 2 p.m., a man knocked down a Springville, Utah police officer and was viciously punching him.  The suspect had fractured the officers eye socket when an armed good Samaritan, Derek Myer, saw the situation, did a quick U-turn, pulled his gun and stopped the attack. From fox2now.com:

SPRINGVILLE, Utah -- A man with a concealed handgun is credited with stopping a brutal attack on a Utah police officer on Friday, according to KSTU.
A Utah police officer approached the suspect, Paul Douglas Anderson, after he saw him stealing items from a charity's donation bin. When the officer approached Anderson, the suspect refused to take his hands out of his pockets. Moments later, Anderson attacked the officer and repeatedly punched him in the face.

Derek Meyer was driving on Main Street in Springville when he saw Anderson attacking the officer. Meyer, armed with a pistol and his concealed-carry permit, made a U-turn and stopped his vehicle behind the police car.

“I carry a gun to protect me and those around me, but primarily I carry a gun to protect my family first and foremost," Meyer said. "Outside of that, if I were to use my gun to protect anyone it would be law enforcement or military personnel."

Meyer got out of the car, pointed his pistol at Anderson and yelled at him to stop assaulting the officer.

When Anderson saw the gun, he stopped and ran off. After a brief lockdown at an area school, Anderson was arrested.

The video has some detail that is not in the text of the story. Corporal Corey Waters of the Springville Police Department credits Derek Meyer with preventing even worse injury. He says Meyers may have saved lives. Transcript from the video,  Corporal Corey Waters:

"He definitely stopped the attack from continuing and becoming much worse. He might have even saved either one of their lives. It could have gone very bad, even for the suspect."

Link to video

Paul Douglas Anderson

Derek Meyers armed intervention and protection of the police officer being attacked in Utah is the latest of numerous cases where good Samaritans who are legally armed have saved police lives.

There have been several cases in the last couple of years. In 2017, an armed woman in Georgia saved a sheriff's deputy and an Arizona armed citizen saved a State Trooper who was wounded and under assault.

In 2016, armed citizens saved police in Florida, Ohio, and in Pennsylvania. There has been an accelerating number of police saves by armed citizens as more and more citizens are carrying defensive firearms on a daily basis.
Dozens of instances of armed citizens saving police officers before 1996 are recounted in  the nraila.org article published in 1999.

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


Officers on the street have generally had a positive attitude toward armed citizens.  As the number of people legally carrying weapons increased across the United States, most police administrators have become fans of legal concealed carry.

There are exceptions, of course. Police Chiefs are generally hired by politicians. When the politicians are against an armed population, the police administrators are as well, or they do not keep their job.

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

Gun Watch

CA: Store Owner Wounds Fleeing Shoplifter, is Charged

SAN JACINTO (CBSLA) — A business owner in San Jacinto grabbed his gun, when two burglars tried to get away from his store. Now he’s the one facing charges for shooting one of the men in the arm.

The owner of Soboba Smoke Shop bailed out of jail earlier today. He didn’t want to talk to CBSLA, but a lot of people are talking about this case and what business owners should be allowed to do.

Customers can’t believe the owner of Soboba Smoke Shop is facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon, after he tried to stop two burglars from leaving his store. Ed White was working across the street when he heard the gunshots.
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GA: Gunfight, Father Fights 3 Armed Home Invaders, Shoots, Kills, 1

A father home with his two children wrestled with a masked intruder, grabbed a gun and shot him to death early Thursday, DeKalb County police said.

About 12:20 a.m., three people broke into the man’s Covington Glen apartment in the 1700 block of Thicket Way and fought with him.

“They had handguns,” Lt. Rod Bryant said. “They started shooting at him.”

The man retrieved his own gun and fired back at the intruders, according to police.

“They continued to exchange rounds,” and the shootout spilled outside, Bryant said.
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NY: More on Off Duty Officer Shooting Loose, Agressive, Rottweiler

Animal owners often fail to realize that their dog acts much differently when it is loose and not under their conrol.

Police investigated and both sides say the shooting was deemed self-defense. McGrann did not get in any trouble. Now Apollo's family says they want justice.

"How do you do that to a family? That's like someone shooting a kid. That was my kid, that was my baby. It's just unacceptable and to just be getting away with it is even worse," said Fey. "He just got to go home with a gun that he just killed an animal with for no reason. At the least he should have had his weapon confiscated."

Meanwhile, McGrann says he's sorry for what happened.

"I'm heartbroken beyond words what happened and it was 100 percent last resort. He's their friendly little dog in their home. On the street it's a different story," said McGrann.

We checked with Jefferson County Dog Control, which says it did have a couple of complaints about Apollo running loose in the past.
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Gun Carry Laws Don’t Invent a New Right by Charles C.W. Cooke

This is a very well done explanation of carry laws, and how they came to be in the United States. I have written about nearly everything stated in this article by Charles C.W. Cooke. The information is easily available on the Internet. 

Charles packages is very nicely into one easily digestible package with considerable skill. Well done!  






Unless you follow this stuff closely, you probably hadn’t heard this. And why would you have? Although it was breathlessly reported in some of the year-end roundups, the rule actually went into effect in September. And, as a result … nothing happened. Nothing at all.

This pattern—of a freak out, followed by silence—is a boringly familiar one, the product in part of a widespread misunderstanding as to how common and innocuous open carry laws are. When, in 2015, Texas repealed its prohibition on the open carry of handguns, critics cast the move as both an innovation and as a neat illustration of how “crazy” the Lone Star State had become. Naturally, neither accusation was correct. Texas was, in fact, the 45th American state to respect the right to bear arms, and, far from blazing trails, was joining liberal states such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Maryland and New Jersey. In so doing, it was not jumping on a bandwagon, but restoring an ancient and imperative right that pre-dates the United States by centuries.

And still the critics carped.

To understand just how misplaced was the reaction, consider that Texas’ open carry law was not only one of the last in the United States, but that it is also among the strictest. In Texas, as in 15 other states, citizens must apply for a permit before they can carry openly; in the remaining 30 states in which open carry is protected—including in decidedly non-Texas-like states such as Delaware, Vermont and Oregon—no such requirement exists. A quick review of the law confirms that this area of policy doesn’t break down easily along modern political lines. Among the five states that prohibit open carry completely, there are three that one would expect to see: California, Illinois and New York. But surprisingly enough, so does Florida, and so does South Carolina. Likewise, among the states that limit open carry to rural areas, we find Oregon, Nebraska and Missouri, but not Delaware, Connecticut or Hawaii. Even in states with anti-gun legislative majorities, open carry has been mostly left alone.

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Guns of San Diego Sinaloa Money Laundering Suspects

For  a month, starting on February 9th, 2018, until March 8th, the FBI has been involved in an operation to arrest people and seize cash, drugs, and guns from a group of suspects who are alleged to have laundered tens of millions of dollars across the United States and Mexico for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Six million dollars were seized in cash, 22 lbs of fentanyl, 138 lbs of heroin 209 lbs of methampetamine, 202 lbs of cocaine, and 554 lbs of marijuana were seized.

70 people were indicted and 20 firearms were seized, including semiautomatic rifles and handguns. From dailymail.co.uk:

• 20 firearms, including semiautomatic rifles and handguns were also seized

 A picture of seized firearms was released. It shows two 1911 style pistols and two other guns, which at first glance appear to be AR type rifles.

The lowest gun in the picture is not an AR15 clone. It is a Mossberg 715T, which is an inexpensive .22 blowback type rifle in a plastic clamshell, made to look "tactical". It is pased on the common Mossberg 702 action.

The top rifle appears to be a rifle assembled by someone from parts. The lower receiver has an integral trigger guard that is not very common. I see them on some 80% receivers, so it may be a cartel manufactured AR. The lack of logo or any identification numbers on the forward left flat is suggestive, but not conclusive.

A couple of 1911 clones, a cartel manufactured AR clone, and an inexpensive .22 rimfire made to look tacticool.  They do not make an impressive, scary photo-op.  It the people making the bust had scarier guns that had been confiscated, they would have used them.

I wonder about the other 16 firearms. I have not seen a picture of them. Probably a collection of single shot shotguns, a few revolvers, and some .22 rifles. It is what you commonly see South of the border.

70 people indicted, 20 firearms seized. About 30% of adults in the U.S. own firearms. These suspects were almost exactly average for American residents. 30% of 70 is 21. They missed the average by one gun. You would think, with supposed millions of dollars flowing through their fingers, enough would have stuck to upgrade to some nice firearms, if for no more reason than to show off.  Mexican cartels are known for splurging cash on showy guns. I expected engraved 1911 pistols, certainly Glocks, some AK47 clones, maybe something exotic such as a .50 caliber bolt gun or gold plated Browning Hi-Power pistols.

But there were no flashy guns that are more for show than effect, unless you count the Mossberg 715T .22 made to look sorta, kinda, like an AR15.

It is one reason I suspect that these were low level worker bees in the Sinaloa Cartel. Maybe they were independent contractors.  Another is the small amount of cash seized, only six million dollars. The Sinaloa cartel is credited with income of about three billion dollars. Six million dollars is less than one day's cash flow, if that figure is correct.

Several months work by high priced American law enforcement personnel, to grab one days cash flow from the Sinaloa cartel...

This does not look like a war we are winning.

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

 

LA: Gasser Sentenced to 30 years in McKnight Killing

Louisiana is one of two states that do not require a unanimous verdict in jury trials. Both Oregon and Louisiana only require 10-2 votes for conviction.

In January, a jury rejected Gasser’s claim that he had no other choice but to shoot McKnight after McKnight approached his passenger-side window following a dispute on the Crescent City Connection. The two men were seen cursing and yelling at one another as they drove erratically during the five-mile encounter that ended at Behrman Highway and Holmes Boulevard.

Witnesses testified that the dispute between the two men was a tit-for-tat affair in which Gasser at times chased McKnight and appeared to taunt him.

After deliberating for about eight hours, the jury voted 10-2 to convict Gasser of manslaughter, rejecting both his self-defense argument and the second-degree murder charge sought by the prosecution.
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Followup WA: No Charges for Man who Killed Mother in Mistaken Identity Shooting

A man who believed he was shooting an intruder at his Tacoma home and instead killed his mother will not be charged, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Prosecutor’s Office said a hysterical Jullian Anderson-Randle called 911 Sunday and reported that he had fatally shot his mother.
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TN: Gunfight, Man Shoots at Car Thief who Pulled Gun

When he went to confront him, the suspect pulled a gun, which forced Johnson to pull his gun and start shooting.

He told police it was self-defense.

"He did what he thought best to do at that time," one woman told us.

Police say the suspect drove off in a white car.

Investigators found 16 shell casings when they got to the scene.
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Tasmanian Election in Australia Looks Good for Gun Law Reforms

The Tasmanian win of the Liberal party in Australia may lead to reforms in Tasmania's gun laws.

The extreme gun laws in effect in Australia were railroaded through at break-neck speed in 1996, on the heels of mass murder at Port Arthur in Tasmania. After 20 years of having little effect, except to criminalize many ordinary acts of rural Australians, regulatory reform consistent with democratic rule in a republic is taking place.

Taking the harsh edges off the law has been happening in several Australian states. Queensland has increased the term of class C and D licensees from 1 to 5 years. Class C allows for semi-automatic rimfire rifles of 10 shots or less, and semi-automatic and pump shotguns with a capacity of 5 rounds or less. Class D allows for  centerfire or rimfire semi-automatic rifles with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, or semi-automatic or pump shotguns with a capacity of more than 5 rounds.

In New South Wales, the police have been granted the discretion to charge a fine for minor breeches of the storage laws, or to simply require immediate compliance. The old law mandated criminal charges, termination of firearms license, and confiscation of the firearms involved.

Donald Eykamp may be the poster boy for the extreme harshness of the law. After being charged with relatively minor storage violations, he lost his gun license, paid over $10,000 in fines, and had $150,000 dollars of collectible super grade pre-1964 model 70 Winchester rifles and antique Colt muzzle loading revolvers confiscated. Donald had no prior criminal convictions. His firearms were at his farm, where he was living alone.

To most Americans, the laws appear insanely strict, repressive, and irrational. Many Australians think the same, and have been moving to reform the laws and make them more rational and reasonably administered.

Prior to 1996, Tasmania had the least repressive gun laws in Australia.

The Liberal  party in Tasmania is closer to American conservative philosophy than to the far left. Before the 2018 election, the party was working on commonsense reforms in response to concerns about absurdities in the state gun laws. The promised reforms were released to the public about a month before the election, on 9 February, by sending them to firearms owners.

In the months before the Tasmanian election, the leftists media in Australia was busy pushing for the ouster of the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce. Joyce was involved in a minor sexual scandal.  The media succeeded in ousting Joyce from the Deputy P.M position, but had not been demonizing the firearms reforms percolating in Tasmania.

The Liberals in Tasmania were poised to win another four years. The election would be held on 3 March. The Australian national media attempted to derail their election by proclaiming the gun reforms to be underhanded and dangerous, the day before the election. The ploy did not work, and the Liberals won a majority of the seats.

Rene Hidding, Minister for Police, Fire, and Emergency Management said the reforms were nearly identical to those proposed by the leftist Labor party. From the Liberal website:

The extraordinary hypocrisy of the Labor Party has been highlighted again today criticising our firearms policy despite Labor having a near-identical policy position.

Here is a summation of the reforms promised by the Liberals in Tasmania:


Establish the Tasmanian Firearms Owners Council
(made up of firearms owners and other stakeholders)


Improve the interaction between Firearms Services and firearms owners - and higher service levels

(includes a digital platform where every Tasmanian firearms owner can manage their license and registration requirements, and a promise to end delays and waiting times for licensing and permits)

Establishing a new Tasmanian competition shooting range

(to be available to all shooting clubs in Tasmania)

Broader firearms training and testing provisions

(ending the monopoly on training and testing that now exists. There are only 3 firearms testers for all of Tasmania, creating severe delays.)

Extend periods of licences

(doubling the term of A and B licenses to 10 years, and C licenses to two years)

Infringement notices for minor storage offenses

(this allows for an infringment notice, rather like a traffic ticket, instead of summons to court as a crime)

Finalize an MOU between the Government, Tasmania Police and the Tasmjanian Farmers and Graziers Association (TFGA)

(Many reasonable reforms here, such as clarifying arrangements for target pistol events between jurisdictions, allowing more than one club to have members that use semi-auto shotguns for clay target shooting, reforming the definition of "manufacture" to allow for repair and assembly of firearms, allow for the practical reloading of ammunition, developing a protocol for militaria and re-enactment groups, and removing the requirement for trigger locks on inoperative antique pistols. Allow agricultural contractors to obtain the highly regulated class C licenses, and allow them to obtain suppressors for their work.)

 
The Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers party ran candidates in Tasmanian for the first time during this election.  The Liberal party ran on a push that only a majority government could deliver on its promises. From smh.com:

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Tasmania chairman, and election candidate, Wayne Turale said Firearms Services had been under-resourced and mismanaged for some time, delivering conflicting regulatory information to gun owners.

With only three firearms trainers in the state, Mr Turale said there were lengthy delays in allowing people to obtain licences.

Mr Turale said farmers had been charged by police for carrying unlocked weapons in their vehicles while crossing public roads which ran through their property.

Notably, he was pleased to see that prohibition of guns with a ‘‘military appearance’’ would be reviewed, saying competition shooters using custom-fitted firearms had been affected.

‘‘Firearms should be assessed on the action, not how they look,’’ Mr Turale said.

He said police officers needed better firearm training, beyond service pistol use, and there needed to be standard operations procedures implemented for future firearm inspections.

The reforms expected in Tasmania move the regulatory scheme away from one designed to punish legitimate firearms owners and shooters, and to reduce their numbers, to one where the regulations are administered fairly and competently for  legitimate activities.

It will be interesting to see if the Liberal party follows through with their promises. It is not easy to do in the face of intense opposition by the Australian national media.

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

Gun Watch

GA: Grandson Shoots man Threatening his Grandmother

"I started screaming so loud that my son who was inside at the time heard me and came out to help," the woman said.

Police said the woman's son fired shots at Delk, hitting him multiple times.

"He still managed to drive himself to a nearby fire station where he tried to play the victim," the woman said. "He told them that he was the victim of an interstate shooting."

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FL: Armed Guard Shoots, Kills, two of Three Armed Robbery Suspects

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Two of three armed robbers who stormed into a Southside internet cafe late Sunday night were shot and killed by a security guard while a third robber and a getaway driver got away, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
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IN: Neighbor Shoots Loose, Aggressive Pit Bull

Wynne Berry Sr., a chaplain with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, said his neighbor's dog has been approaching him aggressively and recently chased him into his garage at his house near Mitthoeffer Road and 46th Street.

"I carry my weapon outside to my mailbox now because of this dog," Berry said. "What if it had been my wife? My wife doesn't run like I do. She doesn't carry a weapon."
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Bloomberg Pays for year long effort in Attempt to Discredit Marion Hammer

Mike Spies recently spent a year investigating Marion Hammer, the legendary NRA member and Second Amendment proponent in Florida.

Spies is no novice. He is a professional writer who was on the editorial board of the New Yorker for over three years. He has a Bachelors in English from the University of Vermont, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction from Columbia University in the City of New York.   He spent nearly two years at Vocativ, leaving in June of 2015 to join The Trace, the hard-core anti-Second Amendment group financed by Michael Bloomberg.

We do not know what Mike Spies income is, but the average New Yorker Staff Writer salary is about $80,000.

Much of Spies investigation centered on freedom of information requests for emails from the Florida Legislature.

Mike, uncontroversially, found that Marion Hammer is an effective lobbyist for restoring Second Amendment rights.

Most bills are written by lobbyists, who keep in close contact with sympathetic legislators. Marion is no exception. Spies highlights one of Marion's success stories. From thetrace.org:

Hammer works with a government staff lawyer to create the ‘Pop-Tart’ gun bill — months before it has a sponsor

In March 2013, an 8-year-old Maryland boy was suspended from his elementary school after he chewed a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun and pretended to shoot his classmates. Five months later, in September, Hammer set about crafting a bill that would prohibit schools from disciplining students who play with pretend guns.

Emails show Hammer, over the course of several days, working on the legislation’s language with a staff lawyer from the Florida House of Representatives. Notably, no lawmakers are ever copied on the correspondence, nor is there any indication in the the documents that any elected officials are involved in the drafting process — the legislation did not yet have a formal sponsor. Four months later, in February 2014, Dennis Baxley, who was then a state representative, finally introduces Hammer’s proposal as a bill.

Mike Spies works hard to make this sound somehow unusual or strange. But this is exactly how most bills are created. Lobbyists work with staff to shape bills that can be passed and that do what they are designed to do.

Legislators almost never write bills themselves. It takes months of work to make sure the bill is ready for prime time. Only then, and only when the timing of the legislature allows for it, is the bill sponsored and introduced. The unique thing about Marion Hammer is that she is extraordinarily good at what she does.

In June of 2014, Governor Rick Scott signed the "Pop Tart" bill into law. From the miamiherald.com:

On guns, Scott signed the so-called Pop-Tart bill (HB 7029) that allows children to play with simulated guns in school without fear of punishment. A boy in Maryland was suspended for nibbling a breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.

Marion Hammer has exceptional clout in the Florida Legislature, because she has exceptional credibility with Florida gun owners and Second Amendment supporters, and with Florida legislators.  Again, no surprise.

What is interesting is that an anti-Second Amendment group had the money to commit a trained writer and investigator to a year to attempt to dig up dirt on Marion Hammer.

In the end, they found that Marion Hammer is very good at what she does, and she is supported by millions of Florida gun owners and Second Amendment supporters.

While those who desire an disarmed population will likely be dismayed by Marion Hammer's effectiveness, the majority of the population, and the vast majority of gun owners are likely to find her activities both welcome and lauded.

Marion Hammer was awarded the first concealed weapons permit in 1987. In addition to restoring the right to carry in Florida, and exercising that right, Marion has received numerous awards for her efforts.

In 1985, Marion received the NRA's Roy Rogers Man of the Year Award.

In 1993, Marion won the National Safety Councils Outstanding Community Service Award for creating the Eddie Eagle gun safety program for children.

I won't list all of Marion Hammer's accomplishments. Others have done that.

What is interesting is the number of people who have tried to discredit Marion Hammer, who have all come up dry. Her wikipedia article lists about a dozen articles that attempt to demonize Marion. At least three of them are written by Spies.

Mike Spies is just one of a long list of leftists who have attempted to demonize her. It never works, because the left's idea of wrong is what most normals consider right. False assumptions about reality lead to false conclusions.

The people of Florida disagree with those who paint Marion Hammer as evil or as simply wrong. Marion was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 2017.

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

Gun Watch

Tasmania Liberal Party Considers Reform of Extreme Gun Restrictions, Media Attacks

The Liberal Party in the Australian state of Tasmania is planning to reform some of the state's extreme firearms laws. The modest reforms include doubling the term of Class A and B licenses terms from five to ten years and increasing the license term for class C firearms from one to two years. Class A licenses are roughly airguns, .22 rimfire, and break-open shotguns. Class B licenses are most single shot, double, and manually operated center-fire rifles. Class C license holders, can have semi-automatic rifles that hold no more than 10 rounds, and pump action shotguns. The reforms would allow Class C licenses to have silencers or suppressors.  From abc.net.au:

The Liberals have promised changes to gun laws if elected which would allow greater to access to Category C firearms — such as self-loading rifles, pump-action shotguns — for farm workers and sporting shooters.

Licence holders in category C would also be allowed gun silencers.

The proposed changes would also:
Extend gun licence duration for Category A and B firearms from five years to 10 years; or in the case of Category C, from one year to two years 

Relax penalties for minor gun storage law breaches

The proposal was sent to a firearms consultation group, including farmers and sporting shooters, about three weeks ago, but was not released publicly.

The Liberals' Rene Hidding wrote to firearms owners telling them the party also planned to establish a Tasmanian Firearms Owners Council.

The party released the changes several hours after media coverage, saying the policy was aimed at "helping agricultural producers, particularly farmers to protect crops".

The reaction in the Australian national media has been spectacular. Last night the media paraded survivors from the Port Arthur massacre that happened 20+ years ago, across the screen numerous times.

The Australian anti-gun group was given time on the screen. I recall seeing one person from an Australian shooting association, and perhaps one spokesman from a farmers group. The bias in favor of the anti-gun view was as large as we see in the United States.  I recall one argument that no Australian state could be allowed to reform its gun laws, because the laws gave the rest of the world "hope".  I estimate the anti-gun time compared to time given to those for reforming the law was easily 10 to 1.

The reforms in question are so mild and commonsense it is hard to argue with them. Queensland reformed the term of their class C license from 1 to 3 years  already, with no problems. New Zealand sells suppressors or silencers over the counter to anyone with cash, and has no problems.

The relaxation of penalties fro minor gun storage breaches is a direct response to the extreme harshness of the penalties.  In New South Wales, the police demand to destroy hundreds of thousands of dollars of valuable collector guns "because the law requires it". One collector lost over a hundred thousand dollars of super-grade pre-64 Winchester model 70s, topped with expensive European scopes. A Supreme Court judge said that the penalties were harsh, and were meant to be harsh.

This is a local election in Tasmania. It is not national. For some perspective, Tasmania is an island separated from the continent of Australia by the Bass Strait, about 150 miles of ocean. It is about the size of West Virginia, with 518,000 residents. Before the 1996 law, Tasmania had the most moderate of firearms laws in all Australia. It has felt the harsh penalties more than any other Australian state.

The Labor party (who championed the harsh firearms laws) were in power in Tasmania for 16 years before the Liberals. The Liberal party is closer to American conservatives in policies. The Liberal party in Tasmania has been in the Majority for the last four years, and is the odds on favorite to maintain power. The Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers party has a presence in Tasmania. The Liberal party appears to be appealing to those voters.

Australia has fairly complicated voting system, with multiple parties. Voting is mandatory, with a fine of about $20 for not voting.

We should start getting election results tomorrow, the 4th of March, in Australia.

Update: The Liberal party has won the election, but the results are not final, yet.


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

Gun Watch

WV: Second Amendment Protection in Parking Lots Goes to Governor

On 9 March, 2018, HB 4187 passed the West Virginia senate, 32-1, with 1 senator absent. The bill insures that busnesses may not ban privately owned firearms from vehicles in company parking lots. Summary From HB 4187:

The purpose of this bill is to create the “Business Liability Protection Act”. The bill includes the right to limit possession of firearms on certain premises and definitions. It also provides for misdemeanor criminal offense and penalty. It prohibits employers from certain specific actions against a person when that person possesses a firearm legally, including a condition of employment. The bill provides a duty of care of public and private employers and provides for immunity from liability. The bill authorizes the Attorney General to enforce this statute, including the right to sue or seek injunctive relief; and seek civil fines.

The bill had two amendments added in the senate. From wvgazettemail.com:

In the Senate, legislation that would stop private businesses and associations from prohibiting guns in vehicles parked on their property advanced to passage stage on Friday, after the Senate adopted two amendments Thursday (HB 4187).

One change requires that firearms in vehicles be hidden out of view of passers-by. The second clarifies that the right to have firearms in vehicles does not apply to vehicles owned or leased to a private business or association.

The amendments were adopted on a voice vote, without debate.

The only Senator to vote Nay was Corey Palumbo, (D- Kanawa, 17). Palumbo only has a 43% rating from the NRA. He voted against Constitutional Carry (HB 4145 in 2016). From wvlegislature.gov vote on HB 4187, 32 Yea, 1 Nay, 1 Absent.

22 states now have similar bills that protect the right to bear arms inside of privately owned transportation. The point is clear. Most people move plaes in their privately owned vehicles. If they are banned from having arms in those vehicles, their exercise of Second Amendment rights is effectively chilled.


The bill is popular. There was little time to get it through the House, which had to concur with the Senate, because of the amendments. But the House concurred with the Senate on March 10th, the last day of the session. HB 4187 is now engrossed, and will be sent to Governor Jim Justice for signature. While HB 4187 passed with veto proof margins, the legislature is scheduled to adjourn.  Only a simple majority is sufficient to override a veto, but the legislature will not be in session to do so.

Governor Justice has an A rating from the NRA. It is likely he will sign the bill.



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

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