Charges Dropped Against Seven Texas Open Carriers

Arrest in Austin September, 2013

The State Trooper, center, has a holstered antique revolver in his left hand.

About a year  ago, Open Carry Texas held a demonstration at the Texas State Capitol at Austin.  Several people were arrested.  Charges were slow in coming.  It appeared that they might be charged with the catch-all of "disorderly conduct".  The open carriers repeatedly said that they were doing nothing illegal.

There is breaking news on opencarry.org.  It has been reported that seven people who were arrested over a year ago, in conjunction with open carry, have had all charges against them dropped.  Elections have consequences, and the new activists in the open carry movement have been... active.   Stealthyeliminator at opencarry.org, from Texas, reports:

Very happy to report that, according to CJ of Open Carry Texas (OCT), Texas Law Shield (TLS) was able to get all charges of all those arrested at the Capitol dropped today. This should include several arrests for carrying BP replica revolvers, as well as an arrest for carrying a toy revolver. I'll post more details if they become available.

Both Governor candidates in the recent election endorsed removing the legal restrictions on the open carry of handguns to some degree.  Governor elect Greg Abbott has publicly declared that he will sign a constitutional carry bill if it comes to his desk, or a licensed open carry bill if the legislature gives him that option instead.   He has said that this debate will be worked out in the legislature.

It is worth noting that he did not give, as a viable option, no change in the system.

Bills have been put forward for both constitutional carry, which would not require a permit, and licensed open carry, which would allow people who currently have a permit to carry openly if they choose to do so.   Currently, 44 states have open carry of modern handguns to some degree.  Over 30 of those do not require a license.

The Texas Republican party included a plank in their platform for this year's election calling for constitutional carry.   The platform also included a resolution put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to restore the Texas Constitution's right to bear arms protection to what it was before it was mangled by the reconstruction government after the war between the states, or civil war, if you prefer.

Texas has a reputation among the states, as being very protective of the right to keep and bear arms.  In reality, it is in the middle of the pack.  Guns and Ammo magazine rated Texas as number 15 out of 50 in 2013, with Arizona rated at the number 1 spot.  There is a good chance that the rating will go up in 2015.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Judge Voids own Decision in Fast and Furious Whistleblower Case

In a bizarre decision in Agent Dobyns' case,  Judge Frances M. Allegra, voided his own decision in favor of Jay Dobyns.

That decision excoriated the ATF, and was appealed by them to the Federal Court of Appeals.   The appeal and a cross-appeal are still in process.  In addion, Judge Allegra sealed all records concerning the case.  From azcentral.com:

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Francis M. Allegra, who issued a 54-page decision in favor of that ex-agent, Jay Dobyns, in August, voided his decision on Oct. 29, according to a court notice filed Nov. 5.

The notice does not outline why Allegra voided his decision. Furthermore, the judge sealed other court documents, shrouding the matter from public view.

No one associated with the case is commenting on what the decision means, but there is bound to be speculation comparing the case to Chief Justice Roberts decision to change the finding on Obamacare just days before it was released.

Judge Allega had ordered that Eric Holder and other top Department of Justice officials be served with the judgement.

 Matt Bracken has speculated that the Obama administration uses extortion and blackmail to coerce members of the Judicial and Legislative branches of government to obtain the results that he desires.  

 ©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

UT: City Officials Forced to Obey the Constitution on guns

Park City, Utah, officials were the latest in a series of local governments that have been forced to respect the Constitution by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF).   SAF has run up an impressive number of legal wins to protect second amendment rights.   It has become the ACLU of the gun culture.  

In the Park City case, the city had adopted local laws in direct violation of the second amendment and Utah state preemption law. 

The city law prohibited all use and possession of firearms; all carrying of concealed weapons; carrying of loaded guns inside a vehicle; showing a gun in an angry or threatening manner (no exceptions for justified use of force); and using a gun in a fight.

A city hall attorney, Tricia Lake, was clear about the illegality of the city's law.  From parkrecord.com:

" Had the City Council not repealed the sections, the restrictions "would amount to unlawfully restricting an individual's rights under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution . . . " as well as rights outlined in the Utah Constitution, the report said.

The council members were not happy about being required to obey the Constitution.

City Councilor Liza Simpson said it was "simply irritating." Simpson said she would not be the City Councilor who made the motion to approve the repeal.

"Do we have to," Cindy Matsumoto, another member of the City Council, said.

They reluctantly repealed the illegal gun laws on 25 November of 2014.  The council members seem quite willing to create law for others to obey. 

These seem like unusual positions for a rural Utah town of  8,000 people.  Perhaps a reader can comment on the local politics.

Park City received the letter from SAF in July of this year.   It was signed by Alan Gottlieb.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

IN: Homeowner Shoots, Kills, Intruder

According to the police report, Grimes punched the homeowner in the stomach and the two began fighting.

The other homeowner heard the dispute and saw Grimes, who was holding a knife, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a bandana over his face.

The homeowner shot Grimes with a handgun. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

More Here

LA: No Charges for Man who shot Suspected Armed Robber

New Orleans police will not ask for charges against the man who shot a suspected armed robber Friday night in the city's Gentilly neighborhood, an NOPD spokesman said Monday (Nov. 24).

The wounded man, identified by police as 22-year-old Samuel Sims, remains hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the chest following the shooting near the intersection of Paris Avenue and Treasure Street.

More here

FL: Pit Bulls Attack Mother; Daughter Shoots them

St. Petersburg, Florida -- A dog owner could could be charged with an ordinance violation after her two pit bulls reportedly attacked a neighbor and were shot Monday.

(snip)

 As she tried to close the window, she said the dogs jumped at her, biting her hands and wrist. She called out for help and her daughter grabbed a gun and, seeing the dogs attacking her mother, shot them. The dogs ran off back to their yard.

More Here

Bracken: Stonewalled In Obama’s Garden Of Beasts

“Goddammit, Sharyl! The Washington Post is reasonable, the L.A. Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, you’re the only one who’s not reasonable! So, Sharyl Atkisson is the only reporter who knows what she’s doing? Nobody else thinks this is a story. Just you. You’re the only one. Sharyl Atkisson is right and everybody else is wrong? Goddammit!”

This is how CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Atkisson described the response to a phone call she made to the White House to ask some questions about the Operation Fast And Furious scandal. On the other end of the line was a deputy White House press officer named Eric Schultz. The screaming tantrum was disturbing enough that she put the call on speaker phone in her office at CBS News, so that Schultz’s blistering tirade could be overheard by ear-witnesses.

Operation Fast and Furious was conceived and ordered by the Obama Justice Department, and executed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Its purpose was to deliver thousands of high-powered assault rifles to Mexican drug cartels. There was no attempt to follow or trace the weapons into Mexico, putting the lie to the cover-story that it was a “botched sting operation.” The Mexican government and Mexican law enforcement were not even informed of the program to smuggle deadly assault rifles into their nation. (Incidentally, that is considered an illegal act of war.)

(snip)

 She made repeated calls over many months to Verizon asking for help with her sabotaged phones and computers with no success. When she enlisted the help of trusted former intelligence officers, they found an extra and unneeded fiber-optic line leading from her house to the side of her garage. On New Years Eve 2012, she called Verizon, but they disavowed any knowledge of the extra fiber-optic line, and advised her to contact law enforcement.

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Another Bear Spray, Gun and Grizzly National Park Incident

I actively look for and monitor defensive uses of firearms.   While some defensive uses of firearms are common, such as driving off intruders from a home, others such as defense against a grizzly bear, are rare.  They tend to stand out when they happen.   I missed this one, even though it did get some coverage in 2013.  The actual defense occurred two years ago in November of 2012.

It is especially interesting because both bear spray and bullets were used.  The only other one that I recall happened this year. The bear was killed by the gunfire, dropping, literally at the shooters' feet.   The shooters showed remarkable restraint, not firing until the bear was only 10 feet from one shooter, eight feet from the other, moving fast.  From foxnews.com:

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Federal prosecutors have decided not to file charges against two young elk hunters after investigators concluded they acted in self-defense when they shot and killed a grizzly bear in Grand Teton National Park last fall, park officials announced Thursday.

The bear charged the two and their father from 42 yards on Thanksgiving Day. First, the father fired bear spray at the animal. The sons opened fire when the bear was 10 feet away.

The two hunters who shot the bear were brothers, 17 and 20 years old, accompanied by their father, who deployed the bear spray.  They were not identified but their Grandfather speaks of what he heard from investigators:

 "They complimented the boys on how well they did because the bear was within eight feet of one of them," Dwayne Trembly told The Associated Press.

The bear was hit with three bullets.  Two were to the head, and the third was to the back.  I suspect that the head shots occurred first, and and the shot to the back happened as the bear dropped and slid toward the hunters.   It seems unlikely that bear spray would have been sufficient to prevent injury in this incident.   I have not seen any description of make, model, or caliber of the firearms used.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Does Second Amendment apply to the Corps? 11th Circuit to Decide

Army Corps of Engineers Administered Land

In the Ninth Circuit federal court of appeals, District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that the second amendment does not stop at the boundary of land administered by  the Army Corps of Engineers.   There are millions of acres of wild land and waters involved, as the Corps of Engineers administers enormous projects across America on the waterways.

In the 11th Circuit, Judge Harold Murphy in Georgia has ruled that the second amendment does not apply on land administered by the Corps, because the land is all considered "sensitive", like a courtroom, or prison.  The decision is being appealed.  From northwestgeorgianews.com:

U.S. District Court Judge Harold Murphy in August ruled against David James and GeorgiaCarry.org, both of whom argue James has the right to carry firearms onto U.S. Army Corps of Engineer-managed land and water at Lake Allatoona, including McKaskey Creek Campground in Cartersville.

James and GeorgiaCarry.org appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, dismissing Murphy’s ruling that the Corps land is “sensitive,” like a school or government building. They want the appeals court to issue a preliminary injunction and allow James to carry firearms onto Corps property.

Many are speculating that the Idaho case settled by Judge Winmill will also be appealed, but it has not yet happened.   Both cases appear to assume that there is a right to bear arms outside of the home.   In the Georgia case, the ruling uses the "sensitive places" wording in the Heller decision as the excuse for a ban on bearing arms in millions of acres of Corps administered land.  It is hard to see that land as being more sensitive than National Park land, on which a ban was removed by law in 2009.

Second amendment supporters have been pushing for a similar bill that would nullify the Army Corps of Engineers regulations.  With wide support in the Senate and House, passage of such a bill would render the lawsuit in Georgia moot.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Revolver Bedroom. Someone had a "Thing" for Them

These pictures of a unique bedroom set came to me via the Internet.  I do not know the location of the set or the source of the revolvers.

Counting the revolvers that make up the bed frame, the vanity, the lamps, table, chair, chandelier, and window decoration, and assuming that there is symmetry on the sides of the objects that are not visible, I believe there are at least 100 revolvers used in the construction of the set.

The revolvers are an eclectic mix of Smith & Wesson (or clones) and Colt (or clones) revolvers.  They appear to mostly intact.  It seems likely that a few dozen working revolvers could be assembled from the frames and parts.   While there are many places that have dozens of revolvers, there may be only one revolver bedroom! 

The actions do not appear to be welded shut.  A good friend who is a small arms expert, and I, examined the pictures as best we could.  He believes that the revolvers are pre-WWII.   It is certainly possible.   All of them appear to be side swing revolvers.   I do not see any top breaks, and that makes sense for this sort of construction. 

A related question is: what was the source of these revolvers?  Our best theory is that they were confiscated guns that were required to be "disposed of".   A large police department in a city such as New York, Chicago, or Detroit, can confiscate thousands of firearms a year.    Perhaps these were confiscated during Prohibition.

The set is a unique piece of firearms art that celebrates, rather than vilifies, gun maker skills.

Any additional information about the provenance and location of this set would be appreciated.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

MO: Employee Shoots at Rampaging Car, Driver

People outside said a car driven by a black woman with three other people in it sped through the parking lot several times and almost hit bystanders, Stroer said. When the car returned, an employee confronted the driver and fired multiple shots at the car as it drove toward the employee and other people in the parking lot, Stroer said. Witnesses said the driver sped off.

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AL: Woman Uses Shotgun to Shoot Domestic Stalker

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- A Tuscaloosa woman opened fire Saturday night on a man previously accused of stalking her after he allegedly came to her house and threatened to kill her.

(snip)

The woman, 41, grabbed a shotgun, and when Johnson allegedly pulled up in the driveway and threatened her outside her own home, she fired two shells at him, grazing him with at least one pellet in his neck.

More here

OH: Resident is Wounded, but Shoots and Kills one of Three Intruders

WARREN — A resident of Starlite Drive Northwest shot and killed an 18-year-old Southington man who police believe was part of a group of three people committing an aggravated burglary at the Starlite residence.

(snip)

The Startlite resident, Benjamin Talanca, 29, suffered a "severe laceration" head injury in the confrontation, police said and went to St. Joseph Health Center for treatment of his injuries, which are non-life-threatening.


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MS: Bussiness Owner Shoots Armed Robber

"He went to the back and tried to break in the window. He was coming and he got a pistol on him and after that, when I saw him, I started shooting. I shot him three times," says Nancer.

Around the time, Nancer says he shot the man, a man can be seen running to a car parked in front of the store.

He struggles to get in and too weak to shut the door.

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MO: Armed Citizen Holds would be Robber for Police

I have a little difficulty understanding what happened.  Did the criminal have a gun?  Both men?  

HAZELWOOD, Mo. (KMOV.com) – The victim of an attempted strong armed robbery detained a suspect who was attempting to rob him until police arrived at the scene in Hazelwood.

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AL: Robbery Suspect Shot by Armed Citizen

Birmingham, Ala._A robbery suspect is at UAB Hospital after being shot by the person he's accused of trying to steal from.

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Why I carried an AR-15 through Sky Harbor (Phoenix Airport)

Excellent article by Dr. Steinmetz.

Since I peacefully, legally and openly carried an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle through the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport last July, many people have wondered, both privately and publicly, why I would do such a thing. Indeed, many have speculated on my motives in most unkind terms.

Having recently emerged from the threat of prosecution on two felony "dangerous nature" criminal charges, I can now freely address the important reasons for this protest. In brief, I must protest a now nearly institutionalized attempt to intimidate us into surrendering our civil rights to other people's irrational fears.

We all have fears, but what do I mean by irrational fears?

Some fears are, of course, quite rational; for example, being fearful of burning your finger after touching a hot burner as a child.

But the responses to other fears are simply not based on a reasonable assessment of reality. They are are irrational.

Extreme examples can be psychotic or delusional beliefs, such as being afraid to get out of bed at night because of a fixed false belief that a ghost will emerge from the closet to harm you.

Other fears are irrational because the assessment of the likelihood of the event is completely out of proportion to reality. An example would be an unwillingness to leave the house because a meteor might strike and kill you. While a meteor could suddenly come out of the sky and kill you, it only happens 1 time in every 74.8 million years of life.

Unfortunately, our airports are now prime sites where people's irrational responses to their fears are used as an excuse to bully, intimidate or force us into giving up our liberties. Here are three such fears:

One argument given for why it is just terrible to carry an AR-15 to the airport is that these are such dangerous and awful weapons that no civilian needs them, let alone to carry them at the airport.

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Blowback Against Washington State’s Anti-gun Initiative Just Beginning

Despite opposition from individual gun owners, Washington State sheriffs, the state’s Republican Party, and the National Rifle Association, Initiative 594 passed easily on Tuesday, November 4, by 59 percent to 41 percent, with Bloomberg's money promoting myths about it.

This makes Washington the seventh state (along with the District of Columbia) to require universal background checks not only on all sales of firearms but on “transfers” as well, even between friends. Washington is the first state to pass such restrictions through a citizen-driven initiative.

Largely unknown to voters, the complex 18-page initiative also greatly expands the state’s handgun registration program, with every sale or transfer of a handgun resulting in every party having his or her name entered into the state’s Department of Licensing database.


One of the many myths circulated widely about the initiative was that it would keep criminals from obtaining firearms on the open market such as at gun shows. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, however, in a report issued in May, 2013, 77 percent of state prison inmates who are in jail for gun crimes acquired their weapons through “street” sources which included “theft or burglary,” drug dealers, and fences operating in the black or underground market. That i594 would have no effect in such acquisitions seemed to be lost on Washington State’s voters.

Initiative 594 regulates all sales and transfers of firearms in the state. As the NRA noted in one of its broadsheets:

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Silly WWII Analogy...but Fun!

On freerepublic, people were discussing the recent legal victory, where a federal judge ruled that people who already had guns had no reason to wait through a 10 day California waiting period.  The law was first passed in 1923.  He ruled that the law infringed on second amendment rights.  The KG9 Kid wrote, from freerepublic.com:

I'm sorry, but I read of these little 'victories' by the CalGuns Foundation in their thoroughly anti-gun state and cannot help but compare them to some WWII Japanese radio broadcast that exclaims that the Imperial Japanese Navy now has now deployed the first rocket-powered flying suicide bomb with which they shall lay waste to the American fleet off of Okinawa.

I thought about it a bit, and it seemed his analogy was all wrong.
The analogy might hold “water” if the kamakazi rocket planes had holed half of the carriers in the U.S fleet, and they were taking on water while the crews fought the fires.

If Peruta stands, and odds are that it will, second amendment supporters win.

How do you stop concealed carry reciprocity across the nation when you have as your redoubt six little east coast states, and the entire rest of the country has shall issue or constitutional carry?

I submit that the truth would be closer if the roles in the analogy were reversed. It is the Californian politicos that are fighting a desperate rearguard action. Heller was their Midway, and McDonald, MacArthur’s return to the Philippines. Concealed carry has been the Island hopping. Illinois was Okinawa. Peruta is a potential Hiroshima.

Second amendment supporters just successfully “firebombed” Tokyo (DC) with the Palmer decision.

I would not want to trade sides with the opposition.  Second amendment supporters have the facts, logic, the culture, and the Constitution on their side.  It is like the overwhelming advantage that the tremendous American production gave U.S. troops in the Pacific theater.    In addition, second amendment fighters, those that pay attention and care, out number disarmists by somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 to one.   Bloomberg is Benito Mussolini, Schumer is Emperor Hirohito,  I will let you assign your own roll for the current president.

It is a silly World War II analogy.   The timing does not fit.   Second Amendment supporters have been fighting the war for 50 years, 80, if you include the 1934 NFA.   But it is fun to think of it that way.   We are winning.

Definition of disarmist

 ©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Stupid kid gets himself shot and killed

 "Tamir, who was formally identified by officials on Sunday afternoon, was spotted 'waving around' the airsoft gun at a playground next to the Ohio recreation center at 3.30pm last Saturday.  A concerned man, who was sitting nearby, called 911 and told the dispatcher: 'I’m sitting in the park…there’s a guy here with a pistol, and it’s probably a fake one, but he’s pointing it at everybody.

Minutes later, two Cleveland Police officers - a rookie and a 10-15 year veteran - arrived at the scene. The rookie then asked the boy to put his hands up, at which point the youngster reached into his waistband and pulled out the pistol.

Despite the 911 caller's prior warning that the gun was likely fake, the officer then fired two shots at Tamir, at least one of which hit him in the stomach, according to Cleveland.com.  Police later told Fox 8 the weapon Tamir was carrying was 'an airsoft type replica gun resembling a semi-automatic pistol.' They added that the gun's orange safety indicator had been removed."

Source:

Cops would often end up dead if they took the risk of assuming that a gun being drawn on them was fake