CA: Home Invasion Suspect Cody Faunce Killed, Homeowner Wounded

They determined that the man was killed after a home-invasion robbery attempt. Deputies said the suspect tried to enter the home from the back and a struggle ensued between the suspect and the two homeowners. A female homeowner grabbed a firearm and fired several shots, striking the suspect and the other male homeowner.

The suspect has been identified as Cody Faunce, 33, of Oroville. The investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made at this time.
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Constitutional Carry Works in Arizona: Armed 19-Year-Old Shoots, Kills, Carjacker

On 17 July, at bout 1:30 a.m. in South Phoenix, Arizona, there was an attempted carjacking. The suspects may have thought the selected victim would be an easy target, because he was a teenager. It did not turn out that way. In Arizona, there is respect for the Second Amendment. Eighteen, Nineteen, and Twenty-year-old citizens are not prohibited from carrying guns or from carrying them in vehicles. The perpetrators in this attempted crime made a poor choice in the victim selection process. For the knife-man, it was a life ending one. From 12news.com:

Around 1:30 a.m., police were called to the Circle K convenience store at Baseline Road and 24th Street.

Investigators say a 19-year-old man was sitting in his car at a gas pump with the driver's side door open when a woman reportedly came up to him to cause a distraction.

He then noticed the suspect coming toward him from the back of the car holding a knife.

According to the police, the suspect demanded the 19-year-old's car.

At that point, the victim got out his handgun and fired shots at the carjacker. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The target was more alert and better armed than the suspects suspected. He reminded me of the time a slim woman, openly carrying, shot and killed a man who pressed a gun to her neck a few miles away, at about one in the morning of 1 August, 2016. 

The other suspect, 28-Year-Old Viviana Aldrete, has been arrested and charged with 1st degree felony murder and armed robbery. Felony murder is when an accomplice is knowingly involved in a crime with significant, foreseeable risk of death or severe injury. The accomplice can be charged with murder if their associate dies as a result of the attempted crime. Carjacking is one of those crimes.

The situation is under investigation. It does not appear the defender will be charged with any crime. He has not given any interviews, nor has his identity been released by police.

This is a safety precaution. Even long term criminals have relatives and friends. Retaliatory attacks are always possible.

In several states, this young man would not have been legally able to carry a gun for self defense. His Second Amendment right to bear arms would have been infringed in New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, as well as California, and several others.

In Arizona, the Arizona Citizen's Defense League  (AZCDL) worked long and hard to restore Second Amendment rights in the state. Reform of the open carry law and of statutes regulating car carry worked in this defender's favor.

It was not too long ago that carjackings were much more common.  The number of carjackings has fallen, as the number of people who legally carry guns has risen. Most violent crime is down, with increasing legal gun carry, so it is difficult to determine precise cause and effect relationships. The academic literature shows more legal carry of guns is associated with lower crime rates, for the most part. A few studies show an increase in some specific crimes over some time periods.

In this case, the potential carjacker will not be attempting any more crimes.

One career criminal can commit dozens of crimes a year before they are caught.

©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch 

WA: Man Wounded in Gunfight with Intruders

According to Tenino Police Department Chief Robert Swain, the victim called 911, saying individuals had broken into his house and shots were fired. The man was shot in the thigh area. He returned fire on the assailants, and told authorities he may have shot one of the intruders.
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Followup AR: Gunfight, Police Believe Intruder was Shot when Man Killed in Home

Authorities believe one of the intruders responsible for a deadly home-invasion robbery last month in Hot Springs was also shot during the crime.

Officers found the body of Kenneth Kelly Jr., 23, on June 13 after responding to the 200 block of Portland Street, according to a news release by the Hot Springs Police Department. Authorities said Kelly was shot in his home during an apparent robbery by two male assailants.

Investigators found blood at the scene that didn’t match the victim’s, suggesting that one of the intruders had also been shot, said Hot Springs Police Department Detective Scott Lampinen.
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NH: Police Investigate Self Defense Shooting in Manchester

MANCHESTER — Authorities have released the name of the person shot and killed in the alley of a North End neighborhood and said self-defense could be a reason for the shooting.


Manchester resident Jason Barry, 42, was named in a statement issued by Manchester police and homicide prosecutors. Barry died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
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AL: Resident Shoots Intruder in House

Officials say they were called to the 27000-block of Nick Davis Road around midnight Monday. According to officials, the residents were woken by an unknown man rummaging through their house.

Officials say that during a scuffle, one of the residents shot the intruder.
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Defense of Property in Northern Wisconsin: From Porcupines

Porcupine damage to garage door frame, and its solution

He woke in the early morning hours, well before sunrise. What was that noise? It sounded like a mouse, chewing on something. Then he realized the noise was not from inside the house. It was from outside the house. He grabbed a rifle, the ubiquitous Ruger 10-22. Prior experience had shown him a .357 magnum was too much gun. Putting on hearing protection in the middle of the night is inconvenient, not to mention waking the entire family. Fortunately, the family dog was kenneled at night. His doggy talents were unsuited to the task required.

The pest was revealed by an LED flashlight from WalMart. It slowly waddled into the garage as he approached. Tossing a couple of expended lead bullets, set aside for re-casting, ahead of it, turned its path back outside. There was no need to exacerbate the damage by firing a round inside. Once on the grass, a .22 Long Rifle to the back of the head dispatched the beast efficiently and instantly.
Porcupines are destructive pests in North American forests. They are one of the largest rodents in North America. Their teeth are continually growing, so they must continually chew to keep their tooth length in reasonable limits.

While their chewing on and eating bark during winter months is said to add little nutrition to their diet, the practice does enormous damage to trees.  My brother recently harvested mature trees from some of the family land. A number of those trees were planted by our parents.

Many of the trees had been damaged by porcupines. The pests significantly reduced the return on the slow growing crop.

Porcupines not only damage trees in the forest. They love to chew on plywood and pressed board. While my brother and I were expanding and refurbishing the family hunting cabin, the damage by  porcupines mounted to hundreds of dollars in material, and dozens of hours of labor.

Hoplophobes seldom consider how valuable the gun is as a tool of rural residents. Porcupines are a pest of the North Woods. Rattlesnakes are a danger, when they take up residence under the front step in the desert. I have used personal firearms to dispatch both.

A rural resident does not have the luxury of calling "animal control" to manage his pests. It would be an impractically expensive and time wasting system. Few, if any, rural governments could afford, or county boards vote for, such a frivolous expenditure of tax dollars.

When most people either grew up on a farm, or had relatives there, the push to disarm them never got off the ground. It was only after a majority had left the land to live in cities for a generation, that restrictions on gun ownership made headway in the United States or in Australia.

Those who wish us disarmed claim they don't intend to take guns from farmers and hunters. Tell that to the farmers and hunters in Australia and New Zealand, who find many of their family heirlooms now banned by law.

When I interviewed an Australian Member of Parliament about the passage of the extreme 1997 law, he specifically remembered the inclusion of .22 rifles, and shotguns. There was no consideration of farmers. The legislators saw no downside. The big effort was to get it passed while emotions were high, before any debate was allowed by the media. Air guns, crossbows, and slingshots were included "to cover as much as possible, with this legislation, realizing the momentum would never be greater".

The most important change, he said, was to move from the expectation an Australian had a right to a gun, to the presumption they did not.

I do not see that happening in the United States.


©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch 

NM: Wounded Home Invasion Suspect, Isaac Andujo, Appears in Court

Isaac Andujo is charged with felony residential burglary following the incident Friday. Police said neighbors heard screaming and three gunshots ringing from the home off of Indian School and Tramway around 5:30 a.m. and then called the police.

According to the criminal complaint, Andujo broke through a window in the back of the house using a spray can. Police said while he continued to try to get into the home, the homeowner shot Andujo in the hip and continued pointing the gun at him until Albuquerque police got on scene.
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CA: Robbery Suspect Shot, Killed in Vehicle on South Normandie

Cervantes said the man was fatally shot while trying to commit a robbery, and the person he was trying to rob was also inside the vehicle. It's unclear whether the suspected robber was trying to steal the vehicle or rob the man.

No other details — including how the gun was fired or who it belonged to — have been released by police.
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OH: Couple wake to Pistol Whipping, Homeowner Shoots, Kills one Invader

A Canton couple told police they awakened to being pistol-whipped and then the homeowner grabbed his own gun and killed one of the would-be burglar.
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Followup IA: Shooting Death of Home Invastion Suspect was Justified

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) – Authorities have said that a Sioux City shooting during a home invasion in April 2019 was a justifiable use of deadly force.
The Woodbury County Attorney’s Office reviewed the April 9,2019 shooting of a home invasion at 1321 4th Street and made the ruling, according to a release from the Sioux City Police Department
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New Zealand: Disarmament Advocate Pushes for More than Semi-Autos

As New Zealand gun owners seek to comply with their government's new ban on the ownership of semi-automatic center fire rifles, an advocate for the ban says it is not enough. Nik Green goes so far as to say the attempt to comply with the ban renders the ban pointless. From newshub.com:

Police are looking into whether kits designed to modify AR-15s from semi-automatic to pump-action would allow owners to keep the rifles, which are used in about half of all mass shootings in the US.

Gun Control NZ co-founder Nik Green says allowing the modification kit would render the new laws pointless.

"Any conversion isn't permanent, so you could quite easily switch it back to being a semi-automatic... It doesn't take these dangerous guns off the streets."

Green is being disingenuous. He makes the jump of logic that because conversions can be reversed, it can be done "quit easily". It is an enormous jump.

It is true conversions can be reversed. Any modification can be reversed if enough time, money, and energy are used. A welded barrel can be replaced with a new barrel. A receiver cut into three can be welded back together and machined again. The truth is new, fully automatic guns can be made as easily as many conversions can be reversed.  Blowback sub machine guns are one of the easiest repeaters to make. They are illegally made in small shops and at home all over the world, from Australia, to Canada, to Brazil, to the Philippines to Israel.

If a New Zealand owner of a converted semi-auto can smuggle parts to reverse the conversion, he could smuggle parts to make a full auto sub machine gun at home.  A short barrel would be as easy to smuggle as a gas tube and block.  Homemade sub machine guns are far less complex than a commercial semi-automatic rifle. From tvnz.co.nz:

It comes as a New Zealand importer considers bringing in an AR-15 modification kit, known as the Animus, which can convert the gun from a semi-automatic weapon to pump-action. The AR-15 was the primary weapon system used during the Christchurch mosque attacks.


The converted pump-action AR-15 has a limited capacity and fires slowly, with every bullet pulled into the chamber manually by hand in a similar fashion to a shotgun. It was designed by an American company to comply with their own gun legislation.

Link to video

In Australia, an even stricter and more draconian ban was put into place in a similar, emotional rush by the government and media. Pump action rifles are banned in Australia, as well as semi-autos, so Australians moved to spring assisted straight pull bolt actions.   This innovative company sells them, quite legally, in several Australian states.

These rifles comply with the extreme Australian Bans on Semi-Automatic Rifles

The Christchurch murderer planned his act of political terrorism for years. He could have made a sub machine gun or several of them. In his manifesto, he mentioned other methods he could have used. He chose semi-automatic guns to obtain maximum exposure for his terrorism from the media, and to push New Zealand and American governments toward more draconian gun control measures.

In Japan, a few days ago, a mass murderer killed 33 by arson. In France, another terrorist, with a religious/political motivation, killed 86 with a truck.

It is easy to see why politicians and the media were so eager to ban guns in Australia and New Zealand. They do not own guns themselves, and see no cost to banning them.  Banning guns places the target on gun owners and shifts the debate from immigration, terrorism and the media contagion to gun ownership. Censorship in New Zealand worked to institutionalize that shift. 

Freedom of speech and of the press are incompatible with gun bans. In the Australian state of New South Wales, it is illegal to possess the knowledge needed to make guns with 3D printers. 

New Zealand is, generally, a law abiding country. Following the rules works both ways. Without the emotional and irrational boost of a mass killing to fuel new laws, it seems likely the conversion of semi-autos to pump action rifles will be allowed. 

©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch 

KS: Domestic Defense? Lawyer Says Son who Shot Mother was Justified

A boy who shot and killed his drunken mom will plead not guilty and argue in juvenile court that he was legally defending himself and his brother, his attorney said.

The boy’s lawyers have filed to dismiss a voluntary manslaughter charge in the June 20, 2018, death of 41-year-old Lisa Trimmell at a mansion near Andover. Her two sons, ages 14 and 12 at the time, were the only other people there.
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IL: Woman Shot While Breaking Car Windows

The 23-year-old was breaking out car windows when someone fired at her in the 12000 block of South LaSalle Street, police said.

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NH: Warning Shot Fired at Intruder, Intruder Flees

ROCHESTER — Mike Thompson awoke around 3 a.m. Monday to the sound of a man having a conversation with his dog.

Moments later, Thompson found himself face to face with a suspected burglar who refused to leave his 18 D’Amours Ave. home, which led Thompson to fire a low warning shot in the direction of the man.

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LA: New Orleans Armed Victim Shoots Carjack Suspect

NEW ORLEANS — One second, a gun is in his face and a man is demanding he give up his car.

The next second, a would-be victim of yet another carjacking in New Orleans takes a chance. He reaches for his own gun, turns and puts two rounds into the attempted robber. Bleeding, the unknown suspect runs off in the night.

That's what New Orleans Police Department officials say happened on Friday around 9:15 p.m. in New Orleans East, at the 7600 block of Forum Boulevard near Paris Road.
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GA: Man Shoots at his own Car as it is Being Stolen

A person then got into the car and began driving away at about 7 p.m. When the owner came out and spotted his car being stolen, he began shooting at the vehicle.

The driver got away, and police are investigating.
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TX:Domestic Defense, Teen Shoots Stepfather who was Assaulting Mother

Deputies say they responded to a shooting call at a home on Tee Time Court in the Newport Community just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

According to authorities, the stepfather was assaulting the teen's mother when he reportedly shot him.

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MD: Husband Shoots, Kills Intruder at 1 a.m.

According to Howard County police, around 1 a.m. a man who was not wearing shoes or a shirt began banging on the door to a house in the 14000 block of Carriage Mill Road.

The residents of the home, who are husband and wife, repeatedly shouted at the man to leave.

The man ignored them and tried to gain entry to the home, at which point the husband shot him once, killing him.
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TX: Man Killed in Shooting Identified as William Shem Vincent

A 23-year-old has been identified as the man killed in a shooting in Arlington on Thursday in which the shooter reported the incident to police.

William Shem Vincent, an Arlington resident, died in an apartment of a gunshot wound to the chin, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner. His death was ruled a homicide.

The man who shot him hasn’t been arrested and is cooperating with the investigation, police said.

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