AZ: Security Guard Shoots back During Drive-by

Police say two men were working as security guards at the Super 8 near Interstate 17 and Northern Avenue when an unknown suspect, or suspects, shot at them. One of the guards shot back as they drove away.
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MO: Intoxicated or Drugged Man Held at Gunpoint for Police

A man walked into a home in southern Texas County on Friday night and found himself being held at gunpoint.

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GA: Gunfight, Bread Delivery Man Wounds Armed Robbery Suspect

ELLENWOOD, Ga. (CBS46) -- An armed robber was arrested after being shot by a bread delivery man at a Hardee's in Ellenwood early Saturday morning.
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Missouri Judge rules "safety" overrides Right to Keep and Bear Arms

A Democrat Missouri District Court judge, appointed after the lawsuit was filed, has ruled the lawsuit against the University of Missouri for violating the new Missouri Constitutional provision protecting the right to keep and bear arms, does not apply to the University. The judge claims he followed the requirements for "strict scrutiny" when he did so.

On August 5, 2014, the citizens of Missouri passed a Constitutional amendment to strengthen the protection of the right to keep and bear arms in Missouri. From ballotpedia.org:

That the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms, ammunition, and accessories typical to the normal function of such arms, in defense of his home, person, family and property, or when lawfully summoned in aid of the civil power, shall not be questioned. The rights guaranteed by this section shall be unalienable. Any restriction on these rights shall be subject to strict scrutiny and the state of Missouri shall be obligated to uphold these rights and shall under no circumstances decline to protect against their infringement. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the general assembly from enacting general laws which limit the rights of convicted violent felons or those duly adjudged mentally infirm by a court of competent jurisdiction.^[1]

On 19 September, 2015, Professor of law Royce Barondes filed a lawsuit, based on the new amendment, challenging the complete ban of firearms on the University of Missouri campus, except for those granted special privileges by the University administration.

On April 22, 2016 Democrat Governor Nixon appointed Democrat politician Jeff Harris to the position of judge in the 13th Circuit. Harris was Governor Nixon's policy director at the time of his appointment.

Some jockeying for venue occurred. The defendants attempted to move the case to Federal court. The Missouri Attorney General sided with Barondes. Then the case was moved to Boone County from Cole county in Missouri, in 2016.

Three successive Missouri Attorney Generals have weighed in on the case in support of Professor Barondes position.  On 18 November, 2019, Judge Harris issued an opinion that the University rule banning all guns on campus, except for those granted the privilege by the University administration, was Constitutional under the Constitution of the state of Missouri. Judge Harris relied on the testimony of two University police chiefs for most of his ruling. From the opinion:

Based largely on the testimony from law enforcement, the Court finds that the Rule satisfies strict scrutiny and is constitutional. The University presented unambiguous and essentially unrebutted testimony in support of the Rule from two police chiefs with nearly 70 years of law enforcement experience, backed by statistical evidence.

In the opinion, there did not seem to be any reference to any statistical evidence presented by the University police chiefs. It appears they simply presented their opinions. It should be noticed the University police chiefs are not neutral parties. The University rules grant them a privilege on campus no one else is allowed. They and a few other University employees have the sole privilege of being armed. In addition, their jobs depend on pleasing their superiors, who have made their opposition to allowing arms on campus clear and unequivocal. The police chiefs testimony is full of speculation, conjecture, and hypotheticals.

The police chiefs testimony does not qualify as data, or as a scientific study, or as unbiased. It is simply their opinion, which may have been colored by personal gain and fear of retribution from their employer.

The University cited statistical claims made by anti-Second Amendment partisan Dr. John Donohue. 

There are several bizarre claims made in the opinion by Judge Harris.

Judge Harris claims the rule is "narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling interest". It is hard to see how a complete ban on firearms, with the minor exception of those approved of by the University administration, is "narrowly tailored".

If the rule is "narrowly tailored" to promote "public safety" then a state law, banning all ownership and carry of firearms in the State of Missouri, would also be "narrowly tailored" thus rendering the protection of the right in the Missouri Constitution meaningless.

It is very difficult to believe the judge examined less restrictive measures, as he is required to do under strict scrutiny. 

The Judge writes that banning firearms possession from all but those in approved programs or persons in the line of duty, is less restrictive than banning felons from possession, even though banning possession of firearms by felons is explicitly allowed by the Missouri amendment.

The Judge writes that minimizing theft on its property, including theft of firearms, is a "compelling interest". By this standard, the University would be authorized to prohibit all private property on its campus. That would minimize the theft of private property.

The Judge writes, citing a federal case, that the right to arms is less protected outside the home than inside. 

The case will likely be appealed.

In Wisconsin, we have seen the will of the people subverted by an activist anti-constitutional court.

In Missouri, we may find out if the Supreme Court judges are as biased against the right to keep and bear arms as were the judges in Wisconsin. Four judges on the Missouri Supreme Court were appointed by Democrat governors. Three judges on the Court were appointed by Republican governors, as of September, 2019.

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

Gun Watch 

TX: Victim Shoots at Suspected Theives

Police said one of the suspects pulled out a weapon believed to be a gun, when the victim pulled out a handgun he was legally carrying and shot “some rounds” toward the suspects vehicle.
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TX: Suspect Shot During Gas Station Robbery

A would-be robber was shot during a gas station robbery Friday morning in west Houston, according to police.

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OK: Woman Shot, Killed, Man Wounded as Bail Bondsman Serves Warrant

According to police, the shooting was reported about 11:30 p.m. at a hotel near Meridian and Southwest 15th Street. A bail bondsman went to the hotel to serve a warrant and got in a fight with two people in a room, police officials said.
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MI: Suspect Shot by Employee after Breaking into Business

After investigating, they determined the male suspect had broken into a business that had closed for the night. An employee confronted him and he was shot but only sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
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Black Bear Attack Stopped with .45 on Second Floor of Motel

Gregg and dog

On Thursday night, 7 November, 2019 a little after 11 p.m., at the Motel 6 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Greg Sapp was on the walkway outside of his and his wife, Viki's motel room on the second floor. He was getting a smoke. He did not know he would be emptying his Kimber .45 into a charging black bear within seconds.

Link to video

He was facing outward from the motel. Room 240 has one wall in common with the outside of the motel, with another in common with the breezeway that connects to the rooms on the other side of the motel. Greg was at the railing, with his back to the breezeway and the corner of the room. He had left the door of the motel room open a few inches, so he could communicate with Vicki.

The temperature was about 47 degrees. He was wearing a green Columbia winter jacket. It wouldn't be easy to get at a holstered Kimber Ultra Carry II in an inside the waistband holster, wearing a zipped up winter jacket. Greg had put the pistol, cocked and locked, in his right front jacket pocket. Greg says he carries everywhere he goes, where it is legal. Both Greg and Vicki have Tennessee carry permits.



Greg and Vicki had ended up in the Motel 6 by mishap. They were in Gatlinburg to visit a friend from Michigan, who was spending a few days in the city. They had to drive a few hours. The reservations were for a pet friendly motel. By mistake, the staff had put them in a non-pet friendly room. They had brought their dog with them. They had to scurry to find a motel which would accommodate their pet.

View from Room 240 side of Motel, looking through Breezeway

At the railing, smoking, with his back to the breezeway, Greg heard a ruckus behind him.

 Bam, bang, crash.

He turned around, and looked. There, no more than 20 feet away, its feet on a tipped over trash can, was a huge black bear. The bear did not notice him immediately.

But Greg's dog had come out, and peaked around the corner. It growled and emitted a bark, Grrrr..ru..ruff! The bear jumped over the downed trash can, landed with a Woof!, and charged directly at Greg.

Everything happened extremely fast, but Greg had moved into the psychological state of tachypsychia, where everything seems to slow down. This is a common effect when a human perceives a deadly threat. The effect also distorts distance, and can cause tunnel vision, focused on the threat.

Greg said: Oh f*ck! The .45 Kimber appeared in his hand and he was firing, with the bear taking up his whole field of vision. Greg told me:

"Everything went into like, time lapse." "It seemed like it took forever!"

In Greg's heightened state of awareness, he could hear the first three bullets hit.

Thunk, thunk, thunk.

Then his ears were ringing. The bear dropped its head down as he fired the last three shots at extremely close range, Greg said it was three feet or less.

The bear hit the railing of the walkway two feet from him, turned left, and went down the walkway away from Greg, who had the empty Kimber in his hand.

Vicki, standing at railing , facing breezeway, just outside room 240

Vicki, inside the room, heard Greg scream, and heard the shots, fired very fast.
Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam!

The entire sequence, from the "Woof!" to the bear hitting the walkway took about two seconds.  Vicki made it to the motel door, and onto the walkway, to see the back of the bear moving down the walkway, away from them. Vicki said:

"This thing was huge. It took up almost the whole walkway!"

Walkway wounded bear used to leave the scene, from Greg's position

The bear went down the stairs and into the forest. It was bleeding profusely.

Greg is a veteran with 10 years in Marine Corps Recon. He is 53 years old. He and Vicki have some acreage with their own private range.  He is about 5' 10" tall and 180 pounds. He shoots there often.

His speed and accuracy are the expected results from practice. 

Greg and Vicki called the police. When the police investigated, neither they, nor Vicki, could find any indication any of the bullets had impacted the hotel walls, walkway, or ceiling. All six bullets had gone into the bear and stayed there.

Greg had loaded the magazine with five rounds, with a round in the chamber. He had found, through experience, a fully loaded magazine to be less reliable in his little Kimber.

The cartridges were Federal HST rounds, an aggressive hollow-point design made for defense against humans. The Kimber Ultra Carry II  has a three inch barrel, which likely reduces the velocity by 10-15% compared to a standard five inch barrel.

One neighbor said they had seen the bear previously, and believed it to be 500 lbs.  Greg initially thought it was 350-400 lbs. Everyone agrees it was a big black bear.

In early November, with plentiful food, it would have had four inches of fat on, under the skin.

The HST rounds probably did not penetrate far enough to reach the bear's vitals.  Two weeks after the charge and shooting, a neighbor said he believed he had seen the bear back in the area, but he could not be certain. He said one big, black bear looks much like another big, black bear.

A retired officer commented about the bullet's performance. He said years ago, he had seen a big black bear which had been hit by a car, in the late fall. An officer had shot it with a .40 caliber, in the neck, to put it out of its misery. The .40 caliber hollow point was not sufficient, and a 12 gauge slug was used to finish the job. When the taxidermist skinned out the bear, they found the expanded .40 caliber lodged in the bears neck. It had not penetrated to the spinal column or entered the chest cavity. In a test by luckygunner.com, the HST .45 cartridge had one of the most aggressive expansion and the lowest velocities, of self defense .45 rounds.

Greg says he had considered bringing his Glock 29 10 mm instead of the Kimber .45, but he was not expecting to have to shoot a bear. He had left the Glock and took the Kimber. He thinks .45 full metal jacketed ball ammunition would likely have been sufficient to take down the bear.

When the police investigated, they followed the blood trail until it stopped. They did not find the bear. An officer asked why Greg had not retreated to the hotel room. Greg said there was no time to do so.

Blood trail from wounded bear in Gatlinburg

Greg was not cited for shooting the bear. He was cited for reckless endangerment and unlawful discharge of a firearm. The police impounded his Kimber as evidence. The Kimber, with custom modifications, is worth about $1800.

Greg's .45 Kimber

Greg has contacted an attorney and will fight the charges.

The claw marks on the cement floor of the walkway show the bear was very close. There may be surveillance video of the bear at the motel.  The bear did not have to come at Greg.  It was not trapped in the breezeway. The breezeway behind the bear was open, with a stairway leading down, directly from the breezeway.

Vicki said, between the time they had checked in on Thursday, until they checked out, a sign had gone up near the register, warning about bears.

Both Greg and Vicki believe if Greg had not had his .45, he would have been mauled or killed.

Gatlinburg has a lot of bears in the town. There are many stories of bears wandering about the city. The city may perceive them as a tourist draw. Many residents believe the bears pose no threat. Tennessee wildlife managers disagree. From newschannel9.com:

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency experts are asking Tennesseans to educate themselves, and their neighbors, about proper behavior in bear country. They say bears that become habituated to human food pose a much greater human threat. The smell of grease on a grill, ripe vegetables in a garden, trash and bird feeders not only attract bears, they provide easy meals for bears. Once a bear gets this easy meal, it doesn't forget. And the experts say, "A fed bear is a dead bear," meaning they often have to be euthanized.

The bear experts say that simply capturing and relocating a conditioned, dangerous bear isn't an option.

Gatlinburg is a tourist town. The video of the bear on the walkway of the Econolodge was taken less than two miles from the Motel 6, and posted on 28 October, 2019. It may have been the same bear.

Many people will be interested in Greg Sapp's legal battles. If he loses on either charge, he might lose his Tennessee carry permit.

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

Gun Watch

Australia to Launch Continual Gun Amnesty in 2020

Some Australian Treasures waiting to be registered during the 2017 Amnesty

The Australian states and territories have agreed to make a continuous, ongoing amnesty for people to turn in and register guns that have previously not been registered. The continuous amnesty is expected to start in the second half of 2020. From pressreader.com:

Gun owners will be able to hand in their weapons, no questions asked, from next year, when Australia launches a national continuous gun amnesty. 

All states and territories agreed to the first-ever continuous amnesty yesterday at a meeting of police and emergency services ministers in Adelaide.

Details of how the amnesty would proceed are still to be worked out. Previous amnesties have differed significantly.

One point for negotiation will be if firearms can be turned into gun shops, and the gun shops allowed to register the guns and pay the people who turned the unregistered gun in.

This helps to insure valuable property is not destroyed for no good reason.

Another advantage of this system is the government does not have to pay for turned in firearms. If they are worth much, or the gun shops will pay for them.

A continuous amnesty has been in place in some Australian states for a number of years.

When I observed the last nationwide amnesty, conducted in 2017, many Australians I talked to mentioned the potential of a permanent amnesty, because it offered so many advantages.

They only people opposed seemed to be the dogmatic hoplophobes. They wanted a system the made all guns into prohibited contraband, only grudgingly allowed for specific purposes for short periods of time.

That system was essentially put in place with the draconian gun laws passed in 1997, under Prime Minister Howard, who hated guns with a unreasonable passion.

During the 2017 amnesty, gun owners who already had a license, could register guns they "found" and add them to their license, if they qualified.

A permanent amnesty can benefit everyone to some extent. Those who want all guns registered will have more guns registered. Gun owners will have a means to add desirable, but unregistered guns to their collections.

The government will claim it is doing something useful. There has been a strong push by gun owners in Australia to reform some of the draconian measures of the old 1997 law, such as mandating confiscation of guns and criminal charges for the most minor of law violations. One .22 cartridge found under the seat of a farm vehicle could result in confiscation of all guns and loss of a firearms license for life.

My examination of the 2017 amnesty found 20% of the guns turned in were old, broken, airguns. 

Having an unregistered, broken, airgun of in your possession carried the same sort of draconian penalties as having shotgun or rifle in your possession. There was no legal way to dispose of the item until the amnesty was approved.

There is no true "national" law about possession of guns in Australia. In Australia, the states have arguably more power than individual states in the United States. It is a strong federal system. The national firearms law consists of control of imports and exports, and an agreement between the states, which can be changed at will.

It would be nice if the new agreement between the states would eliminate some of the silly parts of the old agreement, such as treating air rifles the same as high powered hunting guns; making it harder to legally own a slingshot or crossbow compared to a hunting rifle; and making the export of private arms exceptionally difficult and costly.

It does not seem likely to happen, but the new administration seems a bit more reasonable than the last one.


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

Gun Watch

WA: Armed Homeowner Confronts Suspect, Fires Three Shots, Officers Shoot, Kill Suspect

The homeowner noticed someone suspicious parked in his driveway. He went outside to confront the man, the two got into a fight, and the homeowner fired three shots.

"(The homeowner) felt very threatened and he felt very concerned for the safety of his family and himself and he opted to warn or fire rounds or the suspect knew he was armed and he needed to leave now," said Officer Loretta Cool.
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MI: Armed Citizens Stops Altercation between Suspects and Employee

During the altercation, a citizen fired a warning shot in the parking lot because they were afraid for the person being attacked by the suspect, police say.

One of the suspects is a white man with brown hair and should have a laceration on one of his palms.
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TX: Homeowner Shoots Tire of Vehicle that Rammed Wrong House

Officers on the scene tell 3News just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday, the suspect began ramming his truck into a vehicle parked at a home on Barcelona causing some extensive damage to the house.

The homeowner came out and shot the suspects tire to prevent further damage to the house and danger to his family.
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PA: Security Guard Returns Fire, Wounds Suspect

Police say a security guard and a 33-year-old man were standing outside when a car pulled up and started firing at them.

The man was struck once in the arm.

The security guard returned fire, shooting the 27-year-old passenger in the hand.

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WA: Domestic Defense, Woman Shoots, Kills Estranged Husband

MCCLEARY, Wash. -- A woman says she had no choice but to defend herself and her friend when she shot and killed her estranged husband Wednesday night at a McCleary home.

The man had a domestic violence protection order against him and she says he broke in and attacked them with a knife.
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Followup OH: Three Juveniles Arrested in Home Invasion Gunfight

Bellefontaine Police, and numerous other law enforcement agencies have worked diligently today to make three arrests in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Bellefontaine resident Caleb Chamberlin.

Anthony Scartz, 24, also of Bellefontaine, was shot multiple times during the incident, and is currently being treated in a Columbus hospital.
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AL: Resident Shoots, Kills, Intruder who Attacked Him

 The shooter was a resident at the home located in the 24000 block of Garrett Road. The shooter reportedly came home and found the intruder. The intruder then attacked the resident.
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PA: Burglar Shot, Warrant Issued for Shooter

Once on the scene, police learned that 35-year-old Keith Wilson had broken into the apartment and assaulted a resident.

Police say Wilson was then shot by a resident of the apartment, but is expected to survive his injuries.
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The School Shooting in California was done with a Homemade Gun

Shortly after the murders at the Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, just North of Los Angeles, the news coverage faltered and died away.

I and others speculated something in the facts about the case did not fit the current media narrative in the push to further infringe on Second Amendment rights. California has some of the most restrictive laws on gun ownership, sale, possession, and carry in the United States.

A clue to the lack of coverage: the police did not announce the model or make of gun. It was not an AR15, as that would have been useful to the infringement narrative.

Those thoughts were verified today as Los Angeles County Sheriff Villanueva released the information the .45 semi-automatic pistol was homemade. From foxnews.com:

Ghost guns are a growing problem for law enforcement. The parts are relatively easy to obtain and the guns do not take much expertise to build. So even though California has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, they are only based on traditional firearms made by manufacturers where ownership can easily be traced.

In Southern California, one-third of all firearms seized are ghost guns.

"Congress and state legislatures enact all these crimes about gun registration but now the gun industry is creating a way to just bypass the entire thing by creating a mechanism to manufacture weapons yourself," Villanueva said.

People have been making their own guns for hundreds of years. It has always been legal to make your own gun in the United States. For there to be a functional right to keep and bear arms in the United States, there has to be a right to access arms. One of the most fundamental rights to access is the right to make your own.

It was only recently that some jurisdictions, such as California, have placed infringements on the right to make your own guns.

The reason is clear. As governments place more and more infringements on the right to keep and bear arms, particularly on the right to buy and sell those arms, people respond by making their own.  The more draconian the restrictions, the more people resort to making their own. The number stated by Sheriff Villanueva is amazing. He claims one third of all firearms seized are homemade.

This is happening in the United States with more than 400 million factory manufactured guns in circulation, where there are, conservatively estimated,  forty billion rounds of ammunition stored in homes, garages, and closets all over the country. This is happening in a state with long, porous borders, and no effective border control.

This is happening in a state where, for the price of a family's four day vacation to Disneyland, one can buy the Chinese drill presses, lathes, milling machines, and 3D printers to set up a small shop in a garage to a few produce homemade firearms every week.  This method of production was commonly used in Europe circa 1900.  The machinery today is easier to use. The power is relatively reliable, even in Southern California. The materials are easier to procure. Plans for making such guns are easily accessible online. Online how-to videos are common.

Far more sophisticated shops for automobile repair, hobbyists, and crafts already exist in the tens of thousands in Southern California.

If one third of firearms used in crime are homemade in Southern California, the attempt to lower crime rates with infringements such as gun registration, bans on certain types of pistols, background checks for ammunition, and waiting periods, are futile.  It is not the Second Amendment which bans various restrictions from lowering violent crime. It is the laws of physics and chemistry.

None of these restrictions have been shown to reduce crime anywhere. Some of the most easily produced homemade/small shop guns are sub machine guns.

They are commonly produced in countries where personal freedoms to access information, materials, and machinery are far more restricted, than are allowed by the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution.

They are commonly found in  Australia, where the authorities admit 10% of guns confiscated are homemade; in Brazil, Canada,China, India, Israel,and the
Philippines, and wherever onerous controls are imposed on the acquisition and ownership of arms.

Semi-automatic and full auto firearms are made in crude, small shops for sale in the black market all over the world. They are made in places with far less access to machinery and technology than Southern California. 

Sheriff Villanueva attempts to make some sort of point by referring to gun tracing and registration. Registration has never been effective in reducing crime rates.

Tracing gun ownership, a lower level of control, has never been effective either. They may appeal to those addicted to government control of the population. In practice they have no effect on crime. There is no difference in the lack of ability to trace a gun which is stolen and a gun which is made in a basement or garage.  The only mild difference is that a few guns may be returned to the legal owners. That does not effect violent crime.  The vast majority of the 400+ million guns in private hands in the United States are not registered and not "traceable".

The modern history of over 160 years of gun controls in the world shows there is no relationship between legal firearms ownership, illegal firearms ownership, and levels of  violent crime.

One of the major reasons violent crime is not reduced, is guns are fairly easily made, and are thus relatively easily available on black markets. They are at least a 500 year old technology. "Modern" firearms are over a 160 years old. Semi-automatic rifles and pistols have been commercially available in the United States for over a 110 years. The technology for making guns has kept pace, and is well within the purchasing power of a hobbyist or low level criminal.

Ammunition is easily produced by hobbyists, but very little is needed for criminal purposes. What is expended by one dedicated target shooter in a year, is enough to fuel the entire criminal enterprise in Southern California for the same period (between 20,000 and 50,000 rounds).  A criminal only needs a few rounds. A dedicated target shooter needs tens of thousands.

Modern ammunition has a shelf life of at least 100 years.

Physics and chemistry limit the effectiveness of gun control to reduce crime more than the Second Amendment does.

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

Gun Watch 

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TX: Two Reported Robberies and a Shooting of Possible Suspect

Police say a teen shot twice at someone, there was an altercation and the teen was shot. Police would not give any further details, except to say one person was transported to the hospital for treatment.
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