Saturday, May 23, 2020
OH: Resident Jailed after Shooting Fleeing Burglary Suspect
Claude M. Hill III, 19, was charged with one count of felonious assault, a second-degree felony. He remains in Holmes County Jail without bond until he can be seen by the Holmes County Municipal Court.
According to the release, the gunshot victim and another man entered Hill’s residence without permission. When the two men attempted to flee the residence, Hill obtained a handgun and began firing rounds at both men.
More Here
Friday, May 22, 2020
GA: Homeowner Wounds 1 of 3 who Attempted Break-in
AIKEN COUNTY (WFXG) - Aiken County authorities say one man was arrested and two are still wanted after a morning burglary on Cobblestone Rd.
According to authorities, on Thursday, May 21, at 8:30 a.m. deputies responded to 407 Cobblestone Rd. after a homeowner reported he fired shots at three men attempting to break into his home.
Authorities say after they arrived at the scene, the homeowner said while walking his dog, he saw at least two men and two vehicles on his property. The owner said as he approached the suspects, he yelled and fired his weapon at them. The suspects then fled to their vehicles, one of which stalled on Cobblestone Road.
More Here
Thursday, May 21, 2020
10 Second Amendment Cases Scheduled for Conference Again, No Orders Yet
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| Dean Weingarten in Front of Supreme Court of the United States |
This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ private conference last week. The justices did not add any new cases to their argument calendar for next term. Perhaps most significantly, they did not act at all on the 10 gun rights cases that they had considered for a second time at last week’s conference.Ten Second Amendment cases have been re-listed for the Supreme Court conference to be held Friday, 15 May, 2020. As noted in the SCOTUSBLOG post above, a writ of certiorari is usually not granted until a case has been heard at conference at least twice. The ten Second Amendment cases have now been to conference at least three times each. Perhaps, because of the number of cases, the Supreme Court Justices are taking more time on this issue.
The gun rights cases have all been on hold, some for over a year, presumably until the court issued its decision in the challenge to New York City’s ban on the transport of handguns outside the city. The justices dismissed that case as moot at the end of April, and a few hours later the court had distributed the 10 petitions for consideration at the justices’ May 1 conference. The justices normally only grant review after they have considered a petition at two consecutive conferences, so it was no surprise that they did not act on the petitions when they issued orders on May 4. There’s no way to know whether the justices are still trying to choose among the petitions, have not yet decided what to do or have some other reason for waiting to act on the petitions.
No orders for any of the Second Amendment cases were issued as of Monday, 18 May.
It is noted in each case whether the Department of Justice has submitted a brief in the case.
The cases are shown in the list below. The link on the name of the case is to the Supreme Court case history and assignment to the conference. The second link is to documents showing the particulars of the case. The ten cases are:
Mance v. Barr
The DOJ has filed a brief claiming the law is Constitutional.A challange to the ban on out of state handgun purchases in the 5th Circuit (Texas).
Rogers v. Grewal
A challenge to the NJ may issue carry permit scheme in the 3rd Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
Pena v. Horan
A challenge to the microstamping and restrictive “approved” handgun roster in California in the 9th Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
Gould v. Lipson
A challenge to the restrictive Massachusetts may issue ownership and carry permit scheme in the 1st circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
Cheeseman v. Polillo
A challenge to the NJ may issue carry permit scheme in the 3rd Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
Ciolek v. New Jersey
A challenge to the NJ may issue carry permit scheme in the 3rd Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
Worman v. Healy
A challenge to a ban on common firearms described as “assault weapons” and magazines with capacity of more than 10 rounds in the 1st Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
An amicus brief was filed by 94 members of Congress, asking the Court to uphold the Second Amendment and to strike down the law as unconstitutional.
Malpasso v. Pallozzi
A challenge to the Maryland extreme may issue carry permit scheme in the 4th Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
Culp v. Raoul
A challenge to the Illinois refusal to issue carry permits to residents of some states, in the 7th Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
Wilson v. Cook County
A challenge to an on ban on common firearms described as “assault weapons” and magazines with capacity of more than 10 rds in Cook County, Illinois, in the 7th Circuit.The DOJ has not filed a brief in this case.
The ten cases above were appealed to the Supreme Court from November of 2018 through November of 2019. Some of them have been held for conference, waiting on the resolution of the New York Rifle and Pistol case, which has now been ruled moot by the Supreme Court.
Six of the ten cases are about permits to carry. Two are about bans on widely owned and popular firearms, variously defined as “assault weapons”. One is about federal restrictions on the purchase of handguns across state lines, the other about numerous and prohibitive restrictions on what handguns may be purchased in California.
In addition to the ten cases above, the Supreme Court has asked the City of San Jose to submit a brief in Rodriquez v. City of San Jose. The is not due until June 22, 2020.
No one knows how many of the ten cases will be granted a writ of certiorari, if any. Several of the cases could be lumped together.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a conference each week until the end of June. There is an opportunity for the Court to issue orders after each conference. There is a reasonable possibility the Court will decide to take one, several, or all of the Second Amendment cases before the end of the term.
However, oral arguments would not be heard until next fall, possibly after the election.
©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
TX: Homeowner Shoolts 1 of 3 Men Attempting Break-in
A homeowner shot one of three men police say were trying to break into a house in north Fort Worth on Sunday morning.
At 6:22 a.m., a homeowner called police and said men dressed in black kicked in the front door and tried to come into the house in the 2700 block of Northwest 34th Street, police officer Jimmy Pollozani said.
More Here
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
WY: Man, Gathering Antlers, Shoots, Kills, Attacking Grizzly Bear
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department are investigating a grizzly bear attack on a man who was hunting shed antlers.
According to a release, the man was attacked on Saturday, May 16, east of Dubois and taken to a hospital. The release didn’t specify injuries, but said they were not life threatening.
More Here
MD: Security Guard Shoots Suspect During Struggle
The armed security guard confronted the man and noticed he had what appeared to be a gun, police said. The security guard shot the man in the ankle during a brief struggle, police said.
The suspect suffered non-life threatening injuries, Fennoy added.
More Here
LA: Gunfight, Homeowner and Burglary Suspects Trade Shots
When a homeowner in the neighborhood confronted the burglars in the early morning, the burglars allegedly fired shots and ran away on foot. The sheriff's office said the homeowner returned fire but no one was hit.
The three then got into a vehicle with the keys inside and used that to speed away from the area.
More Here
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Extend the Range of .22 Shotshells with Reverse Paradox Tubes for a Garden Gun
In a previous article, I commented on the usefulness of .22 LR shotshells and their limited range. Their use is severely hampered by the poor patterns produced by these shotshells out of rifled barrels.
The effective range of these shells can be doubled or tripled with the use of a reverse paradox tube.
The Ball and Shot gun, more commonly known as the Paradox gun, was invented by Col. George Fosbery, VC, and patented in England in 1885. The patent was sold to Holland and Holland who marketed the guns under the Paradox name. The idea was simple: put shallow rifling in the choke of a shotgun to spin bullets, and give decent accuracy to bullets from a shotgun bore.
The reverse paradox tube solves the opposite problem. I believe this is the first publication of the concept. Normally, smooth bore tubes work very well for shot charges, and rifled tubes very well for bullets. There are rare circumstances where a firearm is called to use both effectively.
There are dedicated Garden Guns that have smooth bores and give decent patterns with the .22 shotshells. Addition of a second smooth bore, after the .22 bore, twice the diameter of a .22, is claimed to give tighter patterns.
In 1937, Frederick.J. Routledge filed a patent, which was granted in 1940, #2,185,523. He claimed doubling the bore diameter of a .22 smoothbore for about 18 inches, greatly increased the pattern density of the shot at 10 yards and further.
Several thousand of the Routledge bore guns were produced, and are said to work well. Such dedicated .22 shotguns/Garden Guns work. They are expensive, compared to a box of .22 shot. They do not work well with single bullets.
There are likely less than a hundred thousand smoothbore .22 rimfire firearms in the United States, of which perhaps 10,000 have the Routledge bores. There are about a hundred million rifled .22 rimfire firearms in the United States. Many of those firearms are produced with a threaded barrel for muzzle attachments.
Reverse paradox tubes work well and shoot close to point of aim with rifled bullets and shot charges. If properly aligned, the bullets never touch the tube.
Adding anything to the muzzle of a rifle may change the point of impact. Firing a few shots to test the point of aim is simple.
Aluminum, steel, and pvc (polyvinyl chloride) tubes were tested. Aluminum and steel were either threaded or had an adapter machined, so as to be easily attached to the end of the barrel. Tubes of up to 1 inch inside diameter worked well. Both sch 40 and sch 20 pvc were tested.
30 inches of 3/4" sch 20 PVC and a threaded/slip coupling weigh 5.6 ounces. PVC reverse paradox tubes work surprisingly well. The pressures out of the muzzle of a .22 LR are much lower than chamber pressures. Pressures are lowered dramatically when the gases leave the muzzle, into the larger diameter reverse paradox tube.
The tubes double to triple the effective range of the .22 LR shotshell, compared to most rifled barrels.
The test patterns shown were shot 10 yards from the muzzle of the tube or the muzzle of the gun. The pattern on the left has 20 pellets; the one done with the reverse paradox tube has 71 pellets. They are typical patterns. Testing showed the maximum effective range with the tube to be about 45 feet (15 yards) from the muzzle of the tube. The tube and rifle extend about five feet from the shooter's shoulder.
Sch 20 pvc is considerably lighter than sch 40 pvc. Because of the geometries involved, a thin tube is stiffer than a thick tube of the same weight. Stiffness is a desirable quality in reverse paradox tubes.
Testing for the 3/4 inch pvc showed the optimum length to be between 25 and 31 inches. CCI 31 grain shot shells were used in the test. Five shot averages of pellet counts inside an 8 inch circle at 45 feet (15 yards) from the muzzle of the tube were as follows:
Tube length Pellets inside 8" circle
33 inches 39.6 pellets
30 inches 45.6 pellets
28 inches 42.6 pellets
26 inches 43.6 pellets
24 inches 38.2 pellets
22 inches 35.8 pellets
20 inches 31.8 pellets
Early comparisons of the CCI and Federal loads show patterns to be very close.
At 45 feet, the tiny #12 pellets are near their maximum range for fatal penetration on small pests. They should be traveling a little over 600 feet per second at that range. One commentator at the shotgun world forum stated, in his experience, they were adequate for pigeons at 15 yards.
By 120 feet (40 yards) the energy of the #12 pellet has dropped to 2.3% of the energy of a common BB gun at the muzzle. The purpose of such small shot is to prevent damage to property and persons while dispatching small pests at relatively short ranges. Pigeons or rats are about the largest pest that can be easily dispatched with the shot shells at more than 10 feet. Some shooters have reported good results for larger insect pests. They work very well inside of structures and areas where energetic shot would be inadvisable beyond 40 yards.
Anything less than 40 pellets in an 8 inch circle leaves considerable holes for small pests. The combination of pellet count and pellet energy means 45 feet is about the maximum range for this load, with the reverse paradox tube.
The energy of the .22 LR shot cartridge is a little less than a standard velocity .22 short. The report is similarly low. This is positive for a load meant for use inside structures or with nearby neighbors.
The report of Aquila Super Colibri cartridges out of a rifle is similar to that of a BB gun. They could be used for pests if backstops are available at short ranges. It does not take much of a backstop to stop the Super Colibri. However, the 20 grain projectile of the Super Colibri renders it dangerous at further distances than #12 shot. A Super Colibri is unlikely to put a hole in a barn's roof, but it could break a window. A standard velocity .22 would almost always put a hole in the roof.
It is not necessary to have a threaded barrel to experiment with reverse paradox tubes. The tubes can be attached by friction, or taped onto a barrel, or non-threaded adapters can be made. Alignment of the tube with the barrel is important. A 1/8th inch misalignment at the muzzle of a 30" tube can move the center of the pattern a couple of inches at 10 yards.
Threaded barrels make the addition of reverse paradox tubes easy. Tubes can be taken off and replaced in a minute. There are cheap adapters for pvc tubes available, for nearly all threaded .22 muzzles. The adapters are sold as automotive accessories. They adapt 1/2-28 female threads to male 3/4" National Pipe Threads (NPT) (and others). NPT threads are commonly used to attach pvc couplings.
The cost of the thread adapter and the PVC material is less than a box of shot shell ammunition. A thread adapter can be had for about $3.50, a threaded/slip 3/4" pvc coupling for less than a dollar, and sch 20 pvc pipe is less than $2 for ten feet, enough for four tubes! $3.50+$1+$.50=$5.00. Many people already have pvc and couplings from previous projects. For $15, a hobbyist can purchase three thread adapters and the materiel for several reverse paradox tubes.
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| Thread adaptor with .22 shot cartridges for scale |
Sources for thread adapters:
1/2-28 x 3/4" NPT thread adapters, steel, made in the USA, for $12.99.
From Sears.com: the adapter is out of stock.
They are available on Ebay from $3 to $10 in numerous ads.
From Ebay: Free shipping from Taiwan/Hong Kong.
Here is a 5/8-24 version for $3.29 for barrels in that thread pattern. It also offers free shipping.
If ordering from Hong-Kong/Taiwan, out of Ebay, it might be wise to order two or three adapters, because shipping may take a few weeks. The adapters work well as thread protectors, yet cost only a third of what common thread protectors cost.
A straight tube is important. Some pvc tubes come with gentle bends acquired from transport or storage. A friction fit to the pvc coupling works adequately, but glue could preserve proper alignment. It might be possible to adjust the alignment in the short period while pvc glue is setting up. A reference mark on the tube could help to maintain the proper alignment. Testing showed that patterns from individual firearms can vary considerably.
It is best to shoot a test pattern or five to see how an individual rifle does with a reverse paradox tube. Because the patterns are small, users need to know if the tube is patterning to point of aim.
The light weight of the reverse paradox tube makes the rifle easy to handle. The length of the rifle, with tube mounted, takes a little practice. Striking the muzzle of the tube on door frames or bushes is likely to affect the alignment. It is not as awkward as it might appear. Many muzzle loaders were of similar lengths, overall.
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| Experimental set up with pvc tube marked for cutting. |
While performing these tests, there were tantalizing indicators better performance might be possible. The pvc tube delivers cylinder bore performance. Improved cylinder performance would add enough pellets at 15 yards to fill holes in the existing patterns.
Investigation of those possibilities awaits future articles.
The cost to thread the barrel of a .22 at the factory is minimal, probably less than a dollar. The usefulness of muzzle accessories means more manufacturers will be offering models with threaded barrels in the future.
All safety measures must be observed. Ammoland and the author publish the information for academic interest, and cannot assume any responsibility for actions taken by readers.
©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
AR: Domestic Defense Gunfight in Fayetteville, Intruder Wounded
Officers were told Navarro went into the house because his girlfriend refused to come outside. Once inside, Navarro pulled a handgun from his waistband and he and the caller exchanged shots, according to the release.
Navarro was shot on the right side of his body and fled the area, according to the release. He arrived about 45 minutes later at Washington Regional Medical Center where he was arrested.
More Here
Monday, May 18, 2020
MO: Escaped Dog Attacks Goats, is Shot, Killed
One owner discovered one of the six escaped dogs on their property, though. “One of them ended up attacking some goats in the area and was killed by the property owner,” explained Major Erik Holland with the Platte County Sheriff’s Office.
More Here
TX: Armed Homeowner Subdues Man Attempting Break-in
When officers arrived they found the homeowner holding down the would-be burglar. Police said the occupants of the house were sound asleep when they heard someone breaking into their front door. The homeowner said he grabbed his gun and confronted the person breaking into his home. The gun went off during their scuffle, but nobody was shot.
More Here
Sunday, May 17, 2020
MI: Warning Shot Scares off Tresspasser/Stalker
According to a sheriff’s report, the man was highly intoxicated and taken into custody on charges of stalking, trespassing and resisting and obstructing police officers when the woman’s husband called 911 to complain that the man was trespassing on their property and harassing his wife about 8 a.m. in the 4000 block of W. Temperance Rd.
While her husband was trying to convince the man to leave, the woman fired a 9mm handgun into the air to scare him off. The couple told deputies that the man had been trespassing on their property since he moved next door seven months ago.
More Here
AZ: More on Shooting Death of Naked Intruder in Scottsdale
The homeowner was reportedly doing work on the property when the family dog alerted him to some type of disturbance. When the father of the family entered a room to investigate, he found that one of his children had been confronted by a naked man, identified Friday as Cameron Yoe.
Police say Yoe was holding a large piece of wood in a threatening manner and charged at the resident. The resident then pulled out a gun and shot Yoe twice, killing him.
More Here
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Bear Biologist Makes Hyperbolic Claim about Bear Maulings
In a March 15, 2020 article about a bear encounter by Caroline Wellbery, a bear biologist makes a hyperbolic claim. It is not unusual for people to make hyperbolic claims about bears, which are not founded in facts or data. It is irresponsible for experts in the field to do so. From the washingtonpost.com:
There is a bigger chance of getting hit twice by lightning, Craighead says, than being mauled by a bear.As with any statistical assessment, it depends on a number of assumptions. If you are talking about the United States as a whole, Craighead's claim is false.
Over the last decade, the number of people killed by lightning per year, according to weather.gov, has been 26. The number of people struck by lightning is about 10 times that number, or about 260 a year, or about 1 out of 1.27 million in a year. The number struck by lightning has been falling. The expected lifespan in the United States is about 79 years.
Assuming that each person has half of their life to live after the first strike, at any one time, there are about 79/2 x 260 people who have been struck by lightning once, or 10,270 living in the United States. Each of those, in a given year, has a chance of being struck by lightning again. Because the odds are so small, they are, essentially, additive, so, for a given year, they are very close to 10,270/1.27 million, or .008 per year, or about 1 person every 123 years.
There are a couple of people in existence who have been struck by lightning more than once, so the odds may be a little greater. Then again, the number of people struck by lightning has been falling, while the number of people mauled by bears has been rising.
There are many times as many people alive who have been mauled by a bear, as have been struck by lightning twice.
According to research in Alaska, there are about seven bear attacks requiring at least one day in the hospital for each fatal bear attack. There are other people who only need stitches and are released, or who have other, minor injuries.
There have been 18 fatal bear attacks in the United States in the last decade .
7 x 18 is 126, or about 12 bear maulings requiring at least 1 day in the hospital each year, on average. That does not count the people attacked by a bear who can be released from the hospital the same day. Over the same time period, the number of people being hit, twice, by lightning would be .008 x 10 or about .08 people per decade.
In the United States, your chance of getting mauled by a bear is about 1500 times as great as being struck by lightning, twice.
Craighead is not just wrong in his estimate, he is off by three orders of magnitude.
The comparison of lightning strikes to bear attacks is a frivolous, Orwellian exercise. All risks should be taken in context. In some contexts, bear attacks are a serious risk. In most, they are not. In the backwoods of Yellowstone park, the chance of being in an automobile accident are very small, but the chance of being killed by a bear is significant, about the same at that of being in a fatal automobile accident in the rest of the United States.
Where most bear attacks occur, deaths by bear can be more frequent than deaths by lightning strike. They are clearly more common than being hit twice by lightning. Seven of the eighteen fatal bear attacks in the United States in the last decade, occurred in Alaska. There were no recorded deaths by lightning in Alaska during that decade.
Humans are, generally, far more dangerous to other humans than are bears. Bears may kill, over the entire world, a dozen humans or less in a year (there are more bear attacks in Asia than in North America, and almost as many in Europe). Humans kill about half a million humans in a year.
In the back country of Yellowstone park, bears kill more humans than humans do.
Humans learn from others and learn how to prevent attacks and exposure to lightning strikes. A person who has been struck by lightning may be careful to expose themselves less.
Long experience with bears has resulted in people knowing how to effectively avoid and/or stop a bear attack. It is likely about 10 bears are killed for each bear that attacks and injures a human. The chance of a bear mauling is not the same as the chance of a bear attack. Bear attacks occur much more frequently. They mostly fail, and the bear is killed or driven off.
In my research, handguns are shown to be about 97% effective in stopping bear attacks.
©2020 by Dean Weingarten: First publication rights are granted to Ammoland
Link to Gun Watch
NV: Security Guard Shoots, Wounds Suspect
One of the suspects was possibly armed with a gun and the security officer fired shots, police said.
Metro officers responded to the shooting and followed a trail of blood that led them to a tent where the shot man was found in a tent.
More Here
MO: Armed Homeowner Shoots, Wounds 1 of 3 Childen Breaking into Home
St. Louis Police say that a 23-year-old man heard banging and glass
breaking from the rear of the home. He found the three boys coming into
the home through a broken window. Police say the man fired a shot from
his weapon in the direction of the suspects, fearing for his safety. The
three boys started to run away.
More Here
More Here
Friday, May 15, 2020
NICS Background Checks for April, 2020, Breaks Record
April 2020 was another record breaking month for the National Instant background Check System (NICS). The numbers for the month were:
Handguns - 984,872, almost a million!
Long guns - 508,122 over half a million!
Other - 68,746
Multiple - 34,778 (multiplied by 2.5 to approximate the number of firearms, 86,948)
The new format for the graphics shows last year's numbers in the blue, green, yellow and red lines. The blue, green, yellow and red bars show this year's numbers.
Total firearms sold, as recorded by NICS - 1,648,688.
The numbers are not as high as for March, but are significantly higher than last year. They are the highest numbers for April on record.
The sales happened in spite of a significant number of gun shops being shut down by decree by state governors, then re-opened after protests, lawsuits, and the Trump administration declaring them essential businesses.
In the period of dropping economic numbers and record level unemployment, over 1.6 million Americans voted with their credit cards and wallets to support, in a very concrete way, the reality of the Second Amendment.
Perhaps because of social distancing, the number of permit checks and rechecks were only 42% of total NICS checks, while the recent trend has been over half of all NICS. In April of 2019, permit checks and rechecks were 58% of total NICS, a reversal of the proportions.
This is in stark contrast to Canada, where the right of Englishmen to Arms has been effectively abolished over the last 85 years.
In Canada, with considerable effort, you can obtain a permit to allow you to take your unloaded, and double locked pistol to the range, directly, without stopping. For the vast majority of pistol owners, the range is the only place the pistol is allowed to be loaded or fired.
The Prime Minister banned a list of 1500 models deemed to fall into the rather fluid definition of "assault weapons", without a vote of Parliament.
In the United States, with its Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment, those sort of bans are not allowed.
According to Larry Keane at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a large percentage of the firearm purchasers in the United States were first time buyers.
The Trump Bump in gun sales has continued two months now, with many popular models being temporarily difficult to come by. Handguns accounted for a bit less than two thirds of the total sales, although precise numbers are not known. This is because the category of multiple sales and other sales could be either handguns or long guns, or both at the same time. It is likely the proportions are close.
Ammunition sales are also up, according to a local gun shop, particularly for pistol cartridges. A quick visit to a local WalMart showed a lot of empty space on the ammunition shelves. WalMart had been liquidating its handgun ammunition before the Chinese Virus lock-down heightened customers awareness of societal vulnerabilities.
It is possible the deadlock at the Supreme Court about the Second Amendment has also contributed to record sales. It is much easier to hang on to a firearm you already own, than to get permission to own one once restrictive legislation is passed.
The American gun culture is alive and well. Most gun owners own guns for defense of self and others, as well as for hunting and target shooting.
In the rest of the Anglosphere, there are two foundational deceptions used to restricting gun ownership.
First, define guns as illegitimate for self defense. This removes the most powerful argument for moral gun ownership.
Second, make ownership of guns a privilege, instead of a right.
Both deceptions have been used as powerful arguments for heavy restrictions on gun ownership in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
ND: William Dittmer was Justified in Shooting Duane Turchin
Dittmer claims the shooting was an act of self-defense.
“Mr. Turchin was a considerably larger man. He had presented himself as a challenge to Mr. Dittmer,” explained State’s Attorney Birch Burdick. “He was present on Mr. Dittmer’s property and challenging him right there at his car. The evidence indicated that when Mr. Dittmer got out of his car, Mr. Turchin put his hand around his throat and was squeezing his throat.”
The evidence includes Sheriff’s Office photographs that show a spilled drink on the drivers side window of the vehicle, which Dittmer Jr. said was thrown at him. Photographs also show faint, red scratch marks on Dittmer’s neck. This was corroborated by Dittmer’s girlfriend, Adrienne Johnson, who saw the altercation from inside the couple’s home.
More Here
UT: One of Six Home Invaders Shot and Killed in Targeted Attack
VINEYARD — An attempted home invasion robbery in Vineyard resulted in one of the would-be robbers being shot and killed by the resident and at least six others arrested, according to police.
More Here
David Chipman Mocks new gun owners; Pushes them into the Gun Culture
Screenshot from C-Span Video
David Chipman is a former ATF agent. He found a new gig as a spokesman for those who want the population disarmed.
David Chipman's latest attempt at scaring Americans away from exercising their Second Amendment rights seems rather ham-handed.
David Chipman, Senior Policy Advisor at the Giffords organization said hopelessness, anxiety and fear might cause people to try to use firearms to control some aspect of their lives as they are inundated with concerning news about COVID-19, “but there are risks to that choice.”(snip)
“They might think that they’re die-hard, ready to go, but unfortunately they’re more like Tiger King and they’re putting themselves and their family in danger,” he said, referencing the popular new Netflix series and its central figure’s love of guns. Particularly without proper gun training, Chipman worries new gun owners are putting people at risk. Unintentional shootings makeup 1.3 percent of gun deaths and 18 percent of gun injuries.
He suggested first-time gun owners secure unloaded firearms. “Hide it behind the cans of tuna and beef jerky that you’ve stored in the cabinet,” he said.
Chipman said he’s concerned about an increase in domestic violence cases and the possibility of a gun becoming part of that equation. Experts have warned quarantine may lead to more domestic violence incidents sprung from anxiety, loss of jobs and more time at home.Fortunately, there is no evidence of a national spike in domestic violence. The Hill.com has some numbers from some cities.
Dallas showed an increase of 21% of calls from from February to March; Los Angeles reported a 12.4% decrease, then a 7.6% increase of calls; and New York showed a 15% decline in calls from last year. There is no good evidence the lockdown is increasing or decreasing domestic violence. Those who make and industry of domestic abuse find a way to conflate any reporting with an increase. For example, a sociology professor speculated that lower reporting might be because of higher abuse rates.
Domestic violence may increase; it may not. It is difficult to know. It is difficult to know if an increase in reporting means an increase in violence or not. It is hard to believe having more gun owners means having more domestic violence.
Comparing the new gun owners to convicted criminals and bizzare adrenaline and meth addicts in the Netflicks docudrama "true crime" series, Tiger King, won't win points with new gun owners. Very few new gun owners will be polyandrous gay men who obsess with and own tigers and lions.
Missing from the Cheddar article is a call for the new gun owners to get trained up. Instead, Chipman advises them to store guns in such a way as to render them unusable for immediate defense of self and family.
People seldom purchase firearms as an impulse buy. They are not offered next to the checkout at your local convenience store, along with the candy.
What seems like an impulse buy is usually a long simmering and considered desire, set off by events which crystallize the decision to be prepared.
Trying to shame these new gun owners into giving up the guns they just paid top dollar for, is not a way to endear yourself to them.
Those who are attempting to push the national population into disarmament, have convinced themselves they are smarter than the people they are attempting to disarm. They have had success, because they have had the Media on their side for 50 years.
Expert is a label which no longer carries much weight. The public has come to know experts can be found for any side of an argument.
To evaluate an expert, people have to consider their arguments and data. When you find an "expert" who resorts to emotional arguments, or who refuses to show you their data, you know to discard that persons advise.
Nicolo Machiavelli was a political expert on the use of power, who the left has idealized for 500 years. He wrote that armed people see the world differently than unarmed people.
The famed political philosopher states it well in The Prince:
Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants. Because, there being in the one disdain and in the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to work well together.David Chipman is attempting to convince recently armed people to place themselves back into the category of unarmed people. It is rather like convincing someone to forget what they have seen.
It has not been working. America is better armed today, in spite of the scare mongering and propaganda, than it has ever been.
People in the gun culture need to welcome these new members. They need training and support. Put aside past judgements. Many were only believing what "experts" told them. They have much to learn, when they are seeing the world through the eyes of an armed citizen.
©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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