DALLAS - Dallas police said a 28-year-old man was shot by another man who saw him assaulting a female early Saturday morning.
This happened just after 2 a.m., in the 2400 block of Hillburn Drive.
Investigators found that Alfonso Delgado Morales, was arguing with a female, and he started hitting her.
In the most northern Island of Japan, Hokkaido, enormous brown bears are thriving. The population has more than doubled to about 12,000 since 1990. The bears are a closely related subspecies of brown/grizzly bears. Because they live in a similar environment to Kodiak Island, the bears are similar in size the the enormous Kodiak bears. The bear population in the Shirtoko National Park is said to be one of the highest concentrations of bears in the world. Because of the increasing population of bears, the number of people injured or killed by the bears has been rising, and is similar to the numbers in Alaska, although Alaska has about 3-4 times as many brown/grizzly bears. In fiscal year 2021, four people were killed by bears in Hokkaido. The average has been about one per year. From japannews.yomiuri.co.jp:
“Because the brown bear population has increased, we have entered a new period in which humans are coming into contact with them more often,” said Yoshikazu Sato, professor at Rakuno Gakuen University in Hokkaido and an expert on brown bear ecology. “Whenever we go into a forest, we need to assume that bears are nearby.”
A prefectural government official said, “We want to have bears fear humans and reduce the amount of damage they cause.”
There is a long open season on the bears in Hokkaido, from October to January. The season coincides with a significant period of bear hibernation (December to March). Bears were previously killed in the spring. Until 1990, bears were considered pests. From powderlife.com:
Until 1990, Hokkaido had a policy of allowing hunters to exterminate brown bears but this was abolished due to conservation concerns.
Since that time, researchers at Hokkaido University and other institutions have confirmed a rapid increase in the brown bear population, something anecdotally understood by many farmers and residents of Hokkaido’s rural and suburban areas.
A current proposal would extend the current bear hunting season to April. In 2021, licensed private hunters killed 45 bears. Government trappers/hunters killed over a thousand, in an attempt to limit damage to crops and danger to humans. The trend is toward larger numbers of bears killed, as the bear population continues to increase. From mainichi.jp:
A total of 1,056 brown bears in Hokkaido were caught and killed through hunting or extermination measures in fiscal 2021, according to information collected by the prefectural government. This is the highest figure on record since fiscal 1962, and the first time the number has surpassed 1,000.
Meanwhile, the number of people injured or killed in incidents involving bears was 14 in fiscal 2021, and the total amount of damage to crops caused by the animals was 262 million yen (about $2.05 million) -- both figures are also the highest on record. As the brown bear population has increased, so too has the number of times they have appeared in populated places and surrounding areas.According to the brown bear task force of the Hokkaido government's Natural Environment Division, the number of bears culled annually in the prefecture has fluctuated over the past 60 years, but in recent times numbers have remained high with over 800 for the last five years. Fiscal 2021 saw an increase of 126 from the previous fiscal year, setting a record for the second straight year.
Obtaining a firearms permit to hunt bears is a difficult and time consuming process in Japan. The number of people willing to hunt the bears is decreasing. Accumulated knowledge of bear hunting is dying out on Hokkaido. The numbers from Hokkaido show a harvest of over eight percent of the bear population may be necessary to keep the number of bears to the desired level. Much of the depredation removal of problem bears is by trapping and killing the bears. The Japanese bear trap is an ingenious spring-powered foot snare, similar to the Aldrich Bear Humane Foot Snare, but using a different trigger mechanism.
Video showing Japanese bear snare/trap.
Analysis: There is a tremendous demand for trophy bear hunts internationally. Sportsmen are willing to pay $25,000 - $30,000 for a hunt. Hokkaido could sell bear hunts and bring in several million dollars a year to the local economy. Such a change would make economic sense. It would be in opposition to the centuries old Japanese government policies of keeping firearms under extremely restrictive regulation.
No records of the defensive use of handguns against bears have been recorded in Japan. Japanese laws restricting the possession and use of handguns make it nearly impossible for Japanese to legally possess, let alone carry, handguns.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, by Jack Kelly, 261 pages, published by Basic Books in 2004. Available on Amazon in hardcover for as little as $5.49 used or $11.99 on Kindle.
Gunpowder by Jack Kelly is the best history on the subject this writer has encountered. It is not a "how to" book, although the essentials of how to make black powder are covered in enough detail that one could do so. The book elaborates on the thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of persons who died while making black powder over the roughly 800 years of its primacy. "Gunpowder" starts with an examination of the long development of the "fire drug" in China, from about 1050 A.D. to 1230 A.D. During this 180 year period, Chinese "fire drug" producers learned to increase the amount of saltpeter to the optimum amount of about 75% of the total by weight, with 15% softwood charcoal and 10% sulfur. The type of wood used for the charcoal is critical to the quality of the gunpowder produced.
The formula for gunpowder was likely transmitted to Europe through the Muslim world. While both Chinese and Muslim cultures had access to the information, it was Europeans who perfected gunpowder to a form which was relatively stable and could be transported across oceans in usable condition. In this form it was ready to use at a moments notice in relatively fast loading, reliable and accurate cannon and handheld individual weapons.
Gunpowder was used militarily in Europe at least as early as 1326. It was used in the Battle of Crécy in 1346. By the late 1300s European inventors had created a major improvement, the wrought iron stave and ring cannon known as bombards. Later, in 1451, a European transferred state of the art gun casting technology to the Muslim empire, which allowed the Turkish Sultan to conquer Constantinople.
Kelly is eminently readable and highly informative. The book is not an academic paper. It does not use footnotes. At the back of the book there are seven pages explaining the sources (p. 243-250) used in each chapter of the book, with a synopsis of what is covered in each source.
Kelly gives a good summation of the rise of firearms in Japan and their suppression by the Shoguns. He explains the enormous advantages corned gunpowder gave to Europeans, the transition from matchlock to flintlock, with an explanation of why the wheel-lock eventually was superseded. He writes of the curious lull in firearms advancement from 1650 to 1800. He explains the industrialization of firearms production. He includes the rise of Samuel Colt and his revolvers with fascinating details. The history of gunpowder is interwoven with the history of warfare. There is a wonderful section on the 250 year history of the use of smoothbore, muzzleloading cannon on ships.
In Gunpowder, you will find interesting nuggets of information. During the Civil War in the United States, a Dupont was sent to England, very early, to corral the supply of saltpeter from India. He purchased years worth of output, locking the Confederacy out of the market. Later, as the price of saltpeter from India skyrocketed, the Duponts developed a method to convert sodium nitrate to potassium nitrate, breaking the India (controlled by the British) lock on the market.
There are a few instances where Kelly seems to have lapsed to political correctness. His description of the Atlantic slave trade places the effect entirely on Europeans. He never mentions the Islamic slave trade, which lasted longer and was more destructive of the victims. He implies life would have been better without the European trade. An equally plausible hypothesis is the victims sold as slaves would have been killed in the inter-tribal warfare, or served as slaves in Africa.
Gunpowder by Kelly is well worth reading for those interested in the history of technology, warfare, and firearms.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Preliminary information: On 7/15/23 at around 11:07 p.m., Atlanta police responded to a person shot call at 201 Moury Ave SW. Upon arrival, officers located a male with a gunshot wound. He was transported to the hospital alert, conscious and breathing for further medical treatment. A female, who was still on scene was identified as the shooter.
Further investigation revealed the male and female are known acquaintances who were engaged in a verbal dispute shortly before the shooting. The verbal dispute led to the male physically assaulting the female in front of her children. She then in turn produced a handgun and both fought over it when the gun discharged striking the male.
The female did not want to press charges for the assault; however the incident did occur in the presence of her children therefore the male, identified as 56-year-old Ricky Davis was charged with Cruelty to Children. He was later released from the hospital and transported to the Fulton County Jail.
On Tuesday afternoon, Brooks said he expected to arraign the five men — ranging in ages from 38 to 44 years old — later the same day. Some of the men have Midland addresses. Others have unknown addresses, according to arrest records.
Greene said at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, deputies responded to a complaint at the Warren Township residence regarding unknown subjects attempting to break into a residence and that shots were fired. A 40-year-old man reportedly involved in the attempted robbery was shot by a resident at the house. He is in stable condition.
A dramatic decrease in the level of firearms sales through the National Instant background Check System (NICS ) occurred for June of 2023. Monthly firearm sales in 2023 have been the third or fourth highest of the 25 years recorded in the FBI NICS records. In June of 2023, the adjusted sales dropped 21% from the 2022 figures.The number of gun sales in June of 2022 was about 1.35 million. In June of 2023 it was about 1.06 million. In spite of the drop in gun sales, the month continued the trend of over 1 million gun sales each month for the past 47 months, since September of 2019. The FBI total NICS check numbers for the month were 2.26 million. The background check numbers and the number of gun sales have become less and less correlated as the NICS system is used for more and more purposes. However the numbers for June of 2023 for both were the fifth highest for the month on record.
June and July tend to be low months for gun sales. Hunting seasons are at a low ebb. Christmas is past and yet to be anticipated for the next year. Summer sports take up more time. In 2023, the anti-Second Amendment activism of the Biden administration is off set by the effects of the Supreme Court treating the Second Amendment as an actual part of the Bill of Rights.
The sales of over a million firearms through the NICS system in the last month indicate the floor of gun sales may be approximated by the 1 million figure. Many new gun owners have been created in the past 15 years as President Obama and his allies have been working hard to fundamentally transform the United States of America.
As a partial reaction to the national and international uncertainty caused by Obama's policies and the reaction to them, people feel uncertain and unsafe The debacle in Afghanistan, the Russian-Ukrainian war, roaring inflation, rising urban violence, and an out of control border with Mexico all contribute to to feelings of uncertainty and a lack of security. A rational response is to seek more personal control and power in the form of personally owned firearms. The politics of restrictions on firearms sales and gun ownership are likely to become more important as the nation moves into the 2024 political season.
Gun owners are moving toward a majority position among voters. The way gun owners perceive the current administration is important to national politics. As more and more voters find the old media unreliable, the ability to paper over plausible threats to public safety and the Republic decreases.
As a corollary to the fall in gun sales, ammunition supplies are relatively high. Prices of some common calibers have dropped, and some reloading supplies are being seen on gun store shelves and advertised on the Internet. Availability has not reached the levels experienced in 2018, but it is higher than it has been. For the contrarian firearms enthusiast, this offers an opportunity to stock up on supplies which well hold their value during the current inflation.
Some people advise consumers to invest in precious metals such as gold and silver. In the right combination, metals such as copper, brass, and lead can be just as useful. The shelf life of ammunition is at least several decades. It is a known and useful commodity in difficult times.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A man is dead after police say a bystander shot and killed him when he heard three women calling for help inside a room at Hotel Indigo on 211 Clay Ave. The shooter cooperated with police and was not arrested.
Police say it started around 3 a.m. when a man staying at the hotel heard people yelling for help in the hallway.
He found a room where a man was in a fight with three women. Police say in a press release, the bystander tried to help, but it upset the “original aggressor”.
The original aggressor attacked the bystander, which prompted the bystander to fire one shot at the original aggressor.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A pizza delivery driver on his first day on the job shot and injured a man trying to steal his car and rob him. The incident happened outside a Chestnut Hill apartment complex just before midnight on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old man was delivering pizza when two armed men in masks forced him into the back seat of his vehicle, demanded money, and attempted to take his car.
According to the business where the driver works, the suspects placed an order to the apartment complex on the 7700 block of Stenton Avenue and then attempted to rob the driver.
"At one point, the 21-year-old delivery man was able to get out of the vehicle and confronted one of the perpetrators who had a gun and the 21-year-old delivery man, we know, fired at least two shots," said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
An 18-year-old is dead after being shot while allegedly committing an armed robbery on Sunday, according to authorities. Leflore County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Bill Staten said Kyler Matthews, 18, of Greenwood was the alleged robber during an incident in front of W.J. Bishop Apartments on Clay Avenue.
Image from Buncombe County DA
On the evening of July 3rd, at about 7:30 P.M. North Carolina State Trooper Jeffrey L. Dunlap noticed a disabled vehicle on the shoulder of I-26, near milepost 33. From media reports, it appears Wesley Scot Taylor, 56, was in the process of changing a tire when Trooper Jeffrey L. Dunlap stopped to investigate. The interaction was friendly until Dunlap asked Taylor to take an alcohol test. Dunlap says he smelled alcohol on Taylor's breath. Taylor went to the cab of his truck. Dunlap thought he was obtaining a tool to aid in the changing of the tire. Taylor returned with a Desert Eagle handgun, chambered in .44 magnum, as reported by the Buncombe County DA. There is reported to be dashcam camera video showing the gunfight which ensued. Taylor is reported as firing the first shot, which is said to have occurred moments after the screenshot shown above. Dunlap returned fire and killed Taylor. The dashcam video has not been released to the public as of this writing. From wlos.com:
Per the State Bureau of Investigation review, District Attorney Todd Williams said Dunlap pulled over to assist the driver, Wesley Taylor, of Leicester, and smelled alcohol on his breath. According to Williams, the interaction changed once Trooper Dunlap asked Taylor to take an alcohol test.
“At that point, some friction erupted," Williams said. "And Mr. Taylor went into his car and Trooper Dunlap assumed that he was getting other tools to get his tire back on, get his wheel back on, and emerged with a .44 Magnum Desert Eagle."
At that point, Taylor pulled the trigger, shooting Dunlap in the chest. The bullet was stopped by the trooper’s bulletproof vest, where it remained lodged, Williams said. Dunlap then quickly pulled his gun from its holster and returned fire, killing Taylor.
WLOS investigations shows Wesley Scot Taylor had been convicted of multiple felonies in Kentucky between 1984 and 1990, and had served time for those offenses over 30 years ago. From wlos.com, checking criminal records:
According to North Carolina records, Taylor only had traffic citations and violations. In October 2021, he was charged with an expired registration card/tag and an expired inspection. In February 2022, he pleaded guilty and responsible to those charges. Taylor was also charged with driving while impaired in 2012, which was dismissed by the district attorney in Buncombe County at the time, Ron Moore. In 2012, charges for an expired registration and driving under the influence were also dismissed by the DA.
In Kentucky, between 1984-1990, Taylor was found guilty of charges ranging from aggravated assault, fugitive warrants, forcible sex offenses, and burglary, for which he served time.
WLOS interviewed Taylor's neighbors. From wlos.com article with interviews from neighbors:
“There’s a lot of people doing things they shouldn’t be doing,” said Taylor’s neighbor. “I guess that’s just their reaction when they get caught, to try and take care of it themselves.
(snip)
Another neighbor told News 13 Taylor was a "great guy" and they are left stunned by the news.
It is to be hoped the dashcam video will be released to the public. The Buncombe County DA released this image of a bullet, said to be the bullet stopped by Dunlap's bullet resistant vest.
Obtaining measurements from a photograph can be difficult. In the photograph, the diameter of the bullet base appears to be 10mm or less. It may be much of the vest worn by Dunlap was cut away to reveal the bullet, but it does not appear to be embedded very much in the remaining material. A .44 Magnum bullet is .429 inches in diameter, or 10.9 mm. It would have been better if a digital caliper were used to measure the bullet diameter, and included in the photograph.
No toxicology reports for Taylor have been found by this correspondent. Trooper Dunlap has been found justified in his actions.From foxnews.com:
A veteran North Carolina state trooper was justified in fatally shooting an armed suspect during a traffic stop in which the gunman opened fire on him, with only his ballistic vest saving his life, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Analysis:
Wesley Scott Taylor was a convicted felon over thirty years ago. He appears to have been a drinker. The courts have ruled one may be convicted of drinking and driving on circumstantial evidence, even if you are not driving at the time. While Taylor was not driving, he faced the potential of a decade in jail for possession of a firearm as a felon. The request for an alcohol test might have triggered a cascade of consequences Taylor was unwilling to face. Alcohol test leads to arrest. Arrest leads to towing of the car, then search of the car. Search of the car leads to discovery of the Desert Eagle. With today's interconnected databases, arrest and fingerprinting lead to felony charges for illegal possession of the pistol, with a potential of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Taylor seems to have created a new and peaceful life for himself in North Carolina. All was now at risk because of a flat tire leading to a cascade of consequences. If Taylor's judgement was affected by alcohol, it likely contributed to his decision to start a gunfight. He might have believed he could flee the scene without being identified. If so, it was a fantasy, considering the dashcam and existing operating procedures by most law enforcement.
Taylor could have avoided those consequences if he were not drinking and not in possession of a firearm. As a society, the United States has demonized drinking and driving to unprecedented levels. For 55 years Federal law has created a lifetime ban on the possession of firearms by felons. It is ironic the law which contributed the most to Taylor's potential legal risk is being challenged in the courts as unconstitutional.
The Roman Senator and Historian, Tacitus, is quoted as writing (translated):
The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the state.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
VISALIA, Calif. (FOX26) — A teenager is recovering and will soon be in jail following a failed robbery attempt in Visalia.
According to the Visalia Police Department, officers were called Sunday just before midnight to Dinuba Boulevard and Riggin Avenue regarding a shooting.
Officers say they found a 15-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to his leg.
During the investigation, the Visalia Police Department learned that the boy tried to rob a man at gunpoint but was instead shot in the leg by the victim.
During the Biden administration, the ATF has worked to vastly expand the definition of what a "frame or receiver" of a firearm is. On June 30, 2023, Texas District Judge Reed O'Conner vacated the ATF "Final Rule" on frames and receivers. From the order p. 3:
This case presents the question of whether the federal government may lawfully regulate partially manufactured firearm components, related firearm products, and other tools and materials in keeping with the Gun Control Act of 1968. Because the Court concludes that the government cannot regulate those items without violating federal law, the Court holds that the government’s recently enacted Final Rule, Definition of “Frame or Receiver” and Identification of Firearms, 87 Fed. Reg. 24,652 (codified at 27 C.F.R. pts. 447, 478, and 479), is unlawful agency action taken in excess of the ATF’s statutory jurisdiction. On this basis, the Court vacates the Final Rule.
The order does not accept the argument the ATF can change the definition of what is a firearm without congressional approval. The order shows Congress could have used the language the ATF now prefers, but Congress did not. From the order p. 27:
As this Court has previously discussed, the definition of “firearm” in the Gun Control Act does not cover all firearm parts. It covers specifically “the frame or receiver of any such weapon” that Congress defined as a firearm. 18 U.S.C. §921(a)(3)(B). And that which maybe come or may be converted to a functional receiver is not itself a receiver. Congress could have included firearm parts that “may readily be converted” to frames or receivers, as it did with “weapons” that “may readily be converted” to fire a projectile. Id. § 921(a)(3)(A), (a)(4)(B). But it omitted that language when talking about frames and receivers.
Judge O'Conner elaborates on what Congress did not do. He writes the ATF may not overrule Congress. From P. 28 of the order:
Congress excluded other adjectives that ATF adds to its definition. Specifically, the Final Rule covers “disassembled” and “nonfunctional”frames and receivers. 27 C.F.R. §478.12(c). Congress’s definition does not. Again, compare the language in Congress’s primary definition of “firearm” to its secondary definition covering frames and receivers. The primary definition of “firearm” includes any “weapon” that “is designed to” fire a projectile. 18 U.S.C. §921(a)(3)(A). That language covers disassembled, nonfunctional, and antique firearms because they are “designed” to fire projectiles even if they are practically unable to do so. But Congress wanted to exclude antiques, so it explicitly said the “term does not include an antique firearm,” once again demonstrating awareness of the scope of the language it chose. Id.§921(a)(3). In contrast, Congress did not choose to cover firearm parts that are “designed” to be frames or receivers—that is, incomplete, nonfunctional frames or receivers. “That omission is telling,” particularly when Congress used the more expansive terminology in the same definition. Collins, 141 S. Ct. at 1782.In sum, ATF’s new definition of “frame or receiver” in 27 C.F.R. §478.12(c) is facially unlawful given its conflict with the ordinary meaning of those terms as read within their immediate statutory context. Sturgeon, 577 U.S. at 438 (cleaned up).
Judge O'Conner uses basic logic. Ayn Rand would approve. A cannot be both A and not A. From P. 29:
Logic dictates that a part cannot be both not yet a receiver and receiver at the same time. Defendants’ reliance on that logical contradiction is fatal to their argument.
Judge O'Conner goes on to show that "weapons parts kits are not weapons". From P 35:
In sum, there is a legal distinction between a weapon parts kit, which may be an aggregation of partially manufactured parts not subject to the agency’s regulatory authority, and a “weapon” which “may readily be completed [or] assembled . . . to expel a projectile.” 18 U.S.C. §921(a)(3)(A). Defendants contend that drawing such a distinction will produce the absurd result whereby a person lawfully prohibited from possessing a firearm can obtain the necessary components and, given advances in technology, self-manufacture a firearm with relative ease and efficiency.86 Even if it is true that such an interpretation creates loopholes that as a policy matter should be avoided, it not the role of the judiciary to correct them. That is up to Congress. And until Congress enacts a different statute, the Court is bound to enforce the law as written.
The ATF contends it is absurd to consider a prohibited person could not legally possess a firearm, but could possess the means to create one in a few hours. However, this has been true for decades, not just in the last few years.
It is more absurd to assert a kit and a finished weapon are the same.
In the United States, the philosophy in law is:
"That which is not forbidden is allowed."
In authoritarian polities, the philosophy is:
"That which is not allowed is forbidden."
The gulf between the two philosophies is large.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Police say the suspect walked into the store and demanded money from the cashier. When he threatened the cashier with his gun, the cashier responded by pulling out his own gun. Investigators say they began shooting at each other.
The suspect got away and the store clerk told police he believed the suspect was hit by bullets. Meanwhile, a customer in the store was grazed by a bullet, but that person refused medical treatment.
Police are still looking for the suspect. The cashier has been detained for questioning.
The Supreme Court, on the last day available this session, June 30, 2023, agreed to hear a Second Amendment case, United States v. Rahimi. This is not good news for Second Amendment supporters. It is not terrible news. It signals a willingness in the Court to tolerate some Biden administration resistance to recognizing Second Amendment rights as put forward in the Bruen decision last year. From supremecourt.gov:
UNITED STATES V. RAHIMI, ZACKEY
The motion of respondent for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted.
The Biden administration pushed to have the Rahimi case moved to the head of the line for a grant of certiorari. The case has been completely mischaracterized in the media. Unfortunately, even Supreme Court justices have been shown to be swayed by sympathetic defendants. Zackey Rahimi is not a sympathetic defendant. He is an acknowledged drug dealer who committed several crimes with firearms. He was convicted of those crimes and sentenced to 73 months in prison. A three judge panel on the Fifth Circuit held another charge, of being in possession of a firearm while under a domestic violence restraining order, was unconstitutional. Rahimi was never convicted of domestic violence. The case was never about domestic violence. It is about due process of law.
The three judge panel is clearly correct on its application of law in the Rahimi case, the Biden administration, with the aid of the media, may have seen a possibility to short circuit the Bruen decision with an unsympathetic defendant. Numerous articles in the Media have characterized Rahimi as a domestic abuser. It may, or may not be true. He was never convicted of domestic abuse in a court of law. There are numerous other convictions which bar him from the possession of firearms under federal law. Whether Rahimi retains a right to keep and bear arms is not in question. The question before the Fifth Circuit was, and before the Supreme Court is:
May a fundamental constitutional right, enumerated in the Bill of Rights, be taken from a person with a mere restraining order?
The Fifth Circuit three judge panel correctly wrote an opinion which showed there was no historical precedent for taking Constitutional rights based on mere restraining orders.
Rahimi did not wish to have the case taken before the Supreme Court. He had won. This is entirely understandable. His lawyers made a cogent point: there are numerous other cases in the appeals courts. Some of those cases should be allowed to be heard before the Supreme Court takes this case.
At least four judges on the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case next year. The timing is uncertain. Four judges, at minimum, think the case should be heard. Judges usually do not agree to hear cases with which they agree. It is not always true; it is the way to bet. It is possible a justice or two wants to hear the case, to slap down the Biden administration, but that seems unlikely.
The Biden administration slowed down other cases which have more sympathetic defendants, while pushing hard to have the Rahimi case moved to the head of the line.
It will be months before the Rahimi case is heard. The decision is unlikely to be announced before June, 2024, only a few months before the 2024 election. The media mischaracterization of the case will be on the level of the Dobbs case last year.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Police told 13News that a preliminary investigation indicated a resident in the neighborhood was sleeping in his van parked in a home's driveway and woke up to a person breaking into the vehicle.
The resident shot the person, described by police as a female under 18, twice. The girl ran from the car and was located by police at a nearby home with two gunshot wounds. She was alert and interacting with medics when taken to Riley Hospital for Children, and her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, police said.
A plausible fourth failure of a defensive fireing of a handgun against a bear has been discovered. The fourth incident was found in the incidents discovered in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a polar bear and human conflict database. The incident occurred near Churchill, Canada, as part of two incidents from October 19 to October 26, 1986. Bear spray had recently become available. There are two separate incidents. The first involves bear spray, which marked the bear. The second involved "cracker shells" and a .44 caliber handgun, probably a .44 magnum. From the FOIA, incident 41:
October 19-26, 1986 Churchill, CA. From PBHIMS incident 41. Handgun failure.
Oct 19-26, 1986, PII,t Churchill. Tourists In temporary camp were observed hand feeding bears for several weeks. Sardines and lard had been put in the willows surrounding camp. During the 6 days researchers were in the camp, 9 bears approached. At the sound of movement within the camp, one bear repeatedly charged the structures and pounded the walls. In the 6 days, 7 charges were initiated by 2 bears. The charges appeared to be directed at the people in the camp. One bear almost entered the stationary vehicles. It was deterred with a broom and bear spray in the face. Fours days later and 4 km SW, a bear with a red stain on its forehead, which may have been the bear spray, charged a group of 12 people. The bear ignored both "cracker shells" and shots from a .44 calibre handgun. The people involved were forced to climb a nearby tower or enter an adjacent building. This is probably the first account of bear spray being non-experimentally used under field conditions on a polar bear.
The objective definition of a failure when a handgun is fired in defense against a bear, was decided when the project was started.
The criteria for inclusion in this study is a pistol had to be fired to defend against a bear or bears. If a handgun was not fired, the incident was not included. If the use of the handgun stopped the attack, it was a success whether the bear was killed immediately, or left the scene, as long as it stopped attacking.
In the scenario at Churchill in October of 1986, the report specifically says the bear with a red stain on its forehead charged a group of 12 people and ignored both "cracker shells" and a .44 handgun. No one was hurt, but the shots did not stop the attack. It seems likely they were warning shots. There may be political reasons why the person with the .44 handgun was not willing to shoot the bear; or maybe the person shooting the .44 handgun simply missed. There is no indication the bear was injured.
Of the four incidents where we have documented when a handgun was fired and failed to stop an attack, this is the weakest case. The other three are detailed here. In only one of the four incidents was the defender clearly attempting to kill the attacking bear. That occurred in the famous polar bear defense attempted with a .22 pistol.
The incident from Churchill, Canada is graded as a failure where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear, and failed to stop the attack. Readers are urged to read all of the incidents which have been documented where handguns were fired in defense against bears. In about ten percent of the incidents, warning shots are sufficient. Most incidents involving warning shots alone are not reported or documented. They likely are the most common defensive use of a firearm against bears. Most readers will understand, if a bear is killed, it cannot go on to attack another person. Repeated use of "cracker shells" or warning shots will, eventually, teach a bear of their lack of serious effect. This will make the bear more dangerous.
All three North American bears, black, brown/grizzly and polar, have increasing populations. The small number of bears which would be killed if all aggressive bears were shot, would not have a significant effect on bear populations. The number shot in defensive situations would be far less than the number required to be harvested to keep the bear populations at maintenance levels.
2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Beloit police are investigating an armed robbery. Police say a gunman entered the Mobile Gas Station on Liberty Avenue about 11:00 p.m. Thursday demanding cash. Officers say during the robbery, a patron snuck out and retrieved a handgun from his vehicle, chasing the suspect into an alley. The 40-year-old Beloit man told police the suspect turned toward him with the gun.
Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie by Clayton E. Cramer 300 pages, published in 2006 by Nelson Current. Currently available at Barnes & Noble for $17.99 paperback and $7.49 ebook.
In 1996, a professor of history at Emory University, Michael A. Bellesiles, published a paper in the Journal of American History which upended traditional thought on guns in American history. The paper claimed guns were not common in the colonial period or in the early Republic, at least before the Mexican War. It was marketing by Samuel Colt and inexpensive firearms after the Civil War pushed inexpensive firearms onto the market. White on White violence was low in the absence of firearms. Four years later, Bellesiles published a book with the same theme: Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture. From Armed America:
Throughout American History , opined Bellesiles, the militia was ineffective; in the Colonial Period, the government tightly regulated gun ownership and use; guns were very scarce before 1840; there was essentially no civilian market for handguns before 1848; violence between whites was rare; few Americans hunted until the 1830s when members of the upper class sought to imitate their British equivalents.
Clayton E. Cramer was working on his masters theses on concealed weapons regulation in the early Republic when the paper came out. It did not comport with his research, at least in the South. When the Bellesiles book was published, Cramer was mystified. Where were the sources which Bellesiles claimed to have found, which reversed the understanding of Cramer and generations of historians before him? Cramer had read many of the sources Bellesiles used from the early Republic.
Cramer started checking the original sources. Not only did the sources not say what Bellesiles claimed they said; often they said the opposite of what Bellesiles claimed in his book.
Those who wish the population disarmed were overjoyed. The individual right to arms was a fiction. In 2001, Bellesiles was awarded with the Bancroft Prize (the highest award for an American History Book).
It was a pack of lies. Clayton Cramer became a prominent critic among many others, who pointed out the fraud at the heart of Bellesiles' "Arming America". Eventually, Bellesiles resigned his tenured position. Columbia University did the unthinkable: they revoked the Bancroft Prize and asked Bellesiles to return the prize money.
Armed America is the book Clayton Cramer wrote to show the real history of how common firearms were in colonial America and in the early Republic. It is an academic work, but reads with an easy familiarity. There are 35 pages of notes detailing the original sources for the information. The scholarship is extremely well done. The book travels from guns in the colonial era, to guns in the hands of the Indian tribes, to militias, hunting, and the ubiquity of firearms in the accounts of travelers in the early Republic. Sadly, violence was not rare among Whites. It was common and commonly remarked upon.
The book is well worth reading as a resource to understand the American love affair with firearms, and to show how those who wish a disarmed population are willing to lie, and to fraudulently revise history in an Orwellian fashion to obtain their objective.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Update to 900 Gibbon Street incident: (Press Release July 8, 2023)
As
mentioned in the prior press release, the three involved parties were
acquaintances. Approximately one hour prior to the incident, the male
who was shot reportedly threatened to kill the other male and female
while traveling on Interstate 15, in the area of the North Hills. After
the threats, the male was left on the side of the road on Interstate
15. It is believed the male received a ride into town from an unknown
person(s). The male who was shot did forcibly entered the residence by
breaking the door in. Once in the residence an altercation ensued, and
the male was shot. The male who was shot lived at this 900 Gibbon
Street address for approximately two weeks.
The video shows a mountain lion attack on an elk hunter in Idaho. If first appeared on the Internet in the fall of 2022. The hunter has Glock, proclaimed to be a Glock 27. The big cat starts to charge the hunter turned prey at about 20 seconds in. Just as the cat starts to pounce, the hunter fires his .40 caliber pistol, and the cat abruptly stops the charge and retreats. The mountain lion is persistent and hesitates to leave, but another shot from the Glock makes up its mind.
The cat retreats, slowly, as if indifferent to the threat.
The video indicates a "prey-testing" behavior similar to that seen in bears. Predators cannot survive for long if they choose prey which has a good chance of severely injuring the predator. Predators tend to "test" unfamiliar prey. If the predator does not "test" the prey, and is severely wounded or killed, the predator will not pass along its genetics. Therefore "testing" of unfamiliar prey is highly selective.
Humans are unfamiliar prey. The "testing" of unfamiliar prey is commonly observed with black bears. Dr. Stephen Herrero wrote this about predatory black bears:
By contrast, “the kind of bear you need to be afraid of is not feeling threatened by you — it’s testing you out as a possible prey item,” said Dr. Herrero, a professor emeritus at the University of Calgary. “It’s quiet. It stalks you just like a lion might stalk you.” With a mother defending cubs, “you just back away calmly and give it some space,” Dr. Herrero said. “With a predatory bear, you stand your ground, stomp at it, throw rocks at it, whatever you need to do to convince it you’re not easy prey.”
Dr. Herrero's words mention lions. It is unclear whether he is referring to the American mountain lion or to African lions. The description seems appropriate to the actions seen in the video. What is clear, is the human with the Glock pistol had plenty of time to access the pistol. When he fired it, he did not need deadly accuracy. Such intereactions probably happen often with mountain lions and hundreds of times more commonly with black bears. When neither animal or human is hurt, there is no news story, merely a campfire tale told to friends. Very few of these interactions are recorded on video, because video equipment used to be expensive. With the ubiquity of modern cell phones, video recordings are starting to be seen. In the 2012 paper by Herrero and Smith, Efficacy of Firearms for Bear Deterrence, a claim about the use of firearms was made. From Efficacy of Firearms for Bear Deterrence in Alaska, bold added:
The need for split-second deployment and deadly accuracy make using firearms difficult, even for experts.
This writers data on the use of handguns to defend against bears does not support the claim in the Herrero and Smith paper. Of 170 incidents where handguns were fired in defense against bears, at most 16 appear to have needed a response in under two or three seconds and deadly accuracy. Many times the people had many seconds or minutes to deploy a handgun. In 106 incidents, the bear was killed. Many times when it was killed, it died after leaving the scene of the attack. In about ten percent of the incidents, warning shots were sufficient to stop the attack.
In most bear-human conflicts, there is sufficient time to deploy a defensive arm. Where injuries occur are the unusual times when warnings are not heeded, time is insufficient to deploy a defensive arm, or a person is not willing to deploy the defensive arm. There are very few mountain lion attacks recorded. However, this writer cannot recall an mountain lion attack which was successful when the victim was armed with a firearm.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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