LITHONIA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A shooting was reported at a gas station in DeKalb County, according to DeKalb County police.
Police said a man was taken to the hospital after a shooting at the QuikTrip at 2776 Panola Road in Lithonia.
According to investigators, the man was trespassing at the gas station when he shot at a person. The person shot back, hitting the man. The man was then taken to the hospital, although there were no life-threatening injuries.
On December 21, 2023, at 5:45 pm, the Alaska State Troopers were notified that multiple gunshots had been fired at a residence in Wasilla. Troopers and Wasilla Police immediately responded to the residence. A preliminary investigation determined that 50-year-old Wasilla resident Patrick Kammermeyer was assaulting a family member with a firearm. Another family member, 57-year-old Wasilla resident William Nunley, intervened to protect multiple family members from Kammermeyer. Both Nunley and Kammermeyer exchanged gunfire, fatally striking each other. Both men were declared deceased at the scene. Next of kin was notified; both bodies were sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation has assumed case responsibility and is actively investigating the incident.
Upon arrival, an individual was observed on the outside of the residence with multiple gunshot wounds, Turner said.
Upon clearing the incident location, another individual was located inside the residence with indications of physical abuse, which reportedly led to the shooting incident.
John J. Donohue III is a lawyer and economist who has published numerous papers, many of them statistical studies about guns and crime. He is a professor at Stanford Law School. Some of his prominent papers dispute the findings of John Lott, who found an increase in the issuance of carry permits led to a decrease in homicides.
Professor Donohue's findings have also been disputed. His analysis tends to focus on state level statistics while John Lott's analysis uses finer-grained county level statistics.
Professor Donohue submitted a supplemental declaration to the court in support of Becerra and the State of California. Unlike his articles about concealed carry, there are no esoteric mathematics involving state level synthetic controls. Judge Benitez carefully considers professor Donohue's declaration. He finds it has little to do with the California ban on "assault weapons. From Miller v Becerra, page 69:
John J. Donohue is a professor of law. His supplemental declaration is not particularly helpful. For example, professor Donohue describes a 2018 medical study published on the Jama Network Open about 511 gunshot victims in Boston. He opines that study "applies directly to bans on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Yet the study noted that only one of the 511 victims studied was shot with a rifle caliber round (7.62 x 39 mm.) Why the study applies directly to bans on "assault weapons," as professor Donohue opines, is not at all obvious. Handgun wounds were the main point of the study. Professor Donohue also opines that the dangers of weapons like the AR-15 will outpace any legitimate crime-reducing benefit the firearms provide, citing the 2017 Sutherland Springs Baptist Church shooting. He picked an ironic example. a neighbor, Stephen Willeford, stopped the mass shooter in that tragedy with four shots from his own AR-15.
Professor Donohue previously commented on the lawful-to-own Ruger Mini-14 rifle wich is similar to the banned rifles. He offered that the Mini-14's current legality is because the firearm restrictions are to be increased "incrementally." He concludes with abject conjecture imagining the January 6, 2021 Capitol rally would have turned out like the Kent State University shootings, but for the District of Columbia's prohibition on "assault weapons". Professor Donohue's opinions are entitled to no weight.
Judge Benitez shows professor Donohue as pushing a number of gunshot victims (shot almost entirely with handguns) as an emotional ploy. Emotional ploys are used when you do not have a logical argument. It is also a push for interest balancing, forbidden in the Heller and Bruen Supreme Court cases. The information which shows professor Donohue did not finding the exception for the Mini-14 rifle relevant, because the gun banners had simply not got around to banning it yet is highly revealing. It exposes the "slippery slope" argument as valid. It shows at least one prominent professor and lawyer conspicuously referenced by those who oppose a strong Second Amendment, views gun restrictions as best done "incrementally". It is reminiscent of the overused boiling frog analogy. The weird hypothetical about the January 6th Capitol Rally and Kent State is particularly strange. Kent State happened in 1970. There were no privately owned firearms involved. The only "assault weapons" involved would have been owned by the U.S. government. Judge Benitez makes the obvious and clear judgement.
Professor Donohue's opinions are entitled to no weight.
With Judge Benitez, those pushing for a disarmed population have found a jurist who is knowledgeable about firearms and firearms history, who rigorously does his homework and applies the law as the Constitution and the Supreme Court require.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
The second fatal shooting happened at about 3:18 a.m. at Minnesota Avenue and Potomac Street, two blocks east of Gravois Park. According to police, 34-year-old Donta Stone and another man approached a car parked at the south St. Louis intersection. Stone reportedly tried to rob a 20-year-old man and woman inside.
The 20-year-old man then fired his gun, hitting Stone in the neck, before he drove off to a nearby gas station to call police. First responders took Stone to a hospital where he later died.
CINCINNATI (WXIX) -One juvenile and another suspect were shot after they attempted to break into a homeowner’s car in Bond Hill Sunday morning, according to Cincinnati police.
Officers were called to the 1900 block of Berkley Avenue around 2 a.m.
A preliminary investigation reveals that the two suspects reportedly broke into a blue car, police said.
Officers say the homeowner felt threatened by what the suspects were doing, and so the homeowner shot at them three or four times with his legally owned gun.
Image of grizzly bear by Troy Nemitz, used with permission.
In 2010, President Obama signed a credit card bill he desperately wanted. Inside the bill was an amendment removing the provision against the exercise of Second Amendment rights in national parks. A few people were offended. How dare the Constitution be allowed to be in effect in national parks!
Some writers have claimed, while it is legal to carry guns in most national parks, it is illegal to fire guns in the park (such as Yellowstone) even in self defense. From yellowstonepark.com:
Yes, you can carry a gun in Yellowstone. But it's illegal to fire it - even in self defense. And once you exit Yellowstone, you could be in one of three states, so it's important to know the law.
This claim was recently repeated at cowboystatedaily, embellished somewhat:
Sorry, but if you’re attacked by a grizzly in Yellowstone, it is against the law for you to shoot it. Reaching for bear spray could be your best legal option as you can’t even point a firearm at wildlife there.
Both of these claims are incorrect. There is no prohibition on shooting guns in self defense in national parks. The key, of course, is the firearm has to have been shot in self defense. Because grizzly bears are a protected species both inside and outside national parks in the lower 48 states, the requirements for claiming self defense against a grizzly bear are the same inside of Yellowstone National park and outside the park in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE).
During extensive research into the use of firearms for defense against bears, this correspondent has found five cases where firearms were fired in national parks and self defense was claimed. Two of the cases were in the Grand Teton National Park, which shares a common boundary with Yellowstone National park and is inside the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Two brothers were forced to kill a large grizzly bear when bear spray was not enough to stop the animal. The attack occurred on Thanksgiving day of 2012. Park officials and U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers investigated. The federal prosecutor declined to prosecute, after investigators concluded the trio acted in self defense.
On August 15, 2015, a fisherman fired a warning shot to scare away a grizzly sow and cubs. He was issued a notice to appear in federal magistrate court. He had bear spray but said he could not have used it in the incident. This correspondent searched a year of public records and was unable to find any record of a conviction or fine being paid.
The only known attempted prosecution for an incident inside a park involved Brian D. Murphy, who shot a grizzly bear with a .357 revolver after bear spray did not stop the attack. Murphy was charged with discharging a firearm in Glacier Park, two months after the incident. When Murphy mounted a legal defense, the charges were dismissed. Two weeks after the self defense grizzly bear shooting with Murphy, a hiker was issued a warning when he used a gunshot to summon aid.
On May 28, 2010, a hiker killed a grizzly bear in self defense in Denali National Park in Alaska. He was not charged with any offense.
On September 20, 2020, a hunter in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park & Preserve, a man used a pistol to drive off a bear which had killed his hunting partner. He was not charged.
Because grizzly bears can be legally hunted in Alaska, the laws are different. This correspondent searched the database he maintains of when pistols are fired in defense against bears. 44 cases were found to have occurred in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from 2003 to present. Five of the most recent cases are still being investigated to determine if a handgun or long gun was used. None of the 44 cases appear to have been prosecuted.
One person who killed a grizzly with a rifle in September of 2009, in the GYE was found guilty by a six person jury of taking a grizzly bear without a license. The jury rejected his plea of self defense. Judge Tim Day fined Stephen Westmoreland $500.
It is not illegal to fire a gun in Yellowstone in self defense. If you kill a grizzly bear while in fear of your life, and a jury convicts you of illegal taking of a grizzly bear without a license, the precedent is a $500 fine.
There are a few states which restrict the carry of firearms in parks. None of them appear to have grizzly bears.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
APD stated gunfire was reported near 2nd Street and Claremont Avenue NW early Saturday morning. Oscar Platas, 35, was found with a gunshot wound, and he died. Two other people were found wounded, and they were treated at the hospital and released.
Detectives are investigating, but preliminary evidence suggests the shooting was a case of self-defense.
The woman arrived at a man’s home, then started banging on the door. Authorities said the man opened the door and the woman attacked him.
The man then shot the woman two times. The two did not know eachother.
Paramedics arrived, and the woman was taken to the hospital.
Chicago police are investigating after a 19-year-old man was shot and killed in West Town on Saturday afternoon. A concealed carry holder told police he shot the man because the man and three other people targeted him in an armed robbery.
The shooting occurred in an alley behind the 1700 block of West Cortez around 4:51 p.m.
At the scene, deputies found 38-year-old Christian Treviño with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Trevino was airlifted to DHR Health where he was pronounced dead, according to a release from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities spoke with a 14-year-old, identified as Trevino’s stepson. Investigators learned the teen shot his stepdad after he became aggressive towards his mom and feared he was going to assault her.
In 2023, Constitutional Carry, (permitless) had been restored to 26 states. Vermont always had Constitutional Carry. Those states make up 65% of the land area of the United States of America. According to John Lott, those 27 states contain 44% of the population of the United States. When will a majority of the people in the United States enjoy permitless carry, as well as a majority of the states?
It is highly likely Louisiana will join the Constitutional Carry club in early 2024. Louisiana increases the percentage of the land area from 65.3% to over two thirds with 66.7% of the land area. Louisiana increases the percent of the population to 45.4 percent. The estimate for the population in 2023 is about 340 million people. 4.6% of 340 million is 15.6 million people. There are several states which are candidates for Constitutional Carry which could be combined to place the population of people in states where a permit is not required to over 50% of the population of the USA.
One of the most likely of those states is Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania passed Constitutional Carry, with significant margins in its legislature, in 2021. Anti-Second Amendment Governor Tom Wolf vetoed Senate Bill 565. A Republican governor in Pennsylvania and a Republican legislature would very likely pass a Constitutional Carry bill. Pennsylvania has a population of about 12.96 million people in 2023. Pennsylvania would put the United States very close to a majority of the population living in permitless carry states. There have been significant voting irregularities in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. It is difficult to prosecute people for election fraud when one political party controls all the levers of power in a city or state.
The most likely candidate states for passing Constitutional Carry, besides Louisiana and Pennsylvania, are: North Carolina, population 10.9 million; South Carolina, population 5.35 million; Michigan, population 10.04 million; Wisconsin, Population 5.91 million, and Nevada, population 2.89 million.
Assuming Louisiana passes Constitutional Carry (permitless) in the next few months, Pennsylvania and any of the other states mentioned above would place a majority of the population of the USA in permitless carry jurisdictions. Similarly, North Carolina and any of South Carolina, Michigan, or Wisconsin would do the same. Michigan and Wisconsin would also work. Other than those combinations, three states would be required.
If the Constitution and a representative republic can be kept over the next decade or two, most of the states will either have Constitutional Carry or clear and objective shall issue permit systems. An issue which will likely come before the courts is whether the states have the power to prevent people from other states to bear arms in the territory controlled by the state.
Massachusetts has already had a court case where the judge said they cannot prosecute someone from another state, if they can legally carry in their home state.
The United States of America may reach a point where a few highly restrictive states, such as New York and California, will restrict their own citizens more than they are able to restrict the citizens of relatively free states such as Montana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi and New Hampsire. New York and California are working hard to defy the Supreme Court and keep their laws as restrictive as they allowed by their voting populations and the federal courts.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
While defending his residence, a Statesboro apartment tenant wounded a home invader, sending the invader to the hospital where he was later arrested.
According to a release from Capt. Jared Akins with the Statesboro Police Department,
SPD officers and detectives responded at 1 p.m. Thursday to a report of shots fired at The Vault Apartments on Statesboro Place Circle.
Image by Troy Nemitz, with permission.
At Dawson Creek, British Columbia, on October 3, 2022, a group of four were hiking on a ski trail at Bear Mountain Ski Club. Their intent was to obtain pictures of the fall colors. The group consisted of three women; Analyn Bartolome, friends Leosette Canoy, and Wennali Canoy, and Analyn's teenage son, Kelly. It was getting late when the group started heading back. The sun was close to the horizon and the shadows were long when the bear attack started.
From various accounts, including a gofundme, Kelly heard footsteps behind them. He turned to look, but saw nothing. He dropped back a little as they continued back toward the trailhead. He heard more footsteps, turned and saw a black bear. He alerted the group, and turned back to see the bear charging at them. As the bear approached, he punched it. It knocked him aside, bruising his ribs. The bear was focused on his mother, Analyn, who was attempting to get away. As the bear attacked Analyn, her friend Leosette intervened. The bear attacked Leosette. While the bear was attacking Leosette, Kelly hit the bear with a large stick, momentarily stunning it. The bear continued to attack Leosette.
Cell phone coverage was poor to non-existent where the attack occurred. Kelly and Wennali decided to run for help. They arrived at the cabin by the trailhead and called for help. The RCMP received a report of the attack at about 6:50 p.m. When the RCMP arrived, it was very dark. They started to search for the victims, using ATVs to search Wolverine Trail. Staff Sergeant Damon Werrell was one of the responding officers. On the trail, officers found a large pool of blood. When the officers were studying the blood, they heard a low whisper: "help bear". The officers directed their flashlights on a horrific sight. From cjdctv.com:
“I turned the Gator around so I was facing the bear in order to use the lights to illuminate the area a little bit. And I used the gator to try and push the bear away to scare it off. I tried two or three times and by this time, the victims now were screaming for help.”
The bear had been sitting on the 2 women for over an hour. Werrell said it was playing with the two badly injured women like an animal that plays with its food. The bear was swatting and gnawing at them.
One of the buttocks on one of the women was almost gone. The bear had eaten it and her forearm was badly bitten.
The officers decided the bear had to be shot. After the bear was shot, the officers used one of the ATVs to transport the women to an ambulance. Both women have survived, but faced long and expensive recoveries with multiple surgeries.
Analysis:
If any of the women or Kelly had possessed a weapon, most of the injuries would likely have been prevented. Use of any firearm would probably have either killed the bear or caused the bear to retreat after a warning shot or wounding the beast. Little skill was necessary as the shots could have been delivered at arms length. Black bears seldom continue to attack after shots have been fired. Given Canada's highly restrictive firearms laws, a spear or a large knife would probably have been sufficient to kill the bear or drive it away. Even small pocket knives have been successfully used to drive off black bears, or even grizzly bears.
Bear spray is less effective on black bears than on grizzly bears, especially black bears involved in predatory attacks. From craigmedred.news 2017, writing of the Pogo Mine fatal attack:
There has been some past research indicating that black bears can rather quickly recover from being sprayed.
“I don’t know why,” Stephen Herrero, the dean of bear research said Thursday evening, “but it showed up in the data.”
As in this case, Herrero said, the spray initially drove bears off, but they came back. This is, however, the first time a fatality has been associated with the failure of bear spray.
There have been nine human fatalities were bear spray was used against bears, but only one human fatality where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear. The latest two fatalities involving bear spray were in Banff National park in Canada.
Kelly had the courage and the will to defend his mother and her friends. He did not have the means.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
The SPD says the suspects tried a second time at around 12:25 a.m. the next morning.
Authorities say four men returned to the house to try breaking the door down with a sledgehammer.
The
homeowner told police he was sleeping and woke up to loud banging at
the door. He armed himself with a rifle, and when the suspects tried
getting inside, he shot at them.
Authorities say the suspects fired back at the homeowner before speeding off in a vehicle. It remains unknown whether the homeowner shot any of the suspects during the incident.
Detectives processing the scene say they located bullet damage in the living room and bedroom windows.
Officers believe a woman shot 44-year-old Heriberto Mendez in the arm while the two were arguing inside a car early Wednesday morning. At the time, the woman already had a protective order in place against Mendez.
She explained that Mendez had been hitting her as they were driving on North Melody Lane, near the Kroger on North State Street. So, she then shot the man, got away, and went to a hotel.
Following the shooting, Mendez was taken to an Indianapolis hospital. He was later released, arrested, and taken to the Hancock County Jail.
On December 8, 2023, a three judge panel in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the New York law banning carry of firearms in church, citing the First Amendment.
After the June 22, 2022 publishing of the Bruen decision on the Second Amendment, several states took active measures to defy the Supreme Court. The foremost of these was New York. Governor Kathy Hochul took the extreme measure of convening an extraordinary session dedicated to circumventing the Bruen decision, which she called "reckless and reprehensible". From ny.gov:
“The Supreme Court’s reckless and reprehensible decision to strike down New York’s century-old concealed carry law puts lives at risk here in New York,” Governor Hochul said. “Since the decision was released, I have been working around the clock with our partners in the legislature to craft gun safety legislation in response to this ruling that will protect New Yorkers. My number one priority as Governor will always be to keep New Yorkers safe.”
New York is one of a handful of states with severe restrictions on the ownership and carry of firearms in the United States. Evidence is decidedly mixed as to whether such laws have any effect on overall homicide or suicide rates.
The laws were passed with excessive speed. They were quickly challenged as violating the Second Amendment as restored by the Supreme Court in the Heller decision in 2008, applied to the states in the McDonald decision in 2010, confirmed to apply to all bearable arms, modern and ancient, with the Caetano decision in 2016, and finally, refined in the Bruen decision to stop lower courts from interpreting the Second Amendment into non-existence.
Several preliminary injunctions were granted with the understanding many, if not most of the plethora of unusual restrictions passed in the extraordinary session in New York, obviously violated the Second Amendment.
Four cases were combined by the Second Circuit. A three judge panel of the Circuit published an opinion on December 8th, upholding some preliminary injunctions, and striking down others. This article explains one which has escaped the attention of most other reporters. One of the restrictions in the law was a blanket ban on the carry of firearms in religious institutions such as churches and synagogues. As the lawsuits proceeded, the New York legislature met again and changed the law in an attempt to moot the religious challenges. The change allowed for churches to have designated security personal carry firearms on church property.
The three judge panel used the change in the law to find several plaintiffs no longer had standing, leaving one religious plaintiff, Pastor Spencer and his church. The panel found the ban on possession of firearms in church violated Pastor Spencer and his congregation's First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion. From the Opinion in Antonyuk v Chiumento p. 157:
The central argument advanced by the Spencer Plaintiffs is that the CCIA impedes their religious duty to protect the congregation by carrying firearms in their church and inviting congregants to do the same. A faith organization has a cognizable interest in eliminating barriers to its religious practice, including when the barriers primarily impact its adherents’ conduct.
One of the reasons the panel found the restriction on carry by Spencer and his congregation was the restriction did not apply to retail establishments.
But more broadly, the CCIA is not neutral because it allows the owners of many forms of private property, including many types of retail businesses open to the public, to decide for themselves whether to allow firearms on the premises while denying the same autonomy to places of worship. By adopting a law that applies differently as to places of worship (alongside the other enumerated sensitive places) than to most other privately owned businesses and properties, the CCIA is, on its face, neither neutral nor generally applicable.
The three judge panel affirmed the preliminary injunction (finding the ban on firearms in church to be unconstitutional), but only for Pastor Spencer and his church.
For the reasons set forth above, we VACATE the district courts’ preliminary injunctions in Antonyuk and Hardaway against enforcement of § 265.01-e(2)(c) but AFFIRM the preliminary injunction issued by the district court in Spencer, which prohibits enforcement of§ 265.01-e(2)(c)against “Pastor Spencer, the [Tabernacle Family] Church, its members, or their agents and licensees.” 648 F. Supp. 3d at 471.67
Analysis:
The arguments against the ban of firearms in churches because of the First Amendment guarantee of the free exercise of religion are robust. This correspondent has made the argument in several other articles over the years. Several states have laws banning firearms in churches. Those laws are likely to be struck down following this argument.
Individual churches retain their power to restrict the carry of weapons on their property. It is unconstitutional for the state to ban the carry of weapons in churches under both the Second Amendment and the First Amendment.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee police say a robbery victim exchanged gunfire with a person who took his belongings early Wednesday, Dec. 20.
Officials
say around 3 a.m. Wednesday, a 56-year-old man was walking his dog near
Booth and Center when he was approached by another person. That person
pointed a firearm and took the victim's belongings. The suspect then
attempted to take the victim's vehicle. That is when the suspect fired
shots at the victim – and the victim returned fire.
Position of empty chamber "click" at the charging grizzly.
As part of a previous Freedom of Information Act request, AmmoLand obtained details of the defensive shooting of a grizzly bear with a revolver, which happened at Paint Creek Wyoming in 2010.
On September 2, 2010, an archery hunter and his guide were hunting for elk from a camp at the end of Henry's Mill Road. This is the head of the Paint Creek drainage in Wyoming. Paint Creek is in the mid-eastern part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, about 20 miles NNE of Cody. The hunter and guide left the camp about 6:30 in the evening. The hunter had a Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum revolver in a hip holster with a thumb break, on his backpack belt. The holster looks similar to a Bianchi.
The revolver is stainless steel with a 4 inch barrel. The hunter carried the revolver with an empty chamber in the first position to come under the hammer when the revolver is cocked, because he had encountered situations where he had found the hammer unintentionally cocked when carried in that holster. The hunter carried a recurve bow and arrows as well as the backpack. The temperature was about 70 degrees. The attack started at 7 p.m., about an hour before sunset.
The guide noticed the bear a little before the hunter did. He said the bear had taken an aggressive posture broadside to the him, approaching the hunter, with its head low to the ground. It all happened very quickly.
The hunter heard sticks breaking above him, uphill on a steep slope. Looking above him, he saw a grizzly bear about 15 yards away, as the bear started toward him at a rapid pace. He drew and attempted to fire, with a double handed hold, in under two seconds, as the bear closed to withing five yards. The hammer fell on the empty chamber. He lurched and pivoted to his left to avoid the bear, rapidly cocked the hammer and fired, this time one-handed, from a sitting position, at the junction of neck and shoulder. He fired the shot from a distance of 10-12 inches as the bear passed him. The bear immediately veered and started spinning in circles, counter-clockwise, biting at its side then running straight downhill into the timber. At this time, the hunter saw the second bear, which was slightly smaller, about 15 yards away, and not aggressive. He assumed the second bear was a cub. He watched the second bear for about five minutes before he and the guide returned to camp. The hunter had a couple of minor scratches above his right knee, which did not require medical care.
The hunter, guide and investigator returned to the scene of the incident the next day. As they approached the area, a strong scent of something dead, and ravens in the trees, suggested a dead animal. Investigators found a dead cow and calf uphill of the site where the attack occurred. A necropsy later determined the cow and calf had not been killed by the grizzly bears.
The three men were able to follow bear tracks to the timber where they found a blood trail. The trail did not indicate a large loss of blood, but was easy to follow for about a half a mile until the bear stopped bleeding. The bear was never located.
On April 14, 2011, the Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming sent a letter to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife office of Law Enforcement in Lander, Wyoming, officially declining prosecution in the Paint Creek grizzly bear shooting.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Deputies said an armed man allegedly robbed a Dollar General Store at 15045 Ella Blvd. and the manager fired shots at the suspect, striking him. He took off in a vehicle and hit a METRO bus about a block away, according to the sheriff's office.
METRO said there were six passengers and the driver aboard the bus during the crash. Officials said no one on the bus was seriously injured.
(skip)
"It appears that the pistol (the suspect had) was actually an airsoft-type of pistol," Gonzalez said during a news conference. "They look very realistic, and at the time when someone is facing that at gunpoint, they don't know what kind of pistol that is."
Gonzalez said the suspect's vehicle is being investigated as well. Investigators believe the car might have been used in a separate store robbery, in the same general area, two days ago.
President Javier Milei of Argentina, from Wikipedia
Newly elected President Javier Milei of Argentina is an admirer of the right to keep and bear arms, similar to the Second Amendment enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America. Argentina has a vibrant gun culture, nurtured by strong rural farming and cattle ranching roots.
According to csmonitor.com, sales of small-caliber weapons (probably .22 caliber) were not regulated until the early 1990's. As Argentina has decended into worse and worse poverty from inept socialist policies, more and more regulatory burdens were placed on the acquisition and carrying of firearms.
As reported by as-coa.org, ordinary citizens can acquire some firearms. Firearms must be registered, and the place they are stored recorded. Firearms owners are fingerprinted, must undergo training, pass psychiatric examinations, pass physical examinations, and show proof of income. It is not clear how much income is required to be eligible to own a firearm. There is a "may issue" permit system. Permits under the system are only valid for one year. The applicant is required to justify the need to carry the firearm. The batimes.com.ar tells us President Milei wants to eliminate most of these elaborate restrictions. From batimes.com.ar:
Guns also enter the conversation – the national deputy has also ratified on several occasions his agreement with the unrestricted right to bear arms.
CNN.com reinforces this information:
Milei’s political program also includes slashing regulations on gun control and transferring authority over the penitentiary system from civilians to the military; both measures part of a tough-on-crime approach.
President Milei seems serious about his promise to slash government spending. From theblaze.com:
Javier Milei, Argentina's new libertarian president, has wasted no time amputating various bureaucratic tentacles.Within hours of being sworn into office on Sunday, Milei made good on his vow to take a "chainsaw" both to government spending and to what he called his country's "political caste," signing an executive order to cut the number of government ministries from 18 to nine.
President Milei is limited in his power. He has to have support in the Argentine Congress.
By law, the executive power must inform Congress of the DNU within the next 10 days after the decree is published in Argentina’s Official Bulletin. A special commission with members of both chambers then has to analyze the decree’s language and vote on whether it’s valid. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies then have to vote to approve it or not. Both chambers must reject a decree for it to be annulled.
Milei won the presidency with 56 percent of the vote. His political party won 35 of 130 seats up for election in the Chamber of Deputies, and 7 of 24 seats up for election in the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies has a total of 257 seats. The Senate has 72 seats in total. It is not bad for a new political party. President Milei will need allies to pass legislation or uphold his executive actions.
Milei's support comes from the more rural states, carrying 19 of 23 states. The states with the big urban centers went to his opponent. This is similar to the pattern of voting seen in the United States, Australia, and Canada.
When President Bolsonaro of Brazil attempted to reform the highly restrictive gun laws in Brazil, he had some success, but was hampered by strong opposition in the bureaucracy and legislative branch.
Analysis:
This correspondent does not expect radical change in Argentina's gun laws very soon. If President Milei is able to enact much of his reforms; if he starts to unwind 100 years of bad governance in Argentina, he may be able to reform the restrictive gun laws as well.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Sales and possession of "small-caliber weapons"
A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office reported the incident happened in the 2100 block of Emerald Point Drive at The Lory of Hoover Apartments, in an unincorporated area of the county.
According to news partner ABC3340, an unnamed 33-year-old resident of the apartment complex heard a knock not long before 10:00pm last night. When he answered the door, a man was standing with a weapon at a neighbor’s door.
Lt. Joni Money of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said the male with the gun fired a shot, striking the 33-year-old, who then retrieved a gun and returned fire.
Hall was struck by the return gunfire and ran from the location. He collapsed in a grassy area nearby. The sheriff's office said the 33-year-old then called 911 to report the shooting.
Both men were transported to UAB Medical Center where Hall subsequently died from his wound. The 33-year-old is being treated for what is thought to be non-life-threatening wounds.
Hoover Police Department responded to the location along with Jefferson County deputies and provided assistance at the scene.
The case if being prosecuted against Gabriel Metcalf, 49-years-old.
To sum up the case to present, Gabriel came to Billings about a decade ago to help his mother at a difficult time in her life. She needed a new roof on her house, because she had befriended a drug addict who took advantage of her. Gabriel is skilled in the construction trades. He was the child who answered his mother's call, put on a new roof, and stayed to help his mother, Vivian.
A new neighbor rented the basement of the house next door, and became a serious threat. Vivian and Gabriel had an order of protection filed against the neighbor, who was eventually convicted of assault on Gabriel, violating the order of protection, and telephonic threats against another person. The neighbor is facing felony charges in a trial to start in January, 2024. The Billings police were of minimal help in this matter.
Gabriel felt compelled to protect himself and his mother. As the police had told them they would only prosecute violations of the protective order if he had video evidence, he took to sitting in his front yard with a single-shot 20 gauge shotgun and his phone, to provide deterrence and to capture evidence. Gabriel and his mother live across the street from an elementary school. The school was not in session.
Some people complained about Gabriel possessing a gun across the street from the school. The police contacted Gabriel. They said Gabriel was not violent, had not threatened anyone, and had no criminal record. A local leftist paper, the Billings Gazette, publicized the case, and the remarks that the police could do nothing. The Billings police said they might be able to get their friends in the federal government to help.
Gabriel and Vivian contacted the FBI for assistance. They believed the FBI could "police the local police".
Instead, a Billings Police officer, working on a joint ATF/Billings police task force, contacted Gabriel and Vivian. The task force obtained a warrant for violations of the Federal Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA). Gabriel believed the GFSZA had been found to be unconstitutional. It had been found unconstitutional in 1995, but President Clinton and Janet Reno had pushed through a twelve word change to the law which they claimed satisfied the constitutional defect. To date, 5 Appellate courts have upheld the law, three have stated the law remains unconstitutional. No challenge has yet to cite the Bruen decision.
Gabriel had stored the shotgun days before school was started. The ATF/Billings police Task Force arrested him for violating the GFSZA. They claimed Gabriel had walked on the sidewalk near his house and in the alley behind his house, with the shotgun. Those areas are inside the federal GFSZ.
Gabriel spent a month in jail without bail, before his federal defender, Russel Hart, was able to have the court review his detention hearing. Hart was able to show the judge the prosecution had misled the court, that Gabriel did not have mental problems, and there was a serious threat to Gabriel and his mother.
Just before Gabriel was about to be released, the City of Billings found a three year old warrant for the Arrest of Gabriel. This was a surprise, as the Billings police had repeatedly said they had no authority to arrest Gabriel, and he had a clean record. The prosecution demanded Gabriel be encumbered with a GPS ankle bracelet as a condition of his release on the local charge. The monetary charge for the GPS bracelet was about $10 a day.
It would be 56 days before the public defender assigned to Gabriel by the City of Billings was able to obtain a hearing and have the ankle bracelet requirement removed. The bill for the bracelet "services" was over $500. The removal occurred about two weeks ago.
In the federal case, briefs have been filed. Russell Hart is making the case Gabriel is exempt from the GFSZA under Montana law, and the GFSZA is unconstitutional under Bruen. It is game on. The Federal court trial has been moved from January 16, 2023 to March 25, 2024.
It is likely all the important findings will have been determined before a trial ever takes place. If Judge Susan P. Waters finds for or against Gabriel Metcalf on the Montana statute or the constitutionality under Bruen, this correspondent expects the case to be appealed to a Ninth Circuit three judge panel. Depending on the three judge panel findings, this correspondent expects the case to be appealed to the Ninth Circuit en banc or to the Supreme Court. It may be years before the case is resolved.
The Metcalf Montana case is the best challenge to the federal GFSZA this correspondent has ever seen. Metcalf has a clean record. He was exercising his Second Amendment rights in response to a clear threat. He lives in a GFSZ.
The legal, mental, and life challenging events which come with challenging the local authorities and the Biden administration are considerable. Gabriel's mother, Vivian, has set up a GiveSendGo account to aid in defense of their home and Gabriel's freedom.
Vivian updates events in the case from time to time.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
An accused car thief was shot outside a Kroger when the car owners tracked their vehicle across state lines, Kentucky police say. Police in Fort Mitchell, a Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati, said the shooting happened at the gas station area of a Kroger grocery store Tuesday, Dec. 19. The couple’s car was stolen around 6 a.m. in Cheviot, Ohio, according to WKRC. A phone was left inside the car, allowing the couple to track where it was traveling.
(snip)
Police said the vehicle owners confronted the alleged thief outside Kroger, and a woman shot the suspect in the neck. “The female owner of the vehicle who fired the shot maintains she did so in defense of her boyfriend’s life, as the alleged thief attempted to drive away with her boyfriend who entered the passenger side of the vehicle,” police said in a news release.
On December 17, at 9:00 am, Alaska State Troopers received a report of a home invasion and shot fired at a residence in Wasilla. Troopers and EMS arrived and found the suspect of the home invasion, Justice Beaudoin-Martinez, age 22 of Houston, who was unknown to the residents, suffering from a single gunshot wound. Lifesaving measures were attempted but he was ultimately declared deceased. Investigation revealed the two residents of the home had discovered Beaudoin-Martinez inside their home and a physical altercation ensued, during which the male resident was stabbed in the arm. The female resident retrieved a firearm and fired a single gunshot, in defense of her husband, which struck Beaudoin-Martinez and resulted in his death. The scene investigation is consistent with an act of self-defense. The male that was stabbed suffered a non-life-threatening injury and was treated at a local hospital. Next of kin was notified.
A 31-year-old man was outside in the 1600 block of North Hamlin Avenue at approximately 1:17 a.m. when two men approached him in a vehicle. The men in the vehicle began shooting.
The 31-year-old man, who is a CCL holder, returned fire, hitting both the men inside the vehicle. He was shot in the torso and transported to Stroger Hospital in fair condition.
A
44-year-old man who was inside the vehicle was shot in the chest and
pronounced dead on scene. The second occupant, a 37-year-old man, was
shot in the shoulder and transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital in fair
condition.
The .22 Long Rifle cartridge is the most popular cartridge in existence. Every year, billions of .22 LR cartridges are purchased and shot. It is popular for both target shooting and hunting, and is used by many for self defense. It has been used by the military establishments of most countries, mostly as a training round, but also in combat. The .22 LR has been used to kill most animals from the smallest, including some insects, on up to elephants.
The .22 Long Rifle is derived from the .22 Short cartridge, both are rimfire cartridges which use a heeled bullet which is outside lubricated. The .22 Short was introduced by Smith & Wesson in 1857. The .22 Short was for their first cartridge revolver, the number 1, a seven shot bottom break revolver. The .22 Short derived from the .22 BB cap, a primer powered cartridge. The BB cap was introduced in 1845. It shot a round ball added to what had been a percussion cap. The Short used a 29 grain pullet and 4 grains of fine black powder. The .22 Long used a longer case, five grains of black powder and the 29 grain bullet. It was introduced in 1871. All four cartridges, the BB cap, the Short, the Long and the Long Rifle survive and can be purchased today.
A fifth cartridge, the .22 Extra Long contained six grains of fine black powder, and used a 40 grain bullet. It was introduced in 1880. It enjoyed commercial success for a few years. The Long Rifle used a 40 grain bullet, from the Extra Long Rifle, the lengthened case of the Long, and five grains of fine black power. It was introduced in 1887 by the Stevens Arms company for their single shot pistols and rifles. It was an instant success, more accurate than the Short, more powerful than the Long, and as powerful as the Extra Long in a more compact and less expensive package. The Long Rifle was said to be somewhat more accurate than the Extra Long.
The Stevens Arms Company was a premium brand in 1887. Its rifles and pistols were highly thought of and used in many competitions. The .22 Long Rifle was developed by Union Mettallic Cartridge Company (UMC) in coordination with Stevens from 1886 to 1887. It was quick to jump the Atlantic and find favor in England, where shooting was a popular sport, often practiced inside houses. Those of you who read Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series may recall that Sherlock Homes often practices shooting a revolver in his rooms at 221b Baker St.
On February 7, 1889, Shooting and Fishing, an English publication, furnished a lengthy and thorough review of the new .22 Long Rifle cartridges. The article gives us a window to see what the first .22 LR cartridges were capable of. They were produced by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. From the 1889 article:
It is the unanimous opinion of every rifleman who has shot the long rifle cartridge, that it is certainly the most accurate rim-fire .22-calibre cartridge which has yet been produced. The charge of powder in this cartridge is five grains of powder and a bullet weighing 40 grains. The charge is well proportioned, which contributes much to the accuracy.
There is also another point which makes the bullet a true flyer, which is it is uncrimped in the shell. The writer witnessed some very fine shooting done with the ordinary short cartridges when uncrimped, and feels this is a very important factor towards making this cartridge an unusually accurate one, but while it contributes to the accuracy, it is to a certain extent objectionable, as it forbids the removal of the cartridge from the chamber of the rifle without leaving the bullet in the rifle. This causes the powder to spill from the shell and prevents the use of the cartridge in a repeater.
The article contains an image of one of the best 10 shot groups with the new cartridge.
The bullseye, using the .22 caliber holes as a standard, appears to be 1 inch in diameter, as would be fitting a standard target at the time. The distance was 40 yards. The center to center group was measured at .90 inches.
A hobbyist found some old UMC black powder Long Rifle loads with copper cases, where the bullets were heeled but not crimped. This confirms the early cartridges were not crimped.
A crimp was added to the cartridge rather quickly. It is more important when used in repeaters than in single shot pistols and rifles.
Two different sources, American Rifleman and John Walters, give the velocity of the black powder .22 Long Rifle with a 40 grain bullet at 1095 fps and 1103 fps, an inconsequential difference of 8 fps. Smokeless powder Remington Standard Velocity ammunition, manufactured about 1956, produced an average velocity of 1099 fps, exactly in the middle of the above. It was likely designed to duplicate the black powder load. The average groups for the 1956 Remington, adjusted to 40 yards, were .904 inches.
A test of recent CCI Standard Velocity ammunition from a stock Rossi RS22 rifle two years ago, gave average five shot groups of .502 inches at 25 yards, extrapolated to .802 inches at 40 yards. The CCI 40 grain Long Rifle tested at 1073 fps.
The black powder .22 Long Rifle load performance is duplicated by modern smokeless powder, non-corrosive primed, Standard Velocity ammunition.
Today, 40 grain Long Rifle cartridges can deliver velocities of 1400 feet per second, or are loaded down to 700 feet per second for reduced sound and range. This could not be done with black powder, because the powder has to fill the case, preferably a bit compressed, to give consistent ignition. Black powder cartridges generally had only one load. Adjustable sights were far less common. Stevens rifles and pistols were known for target shooting. Many of them had state of the art iron sights from the period. With the best iron sights, groups can be obtained comparable to those shot with a low magnification scope. Iron sights need good lighting conditions for top performance.
The .22 Long Rifle cartridge has seen improvement over the years, with smokeless powder, non-corrosive priming, and a greater variety of loads. The basic performance is very close to the original 1887 Long Rifle cartridge introduced and promoted by the Stevens Arms Company.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Ray said the initial investigation revealed that Ogando Lopez was kicked out of the establishment after causing issues. They also said he had a knife with him in the nightclub. Ogando Lopez then went to a vehicle and retrieved a firearm.
According to Springdale police, the incident happened when the security guard confronted Ogando Lopez in the parking lot. Authorities said Ogando Lopez pointed the gun toward the guard, causing the security guard to shoot Ogando Lopez.
The man suspected of fatally shooting a 45-year-old man at a major south Minneapolis homeless encampment will not be charged with murder, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office said Friday.
Witnesses said the suspect fired at Tyrone J. Mohr after Mohr started a fight, county officials said.
Mohr was shot multiple times at the encampment known as Camp Nenookaasi, located near the intersection of E. 23rd Street and S. 13th Avenue. He was taken to HCMC and died soon afterward.
Police arrested the suspect near the encampment; a gun was found nearby, police spokesman Aaron Rose said.
The County Attorney's Office said it believes the shooter was acting in self-defense and that available evidence would not support a murder charge.
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – A 21-year-old man is in the hospital with a gunshot wound and under investigation for attempted murder by Bismarck Police after allegedly stabbing a 23-year-old man in an apartment there Friday morning. Police say the stabbing victim shot his attacker in what is believed to be self-defense.
PLEASANT HAILL, Calif. (FOX26) — A group of young men who looked like they were about to commit a smash-and-grab robbery at a store in the East Bay were lucky to get out with just their lives after a worker pointed a handgun at them.
It happened Monday afternoon at Estates Consignments on Contra Costa Blvd. in Pleasant Hill.
Surveillance video captured a woman walking through the store while talking on a cell phone right before the attempted robbery.
When the first deputy arrived, a female victim stated her husband, Nealy, was intoxicated and began arguing with her and struck her several times in the face. She also stated he had locked her in the bedroom and would not allow her to leave and continued to assault her. She was able to get to her handgun and they began wrestling over the gun.
Deputies went to the residence where the incident took place and attempted to make contact with the male party. They were finally able to get him to open the door and had him step out. While patting him down for weapons, a deputy noticed blood on the male’s leg. It appeared he had a gun shot wound to his upper thigh area.
EMS was contacted and responded to the scene. Nealy was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
The gun sales and National Instant background Check System (NICS) checks continue the trend in 2023 of the third or fourth highest month on record, and the ongoing trend of over a million guns sold during the month. The National Shooting Sports Foundation has reported gun sales, as estimated from NICS, have been over 1 million a month for 52 months.
The November 2023 gun sales are about 1.56 million firearms. The November NICS checks are about 2.65 million, making them the third highest gun sales for November and the fourth highest NICS checks. Gun sales in November of 2021 were 1.51 million, November of 2022 were 1.49 million, and November of 2023 were 1.56 million. Those numbers are similar. In the presidential election year Novembers, the gun sales were a bit higher. In 2016 there they were 1.62 million and in 2020, 1.92 million. It seems likely firearms sales will rise in the coming presidential election year of 2024. NICS background checks vary considerably as a multiple of gun sales. This is because NICS checks are used for multiple purposes, and multiple gun sales can be done with one NICS check.
There have been about 13.57 million gun sales in 2023 so far, using the NICS numbers. In December there will probably be another 1.7 million gun sales, for a total of over 15 million guns sold through the NICS in 2023.
In spite of inflation, technology has increased productivity to the point serviceable guns can be purchased for relatively little labor. On sale, a serviceable AR15 type rifle has been seen for less than $400. A serviceable 9mm pistol has been on sale for under $200, .22 semi-automatic rifles for under $150, .22 semi-automatic pistols for under $200, and 12 gauge pump shotguns for under $200. 100 dollars spent in 2023 is roughly equivalent to 1 dollar spent in 1900. In terms more people can relate to, 100 dollars spent in 2023 is equivalent to about seven dollars spent in 1973. In 1973, the cheapest Marlin semi-auto .22 was advertised at $57.95. They could likely be picked up, on sale, for $40, which would be about $571 in 2023 dollars.
Low prices in constant dollars is one of the reasons for a rise in base gun sales over the last four years. Another is an increasing acceptance of gun ownership and the utility of guns for defense of self and others. A third is the increasingly chaotic conditions reflected in urban crime statistics and international affairs. A fourth is inflation and the expectation of a rise in prices.
Ammunition prices are expected to increase in January of 2024. Vista Outdoors announced price increases based on a forecast shortage of gunpowder. Anticipating price increases in 2024 could boost December sales. Guns and ammunition are durable. Guns last for centuries with a little care. Ammunition lasts for many decades. Both are inflation hedges. Both can be used for practical purposes. Both can be bartered for other items.
Analysis:
If the United States regains political stability and the international situation becomes more stable (the two are highly related), this correspondent expects constant dollar gun and ammunition prices to stabilize. Gun sales will drop as the market readjusts. If chaos and uncertainty continue, as seems likely, gun sales will continue at the new normal, or they will rise, unless stopped by governmental action.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
At just before 10 p.m. on December 9, officers responded to the 1000-block of Middlesex Road (21221) for a report of a shooting. Once on scene, officers located an adult male who had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Preliminarily, detectives believe the armed suspect was attempting to break into the resident’s home. The homeowner discharged his firearm, striking the suspect.
On November 17, 2023, a three judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in the case of USA v Kersee, unanimously held the district court order revoking his supervised release was not Constitutional. The reason was the district court did not afford him his constitutionally guaranteed right to confront and cross examine witnesses. The charges in the case came from alleged domestic violence.
There are paralells with the Rahimi case. Both cases involve domestic violence charges. In both cases, the accused have not been convicted of domestic violence. In the Rahimi case, there are additional charges in the process of being tried, but Rahimi has not yet been convicted. Kersee is a convicted felon who is out on supervised release.
In the Rahimi case, Rahimi was not afforded the right to confront witnesses, because the statute in question, §922(g)(8) categorically strips people of the exercise of their Second Amendment rights without the right to confront witnesses, or the right to counsel. The law only requires a judge to issue a restraining order as requested by an individual who claims it is desired to prevent domestic violence. The law was enacted when the inferior courts were acting under the false assumption the Second Amendment did not apply to individuals. From the amicus brief by The Cato institute and the Goldwater Institute:
Notably, there is no requirement that respondents be advised before hand that issuance of the order will render it unlawful for them to possess firearms; no requirement that they be provided with counsel; no requirement that the issuing court make any specific factual findings; and no provision for a heightened standard of proof, as this Court has held is constitutionally mandated “when the individual interests at stake in a state proceeding are both ‘particularly important’and ‘more substantial than mere loss of money.’”
Judge Ho was one of the judges on the three judge panel. Judge Ho also wrote a concurrence for the Rahimi case when it was tried en banc by the Fifth Circuit. He took the opportunity in the Kersee case to remind the court of how similar the Kersee case was to the Rahimi case. From the concurrence by Judge Ho page 8:
The district court found Jeffrey Kersee guilty of assaulting his girlfriend, among other offenses, and sentenced him accordingly. Ante, at 2–4. But it did so without affording him the “right to confront and cross examine adverse witnesses.” Id.at 1. So the majority vacates his sentence—despite meaningful evidence that he is a dangerous criminal. Id.at 4–7.
I agree and therefore concur. I write separately to observe that the court grants relief, not because it is insensitive to domestic violence or the safety of Kersee’s girlfriend, but because it is sensitive to the constitutional rights of the accused. Cf. Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66(2023).
In that respect, the decision today reminds me of our decision in Rahimi. We initially upheld Rahimi’s conviction, 2022 WL 2070392, but we later reversed ourselves in light of N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111(2022). Bruen involves the Second Amendment, not criminal procedure. But Bruen admonishes us not to treat the Second Amendment as “a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees.”Id.at 2156 (quotations omitted). And the Court has construed other provisions, like the First Amendment, to require procedural safeguards to protect substantive rights, like freedom of speech.1
Judge Ho shows the clear outlines of the elements of the Rahimi case. Rahimi's Constitutional rights were violated without due process. The Biden administration contends that Rahimi does not deserve Constitutional rights to due process because he is a violent person. But Rahimi was never convicted of a violent crime before his rights were violated. If Rahimi is convicted of violent acts, which seem likely, he will lose the right to exercise his Second Amendment rights, irrespective of §922(g)(8).
The old media has attempted to make the Rahimi case about domestic violence, it has little to do with domestic violence and everything to do with fundamental constitutional rights.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
A female called the police and said her child’s father, who was under a restraining order, was at her residence asking to see his child.
Police said the man was banging on the door and broke a window. The female’s boyfriend went outside to confront him and gunshots were heard. Police said the boyfriend took the man’s car and drove himself to the hospital.
Police said the child’s father had gunshot injuries in his lower abdomen area and the boyfriend was shot in his hip. Both men had to have surgery.
After they answered the door, witnesses told law enforcement that Saunders rushed into the apartment, grabbed his estranged wife, and commanded her to leave with him. When she refused, the adults inside the apartment directed Saunders to leave.
Saunders was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with the people inside the residence which included a 15-year-old. Detectives say the man who resided at the apartment pulled out a legally possessed gun and shot Saunders.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office made the preliminary decision to release the man under the presumption of a “justifiable homicide.”
According to a release from IMPD, an adult woman allegedly attempted to sell a gun to a 16-year-old male. The teen then allegedly stole the gun and drove off in their car.
Police said the adult woman then chased after the teen.
IMPD detectives say they believe the two parties exchanged gunfire. Police said two men, who are 17 and 18 years old, were passengers of the vehicle being driven by the 16-year-old. According to IMPD's release, the gunfire exchange resulted in the 17-year-old and 18-year-old being shot, and the 16-year-old crashed the vehicle.
The first thing she did was bend down and put a block in the door so it would stay open.
“I knew then what was happening,’’ Dennis said, “so I drew my weapon.”
Wright said, “Happy holidays. I don’t want to hurt y’all, but I am.”
She then immediately started spraying bear spray at the employees. Bear spray is a powerful aerosol spray meant to be used to ward off grizzlies and black bears.
“I stepped around the corner and fired and hit her pretty good,’’ Dennis said. “I hit her in the shoulder. It was a significant injury.”
“I didn’t have any choice once she started spraying the bear spray because I didn’t know what was going to come next,’’ he said.
“I was in fight or flight mode, and I was trying to get the store secured because I didn’t know if she had other people with her
The grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states of the United States is the deadliest population of bears in the world. From 1975 to 2023, a population of under 2,000 grizzly bears have killed more people than all the grizzly/brown bears in Alaska.
The current population of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states has grown to about 2,000 bears from the low of about 700 to 800 bears estimated in 1975. If the population has grown at a constant rate over the last 48 years, the rate of growth would be about 2%, and the average population over the 48 years would be about 1300 bears. Grizzly bears were declared a threatened species in 1975 under the endangered species act.
In 1975, grizzly bears in the lower 48 were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The listing required recovering the species to a self-sustaining population, and it became illegal to kill, harass or harm grizzlies except in self defense.
Legal hunting of grizzly bears came to an end in the lower 48 states in 1975. The bears are concentrated in three states, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, with three or four dozen divided between Idaho and Washington State in the Selkirk ecosystem, which extends into Canada. Northwest Montana had a very limited season on grizzly bears until 1991, when a federal judge stopped the hunt.
All of the fatal grizzly bear attacks in the lower 48 states on humans, since 1975, occurred in places where it was illegal to hunt grizzly bears.
The other population of grizzly/brown bears in the United States is in Alaska. The population of grizzly/brown bears in Alaska has remained stable from 1975 to present. Most of Alaskan grizzly/brown bears are subject to hunting pressure, and may legally be killed if they threaten life and/or property in Alaska. The population of grizzly/brown bears in Alaska has remained at about 32,000 for the last 48 years. Some of the grizzly/brown bears in Alaska live in national parks, wildlife refuges, and United States military bases, where grizzly bears may not be hunted. Most of the Alaskan bears live in territory where they can be legally hunted.
When people are killed by bears, it makes the news. Bear attacks which are fatal are collected by web sites. The numbers are well known.
More people have been killed by the average population of 1300 grizzly bears in the lower 48 states, than by the average population of 32,000 grizzly/brown bears in Alaska.
From 1975 to 2023, 24 people have been killed by wild grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. During the same period, 19 people were killed by wild grizzly/brown bears in Alaska.
What is the reason a population of bears in the lower 48 states, which has averaged only 4% of the population of United States grizzly/brown bears, has accounted for 56% of the humans killed? When grizzly/brown bears are hunted, they change their habits and learn to avoid people. Bold bears which initiate confrontations with humans are selected out of the population. In Alaska, sows with cubs which initiate confrontations with humans are preferentially eliminated from the population. This is a classic selection process. In Alaska, bears willing to initiate conflict with humans are less likely to survive. Cubs which survive when their mother attacks a human, and is killed, are likely to learn to avoid confrontations with humans.
In the lower 48 states, outside of national parks, the same dynamic applied until a national law was created in 1975. Grizzly bears had learned to avoid humans, in order to survive, by the late 1800s. The avoidance of humans by grizzly bears was well documented in the memoirs of Montague Stevens, Meet Mr. Grizzly, about his experiences with grizzly bears in the 1890's. A similar phenomena has been observed in Europe, with European brown bears (the same species as American brown/grizzly bears). After being intensely hunted, remaining brown bear populations became adept at avoiding confrontations with humans.
Since 1975 grizzly bears in the lower 48 states found that humans are not a threat. They have been rewarded for confronting humans. Human hunters are subject to serious fines if they defend their kill from being stolen by grizzly bears. Grizzly bears quickly learn threatening humans pays dividends in easy meals.
The existing evidence indicates brown/grizzly bear populations which are subjected to regular hunting pressure with firearms, are selected for and/or learn to avoid confrontation with humans.
Grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states have met the population goals set in 1975. They have been taken off the threatened species list twice, and have been reinstated by activist judges.
Once bear populations are subjected to hunting, defense of life and property kills drop, as the number of bear-human confrontations drop. In Alaska, the number of grizzly/brown bears killed in defense of life and property is only 5.1% of the total harvest of bears. The population of grizzly/brown bears has been stable in Alaska for nearly 50 years.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
The security video captured the 37-year-old auto detail shop worker getting out of the car he was driving, with a red tire iron in his hand, shortly after the motorist in a silver car pulls up next to him.
But, it was when the worker appears to swing at the motorist with the metal rod that the man opens fire on him. The wounded man can be seen running away.
Witnesses said several drivers passed him by before someone stopped to help him by taking him to Christ Hospital, where he is in stable condition.
A car owner who came across thieves who were trying to steal his catalytic converter exchanged gunfire with the suspects in a Miami-Dade neighborhood early Wednesday, police said.
The incident unfolded shortly before 5 a.m. at a community in the 8100 block of Northwest 8th Street.
Miami-Dade Police Det. Andre Martin said a resident was in his home when he heard power tools in the parking lot.
The resident saw two people under his vehicle trying to remove the catalytic converter, so he armed himself and confronted the suspects, Martin said.
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