Police say the man was in the fenced-in backyard when the homeowner found him.
When he was confronted by the homeowner, he allegedly became aggressive and approached the homeowner.
The homeowner, who was armed, shot the man one time and then called 911.
The man was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
After talking with the Butler County prosecutor’s office, police say, at this time, no charges are being sought against the homeowner.
JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – Police are investigating after they said a robbery led to a suspect and homeowner shooting at each other.
Public Information Specialist for the Jonesboro Police Department Sally Smith told K8 News that at 4:50 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 28, they got a call about shots being fired during an aggravated robbery at a home in the 1700 block of Wembleton Drive.
She said shots were fired at the homeowner by the suspect, and the homeowner shot back.
Several rounds hit the homeowner’s vehicle, but no injuries were reported.
A man was shot and injured in west Fort Worth late Tuesday during an attempted break-in, police said. Officers were dispatched to a home in the 7600 block of Dahlen Street shortly before midnight after someone called 911 to report their boyfriend had been shot. Police said a man was shot at that location while he was trying to break into a trailer. The suspect was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. It’s not clear if he will face any charges connected with the break-in.
Many readers are interested in how various handgun calibers have performed in defense against bears. This is a complicated subject. Sometimes, any caliber will do. Sometimes a level of power may be required. Sometimes, a level of accuracy or speed may be required. Many permutations exist. The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important. These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update, after several years of intense searches. We have always asked for examples of failures. Only four failures have been documented. Link to three failures. Link to fourth failure. We appreciate readers who help us document cases.
Here are all the cases which have been documented where calibers beyond .44 Magnum were used. There are 4 incidents where .454 Casull revolvers were fired. There was 1 incident where a .460 S&W Magnum revolver was fired. there were 2 incidents where a .500 S&W Magnum revolver was fired. These cases do not include incidents where handguns were use with other lethal means, or a mix of handgun calibers were used. If more than one handgun of the same caliber was used, the incident is included. Six incidents were against brown bears, one against a polar bear. All were successful. The incidents are listed by caliber, chronologically within caliber.
November 1986, Kodiak Island, Zachar bay, .454 Casull, Grizzly bear.
George Malekos was confronted with a large grizzly bear at 10 feet away on a gravel ridge, covered with snow. He had nowhere to turn. He aimed at the bear’s eye, and shot. He fired two more times as the bear whirled around, and disappeared.
Later, he and his hunting companion shot the same bear with their rifles. They found the .454 round had creased the skull above the eye, then another shot had penetrated one foot of the bear.
From More Bear Tales, p. 104-107.
And here I thought the Kenai Penisula brownie I shot off my foot with a .454 Casull about 10 years ago got the worst of it.
December 30, 2007, Kodiak Island, Alaska, brown bear, .454 Casull revolver.
A rabbit hunter had a .22 rifle for rabbits and a .454 Casull revolver for bear protection. The bear got up near him. The sow kept coming toward him, even after he fired shots in the air with the .22 rifle. He shouted and waved his arms and drew the pistol. The sow kept coming. He shot her at 15 yards. Safe with Bears, page 324.
Additional source, From seattletimes.com:
ANCHORAGE — A rabbit hunter fired his pistol at a charging grizzly bear on Kodiak Island, badly wounding the old sow, which was later killed, as were her three cubs.
The hunter, whose name is not being released, was hunting rabbits near the American River on Friday about 15 miles outside Kodiak when the sow charged him, said John Crye, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, on Monday.
The hunter, who was carrying two weapons, shot the bear when it was about 10 yards away. It was the second time in a week that hunters had encountered the family of bears. The last time it was one of the cubs that charged a father and son out duck hunting as the mother and the other cubs slept nearby.
August 2, 2009, Alaska: Kenai Peninsula, Charging Brown Bear Stopped with Ruger .454 Casull
Because of many bear-related incidents in this area, Brush always has brown bears on his mind…even when walking a well-maintained road. On just such a road, less than 500 yards from his house, Brush stopped when he heard a twig snap behind him. Turning his head toward the sound, Brush saw a monstrous brown bear charging toward him. “There was no warning,” he stresses. “None of the classic teeth-popping or woofing, raising up on hind legs, or bluff-charging that you read about. When I spotted him he was within 15 yards, his head down and his ears pinned back. He was coming like a freight train…in total chase-mode.”
Brush instinctively back-pedaled to avoid the charge, drawing the Ruger from its holster. “I fired from the hip as he closed the distance,” Brush recalls. “I know I missed the first shot, but I clearly hit him after that. I believe I fired four or five shots. “
Brush finally fell on his back on the edge of the road. Miraculously, the bear collapsed a mere five feet from his boot soles, leaving claw marks in the road where Brush had–only seconds before–been standing. The bear was moaning, his huge head still moving, as Brush aimed the Ruger to fire a finishing shot. “By then my gun had jammed,” Greg says. “I frantically called my wife on my cell phone and told her to bring a rifle. When she arrived I finished the bear.”
May 18, 2018, Wyoming: Cora, 460 Smith & Wesson magnum Grizzly.
The two men with bear spray had fallen 50 yards behind. The dog alerted on something. Noah thought it was some sort of big animal. Then he saw the bears, a grizzly sow and cubs, uphill. He yelled at the dog, but it was too late. The dog came running back. The sow grizzly charged, moving extremely fast. His friend from Chicago bolted back down the trail. Noah had his revolver out, as the bear came to a stop, just a dozen feet away
On March 5, 2005, two people were attacked by a polar bear in the remote area of Kapp Lee, Edgeøya, in the Svalbard archipelago.
The .500 Smith & Wesson revolver had been on the market for just over two years when this occurred. The individual responsible for security had one of those big revolvers on his person.
This story was uncovered as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by AmmoLand. The names of the individuals involved were redacted. The original account is a translation with some grammatical and spelling errors.
What follows is the account, edited for readability. The names Paul and Sally have been substituted for the redacted names. This is what happened.
Paul, Sally and two more people were airlifted from Longyearbyen to Kapp Lee, Edgeøya, and landed at 2:21 PM. The helicopter flew the two other people a bit further away to install a digital camera to take pictures of Storfjorden….
The bear was very close. Paul used the handgun to shoot two warning shots, in the air, over the bear. The dog was barking at the bear at the same time.
The bear did not stop or react to the shots or the dog.
Paul felt that the bear would get into the cabin if he did not shoot it.
He had trouble closing the door, did not know how to lock it, and did not know the inside of the cabin.
In far less time than it takes to tell it, Paul yelled, “Dammit, I’m shooting,” and fired one shot at the bear, now only 1.4 meters (five feet) away.
He tried to aim at the heart/lung areas, but was not sure where he hit, other than that it was to the right side of the neck, from the front, toward the back of the bear.
The bear turned immediately and ran away. The bear collapsed 48 meters from where Paul stood.
31 October 31, 2008 (Halloween), .500 S&W Magnum, handloads, Juneau, Alaska. Lucas Clark.
This correspondent interviewed Lucas Clark.
The incident occurred on the bank of small river, The grizzly bear lunged at him from 12 feet out of the salmonberry brush. He had the handgun out in hand, and fired reflexively. He hit the bear in the chest at the base of the neck with 400 gr. Sierra bullet at 1350 fps. out of .500 S&W.
As he recovered from the muzzle flash, he saw the bear running 50 feet away, broadside. He fired again, and gut shot, the bear turned. As it was running away, he shot at its hind quarters. That shot broke the bear’s pelvis, it went down instantly. That is where it died.
Albuquerque –
Around 11:00AM, the Albuquerque Police Department received a call from a homeowner stating that their spouse shot an intruder in their home located on the 1300 block of Katie St. NE.
When officers arrived on scene the homeowner exited the house and was questioned by officers. Police were able to locate a blood trail leading away from the house. Officers tried to locate a gunshot victim within the neighborhood but could not find anyone bleeding.
On August 26, 2024, at about 8:55 pm, Dallas Police responded to an assist officer call in the 3600 block of Tyler Street. The preliminary investigation determined suspects attempted to rob a victim at gunpoint at the location. The victim fired his weapon at the suspects, who left the scene. It is not known at this time if any of the suspects were hit or injured. The victim was not injured. The investigation is ongoing.
PADDOCK HILLS, Ohio (WKRC) -A man who allegedly attempted to rob a convenience store in Paddock Hills is dead after the clerk apparently shot him.
The incident happened just before 3 a.m. at the BP station on the corner of Reading Road and Tennessee Avenue. Police are saying very little other than a man was shot there at about 2:50 a.m. Paramedics arrived and tried to save him, but were unsuccessful.
Cameron Alexander Turner, 22
In 2002, the City of Dallas leased part of its property, about 77 acres, to a private entity, the State Fair of Texas, for 24 days each year, to operate the State Fair. The State Fair allowed people with a handgun carry permit to carry on the fair grounds. The 2002 lease has a duration of 25 years.
On October 14, 2023, a young man, 22 year old Cameron Alexander Turner, fired 3 or 4 shots and wounded three people at the fair. Turner did not have a concealed carry permit. Turner claimed self defense. Video from the fair does not appear to support that claim. Turner was charged with three counts of aggravated assault and serious bodily injury.
Jeff Cotner, the director of security for the fair says they still don’t know how Turner got that gun onto the fairgrounds.
“I’m little emotional, I'm sorry,” he told WFAA. “It was very traumatic on Saturday night.”
He says in the time since the shooting they’ve made some subtle changes – like new fences at the main entrance and increased security.
“We moved like 2 extra officers from one spot to another spot and we moved to police stand about 30 feet,” Cotner said.
According to fair officials, they are still allowing people to enter the fairgrounds with guns, as long as they have a concealed carry permit – something some fairgoers question.
According to fox4news.com, a grand jury formally indicted Turner on November 21, 2023, on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The dentonrc.com showed Turner was also indicted with unlawful carrying of a weapon in a prohibited place. On Jan 26, 2024 Bond was reduced from 1.6 million to $350,000. From the dentonrc.com:
The new bonds were assigned by Dallas County District Court Judge Nancy Mulder, according to the documents.
It was the first time a firearm at the fair had been fired to injure someone since 1988, according to reports. Initially, the State Fair indicated no policy changes were planned.
In August of 2024, in response to the incident which did not involve anyone with a carry permit, the State Fair changed its policy to ban people with carry permits from carrying at the fair. Retired and active law enforcement personnel would be allowed to carry. Studies have show people with carry permits in Texas, are less likely to break the law than law enforcement officers.
71 Texas State legislators signed a letter asking the fair to restore its previous policy. They stated if he State Fair did not do so, they would work to change State Law to put the change into effect by law. From the letter:
The Texas Legislature has repeatedly enhanced Texans’ Second Amendment Rights, but your actions raise questions about the need for legislation next Session to further protect these rights on lands managed by the public. Should you have any questions or wish to discuss our opposition to this policy further, please do not hesitate to contact any of our offices.
Texas AG Ken Paxton has threatened to sue the City of Dallas to require the State Fair to restore the situation to what it was from 2002 to 2023. From x.com/KenPaxtonTX/.com:
"Texas law clearly states that license to carry holders may not be prevented from carrying a firearm on property owned or leased by the government unless otherwise prevented by state statute," Paxton said in a statement. "The State Fair of Texas's recent policy that infringes on LTC holders' Second Amendment is unlawful. Dallas has fifteen days to fix the issue, otherwise I will see them in court."
Texas law is not completely clear about whether a private entity who leases public property can restrict carry permit holders on the public property. A lawsuit resulting from the crime, against the security company and the perpetrator, has been filed by one of the people who was injured. This letter from the office of the Texas Attorney General explains some of the issues:
Texas Government Code § 411.209(a) states that “. . . a political subdivision of the state may not take any action, including an action consisting of the provision of notice by communication described by Section 30.06 or 30.07, Penal Code, that states or implies that a license holder who is carrying a handgun under the authority of this subchapter is prohibited from entering or remaining on a premises or other place owned or leased by the governmental entity unless license holders are prohibited from carrying a handgun on the premises or other place by Section 46.03, Penal Code, or other law.”
In Oklahoma, a private entity was found to have unlawfully prohibited firearms at "The Gathering", located on public land.
It remains to be seen if the State Fair of Texas or the City of Dallas will respond to the requests of state legislators or AG Paxton.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Police say that officers were dispatched at 11:04 p.m. to a home on 1 Heather Way. When they arrived, they found Manning lying on the ground outside of the home with a gunshot wound to her arm.
Inside the home, officers found Judy W. Roberts lying on the floor with "injuries due to an apparent armed assault by Manning," a release from the department states.
Both were taken to CHI St. Joseph-London Hospital and then later transferred to UK Hospital in Lexington.
Officers received a call about a man who was shot just before 3:50 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Ranch Valley Drive. Police later learned that a second man arrived at a nearby hospital who was shot in the waist.
However, after further investigation, authorities said both men were armed and involved in a robbery attempt of a 34-year-old man.
During the robbery, SAPD said the 34-year-old man pulled out a weapon and fired at the men in self-defense.
On August 20, 2024, Tyler Johnson, 32, and his father, Chris, were backpacking and hunting on the Resurrection Trail in Alaska. The trail is in the Chugach National Forest South of Anchorage, across the Turnagain arm of Cook's Inlet. The north end is just South of Hope, Alaska. The trail is about 38 miles long. On the first day, the Johnsons had hiked in about 15 miles. The weather was great, about 64 degrees and mostly sunny. Both men were in excellent physical shape. Hiking 15 miles in the mountains with heavy packs in a day indicates they were in top form. As shown in the video, the father, Chris, had a rifle strapped to his pack. Chris carried a .40 caliber Glock in a chest rig. Tyler had a 10mm in a hip holster attached to his pack. At present, it is not certain what make or model the pistol was. Brief images in the YouTube video show a pistol alongside Tyler. At a best guess, it is a S&W 2.0.
The second day they did some hunting. The third day, father and son set out hunting again, enjoying the scenery and the weather, following an old trail. In many places the brush was very thick, very difficult to get through. Tyler's father, Chris Johnson, was in the lead. The track led across a small creek, into a sort of funnel of brush, then opened out into a clear area. Tyler had taken about five steps into the clearing. The clearing was covered with knee high grass.
Tyler explained what happened in more detail in a video interview with alaskasnewssource.com.
Two things happened at nearly the same time. Tyler's Father yelled bear, bear, bear! and the grizzly bear let out a roar/growl as it charged at him. The father, Chris, turned slightly away to protect his head and neck as he continued to yell "hey, hey, hey!". The bear momentarily braked, then veered toward Tyler. Tyler estimated it was four seconds from the time the bear roared until the bear hit him.
During this time Tyler struggled to draw his 10mm from the holster attached to his pack. A retired law enforcement firearms instructor told this correspondent he believed, from Tyler's description of what happened, the holster was a high level retention holster, probably a Safariland ALS retention level II. The holster requires two distinct motions to release the pistol, then it can be drawn. Here is a transcription from Tyler, :
"The bear put on the brakes and turned toward me.
I had my hand on my firearm at that moment. It was attached to my backpack. I have an external frame that goes above the head. I don't know if you have ever seen one of those.
It immediately turned toward me.
I tried to get my gun out of the holster. My holster has a strap with a thumb. You press it, push the strap forward, then you can take the gun out of the holster.
I failed attempt for a second."
Two action retention holsters are very secure. They are designed to insure suspects are not able to grab a pistol from a police officer. They take practice to be able to access a pistol in under 2 seconds. Without the practice, it is easy to lock up the holster, keeping the pistol in the holster. This is what a high level retention holster is designed to do. Here is a video showing the two motions required for a Safariland ALS retention level II. The first holster mentioned in the video fits Tyler's description pretty well. Confirmation of this speculation will depend on Tyler.
As Tyler struggled to unlock the holster and draw, the bear was rapidly approaching. Tyler cleared the 10mm from the holster just before the bear hit him and bowled him over. Tyler fired his first shot while falling backwards. His legs were probably raised to fend of the bear. The bullet intersected his quadriceps muscle, the big muscle on the front of the leg between the knee and the hip. The bullet entered, traveled under the skin for about three inches, and exited, a relatively shallow wound. It may have continued on, penetrating the bear.
Tyler continued firing rapidly, with the bear on top of him. He firing seven more shots into the bear's chest and head area. On the seventh shot, the bear stopped attacking and started to roll away; disabled, dead, or dying. When he fired his last shot, Tyler felt the bear slump. Tyler described the feeling:
"When I felt him die on top of me and roll over, it was insane, like Gimlee and the Warg."
(Lord of the Rings reference.) Gimlee is a warrior dwarf, a warg is a gigantic, aggressive wolf.
Tyler dropped his pistol and crabbed away, backward, on his hands and butt, as his father closed in. Tyler's father was not passive. He drew his .40 caliber Glock and moved to change the angle so he could shoot the bear without hitting Tyler. As Tyler separated himself from the bear, Chris Johnson closed the distance and fired several shots into the bears head, putting it down for good.
The Johnson's went into triage mode. They were prepared for wounds in the wild. Tyler was carrying a trauma kit with QuickClot and a tourniquet. Tyler applied QuickClot to his bullet wound. Tyler's father, Chris, applied a tourniquet to Tyler's right leg, which the bear had bitten and ripped as Tyler was shooting it.
The pair had a an InReach satellite device to call for help. It took about an hour and a half for a helicopter to reach them, the first helicopter, from the Alaskan State Troopers, took Tyler to the hospital. Tyler's father, Chris, was picked up by a second helicopter, according to the Alaska News Source interview. Tyler was released from the hospital the same day. He was discharged before midnight.
Analysis: the two seasoned hunters and hikers survived the unprovoked bear attack fairly well. The were well prepared to treat significant injuries. If Tyler had been able to draw his 10mm even a second earlier, he might not have been injured at all. Fortunately, the gunshot wound was shallow. It may not have any significant lasting effects. Four seconds is a long time to draw a pistol. Two seconds to draw and fire two shots at close range is a common law enforcement standard, easily achieved with a couple of hours training and practice. A two step retention holster may be a good idea for open carry in an urban environment. The more complex the holster, the more practice is required.
At least one article reports a "cub" was later seen in the area. An official report should tell us if the bear was a sow, and if it was, whether it was lactating. Hyper aggressive grizzly bear sows, which attack humans for merely existing, should be culled from the population. Their numbers are a tiny minority of grizzly bear sows. Most grizzly bear sows with cubs flee from humans.
A study of bear attacks in Alaska shows about seven overnight hospitalizations occur for every fatal attack. Because Tyler was not kept overnight, his attack would be classed as a less serious one, which did not require hospitalization overnight.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
A resident at a Berrydale Avenue apartment complex fatally shot an intruder Saturday evening, Medford Police Department said in a Sunday morning Facebook post.
Police say dispatch got a call at 6:14 p.m. of an "apparent break-in" carried out by someone unknown to the residents. Another call reporting shots fired at the apartment came soon thereafter, police said.
SCOTT CITY, Mo. (KFVS) - Police investigated a deadly shooting at a home in Scott City on Saturday, August 24.
According to Scott City Police, officers were called just before 2:45 p.m. to a home to a report of a burglary in progress.
Police said the homeowner called 911 to report that someone kicked in his back door and he shot the intruder.
When officers arrived, the homeowner took them to the scene and to the intruder. Officers began life-saving measures along with other first responders.
Aug 23, 2024 8:00 AM
BILLINGS – An angler was injured in a black bear attack on the Stillwater River near Beehive on the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug. 21.
The angler, an adult male, was fishing alone on the bank of the Stillwater River when he encountered a black bear. The bear swatted the man’s face and immediately left the incident site. The man sustained non-life-threatening injuries and did not seek medical attention.
The bear’s behavior was likely defensive in the surprise, close encounter. Due to the nature of this defensive encounter, there are no efforts to capture the bear at this time. Recreationists, including anglers, should be aware while in bear country, especially in areas with abundant natural foods such as fruit and berries and where hearing may be limited along rivers and streams.
As police responded, they say they got a second call about several gunshots fired near The Masons Apartment Complex that they were told were possibly coming from a black SUV.
Arriving officers found a black Cadillac Escalade turning onto Old Spanish Trail from Town Center Parkway. When officers tried to stop the car, it fled.
Officers pursued the car into New Orleans. Three men got out and ran, according to Slidell police.
A police K-9 found and apprehended one suspect, who was hiding underneath a raised house. Officers found a second suspect hiding behind a shed in the backyard of a home with a firearm that Slidell PD says was discovered to be stolen.
Officers searched the SUV and say they found a dead man in the back seat. They say he suffered an apparent gunshot wound.
Investigators determined the four people in the Black SUV went to the Slidell-area apartment complexes to steal vehicles. As they tried to steal one from The Masons, police say the owner heard an alarm and tried to intervene. An exchange of gunfire erupted between the vehicle's owner and the suspects, resulting in the one being hit by gunfire.
MIDWEST CITY, OK (KOKH) — The Midwest City Police Department (MCPD) is investigating an early morning shooting in the 2100 block of Steven Drive.
Police responded to the incident around 2:09 am.
Officers met with a resident that was cooperative and turned over a single firearm to officers. - MCPDOn the scene, investigators learned that the resident was physically attacked and shot the attacker in the stomach one time.
FALLS MILLS, Va. (WVVA) - A Good Samaritan shot a wanted man attempting to carjack a woman and her child on Friday.
According to Major Harold Heatley with the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened at Lee’s Kar-Go when the suspect, identified as Cody Dailey, 30, “attempted to carjack a truck, assaulted the female driver of the vehicle and told her child that was in the vehicle, ‘I’m going to rape your mommy.’”
Multiple citizens heard the victim screaming and came to her aid, and one of those citizens was armed with his 9mm handgun.
The armed Good Samaritan approached Dailey and gave commands, but Dailey charged and shoved the man to the ground.
Dailey continued approaching the armed citizen, and that was when the citizen shot the suspect, hitting him in the chest.
As of August 19, 2023 five amicus briefs in favor of the defendant have been filed in the seminal interstate carry case of Commonweath v Donnel. Arguments are to be heard before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts on September 9, 2024.
On June 19, 2024, this correspondent noted only one amicus (friend of the court) brief had been filed in favor of the defendant, Dean F. Donnell, Jr. Donnell, a New Hampshire resident, was arrested in Massachusetts for carrying a firearm without a Massachusetts license. The district court opinion found the law requiring a license for law abiding people from other states, who could legally carry in their own state, was facially (obvious on its face) unconstitutional. Four other amicus briefs have been submitted by August 19.
One of those briefs was submitted by several organizations acting together to defend the Constitutional rights to arms and self defense. Those organizations were: California Rifle and Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, Gun Owners Association, Operation Blazing Sword - Pink Pistols, Second Amendment Defense and Education Coalition, and Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois.
The brief was submitted by Jason A. Guida. It is a well written and well argued brief. The brief is 39 pages long. Here is the summary of the argument. From the brief:
This case is simple. There is no historical tradition supporting a requirement that peaceable nonresidents already permitted to carry in their home states submit to a burdensome process to obtain a Massachusetts license to carry (“CCW”) if they wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights while visiting or passing through Massachusetts.2 On the contrary,laws historically exempted travelers from such local restrictions. Americans of earlier eras knew that requiring citizens visiting another state to give up the right to bear arms was untenable.
Particularly interesting was where the brief pointed out the planitiff's misleading the court by chopping off quotes from a statute, to give the opposite meaning of what the statute actually stated. The brief also eviserates the brief submitted by Everytown and the Brady campaign as including suicide data to pump up their argument that people coming from another state make Massachusetts less safe.
A brief was submitted by the National Rifle Association (NRA). The brief is 48 pages long. The arguments are similar to those of the previous brief. It is notable the NRA included reference to infamous Dred Scott case of 1857, on page 30.
The Gun Owners Action League (GOAL) submitted a 49 page brief. An important part of this brief, which this correspondent did not see in the other briefs, was Donnel was charged under the 2021 law, which was a "May Issue" law for non-residents. May issue laws were struck down in the Bruen decision. The GOAL brief also goes into detail how the law is "tremendously burdensome to a non-resident". It is an important distinction. The GOAL brief makes clear arguments to show Donnell has standing for this case.
A brief has been submitted by Jay Edward Simkin. The brief is interesting. Edward Simkin submits the brief pro-se, on his own, without counsel. The brief goes into extensive detail about Massachusetts history of firearms law. The historical part of the brief is an excellent read in itself. It is 130 pages long, but 90 pages are submitted as an appendix. The actual brief is only 40 pages. Simkin had his out-of-state license in Massachusetts restored by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 2013, after Massachusetts authorities refused to renew it in 2009. Simkin has been a Federal Firearms License in Nashua, New Hampshire for over 30 years. The brief is well written and argued.
Analysis: The case is straightforward if the court follows the guidance set forward by Bruen. There are no historical laws from the founding era which prevented travelers from carrying weapons from one colony to another colony, or later, from one state to other states. The tradition is travelers were commonly exempted from carry laws. The excessive burdens imposed by laws requiring a separate carry license for every state are impractical and unreasonable for travelers, and violate the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment. As a practical matter, although it carries no weight in the Constitutional question, people who are legally allowed to carry in their home state are not a threat to law abiding people in other states.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A man with felony warrants from Florida was arrested Friday after running from police and being shot at by a homeowner.
Officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle near Village Apartments on Raymond Road.
The passenger, Marquavious Harris, 23, fled the scene when officers learned he had felony warrants from Florida.
Capitol Police spokesperson Bailey Martin says Harris attempted to enter into a home but was shot at by the homeowner.
Arrest records show that Janzen lives there with her stepfather. He told responding officers that he had to kick Janzen out of his house after a heated argument that evening.
Once outside, Janzen allegedly called her boyfriend and told him to come over and kill her stepdad.
He arrived a short time later and shot at the victim several times with a pistol, according to the arrest affidavit.
MPD says Janzen’s stepfather was grazed by a single round before returning fire, striking her boyfriend several times.
He was rushed to Regional One Hospital in critical condition.
Investigators found that surveillance video and audio corroborated the victim’s narrative.
On Thursday, August 22, deputies were called to a home on McDonald Church Road. A homeowner reportedly fired shots to try to scare off someone trying to get into his home.
Despite the previous shots, officials say the suspect kept trying to get into the home and the homeowner shot the man. Deputies arrived to find the man injured at the front door. They provided first aid until emergency medical services could arrive.
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The man shot atThe Flats at Ninth Avenue apartment complex in Pensacola Thursday morning is charged with misdemeanor battery.
Police determined the shooting -- which took place around 5:30 a.m. Thursday -- to be a self-defense case. The shooter is not being charged.
Lanz Canillas, 30, is charged with misdemeanor battery, as well as a probation violation charge from the sheriff's office.Rochester, N.Y. — Teens in two vehicles drove toward a 46-year-old man, prompting him to open fire and shoot one of them Wednesday afternoon, according to police.
Investigators said the man approached multiple teens occupying a Kia and Hyundai on Norton Village Lane to "inquire about their presence."
The teens left the area in the vehicles, only to circle back and drive at the man, according to police. The man reportedly pulled a legally registered .45-caliber handgun and fired several rounds before the vehicles fled.
Officers said a security guard shot a man who died from his injuries.
Albuquerque police also say the shooting is being investigated as a possible self-defense shooting, after consultation with the district attorney's office.A conceal carry license holder opened fire when a known armed suspect approached him in an alley Tuesday evening in the Bronzeville neighborhood, Chicago police said.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m., a 26-year-old man was approached by an armed man in an alley in the 3400 block of South Rhodes Avenue. The man who is a CCL holder retrieved his weapon and an exchange of gunfire ensued, police said.
The CCL holder suffered two gunshot wounds to the left thigh, and was taken in critical condition to UChicago Medicine. The other person suffered a wound to the right leg, and also was in critical condition at the same hospital, police said.
At least two witnesses fired shots to fend off the dog, police said. “The preliminary investigation indicates that a group of children were in the front yard playing when three dogs owned by the victim’s family were let out of the garage,” CMPD said. “Two of the dogs playfully knocked the victim to the ground when the third dog approached and began to bite the victim and dragged them down the driveway. Several adult witnesses ran toward the child and attempted to stop the attack. Two individuals fired gunshots near the dog.”
The dog eventually retreated to the garage, police said.
A flurry of black bear attacks have been covered in the media in the summer of 2024. Five people were injured in the attacks. The first occurred in Alaska, at campground near Anchorage, by a male bear. The bear injured a woman's face after scratching and biting its way into the couple's tent. She was treated at a hospital. From adn.com, Alaska Portage campground.
There was no food or other items that usually attract bears inside the tent and it’s not clear what prompted the rare encounter, Wardlow said. “These folks who were involved did everything right and this is just a very unusual situation where that bear still tried to get into their tent, even without there being any attractant involved.”
On June 25, what was likely the same bear attempted to break into an occupied tent. From alaskanewssource, Alaska Portage Campground:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A male black bear was shot and killed by a U.S. Forest Service officer Tuesday morning after it was found trying to break into an occupied tent near Portage.
It’s not the first time in recent days that officials have dealt with a bear encounter in the area. Earlier this month, one person was hurt when a black bear jumped on a tent with people inside just off the Portage Glacier Road. The person was not seriously hurt, but did sustain injuries in the June 14 encounter.
On July 10, an ultra long distance runner, Jon-Kyle Mohr, was attacked as he was finishing a 50 mile run in Yosemite park. Fortunately, his injuries were not severe. Bear attack long distance runner in Yosemite on July 10, 2024
The 33-year-old had headed out from his home in June Lake over the Sierra Nevada and down into the Yosemite Valley — an impressive 50-mile dash he had been planning for years, he told the outlet.
But as he was approaching the finish line, Mohr saw a huge black shape in the darkness charging at him.
He said he felt “some sharpness” on his shoulder before he was forcefully flung into the dark.
Next thing he knew, people were gathered about 100 feet away shining their headlamps in his direction and shouting, “Bear!”
On July 31, 2024, a black bear attacked 27-year-old trail runner Danny Rizzo, in Salt Lake County, Utah. Rizzo stopped and tried to "look big". From Belmontvoice.org:
Still, the bear started “bluff charging” at him, according to Rizzo. Then the bear did start to approach him and instinctively, Rizzo began backing up.
“I tripped over something and fell on my back, so the bear came up over me, and it got my arm in its mouth,” he said. “I pulled it out and kicked it in the head with the bottom of my shoe. It shook its head and ran off.”
Rizzo ran down the trail to alert other trail users that he’d been bitten by a bear and then drove himself to the hospital for rabies shots.
“All things considered, I was not very injured,” he said. “I have one puncture wound from a tooth and a bunch of bruising. Overall … I got pretty lucky.”
On 11 August, 2024, a three year old girl, Madison Findley-Dickson, was sleeping in a tent when a female black bear attacked and almost killed her. From cowboysstatedaily.com:
A black bear crawled inside a tent and attacked a 3-year-old girl late Sunday at a private campground south of Red Lodge, Montana, near Yellowstone National Park.
According to her family, Madison Findley-Dickson was released from a Billings hospital Tuesday, but still faces a long recovery from her injuries. The family is from the Spokane, Washington, area and was staying at Perry’s RV Park and Campground.
Madison was asleep in a tent when the bear entered it and attacked her around 10 p.m., according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP). The campground was evacuated after the attack.
Wildlife officials caught and killed the bear, a subadult female, the next day, according to FWP.
Madison's skull was fractured. It is unclear how the bear was driven off. Madison was attacked while asleep in the tent, as stated in her gofundme account.
On August 12, 2024, a 24-year-old runner, Quanah Ottoway, was attacked in California near Long Barn. After the bear knocked him down and attacked him, he hit the female bear with a stout stick he grabbed off the ground, than ran. It worked for him. The bear chased him to a neighbor's house. From Interview with Quanah Ottaway, victim of bear attack:
Ottaway said he only had one thought the whole time.
"Just hauled as fast as I could, and I was thinking about my kids. Glad I didn't take my kids with me," he said.
He quickly made his way on top of an SUV.
Neighbors heard the commotion and came out to help.
"I just was saying, like, 'Help! Bear!' As loud as I could," Ottaway said.
The neighbors began making loud noises and one even threw a log at the bear to get it to leave.
Six separate attacks. Three at campgrounds, three on people running on trails. None of the people had weapons to fight with. A three year old does not have the capability of fighting a bear. Long distance runners are loathe to carry extra weight. When exercising, this correspondent usually carries a Glock 17. There are much lighter, smaller pistols available. A KelTech P32 is only ten ounces, loaded. A S&W airweight .38 is about 14 ounces. Most attacks on runners are in urban areas, by humans. Animal attacks can be a significant risk in both urban and rural areas.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
According to the Van Wert Police chief, just before 1 a.m. in the 1000 block of Pratt Street, officers responded to a shots fired call. The owner says he was in the facility when a person broke in, the suspect came within four feet of him, and he shot him twice in self-defense.
On August 14 of 2024, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article about research done exploring the relationship between the opening of deer hunting season and "shootings". The article found that there was a significant increase in "shootings" in rural counties associated with the opening of deer season.
At first glance, the premise appears to be one of establishing by statistics the obvious. Of course there are more "shootings" when deer season opens. The entire point of deer season is to harvest deer by shooting them.
More shooting is done prior to deer season, because many hunters use this time to insure their firearms are functioning and are sighted in properly. They do this by shooting them at targets.
As noted author, writer, and publisher, and my friend of decades, Alan Korwin has noted: Shooting is a sport. Murder is a crime. I would add, suicide is a volitional act.
"Shootings" has been put in quotes, because the article does not define what they determine to be a "shooting". An important part of any research is to define the terms you are using. It appears, by inference, the article defines "shooting" as the same as the Gun Violence Archive, because they rely extensively on the Gun Violence Archive for most of their data. The Gun Violence Archives (GVA) collects data from a variety of public sources. They include most publicly recorded incidents where a firearm is fired and a human is injured or killed, although they include some reported instances where firearms were used defensively and no one was injured or killed. This use of the term "shootings" is designed to push people to associate shooting with illegitimate violence. Because the paper uses location data in its analysis and the GVA does not provide location data for suicides, it seems likely the paper does not include suicides in its analysis, but it is not certain.
There is significant bias in the use of the term "gun violence". "Gun violence" is an Orwellian term designed to associate the use of guns with illegitimate violence. The term "gun violence" frames problems of suicide, murder, assault, and criminal violence as a gun problem instead of behavioral problems.
In essence, the term "gun violence" is a proxy for the assumption: Guns are bad. More guns mean more bad things happen.
The paper recognizes this assumption as the basis for its research. The footnotes are to articles by academics who wish for a disarmed citizenry and who attempt to make this point. From the introduction of the article, bold added:
This research has been predicated on the premise that the prevalence of guns in a given home, community, or nation is likely to make violent incidents more injurious and more deadly.7-12
As this correspondent has repeatedly shown, this assumption is hotly contested, dubious, and contains significant policy bias. It is irrational to prioritize reducing murders, suicides, and assaults performed only with guns, if such policies do not reduce the overall number of murders, suicides, and assaults. The purpose for such policies appears to be to disarm the public, not to reduce murders, suicides, or assaults.
The authors of the study claim little research has been done to show the actual prevalence of guns in private and public settings increases public harm. From the introduction to the article:
However, to our knowledge, few studies have been designed to exploit plausibly exogenous variation in the prevalence of firearms in public and private settings to generate evidence on the association between firearm prevalence and shootings.
Numerous studies done by Professor John Lott and others show the increased legal carry of firearms reduces violent crime (public harm), none of those papers is referenced in this paper's footnotes. The increase in firearms carry permits is at least as significant an indicator of more firearms availability as the start of deer season. The footnotes in the paper include articles criticizing Lott, but not papers by Lott or others who support his premise about carry permits.
The results of the study are done in a model. Using models to depict reality is inherently risky, because models depend entirely on the researchers use of various assumptions about the nature of reality. Those assumptions can result in selection bias, confirmation bias, and outcome bias. Models, because they manipulate data more than non-model methods, are subject to the biases of the persons creating the model and choosing what models are valid and what are not.
One of the ways models are used to distort reality is in the substitution of percentages and probabilities for absolute numbers. When you are dealing with very small numbers, a few cases can be used to make extravagant claims. It would have been helpful to know how many incidents the models in the paper are based on. Was the increase in incidents, over the years of the study, 10,000? 1,000? 100? 10? 1? We do not know. Absolute numbers are not reported. The study notes most incidents in the study, where the type of firearm is known, involve handguns. While handguns are sometimes used to hunt deer, long guns are used in far greater numbers.
When you do this sort of study, using data bases, without intimate knowledge of the facts on the ground, you obtain some strange results. This useful figure from the article, shows the geographical location of the counties used in the model. The Big Island of Hawaii is included.
There is a small problem with including the big island of Hawaii. There are no deer on the big island of Hawaii. It is difficult to see how the start of a deer season could have much effect in a county which is isolated from others and has no deer. No effect probably means it had little effect on the statistics of the model used in the paper. It is difficult to be certain. It is included to show how reality and models are not the same. An email sent to lead author Patrick Sharkey, PhD, has not received a reply as of the time of this writing.
As Gun Writer Lee Williams has noted, the principle author of the study receives significant funding from billionaires with radical anti-gun views. From Liberty Park Press:
According to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation’s 2022 IRS form 990, the couple spent $1.7 million on anti-gun research, including $1,065,933 to Sharkey’s employer, Princeton University, “to develop a research infrastructure that helps cities better understand and respond to waves of gun violence.”
Nearly all papers in the "public health" arena approach the subject of firearms with the same prejudiced assumption: Guns are bad. They fail to take into account positive contributions to society which come from the ownership, possession, and use of guns, because they assume such positive contributions do not exist, or are minimal. They never consider hard to measure, but widely accepted benefits, such as crime deterrence. They never consider political power balances, such as deterring government misconduct. For these reasons, such papers and their results should be viewed with a critical eye. They are closer to political advocacy than they are to science.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
PITTSTON, Maine (WABI) - State Police are investigating a shooting last night in Pittston.
Troopers were called to the Palmer Road just before 9 p.m.
When they arrived, they say the homeowner told them someone kicked in his door.
The homeowner says he then shot the intruder.
According to State Police, the two drivers who were involved in an altercation did not know each other before the incident occurred.
Authorities say one of the drivers, 65-year-old Cesar Gutierrez, of Revere, allegedly struck the other driver, 30-year-old Kevin Osorio, with a blunt object. Police say Osorio then drew his gun and fired multiple times at Gutierrez.
Authorities say Osorio has a license to carry a firearm.
Both Osorio and Gutierrez were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.
Police in West Fargo have identified individuals involved in a weekend shooting at a local church that left one man dead.
At 7:48am Saturday, officers responded to a report of an assault and shots fired in the parking lot of Prairie Heights Church on 32nd Avenue in West Fargo. When they arrived on the scene police were informed that an altercation between three people had taken place, and that the individuals were not known to each other.
25-year-old Austin Strom of Browerville, Minnesota was allegedly attempting to unlawfully enter the church when he was confronted by 66-year-old Kent Hodges of West Fargo. 53-year old Donald Barron II of Moorhead observed the confrontation and intervened.
A release from the West Fargo Police Department states that Strom became agitated and attacked Hodges. When Baron attempted to intervene, Strom allegedly advanced at Barron who fired a single shot with his personal handgun.
The burglary suspect was shot at about 1:44 a.m.
A homeowner in Cerritos took matters into his own hands and shot a suspected home intruder Saturday afternoon.
According to Pennsylvania State Police, they were called to a home in Henry Clay Township in the 800 block of Mae West Road around 11:30 p.m. for a reported burglary in progress.
Police arrived at the home to find the suspect had been shot in the face twice by the homeowner.
"It's very strange," said Fayette County DA Mike Aubele. "Thank God the homeowner was armed; this could have been a lot worse."
They
learned that the homeowner retrieved a gun, confronted the intruder who
refused to leave, and fired multiple shots, hitting the intruder in the
face twice.
A three judge panel in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has delivered a critical decision affirming Fourth Amendment protections, and the right to keep and bear arms.
On November 12, 2018, Basel Soukaneh's life was significantly disrupted. He was looking for a house he was considering purchasing, but the GPS on his phone, held in a holder on the dash of his car, had frozen. He was unfamiliar with the area. He pulled over to correct the problem, left the engine running, and had the interior lights on. A Waterbury police officer quickly knocked on his window, and demanded to see his driver's license. Soukaneh handed him the license and his legal concealed carry permit, and told the officer where his firearm was located in the vehicle.
The officer, Nicholas Andrzejewski, grabbed Soukaneh, dragged him from the car, and violently handcuffed him, causing significant pain. Andrzejewski then stuffed Soukaneh in the back of his police car, and proceeded to search Soukaneh's car, including the trunk. Several other officers came to the scene. One of them put Soukaneh in an upright, seated position, instead of where Andrzejewski had stuffed him, with his head near the floor. After another half hour, he was released. It is not clear if he was charged with a traffic violation.
Soukaneh sued Officer Andrzejewski for deprivation of rights under the color of law. Andrzejewski claimed he had qualified immunity because of the presence of the legally possessed firearm and firearm permit. The District court denied qualified immunity, to permit the lawsuit to move forward. This correspondent reported about it on AmmoLand.
Andrzejewski appealed the case to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The three judge panel affirmed the District court decision. At this point, the case has precedential value (should be used as a precedent in the Second Circuit), because it has been ruled on by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, not only a District court.
A significant body of law is building to the effect the mere presence of a firearm is not probable cause to abandon Fourth Amendment protections. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled an anonymous tip about the carry of a firearm was not sufficient probable cause to search a person for weapons. In a Pennsylvania case in 2014, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found the mere carry of a concealed firearm, briefly seen, was not valid grounds for a detention and search. In the Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit, in 2016, the court found the open carry of a firearm was not enough to create a reasonable suspicion of a crime. In a Florida case in 2020, The Court of Appeals for the First District of Florida, found the mere sight of a pistol was not sufficient probably cause for a detention and search.
The Soukaneh lawsuit against Officer Andrzejewski is a significant development. There will probably be discovery. During discovery, such things as timelines, body camera footage, radio traffic and dispatcher to officer conversations may become known. It seems likely Officer Andrzejewski may be significantly, personally, penalized. Because the court has ruled the officer does not have qualified immunity, he may not be supported by the police department. When officers do not have qualified immunity, they have incentives to behave differently.
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has not been know to be friendly to the Second Amendment. The Second Circuit includes New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. Vermont has always had Constitutional Carry, and does not require a permit to carry.
The three judges on the panel were: Judge Gerard E. Lynch, appointed by President Obama, Judge Eunice C. Lee, appointed by President Obama, and Judge Beth Robinson, appointed by President Biden. The case squelches the idea there is a "gun" exception to the Fourth Amendment.
Officer Andrzejewski could ask for an en banc rehearing before the entire Second Circuit. It seems unlikely he would get a more favorable ruling than the three judge panel's unanimous decision. It might buy him a little time.
The last possibility would be to appeal to the Supreme Court. An appeal to the Supreme Court could delay the case, which might be to the advantage of Officer Andrzejewski. The case is nearly six years from the event at this point. A sympathetic jury might award large damages.
It is more likely the case will be settled before a jury trial. The court ruled the officer acted outside the law. This might nullify an insurance claim or remove department or union support for legal fees.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
MNPD officers were called to the Edgehill Apartments on Deford Bailey Avenue on Friday after midnight. They arrived to find 41-year-old Jamex Cox III suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the ground outside the building. He was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where was pronounced dead.
Another man, identified as 34-year-old Ronald Russell Jr., showed up at Vanderbilt with a minor gunshot wound shortly after. MNPD said he was driven there by his mother who told officers that he suffers from schizophrenia. She also said her son believed Cox cut off his sister’s leg, which the investigation found to be untrue, according to MNPD.
Russell told detectives that attempted to stab Cox in the neck with a kitchen knife after he spotted him outside his sister’s apartment. After he failed to do so, the two began wrestling on the ground and two guns fell from Cox’s person, according to MNPD’s report. Russell said he grabbed one of the guns and shot Cox multiple times, then threw the gun into a nearby field. Russell said Cox also fired at him, which resulted in his wound.
Shabazz was standing next to his brother when West walked up.
“I really didn’t notice,” Shabazz said. “I saw the guy come up to his right side and kind of swing at him. I didn’t really know what happened. At first, I thought it was some playful stomach punch.”
That was when his brother was stabbed.
“The moment he screamed he was stabbed and I looked down and I saw the blood coming through his shirt,” Shabazz said.
One of the mosque’s regular attendees works as a security guard, Makadara said. He had a gun on him and pulled it out to shoot West.
West took off and the security guard shot him one more time.
Police were able to quickly catch West on Laurel Street.
Brookhaven, GA (August 16, 2024) - At the request of the Brookhaven Police Department, GBI agents are investigating an officer involved shooting in Brookhaven, GA. Albert Eugene Burns, age 19, of Snellville, GA was shot and injured in the incident. No officers were injured.
On Thursday, August 15, 2024, at about 11:00 p.m., Brookhaven PD officers responded to a home invasion call on Caldwell Road. While the homeowner was looking at her home surveillance video, she saw four armed gunmen inside her home. The homeowner contacted a friend who responded to the home and confronted the armed suspects. A shootout took place between the suspects and the homeowner’s friend. As the suspects drove off in a Lexus, a responding officer observed the car leaving the neighborhood. The officer pursued the suspects’ car into the city of Chamblee where the car wrecked near a utility pole. The four suspects got out of the car and started to run away. Burns, the driver of the car, had a gun in hand. The officer fired his gun and hit Burns. Burns dropped a gun, but continued to run. While running, he dropped a second gun. The officer shot Burns again while he was trying to pick up the gun.
Burns was taken into custody and is at a local hospital.
Dunwoody PD and Chamblee PD assisted with setting up a perimeter and K-9 search. Police located Davion Harper, age 22, of Conyers, GA, and Tyson Kamari Kirksey, age 18, of Conyers, GA and took them into custody without incident. They will be booked into the DeKalb County Jail. The fourth suspect is still at large.
Brookhaven PD is investigating the home invasion and aggravated assault.
The GBI will conduct an independent investigation into the officer’s use of force. Anyone with information about the fourth suspect’s location should contact police. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS(8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
Once complete, the case file will be given to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office for review.
A witness inside a dark-colored sedan involved in the shooting told HPD that her 26-year-old son was driving and her husband was in the passenger seat.
She said they were headed outbound on I-10 when a pickup truck with a man and woman inside came up behind them and started tailgating them.
Eventually, the pickup truck went around the sedan, and that's when witnesses say the pickup truck driver rolled down the window and fired shots at the sedan.
The driver of the sedan returned fire, striking the 21-year-old truck driver and sparking the crash.
Arlington police are investigating a shooting that left a man dead, with the shooter telling police he shot the man to protect a woman the man was allegedly strangling.
Police were called just after 11 p.m. Tuesday to the 2900 block of Forest Hollow Lane to reports of a shooting in progress, according to an Arlington police news release. A woman told police the father of her child had been shot by one of her relatives.
On Tuesday, August 13, 2024, at 10:06 PM, a 9-1-1 call was received that a man had been shot. Officers arrived and found a man, identified as Norbert Mess Junior (DOB 5/24/1969), with gunshot wounds lying in the field next to the street. Officers provided aid. However, he was pronounced deceased on scene at 10:17 PM.
The Violent Crimes Unit was notified, and during the investigation, detectives confirmed that prior to the 9-1-1 call, Norbert Mess and his girlfriend were involved in an argument. The woman called her brother to help her, and he came to the home to try to diffuse the situation. When the brother arrived at the home, Norbert Mess was waiting outside for him with a solid wooden rod and brass knuckles.
The woman’s minor son, who lives at the residence, saw his uncle getting beaten.
To intervene, the son retrieved a firearm. He pointed it in Norbert Mess’ direction to warn him. Norbert Mess saw the firearm pointed at him, and he continued to batter the uncle.
At that point, the son was in fear for his uncle’s life. Multiple shots were fired. Norbert Mess ultimately died from his injuries. The brass knuckles were later recovered on his person.
As part of the investigation, our officers executed search warrants at NW 13th Place and NW 25th Place. All parties involved cooperated with the investigation, and detectives determined that the son shot Norbert Mess in self-defense to protect his mother and uncle from serious bodily injury or death. No charges will be filed.
The National Instant background Check System (NICS), run by the FBI, shows July of 2024 is the fifth highest July for both firearm sales and NICS background checks. According to the adjusted figures put out by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), July of 2024 is the 60th month in a row where over a million firarms were sold in the month. That is five straight years where over a million firearms were sold through the NICS system in the United States each month. The number of firearms over the five years has been much more than the 60 million indicated by "over a million" per month.
In the five years from August of 2019 through July of 2024, There have been nearly 86 million firearms sold through the NICS system in those five years, averaging about 17.3 million per year.
Firearm sales in the NICS system first topped 10 million in 2011. They soared to nearly 14 million as President Obama sought and gained a second term in 2012, dropping during the peaceful and prosperous years of the Trump presidency. In the election year of 2020, the all time record for firearm sales in a year was set at over 21 million firearm sales, many of them to new gun owners.
The best estimate of the private stock of firearms in the United States puts the number over 500 million. The July firearm sales places the number at 510 million firearms in the USA. Actual numbers of firearms manufactured, imported and exported will not be released by the ATF for a year after the manufacturers reports, to protect proprietary information.
The 510 million figure is based on an estimate of .866 new firearms imported and manufactured for each firearm sold in the NICS system. About 13% of firearms sold inside the NICS system are firearms which were already in the system, but are purchased by another buyer.
Handgun sales are slightly lower than in July of 2023, while long gun, multiple gun sales, and "other" are a bit higher. The total firearm sales increased about 4% compared to last year.
Analysis: It appears the assassination attempt against former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump has created heightened anxiety about the stability of the United States political system, prompting more people to purchase firearms. There has been a trend of a gradual decrease in sales since the record set in 2020. July of 2024 has bucked the trend with sales increasing about 4% compared to July of 2023. It seems likely the run of over a million gun sales a month will continue into the foreseeable future.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. -- A man was killed in an apparent self-defense shooting on Navy Boulevard on Monday night, according to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.
It happened around 7 p.m. between the Dollar Tree and Little Caesar Pizza.
The man died at the scene.Police said two individuals approached the vehicle and began firing into the car, striking the teen multiple times.
Police said two men exited an apartment and fired several rounds at the initial shooters who then fled in a vehicle.
The men who shot at the initial suspects were detained at the scene and held for questioning.
In an article published by Newsweek on August 7, 2024, Dan Gooding AND Billal Rahman make some incendiary claims. From the article:
Immigration into the United States is being partly driven by gun violence — which itself is fueled by firearms bought in the U.S. and illegally transported back to Mexico by organized crime networks.
Over 200,000 firearms found in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico between 2015 and 2022 were linked back to the U.S., recent data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) shows.
The 200,000 number seemed interesting. This correspondent went to the ATF website to look at the original data from the ATF on traces. At the ATF website, links are provided for traces for Central America and for Mexico. The data is given by year for Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. Only seven years data is given for Nicaragua. For Mexico the data is linked to five year aggregates, but the total for each year is given. It is not hard to dig out how many firearms were shown to have come from the United States for each year. The data is divided into various categories. A major division is U.S. Sourced Firearms and Undetermined Source Country for Firearms.
Using the ATF data, the U.S. Sourced Firearms were totaled for 2015 through 2022. The results are as follows:
Belize - 285, Costa Rica- 65, El Salvador - 6,954, Guatemala - 5,913, Honduras - 1,989, Panama 1,921, and Nicaragua - (only 7 years listed) 17.
The total traced back to the United States for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras for the eight years 2015-2022 was 14,856. The total for Mexico for the eight years 2015-2022 was 105,943. Combine them, and the total is 120,799 traced back to the United States. This is a far cry from "over 200,000".
The links to data in the article goes to an advocacy site, stopusarmstomexico.org. From the site, this chart of numbers is found:
The problem is easy to discern. These are trace data numbers, not source origin data. The total from the USA is only 120,799. Another 72,413 are from unknown countries/sources. There may be other numbers included in the total traces which could make up the roughly 7,000 difference.
Total traces is not total traced to the United States. In El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the number of unknown origin is considerably higher than those of United States origin. For those three countries, the unknown is 60% of the total. For Mexico, the unknown is 32% of the total.
Traces are not actual firearms available. It is impossible to know how many guns are diverted before they are traced, for example. This correspondent has heard many stories indicating many guns which are confiscated are seldom included in the official records.
The numbers do not matter to the argument put forward. They are used as a means of drawing attention. To people not familiar with gun ownership statistics in the United States and around the world, 100,000 or 200,000 seems like a large number.
Put the number in perspective. There are over 500 million privately owned firearms in the United States. Over eight years, about 120,799 were traced back to the United States from four countries South of the Mexican border, or about 15 thousand firearms traced back to the United States a year. About .003 percent of the US stock may be traced to a U.S. origin from four countries south of the border, while the U.S. private stock is increasing by over 15 million a year.
The U.S. private stock is increasing a thousand times faster than firearms are being confiscated and traced to the U.S. from the four countries south of the border.
The argument put forward by stoparmstomexico.org and Newsweek is essentially this:
1. Guns are bad.
2. More guns, more bad.
3. More bad South of the border, more people flee to the U.S.
4. Therefore, the Second Amendment forces people to come to the U.S.
Readers can spot the logical flaw.
If more guns are causing people to flee their countries, why are they fleeing to a country with thousands of times more guns than in their country?
A counter argument is:
Guns are not bad. The uneven distribution of guns causes the problems. If only small factions of the people in countries South of the border, such as government agents or criminal gangs (it is sometimes difficult to discern between the two, such as in Haiti), there is an imbalance of power between the people and the government.
People flee the oppression which comes from such imbalances of power.
Many South of the Border envy the freedom to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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