Open Carry at the Grapefest Festival between Dallas and Fort Worth

My Daughter and Son in law, and two grandchildren were going to the Grapefest in Grapevine, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth. They graciously invited me to tag along.  Sunday afternoon, 19 September, 2016, was the time that fit with schedules and the kids naps.  The temperature was 97 in Dallas, and I could feel the humidity.

I missed my Sun Helmet.  I am heat acclimated, but the kids were not.  We had to walk a couple of blocks to the festival, and the family stopped in some shade to consider options.

I notice some sign-age that looked as if it might contain a 30.06 or a 30.07 sign.  I went to investigate.  It contained neither, but did stipulate that no weapons were allowed, except legally permitted firearms.

I went to the ticket counter.  There was one for media, so I went there.  After I handed them a Gun Watch card, they handed me a media pass for free.

I casually strolled through the gate, pass in hand.  I was openly carrying my old Glock in a Fobus retention holster.  No one seemed to mind or pay attention.  I handed my pass to the proper person, and found  a couple who were willing to take my picture.  I asked them to be sure to get the pistol in the frame.

They were very friendly and helpful.

As I wandered out, the people at the entry were searching backpacks, strollers, and purses.

I told the lady doing the searches that I was writing a story, then asked what they were looking for.  An efficient and alert looking officer with a pistol in a higher level retention rig was sitting next to her.

She told me they were looking for "big knives, mostly" and that when they found one, they checked for a permit. She said people with firearms permits could bring in guns. She said permits were checked out by the officer.

Last session, Texas came very close to removing the silly limitations on knives in the Lone Star State.  Only the unethical maneuvers of a Democrat committee chairman kept the reform from becoming law.

Everyone was very pleasant.  The festival seemed a success.  Quite a few people were going in and out, even in the heat.

My daughter and her husband had made a wise decision not to keep the children out in the extreme heat and humidity, but I was glad we came.

Open carry is becoming accepted in Texas.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Link to Gun Watch

TX: Blinded Former Gang Founder Disarms, Shoots at Armed Robbers

But barely a month ago, as WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported, he came face-to-face with the scope of his challenge. He was robbed by what he thinks were two teenage members of the gang he co-founded years ago — but not before disarming the robbers and firing a shot in their direction.

Levels, who says he was one of eight co-founders of the Dallas Bloods, has been sightless since 2001, when he was shot in the head during a failed drug transaction.
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AL: Gun Beats Car at Birmingham Nightclub

Early Saturday morning, a security guard shot and killed a male driver who tried to ram into a crowd of people gathered near a nightclub.

Police say this happened in the 500 block of 19th Street in Ensley around 2:30 a.m.
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GA: Gun fight; Woman Shoots, Kills 1 of 3 Suspected Home Invaders

"The female retrieved her handgun went to investigate the sound when she observed several males inside of her home," Washington said. "At that point she began firing at the suspects and at least one of the other two suspects began firing back at her."

The woman struck Leeks in the torso, killing him instantly. The other suspects fired back while fleeing the scene.
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KY: Homeowner Shoots, Kills, Intruder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —A would-be burglar is dead after a homeowner shot and killed him.

"We never see this happen in the neighborhood, so it was definitely a surprise and shock when that happened," neighbor Jessica Speaks said.


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PA: Resident Fires at Intruder Attempting Break-in

The resident of the Wallace Road home told police that he fired a shot at a man — later identified as Daniel Carmen Dandries, 37 — who was trying to break into his house through a locked first-floor window, but missed the suspect, according to arrest papers.

Dandries is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $75,000 bail.

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MN: Crossroads Mall is a Gun Free, Weapons Free Zone

Image from news.com.au:

The mass stabbings that occurred at the Crossroads Center (Crossroads Mall) in St.  Cloud occurred in a gun free, weapon free zone.  It appears that the armed citizen who stopped the attack was not allowed to legally be armed in the mall.  The armed citizen was an off duty officer from another jurisdiction.

From crossroadscenter.com:

Examples of specific activities that are prohibited include but are not limited to: 

• Disruptive profanity, vulgar or threatening language 
• Unnecessarily blocking walkways, roadways or storefronts 
• Running, horseplay or disorderly conduct of any nature
• Excessive loitering 
• Operating unauthorized recreational and/or personal transportation devices in the shopping center 
• No firearms or illegal weapons

The mall is a privately owned property. Guests who do not act responsibly may be asked to leave. If they refuse to leave the property, they may be arrested and prosecuted for criminal trespass.

The policy does not make any exceptions for off duty police officers.  As a privately owned property, the Mall may exclude off duty officers as they are not acting in an official capacity.

Ironically, early reports state that the attacker was dressed in a security guard uniform.  From sctimes.com:

Eight people were injured and the suspect died at Crossroads Center on Saturday after an attack reported about 8:15 p.m.

St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said the victims were stabbed by a man dressed in a private security uniform.

An off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction shot and killed the attacker, Anderson said. Anderson did not say where that officer serves during the news conference that started after midnight. 

It became a common tactic for Islamic terrorists to dress as police or in the uniform of Iraqi soldiers in order to facilitate terror attacks.  It appears likely that this was another Islamic terror attack. From kstp.com:

"At approximately 8 p.m., an armed suspect entered the Crossroads Mall. That individual made some references to Allah and we confirmed that he asked at least one person if they were Muslim before assaulting them," said St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson.

I doubt that the mall will pursue legal sanctions against the armed citizen who stopped the attack.

They are fortunate that the officer chose to ignore the mall rules that required people to be disarmed. The rules did not dissuade the attacker.


This is likely another incident of "sudden Jihad syndrome".  The current administration has gone to great lengths to characterize such incidents as "not a terror attack" because the attacker did not conspire with others from a known and recognized terror organization in order to conduct the attack.  A retired police friend referred to such characterizations as "no paid up Al Queda member ship card was in his wallet"; therefore it was not a terrorist attack.  The Fort Hood Terrorist attack was characterized as "workplace violence", even though Major Hassan claimed to be an Islamic soldier, repeatedly, in court.

With a dead attacker, it is easy for authorities to find some other motivation besides radical Islam for the attack.  A great many Islamic attackers have significant personal problems.  Martyrdom for Islam offers a simple, easy way to end the personal problems and to obtain a sure-fire guaranteed ticket to paradise.


©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

MN: Armed Citizen (Off duty officer) stops Mass Stabbing

A suspect in a series of stabbing attacks at a St. Cloud shopping mall Saturday night was killed inside the mall by an off-duty officer, according to St. Cloud police.

In a media briefing after midnight Sunday, St. Cloud police chief William Blair Anderson said an off-duty officer from another jurisdiction confronted and killed the suspect. He said the suspect — who was dressed in a private security uniform — reportedly asked at least one victim whether they were Muslim before assaulting them, and referred to Allah during the attacks.
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PA: Pastor's Wife Shoots Armed Intruder

PHILADELPHIA –  Police say a Philadelphia pastor's wife pulled out a gun and shot an armed man who was trying to rob her and her family.

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GA: Woman Shoots Intruder

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A woman shot a man trying to break into her home in Warner Robins early Friday morning.

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SC: 1 arrested, 1 sought, 1 suspect dead after home invasion

ANDERSON, SC (FOX Carolina) -

The Anderson Police Department said a teenager died after suffering a gunshot wound in a reported home invasion.
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LA: Homeowner Shoots, Kills, Armed, Naked, Intruder

A Lafayette homeowner Friday morning shot and killed an armed and naked man he found trespassing in his back yard, according to the Lafayette Police Department.

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AZ: Bow Hunter Uses Handgun to Stop Unprovoked Bear Attack

PAYSON, AZ - Authorities found two bear cubs after an archery deer hunter fatally shot an adult female bear with a handgun when it charged him in the Payson area.

The state Game and Fish Department says the bear wasn't provoked and that the hunter was defending himself when the bear charged him from about 20 feet Sunday.
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Third Circuit Rules Permanent Gun Ban from an Involuntary Commitment is Unconstitutional

In May of 2012,  Clifford Charles Tyler filed a suit to regain his Second Amendment rights, which had been improperly withheld from him when he attempted to buy a firearm. When he attempted to purchase a firearm, he had been denied because he had been involuntarily committed 28 years before. The District Court dismissed the lawsuit on January 29, 2013. Tyler appealed to the Sixth Circuit.  A three judge panel of the Sixth Circuit ruled the provision unconstitutional in December of 2014.

The Obama administration found the case important enough that they asked for, and got, an en banc review.

The entire Sixth Circuit has reheard the case.  On Friday, 15 September, 2016, 10 of the Circuit's 15 judges concurred and upheld the initial ruling.  . From courthousenews.com:

CINCINNATI (CN) — A person involuntarily committed to a mental-health facility is not permanently barred from owning a gun, a divided en banc Sixth Circuit ruled Thursday.
The Cincinnati-based appeals court overturned a lower court decision and ruled that "prior involuntary commitment is not coextensive with current mental illness," but that "intermediate scrutiny" should be applied on a case-by-case basis.
The en banc decision comes nearly a year after oral arguments in Tyler v. Hillsdale County Sheriff's Department, et al., with 10 of the Sixth Circuit judges concurring with the lead opinion written by Judge Julia Smith Gibbons.

 From the decision(pdf):

The district court dismissed Tyler’s suit for failure to state a claim, reasoning that Heller’s statement regarding “presumptively lawful” prohibitions on the mentally ill foreclosed such claims. The court also observed that § 922(g)(4) would survive intermediate scrutiny. Unlike the district court, we do not understand Heller’s pronouncement about presumptively lawful prohibitions to insulate § 922(g)(4) from constitutional scrutiny nor do we believe that on the record as it currently stands the government has carried its burden to show that § 922(g)(4)’s permanent ban is substantially related to the government’s important interests in reducing crime and preventing suicide. Because Tyler’s complaint states a valid claim under the Second Amendment, we reverse and remand.

This is an important case that shows that Second Amendment rights are to be treated seriously, and a lifetime ban of a fundamental right is an action that is not to be implemented in a frivolous fashion. 

The decision puts a strategy of incremental firearms confiscation at risk.  The thrust of the strategy has been to make more and more groups into prohibited possessors, and more and more types of firearms into contraband.  Eventually the number of "legal" possessors and "legal" firearms becomes so small that it is rendered politically toothless.

But cases like this threaten the plan.  If labeling someone as mentally ill with an involuntary commitment can no longer be relied on to permanently make them a prohibited possessor, increasing the number of people who are prohibited possessors becomes that much harder.

There is a a serious split in the Circuits about this issue.  I expect the Obama administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The case is likely to reach the Court after a replacement for Justice Scallia is chosen.


  ©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Hillary's Lost Shoe: Is that a ruby slipper?

A freeper on freerepublic, publius911, suggested this image.  I needed to learn a bit about Gimp (the open source image processer), so I created it for practice.

Have fun, Publius911!

Cartoon from Ben Garrison, Too funny not to Post!

High Ranking Retired Chicago Officer Benefits from Carry Reform

Deputy Chief of Detectives Chicago PD, Fred Coffee

Image from fox32chicago.com

A retired Deputy Police Chief of Detectives in Chicago should be glad that gun carry law reform has been passed.  He was shot and had to return fire.  He wounded his 21-year-old assailant, who was later arrested.  From the chicagotribune.com:

Officers walked in and out of the park's stadium south of 82nd, where a retired deputy police chief had exchanged gunfire with a robber during an exercise session for senior citizens about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The retired officer, Fred Coffey, 72, was hit in the arm. The robber, 21, suffered a more serious wound in the lower body, according to police. Both were stabilized at hospitals, but police were releasing few other details.

McCarty said a person who appeared shot hobbled out to a waiting car and jumped in. He was later arrested and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The retired officer went to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Before the national Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act (LEOSA) was passed,  retired officers in Chicago did not have an option to legally carry, as there were no carry permits issued in Illinois. In Chicago, you could not obtain a permit to own a handgun.  LEOSA restores carry rights to retired officers across the United States and its possessions.

It may be that a retired officer in Chicago would never be arrested for carrying a concealed weapon in Chicago... but that does not appear to be codified in law. 

Now that carry reform has passed, a retired Chicago officer has the option of obtaining an Illinois shall issue concealed carry permit. They also have the option of obtaining a permit to carry under LEOSA.

The Associated Press attempted to turn the shooting into an argument for more infringements on the Second Amendment:

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement that gun offenders "do not discriminate." He added gun offenders' reckless conduct and lack of respect puts families, public servants and anything that stands in their way at risk.

The retired Deputy Chief of Detectives was shot in the shoulder, took cover behind a pillar, and returned fire, hitting his assailant in the inner thigh.  He had never been shot or shot anyone while on the force. From fox32chicago.com:

Former Deputy Chief Coffey, who served 40 years on the force, has never had to shoot anyone and was never shot himself, according to his son.

Second City Cop, an interesting source for gossip about what is going on in the Chicago PD, had this bit: 

Superintendent "Special Ed" Johnson announced that he has stripped former Deputy Chief Fred Coffey of his star and retirement powers pending the outcome of an investigation into yesterday's shooting.

This could be satire, comparing what happens to a retired Deputy Chief of Detectives, vs an ordinary officer.  But with Second City Cop, you cannot be sure.  The site has marvelous insights into the Chicago PD.

The poster at Second City Cop refers to "retirement powers".  Is that something like "spider powers" for Spider Man?  Maybe they are considering LEOSA? This is the Chicago PD.  Meanings in Chicago might be different than in other places.

A retired police officer is a citizen, just as any other citizen.  There was a Ninth Circuit decision to that effect. Here is the provision of the Silveira v. Lockyer case. From the decision SILVEIRA v. LOCKYER(pdf):

C. The AWCA’s Provisions Regarding Off-Duty Police Officers Do Not Offend The Fourteenth Amendment; However, There Is No Rational Basis For the Retired Officer Exemption. Plaintiffs contend that the privileges that are afforded to off-duty and retired peace officers under the AWCA violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Specifically, they contend that the pertinent provisions afford benefits to off-duty and retired officers that are unavailable to the plaintiffs, and that there is no rational reason that they and other law-abiding citizens should be treated differently than off-duty and retired peace officers.53

Silveira v. Lockyer has not been used to prevent police officers from having special privileges.  The Ninth Circuit decision does not apply in Chicago.


©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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KS: Followup on Good Smaritans at WalMart Attack in Kansas

Another suspect has been arrested in the WalMart parking lot case where two good Samaritans came to the aid of a woman and a baby who were being attacked by two men.

The first good Samaritan, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghan wars, was shot as he attempted to help.  The second good Samaritan shot one of the suspects dead.

Both the woman and the first good Samaritan were taken to the hospital.  The second good Samaritan was interviewed by police at the scene and released.

The second suspect ran off.  The police arrested one man, based on video footage, but then released him.  A second suspect, Arther Fred Wyatt III, was arrested on Tuesday, 13 September, 2016, by Shawnee police.

Wyatt is charged with attempted first degree murder, attempted aggravated kidnapping, and attempted aggravated robbery.

He was on parole for involuntary manslaugther.  From fox4kc.com:

Wyatt was released from the Kansas Department of Corrections in July after serving a sentence for a 2009 involuntary manslaughter case in Wyandotte County and subsequent violation of probation.

It is likely that Wyatt was prohibited from possessing or carrying firearms.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch

MS: Homeowner Uses Shotgan to Fatally Shoot Intruder

A man is dead and police said a homeowner shot and killed him as he attempted to burglarize his home. It happened in the 1500 block of Martin Luther King, Junior Drive.

Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance said the homeowner is not facing any charges because he is protected under the Castle Doctrine. "The occupant saw the individual breaking in and went and retrieved what we believe was a shotgun and fired striking the suspect," said Vance.
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FL: Woman Stops Break-In with Shot to Leg of Intruder

ACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A man who was shot in the leg Wednesday evening after kicking in the door of a Regency apartment has been arrested, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.

A 19-year-old woman told police that she was alone in her apartment on Monument Road about 6 p.m. when her door was forced open. The woman grabbed her gun and fired at the intruder, hitting him once, investigators said.

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