TN: Domestic Defense? Woman Shoots Boyfriend she Claims Attacked Children

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) - Metro Police said a woman admitted to shooting her boyfriend in the leg because he was attacking her children.

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Followup IA: No Charges For Business Owner who Shot, Killed Suspect

Police say no charges will be filed against a business owner who shot and killed a suspected burglar outside his business in southern Des Moines.

Des Moines police said Friday that 67-year-old Thomas Kraft checked security cameras at this business from his home Wednesday morning and saw the shop had been burglarized.
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MO: Man Fires Shot to Prevent Intrusion

Jeremy J. Angel, 24, told police that he heard someone breaking into the back of his home about 6 a.m. and grabbed his rifle.

Police Capt. Trevor Duncan said Angel told police that he fired a single shot in an effort to ward off any intruder. Since he was uncertain if anyone was still in his home or not, police performed a sweep of the residence without finding anyone still there, Duncan said.
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OH: Husband with Gun Expells Man with Hatchet from House

When the man bumped McClain and he awoke, that is when he saw the hatchet, he testified.

“He got up with the hatchet in his hand,” the man said. “I hit him on the head with my gun”

Then he and McClain fought and struggled through the house, according to the resident.

The man said he used some boxing skills to keep McClain at arm’s length. Eventually he was able to push McClain out the home’s back door. The man said he believes McClain came in that door, which may have been left unlocked.

When McClain made a move back toward the man, he said he fired a shot into the ground. He fired a second shot into the ground before McClain left his yard, he said.

During the incident the man said McClain was “swinging the hatchet.”
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Prediction: More Guns, Less Suicide During Trump Administration

On the chart, 0 is 0% 1 is 100%, 1 is 1 firearm per capita


There have been a number of recent opinion articles that attempted to create a linkage between firearms in society and the rate of suicides in society. The opinion articles contain explicit calls for more regulation of firearms, even though most of the policy prescriptions would have no effect on suicides.

Banning or restriction semi-automatic firearms? Suicides only need a single shot.

Banning or restricting magazine capacity? Suicides only need one shot. Magazines are superfluous to suicide.

Reducing the age of sale for semi-automatic rifles? The same lack of logic applies.

The general argument that more guns result in more suicides is false.

Suicide in the United States is primarily a phenomena of white men. In 2016, 69% of all suicides were white men. Among white men, older men have the most suicides.

Consider the chart. During the Obama administration, gun sales went through the roof. That trend is continuing in the Trump years.  While the per capita gun numbers have been increasing over the last decades, the percent of suicides committed with guns has dropped considerably. It is been relatively level at 50% during the entire Obama administration.

During the same period, the per capita number of guns increased from 1.01 in 2008 to 1.25 in 2016. While the per capita number of guns increased by 24%, the percentage of suicides with guns stayed level.

The total national suicide rate has been on the increase since the turn of the millennium. From 2000 to 2007, the rate increased from 10.44 to 11.27, or .83 per 100k population.  In 2016, the rate had increased to 13.42, an increase of 2.15 per 100k population.  Most of the increase has been during the Great Recession of the Obama years.

During the Obama years, older white men were vilified. Detesting the white majority was considered legitimate in the media. Older rural and blue collar white men were especially vilified. Much of their employment had disappeared, and economic hope with it. The Democrats openly pushed economic policies that discriminated against manufacturing and energy production. Consider West Virgina and the coal industry, directly targeted by the Obama administration.

Large numbers of thrifty retirees saw their income plummet as government bond returns fell through the floor. An enormous amount of wealth was transferred from those investing in government bonds to those investing in the stock market. Many saw their death, combined with an insurance premium, as a way to save family members, the family business, or farm.

Many veterans despaired with the attacks on the military, Second Amendment rights, and the flag.

I do not have the data for 2017. When it comes out, I expect to see a decrease in the suicide rate. Older white men are seeing some hope and change. They are not being denigrated by the administration. Veterans believe the administration cares for them. They do not see the country they fought for being transformed into a socialist state. Government bond rates have started to increase.

Suicide rates will go down with the Trump presidency, which gives men hope that they are not forgotten, makes veterans believe they are appreciated, and which has brought back employment and rational policy to the United States.

The suicide numbers for 2017 should come out fairly soon.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

IL: Legally Armed Driver Stops Beating, Carjack Attempt in Chicago

A concealed-carrying ride-share driver shot at two customers-turned-carjackers Thursday night in the Belmont Heights neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

The struggle began about 11:15 p.m. when the 23-year-old driver picked up two males in the 7400 block of West Belmont Avenue, according to Chicago Police. The males began to beat the driver and attempted to take his vehicle.


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TX: Gun Beats Car in Beaumont

Investigators say they learned the disturbance started at the residence of the man in the car. Witnesses said the man was intoxicated and was arguing with other people at the house and with neighbors.

They say he struck a pole with his vehicle and continued to drive recklessly, argue and threaten people in the area. Witnesses say he threatened and struck a neighbor with his vehicle. The neighbor, a 31-year-old Beaumont man, told officers he feared for his life and shot the man. He is cooperating with detectives and the the investigation is ongoing.
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Followup TX: Four Suspects Arrested in Pawn Shop Robbery that left Owner and 1 Suspect Dead

FORT WORTH

A man and three women have been jailed in connection with a robbery and fatal shooting at a Fort Worth pawn shop last week that left an alleged accomplice and the store’s owner dead.

Crystal Anne Hendrix, who turns 31 on Friday, Jensyn Polner, 20, Michael Ogden, 24, and Melissa Pierce, 45, face a capital murder charge.

They were being held Thursday in the Tarrant County Jail.
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CA: Gun Beats Pepper Spray in Foiled Robbery

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — A smash-and-grab crew busted into a jewelry store armed with hammers and pepper spray but what they didn’t know is the owner had a gun.

The attempted smash-and-grab at Dana Kathryn Jewelry in Studio City took place on May 25th.
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Trump Era Gun Checks Remain near Record Levels in June of 2018

Many people believed that President Trump would preside over an era of decreasing firearm sales. Firearm sales dropped a little from the record levels in the 2016 presidential election year. They did not drop much. 2017 had the second highest ever yearly total NICS checks.

2018 is trending higher than 2017. In 2017, at the end of June, the total NICS checks were 12,601,112.

2018 is becoming the second highest year on record. In 2016, the all time record year, they were 13,829,491 at the end of June.

In 2018, they have moved up from 2017 and are approaching the 2016 level. The number of checks by the end of June, 13,293,318, is 96% of the all time record.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, NSSF, has figured out how to adjust NICS checks for purchasing firearms from those used for other purposes.  From sgbonline.com:

The June 2018 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 892,479 is a decrease of 12.2 percent compared to the June 2017 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1.02 million.

NICS-adjusted checks were down 8.5 percent in May, 4.2 percent in April and increased 10.8 percent in March. And the second-quarter 2018 NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 2.9 million reflects a decrease of 8.1 percent compared to the 3.1 million figure for the second quarter of 2017.

We will not know precisely how many of the NICS background checks are for new firearms until a year and a half from now. The BATFE does not release manufacture figures for at least a year after they are submitted to the BATFE.

The BATFE does this to respect the proprietary interest manufacturers have in these number. You can see that many manufacturers would like to know exactly how many of what model their competition is making and selling.

FBI NICS background checks are used to purchase both used and new firearms. They are used to obtain concealed carry permits. They are used to renew concealed carry permits.  They are being used, in some states, to check out gun store personnel or even teachers.

Historically, there are about .6 new firearms added to the national private stock for each NICS check.

If the .6 relationship between checks and new gun sales holds, about eight million new firearms have been added to the private stock in the first six months of 2018. That raises the number of private firearms in the United States to about 426 million firearms.

If the classic annual buying pattern prevails, the total number of private firearms added will be over 15 million in 2018. That would bring the total of private firearms in the United States to about 432 million by the end of the year.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

OK: Man Armed with Two AR15-type Rifles Stops Crime Spree

The affidavit said the retired officer went into his camper and gave his wife a handgun, telling her to take cover. He then took an AR-15 out of the camper and went outside, ordering Benson to drop his gun, according to the affidavit.

Benson, however, started to drive away and began shooting at the retired officer and his camper. This prompted the officer to return fire. According to the affidavit, Benson crashed into a tree.

When the retired officer thought he had fired all of the ammunition in his AR-15, he told deputies he set it in the bed of his truck and took out a second AR-15. According to the affidavit, the retired officer told deputies that he fired one more shot to see if Benson would react since he didn’t see any movement in his car.
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FL: Armed Man Stopps Potential Mass Shooting

Tom says a man, who deputies later identified and arrested as Keith Zavattaro, 55, of Naples, drove back to the front of the building, stopped and then slowly rolled down his window to then point what looked like a gun.

“So I got behind the cement pillar and showed my pistol, and he took off out of there really quick,” Tom said.
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OH: Armed Grandson Stops Carjacking

The teen pointed a gun at the woman and said "get out, I'm taking your car," the report says.

The woman's grandson was in her house and saw the attempted carjacking through a window. The grandson grabbed his own gun, ran outside and told the teen to leave his grandmother alone, the report says.
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TX: Pit Bull shot, Killed while Attacking Family Pet

"My cousin turned a hose on and started dousing it,” Flores said. “It still wouldn’t work. In the end my mom was like, get the gun, you’ve got to save Rocky.”

The teen’s dad shot and killed the pit bull. The only thing they have to remember Rocky by, right now, is his collar and some photos.

Workers with Dallas Animal Services say they’ve been aggressively tackling issues involving loose and dangerous dogs.
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Followup SC: Ruled Self Defense, Charges Dropped Against Chancellor Earl Thompson

Citing "insurmountable" evidence of self-defense, prosecutors have dismissed a murder charge against a North Charleston man who was accused of killing another man during a shootout in 2015.

The charge against Chancellor Earl Thompson, 31, was dropped this week. Thompson had been free since posting bail in 2016, jail records showed.
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Black Man with Gun Assaulted by Miami Beach Police

Michael Taylor is an open carry and Second Amendment activist and a black man. On June 24th, about 10 a.m., he and a number of friends were legally open carrying in Florida, while fishing on a Miami Beach pier.They are members of Florida Open carry, and had notified the Miami Beach Police Department, by letter and telephone, that they would be open carrying at the pier, in advance. A letter notifying the Miami Beach Police Department and the City Attorney was sent on June 7th, 2018. A phone call was made the day of the event, hours in advance.

At first, an unidentified Park Ranger told them they had to leave the pier because they were openly carrying. They corrected the Park Ranger and showed him the statute that preserved the right to open carry while fishing, hunting or camping.

The Park Ranger is heard to mention something about Michael's afro haircut.

The park ranger left the area and called in the Miami Beach Police Department.

The Miami Beach Police arrived on the scene with guns drawn, rapidly advancing on Michael Taylor and his friends. The Florida open carry group had not done anything threatening, rude, or aggressive. They were simply fishing while exercising their Second Amendment rights. All of them, regardless of color or ethnicity, were handcuffed, disarmed, and searched.

Michael Taylor protested the heavy handed tactics and told the officers that he was not relinquishing any of His Fourth, Fifth, First, and Second Amendment rights, and that he was not giving any consent to search anything.

In most jurisdictions, it is aggravated assault to point a gun at someone without legal justification. In this case, I fail to see any legal justification for the drawn firearms in the hands of police. The police compounded their bad position by handcuffing the open carriers without any reasonable suspicion of illegal activity.

Michael repeatedly asked why they were being detained. The officers refused to say. Eventually, one officer came up with an often rendered excuse, when no crime is known. "Officer safety". But the open carriers complied with the officer's orders, never touched their guns, and never threatened the officers. Courts have ruled the mere presence of a firearm is not enough to disarm someone for "officer safety". 

Michael had put his phone on the pier to facilitate video recording while the assault was occurring. One of the officers noticed the phone, and stopped the video recording by covering the camera. The screen shot shows him just before he covered the camera.

Video recording of officials in the public performance of their public duties is a First Amendment right. By stopping the video recording, the officer likely violated Michael's First Amendment rights. Fortunately, Michael had a backup. He was recording the action with a body camera. The video below captures much of the action.

Link to Youtube of Open Carry and Police interaction at Miami Beach

The Miami Beach park ranger, the Miami Beach Police Department officers and  the police chief, may be personally liable for violating Florida preemption law in this case. The law has a provision for willful and knowing violation of citizens rights in this area. The failure of the park ranger and the police officers to ignore the law when presented with it by Michael Taylor, and the written notice given to the police three weeks prior to the event and hours before the event on May 24th could easily rise to the level of knowing and willful violation of the law.

Here are the appropriate sections of the Florida preemption law. From leg.stat.fl.us:

(b) If any county, city, town, or other local government violates this section, the court shall declare the improper ordinance, regulation, or rule invalid and issue a permanent injunction against the local government prohibiting it from enforcing such ordinance, regulation, or rule. It is no defense that in enacting the ordinance, regulation, or rule the local government was acting in good faith or upon advice of counsel. 

(c) If the court determines that a violation was knowing and willful, the court shall assess a civil fine of up to $5,000 against the elected or appointed local government official or officials or administrative agency head under whose jurisdiction the violation occurred. 

(d) Except as required by applicable law, public funds may not be used to defend or reimburse the unlawful conduct of any person found to have knowingly and willfully violated this section. 

(e) A knowing and willful violation of any provision of this section by a person acting in an official capacity for any entity enacting or causing to be enforced a local ordinance or administrative rule or regulation prohibited under paragraph (a) or otherwise under color of law shall be cause for termination of employment or contract or removal from office by the Governor. 

(f) A person or an organization whose membership is adversely affected by any ordinance, regulation, measure, directive, rule, enactment, order, or policy promulgated or caused to be enforced in violation of this section may file suit against any county, agency, municipality, district, or other entity in any court of this state having jurisdiction over any defendant to the suit for declaratory and injunctive relief and for actual damages, as limited herein, caused by the violation. A court shall award the prevailing plaintiff in any such suit: 

1. Reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in accordance with the laws of this state, including a contingency fee multiplier, as authorized by law; and 

2. The actual damages incurred, but not more than $100,000.

Police chief  Daniel Oates comments after the release of the legal open carriers and Second Amendment supporters practically screams of willfull and knowing violation of the law. The law was passed, in part, exactly to protect against such violations of Constitutional rights. From the miamiherald.com:

Miami Beach Police Chief Daniel Oates said, "Given the current climate, if six people show up to to a pier in South Beach carrying guns, our citizens expect us to respond promptly and address any potential danger. We did so, and I am confident our officers acted appropriately."

That may prove to be an expensive comment by Chief Oates. Ignoring clear notice of intent to exercise rights, willful refusal to read the law when given clear opportunity to do so, assaulting peaceful citizens merely because they were exercising their rights. These all seem to be things Chief Oates heartily approves of.

Will Miami Beach compound the offense by using public funds to defend against a lawsuit in this case?  I suspect they will claim that the offense was not "knowing and willful". The prior notices, by letter and telephone, and the unwillingness of the officers to even consider the law, work against that interpretation.

Florida Carry is preparing a lawsuit.


©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

OH: Man Shoots Robbery Suspect

DAYTON —

A 23-year-old man who shot another man multiple times tonight told police he shot his would-be robber.
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AR: Man Attacked in Parking lot, Shoots Suspect

Edricus Drains, 37, of Little Rock told police that as he pulled up to his apartment, he saw three people lingering nearby and placed a firearm into his pocket.

Drains said one of the people assaulted him and reached into his pockets as he got out his truck. The person grabbed Drains' firearm, at which point a fight began over the weapon, police said.

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IA: Business Owner Shoots, Kills Suspect

There was a confrontation between the burglary suspect and the business owner and the owner shot him, Des Moines police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said.

The burglary suspect had driven up to the business in an out-of-state stolen truck and was loading items from Kraft 5 Star Muffler, Parizek said. When the owner came in for work, he found the suspect. Instead of fleeing, the man confronted the store owner, Parizek said.
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CA: Armed Homeowner Shoots Suspect, ends Crime Spree

The homeowner armed himself with a handgun and confronted the man.

Police say the homeowner fired a single shot at the man after he lurched at him in the stolen vehicle.

The male suspect was pronounced dead on the scene. His identity has not yet been released.
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