ATMORE, Ala. (WPMI) — The Atmore Police Department is currently investigating a fatal shooting stemming from a Domestic Violence Incident that occurred on Wednesday, April 7, 2021, near the 3300 block of Woods Road, Atmore, Alabama.
Sunday, April 11, 2021
KY: Lexington Woman Shoots Man Breaking into Apartment
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - A man is in jail after police said a woman shot an intruder at her home early Tuesday morning.
The woman called 911 around 3:30 a.m. and said she shot at a man who was breaking into her apartment in the 500 block of Hollow Creek Road, just off Russell Cave, Lexington police said.
Media Misrepresentation: Guardian says Black Gun Ownership up 58.2%
Arizonan with rifle slung at local treat street vendor. Photo courtesy Dean Weingarten
Gun ownership is up in the United States. Record numbers of new gun owners, about eight million, purchased a gun in 2020. In a sensationalist article by the far-left British paper The Guardian, the sub-headline reads:
Americans bought a record number of firearms last year. Gun ownership among Black Americans is up 58.2%
While it may be wished to be true, the headline is both sensationalist and misleading. Here is the paragraph in the article which purports to support the headline. From the guardian.com:
Americans bought a record number of firearms last year. An estimated 5 million people bought their first ever gun between March and August, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a trade organization, and that number continued to climb throughout the year. Black Americans saw the highest increase in new gun owners of any demographic, the NSSF found, with gun ownership in the group up by a staggering 58.2%.
The first, obvious mischaracterization, is the sleight of hand which changes the increase in gun purchasers into an equivalent percentage increase in gun owners.
The 58.2% increase is based on reporting by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The report shows the number of black gun purchasers increased by 58.2% in the first half of 2020.
There is little reason to doubt the mix of customers changed much in the second half. An increase in black customers does not translate into the same increase in black gun owners, white gun owners, Hispanic gun owners, Asian gun owners or any group of gun owners. To put the increase in black customers in context, the NSSF reported the increases in customers of four groups:
Black - 58.2%
White - 51.9%
Hispanic - 49.4%
Asian - 42.9%
Only the four groups were listed.
The number of total gun owners in the United States is notoriously difficult to determine, as is the distribution into various groups.
Before 2020, there appeared to be about 100 million gun owners in the United States. The number is uncertain because it is based on surveys.
The NSSF reported the percentage of total customers as this:
Black - 14.7%
White - 72.4%
Hispanic - 9.1%
Asian - 3.8%
While the gun purchases in 2020 appear to have increased the number of gun owners by about 8%, it is a far cry from 58% as reported in the Guardian headline. We would have to know how gun ownership is distributed across the United States before 2020 to understand how much of a percentage increase occurred in each group.
According to a Pew survey done in 2017, about 30% of all adults personally owned a gun. Asians were not broken out. The distribution was this:
Black - 24%
White 36%
Hispanics 15%
Very likely, these numbers represent a minimum. It is easy to understand why people would be reluctant to admit gun ownership to a stranger on the phone.
The numbers are uncertain because Hispanic is an ethnic group which may be any race.
As the Guardian article focused on black people, consider those numbers. Black people are about 13.4% of the U.S. population. Adult black people are about 31.5 million people in the US.
If 24% were gun owners, that would be about 7.56 million self reported black gun owners before the increase in 2020.
The total increase in 2020 was about 8 million new gun owners. According to the NSSF, 14.7% of them were black. That calculates to 1.176 new black gun owners. 1.176 million is about a 15.6% increase in gun ownership by black people. It is a significant increase, but not the sensational 58% mischaracterized in the headline.
Contrary to the Guardian's selected quotes, gun owners and the NRA welcome all colors into the ranks of the gun culture.
Black people, prevented from legal gun ownership by racist gun laws in the past, have some catching up to do.
Professor John Lott has said minorities in crime ridden urban centers derive the most benefit from increased legal gun ownership. From Dr. John Lott:
My research has demonstrated that the two groups that benefit the most from carrying guns are the likeliest victims of crime (poor blacks in high-crime urban areas) and people who are physically weaker (women and the elderly). Dozens of published peer-reviewed studies find similar results.
It makes sense those who are at the highest risk of crimes of violence would benefit the most from being armed.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Saturday, April 10, 2021
TX: Domestic Defense, Gunfight between Step-son and Step-father
The victim was at his residence when his stepson, Jefferson, arrived to pick up his brother. Jefferson and his step-father got into a verbal argument which led to Jefferson producing a pistol. The step-father also produced a pistol and both men exchanged gunfire. Jefferson suffered a gunshot wound to the left arm and the step-father was not injured.
Jefferson fled the scene and was later found at an area hospital. He was taken into custody and subsequently charged for his role in the incident.
KY: Jerry Coleman Shoots David Taylor in Self Defense
Investigators said David Taylor was shot by Jerry Coleman.
Taylor and Coleman were taken to Pikeville Medical Center with non-life threatening injures, according to investigators.
Coleman was not charged.
Friday, April 09, 2021
NY: Armed Resident Shots 1 of 2 Home Invaders
Fogo and Wilson began beating the resident of the apartment. Another individual in the apartment fired his weapon and struck Wilson, he added.
Fogo and Wilson then fled the area. The individual who fired the weapon is a licensed gun owner and provided the state police with all proper documents.
OR: Homeowner Suspects Raccoons, Holds Suspect Theives for Police
"I’ve been having some problems with raccoons, and so I thought it was raccoons," said the homeowner who asked to not be identified. "I grabbed my 22 and went out to see what the noise was and then I caught three people in the act of stealing my catalytic converter. One of them was under the car, and one was, I think, he was the lookout or something and then there was a woman who was driving."
The homeowner says he was able to keep the three people from getting away until police arrived.
Thursday, April 08, 2021
NICS all time record for March, 2021, Gun Sales Down 20% from Record set in 2020
Chart produced by David Scott for this article
The total National Instant background Check System (NICS) checks In March of 2021 were an all time record for the month. The total checks done were reported at 4,691,738. The next highest month was January of 2021, with 4,317,804. The third highest month was 3,937,066 in December of 2020. Those numbers are very large. They reflect the continuing expansion of use of the NICS system for purposes other than firearm sales. Most of the increase is in carry permit and carry permit rechecks.
There were about 2.6 million permit and permit rechecks, about .66 million permit checks and 1.94 permit rechecks. Over 1.35 million of the permit rechecks were from Illinois, which appears to be rechecking permits nearly every day.
Very close to two million guns were sold as estimated by the records in the NICS system, in March 2021. Most of those were pistols, over 1.1 million, with about .67 million rifles, the remainder being classified as other and multiple sales. It is the second highest March on record for firearm sales.
A year ago, in March of 2020, an estimated 2.37 million firearms were sold in the NICS system.
The ATF certifies 25 states to substitute various permits for NICS checks, because the permit required a NICS check already. Roughly 7 million people have permits which can be substituted for a NICS check. Firearm sales conducted with one of those permits are not included in the NICS firearm sales numbers.
The number of privately held firearms in the United States, with the increase of 2 million more last month, is about 470 million. The estimate is made using the method pioneered by Newton and Zimring, and extended by Gary Kleck in “Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America”.
While demand for guns and ammunition remain at historically high levels, the recorded sales of guns has dropped a slight amount compared to last year. This may be due to some demand being satisfied. Firearms are durable goods which, with a little care, can remain effective and operational for hundreds of years.
Ammunition, if stored under reasonable conditions, appears to remain effective for more than a hundred years. Ammunition is an expendible commodity. It may be the exceptional demand for ammunition, which has emptied store shelves, is dampening the demand for firearms.
In spite of increases in productive capacity, demand has far outstripped the supply of ammunition.
As Mahbub Ali noted in chapter 10 of Kipling's iconic novel "Kim", "of what use is a gun unfed?" .
Both political unrest and increasing crime in urban centers are driving the demand for firearms and ammunition.
The more media coverage and promotion of restrictions on the ownership of firearms, the more the demand rises. The desire for personal arms is on both sides of the political divide.
Firearm and ammuntion manufacturers are producing product at maximum capacity.
The demand is fierce. Reloading supplies and equipment are sold as fast as they are being produced.
Even the recharging of used primers is being explored and refined.
Firearms are a 500 - 600 year old technology. It cannot practically be unlearned.
In countries with 150 years of strong restrictions on gun ownership, the demand is met by black market gun and ammunition production.
Only in the United States is the natural demand allowed to be met by legal production and distribution channels.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Wednesday, April 07, 2021
CA: Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Finds there is no "Right to Bear Arms" in Second Amendment
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in an en banc panel, has found there
is no "Right to Bear Arms" in the Second Amendment of the United States
Constitution. The majority opinion was written by Judge Bybee.
The case is the long delayed Young v. State of Hawaii. It will undoubtedly be appealed to the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS). Whether SCOTUS will grant a writ of Certiorari is unknown at this time. SCOTUS has refused to grant a hearing to nearly all Second Amendment cases for over a decade.
On 15 June, of 2020, SCOTUS refused to hear ten pending Second Amendment cases. The consensus, at the time, was the Court was evenly split, with four justices likely in favor of enforcing the Second Amendment, and four justices in favor of gutting the Second Amendment. Justice Kennedy was considered a swing justice which could go either way. Therefore, neither side was willing to risk a case which might go against their desires.
Since then, Justice Kennedy has retired. Justice Ginsburg has died. They were replaced by Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Barrett. Both were advertised as strong originalists and textualists, who would uphold the Constitution as written.
The ruling class considers SCOTUS to have a strong conservative majority. It is far from clear. Chief Justice Roberts' opinions turned sharply to the Left with his controversial opinion which upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare. Roberts was reported as bullying SCOTUS into finding the State of Texas did not have standing to sue regarding constitutional irregularities in the 2020 elections.
Several seminal cases are coming before SCOTUS. Senate Majority leader Schumer directly threatened the court in March of 2020. Many think the threat was effective.
The majority in the Young v. State of Hawaii relies on two weak arguments. One is the qualifier sentence which Justice Stevens bragged about as being inserted into the Heller decision as the price of obtaining the vote of Justice Kennedy to uphold the Second Amendment. From the abajournal.com:
His only success, he said, was in getting Kennedy to persuade Justice Antonin Scalia to include language limiting the reach of his majority decision in Heller.
The limiting language was:
The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.
The majority takes this sentence out of Heller and claims that an 1852 law made in the Kingdom of Hawaii, before it was ever part of the United States, shows a ban on the open carry of arms is long standing. There are numerous other references to a scattering of local laws and decisions, often out of context. The claim is that banning the open carry of firearms is a long standing prohibition. It is a false claim, as noted in the dissent by Judge O'Scannlain:
Respectfully, the majority’s opinion—and in particular,its extreme and bizarre reliance on the mere fact of some historical regulation of firearms—represents a gross misapplication of the textual and historical inquiries that Heller demands.
The majority uses long winded, and often, out of context quotes from irrelevant laws, to obfuscate the irrelevancy in 109 pages.
The second argument is to ignore the right to bear arms, because Heller did not specifically cover the right to bear arms outside the home. In other words, because the Supreme Court did not directly mention it in Heller, it does not exist.
Judge O'Scannlain, dissenting, states it bluntly:
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms.”U.S. Const. amend. II (emphasis added). Today, a majority of our court has decided that the Second Amendment does not mean what it says. Instead, the majority holds that while the Second Amendment may guarantee the right to keep a firearm for self-defense within one’s home, it provides no right whatsoever to bear—i.e., to carry—that same firearm for self-defense in any other place.
The Ninth Circuit is the most overturned Circuit in the country. It will take time to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is not required to take it. Several other cases are in process about the right to bear arms outside the home.
There were eleven judges on the en banc panel at the Ninth Circuit. Six were appointed by Republican presidents. Five were appointed by Democrat Presidents. All the Democrat appointees and two of the appointees by G.W. Bush voted
to eviscerate the Second Amendment. It was a seven to four decision.
Majority Judges:
Sidney R. Thomas, Chief Judge, appointed by President Clinton
M. Margaret McKeown, appointed by President Clinton
Kim McLane Wardlaw, appointed by President Clinton
William A. Fletcher, appointed by President Clinton
Richard R. Clifton, appointed by President G.W. Bush
Jay S.Bybee, appointed by President G.W. Bush
Michelle T. Friedland appointed by President Obama
Dissenting Judges:
Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, appointed by President Reagan
Consuelo M. Callahan, appointed by President G.W. Bush
Sandra S. Ikuta, appointed by President G.W. Bush
Ryan D. Nelson, appointed by President Donald Trump
The dissent by Judge O'Scannlain is well worth reading.
©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Tuesday, April 06, 2021
Brit Contractor Discovers Guns Save Lives During ISIS Attack in Mosambique
Image from Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Flag of Mozambique, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten
On Wednesday, 24 March, a force estimated to be between 100 and several hundred Islamic terrorists attacked the Mozambique city of Palma, which is on the coast of east Africa, in the north of Mozambique, near the Tanzanian border. Palma has bout 75,000 residents.
The Islamic State (ISIS) in Africa has been growing, according to a U.S. official. From iol.co.za:
The US Department of State's acting special envoy for the global coalition to defeat ISIS, John Godfrey, told reporters the attack was in line with what has been seen from Islamic State in Mozambique and said the US government is closely monitoring events.
He cited what he said was the brutality of the attack and the killing of civilians as well as the increased brazenness of the group, which is now seeking to hold some towns.
Two days after the initial attack, it appears a number of foreign nationals attempted to flee the hotel they were in, with a convoy that had been organized to carry them to a nearby beach. An unknown number of ISIS terrorists attacked the convoy near to the hotel, in what may have been a hasty ambush.
Seven of ten vehicles in the convoy are reported to have escaped, which implies three did not. A member of the group in the last three vehicles was proficient with firearms. From thesun.com:
The former cop was at the back of a convoy of expats that came under heavy fire from militants while leaving Palma in northern Mozambique, on Friday evening, reports the Times.
Mr Alexander, a contractor building camps for gas workers in Africa, has since made contact with his daughter Jayde, 29, in Johannesburg.
“He saw the commotion with the ambush ahead and got out,” she revealed.
“There was a government vehicle with an AK47 in it, so he broke in, got it and shot dead two al-Shabaabs [militants].
"He and two others from the car then ran to hide into the bushes with the gun.
"They were literally crawling through the bush until they were rescued.”
BBC claimed hundreds of heavily armed islamic terrorists were involved. A mother of one of the British citizens, who was murdered, was interviewed:
"No army to protect them, none of them having weapons, so it was a matter of run for your life or face these insurgents, who are so cruel and barbaric," she added.
Hundreds of heavily armed militants raided Palma, leaving dozens of people dead. They included Nel and six others who were in a convoy of vehicles that was apparently ambushed.
The Small Arms Survey reported Mozambique was the least armed country in Africa, with only .04% of the population legally owning a firearm. Illegal ownership was more widespread. About 1.5% of the households were reported, in a survey, to have a gun not related to the military or police, in 2004.
The legal restraints on gun ownership in Mozambique are extreme. There are no dealers in legal firearms in Mozambique.
Africa as a continent has about 16% of the world's population, and 18% of the world's death connected to firearms. Mozambique's murder rate is reported at 3.5 per 100,000. The number is barely more than a guess. The OSAC.com rates Mozambique as average in safety for Africa.
While crime statistics are not readily available, Mozambique has a high level of robbery and theft, spiking during the holiday season. One type of robbery involves several assailants who brandish weapons (e.g. knives, machetes, firearms). In most cases, victims escape unharmed after giving up their wallet or cell phone. This type of crime increases in frequency in December and January.
In many African countries, there is no rule of law as exists in Western Civilization. There are organized people with guns, and everyone else. Those without guns obey those who have the force to compel obedience.
Mr. Alexander's skill with firearms stopped the murder of himself and his companions, by shooting those who intended to kill him and his companions.
It was classic self preservation.
A few hundred armed Islamic terrorists are wreaking havoc on the northern parts of Mozambique. They could not terrorize an armed population, which would rise up against them.
They could not easily murder western contractors, if the contractors were armed.
The government of Mozambique has hired Western mercenaries to deal with the terrorists, as government forces seem incapable of doing so.
When a government does not trust its own people with arms, (or its own army) the hiring of mercenaries is all the more attractive.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Dean Weingarten Quoted in Newsweek on Open Carry in Walmart (in 2019)
Being quoted in Newsweek would have been a more important incident in 1990. In 2019, not so much. The media landscape has changed in important ways. The mention in Newsweek means the media is more diverse. The voices of Second Amendment supporters are no longer so suppressed as to be readily ignored. From newsweek.com:
Meanwhile, other customers have, with less public attention, begun to test the reaches of Walmart's policies by carrying on as usual, and without apparent incident from store managers. On the gun-rights blog AmmoLand, firearms instructor Dean Weingarten posted about his venture into an Arizona Walmart while openly-carrying. He reported that he was able to complete his purchase and exit the store without complaint.
Weingarten is hardly the only gun-rights activists to take Walmart's "request" at face value. David Amad, an executive of the group Open Carry Texas, told The New York Times that many of his 38,000 members have openly carried inside a Walmart without pushback from management since the announcement.
It is a small ego boost. While difficult to measure, I suspect AmmoLand has more reach and influence than Newsweek. The mere fact an alternate viewpoint is acknowledged to exist, is the most significant point.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Monday, April 05, 2021
Tennessee on the Brink of Strong Constituional Carry
Map of Tennessee from wikimedia, cropped scaled and green text added by Dean Weingarten
Tennessee is on the brink of passing a strong Constitutional Carry bill. HB0786 originally relied on the requirements needed for an advanced carry permit in Tennessee.
The requirement made the bill somewhat unclear. The Tennessee Senate amended the bill to change the "advanced carry permit" section to a requirement the person be 21 years of age or more, with exceptions for people who served in the military. The bill passed the Senate on 18 March, 2021.
On 29 March 2021, The House passed the bill without amendment.
The bill amends Tennessee Code 39-17-1307 by adding section (g).
The bill has been enrolled. It needs to be signed by the House and Senate Speakers, before being sent to Governor Lee. It seems a done deal. The celebrations should wait until the bill is signed into law.
Here is the language of the Constitutional Carry bill SB0765. From capitol.tn.gov:by deleting the amendatory language of Section 1 and substituting instead the following:
(g) It is an exception to the application of subsection (a) that a person is carrying, whether openly or concealed, a handgun and:
(1)
(A) The person is at least twenty-one (21) years of age; or
(B) The person is at least eighteen (18) years of age and:
(i) Is an honorably discharged or retired veteran of the United States armed forces;
(ii) Is an honorably discharged member of the army national guard, the army reserve, the navy reserve, the marine corps reserve, the air national guard, the air force reserve, or the coast guard reserve, who has successfully completed a basic training program; or
(iii) Is a member of the United States armed forces on active duty status or is a current member of the army national guard, the army reserve, the navy reserve, the marine corps reserve, the air national guard, the air force reserve, or the coast guard reserve, who has successfully completed a basic training program;
(2) The person lawfully possesses the handgun; and
(3) The person is in a place where the person is lawfully present.
AND FURTHER AMEND by inserting the following new section immediately preceding the last section and renumbering the subsequent section accordingly:
The new law mimics the requirements of current carry permit in general, including prohibiting carry by a class of individuals which may be unique to Tennessee.
Anyone convicted of a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in the last five years, or two DUI offenses in the last 10 years, would be unable to carry a firearm with the intent to go armed. That prohibition is in the current permit law 39-17-1351.
Tennessee Governor Lee is expected to sign the bill.
Iowa has sent a clear Constitutional Carry bill to Governor Kim Reynolds. She will probably sign the bill.
If the governors of both Iowa and Tennessee sign their respective bills into law, Iowa and Tennessee will become the 19th and 20th members of the Constitutional Carry club.
Nineteen states will have restored Constitutional Carry, joining Vermont, the only state to maintain Constitutional Carry through the slave era, the black codes in the aftermath of the Civil War, and the Progressive era, where laws against concealed carry were passed to disarm various minorities groups from slaves to new immigrants, who were out of favor.
20 states, or 40% of the Union is a number which cannot be ignored. It is almost exactly 50% (49.4%) of the land area of the United States. The 18 current Constitutional Carry states are:
Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The states are large and small, with large urban centers and large rural areas, on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and in the middle of the country.
The next most likely candidate for restoring Constitutional Carry is Indiana.
If Constitutional Carry passes in Indiana, more than 50% of the land area of the United States will be under close approximations of carry law as it existed when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
FL: Car Thief Shot by Security Guard, Four High-end Cars Stolen
A security guard that worked for the homeowner noticed what was happening and opened fire, striking a subject who was inside a Range Rover.
A second subject got out of a parked Rolls Royce and fled with the other subjects in a white Porsche 911 (Florida plate QQI-K17) and a green Lamborghini Urus (Florida plate QGL-I53).
The injured subject inside the car refused to cooperate with officers and barricaded himself inside the vehicle for several hours, which called for a hostage negotiation team to respond to the scene. Eventually the suspect surrendered and he was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he is listed in critical but stable condition.
KS: Gun Beats Crowbar in Manhattan Self Defense Shooting
Riley Co. Police say a man, 21, and a woman, 20, were in an isolated altercation with a 33-year-old man, who was found suffering gunshot wounds near the intersection of 3rd and Kearney.
RCPD Director Dennis Butler told 13 NEWS that the shooting stemmed from an apparent road rage incident, and the man was approaching the couple with a crowbar when he was shot.
Butler said the 21-year-old man, who was the car’s driver, opened fire in self-defense.
Sunday, April 04, 2021
Use a Gun in Chicago, in Self Defense No FOID, Go to Jail
From wikicommons maps, South Deering on the South side of Chicago, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten
On Monday, 22 March, in Chicago, 15 people were recorded as being shot. Three of them were killed. One of those shot is recorded as acting in self defense, on the South Side of Chicago. From the Chicago Sun Times:
An hour prior, a man was shot in South Deering on the South Side. They were sitting in a parked vehicle about 10 p.m. in the 2500 block of East 109th Street when two people walked up to them and fired shots, police said. A 25-year-old man was struck in the face and grazed in the neck area. He pulled out his own gun and returned fire but did not strike anyone.
He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition. Police said a handgun was recovered at the scene, and the man does not have a valid FOID card or concealed carry license. He was taken into custody and charges are pending.
The case is of interest because it appears to be self defense; the police do not mention the injured man as having any prior convictions; and the 25-year-old who was shot did not have a Firearms Owner Identification Card (FOID) or a Concealed Carry license.
The backup to obtain an FOID in Illinois was about four months in 2020. It is supposed to be done in 30 days. The backup was another four months, on average, for a CCW permit. An FOID is required before a CCW can be applied for. Several lawsuits have been filed. In March of 2021, the same numbers were cited.
Part of the back-up is caused by significant demand for both the FOID cards and CCW permits. In Chicago, there are other significant barriers. The CCW permit requires to have time spent at a range. No public ranges have been approved by the City Zoning Commission. Carrying a gun on public transportation is forbidden. There is an exception for carrying a gun, unloaded, in a case, but it may not be well known.
If someone depends on public transportation, this places a significant obstacle to obtaining a CCW in Chicago.
If this correspondent were the young man who shot at attackers, after being wounded, I would want my attorney to point out how difficult it was to legally carry a gun in Chicago.
The police report "a handgun was recovered at the scene". It is difficult to know exactly what that means. It might mean the person arrested is keeping his mouth shut.
The case seems a good example of why Constitutional Carry is needed. The person who, it appears, the police believe was defending their and another person's life, has been arrested after being wounded, for lack of paperwork which is very difficult to complete, in Chicago.
A famous English politician, William E. Gladstone once said, in 1868:
Justice delayed is justice denied.
Martin Luther King slightly mis-quoted him in the letter from Birmingham Jail.
Justice too long delayed is justice denied.
The sentiment goes back to at least 1646.
At what point does the refusal or inability of the state to issue permits in a reasonable amount of time, become a violation of fundamental Constitutional rights?
The numerous lawsuits filed in Illinois may provide an answer.
Eventually.
John Lott, the famous researcher on the effects of legal concealed carry, has often written that minorities in crime-ridden urban areas, show the most benefit from an increase in the legal carry of firearms.
My research has demonstrated that the two groups that benefit the most from carrying guns are the likeliest victims of crime (poor blacks in high-crime urban areas) and people who are physically weaker (women and the elderly). Dozens of published peer-reviewed studies find similar results. —Texas & U.S. Law Shield Contributor Dr. John Lott, Jr.
There is a long-standing soft racism belief that minorities cannot be trusted with guns. That racism is strong in Chicago.
The song "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" reflected the stereotype of life on the South Side of Chicago.
On 2 February, 2013, State Representative Dunkin stated black people have been kept unarmed in Chicago, because their communities are where the concentration of poverty and crime exists. From representative Duncan:
..in every state, the crime, the concentration of crime, and again, the abject poverty exists, exists exclusively and criminally in our community.
This correspondent reported on the Town Hall, 3rd Legislative District on 3 February, 2013. The report included a link to the video of the town hall.
Unfortunately, the video no longer seems to be available on the Internet. I originally miss-spelled Dunkin as Duncan. Reference to the town hall is still noted at this link. An audio clip that cuts out Dunkin's statement listed above, is available at this link. It shows the context is correct. In a show of hands at the town hall, 30 of 80 participants said they would seek a concealed carry permit.
A partial Youtube video is still on line. It only shows the NRA representative Todd Vandermyde.
Dunkin's straight talk was not appreciated by the powers that be in Chicago.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
CA: Long Beach Home Invasion ends with 2 of 6 Invaders Shot, Killed
A chaotic break-in at a Long Beach home where police later found drugs and guns ended in violence Saturday afternoon, when the resident shot two men to death after they barged in with four others, who fled.
The incident unfolded at around 5 p.m. in the 3700 block of E. Esther Street, Long Beach police said in a statement. That’s when at least six men broke into a home and attempted to rob a man inside, leading to a scuffle.
The resident pulled out a gun and fired at the men, striking two — one man died inside the house, and another collapsed on the walkway outside. The other men were gone when police arrived, according to the statement.
Police haven’t said why the men broke into the shooter’s house, initially only saying on Saturday that they found guns and “other items” inside the home. On Sunday, officials said that officers served a search warrant at the home and found “large quantities of marijuana, firearms and cash.”
VA: Domestic Defense, Grandson Shot while Attacking Grandmother
Police said the shooting occurred about 10 p.m. outside a home in the Campbell Creek subdivision. The shooting victim had been at the home earlier in the day, police said. During that visit, police said, he struck his grandmother in the head with a pair of pliers and took her car.
When he returned to the home Thursday night, Lippa said, another relative was there to protect the grandmother. During the ensuing altercation, Johnson was shot.
The man suspected of shooting Johnson had not been charged as of Friday, Lippa said. The investigation is still in progress.
CO: Domestic Defense, Violation of Restraining Order results in Shooting
As the incident escalated, the ex-boyfriend began assaulting the man, and the man retaliated by firing his gun several times. The man told officers he was not sure if the suspect was injured.
“Responding officers initiated a case report for a restraining order violation as well as stalking. The officers did not come in contact with the estranged boyfriend at this time,” CSPD said.
About nine hours later, police were called to the same street block on reports of a man lying facedown and very still in the snow. Responding officers determined that the man was dead, and it was the same suspect from the night before. He has since been identified as 41-year-old Ottah Williams.
Saturday, April 03, 2021
AK: Nick Moore Stops Robbery Attempt, Gets Free Breakfast
"I put my stuff on the counter, snuck out the door, ran to my car, grabbed my pistol and came back up to the door — and as I came up the door, he just turned to look at me. I racked my slide on my pistol and pointed it at him and he put his hands up," Moore said. After coming back inside the store, he told the teenager to put down his knife and lay face-down on the floor while waiting for law enforcement to arrive.
CA: Video of Off Duty Officer who Shot at Suspects in an Attempted Homicide
Long winded explanation and warnings by LA PD, then two short video clips of incident from surveillance cameras.
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