IN: Armed Samaritan Stops Mass Murder in Indiana Mall

One of the victims injured is a 12-year-old girl that had a minor injury to her back, police said. She went home from the mall after the shooting, then to a hospital for treatment.

Ison said a "good Samaritan" witnessed the shooting, then shot and killed the shooter. 

IMPD said the armed bystander who shot the shooter is cooperating with police. The bystander is believed to have had a handgun and chose to intervene when he saw the shooting. Ison said the bystander was a 22-year-old man from Bartholomew County was carrying a gun lawfully. Police have not shared his name.

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MO: Armed Samaritan Stopped Armed Robbery at Quick Stop Near St. Louis

"Police Officers arrived to discover the suspect had been shot by a citizen during the armed robbery. The suspect was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased," St. Charles police said in a Facebook post.

Police said the citizen in question, a 26-year-old man from St. Louis, told them he stopped at the gas station to use the bathroom and purchase an item in the store. The man told cops that after he left to return to his car he saw a black SUV pull up in front of the store, with the suspect exiting and going into the store while holding a backpack. The man said he then observed the suspect drag a female employee to the front counter while holding a knife to her throat.

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Massachusetts AG gives Guidelines on Carry Permits

From commons.wikimedia.org  Massachusetts AG Maura Healy

In Massachusetts, the Attorney General office has issued guidance as to how agencies in the state may comply with the United States Constitution's Second Amendment as ruled in the NYSR&PA v. Bruen decision. From the Massachusetts AG Guidance:

The Supreme Court made clear in Bruen that States may, consistent with the Second Amendment, require licenses to carry firearms in public. Bruen, slip op. 4-6 & 6 n.2; id. (Kavanaugh, J., concurring) (“the Court’s decision does not prohibit States from imposing licensing requirements for carrying a handgun for self-defense”).

The AG office issues this further executive summary:

- It remains unlawful to carry a firearm in Massachusetts without a license. The Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen did not affect, but instead expressly stated that it was constitutional, for states to require a license to carry a firearm in public.

- Licensing authorities should continue to enforce the “prohibited person” and “suitability” provisions of the license-to-carry statute. These aspects of the statute are unaffected by Bruen.

- Licensing authorities should cease enforcement of the “good reason” provision of the license-to-carry statute in response to Bruen. Authorities should no longer deny, or impose restrictions on, a license to carry because the applicant lacks a sufficiently good reason to carry a firearm. An applicant who is neither a “prohibited person” or “unsuitable” must be issued an unrestricted license to carry.

- Licensing authorities may continue to inquire about the reasons why the applicant wants a license, but may only use that information to assess the prohibited person and suitability requirements of the statute. They may not use that information to deny or restrict a license for lack of a sufficiently good reason to carry a firearm.

Whether the above requirements, without the "good reason" provision, will meet the standards in Bruen, remain to be seen. From Bruen, footnote 9 p. 30:

That said, because any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.

Unlike New York, which called an emergency session, and passed emergency legislation completely changing its permit law, Massachusetts is keeping its current scheme mostly intact.

The Massachusetts licensing scheme is far less burdensome than the New York law was in practice. In 2021, there were about 470,000 permits in Massachusetts. That is about 7% of the population, or a little less than 10% of adults. 

New York State has about 200,000 permits. That is about 1% of the population, or about 1.33% of adults. Hawaii is the most extreme, with 1-20 permits, depending on how they are counted. This is, at most, about .0014% of the population. 

Illinois, which is a highly regulated  "Shall Issue" state, has a lower percentage of carry permits than does Massachusetts. 

Much will depend on how the law is administered. A more pressing problem will be how travelers will be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights in Massachusettes, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, California, and Maryland. 

Illinois allows people with carry permits from other states to travel through Illinois while armed. There is no such provision in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey or New York.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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ME: Shooting Death of Tyler Morin was Self Defense.

 

The Maine Attorney General's Office has determined that a deadly shooting in Augusta in May was a case of self-defense.

Augusta and State police were called to Ready Road Service Towing Company on Riverside Drive in Augusta just before 11 a.m. on May 20. When they arrived, they found the body of 36-year-old Tyler Morin of Lewiston. Police say he had been shot by 48-year-old Rob Drummond of Augusta.

Investigators have not commented on what prompted Drummond to shoot Morin.

 

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Abe Assassinated with Electrically Fired Homemade, Double Barreled Gun

Image from Twitter  

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated with a homemade gun on July 8, in the Japanese city of Nara. From video of the event, it appears the assassin fired his weapon at Abe from a distance appears of 20 to 30 feet. The two distinct shots were fired about a second apart and produced copious amounts of white smoke.

Early reports were of wounds to neck and chest. It is unknown what sort of projectiles were used in the homemade weapon.

Such firearms are extremely easy to make for anyone with a rudimentary ability to use hand tools.

This correspondent made several similar homemade, electrically actuated, multishot, muzzleloading black powder firearms 40 years ago. Electrical firing mechanisms are much easier to make than percussion systems used in modern firearms. A simple switch is the trigger for each barrel. Batteries supply the power to ignite each charge.  If you want multiple shots, multiple barrels are used. A nine volt battery worked well in my 40 year old experiments, as did a four pack of AA batteries.

Simple galvanized water pipe is plenty strong to withstand black powder pressures for a few shots. The firearm used in the assassination appears to be close to a 12 gauge bore size. Larger bores and projectiles create sufficient energies at the lower velocities on such firearms.

The propellants for such guns are easily made at home. Many high school students successfully made black powder in my youth. Fireworks can be disassembled as another source of propellant. It has been reported that people in prisons and the former Soviet Union used ground up match heads as a propellant. Make propellant is much more dangerous than making the guns.

This correspondent disagrees with professor Daniel Foote of Tokyo. From Bloomberg.com:

“This actually shows the extent that Japan gun laws are working,” said Daniel Foote, a professor at the University of Tokyo specializing in law and society. “Very few people have the ability to create such a
weapon.”

It is unlikely the professor has ever done the experimental work to make such weapons. Forty years ago, this correspondent was able to make a four shot repeater from 12 dollars of materials obtained from a hardware store and Radio Shack, using about 12 hours worth of labor. In order to be effective with such weapons, testing and practice is necessary. It appears the former Naval officer did the preparation required.  From the newyorkpost.com:

Police found several possible explosives during a raid on Yamagami’s home, and the suspect confessed that he had “manufactured multiple pistols and explosives so far,” NHK said.

Other local reports said that he told cops he initially planned to
blow up Abe, but decided to instead build a gun because he feared a bomb was less reliable.

Some sources are saying the assassination occurred at 10 feet. In the video referenced above, the distance appears to be 20 to 30 feet.  There did not appear to be any sights on the homemade firearm. Today, some sort of laser pointer would be easy to install and bore sight.

No mention of a laser has been made to this correspondent's knowledge.

The successful assassination of former Japan PM Abe, with a homemade firearm in a country with some of the most extreme firearms restrictions on the planet, shows how difficult it is to regulate what is essentially a 15th century technology.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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FL: Man Shot After Attempting to Break into Three Residences

The man was able to make contact with a nearby neighbor, as Smith continued to follow him.

While the victim was at the residence of the neighbor seeking help, Smith approached the residence acting in a suspicious manner before he ultimately ran up to the front door and illegally entered after both victims retreated inside.

“Smith was shot during this incident and is presently receiving medical treatment where he is currently listed in critical but stable condition. Alcohol and or narcotics appear to be a factor in this case,” said Largo Police.

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VA: Self Defense? Incident in VA Store being Investigated

The 22-year-old suspect, identified as Caleb Spinner, left the crime scene but was brought back by his grandmother, according to a Facebook Live he posted.

Just before he was arrested, Spinner repeatedly said he was the shooter but claimed his actions were in self-defense.

"It was me, it was self-defense," Spinner says in the live stream video.

Spinner was apprehended without incident, but not after Spinner expressed fear over his safety during the live stream, saying he was afraid to go up to police because he had a gun and was Black.

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FL: Homeowner Armed with AK47 Stops Home Invasion

A Florida homeowner will "absolutely not" face charges after firing an "AK-47-style gun" at suspected home invaders, a local sheriff said. 

"He started shooting for his own protection, to get them out of his house and to protect himself," Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said of the recent shooting in a video address posted to the office's official Facebook page. 

Simmons said three men, including one armed with a gun, entered a home in Escambia County just before midnight on July 7. The homeowner was present when the three men entered the house and pulled out a handgun from his waistband, but dropped the firearm. 

The homeowner was able to run and retrieve another weapon, an "AK-47-style gun," while one of the suspects picked up the victim's handgun.

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IL: (Chicago) Armed Victim Fired on, Fires Back, Wounds Attacker

CHICAGO - A man with a Concealed Carry License shot a gunman who fired shots at him late Tuesday afternoon on Chicago's Far South Side.

Shortly after 5 p.m., police say the 49-year-old victim was in the parking lot of an East Side restaurant in the 4000 block of E. 106th Street when an unknown vehicle pulled up and a 19-year-old man armed with a gun got out and opened fire.

The victim then pulled out his own weapon and shot the gunman in the right hand and left foot, police said.

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Bear Spray Fatality: Leah Lokan Used Bear Spray, was Killed by Grizzly Bear

Scene five hours after Leah Lokan was Killed by Grizzly Bear in Ovando, MT

In the early morning hours of July 6, 2021, in the village of Ovando, Montana, mere feet from several buildings, Leah Lokan was attacked by a 417 pound grizzly bear. She valiantly used bear spray in an attempt to stop the attack. The bear spray failed. Ms Lokan was a small but strong woman. She was killed in the unprovoked predatory attack.

Leah Lokan as remembered by a friend.

Leah Lokan facebook image link 

While not the first bear spray fatality in 2021, the attack and defensive failure are well documented in the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) report released June 28, 2022.  

The 417 lb boar grizzly first approached the two tents of Leah Lokan  and her acqaintances at about 3:08 a.m in the morning of July 6, 2022. From igbcconline.org:

Details on the Incident

The victim’s sister, Kim Lokan, identified the victim as Leah Davis Lokan, a 65-year-old female resident of Chico, California. Investigators responding to the scene found two tents. Leah Lokan had been sleeping alone in one tent. The other tent, belonging to acquaintances of the victim Joe and Kim Cole, was approximately 20 feet from the victim’s tent and was undisturbed (Figure 2, Figure 3). After going to bed earlier in the night, the Coles were awakened at approximately 3:08 am by Ms. Lokan crying out “bear, bear.” The bear was several feet from the two tents, exploring the area at the time Ms. Lokan became alerted. Joe and Kim Cole both had Counter Assault brand bear spray with them in their tent. They woke up; Joe grabbed Kim’s bear spray and they both began making noise. The bear walked off to the north into the field area behind the Ovando store and the bear spray was not used at the time. Ms. Lokan said, “the bear huffed at my head.” Ms. Lokan got up and moved two bags of food (packaged snack foods and a large bag of lentils) from her tent into a building known as the old jail at the museum, which was the building next door to the campsite, approximately 25 to 30 feet from her tent. She also took a can of Frontiersman brand bear spray into her tent. The Coles did not have any food in their tent. The Coles asked Ms. Lokan if she wanted to stay in the hotel but Ms. Lokan stated “no,” she wanted to stay in the tent. They all went back to bed.

Important facts are noted. Ms. Lokan took her can of bear spray into the tent with her.  The grizzly was comfortable moving among human occupied buildings inside a village. The report discloses bears had not been in the village recently, and the village had good food and bear attractant discipline.

More is revealed in the investigation. The bear came back an hour later, attacked Ms. Lokan without provocation, and killed her after she emptied a can of bear spray while defending herself. From igbcconline.org:

The victim’s journal and cell phone were collected from the tent footprint. A journal entry from July 2nd described that the victim practiced deploying bear spray after observing bear signs in and around the area where she was camping at Holland Lake near the town of Seeley Lake, Montana. Nothing of evidentiary value was found in the phone.

Also, inside the tent was the safety retention tab for a can of bear spray. An almost completely empty can of Frontiersman brand bear spray, black with a white label and missing the safety tab, was found under the tent. This can was assumed to be Lokan’s. The can had a fresh oily residue on the outside and had a strong odor of capsaicin, suggesting it had been deployed the morning of the attack.

Leah Lokan had practiced deploying bear spray only four days earlier. She had the bear spray with her in her tent. When attacked, she was able to remove the safety tab and use the spray, emptying the can. In spite of this defensive action, the grizzly bear killed her. The fatal wounds were nearly instantaneous, showing the spray had to be emptied while she was defending herself, attempting to stop the attack.  

The empty can of bear spray was found under the tent, which had been dragged several feet forward, during the attack. The bear spray safety tab was found inside the tent. This would be consistent with Leah extending the bear spray outside the tent and spraying the bear outside the tent, after removing the bear spray safety tab inside the tent. The report does not mention any bear spray residue inside of the tent.

Ms. Lokan's body was found half in, half outside of the tent, where she had been dragged by the bear.

From the autopsy included in the IGBC report:

Autopsy:
The Montana State Medical Examiner conducted the autopsy on July 7, 2021. The autopsy indicated that the victim had been in good health prior to her death. The medical examiner concluded that the victim’s death was caused by multiple blunt force injuries of the head, torso, and right upper extremity, the neck had been broken and spinal cord severed as well as blood vessels. The injuries sustained caused the death to be instantaneous. The manner of death was determined to be accidental due to the injuries sustained as the result of being attacked by a grizzly bear. The toxicology report detected ibuprofen and other medications, that may or may not have affected the victim’s response to the attack, in the victim’s blood but did not detect alcohol.

Leah Lokan depended on bear spray to be an effective defense against an attacking bear. The bear spray failed. While the acquaintances in the tent nearby also had bear spray, the report concludes it was acquaintance Joe Cole's aggressive response which drove off the bear. From the report: 

At approximately 4:05 am, Joe Cole was awoken again by a noise that made him realize Lokan was being attacked, although she had not yelled out. He immediately started yelling “bear, bear!” He unzipped his tent while yelling in a roaring-like voice and deployed his bear spray as he crawled out of the tent. Kim followed him and began blowing her whistle. The dark shape of the bear was just on the other side of Lokan’s tent, “pouncing up and down” on Ms. Lokan and her tent, as Joe approached continuing to spray. The bear made eye contact with Joe, then averted its head as they approached closer, turned, and left. The back of the tent was still standing but as they approached, they could see that Ms. Lokan and tent had been dragged by the bear approximately 8 to 10 feet (Figures 2, 3) and Ms. Lokan was half out of the tent and sleeping bag showing no signs of life.

(skip)

There is no way of knowing how much bear spray the bear received nor what impact the bear spray may have had on the bear. However, it is obvious that the bear left the attack scene because of Joe’s aggressive response and action. The bear made no attempt to defend the body.font-size: 15.7059px; left: 563.37px; top: 917.59px; transform: scaleX(0.783889);">The report concludes this was a predatory attack by a grizzly bear. From the report:

CONCLUSION

This unfortunate incident appears to have been a predatory attack by a habituated or food conditioned bear.

Analysis: 

While the report repeatedly attempts to link the presence of food to the predatory attack by the grizzly bear, the evidence suggests otherwise. Ms. Lokan did not have any food in the tent, other than her body. There was food in the packs on her bike, 10 feet away from the tent. The bear did not go after the food nearby on the bike, the bear attacked Ms. Lokan, in spite of her deploying bear spray. 

This is a fatal bear spray failure. It is not the first.  For those who attempt to define away fatal bear spray failures, consider a simple logical test. Replace the bear spray with a handgun, and decide if you would call it a fatal handgun failure.

The simple test is this:

A dead woman is found with a fired handgun near her, after she practiced with the the handgun as a defense against bears, and took the handgun into the tent with her to defend against a known grizzly bear.  The handgun has been fired during the attack, and is now empty,  with the fired cases as evidence.

Would that be considered a fatal failure of the defensive use of a handgun to stop a bear attack? 

The report does not mention any bear spray residue inside of Leah Lokan's tent. 

Readers should judge for themselves if this was a fatal bear spray failure.

Several days after Leah was attacked and killed without provocation, the bear which killed Leah was shot and killed. This correspondent suggests a better outcome could have resulted if Leah had a handgun with her inside the tent.

Ms Lokan was able to access bear spray and empty the can. It is likely she could have shot and driven off or killed the bear when it attacked her.

Handguns have been shown to be 98% effective in stopping bear attacks.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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AZ: Armed Individual stops Mass Murder at Party in Suprize, AZ

Surprise police have determined the responding shooter at a house where three were killed and four were severely injured acted in self-defense when 46-year-old Jason Hunt was killed.

Police now consider the man who fired the first shot on July 3, who police identified as Hunt, to be the sole suspect in the case given “the evidence collected to this point and the appearance of Jason’s actions being unprovoked,” according to a Monday news release from the Surprise Police Department.

Hunt lived in the same neighborhood, and the homeowners invited him to a large gathering at their house near 144th Avenue and Carline Drive.

According to new information gathered by the police, he arrived at the home, engaged in small talk with others at the residence, then went inside along with the group to eat. He was given a plate of food and sat down, but only a few moments later, he stood, pulled a handgun out and shot at several individuals.

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WA: Disarm, Victim takes gun, Accomplice shoots Victim

“Nervous like I’m nervous now shook up,” Leone Lyles, a neighbor, said.

Surveillance video shows the moments a struggle ensued over a gun in Wissonoming Monday.

Police say a man in black attempted to rob the victim in blue when he fought back.

He was able to pin the suspect down when another gunman approaches and starts shooting.

“I peaked, then I walked over with no shoes on,” Lyles said. “Thank god he’s still alive.”

The victim was shot in his lower body but was still able to fire back at the second suspect before they fled.

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TX: More on Father who Shot two 16-Year-Old Robbery Suspects

That's when the father shot at the suspects multiple times from inside the car and the wife drove away.

Deputies said the suspects were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds by two private vehicles.

Security video from a nearby home captured the incident. One teen suspect can be seen running away, while the other lies on the ground. Both eventually got picked up and were driven to the hospital.

"One of the parents inside the vehicle, as the suspects were attempting to enter, one of the parents fired off several rounds and shot both of the male suspects," Sgt. J. Wheeler said. "They were transported to area hospitals."

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Operation Silent Night Seizures of Chinese Sovent Trap, and Filter "Silencers"

 

From some time in 2019, to the present, the Department of Homeland Security,  US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, has been running an Operation Silent Night to intercept items coming from China which can be used to make suppressors/silencers. The operation has seized a lot of material, with relatively few arrests.  The items seized are routinely marketed as solvent traps, fuel filters, or pill containers. As most of them do not have holes so that a bullet can travel through them, it is difficult to prosecute people for importing a "silencer" or even "silencer parts" when similar items in the United States are legally marketed and sold.

Many of the items directly ordered from China are also available through U.S. companies such as Amazon or Wal-Mart.  Items sold within the United States, which do not cross an international border, are more difficult for the government to seize.

The fiscal year (budget year FY2019) for the federal government runs from October 1 to September 30. It is possible Operation Silent Night started in calendar year 2019, and fiscal year 2020. The end of FY2019 would have been September 30, 2019. The number of "silencers" seized and arrests in FY2020, (October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020) has been released by ICE. From ice.gov:

In FY2020, Operation Silent Night resulted in:

• 25,492 firearm silencers seized
• 2,305 firearms seized
• 99 criminal arrests

That is about 255 seizures for every arrest. Those are arrests, not convictions. This correspondent does not know how many products come through without being questioned. The percentage of items inspected varies quite a bit. It appears less than 25% are normally inspected. Conservatively, if 25 thousand items were seized, probably 100 thousand or more were sent.

In FY 2021, the numbers of seizures was down a bit, and the number of arrests up, very slightly, from 99 to 105. The total through FY2021 was 204 arrests. ICE changed the nomenclature from "criminal arrests" to "criminals arrested", contrary to US usual practice of assuming innocence until guilt is proven. From ice.gov:

For FY 2021

Operation Silent Night: Keeping dangerous weapon components off the streets. HSI Operation Silent Night is a global operation targeting the smuggling of firearm silencers into the United States from China. The operation is led by the HSI National Targeting Center-Investigations, and targets the manufacturer, supply chain, and end users of these illegal weapon component. HSI’s efforts on this operation help to keep dangerous weapon components out of the hands of criminal organizations and off our streets.

•42,888 firearm silencers seized

•4,868 firearms seized

•204 criminals arrested

The number of items seized dropped from  25,492 to 17,396 (42,888 - 25,492).  The number of seizures per arrest dropped to 166 per arrest.  How many of these would be found to be illegal silencers, in a court of law, is uncertain. The ATF has conflicting rulings about what is, and is not, a silencer.

Common practice is if the parts cannot be assembled into a working silencer, or if each individual part cannot be placed into a working silencer and the silencer will still work, then the collection of parts is not a silencer, or the particular part is not a dedicated silencer or silencer part.

For example, a thread adapter is not considered to be a silencer or a silencer part. An oil filter is not considered to be a silencer or a silencer part. But, a thread adapter and an oil filter which has a properly placed and dimension hole in the oil filter, together, may be considered a silencer, especially if there is powder residue from a firearms cartridge, inside the oil filter.

This correspondent has seen only two pictures of "silencers" identified as seized by ICE in this program. Both of them contain what might be considered mono-core baffles, which could be considered a dedicated silencer part, because the hole through the entire monocore would allow it to be inserted into a properly constructed tube, and used a part of a silencer, without modification.

How many of the arrests result in prosecution are not known. Previously, the number of federal prosecutions for illegal possession of a silencer was estimated at about 30 per year. Operation Silent Night has the potential to significantly increase the number.

Prosecution for potential silencers or potential silencer parts is not a  clear example of federal law. Challenges to the law on the grounds of vagueness are likely.

John Crump reported on this activity on AmmoLand in May.

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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IL: (Chicago) Attempted Robbery Stopped with Gunfire

The incident happened in the 10300 block of South Calumet around 12:01 p.m.

Police said the offender tried to rob the business at gunpoint when someone inside the business shot him.

The offender fired shots back but did not strike anyone, police said.

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IL: (Chicago) Man uses Pistol to Stop Carjacking, is Wounded

Update July 12, 2022, 12:50 p.m. — CPD has just released a community alert confirming that both crimes were committed by the same hijacking crew. According to the alert, the group consists of three to five Black males in their 20s wearing hooded sweatshirts and ski masks.

---

A man was shot during an armed robbery attempt in his Loop parking garage this morning, just minutes after carjackers pistol-whipped and carjacked a woman outside her Loop residence about four blocks away, according to Chicago police.

The shooting occurred as a 42-year-old man was pulling his $150,000 sports car into the Roosevelt Collection Lofts parking garage, 1135 South Delano Court. Police said five men stepped out of two cars that followed the victim to the garage, and they all pulled guns to rob him around 3:38 a.m.

But the victim is a concealed carry holder, and he engaged the crew in a shootout, according to a CPD statement. He suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg and a graze wound to his head. The robbers did not take his car. EMS took the victim to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition.

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TX: Two Claim Self Defense from attack with Machete

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Police detained two men for questioning after they claimed to shoot a man in self-defense to prevent a machete attack in southwest Houston, according to the Houston Police Department.

Officers were called to the 7300 block of Mullins at about 12:30 a.m., after one man called 911, admitting that he and another man had shot someone in the stomach.

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Illinois Supreme Court Refuses to Rule on FOID Constitutionality for Second Time

In a split 4 to 3 decision, the Illinois Supreme Court has refused to rule on the constitutionality of the Firearms Owner's IDentification card (FOID) requirements in Illinois. This is the second time the Court has refused to rule on the same case. From the decision:

“Mandates of this court are not to be treated lightly but are to be obeyed.” Id. Where the cause is remanded by this court “with specific directions, the court below has no discretion, but must pursue the mandate” of this court. Chickering v. Failes, 29 Ill. 294, 302-03 (1862). Accordingly, the circuit court’s orders of April 26, 2021, and June 15, 2020, must be vacated. The cause is remanded to the circuit court to reenter the modified order that was originally entered on June 4, 2020, at the direction of this court. On remand, the circuit court shall not entertain any motion from any party, nor take any action other than entering the modified order. Because the circuit court’s orders must be vacated, we do not reach any other issue in this appeal.

The majority, writing the opinion, says the Circuit court did not do what it was told to do.

The dissent wrote this:

The last time this case was before the court, Justices Karmeier and Theis referred to this court’s remand as an “unexpected and pointless exercise” and a “meaningless and wasteful act.” People v. Brown, 2020 IL 124100, ¶¶ 39, 59 (Karmeier, J., dissenting, joined by Theis, J.) (Brown I). I cannot think of a better description for the remand that the court issues today.

In a move that appears to be unprecedented in Illinois jurisprudence, this court, while expressing no opinion on the merits of the case, forces the trial court to take a particular position on the merits and denies that court its inherent power to reconsider its own ruling. The trial court reconsidered that ruling because it found that it was both legally erroneous and that it “force[d] the defendant to take a position not of her own choosing, one that she will lose on appeal and one which will unnecessarily delay (perhaps by years) the ultimate disposition of this case.” In concluding that the trial court was not allowed to entertain defendant’s motion to reconsider, the majority both mischaracterizes what happened below and misreads and misapplies this court’s precedents. As I will demonstrate below, the trial court did absolutely nothing wrong, and there is nothing in this court’s precedents supporting the majority’s disposition. Indeed, our case law compels the opposite result. This court should consider the State’s appeal on the merits.

The dissent says the Circuit Court did exactly what it was told to do.

In 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court refused to hear the case, sending it back to the Circuit Court, and telling the court to do certain things. The majority says it did not do what it was told;

The Judges who agreed to send it back were Chief Justice Anne Burke, with Justices Kilbride, Garman, and Neville concurring.

Justice Karmeier and Justice Theis dissented.

Justice Michael J. Burke did not take part in the decision.

In the 2022 decision, the Justices opinions were shuffled about a bit.

Chief Justice Anne Burke wrote the decision and Justices Theis, Neville and Carter joined with her.

Justice Michael Burke dissented, joined by Justices Garman and Overstreet.

Justices Karmeier and Kilbride were no longer on the Court.

Justices Carter and Overstreet had joined the Court.

From the dissent, in 2020, with which Justice Theis concurred:

There is good reason to proceed to the merits here. Remand to the circuit court to enter a new order dismissing the case on statutory rather than constitutional grounds is a meaningless and wasteful act. As I have noted, no plausible claim can be made that the conduct with which defendant is charged falls outside the plain language of section 2(a)(1) of the FOID Card Act (430 ILCS 65/2(a)(1) (West 2018)). To order the circuit court to enter such an order would be tantamount to compelling it to make a legal determination that none of the parties requested, that the court itself never meant to make, and that would have no chance of being affirmed on appeal. And when the forced order is ultimately reversed by the appellate court, as the law would require, what will happen? The circuit court will simply enter another order declaring the statute invalid, putting the parties and the litigation in precisely the same position they are now. Nothing will have been gained. Time will have been lost. Judicial resources will have been wasted. Defendant will remain in legal limbo.

In 2022, Justice Theis and Justice Garman must have changed their minds and reversed their positions.

Justice Theis agreed with the Chief Justice to send the case back to the District Court in 2022, reversing what he agreed with in 2020 . Justice Garman agreed with the dissent that the Illinois Supreme Court should have heard the case, reversing his position from 2020.

Justice Michael Burke was heard on this iteration of the case, and joined the dissent.

To an outsider, it looks as if the Court did not want to handle this hot potato. The dissent appears to make more sense than the opinion. Now the case is returned to the circuit court. It is not clear what will happen next.

The case may be appealed to the appeals court, but the lengthy opinion of the Supreme Court appears to say it may be appealed *and* that the Supreme Court decision in this case is final.

This correspondent believes challenges to the FOID law in Illinois will continue until either the state Supreme Court reaches a decision on the issue, or the United States Supreme Court reaches an opinion which would make a state supreme court opinion moot.

This correspondent expects prosecutors in Illinois will be reluctant to prosecute  cases involving the FOID card, for fear the FOID card requirement will be challenged and found to be unconstitutional.

 

©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

IL: Legal Gun Carrier Drives off Five Armed Criminals

Police said five men got out and pulled out guns.

The victim, a concealed carry holder, grabbed his own gun. He was shot in the leg and taken to Northwestern Hospital in good condition. 

The suspects drove off.

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TX: Domestic Defense, Armed Samaritan Stops Son from Killing Mother

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Deputies said a good Samaritan saved a woman's life when her son began shooting at her point-blank in north Harris County.

Investigators said they counted more than 20 bullet holes in one door at an apartment in the 300 block of Highland Cross.

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