Gunshot Lethality: Intention of the Shooter Makes the Largest Difference

When attempting to determine the statistical lethality of gunshot wounds, an important variable is often overlooked.  That is the intention of the shooter. It is not an easy variable to measure, but it is an overwhelming part of the dynamics of shooting situations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been collecting data on firearms injuries and fatalities for since 2001.  The individual years data have warnings that the numbers may be too small to be reliable, but there are significant advantages to the data set when looking at the aggregate numbers for the fourteen year period.  All the data is collected under the same institutional frame work, so we can hope for internal consistency.  While the network of hospitals that report to the CDC only cover a part of the country, they generate significant numbers to work with.

There are three categories in the CDC WISQARS data that can shed light on the importance of intention on the lethality of gunshot wounds.  From cdc.gov:

Unintentional: This category refers to fatal and nonfatal injuries not deliberately inflicted, including any such injury described as an “accident,” regardless of whether inflicted by oneself or by another person. Injuries resulting in hospitalization subsequent to ED treatment or resulting in ED treatment only, and for which intent was not determined, are also included in this category as most such injuries were likely unintentional. (It should be noted that approximately 20% of nonfatal firearm-related injuries assigned to the “unintentional” category were cases with undetermined intent, based on a retrospective review of narratives describing the injury incidents. Cost estimates for nonfatal firearm-related injuries designated as “unintentional” should be interpreted with this in mind.)

Homicide/Assault: This category refers to fatal and nonfatal injuries due to acts of violence where physical force by one or more persons is used with the intent of causing harm, injury, or death to another person. Such injuries resulting in hospitalization subsequent to ED treatment or resulting in ED treatment only are reportable under the categories assault-other and assault-sexual, which include confirmed and suspected cases based on patient medical records.

Legal Intervention: This category refers to fatal and nonfatal injuries caused by police or other law enforcement agents in the course of official duties. For injury-related deaths this category includes state-sanctioned executions.

The least intentional category in the CDC database is labelled as "unintentional".  In this category, the CDC notes that 20% of the incidents are undetermined in terms of intent.  This category had one fifth the percentage of fatalities of assault/homicide cases, and a little more than one eighth the percentage of fatalities of legal interventions.

Unintentional shootings reported by the CDC from 2001 to 2014, 231,350. Total fatalities were 8,969. Lethality was 3.73%

The assault category is the next most intentional group.  The CDC does not differentiate between justifiable shootings and non-justifiable.  It is unlikely that a person shoots at someone with no intention of hurting them; but some shootings are to warn, to scare off, to facilitate escape, to create/enforce territorial boundaries for street gangs, or intentional woundings.

Assault/Homicide shootings reported by the CDC from 2001 to 2014,  872,436. Total fatalities were 164,089. Lethality was 18.8%.

It is not hard to understand the mechanism for increased lethality with increased intention to harm or kill.  A shooter has many choices.  If the intention is to intimidate or enforce territorial boundaries, distance and accuracy are not as important. If the intention is self defense, a person who is wounded and runs away or retreats serves as well as one who is killed. If the intention is to kill, then the choice may be to shoot more, to get closer, to deliver a coup de grace to a downed opponent or victim.

Only one person appears to have been legally executed by gunfire in the United States from 2001 to 2014.  That was Ronnie Lee Gardner, in 2010.  Legal executions are not statistically significant in shooting statistics.

In the legal intervention category, police are taught to aim for the center of mass in their training.  They are taught not to shoot at people who are not a deadly threat, so a high level of intentionality can be assigned to their actions.  They are taught not to aim for extremities or to shoot to "disable".  Center mass shots are more likely to be fatal than any other part of the body except for shots to the head. They are more likely to stop an attack than hits in the extremities. There is considerable speculation that a percentage of police shootings are "suicide by cop", where the person shot wants to die, and uses the police as a method of doing so.

People shot in legal intervention shootings reported by the CDC from 2001 to 2014, were 17,894. Total fatalities were 5,181.  Lethality was  29.0%

It may seem obvious that the most important part of shooting dynamics is the intention of the shooter.  These numbers from the CDC support that conclusion.

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

Followup OH: Recording of 911 Call of Dayton Shooting of Intruder

DAYTON —

An elderly Dayton resident shot a suspected intruder, who is in “grave condition” at Miami Valley Hospital, and detectives will have to determine whether the use of deadly force was justified, police Lt. Mark Ponichtera said.

• Male shot as he began to make entry into home
• Suspected intruder suffered significant injuries
• Police looking for two suspects, believed to be juveniles
• 911 call released Tuesday morning

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Followup LA: Burglay Suspect Shot, Faces Burglary Charges

A 59-year-old man is expected to face charges after New Orleans police say he was shot in the leg Wednesday morning (June 8) while trying to burglarize a home in the city's Milan neighborhood.

A homeowner in the 4300 block of Lasalle Street returned home around 9 a.m. and discovered his front gate open and a man, identified by police as David Mathis, near his shed. The two fought, police said, at which point the homeowner grabbed a gun and shot Mathis one time in the leg.

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Followup CA: Burglary Suspect IDed in Anaheim Hills Shooting

ANAHEIM HILLS – Residents of a quiet Anaheim Hills street where a man shot and killed a car burglary suspect say their neighborhood has been plagued by property crimes for years.

“They have stolen everything that hasn’t been glued down,” 43-year-old Pam Yeager, who lives in the 100 block of South Eucalyptus Drive, said Tuesday night.

Police have identified a burglary suspect shot and killed by Yeager’s next-door neighbor early Monday as 40-year-old Ryan Miller of Long Beach.

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CA: Armed Homeowner Confronts, Shoots Car Burglar

A resident told police that he saw a male inside his vehicle, which was parked in the driveway. The resident, armed with a shotgun, had a confrontation with the suspect and fired one round, Correa said.

The male fled and was found by officers nearby suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital, where he died.

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FL: Open Carry Ban goes to Florida Supreme Court

The open carry ban was lobbied for by none other than the Clinton administration's infamous AG, Janet Reno, of the Waco massacre.  It was passed in a special session after the concealed carry law was passed earlier in 1987.
 
Law-abiding Floridians should be allowed to openly carry firearms in public, a gun-rights groups argued Wednesday to the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of a man arrested four years ago while strolling with a visibly holstered weapon in Fort Pierce.

Florida Carry attorney Eric Friday said the state's nearly 30-year-old concealed-weapons law violates the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which he said requires people to be allowed to openly carry guns. Lawmakers this year considered a proposal to allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry firearms, but the bill did not pass.

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Ninth Circuit Rules on Peruta: No Right to Carry Concealed, Effectively, No Right to Carry

It has been over a year since the en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit heard the oral arguments in the Peruta case.  During that period, Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court Justice who wrote the Heller v. D.C. opinion, died.   The Ninth Circuit has now reversed the ruling of the three judge panel in the Peruta case.  Essentially, they ruled that there is no right to bear arms concealed outside the home in California.  Then they ruled that they did not recognize a right to carry openly outside the home in California, because the Supreme Court has not directly ruled on the right to carry arms openly.  From the latest Peruta ruling (pdf):

The en banc court held that the history relevant to both the Second Amendment and its incorporation by the Fourteenth Amendment lead to the same conclusion: The right of a member of the general public to carry a concealed firearm in public is not, and never has been, protected by the Second Amendment. Therefore, because the Second Amendment does not protect in any degree the right to carry concealed firearms in public, any prohibition or restriction a state may choose to impose on concealed carry — including a requirement of “good cause,” however defined — is necessarily allowed by the Amendment. The en banc court stated that there may or may not be a Second Amendment right for a member of the general public to carry a firearm openly in public, but the Supreme Court has not answered that question.

In the dissent, the choice to frame the question very narrowly, so as to avoid the obvious prohibition on the general public from carrying arms outside the home, is noted:

In sum, Heller indicates that concealed-weapons
prohibitions may be proper as long as individuals retain other
means to exercise their Second Amendment right to bear
arms for self-defense. However, where other ways of
exercising one’s Second Amendment right are foreclosed, a
prohibition on carrying concealed handguns constitutes a
“severe restriction” on the Second Amendment right, just like
the District of Columbia’s unconstitutional handgun ban in
Heller.

II. Given California’s Choice to Prohibit Open Carry, the
Counties’ Policies of Not Allowing for Concealed
Carry for Self-Defense are Unconstitutional

But, those who decided to narrow the question to concealed carry only, so as to rule against carry outside the home, won the day.  Suspicions will float about that the Ninth was hoping that something such as Justice Scalia's death would occur before they made their decision. I doubt that is the case, although the Ninth stretched logic to reach the very narrow decision. 

The case will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court.  Given the makeup of the current court, I would not be surprised if the four leftist judges would quickly agree to hear the case; expecting that at worst, there would be a deadlock, thus insuring that the Ninth Circuit ruling will stand in California, Hawaii, and the rest of the Ninth Circuit, which is the largest circuit in the nation.

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

Followup CA: Pistol v. Only 1 "Assualt Rifle" in Walnut Hill Shooting

The owner, who identified himself as Ike, said he saw the hooded robbers come into his store on his security camera. One robber was armed with an assault rifle, and both men wore body armor, according to sheriff’s officials.

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Bataclan Massacre: Eight Officers Inside had Left Their Guns at Home

An article that gives numerous details about what happened at the Bataclan.  Much that was never reported by other media, from one of the musicians who was there and lived through it.

Eagles of Death Metal recently finished a Canadian tour and I got to sit down with vocalist Jesse Hughes and discuss the Bataclan attack in Paris that killed 89 of his fans. You’d think he’d want to avoid the topic, but he was actually eager to get into it. He sees it as a catharsis.

Hughes is not happy with the way the media has treated the story. Details are randomly pulled from his interviews and entire angles are edited in later that are diametrically opposed to his beliefs. Jesse Hughes has been ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church. He’s pro-gun, pro-Trump, and pro-life. He recognizes that Islam is the problem and political correctness is literally killing us.

(snip)

We had eight police officers in our audience that night. They all had the same conversation with their wives, which was “Should I bring my gun or not?” All of them said no. When we went back and played Paris again they stood in the same places they stood at the original show and they opened their jackets and showed me their guns as if to say, “Not tonight, motherfucker.” It was beautiful.


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Village Voice Shows DA Vance as Twisting Republican Arms Against Knife Reform Bill

Republicans in the New York Senate still seem lukewarm to any change, allowing a bill championed by Assemblyman Dan Quart, a Manhattan Democrat, to languish for months without a vote. And for the first time, a powerful opponent to reform — Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. — is coming out of the shadows and going full-bore to scuttle Democratic efforts.

It’s an odd look for a self-styled progressive prosecutor like Vance. Outside of a few reactionary — and baldly hypocritical — Republicans in the statehouse, Vance stands more or less alone in his public opposition.

For two years now, we’ve been documenting how the NYPD and local D.A.s — Vance chief among them — have used the state’s “gravity knife” statute to lock up mostly black and brown New Yorkers, sometimes in outrageous circumstances.

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Image of policeman demonstrating "gravity knife technique

http://images1.villagevoice.com/imager/u/original/8708124/knife_flick_gif.gif

Followup PA: Pharmacy Owner Talks about Shooting

“I just made the decision that if he comes over, it’s either me or him, but I wanted him to know I had a gun,” Lee said. “I prayed he would hear me and get scared and run.”

That ended up not happening. The intruder – later identified through fingerprints as Willie A. Bozarth, 33, of Sewell, New Jersey – came over the counter and Lee made the decision to pull the trigger on the handgun he carried to protect himself and his business.

“My intention was only to survive, to go home to my wife and daughter,” Lee said.
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ME: Bloomber Sends 3 Million to Push Gun Control in Maine Referendum

With massive amounts of money and media support, the electorate can be fooled.

AUGUSTA — Two gun safety groups in Maine are getting more than $3 million from a nonprofit backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in preparation for a big gun control measure on the November ballot.

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CA: Stranger Stabs Woman, Boyfriend Shoots, Kills Stranger

KOREATOWN, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A stranger stabbed a woman in a secured underground parking garage in Koreatown, according to police. Then authorities said the woman's boyfriend shot and killed the attacker.

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CA: Handgun Beats "assult rifles" and Body Armor

The store manager told Eyewitness News that the suspects barged into his business clad in body armor and with their faces covered, pointing assault rifles at him.

The manager said he had no other choice but to grab his handgun and shoot at the suspects, firing at least 10 shots in self-defense.

(snip)

 Authorities said both suspects were taken to the hospital to be treated for gunshot wounds, though their exact conditions were not immediately released.


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Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo on the Future of Silencers

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Part 1 dealt with legislative efforts. At the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, I was able to talk to Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo.  Josh is more than a visionary.  He is a man who acted on his vision, and is changing the gun culture and the national culture.  Josh has always been independent.  He had a successful career as a photographer before co-founding SilencerCo in 2008.  From linkedln.com:

After 12 years as a photographer, Waldron became restless in his career, and, Coincidentally his long time childhood friend, Jonathon Shults, was also looking for other opportunities. Together they were drawn to the suppressor industry because they saw market potential that could not be ignored. They found that all the existing suppressor companies had rather antiquated technology, poor customer service, and subpar marketing, not to mention that the suppressor industry was an obscure market that not many people knew existed. Waldron and Shults felt like this obscure industry had amazing potential. They believed that if they started a company that focused on innovation, customer service, marketing, and consumer education, they could create a much bigger market.

I talked to people at the SilencerCo booth during the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, KY.  I was told that SilencerCo produces about 65% of the silencers in the United States.  The company is growing so fast that it was hard to keep up with the number of employees, currently about 330 and rising quickly.  There is no doubt that SilencerCo holds a dominant market share and is growing at an exceptionally fast rate.

The National Firearms Act (NFA), passed in 1934, imposes severe regulation and a $200 tax on legal silencers.

I asked Josh about the future of silencers and silencer legislation.

Do you have a plan, and can you tell me about it?

"It starts as education. Ever since we started the company in 2008, we have had a focus on education and advocacy.  When I first started the company there were only 18,000 silencers were sold in the United States each year, and that was every manufacturer."

"From the time we have started until now, there were 18,000 then, we are now selling about 18,000 silencers every month, just SilencerCo.

In the last five years, this has been the fastest growing segment of the firearms industry."

"People are just starting to understand. This is not a 'cool accessory' as much as it is a personal protection/personal safety device, just as you would consider any other device that keeps you safe while you shoot, such as safety glasses.  It is really the only true way to hunt while you protect your hearing."

"As we continue to educate the market, it grows exponentially. A guy will get one who has never had one before, he brings it home, he shows his friends, and they say 'Oh my gosh, I want to buy one!' Every time we get suppressors out there, the snowball continues to grow and get bigger and bigger."

Do you fear that removal of suppressors from the NFA (National Firearms Act) will cut into your profit margin?

"I don't think so.  We don't get to take full benefit of the economies of scale. We have to order materials on a small batch basis. As we increase the number of suppressors going out the door we decrease the amount that it costs us.  We haven't pushed it to the level where are seeing those economies of scale." 

"We are always going to be a top-shelf brand.  We are never going to discount our brand.  We will be a leader in the industry, continually.  I do believe there will be a lot of new entrants to the industry.  I do not think that will hurt our brand or hurt our market."

I saw the Maxim 9, SilencerCo's integrally suppressed pistol, at the Shot Show in Las Vegas. Is the Maxim 9 in production yet? 

"It is not in production yet.  Projects of this size take a lot of research and development. They take a lot of torture testing.  We have to put it through a lot of standard testing. We use outside firms that come in and test and evaluate, so that we can hold our heads up high and say 'This is a duty grade weapon'.  We are not going to release it until it is. 

I do not want to be marketing to our men and women in uniform, and saying this is a safe way to shoot until we can say this is a perfect firearm for them. The amount of testing is extremely rigorous. We are on schedule. We will release it, probably in December."

Is the Maxim 9 your entry into a future market of integrally suppressed firearms?

"Yes. Our intention with the Maxim brand is to have integrally suppressed firearms in that brand. We are talking everything from shotguns to rifles to pistols.  The pistol is a good place to start because it is the holy grail of integrally suppressed guns that everyone has wanted. It is extremely difficult to do. People have tried it and failed, years and years, for decades, and this is the first time it has actually been viable and real.  We are very excited about that, and very proud of that. We are going to move into new calibers as soon as this one starts shipping. We are very excited to expand that line.

Do I think the gun companies will compete?  They can try.  Number one, our IQ is amazing around this product.  We spent a lot of time researching every firearm, every handgun that you can think of.  How the mechanisms worked, and why.  We had to be thorough. Which is why we designed the gun from the ground up. We went into every single style of this type of firearm, and other types of handguns as well, and really, truly understand how it needed to be designed. We had to take every mechanism, the guide rods, the springs, the things that are in front of the chamber in a conventional handgun, and move them behind the chamber. That was our biggest challenge.  Do I think that some of those guys will start competing and get around our IQ?  It will be a lot harder for them than for us. Because we are the ones who figured it out in the first place, and we have a lot of patents around that."

Rifles have had a lot solutions that people have had for a long time.

"We will get into those lines, the rifle lines.  The difference is that we will design the gun, just the same way as we did for the Maxim 9.  We will design the gun for the suppressor instead of putting on a suppressor designed for the gun, so our guns will be better."

There are about 400 million firearms in the U.S. right now. Most of those were not designed with a suppressor in mind. There is a huge market for retrofitted suppressors.

"Which is what we have been doing for the last eight years, it is what we have done as a company which is providing solutions for firearms that already exist.

The field is ready to harvest as far as creating a new platform.  A new platform that has never been done before this, that was designed from the ground up with the intention of being suppressed, integrally suppressed."

You say you are going to stay on the high end. I looked at some of the markets. There is a lot of low end potential out there.

"There is. It is something that I am just not interested in. Number one, I do not know how to make something that is not the best."

There are a lot of Chevys out there and not many Rolls Royces.

"True. But Rolls Royces are a lot more fun."

I do not know what percentage of the market the high end will be. It is impossible to know.

"It is an impossible to know what the percentage of the market the high end will be. It is important to me to make the best product in the world.  I am a brand guy.  My brand is very important to me to so if I am making things that are less than the best, that is not ever something that I want. I always want to be top shelf."

Are you exporting much? 

"We export, yes. We can't export to the commercial market. Only to the military and law enforcement.  It is a State Department thing.

We have a bill right now, it is called the Suppressor Export Act. Congressman Jeff Stewart is the one that is sponsoring that bill for us.  It would ensure that the State Department would have to allow us to take part in the world market, that is available, that we are not able to take part in right now.

We can only export to law enforcement and military, but not to the commercial market. But with this bill, we would be able to export to everybody. If there is a country where it is legal to have suppressors, we would be allowed to export to them.

There are suppressor manufacturers all over the world, and they sell all over the world.  The United States is the only place where they are this regulated. It is just crazy.  You can go to the UK, where it is really hard to own a gun, and you can buy a suppressor over the counter, without a background check."

"We are behind the curve when it comes to the rest of the world."

 Your market share is dominant. Your sales growth is exponential, isn't it?

"Yes. They are pretty amazing. We are growing 100% every year."

Can you buy stock?

"We are a private company."

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

MI: Cheap Gun Opportunity: Detroit 11 June Gun Turn In "buy back"

Picture from Phoenix, AZ gun turn-in event


There will be a gun turn in event in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday, 11 June,  2016.  While these events are commonly labeled with the propaganda term "buyback" the guns were never owned by the people attempting to buy them.

The event will be held at Mathis Community Center, 19300 Greenfield Road, Detroit. 

The event is scheduled to run from 10 am until the gift card supply runs out. People often turn up early at these events.  At other turn-in events, some excellent buys were made after the gift cards ran out.

The incentive for the gun turn in is a $50 gift card.   From fox2detroit.com:

On Saturday, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, Judge Greg Mathis and the Group Caliber Collection will hold a gun buy-back program.

Cash for Caliber will be held at 10 a.m. at the Mathis Community Center on Greenfield.

Anyone can turn in their unloaded gun and receive a $50 gift card for each gun -- no questions asked.

Cash for Caliber is making a profit off of these destructive and deceptive events.

Mindich seems to have profited handsomely with the Cash for Caliber gig. From detroitnews.com:

Mindich donates 20 percent of sales to police department buy-back programs in Newark, New Jersey; Hartford, Connecticut; San Francisco and Detroit. So far, she’s raised over $135,000. Of that, $25,000 was allocated to Detroit’s buy-back event to cover the gift cards, marketing and set-up expenses.

Mindich donates 20 percent of sales to police departments, essentially as payment for items that would cost her much, much more on the open market.  But donating 20 percent means that 80 percent, or four times what she donates, goes to her for profit enterprise, Cash for Caliber.  Four times $135,000 is $540,000 dollars.  Not bad for a firm based on false premises and image, in a three and a half year run.

If you are near Detroit, you may have an opportunity to obtain good firearms at low prices.  Any working firearm is worth more than the $50 gift card offered in this program.

Private sales of firearms in Michigan are covered by this wikihow.com article.   Laws change, so Michigan private buyers should perform their own research to conform with the law.  

Private buyers should look for easy places for people to park so that the merchandise can be looked at prior to purchase.  People often bring several guns to these turn in events.  

You might want to read the insider story by private buyers in Jacksonville Florida to see how things were handled there.

Be prepared for a percentage of people who refuse to talk to anyone but police. All the private buyers that I saw at gun turn ins were polite and let ideologically driven people turn in their guns for a fraction of what they would be worth on the open market.

Signs are helpful, as are good grooming, cash, and a friendly attitude. Dale Carnegie's advise for dealing with people works very well. Risks of purchasing stolen guns are small. You can read about them at this article.

Across the country, communities, police departments and churches are sponsoring gun turn-ins to get "guns off the street". At many of these events, private buyers are showing up, offering cash for the more valuable guns. These private additions to the public turn-in are effective, no doubt, in getting more guns off the street, because they add to the resources that are available to those who want to get rid of guns for something of value, be it a grocery card or a number of twenty dollar bills.

You can help make the turn-in in your area more effective by standing on the curb with your "Cash for Guns" sign, or at a folding table, willing to offer more than the gift card for firearms that are more valuable. It would be best if numerous private parties were available, as more good guns could then be transferred into responsible hands.

This action serves many useful purposes. It stretches the turn-in budget so that more guns can be taken off the street. It helps keep fearful widows from being defrauded of most of the market value of the gun they are turning in. It prevents valuable assets from being destroyed by bureaucratic inflexibility. It is a win-win-win situation. The ideal situation for those organizing the turn in would be to allow private buyers to purchase the valuable guns, while having the organizers take the cheap guns "off the streets". As these events are ideologically driven, that seems unlikely, but it might be worth an attempt at outreach. All parties would benefit.

Private buyers dispel the pernicious message that guns are bad and should be destroyed.

Link to potential legal risk of buying a gun at one of these events

Link to article with numerous examples of private sales at gun turn in events

Link to an article about private buyers at Detroit event

Link to Phoenix Article: pictures of private buyers

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

Followup PA: Robber Killed in Pharmacy Shooting IDed

Bozarth, armed with a shotgun and wearing a Halloween mask, tried to rob Pennsbury Pharmacy in Falls Township on Friday, according to police. A pharmacist, Kenneth Lee, warned the assailant that he was armed, and then fired several shots when Bozarth vaulted over the pharmacy counter.

An alleged accomplice in the attempted robbery has been charged with criminal homicide and other offenses. The pharmacist is not expected to face charges.

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Followup PA: Pharmacist Back to Work After Shooting

Pennsbury Pharmacy owner Kenneth Lee was back at work Monday — three days after he shot and killed a masked and armed robber in his drug store on New Falls Road in Falls.

"I'm traumatized, living it every second in my head," Lee, 42, said. "I'm very thankful I'm alive. I totally believe God helped me out with this. Without him, I don't know. It's God's grace that I'm still here."

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SAF; DOJ Should Investigate Couric and Crew for Illegal Gun Purchases

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Second Amendment Foundation is today calling for a Justice Department investigation of possible illegal firearms transactions apparently involving an unidentified producer of Katie Couric's "Under the Gun" film that were revealed four months ago by director Stephanie Soechtig during an interview on the BYOD program on TheLipTV.

In this interview, Soechtig tells BYOD host Ondi Timoner, "We sent a producer out and he was from Colorado. He went to Arizona, and he was able to buy a Bushmaster and then three other pistols without a background check in a matter of four hours. And that's perfectly legal. He wasn't doing some sort of underground market."

But founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb pointed out that transactions described by Soechtig really aren't legal at all. He added that no amount of "walking back" the allegation Soechtig made on camera is going to square her or Couric, or the unidentified producer, with existing federal law.

"There can only be two explanations for this," Gottlieb explained. "Either federal gun laws were violated, or Soechtig made the whole thing up. If the latter is true, then her credibility just went out the window, taking Couric's along with it. If the former is true, and the unidentified producer actually did buy the guns, and if he was sent to do that – as Soechtig's remarks imply – then that's possible evidence of a criminal conspiracy, or at the very least being an accessory.

"Unfortunately for Couric and Soechtig, their credibility is already in shambles because of the now-infamous eight second silence that never happened between Couric and members of the Virginia Citizen's Defense League," he continued. "The apparent inability of VCDL members to respond to Couric's question about background checks was a complete editing fabrication, and everybody knows it. We don't consider Couric's subsequent explanation to be an apology, either. At this point, anything they say is questionable.

"For Soechtig to claim that buying guns in the manner described is legal takes either remarkable audacity or monumental stupidity," Gottlieb said. "The fact that she also used the discredited argument that 40 percent of gun sales happen without background checks adds to the suspicious nature of the production. The only way to sort this out is with a full DOJ investigation, which we think should begin promptly."

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.



SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation

Rob Morse: Are all anti-gun politicians corrupt?

Not all of the anti-gun politicians are corrupt, but many of them certainly are. Here are a few dozen examples to prove my point.

California Senator Leland Yee authored many anti-rights bills that heavily burdened gun owners. Yee was named to the Gun Violence Prevention Honor Roll by the anti-rights Brady Campaign. Yee was charged with gun trafficking and public corruption. Yee is now serving time in federal prison.

Dean Skelos was Majority Leader of the New York State Senate. Skelos helped pass the infamous anti-rights New York SAFE Act. This legislation required gun registration and was so burdensome that even the New York police ignored it. Skelos was convicted of federal corruption charges.

Speaker of the New York State Assembly Sheldon Silver also helped pass the New York SAFE Act. The Brady campaign thanked Silver by name for his anti-gun legislation. Silver was arrested, tried and convicted on seven counts of corruption.

President of the California Senate, Kevin De Leon is an active anti-rights legislator. DeLeon is the current author of at least four anti-rights bills this year that limit honest gun owners. Senator De Leon is also named 47 times in a current FBI probe of corruption and bribery.

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An Interview with Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo on Suppressor Legislation

This is part 1 of a 2 part series. At the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, I was able to talk to Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo.  Josh is more than a visionary.  He is a man who acted on his vision, and is changing the gun culture and the national culture.  Josh has always been independent.  He had a successful career as a photographer before co-founding SilencerCo in 2008.  From linkedln.com:

After 12 years as a photographer, Waldron became restless in his career, and, Coincidentally his long time childhood friend, Jonathon Shults, was also looking for other opportunities. Together they were drawn to the suppressor industry because they saw market potential that could not be ignored. They found that all the existing suppressor companies had rather antiquated technology, poor customer service, and subpar marketing, not to mention that the suppressor industry was an obscure market that not many people knew existed. Waldron and Shults felt like this obscure industry had amazing potential. They believed that if they started a company that focused on innovation, customer service, marketing, and consumer education, they could create a much bigger market.

I asked Josh about the future of silencers and silencer legislation. The National Firearms Act (NFA), passed in 1934, imposes severe regulation and a $200 tax on legal silencers.

Do you have a plan, and can you tell me about it?

"It starts as education. Ever since we started the company in 2008, we have had a focus on education and advocacy.  When I first started the company there were only 18,000 silencers sold in the United States each year, and that was every manufacturer.

I did several surveys around the country, and only 3% of the firearms community actually knew that silencers were legal to purchase.  When we started to work on our marketing plan, this is back in L.A., when we were forming the company, I said, why don't we spend 99% of our market dollars on education?"

"As we get into the market, we continue to spend money on education and advocacy.  Which is why I am involved with the NRA, which is why I am on the board of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation.  I am a founder of the American Suppressor Association.

I am constantly working on those efforts to mainstream suppressors.

From the time we have started until now, there were 18,000 then, we are now selling about 18,000 silencers every month, just SilencerCo.

In the last five years, this has been the fastest growing segment of the firearms industry."

Do you fear that removal of suppressors from the NFA (National Firearms Act) will cut into your profit margin?

"I don't think so.  We don't get to take full benefit of the economies of scale. We have to order materials on a small batch basis. As we increase the number of suppressors going out the door we decrease the amount that it costs us.  We haven't pushed it to the level where are seeing those economies of scale."

Lets talk about the Hearing Protection Act, the HPA, on the national level.   There are now about 42 states that have done away with most legal impediments, at the state level, to owning a suppressor.

"So 42 states where you can legally purchase a suppressor. There are 39 of those states where you can legally hunt with a suppressor. Almost 40, New Hampshire has passed legislation that is on the way to the Governor's desk.  When I started this, there were only 22 states for hunting and 38 for ownership."

You have made tremendous progress.  There is no questioning it. Part of what I see is that states see the federal legislation in place.  A strategy that I see is to get a supermajority, which you now have, in the states, then remove the federal legislation.

"You would think that is a good strategy.  However a lot of those states, the 42 states reference the National Firearms Act branch of the ATF in the law. The way that we have the HPA written on the federal level insures that when suppressors are removed from the NFA branch, it doesn't automatically make suppressors illegal in the states where it references the NFA.  That took a long time to draft that language correctly so that would be retroactive.

The biggest strategy that we have seen is to educate, and that is what it always has always been about.  Even if you don't like firearms, even if you are an anti-gun person, after you understand what a suppressor is and what it does, you can't in good conscience say anything negative about because it makes the gun safer.

If you are an anti-gun guy, if you cannot outright ban the firearm, why not make the firearm safer? That is why we have been able to build a lot of momentum and get a lot done.  On the state level we have had 90 percent on both sides of the House and Senate vote yea on our bills.  90 percent.  That is a huge bipartisan issue.  There are a lot of bills these days that have been passing these days with that 90 percent bi-partisan approval level in both houses."

I am assuming that President Obama is why this bill has not gone forward, because of the veto threat.

"The veto is going to be there.  A lot of things get taken care of in conference. We are looking for committee members to allow it to get into committee, on to the committee floor, and onto the floor of the House and the Senate."

Do you expect it to pass before the next presidential election?

"No.  This is an education effort.  This is getting everyone spun up, so that when we do get Trump in the White House, he is going to be the guy that signs that bill, and he will sign that bill."

What is your strategy; to announce Trump support, or to ask for Trump support during the presidential campaign?  He has come out strongly in favor of the Second Amendment, but he has not referenced the NFA particularily.

He hasn't, no.  We don't imagine that he will get that deep in the weeds, and come out in favor of smaller issues, other than overall Second Amendment support."

You do not expect that to be an issue in the presidential campaign?

"I don't think so. That is just too particular, and he needs to be more broadly focused.

The good news is that his sons put pictures on social media of them shooting our products. I know that the Trump family has fun with suppressors and they understand the process of getting a suppressor with the NFA branch. A lot of the problem is that it is a very complicated process, and when you go in and have five minutes with a legislator, it is a lot to teach them about.  With the Trump family, they are already spun up, so it will be relatively easy.  We are excited about it."

"He (Trump) is a little bit crazy.  But I am a little bit crazy, so I relate to him."

You are a founder, maybe the founder of the ASA (American Suppressor Association).

"I am one of the founders of the ASA, there are three of us that started it."

How many lobbyists do you have?

"We have three lobbyists right now."

Those are paid lobbyists?

"Yes. One of our best strategies however, is we created a very meaningful relationship with the NRA. The NRA's lobbyists are not doing our bidding. They are doing the right thing. Our issues are their issues."

You are on the NRA committee for legislative strategy. So they are on board with the whole idea of removing silencers from the NFA?

"Yes. Absolutely."

You mentioned the specifics of this legislation, which I find interesting.  It is worded in such a way as to say that state laws are in compliance with the NFA.

"It went back and forth with the legal department of the  NRA and with Congressman Salmon."

Which congressman?

"Matt Salmon of Arizona.  He is the one who sponsored the bill.

Basically, we wanted to say that any state where it is legal, will stay legal, and any state where it is illegal, will stay illegal.

To be honest with you, the NFA branch themselves,the ATF themselves, three months ago released data to show that there have only been 12 instances, that is over two decades, I think, where crimes have been committed.  But they are not sure if they are crimes that were committed by people who own suppressors, or crimes that were committed with suppressors.

This is not an issue. Why would it make a difference whether it is an instant background check or it is an six months background check?  What we are asking for is an instant background check."

So the law we are looking, the Hearing Protection Act, would put suppressors in the same category as pistols, or rifles and shotguns?

"Long guns. So you could buy multiple items."

How long is the bill?  Is it 50 pages?

"No. The legislation is actually fairly short.  It is available on the congressional web site."

Do you export much?

"We export, yes. We can't export to the commercial market. Only to the military and law enforcement.  It is a State Department thing.

We have a bill right now, it is called the Suppressor Export Act. Congressman Jeff Stewart is the one that is sponsoring that bill for us.  It would ensure that the State Department would have to allow us to take part in the world market, that is available, that we are not able to take part in right now.

We can only export to law enforcement and military, but not to the commercial market. But with this bill, we would be able to export to everybody. If there is a country where it is legal to have suppressors, we would be allowed to export to them.

There are suppressor manufacturers all over the world, and they sell all over the world.  The United States is the only place where they are this regulated. It is just crazy.  You can go to the UK, where it is really hard to own a gun, and you can buy a suppressor over the counter, without a background check."

"We are behind the curve when it comes to the rest of the world."

Link to Part 2


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

MS: Child with AK47 Defends Home against Armed Invader

Image from wect.com:


In Byram Mississippi, on 1 June, at about 3 p.m., a minor was at home.  He called his father to report a possible home invasion.  A neighbor gave this account. From wapt.com:

"Daddy armed him in case he was ever by himself," neighbor Rick Waltz said. "Daddy was at work and he got a call that said, 'It sounds like somebody is in the house. More than one.' Like any parent would do, he said, 'Get your gun and protect yourself if you have to.' Somewhere along the line they met up, and one will not be going home tonight."

The rifle that the father had armed his son with is reported to be one of the numerous semi-automatic clones of the famous AK47.  They are an excellent choice for home defense. While they are not capable of automatic fire like the military versions used by many countries, many attributes useful for home defense exist in both versions. 

They have good handling qualities. Their overall length and pistol grip allow them to be more easily maneuvred inside buildings, and make it easier to prevent a disarm by an assailant. They are light, do not recoil a great deal, and have good ammunition capacity. In rural or semi-rural locations, such as in this case, over penetration is less of a problem.  Because they are so well known, they have excellent deterrent value. In this instance, the deterrent value was not sufficient. From clarionledger.com:

During the course of the investigation, police determined that Reed had conspired with the victim immediately prior to the incident to rob the resident at the home.

Police said the incident unfolded quickly. When the teen who lived at the home saw the alleged intruder, he shot him once with an AK-47. It appears the bullet went into the victim's hand, traveled up his arm and into his chest cavity. Only one shot is believed to have been fired.

There was no forced entry, Thompson said, and there wasn't a vehicle in the area connected with the victim.

The dead man has been reported as being armed with a handgun. We can speculate that the hand that was shot was holding that handgun, but without the coroner’s report, we cannot know for certain. The man charged, Samuel Reed, is 18 years old. The invader who was shot has been identified as Cameron Jackson, also18 years old.  The victim who defended his home is believed to be a teenager. His name has not been released.

Weapons that are used to defend homes are seldom identified in news reports.  It is likely that this instance will be added to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports as a homicide with a rifle.

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

Australia: Burglar shot in Leg during Struggle for Gun

The owner of the property, a 58-year-old male, went to investigate when his dogs began barking at the intruders.

A struggle ensued, and one of the armed offenders was shot in the leg when their firearm discharged.

The three male assailants fled on foot. The owner was uninjured in the incident.

Police were contacted and following a search of the area, a 30-year-old man suffering a gunshot wound to his leg was located.

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More Followup IN: No Charges for Couple that Shot, Killed Intruder

No criminal charges in fatal Tuesday shooting

Police say man ended up in neighbors’ house before he was shot

Friends said the man may have suffered from a medical condition

Police said neighbors cooperated fully with investigation

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Followup OK: Police ID Burglar Shot, Killed by Homeowner

The Oklahoma City Police Department says 24-year-old Robert Sango was shot and killed by a homeowner after attempting to break into a home in the 1500 block of NE 30 Street.

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AZ: Kelli Ward to Second Amendment Supporters Retire McCain

Dr. Kelli Ward is a former Arizona state senator who is running in the primary against John McCain.  She is a strong Second Amendment supporter, and a political outsider to Washington, D.C.  Her campaign is focusing on a number of issues, among them that it is time for John McCain to leave office, and her contrast with the Senator on the Second Amendment.

John McCain has been a reliable "I support the Second Amendment, but" Senator.  He has supported bans on "assault weapons". He supported severe restrictions on gun shows, which would have effectively destroyed the popular gun culture political and networking tool. He supported "universal background checks" (UBC), designed as a step to universal gun registration .  He has recently backed off of the UBC issue, as the primary is getting closer.  It is a common tactic for politicians to move toward their base for the primary, then away from it for the general election.

Kelli Ward spent about three hours Saturday at a gun show that was being held in Yuma at the Civic Center.  She had a table that was manned and handing out literature, and she worked through the attendees.  She was warmly received. Second Amendment supporters are one of her strong constituencies.  They have not been happy with John McCain.  He has been in office for nearly 30 years.

There was a brief attempt to recall John McCain in 2001, just before the jihadist attack on 9/11.  The attack ended the recall attempt.  The organizers realized that recalling a war hero after the attack would have been futile.

I briefly spoke with Dr. Ward at a meet and greet in Yuma last Friday.  She was energetic, enthusiastic, and friendly.  These are all great qualities in a candidate.  I last saw John McCain close up about two years ago.  He was also energetic and mentally sharp.  I was impressed that I could not detect any signs of decreased vigor or intellectual capacity.   At the time, McCain was mentoring Jeff Flake during Flake's senate race.  John McCain will be 80 years old in a couple of months.

The Republican base is not happy with John McCain, so an outsider like Dr. Ward has a chance.  As in the presidential primary, there are multiple opponents who oppose McCain, spliting the anti-McCain vote.  A PPP poll shows the situation as of May 17th.  From publicpolicypolling.com:

McCain is polling at only 39% in the Republican primary field. He's benefiting from having multiple opponents. Kelli Ward is at 26%, Alex Meluskey at 4%, Scott McBean at 3%, and Clair Van Steenwyk at 2%. 27% are undecided. McCain is very strong among moderates, leading Ward 60-10. But among 'somewhat conservative' voters he leads just 34-29, and with 'very conservative' ones he's down 35-28. When you narrow the field down to just a choice between McCain and Ward, it's a tie at 41%. Ward is polling this competitively at this point despite having only 41% name recognition.

If Dr. Ward consolidates opposition against McCain, She has a serious chance at getting the nomination.   Name recognition is the biggest problem for her at this point.  The biggest problem for McCain is also name recognition.  His name and policies are all too well known by conservatives and those who are angered at business as usual in Washington.

Donald Trump has changed electoral politics in the United States.  It is not clear what will happen in the general election, but Trump coattails could be very effective for Dr. Ward, who shares most of his policy positions.  The feud between John McCain and Donald Trump make a coattail effect for him much less likely.

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

TX: Armed Victim Shoots 1 of 2 Robbery Suspects

BEAUMONT — A concealed handgun licensed carrier shot and injured one of two men trying to rob him at gunpoint in Beaumont Thursday night.



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CO: Armed Witness Holds Knifeman at Gunpoint

LARIMER COUNTY - Larimer County Sheriff’s deputies say a stabbing witness held the suspect at gun point until authorities arrived Friday night.
At 8:57 p.m., deputies responded to a report of a stabbing in the area of Rist Canyon Road and Larimer County Road 23E Belluvue. It was reported that a woman was stabbed in the neck and hands.

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CA: Armed Homeowner Shoots, Wounds, Intruder

The homeowner told police he confronted a man who entered the backyard without his permission and then fired his handgun.

The homeowner was interviewed and has been cooperating with investigators, police said. His name and age were not released.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article81618617.html#storylink=cpy

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Americans Continue to Buy Guns in Record Numbers

In 2016, Americans continue to break records for gun sales.  While the National Instant Check System (NICS) does not track gun sales directly, the numbers are highly correlated. The numbers of NICS checks, and the increase in private firearms, have skyrocketed during the Obama administration.

The total for 2016 through the end of May is 11,698,006 instant checks. That is more than the entire year of 2007, which held the record up to that year. Thus, during the Obama years, the number of private firearm sales has doubled.  In 2015, the highest year on record, the total number of checks was 23,141,970.  That is just a hair short of double the number done in 2007.  2016 is shaping up to break the 2015 record by millions of instant checks.  In just the first five months of instant checks, the cumulative instant checks are more than half the total for all of the record breaking year of 2015.

May, 2016, has the most instant checks of all the months of May on record.  That makes 13 months in a row that have broken records for all previous years.  If the trend continues, 2016 will reach the record numbers of 2015 by the end of October, with the busy months of November and December still ahead.

It is possible, even likely, that 2016 will reach over 28 million instant checks.  The correlation between instant checks and increases of the private firearm stock is very close to .6 firearms for each instant check.  That is because every used firearm sold through a dealer requires an instant check.  Those do not add firearms to the private stock; they already have been counted.

Every concealed carry permit, carry permit, concealed handgun license, or concealed weapons license requires an instant check.  Those do not add to the private stock of firearms either.  On the average, taken over 14 years, the .6 increase in firearms per instant check holds pretty close.

If we reach 28 million instant checks in 2016, that will be about 16.8 million new firearms added to the stock in 2016.  That projection puts us at 405 million private firearms in the United States at the end of 2016.

It may end up being a little more or less, but that is the way to bet.  Because of the record breaking buying spree of guns that has occurred during Barak Obama's regime, the total gun stock will have increased by over 30 percent.

President Obama has even bragged about this, in a left handed way. At a PBS News Hour, President Obama used the unprecedented gun buying spree to claim that he did not want to take peoples guns, which is why they purchased so many of them. From westernjournalism.com: 

OBAMA: The notion that I, or Hillary or Democrats or whoever you want to choose, are hell-bent on taking away folks’ guns is just not true. And I don’t care how many times the NRA says it. I’m about to leave office. There have been more guns sold since I’ve been president than just about any time in U.S. history. There are enough guns for every man, woman and child in this country. And at no point have I ever, ever proposed confiscating guns from responsible gun owners. So it’s just not true.

It all depends on Obama's definition of "responsible", and "confiscating". If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.  If you like your insurance plan, you can keep your insurance plan.  The veterans and social security recipients who have become "irresponsibly gun owners" by bureaucratic fiat might disagree with President Obama's characterization of events.

President Obama can be justly proud of the incredible growth in gun sales during his tenure.

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

Alan Korwin: Gannett Columnist E.J. Montini Sets Gun-Inaccuracy Record

Katie Couric isn’t the only journalist whose bona fides on gun issues are in the sewer.

Writing for the Gannett news empire’s #2 rag, The Arizona Republic, columnist E.J. Montini, a talented, prolific but virulently biased gun-hating writer may have set a record for the greatest number of anti-rights gun myths in one short article, at 11.

Because his paper does not allow rebuttals or even meaningful error corrections, Montini gets away with murder, figuratively speaking. Couric got caught with evidence. This writer got caught with stubborn things—facts.

Montini’s name has been submitted as a candidate for a Golden Calf Award, issued periodically by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, , bestowed upon a person or group who:

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Katie Couric’s Anti-Gun Producers Repeatedly Violated Federal Gun Laws

As we have seen before, laws are for the "little people".

Katie, get your gun lawyer.

By now you’ve probably heard about Katie Couric’s new anti-gun documentary “Under The Gun,” and how her producer doctored video of interviews with gun owners in order to make them look stupid and heartless. Couric’s producer and director, Stephanie Soechtig, admitted to doctoring the video, and Couric herself kinda sorta apologized for it.

But that’s not the worst thing that happened with the making of this documentary. It turns out that Couric’s production team deliberately conspired to violate federal gun laws. According to video obtained by Ammoland, a shooting sports news website, one of Couric’s producers deliberately committed at least four separate felonies by purchasing four separate firearms across state lines without a background check.

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PA: Pharmacist Shoots Robber, Local Authorities Approve

LEVITTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) -- The pharmacy owner who shot and killed a robber on Friday morning in Levittown, Bucks County, will not face charges - and was even praised by the district attorney.

During a news conference on Friday afternoon, Falls Township Police Lt. Henry Ward said Pennsbury Pharmacy owner Kenneth Lee "had no choice to do what he did. He was protecting himself and his business."
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TX: Electrician uses .45 to Recover Stolen Tools

I disagree with Mr. Jackson "that it was his own fault" for not locking up his property.   I lived in a society where locking everything up was not required.  There are still such places in the United States.

"I hit my brakes," Jackson recalled. "They fell right in line like they were guilty. I hit my reverse lights, and it just played out. I pulled in with my .45, and I got their attention."

Jackson held the suspects at gunpoint until police arrived.

"'Bring me my tools, and you can go ahead and have a seat. Your rescue is on the way,'" Jackson recalled telling the thieves. "And I meant it. I didn't have any intention on using it. I just wanted their attention."

"We have been familiar with the subjects in the past," said Chief Phillips. "We're not looking at any charges with the displaying of the firearm. He was lawfully making an attempt to recover his property."
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Charles Cook: What Law—Specifically—Would Have Prevented Yesterday’s UCLA Shooting?

 Charles Cooke does a great job with this article.

Yesterday, at UCLA, a Ph.D. student shot his professor dead. Not too long afterwards, he turned the gun on himself.

As soon as the story hit the news, the usual suspects began cranking themselves up. Americans, they said, need to “do something.” It was time, they argued, for “more laws.” And the NRA? It was, of course, to blame.

Forgive me for being a broken record, but I have some questions in response to these reactions: Namely, “what something?”; “which laws?”; and “what, specifically, did the NRA do wrong here?” Rolled into one, these congeal into a single, simple inquiry: “What law — specifically — would have prevented yesterday’s shooting?”

I ask because, absent the total ban on firearms that gun-control advocates insist that they don’t covet, it is not at all obvious which rules would have stopped the perpetrator from carrying out his plan. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the shooter bought a 9mm handgun legally in Minnesota, passing a background check in the process; then, gun in hand, he killed a woman in that state; and, finally, he drove with his guns to California, where he killed both his professor and himself.


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Followuo MO: Name of Dead Home Invasion Suspect Released

WAYNE COUNTY, MO (KFVS) -

The name of a suspect shot and killed by a homeowner in an alleged home invasion in Wayne County has been released.

According to Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch, 54-year-old Douglas West of Williamsville died by homicide.

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SC: Domestic Defense Woman Shoots Husband

Aiken Department of Public Safety officers obtained arrest warrants Tuesday for an Aiken man following a domestic incident, which ended with him getting shot in the leg by his wife.

Officers responded to Taylor Street around 5:30 a.m. after a 49-year-old Aiken woman called claiming her 50-year-old husband assaulted her while their 12-year-old daughter was present, a report provided by the Aiken Department of Public Safety said. 

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Washington Times: AR-15 designer accuses HBO of deceptively editing interview

One of the original designers of the AR-15 has accused HBO of deceptively editing a recent interview he gave on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”

In the episode, titled “AR15: Modern Sporting Rifle,” correspondent David Scott interviewed Jim Sullivan, one of the original designers of the M-16, which fires in semi-automatic and full-automatic modes, and its civilian counterpart, the semi-automatic AR-15, The Federalist reported.

“The anti-gun HBO sports interview misrepresented much of what I had said,” Mr. Sullivanwrote Tuesday for The Federalist. “They were apparently trying to make the AR-15 civilian model seem too dangerous for civilian sales. They didn’t lie about what I said; they just omitted key parts, which changed the meaning.

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CT: Gun Beats Chainsaw

Salafia was allegedly involved in a dispute with another motorist. He exited his vehicle at a red light and approached another operator with a chainsaw in hand, according to police. He started the chainsaw and shouted racist slurs at the driver, a black male.

The man pulled out a legally owned handgun in an effort to stop Salafia from advancing, police said.
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CA: Gunfight, Clerk Kills Robbey Suspect

One robber is dead after an Easton store clerk and two thieves exchanged gunfire Tuesday night, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

The dead robber was identified Wednesday by the sheriff’s office as 17-year-old Isaac Garcia of Fresno. His alleged accomplice was still on the loose. He is described as Hispanic in his late teens to early 20s, 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 inches tall, and weighing 170 to 190 pounds.
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Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article81088372.html#storylink=cpy

MS: Teen Shoots, Kills Robbery Suspect; Suspected Accomplice Arrested

In the house, officers found three people: the resident of the home, a visitor identified as Reed and a man who was shot and killed, who police believed to be an intruder.

Police believe that Reed had been inside the home before the burglary and shooting happened. It is believed that Reed had worked with the intruder to rob the home.

When the intruder entered the home, the resident retrieved a firearm and shot and killed him.
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NM: Gun Beats Crowbar in Home Invasion

A man allegedly broke into a house in the Weimer neighborhood in the early hours of (May 29) and was shot in the face.

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AR: Armed Woman Shoots at Robbery Suspect

Little Rock police were called to an attempted robbery at 3608 Asher Ave. Sunday morning after a woman shot at a man trying to rob her.

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Followup IN: Police ID Dead Intruder

Indianapolis police have identified the apparent intruder they say was fatally shot by the occupants of an east-side home he entered early Tuesday.

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TX: Gofundme Established for Armed Citizen Wounded while Fighting Rampage Shooter

Byron Wilson and Son

When an active shooter started targeting random people in his Houston  neighborhood on May 29, Byron Wilson was there.  He armed himself and entered the fray.  He fired at the rampage shooter and drew his fire in return. He did what he could to stop the carnage in his neighborhood.   He was shot three times, twice in the legs and once in the shoulder. He managed to crawl to a nearby business where he was able to call his wife and get help. He is fortunate to have survived.  The rampage shooter was unusual.  Most of the time the killers suicide or give up when they receive return fire.  This one did not.  Maybe it was because of another unusual fact.  This rampage shooter was a combat veteran.

Before wounding Wilson the shooter used a pistol to kill one man, then retrieved a rifle, reportedly an AR 15. During the rampage he wounded three unarmed people, Wilson, a police officer, and hit another officer in his bullet resistant vest.  He expended about 212 rounds of ammunition, but only killed one person, the first person that he shot with the pistol.

I suspect that was partly because of Byron Wilson’s response.  At this time it is uncertain exactly when Byron confronted the rampage shooter, or how long it took the police to arrive. The situation continued for at least an hour before police killed the rampage shooter from over 100 yards away.

From dailymail.co.uk:

Pictures from the scene also show police patrol cars riddled with bullet holes.

He killed 56-year-old Eugene Linscomb and critically injured father Byron Wilson, who police say was trying to fight back and stop the deadly attack.

Authorities said Wilson had a concealed carry permit and fired at the suspect.

He was shot three times in the process.

He is expected to survive.

Angela Guerra, a close family friend, has started a Gofundme for Byron Wilson. It has received a little less than $21,000 of the $50,000 that Guerra requested. $50,000 seems a bit light to me. Wilson is not expected to walk for two years.  Both legs were broken, and he was hit in the shoulder.  Multiple surgeries will be required.  I do not know if he will be able to work, but it is a good start. Angela Guerra has an update at the gofundme site:

Byron's wife would like you to know he is in good spirits, and he wants to personally thank you all for your kindness.

We never expected the donations to flood in the way they did, each and every one of you is a blessing.

Brave people who run to the sound of the guns should be rewarded. They certainly take risks, as seen with Byron Wilson.  When armed citizens intervene, rampage shootngs are often stopped.  The number of people killed is greatly reduced.  In this situation, only one person, other than the rampage shooter was killed.  Therefore it will not meet the FBI definition of a mass killing.  That is common with most mass killings prevented by armed citizens.

He deserves our thanks and prayers.

Link to gofundme for Byron Wilson

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

Katie Couric's GunGate Implosion is a Healty Sign of Things to Come

While it is not yet complete, it appears that Katie Couric's career is over, at least as a "respectable" journalist.  Couric has been a reliably "progressive" advocate for decades.  In this, she simply followed the career progression that has been common in the dominant media for 50 years.

Control of the media by one ideology, a "progressive" groupthink, has been a near fatal flaw in our system.  It is finally coming to a close.  That is far preferable to some of the alternatives.

Three months before the rampage shooting at Sandy Hook, Matt Bracken wrote a cautionary tale about a fourth generation warfare response to a "progressive" putsch organized from the White House. "What I saw at the coup" is a distopian page turner. It spread all over the Internet as a counter to the claim that armed citizens would be irrelevant against a totalitarian state.

In "What I saw at the coup", a major turning point occurs when a media figure, Cathy Carlsen, is shot by a sniper.  From What I saw at the coup:

The first real jolt indicating a serious problem with the plan came when television reporter Cathy Carlsen was killed in Norfolk, shot dead while covering the commissioning of the Harvey Milk, the Navy’s newest destroyer. That she was killed was bad enough. That it happened on a “secure” naval base—a federal installation—made it much worse. Her blood splattered across the Admirals’ white uniforms made quite a picture.

It has been revealed that Cathy Carlsen was a thinly veiled reference to Katie Couric.

The dominance of "progressive" media was relied on by the "progressive" plotters in Matt Bracken's work. That dominance is showing signs of falling apart. The destruction of that dominance makes the possibility of violent societal upheaval much less likely.

The Constitutional system was designed to allow a majority to change the government by vote.  That system has been short circuited for 50 years by the uniformity of the ideology and agenda of the "progressive media".  They decided what the population would know, what was supposed to be important, and what national politicians would be acceptable, or not.

There is enough independent and new media now, that Katie Couric cannot get away with the fraudulent pushing of the "progressive" agenda as she has for 25 years.

The fact that Couric can be taken down without violence has been noticed.  Many people who took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, are relieved.

I have personally known two extremely skilled and deadly men in my life.  These people worked for the U.S. military and intelligence system.  They personally killed a great many people.  One is dead.  He was from the "Greatest Generation" and died at the age of 86, from cancer.  It is unlikely that he would have fought against United States tyranny.  His grandparents had been on the losing end in the Civil war.

One is not.  He is a generation or two younger and believed that he would die fighting a clandestine war against tyranny. Perhaps something similar to that depicted in Bracken's work. He did not expect to win or survive.

He is one of the most talented and capable people that I have ever known. Couric's GunGate makes it more likely that he will die in bed.  And that is a very good thing.

The possibility of a fourth generation war leading to a positive outcome was always a poor bet. Sometimes it is better to die fighting than to submit. It is far better to win at the ballot box than to fantasise about winning a guerilla war.

But winning at the ballot box assumes that change at the ballot box is possible.

Couric's media implosion shows that at minimum, blatant lying and fraud in the media can be exposed and punished.  That means there is a real chance to save the Constitution at the ballot box.

Exposing media fraud and lies has become one of the highest forms of patriotism.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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MS: Domestic Defense, Husband Shot by Wife

PEARL, Miss. —Pearl police said it appears that the wife of a man who was shot to death Tuesday acted in self-defense.
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OR: Armed Resident Drives off Indruder

SALEM, Ore. (KOIN) — An armed man who broke into a Salem apartment fled after the resident fired a shot at him early Tuesday morning.

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MO: Armed Carjack Victim Shoots 1 of 3, is Wounded

The carjack victim was treated and released with a wound to the leg.

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) – A carjacking suspect is in critical condition after he was shot by the victim in downtown St. Louis Monday night.
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Chicago Gunshot Lethality 2013 - 2016

If you are shot in Chicago today, what are the odds that the shot will prove fatal?

Chicago offers us a real world count to determine the percentage of people who are shot that die. The limitation is that the numbers are only those that are recorded by the authorities.

The numbers probably undercount minor woundings.  There is significant motivation for people who have received minor wounds from a defensive gun use or during a criminal act, to avoid hospital treatment.  Gunshot wounds are reported to the police in every state.  Criminals know this;  they have a strong incentive to avoid hospital treatment for minor wounds.

The number of people shot and the number killed by gunshot, as reported to the authorities in Chicago, has been closely tracked by a web site titled Hey Jackass!  They have tracked the numbers from 2013 to the present.  Here are their numbers.  From 2013 heyjackass:

In 2013, a total of 2185 were shot, that were recorded.  Of those 375 were killed.  No breakout of self defense shootings were done for 2013.

In 2014, a total of 2619 were shot.  Of those, 390 were killed.  176 of the fatalities were "cleared", that is someone was arrested for the shooting.  There were 5 self defense shootings noted.

In 2015, a total of 2996 were shot.  Of those 445 were killed.  There were 5 official self defense shootings and 144 killings that were "cleared" by an arrest.

In 2016 through May 29, 1514 had been shot and 228 of those were killed. There were 6 homicides declared as justified self defense and 56 arrests.

The number of people shot, from 2013 through May 29th, 2016, was 9314.  Of those, 1438, or 15.4% were killed. The ratio is 1 person killed for each 6.4 people who were shot.

The percentage is amazingly similar to results cited by Philip J. Cook in 1985(pdf).  He wrote that a number of studies indicated that 15% of gun shot victims reported to police, died.  While I have not been able to find the studies cited by Cook, the number from 30 years ago is remarkable consistent with those found in Chicago today.


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

EPIX Pulls Katie Couric's Fraudulent Gun Control Movie

Katie Couric’s gun control movie has gotten a lot of criticism for fraudulently editing a discussion with the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Just earlier today apologized today for the misleading edits. The link to EPIX is available here. The two might not be unrelated. Will Apple now pull the movie from iTunes?

One reporter that I know refers to what is below as “Face saving bafflegab.” People can make up their own minds about whether EPIX removing the film from its channel just hours after Katie Couric’s apology is a coincidence of timing or really a result of her apology.

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Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson Throws Gift Gun in Garbage

At Liberty Hangout, an article has detailed a boorish, foolish, insensitive, and careless action by the Libertarian candidate for President, former New Mexico Governor, Gary Johnson.

The nomination was strongly contested by two other candidates, Austin Petersen and John McAfee.  Austin Petersen came in second, John McAfee came in third.  When Johnson won the nomination, Austin Peterson pledged his support, and he did so with a dramatic flourish.  From libertyhangout.org:

 As a token of good faith, Austin gave Johnson a replica of George Washington’s flintlock pistol, to let him know that he has Austin’s full support in the general election. Tearing up on the front stage of the convention floor, Austin said to Gary as he presented him with the pistol, “You have my sword, and you have my gun.”

In a video, Austin Petersen  explains that the gun is a prized possession, and that he is giving it to Gary Johnson.  The pistol is a flintlock replica of one of George Washington's guns.  It thus has multiple symbolic meanings to Second Amendment supporters.  It represents liberty, limited government, the Second Amendment, and the Constitution that George Washington helped to write.

It was a dramatic bit of political theater.

The Libertarian Presidential candidate, Johnson threw it in the trash. The pistol, as part of a matched pair of firing replicas, sells for about $2,500. Non-firing replicas go for about $86. It is not clear if the pistol was capable of firing or not.

Whichever version of the pistol was thrown in the trash, it shows a severe lack of judgement on the Johnson campaign. The discarding of the pistol was witnessed, the pistol was recovered, and returned to Austin Peterson. The Johnson campaign has been reported as offering $500 for its return. From theliberterianrepublic.com:

Update: Two sources close to Petersen’s campaign have verified that on May 30th 2016, a representative from Johnson’s campaign reached out to a group of Petersen volunteers to attempt to extend an offer of $500 in exchange for the discarded pistol. Johnson’s campaign has not offered an official comment on the matter.

Libertarians have traditionally been strong Second Amendment supporters. Gary Johnson risked alienating a large segment of potential voters, voters that Hilary Clinton disdains, and voters that Donald Trump has been vigorously courting.

My suspicion is that the pistol thrown in the trash was a non-firing replica. If you look at the metal work on the grip, it is not inletted with precision. The back of the trigger shows an apparent mold line. Even Gary Johnson, who does not own any guns, would not be irresponsible enough to throw out a thousand dollar work of firearms art.

But Johnson, in throwing out the pistol, shows a disregard for the realities of politics. The action when viewed in comparison to Trump and Clinton, makes Trump appear a genius and Clinton almost competent.


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

Link to Gun Watch

CT: Armed Homeowner Shoots at Armed Home Invaders

The man said that he saw a male inside his home holding a gun. The man fled into the basement.

The resident then heard glass breaking in another portion of his home. When he went to check out the noise, he saw another male outside the window.

The resident told police that he then shot at the suspects prior to them fleeing.

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TX: Armed Homeowner Fights of Intruder

He says a Hispanic man in his 30s got out of his SUV, went around the complex and broke a window out of a unit.

Authorities say the suspect and the homeowner began fighting. The homeowner then pulled out a gun and fired 3-5 rounds. The man then took off.

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