Iowa Chief Justice Bans Weapons

Iowa Chief Justice Mark Cady

On 14 April, 2017, Governor Terry Branson signed HF 517, a comprehensive law to reform Iowa's antique weapons restrictions. Part of the law was to require uniform firearm laws across the state. Local restrictions on the carry of weapons were eliminated.

On 19 June, 2017, the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court banned all weapons in county courthouses. The ban did not include peace officers on duty.

The claimed reason for the order was to institute a comprehensive and uniform statewide policy prohibiting weapons in court houses. Iowa had a mix of counties that prohibited weapons in courthouses, counties where weapons were prohibited by the chief judge in the county, and counties that did not prohibit weapons.  From radioiowa.com:

The Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court issued an order today banning guns from all courthouses.

Chief Justice Mark Cady says in his order that after reviewing the policies on guns across the state he found 44 of the 99 counties prohibit weapons in courthouses, 11 prohibit them in all county building sand sixteen prohibit weapons on in areas controlled by the judicial branch. 

From the order: 

Accordingly, under our constitutional authority and responsibility to supervise and administer Iowa’s district courts, the supreme court now orders that all weapons are prohibited from courtrooms, court-controlled spaces, and public areas of courthouses and other justice centers occupied by the court system. This order does not affect the authority of county or city officials to determine appropriate employment policies for their employees in county and city offices located in courthouses and other justice centers. This order also does not affect the authority of peace officers to carry weapons in courthouses and justice centers while performing law enforcement duties. The chief judge of each judicial district is authorized to work with county and city officials as well as courthouse and public building security committees to develop additional policies and procedures necessary to implement this supervisory order. This order applies to the Judicial Branch Building.

Dated this 19th day of June, 2017.

 It is legal for the Chief Justice of Iowa to do this, because the Iowa courts are a separate and co-equal branch of the Iowa government, not a lower level of government such as county, town, and city governments.

A similar situation occurred in Arizona in the 1990's.  Early in the 1990's I could and did carry weapons into the county court house without any problems. I seldom carried into a court room, because I had no reason to go there.

A notorious double murder was committed in the County, and the Chief Justice banned citizens from carrying weapons in the court house. The Chief Justice was well known for his anti-Second Amendment proclivities. Metal detectors and armed guards were installed, at considerable expense.

After the trial, they were kept in place. The Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court issued a very similar order to that of the Iowa Chief Justice, except that he left the issue up to the county chief justices.

The separation of powers is an integral part of the checks and balances that keep the state and federal governments from becoming tyrannical. The difficulties that banning people from exercising Second Amendment rights in Courthouses versus court rooms can be mitigated.  Arizona requires public buildings that ban the carry of guns have facilities to "check" carried guns.

Such a system could be implemented in Iowa, if the legislature so desires.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

UT: Drunk Lout uses Knife to Force Shooting

Palmer then pulled a knife out of his pocket and asked the homeowner, "Are you going to shoot me now?" according to Lohrke.

At that point, witnesses have given conflicting stories about whether Palmer threw his knife at the homeowner or dropped it. But it prompted the homeowner to fire twice, hitting Palmer in the jaw and chest, the lieutenant said.
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Pro Tip: When it's Time to Shoot, Shoot. Don't Command the Perp

A lesson can be learned from the heroic actions of the Capitol Police in the baseball park assassination attempt.

When it is time to shoot, shoot. The time to negotiate has ended when you are in the middle of a firefight. From heavy.com:

Fillus said a police agent pulled out a gun and tried to shoot back. She was screaming, “ ‘Drop your weapon!’ And he shot her and she fell on the ground.

“She fell on the ground in front of us, and we were all just trying to lay as flat we could. And I belly crawled, dragging through the mud. I got to the car and I ducked under the car and I laid as close as I could under the car to hide from the person. Then the police seemed to come.”

Police have been trained to command a suspect to "drop the weapon".  In combat, you drop to the level of your training.  In this case it did not work well.  The officer shouting the commands drew fire, and was shot. Fortunately, it was not a fatal wound. It appears to have taken her out of the fight, at least for a time.

A little more bad luck on the remaining officer, and things could have been much, much worse.

The Tuco bathtub scene from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a great aid to make this point while teaching armed defense. It is a cultural icon that most people remember. When it is time to shoot, shoot.

Link to video clip of the Tuco scene

Talking interferes with shooting. It is hard to do both at the same time.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

AZ: Domestic Defense? Father Shoots Son

A man was shot and killed by his father after a Saturday afternoon argument in which the father said his son attacked him with a knife, Phoenix police said.
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CA: 85-Year-Old Husband Shoots Crazed Criminal, Defends Wife

“The suspect started yelling and rushed at the property owner, who retreated inside his house,” Medina said. “The property owner armed himself with a handgun but remained inside the house while the suspect continued to move about the property, yelling and acting in an emotionally disturbed manner.”

Fearing for his and his wife’s safety, the resident fired four shots in the direction of Saldana in an attempt to scare him off, the sergeant said.
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BBC Can't do Simple Math, when it Comes to Kids and Guns

Lauvaunti Broadbent, Shot and Killed in Self Defense During Crime Spree  in MN, 2015

Lavaunti Broadbent was shot and killed during a crime spree in Minneapolis in July of 2015. He is one of the statistics from that year. He was 16 years old. He was attempting an armed robbery when a person with a carry permit shot and killed him.

Most children shot and killed in the United States are in their teens. The BBC recently ran a story. In the first sentence, they say that about 1,300 children under the age of 17 die form gun-related injuries each year. That is not true From bbc.com:

About 1,300 US children under the age of 17 die from gun-related injuries per year, a government study has found.

Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also found that guns seriously wounded about 5,800 children each year.

Boys accounted for 82% of all child firearm deaths while black children were 10 times more likely to be killed by a gun, according to the study.

More than half of these deaths were homicides while 38% were ruled suicide.

The study, published in Pediatrics on Monday, also found 6% of firearm-related deaths were fatalities from accidental gun injuries.

Just a few paragraphs down, a quote from Katherine Fowler, the leader of the study, contradicts the BBC's opening sentence.

"Firearm injuries are a leading cause of death among US children aged one to 17 years and contribute substantially each year to premature death, illness and disability of children," said CDC's Katherine Fowler, who led the study.

Fowler's study includes 17-year-olds.  This is probably a case of confirmation bias by the BBC, and clever wording from Fowler.  It "sounds" younger to say "1 to 17 years" than to say "under the age of 18".

The study was done for 3 years, 2012, 2013, 2014. Using the CDCs WISQARS database, I compiled the numbers for 2012, 2013, and 2014. The average for those three years were 1,268, close to what is stated. The average number of 17-year-olds was 384.  That is 30% of the total. Remove the 17-year-olds, as the BBC did through (most likely) confirmation bias, and the real number would be under 900.  It just doesn't sound as scary as 1,300, does it?

In 2015, the numbers jumped up, most likely due to the Ferguson effect.  There were 1,490 total in 2015. Of those, 17-year-olds were 456, or 31%.

The Ferguson effect started in August of 2014, but took some time to build. The term was popularized in May of 2015 by Heather Mac Donald in a Wall Street Journal article. It was in full swing in 2015.  The Ferguson effect refers to the spike in homicides occurring in black city centers when the police pull back for fear of being charged with racism and crimes they did not commit.

80 percent of the children who die of gun-related injuries are 13 years old or older. Black kids account for most of the homicides, non-black kids account for most of the suicides.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Bear Kills Teen Runner: It Should Have Been a Defensive Gun Use

A 16-year-old was killed by a black bear on a organized race in Alaska yesterday, on 19 June, 2017.  The runner had plenty of time to use a defensive firearm.  He had called family members to text them that he was being chased by a bear. From adn.com:

The runner had apparently made it to the halfway point turnaround and was on his way down when he used his phone to text a family member at 12:37 p.m. that he was being chased by a bear, Precosky said. The family member approached Precosky, who was then in the middle of handing out awards.

"I went off and talked to him about it, trying to get a straight story," Precosky said. "He was very shaken and had received this communication."

A search was launched immediately, Precosky said. The family member had GPS coordinates from the missing runner's phone that helped guide searchers to the area where his phone was. But the searchers, including runners that were part of the race, couldn't get closer.

This has all the hallmarks of predatory black bear attack.  The attack was well  telegraphed, because the runner had time to phone and text people about it. After the runner was killed, the bear stayed near the body and would not allow rescuers near it.  The bear was finally driven off when a park ranger shot it in the face with a shotgun slug, wounding it.

Black bears usually break off an attack when serious resistance is encountered. Black bears in predatory mode do not want to risk a serious wound. For a wild animal, a serious wound is often fatal.

The runner was able and willing to carry a cell phone. They could easily have carried a Ruger LCP, which weighs about as much.

There was a time when most people in Alaska knew that wild places had risks associated with them.  It should have been a defensive gun use. From adn.com

"This young man didn't do anything wrong. He was just in the wrong place," Crockett said. "You can't predict which bear is going to be predatory."

Exactly so. Which is why prudent people carry arms.

 A hiker killed a charging brown bear on the trail in 2013, with an AK74.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

AK: Man Shoots Bear to Defend Dog

SITKA, Alaska (AP) – An Alaska homeowner fatally shot a brown bear on Wednesday after it attacked his dog.

The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/2ruQbkh ) that Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Steve Bethune called the incident bad timing. Bethune says the man let his dog outside in the morning and the bear happened to be on his property.
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FL: Domestic Defense; Armed Woman Shoots, Kills Ex who Broke In to House

A Jacksonville woman shot and killed her abusive ex-boyfriend after he broke into her apartment on Wednesday.

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the woman shot and killed 33-year-old Michael Turner after he broke a window and got inside her apartment just before 6 a.m.
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VA: Armed Clerk Shoots, Kills, Armed Robber

According to Geller, the fatal shooting, which is being investigated by the agency, comes after the alleged robber, who was wearing a mask, “displayed a handgun and demanded money from the cash register. As the armed robber fled the store, shots were fired,” Geller said.
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TN: Armed Victim, at Hospital, Stops Assault

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) -

A man pulled a gun after being assaulted at St. Francis Hospital around 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, according to preliminary information from Memphis Police Department.

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TN: Domestic Defense: Neighbor Shoots, Kills Ex-Husband who Pistol whipped Ex-Wife

Could be a little more clear. An ex-husband attacks his ex-wife, pistol whipping her. The neighbor couple come to her aid, and shot the ex-husband, killing him.


Agents said 42-year-old William Taylor went to his ex-wife's home in the 2000 block of Centreville Tuesday night. The TBI said William Taylor brought a weapon and started striking her with it while their children were home.

 After their children left the house, a couple living next door came over to help. William then attacked the neighbors while they were trying to help his ex-wife.

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PA: Armed Neighbor scares off Burglar

He encountered the potential intruder and told Channel 11 he caught the man red-handed behind his neighbor’s property Thursday night.

"He was hiding behind a bush and jumped out so I put him at gunpoint and it looked like he was going to go down, I told him don't move, I will shoot."

 

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Retraction: Sheriff Howard Sills Video was Edited to Make it Appear He was Reneging on Reward

Yesterday, on June 17, I posted an article that said Sheriff Howard Sills reneged on the reward for the capture of escaped convicts.

I relied on a video from wsmv.com:  The news reader, Chris Miller, says that no one will receive the reward money.  Then a clip of Sheriff Howard Sills is played, where he says:   

 "It looks like we going to get saved that money. Because the apprehension was the result of officers seeing them after a crime. So I don't think that, ..

Again I appreciate everyone who put that money up. We are very grateful."

What is not shown is the context of the Sheriff's statement.  An alert TTAG reader, Jeff Young, shared a link to the original video at 13WMAZ. In the video, it is clear that Sheriff Howard Sills is announcing the capture of the two escapees. It is clear that he believes that law enforcement captured them.  In that context his remarks make sense.

I retract that article. It was based on "fake news".

I owe Sheriff Sills an apology. He did not make himself look like a stupid, dishonest, weasel. Whoever edited the video did that. It is another instance of "fake news".

How much of our image of law enforcement officers is shaped by "fake news"?

More than it should be.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Conversation with a Disarmed Health Pro at Yuma Regional Medical Center

I struck up a conversation with a health care professional. The subject turned to active shooters and the vulnerability of Yuma Regional Medical Center (YMRC).

We were in the Yuma Regional Medical Center outpatient clinic. I was getting prepped for my daily dose of high powered intravenous antibiotic. The health care professional did a good job, and I complemented her. She said she had a lot of practice.  I agreed that performance on nearly everything improves with practice, but some people are just naturals at some tasks.

I gave the example of a young man I took dove hunting. With very little practice, he was hitting as well as I was after 50 years of wing shooting.  He is a natural.

The health care professional replied.  She had been to the range recently, and she could make head shots with her .380 Smith and Wesson.  Then she complained about the restrictive anti-self defense policy of YRMC. She wished that she could have her pistol with her at work, but she was forbidden to do so by corporate policy. She said:

"If there was an active shooter here, we would be sitting ducks. Maybe we could run and hide, but we have patients that cannot."

"If I had my pistol, they would not get by me."

We talked a little more about her pistol, magazine capacity, weight, and triggers.

The conversation was unsolicited.  I do not wish to get this dedicated professional into trouble.  Retaliation is not unknown in such situations, even for such innocuous things as casual conversation about corporate policy. Maybe more so for a non-profit.

My observation is that many health care professionals are competent with firearms. It follows from their enhanced desire to help people. They do not want the patients in their care to be undefended.

If you are wondering what the high-powered antibiotics are all about, it is pneumonia. It is likely the reason my writing production has been down for 10 months.

One bit of good news: My doctor says the pneumonia was masked by my overall excellent aerobic capacity.  She said if I weren't so healthy, I would have been in the hospital months ago.

It should be cleared up before I head off to Australia.  I will be writing about Australian gun culture while I am there.


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

FL: Manager wounds Teen Robbery Subject

Video only.  A store manager fired on a teen robbery subject.  Video shows teen with what appears to be a handgun.  Teen is shown limping off.

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IL: Armed Man Stops Robbery Attempt

A man with a concealed carry permit fired shots while he was being robbed Wednesday afternoon in The Loop.

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WA: Homeowner Avoids Shooting Attacker; Police Kill Same

The homeowner grabbed a handgun and went outside to see what was going on.
He found the stranger coming after him. The homeowner fired a warning shot into the ground, but the man continued advancing. The homeowner ran back into his house and slammed the door just as the man was about to enter.
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IL: Gunfight: Wounded Victim Fires Back, Killing Attacker

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A man shot and killed the person who wounded him during an attempted robbery Monday night in the South Side Gresham neighborhood, according to police.

A 39-year-old man was in the 8300 block of South Elizabeth at 8:15 p.m. when he was approached by Dana Matthews, 18, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Matthews shot the older man in the abdomen, but the older man returned fire, striking the alleged robber twice in the legs and twice in the neck, police said.
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Revolving Shotgun, to Fight Boko Haram in Nigeria

 Image from theguardian.com:

In this widely circulated image of Aisha Gombi Bakari, you can see the homemade revolving shotgun that she uses to hunt Baka Haram Islamic terrorists.  The lock up does not look impressive, but it will do for a small number of shots.

 The cylinder is probably turned by hand. There are index cuts to make sure it is lined up with the barrel.  Aisha is supposed to be paid about $25 a month, but the payments are spotty.  An official has recently been indicted on embezzeling 1.8 billion dollars marked for anti-terrorism efforts.

That might explain why the local villagers cry out for better weapons, and why their $25 a month payments are erratic. It appears she has factory ammunition.

Even very poor people with limited tools can make repeating shotguns.  But they would be far better served with AK47s, GPS, radios, and real support from their government. 


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Did the NYT Supply Information Vital to the Assassination Attempt on House Republicans?

A poster on freerepublic.com had this to say about the information.

 I’ll bet he left his home and wife back in IL right after he read that article. The timeline fits. The problem for an assassin is finding a low-security high-probability venue to attack. Parking a white van in DC and living in it while waiting to shoot somebody in a motorcade was near zero odds. A baseball practice field in suburban Alexandria with a YMCA for showers and Wi-Fi was PERFECT.

This would explain why Hodgkinson had to ask whether the people practicing at the ball field were Democrats or Republicans.  The NYTs Article does not say.  It only says "members of Congress".

The military considers control of this sort of information to be part of operational security.  You do not give it out, because it could be critical information that your adversary could use against you.

The NYT had/has no legal obligation to keep this information from the public eye. In the Civil War/War between the States, both sides obtained critical information from newspapers. Both sides made good use of that information to gain success on the battlefield.

The particularly nasty relationship in this case is that the New York Times has been using extreme rhetoric to describe Republicans for months. Some would say for years.

Here are some examples from a short compilation at the Federalist:

2. "Trump has used a toxic mix of bullying and bluster, xenophobia and nationalism, misogyny and racism, to appeal to the darker nature of the Republican Party and secure his place as the unlikeliest presidential nominee in recent American history." — Blow, May 9.

3. "[Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's endorsement of Trump] puts political positions first and character and morality second. Sure Trump's a scoundrel, but he might agree with our tax proposal. Sure, he is a racist, but he might like our position on the defense budget." — Conservative columnist David Brooks, June 10.

4. "Yeah, frankly, I would say that." — Liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof when asked by CNN's Don Lemon whether he thought Trump was "racist," June 8.

5. "As many have noted, it's remarkable how shocked — shocked! — that [the Republican] establishment has been at the success of Donald Trump's racist, xenophobic campaign." — Liberal economist and columnist Paul Krugman, Feb. 26

The NYT has attempted to blame Republicans and gun laws for the attack on Republican Congressmen playing baseball.

They should be looking a bit closer to home, and consider their own contribution.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

.22 Ammo Prices Dropping

I have been tracking .22 rimfire ammunition and availability for some time.  The .22 Long Rifle bubble has lasted for years. With the election of President Trump, I expected the bubble to bust. Instead, it has been deflating, like a balloon with a pinhole leak.  The demand for .22 ammunition has been so great that a 20% increase in supply, and a Second Amendment friendly administration did not bust the bubble. Instead, they stopped the growth, poked a hole in the bubble, and started a downward spiral of prices.

At CAL Ranch Stores, I expected there to be some .22 ammunition at high prices. The prices were above historical averages, but they had dropped considerably. There was plenty of ammunition available in several brands. The man behind the counter and I had a discussion about the situation. He showed an excellent practical understanding of basic economics.

Supply of .22 was no longer a problem, he said. The store did not have any limits on purchase.  Walmart has dropped their 3 box limit nationally, as well.

Federal Champion 710 bulk ammunition in the popular 525 pack was on the shelf. He said the store had no problem obtaining it and keeping it on the shelf. The price was $25.95.  That is less than 4.8 cents per round. I have found it to be excellent ammunition.  Right next to it were bricks of Remington Thunderbolt. As I watched the price changed from $32.95 to $29.95, a 10% drop in front of my eyes.

CCI High velocity .22 with copper washed bullets was a little under 7.5 cents a round, in 50 round boxes.

The large brown boxes on the bottom shelf are 8 cases of Winchester 17WinMag and at least 3 cases of CCI 22WinMag.  I expect those prices to drop. The CCI 22WinMag cases have been there for months.  The CCI 22WinMag ammo is priced at 30 cents a round. You can buy .223 brass cased centerfire online, with free shipping, for only a penny more per round.

A local gun store, Sprague's, is only a couple blocks from Cal Ranch Supply in Yuma.  They had plenty of .22 in stock, with no limits.  The prices had not fallen as much as at Cal Ranch Supply, yet. The lowest priced .22 Long Rifle was 6 cents per round.

Neither store had Aguila .22 LR on the shelves. Aguila purchased new manufacturing equipment using the Eley priming method. They doubled their manufacturing capacity during the bubble. There are plenty of stores that carry Aguila ammo.  They have lowered their prices to grab market share.  On line, it has dropped to 4 cents a round for standard velocity. It is gaining attention.

Very few stores have limits on purchase of .22 ammunition any longer.

In November of 2016, I predicted that .22 Long Rifle bulk ammunition prices would drop to 4 cents a round by October of this year.  I stand by that prediction.

What has been happening with .22 ammunition in your area?  Reports around the country vary considerably. Some say prices have dropped to 5 cents and you can purchase as much as you want. Other areas are reporting shortages and 10 cent per round prices.

We would like to hear what your experience has been.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

WV: Homewner self inflicts Minor Wound while Driving off Meth addict

The homeowner told deputies that Evans-Sayre had broken into his home and smashed their window with a brick.

In the process of the break-in, the homeowner fell while carrying a pistol and shot himself in the leg. He then fired off two shots in the direction of the suspect, according to deputies.
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TX: Craigslist Robbery Suspect Shot

CYPRESS, TX — A man who tried to rob another man at gunpoint in a northwest Houston suburb was shot Sunday evening.

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FL: Assault Suspect Attempts Break-in, is Shot

The suspect, Stephen Blackwood, then ran away and tried to break into a home about a block away, where he was shot in the shoulder by a resident, authorities said.

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Firearms Used at Assassination attempt on Republican House Members

Early reports are the rifle used at the Republican congressional baseball practice was an SKS.  The Chinese versions of the SKS generally do not have as nice of a stock as the Russian SKS, above. There are also a number of East block SKS rifles on the market. CNN is incorrect when they say that the SKS is an AK variant. It is a copy of the Russian SKS, not the Russian AK or the Chinese AK.

Several sources are saying the Hodgkinson had an Firearms Owner  Identification Card (FOID).  That seems to be correct.  Others are saying that he had a concealed carry permit.  That may be, but has not been verified as of yet.

The 9mm pistol has not been identified. Reported by CNN:

Traces are still being done on the two firearms recovered at the scene -- an SKS rifle 7.62 (which is a Chinese-made AK variant) and a 9 mm pistol, a law enforcement source tells CNN.

The suspect had purchased an SKS rifle and a 9mm pistol in Illinois, legally.
This article claims he had an FOID and a concealed carry permit. From the Chicago Tribune:

In Belleville, Hodgkinson had purchased at least three guns, all from a local gun dealer, and had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, a source said. Among those three guns was an SKS assault rifle, the source said.

(snip)

"Subject did have in his possession a valid Illinois FOID card. Subject was advised to not discharge his weapon in the area," the report states. "Subject in the pine trees shooting and there are homes in the area. Caller heard 50 ... shots."

I listened to the tape of the gun fight. It  is difficult to be precise. I thought I could differentiate between rifle and pistol shots.  I counted about 20, maybe 22 rifle shots, and about 42-44 pistol shots. The shooter had a rifle and a 9mm pistol. We know the rifle was fired. I suspect the pistol was fired as well.  We know both Capitol police officers fired their pistols.

If the rifle was fired about 20 times, it seems likely that it was a classical SKS with a 10 round magazine, rather than the rarer models with a 20 round magazine or a detachable magazine.  There was plenty of time on the audio recording for the shooter to reload with a stripper clip after shooting 10 rounds.  We should find out shortly.

 Here is the audio recording from a phone that I listened to.

Link to tmz.com

 ©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

CA: Gunfight, Store Owner Kills two, Wounds one

DOWNEY, Calif. (KABC) -- The owner of a car audio store in Downey shot three armed would-be robbers, two of them fatally, in a gunfire exchange on Monday evening, authorities said.
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Comprehensive SHARE act to be Discussed in Committe on 14 June, 2017; Includes HPA, Sporting Purposes, Corps lands and much more

A comprehensive version of the SHARE act is to be discussed in the House Committee on Natural Resources on Wednesday, June 14. It includes the Hearing Protection Act and numerous other firearm law reforms.

Versions of the Sportsman's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act has been about to be passed for years. It was introduced in 2012. It has received majority support from both parties. Similar legislation came very close to passage in 2016, passing in the Senate and the House, before being derailed in the conference committee.  It is the brainchild of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).  It is an omnibus hunting and gun law reform bill that should have passed years ago. It has not passed because of one reason. The Barack Obama administration did not support it.

The pressure for reforms has been building. There is a Second Amendment supporting administration in power.  The comprehensive reforms have been strengthened.  In consultation with the BATFE, the Hearing Protection Act was added to the bill.

The Hearing Protection Act wasn't the only reform added.  SHARE also reforms much of 18 U.S.C., removing the restrictive phrase "sporting purposes" from numerous paragraphs.  Many other reforms have been generally supported over the years, but not enacted.  Here is a summation. The SHARE Act:
Makes clear the EPA has no authority to regulate lead ammunition or fishing tackle.

Allows Pittman-Robertson funds (taxes on sporting guns and ammunition) to be used for the development of public shooting ranges on public lands.
Forbids the Corps of Engineers from prohibiting the carry of firearms on Corps of Engineers managed land. State law would apply. Similar to the carry in Parks reform signed by President Obama.

Opens up many federal lands now closed to hunting and fishing, including many recently closed monuments.

Clarifies the federal definition of "baiting" migratory birds, to prevent prosecution of innocent farmers and ranchers.

Insures that bows and crossbows can be transported across federal land where they are banned, to areas where they may be legally used.

Requires cooperation with state fish and wildlife agencies in managing fishing in coastal and Great Lakes waters.

Requires creation of an online database showing the awards of all court settlements, and the basis of those awards, to improve transparency, and prevent favoritism of activist groups.

Prevents prosecution of individuals and organizations involved in "good Samaritan" search and recovery missions on federal land.

Allows for lawsuits and recovery of fees against any other person, including individual officials and state and local governments that deprive a person of their legal right to transport firearms and ammunition from one place where they may legally possess them to another place where they may legally possess them.

Requires withdrawal of a restrictive rule on hunting and trapping in Alaska, returning the authority to the State of Alaska.

Allows importation of polar bear trophies legally taken in Canada.

Removes wolf management from judicial review in Wyoming and the western Great Lakes, returning it to state wildlife agencies. A federal judge has stopped management of wolves in both areas.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

UK: Deputy Chief Constable: Do not Arm Yourself, Run and Hide

English gun store

In the U.K., the mere idea that licensed gun owners could be considered a resource to defend against terrorist attack, is off the table.

A caller to a BBC radio show, a gun store owner and gun owner, asked Alison Hernandez, the Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner, a question.  What would be the repercussions of legal gun owners using guns to defend themselves in a terrorist attack? The Commissioner suggested that the idea should be examined. From theguardian.com:

“If there should ever be a terrorist attack, what happens if I and other people try to defend themselves using those guns? What would be the repercussions?”

Hernandez replied that it was a “a very good question” and asked the woman if she would put it in writing so that the chief constable, Shaun Sawyer, could consider it. But she then added: “This might be some of our solution to our issues.” 

The Deputy Chief Constable Paul Netherton immediately put an end to any thought such an idea should be considered. From devon-cornwall.police.uk:

The following statement is in response to an interview given today, Monday 12 June, to BBC Radio Cornwall by Police and Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez, where it was discussed whether or not registered firearms licence holders could be of assistance to police during a terrorist attack.

(snip)

“Under no circumstances would we want members of the public to arm themselves with firearms, not least because officers responding would not know who the offenders were, and quite obviously they would not have the time to ask.

“Our message to the public is a simple one: to run, to hide and to tell.

The Deputy Chief Constable never allows any possibility of self-defense. If self-defense with guns is seen as legitimate, the entire scheme of victim disarmament in the UK falls apart.

Consider. A gun store owner in the U.K. is not allowed to defend themselves with a gun, at least not in any planned way.  According to U.K. law, a gun may not be kept in a ready condition in order to protect against attack.  It might seem that a Jihadi attack in the U.K. countryside would be implausible.  How about an attack on a undefended gun store?

The rigorous citizen disarmament scheme in the U.K. was never about crime. It was always about fear of a revolution.

The dogma of a disarmed citizenry has become holy writ to the British governing elite.  It must never be questioned.  Anti-rights activists in the U.S. should be asked if gun shop owners should be able to defend their shop with a gun.

"Under no Circumstances" is the answer if the U.S. follows the path of British gun control.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

AR15 Style Rifle Used in Defense; Did California Restrictions Handicap Defender?

On 6 June, 2017, at a quiet residential home in Fresno, California, a home invasion resulted in a gunfight . The 30 -year-old  victim who fought back was wounded, two home invaders were killed, as was another victim, the father of the wounded defender. Another man was wounded. His name was not released. The defensive firearm used was described as an AR-15. From abc30.com:

Yang said the family was preparing to celebrate her brother-in-law's birthday when in the early morning two armed suspects walked through their front door. The father, 69-year-old Chong Yee Yang, hollered to warn his children-- one of his son's ran out with an AR-15 and that's when a gun fight began.

"On face value, it appears that these individuals are violent street gang members," said Lt. Dave Madrigal, Fresno Police.

Elijah Mays, 27, and Xavier Williams, 23, are from Stockton and both have extensive criminal histories. Their records include murder, robbery, and home invasion charges.

The home invaders, Mays and Williams, were half-brothers. No drugs were found at the house. This article from last year shows that Asians are being targeted by home invaders. From abc10.com:

The Sacramento Police Department said they sent out an alert via NextDoor in March, warning South Sacramento residents of increases in armed robberies targeting Asians. Most of these were happening in Avondale, Fruitridge Manor, Southeast Village, and Glen Elder. Police said several robberies happened while the victims were at home getting out of their car.

From yourcentralvalley.com:

As a result of the shooting, Mays, Williams, and 69-year old Chong Yang died. Yang was the father of the 30-year old man. That man survived with only a wound to the shoulder, and Dyer said he remains in stable condition. Dyer said Mays and Williams were gang members. Criminal records from San Joaquin County show the two had been arrested previously for robbery, grand theft, and even murder. But why they came to the house armed is still being investigated.

 It is not known if California's severe restrictions on magazine capacity hampered the defensive shooter in this situation.

It is not known how many crimes were prevented, and how many lives saved, by the defenders actions. Both men shot were career criminals. They were fairly young 23, and 27. The had the potential for hundreds, possibly thousands of crimes in their future.

A facebook post by the presumed mother of the home invaders is circulating. I cannot verify if it is legitimate. It has been taken down, but screen shots were taken while it was up.  This site shows the post in its comments section, comment by Tee Ele.

AR-15 type clones are excellent choices for home defense.  They are powerful and easy to handle. With the right ammunition they do not over-penetrate.  Normally, they have excellent magazine capacity to deal with multiple attackers.

Anti-rights activists claim that semi-auto rifles are not useful in defense of home and self. This is another datum disproving that claim.


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

OH: Domestic Defense, Woman Shoots Ex in Leg, Kills Him

EASTLAKE, Ohio - Authorities are investigating the death of a man allegedly shot by his ex-girlfriend in Eastlake.

Last week a woman called police to report that her ex-boyfriend had broken into her home in the 1200 block of East 349 and assaulted her, Eastlake police said in a Facebook post.
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KS: Gunfight, Victim and Suspect both Shot, Wounded

Witnesses say a 26-year-old man entered the restaurant armed with a gun and demanding money.

A 58-year-old employee, who also had a gun, exchanged gunfire with the robber. Both men were shot.

A short time later, officers were called out to another shooting in the 1000 block of East 8th Street North.
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Followup CA: Firing at Fleeing Criminals Results in loss of 2A Rights for 4 Years

What kind of punishment do you get when you open fire on a residential street at a fleeing theft suspect?


For David Shawn Blaziek, who last week entered a plea, it means giving up your firearms, doing 120 hours of community service, spending three years on informal probation and paying a $150 restitution fine.


Blaziek, 46, fired nine rounds down the 2500 block of Wimbledon Street on March 7, 2016 after someone that he saw breaking into his truck took off.


Although he didn’t hit anyone, Blaziek was charged with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon. The Napa County District Attorney’s Office added misdemeanor discharging a firearm within city limits to charges against Blaziek on June 2, to which he pleaded no contest. The original assault charge was dismissed.


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CA: AR-15 Used to Defend, 2 Invaders Dead, 1 Victim Killed, 1 Wounded

Yang said the family was preparing to celebrate her brother-in-law's birthday when in the early morning two armed suspects walked through their front door. The father, 69-year-old Chong Yee Yang, hollered to warn his children-- one of his son's ran out with an AR-15 and that's when a gun fight began.

"On face value, it appears that these individuals are violent street gang members," said Lt. Dave Madrigal, Fresno Police.

Elijah Mays, 27, and Xavier Williams, 23, are from Stockton and both have extensive criminal histories. Their records include murder, robbery, and home invasion charges.

More Here

Excerpt: How the Myth of "Harmless" Wolves was Created

Valerius Geist is a Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science at the University of Calgary, Canada.

He believed in the myth of the "Harmless" wolf until he personally experienced evidence to the contrary, four years after he retired.  In this heavily documented paper, written in 2010, He explores how the mythology came to be. From wolfeducationinternational.com:

Valerius Geist

November 26th 2010

The effects of thousands of impoverished trappers and wolf bounties in northern Alberta early in the 20the century on predators, and its relation to the myth of the harmless wolf.

Dear Colleagues,

I have been digging into historical literature in my quest to understand why in North America the myth of the “harmless wolf” took such a severe hold, to the point of perverting scholarship and quite  probably leading to the death of some believers. The conventional view of the harmless wolf, which I also believed in throughout my academic career and four years into retirement, is in sharp contrast to experiences elsewhere. Yet, it certainly coincided with my personal experience pre-1999, after which a misbehaving pack of wolves settled about our and our neighbor's properties at the edge of a farming district in central Vancouver Island. The unexpected behavior of these wolves led me to investigate wolf behavior for the first time. I subsequently discovered that the wolves were much the same in their behavior, whatever their origins, but that circumstances lead to vastly different outcomes. In general, the evidence indicates that wolves are very careful to choose the most nutritious food source easiest obtained without danger. They tackle dangerous prey only when they run out of non dangerous prey, and they shift to new prey only very gradually, following a long period of gradual exploration. Wolves are very sensitive to strangeness, including a potential prey species strange to them. Garbage is the easiest and safest food source for wolves, and they do take advantage of such. Once they are habituated to people due to their proximity, they may begin to investigate people. The ultimate exploration of a strange prey by a carnivore is to attack such. Hence, the danger from habituated wolves. However, they need not have garbage, just a shortage of prey to begin investigating and eventually attacking humans. This means that as long as wolves have sufficient natural prey, they leave livestock alone. As long as they have livestock they leave humans alone. When short of natural prey and livestock they turn their attention to humans and their habitations and may even break into such to extract cattle, horses, pigs, sheep or poultry. Dogs and cats are attacked before that. We humans are next in line, primarily children. But even then the initial attacks are exploratory in nature and clumsy, allowing some victims to escape. however, this scenario is of exceptional scarcity in North America, though it is practiced occasionally by coyotes targeting children in urban parks.

The discrepancy, however, between global and conventional American experiences with wolves is crass. Wolves have killed thousands upon thousands of people as chronicled by European and Asian sources, yet in North America documented fatal attacks are few and disputed. The differences are real.

What then was going on in the past century in North America to make wolves so harmless? I felt I had obtained part of the answer that showed that wolves are wolves wherever they occur, but that circumstances can generate very different outcomes in wolf behavior.

I continued digging.

In a teleconference with a committee of the Montana legislature on or about April 27th I suggested that in Canada trapping and official wolf control via hired predator control officers was likely a good part of the answer. I ran subsequently into most unlikely sources, plus follow-ups. These are the memoirs of  two German authors, the first is the two volume work of Max Hinsche (1935)  Kanada wirklich erlebt (Canada really experienced) and Reinhold Eben Ebnau (1953) Goldgelbeds Herbstlaub (Golden yellow fall leaves). In addition I examined C. Gorden Hewit's (1921) The Conservation of the Wildlife of Canada, and followed up with some reading by a like-minded and qualified author on Russian and Siberian conditions Egon Freiherr von Kapherr (1941) Wo es trommelt und röhrt (Where [wildlife] drums and roars).

More Here. The paper is 7 pages long.  Here is the conclusion of the paper:

Recipe for “harmless & romantic” wolves (based on Alberta data): License trappers so as to have one trapper per 25 square miles. Give him leg-hold traps, snares, poison and an accurate gun, insist that he live off the land, give him a monetary reward for killing wolves, hire predator control officers to kill all wolves entering agricultural lands, let game wardens poison wolves after the big game season, remove all legal protection from wolves so that hunters, ranchers, farmers etc can shoot them all year long, drop by the ton frozen horse meat injected with strychnine or 1080 from aircraft on frozen lakes all winter long, (note killings of wolves by native people as ongoing). With this recipe re-implemented, expect very few, shy wolves with limited distribution, virtually free of  Echinococcus grnaulosus or rabies, expect strong game populations, expect little if any predation on livestock, and expect no attacks on humans (the odd rabid wolf excepted) and, by all means, offer a monetary reward for anybody proving an attack on humans by a healthy wolf! Enjoy the occasional wolf howl in “real” wilderness setting! It is under conditions such as described by above recipe that American wolf biologists convinced themselves that wolves were utterly harmless, good for the ecosystem, and the global experinece to the contrary, as symbolized by the Red Riding Hood fairytale, was irrelevant at best, and malicious, ignorant garbage at worst.

Dean Weingarten

Shannon Watts Looking at Run for Congress in Colorado CD-2

CD2 is a heavily Democrat Colorado Congressional district that includes Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is a very left leaning University town. The person who wins the Democrat primary will almost certainly win the Congressional seat. Shannon Watts owns property there.  She may use her anti-rights work for Michael Bloomberg in an attempt to lever herself into Congress. On June 12, 2019 Shannon Watts said she was looking at running for the seat in 2018.  From denverpost.com:

Within hours of U.S. Rep. Jared Polis formally announcing his run for Colorado governor, two Democrats — Ken Toltz and Shannon Watts, both gun-control advocates — said they were eyeing the Boulder Democrat’s congressional seat.

Shannon Watts has made a name for herself as the hired gun of Michael Bloomberg, heading up Moms Demand for Gun Sense in America.

The anti-rights group has had little success attracting supporters or in passing restrictions on gun ownership and use.  They have had some success in passing restrictive referendums.

Michael Bloomberg's money and organization were critical in passing Washington State's controversial and highly restrictive elimination of private gun sales.  Under the referendum, all "private" gun sales and transfers must be conducted through a federal dealer, insuring the federal government has a paper trail of the transaction.

Bloomberg's money and organization may be used in an attempt to place Shannon Watts in Congress.

There is likely to be little difference in the votes that are relevant to the Second Amendment, whoever is elected from CD2. Watts has not shown significant organizational talent.

She has shown an ability to follow Michael Bloomberg's legislative desires. If she is elected, limiting Second Amendment rights are likely to be her top legislative priority.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Army Contracting Command publishes Specs for Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle

U.S. Army has released specifications for what it wants in a replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle (NGSAR) The Army expects to open a dialogue during a classified Industry Day on July 25-27, 2017. From fbo.gov:

Requirements:

The Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle (NGSAR) is a single incremental program to meet future force warfighting needs. It is the planned replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) in Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) and select support units during the next decade. It will combine the firepower and range of a machine gun with the precision and ergonomics of a carbine, yielding capability improvements in accuracy, range, and lethality. The weapon will be lightweight and fire lightweight ammunition with improved lethality.

The  Key Performance Parameters (KPP} for a Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle (NGSAR) are ambitious. They are considered essential. A 12 pound NGSAR is a tough nut to crack. 

KPP 4 System Weight: The NGSAR combat configured weapon including sling, bipod and sound suppressor will weigh no more than 12 pounds (T) 8 pounds (O). This does not include ammunition or magazine.

This weight includes a sound suppressor that must be effective on a fully automatic rifle.   The current M249 weights 17 pounds *without* a suppressor!

It is interesting that the requirement for a suppressor is prominent in these specifications. It shows that the Army is acknowledging how useful and effective suppressors are in combat.

There is also a KPP for ammunition to weigh 20% *less* than current brass cased ammunition.  How is that to be accomplished? 

KPP 5 Ammunition Weight: The NGSAR ammunition will weigh 20 percent less than tactical brass equivalent caliber ammunition (T) 50% (O). Note the NGSAR ammunition could be a caliber not currently in use by the US Army. In that case the equivalent weights will be calculated through interpolation by the USG.

There are several other KPPs. 

Then there are Key System Attributes. KSAs are not requirements, but things that the Army would love to have on the NGSAR. All of them involve trade offs. It is easy to reduce overall length by reducing barrel length, but that reduces projectile velocity, making it hard to meet the requirements for range and effectiveness.

Here are three of the KPPs, excerpted for easy readability:

The NGSAR would have  a maximum length of 38 inches.

The NGSAR would be able to fire in two round bursts, with both rounds impacting within 1 inch at 100 meters.

The sound signature of NGSAR with the suppressor would be less than sound signature of the current suppressor on the M249.

The document is, essentially a wish list of what the Army *wants* in a replacement for the M249 SAW. The industry will now submit proposals to attempt to fulfill theses desires.

I do not see any existing system that could meet these requirements, but proposals for Next Generation weapons must, of necessity, push the envelope.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

LA: Gunfight, 60-Year-Old Woman Shoots Home Invader Four Times

The 60-year-old homeowner was watching TV in the living room room when she heard a noise and went got her gun from the bed room. The home owner went into the kitchen after hearing the noise again. The suspect shot at her and she returned fire, shooting him four times.
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NC: Gunfight, Armed Victim wounded, Shoots, Kills Armed Robber

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- A man shot and killed a suspect that tried to rob him on Monday afternoon, Winston-Salem Police said.

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AL: Armed Homeowner Shoots at Home Invaders

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Ala. (WEAR) — An Escambia County, Alabama man told authorities he shot at home invasion suspects after they pulled a gun on him, hit him in the head and got away with his property.
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OH: Armed Witness stops Purse Snatching

According to Franklin Police, an elderly woman was walking to a business near the 200 block of North Main Street around 11 a.m. on Monday when a man grabbed her purse and ran away.

Another witness, a woman, saw the robbery take place and approached the robber, telling him to stop.

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VA: Four Home Invaders, Two shot, 1 Killed

A would-be burglar was shot dead Friday morning during a home invasion next to Norfolk Naval Station, police said.

Kuwan Robinson, 17, and three others tried to break into a unit just after midnight at the Breezy Point Apartments in the 8600 block of Glen Myrtle Ave., police said, but he was shot during the attempt.
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PA: Repo Man Pistol whipped, Shoots Attacker

The woman -- who owed money on the SUV -- got out of the vehicle and called both the bank and her boyfriend, police said.

The woman's 32-year-old boyfriend showed up and pistol-whipped the repo man, investigators said. The repo driver hears glass shattering and thought he was being shot at so he used his own gun to fire back in self-defense, police said.
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IN:2nd Intruder shot, Mother Shoots, Kills Intruder who Broke in.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – A mother fatally shot an intruder who was trying to break into her apartment on the city’s east side Wednesday afternoon.

The shooting occurred around 1:10 p.m. in the 2800 block of White Knight Boulevard near East 30th Street and Mitthoeffer Road.

Police say the mother heard someone breaking into her apartment. That woman then came face to face with the armed suspect, identified as 19-year-old Michael Hawkins, before she opened fire.
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IN: Homeowner Shoots, Kills Teen who Broke In

“If you break into someone’s home, there are consequences for that,” said neighbor Jennifer Allen.

Jennifer lives right next door to the scene of the shooting. She believes her neighbor had every right to kill the teenage intruder.

“He invited that and brought that on himself. I know he probably has family, but I don’t have a problem with the fact that he was shot and killed,” said Allen.
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U.S. Surveillance State Leads to Gun Arrests in Australia

Australia has no Second Amendment, no Fourth Amendment, no Fifth Amendment, no First Amendment.  There is strong tradition and law that searches shall require warrants, and that people will not be forced to testify against themselves.

There are only a few rights actually protected by the Australian Constitution, and they are weakly protected.

In the following story, the information that lead to the searches and arrests came from the United States.  It wasn't about people purchasing anything illegal. It was about solvent traps. From smh.com.au:

More than 80 illegally imported guns have been seized during raids across the country after a tip-off from US authorities.

The Australian Border Force seized the black market guns, as well as 43 firearm silencers and 37 kilograms of gunpowder, after raiding more than a dozen properties.

(snip)

After receiving information from US authorities, Border Force investigators identified a large number of Australian customers buying "solvent trap" cleaning kits from a US-based website.

Items in the cleaning kits can be easily converted in sound suppressors, or silencers.

Some government agency in the United States is monitoring people who purchase solvent traps.  Very likely, they are monitoring people who visit solvent trap web sites.

The U.S. agency stored this information, and sent a list of people from Australia who a purchased solvent traps, to Australian authorities. The Australian Border Force then used the information to identify at least a dozen Australian homes to be raided.

Most Australians did not turn in all their guns during the infamous and mandatory Australian gun "buy backs" of 1996 and 2003.  The estimates are that 80% of guns that were made illegal were not registered or turned in. The article says that more than 80 illegally imported guns were seized. But the imprecision of such terms in the media is notorious.

Under Australian gun law, the air pistol in the upper left of the picture is treated the same as a real firearm.  The laser training gun in the upper left may be treated as an illegal firearm, it depends on the Australian state.  In NSW, computer code to print out a toy gun that looks real, is considered the same as a real gun.

It is possible that the Australian Border Force raided 12 homes and found 80 illegally imported guns. It seems more likely the interchangeable use of "black market" and "illegally imported" means that many or most of the guns seized were simply "not registered", which is a serious offense in Australia, after the extreme restrictions on gun ownership were passed in 1996.

Consider that U.S. authorities are monitoring and recording the proceedings at solvent trap websites.  Solvent traps are not illegal. Solvent traps do not require a license to purchase or own.

People have told me they do not join the NRA or a local Second Amendment activist group because "They do not want to be on a list."

Do you go to gun related sites on the Internet? Read gun related stories on Establishment media? Purchase ammo or gun accessories with a credit card? Buy a hunting license?  You are already effectively on a list.  All of that data is already collected and stored. If laws are passed to "deal" with gun owners, government officials can cross index and create such lists in a matter of minutes.

The real war is ongoing right now. It is the war to prevent such laws from being passed, and having a Supreme Court that will enforce Constitutional rights, especially Second Amendment rights.  Americans have lost the battle for privacy.  If Americans want it back, they will have to fight for it.


©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

FL: Pizza Driver, Robber Gunfight, Multiple Shots, No Hits

The driver said Jordan suddenly re-emerged, pointed the gun at him and fired shots.

The driver said he pulled out his own gun and began to fire back at Jordan.

The driver said Jordan fired multiple shots at him, but all of them missed.

Jordan fled on foot and got into a white SUV, witnesses said.

Officers found three bullet holes on a car and shell casings at the scene.

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MD: Pizza Shop Owner Fires at Armed Robbers

A pizza shop owner exchanged gunfire with three men who robbed his business Sunday night in Crownsville, Anne Arundel County police said.

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CA: Rancher Uses Pistol to Stop Attacker in Truck

LIVERMORE — A ranch owner on remote Mines Road shot a pickup truck driver who allegedly went on a destructive spree Sunday night and tried to run him down with the vehicle, authorities said Monday.

The suspect, identified by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office as Scott Hagan, 55, of Pleasanton, is expected to recover from gunshot wounds to his upper torso and hand. He is in a San Jose hospital with a sheriff’s hold on him for assault with a deadly weapon and felony vandalism.
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Folowup GA: Domestic Defense, Girlfriend's Father Defends Against Boyfreind

A Georgia man who was shot and killed by his girlfriend’s father had recently been fired for bringing a gun to work, his former boss said.

About 4:30 a.m. Sunday, investigators responded to a home in the 3400 block of Jet-Wright Road in Hall County, where a woman had a shotgun wound to her back, sheriff’s Lt. Scott Ware said.

Thomas McNulty, 25, shot Jessica Rusk after a fight at the home, Ware said. Immediately afterward, her father, Floyd Rusk, shot and killed McNutly, Ware said.
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AL: Gunfight, Robber Shot, Homeowner not Hit

Williamson said the homeowner confronted the robber, telling him “get out, I’ve got a gun.”

“Apparently, the robber told the homeowner he had a gun also and they started exchanging gun fire.”

Authorities said nearly a dozen shots were fired inside the residence.

“How the homeowner didn’t get shot, I don’t know,” Williamson said.

He said the suspected robber, after being shot, ran out of the house, and he and a girlfriend ran into a wooded area. The sheriff said the department’s canine located the suspect around daylight about 250 to 300 yards from the house.


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Open Carry at the Yuma Regional Medical Center

On the morning of June 8th, 2017, I was openly carrying a Glock 17 in a Fobus retention holster. I had to get some medical tests done. I did not have any problem where I had blood drawn. There were no "gun free zone" signs on the door.

Next I went to the Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) to get a chest X-ray.  It serves as a place to have medical tests done for the entire area. It is part of the Yuma hospital complex.  They have banned guns on their facility ever since the concealed carry shall issue law was passed in 1994.  Arizona law requires public facilities to "check" firearms if they are banned in the facility.  The symbol on the door at YRMC consists of the standard gun in a red circle with a slash mark.  I think Texas, with its 30.06 and 30.07 signs, has the right idea.

 

I ignored the sign and walked in. There were a dozen or two people in the waiting room.  I walked up to the counter and handed over my referral.  The lady immediately said "go to the third desk", pointing through a doorway. I did not have time to declare that I was armed.  No one seemed to notice or care.

I went to the third desk. A pleasant woman was on the other side.  She started to give me instructions, so I interrupted and said, "I have a personal firearm. The procedure to check it has been to call security, then they come and check it for me." She did not hesitate, but said "We trust you". She gave me some simple instructions and told me to have a seat in another waiting room down the hall. There were another dozen people there.

I had barely been seated and opened my book when a lady called my name.  It couldn't have been more than a three minutes since I entered the building.

She introduced herself as the technician who would take my x-ray, and asked me to follow her. It wasn't a difficult task. She was a lovely young woman.

She told me to take off my shirt, because she did not want the buttons to interfere with the x-ray.  I asked if I should remove my phone from the belt holster, and she said it was not necessary. I had removed my sunglasses and hat, and had already placed the holstered Glock on the counter. She was completely unconcerned. I was not required to do it.

The X-rays were quick and painless. She escorted me to the corridor and pointed the correct way out.  I walked out into the sunshine and decided to take a couple of pictures.

I put down my book on a bench and moved away for some different perspectives.

When I came back, the book was gone.  I went inside, through the same door, ignoring the sign, and went up to the counter for a second time.  The book was on the counter, cover still warm from the sun. Someone had turned it in, believing it was forgotten.  There was no reaction to my being armed, just an acknowledgement that the book had just been turned in.

As I walked out, a woman sitting on one of the benches said she had turned the book in.  I thanked her. She said, in a pleasant voice, that I looked like I was on Safari.  It has been said a time or two before.  Mostly, I get complements on the hat.

The next day I went back to my doctor's office, to discuss the test results. I was openly carrying the Glock. When I was on the examination table, the holstered Glock was on the counter a few feet away.

My doctor isn't a shooter, but she or her staff, have never had a problem with my carry. On that visit, the receptionist made a joke about me having to rid my self of "twenty pounds of gear" before I was weighed.  I am sure that my gear weighed less than 10 pounds. I had my camera, Sony recorder, spare batteries, and change with me.

In spite of the Hospital administration, open carry has been normalized in Yuma, Arizona.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

Bella Twin, Little Woman with a Little Gun, a Big Bear, and a Cold Front

On 10 May, 1953, a front was passing through Slave Lake, a village on the South shore of Lesser Slave Lake in  Alberta, Canada.  It was cool, cloudy, and windy. A 63-year-old Cree grandmother and her partner were hunting small game near Florida Lake.  The wind was from the NE, at 12 to 24 mph. At dawn, the temperature had been 40 degrees F. On the morning of the 11th it would be 35 degrees F.  The high for the 10th was 58 degrees. Bella Twin and her partner Dave Auger were going to make hunting history.

They were about 7 miles South of Slave Lake, near Florida lake.  Several accounts have been offered for what happened. The most plausible is that they were hunting small game along a cutline for oil exploration. They were not picking berries. There are no berries available on 10 May in the vicinity of Slave Lake. It was too early.

They saw a large grizzly walking the cutline toward them. They moved to the side of the cutline and hid, hoping the bear would not discover them.

Bella Twin had her beat up .22 single shot Cooey Ace 1 with her.  She had used it for many years on her trap line.  She was known to be a deadly shot with the small rifle.  Dave Auger appears to have been unarmed.

The bear kept getting closer and closer. It came within a few yards of them. This is entirely believable on a day with strong winds. Winds make a lot of noise in the woods, and they can blow your scent away from game.  Wooded terrain, especially on the edge of a cut, is complex, and wind eddies are unpredictable.  As the huge grizzly came even with their position, it might have caught a whiff of their scent.  Animals will often stop and sniff to try to identify a scent.  That may have happened here.

Bella Twin thought it was less risk to shoot rather than not shoot. The bear was very close, only a few yards away.  All accounts agree on that. I suspect that she was tracking the bear in her sights.  There was a lot of movement from branches with the wind, so that slight movement would not be very noticeable. She was probably behind a brush pile from the cut, or a tree. Experienced hunters will take advantage of concealment if it is available.

Bella knew animal anatomy very well. She had been a trapper and a hunter for decades.  She aimed at the weakest point in the side of the skull and fired her Cooey, loaded with a single round of .22 Long.  The bear dropped like a rock.

Bella made sure.  She walked up to the bear and fired another six or seven rounds of .22 long into its brain, in the same spot. It was all the ammunition she had on her. She "paid the insurance". Don't assume a large animal is dead. Make sure.  My father taught me that when I was 13.

You can see from the picture that the bullets entered the skull at very close to a right angle.  That makes it unlikely the bear was standing on its hind legs when it was shot.

Bella Twin's grandson became an award winning author. He described Bella as a "tiny woman", and he was not a large man. She was probably  under five feet tall.  If the bear had stood up near her, its head would have been nine feet in the air. I believe the bear was on all fours when it was shot.

Family picture from Larry Loyie, Bella Twin's grandson.  Probably taken a decade after the bear was shot.

One of the bullets made its way completely through the skull and exited the other side.  You can see the exit hole on the right side.

The huge grizzly was a world record in 1953. Bella sold the hide and her rifle to a museum.  Another collector purchased the bear skull and had it sent in for measurement, which is how it made the record books.  In the top picture by Engler, the rifle is missing the bolt. The hide has been tanned. We do not know what year the picture was taken.

 You can see the measurements written on the skull.  This closeup shows the penciled score.


 Bear records are based on skull size. This bear's skull was 16 9/16 long and 9 14/16 wide, for a total score of 26 7/16.

Bella Twin's bear lost the top spot the next year, in 1954, to F. Nygaard, a commercial salmon fisherman, who shot his bear on the coast of British Columbia.  That bear scored 26 10/16, 3/16 higher.

The current rank in the Boone and Crockett records would be number 21, along with other bears measured at 26 7/16:

People have estimated that the bear weighed 1,000 pounds. I have not found any record of weight measurement or a measure of the hide. Engler's photo, above, cuts off the bottom and sides of the hide, but we can estimate what the bear hide measurement would be.

How to square a hide.

An educated guess is a square size between 9 and 10 feet, considering shrinkage of tanned hides, and estimating the position of the tail from the picture. The Cooey Ace 1 is 33 inches long. It was used to scale the estimate.

The Bear was reported to be shot with a .22 Long. The holes in the Skull verify that it was a .22.

I recall buying longs in the middle 1960's from a gas station. Longs cost less than Long Rifle cartridges. 

In 1953 Shorts were the least expensive, and Long Rifles cost more.  CIL or Dominion in Canada had near identical .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle listings as early as 1937 (the prices were lower then).  Bella Twin probably used C.I.L. or Dominion High Velocity cartridges.

The long would have fired a 29 grain bullet at 1240 feet per second. A High Velocity short fired the same bullet at 1125 feet per second.   A current CCI Standard Velocity Long Rifle, at 1070 feet per second has 3 percent more energy than the 1953 High Velocity long. The CCI Standard Velocity generates 102 foot pounds. The 1953 High Velocity Long generates 99 foot pounds.

 Processing an enormous bear is a lot of work, even for experienced hunters and trappers.  Perhaps Bella Twin and/or Dave Auger went for help. It was good that the weather was cool. It explains the condition of the hide.  We do not know what time of day the bear was shot.  The day was close to 16 hours long at Slave Lake on 10 May.

Bella Twin was a strong and competent woman, despite her tiny size. Her grandson wrote lovingly about her and her Cree ways. She was born in 1890. She and her grizzly will be talked about around campfires for many years to come.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

GA: Man, Attacked by Home Invader, Shoots Same

A Statham man who held residents at gunpoint and assaulted one has been charged in a June 4 armed robbery at a residence near Fayetteville. The man before fleeing the home was shot by one of the victims in an exchange of gunfire.

Corey Jamiah Simmons, 22, was charged with armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault, according to Sheriff Barry Babb.

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VA: Man Shoots Loose Pit Bulls that Threatened his German Shepard

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WVEC) -- A man who was walking his German Shepherd in South Norfolk opened fire when two Pit Bulls attacked his dog on Tuesday.

"Boom, boom, and it like woke me out of my sleep," a neighbor said.

Detective Dorienne Boykin with Chesapeake Police Department said the man with the German Shepherd and his dog were in an alley behind the 1000 block of Decatur St. around 10:50 a.m. when two Pit Bulls attacked the German Shepherd. The man fired into the ground to scare the Pit Bulls and they ran off. Then, they came back and went after the German Shepherd again.
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AK: Homeowner Shoots big Brown Bear in Self Defense

After being shot, the bear died on the man’s property, located about 5 miles out North Douglas Highway on the uphill side of the road, Scott said.

After investigating the kill site, Alaska Wildlife Troopers found the man justified in the killing under defense of life or property law, which allows those in danger from wildlife to defend themselves with possibly lethal force, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters told the Empire Wednesday.
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FL: Pit Bull Attacks small dog and Woman, Husband Shoots Pit Bull

The woman tried to protect her dog and was bit eight or nine times, police said. After hearing screams, the woman's husband came outside and saw the attack. He and other neighbors tried to pull the pit bull away from his dog. When that didn't work, police said, he retrieved a .38 caliber handgun and shot the pit bull twice. When officers arrived, the pit bill was "barely alive and suffering." His owner gave police permission to euthanize the dog.
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LA: Man Attempts Gun Theft, is Shot

Gillard set up the sale through an online brokerage, where he had been advertising the sale of the firearm, Rivarde said.

Once inside of Vega’s car, Gillard pulled out a gun, pointed it at Vega, and demanded his money and another gun that Vega was carrying.

After a struggle inside the vehicle during which the pair exchanged gunfire, Gillard and Vega exited the vehicle.

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