Update: The Misleading Murderer you Know, latest data

Those who follow the debate on restoring Second Amendment rights have probably heard the other side proclaim some variant of: 

"Most victims are murdered by people they know."

The implication is defending yourself from a murderer is futile, because there is no point in trying to defend yourself from a person who is close to you. 

This is a way of lying with statistics.The truth is far different.

Few victims are murdered by someone they live with.

In 2013, this correspondent published an essay on the Misleading Murderer that you Know. The numbers were from 2010. This update uses the latest numbers. They  are from  the FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for 2019. 

The most accurate crime statistics involves homicides, particularly murders. The most easily solved homicides are murders of passion between intimates. The hardest homicides to solve are those where there is no connection between the murderer and the victim.

The largest category of victim in the FBI reports of victim relationships to their murderer is unknown. In 2019, those victims are 49% of the total. It is a huge number. Some of this is because FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) are often filed before an investigation is complete. As murders of passion among intimates are the easiest to solve, this means a much higher percentage of strangers and acquaintances fall into the unknown category when the UCR report is filled out.

The clearance rate for murder in 2019 was 59%. This means 41% were not solved. About 84% of the murderers who are unknown by the time of the UCR report remain unknown. It is likely most of the 16% solved are not intimate partner murders. Those that are, are unlikely to have been living with their victim.

The clearance rate for murder in 2020 dropped to 54.4%. 

The next largest category of murderers are acquaintances. It is 20%. These are included in people you "know". 

The slightest connection to you counts as you "knowing" them. The gang-banger who was in your remedial English class in community college, the drug dealer you filed a report about, the laborer who cleaned up your neighbor's yard, the person who involved you in a fender-bender, the high school classmate who was always in trouble, are all counted as an acquaintance. So are addicts' suppliers, criminals' associates, and members of a gang. 

The next largest category are members of the immediate family. They are 11%. This is who most people place in the category as "known".  This includes estranged and ex-family, such as ex-wives and ex-husband.

Then come strangers, at 10%. These are the hardest murderers to catch.

Boyfriend/girlfriend is at 5%. This includes ex boyfriend/girlfriends.

Other family is 2%.

Friends are at 2%.

Neighbors are 1%

Employers/employees are just a trace, at .16%, too small to show up on the chart.

To create the misleading statistic that most murderers are "known" to their victim, those who want you to believe self defense is futile, include acquaintance in with family, friends, and neighbors. 

Then to inflate the "known" numbers, ghey assume the murderers who are unknown have the same percentage of immediate family and relationships as those where the relationship is known. It is a bad assumption. 

Applying that misleading calculation to the 2019 figures creates that misleading figure that 80% of murderers are "known" to their victims.

A more realistic appraisal is unknown, stranger, and acquaintance categories make up 79% of murderers. Of the remaining 21%, a large number are ex-spouses, ex-boyfriend/girlfriends and estranged family and friends. 

The numbers of ex's and estranged are not reported. A great many domestic homicides occur between ex spouses, ex-boyfriend/girlfriends, and estranged others. 

It is likely the number of people who murder someone living with them, when determined, will be less than 10% of the total.

More and more people are effectively defending themselves against people they know who have become deadly enemies.

Just because you know someone, doesn't mean you cannot defend against them. Legal measures such as restraining orders make a self-defense claim clearer to police, prosecutors, and courts. This correspondent refers to these cases of domestic defense. 

In a quick look, 20 cases of domestic defense were reported by the media in the last three months. The vast majority involved firearms as a defensive tool, where the attackers were wounded or killed. It is likely most defensive uses do not result in shots fired or in people wounded or killed. Most are not reported to police, and of those reported, few are mentioned in the media. Actual domestic defense uses of guns are probably 50-100 times greater than those reported in the media.

Self-defense against intimates is almost never counted as justified homicide in the FBI UCR, because of the extremely limited definition of justified homicide the UCR uses.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

 

Followup LA: Michael Woulfe Arrested after being Shot by 78-Year-Old Victim

The Sheriff's Office identified the man who shot Woulfe as Walter Tabary, 78, of Destrehan. The Sheriff's Office said Tabary acted in self-defense and was not arrested. 

"After an extensive and thorough investigation including securing video footage of the events, it was determined that Woulfe was the aggressor and provoked [the 78-year-old] to respond in self-defense," the Sheriff's Office said in the statement.

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LA: Home Invasion Gunfight, Two Intruders Shot, Wounded

Lafayette Police say one person was inside his residence when two people forced their way into his home.

The male victim got his own gun and shot the intruders, police said.

They were able to flee the area and seek medical attention for their injuries at a local hospital, police said.

A third person identified as 21-year-old Antonio McClelland has been arrested and booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center for one count of principal to aggravated burglary and one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

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CA: Ninth Circuit En Banc Panel: State can Ban Magazines over 10 Rounds

 

From Wikipedia, Government image Public Domain, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten

 

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the three judge panel decision in Duncan v. Bonta, the ban on magazines which hold over 10 rounds. The opinion was released on November 30, 2021.

(The original nomenclature was Duncan v. Beccera.)

At the end of March, in 2019, Judge Roger T. Benitez wrote a well reasoned opinion which found the California ban on magazines of over 10 rounds to be an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.  The case was appealed to a three judge panel. The panel, in a split decision, upheld Judge Benitez' opinion, on August 14, 2020. 

As has become common in cases involving the Second Amendment in the Ninth Circuit, the case was then asked to be heard by an en bank panel of the Ninth Circuit. The en banc panel issued its opinion on November 30, 2021. The en banc panel reversed the decision of Judge Benitez at the Circuit court and of the three judge pane. They found a ban on magazines which can hold more than 10 rounds to be an acceptably small infringement on the core Second Amendment right. From the decision Page 31-32:

Defendant does not dispute that California’s ban on large-capacity magazines implicates, at least in some measure, the core Second Amendment right of self-defense in the home. See, e.g., Pena, 898 F.3d at 977 (assuming without deciding that firearm regulations implicate the core right); see also Worman, 922 F.3d at 30, 36 (assuming without deciding that Massachusetts’ ban on large-capacity magazines implicates the core right); Heller II, 670 F.3d at 332 (declining to decide whether the District of Columbia’s prohibition on large-capacity magazines “impinge[s] at all upon the core right protected by the Second Amendment”). Instead, Defendant argues that the ban imposes only a small burden on the Second Amendment right and that, accordingly, intermediate scrutiny is the appropriate lens through which to view California’s law. We agree. Just as our sister circuits unanimously have applied intermediate scrutiny to other laws banning or restricting large-capacity magazines,3 we hold that intermediate scrutiny applies to California’s ban.

Later on, in a concurring opinion, Judge Hurwitz writes: 

The people of California should not be precluded from attempting to prevent mass murders simply because they don’t occur regularly enough in the eyes of an unelected Article III judge. 

The obverse of this argument is any excuse is acceptable to circumvent Constitutional rights. 

One of the primary purposes of the Constitution is to prevent majorities from infringing on the rights of minorities, in moments of rhetorically fanned passion or fancy.

The en banc opinion decisively challenges the Second Amendment, indeed, the entire concept of limited government, and the Heller and McDonald decision upholding the Second Amendment as an individual right which limits what the government may do. 

The en banc decision is directly challenged by a vigorous dissent. From the dissent on page 104:

Contrary to the Second Amendment, however, our court upholds California’s sweeping ban on so-called large-capacity magazines.1 It can’t be because these magazines lack constitutional protection. The majority assumes they are. And it can’t be because the ban is longstanding. California’s law is of recent vintage. Rather, the law survives because the majority has decided that the costs of enforcing the Second Amendment’s promise are too high. The majority achieves this result by resorting to the tiers-of-scrutiny approach adopted by this court years ago. Under that balancing test, the government can infringe on a fundamental right so long as the regulation is a “reasonable fit” with the government’s objective.

Commentary:  

The dissent lays it out clearly. The Ninth Circuit's en banc opinion eviscerates the Second Amendment. If 11 rounds is too many, why are 9 rounds acceptable, or 5? 

Why should a person be allowed to own any semi-automatic, or any gun with more than 1 or 2 shots? There is no end to this argument, once "in common use" is breached.

The decision comes to pass because the Supreme Court has been unwilling to correct the lower courts as they kept chipping away at the Second Amendment, Heller, and McDonald.  That may have been understandable given the split nature of the Supreme Court of the time. Neither Originalsist or Progressives were sure of the outcome.

The Ninth Circuit opinion admits it is infringing on Second Amendment rights, cites decisions from previous cases the Supreme Court has declined to hear in other Circuits, and challenges the Supreme Court to do something about it.

This is the basic standard of law as applied by Progressive ideology. The Constitution is seen as an impediment to be overcome. It interferes with the ability of the ruling class to rule as they see fit. 

The ruling class includes almost all of the old media, which issues opinions to the masses; the tech oligarchs, which withholds alternative information from the masses, to obtain the support they desire for their policies; and what most have come to call the "deep state".

If the Constitution blocks what the ruling class wants; then the Constitution must be changed by the courts, as the amendment process is considered too long and cumbersome by the ruling class.

The Ninth Circuit opinion in Duncan v. Bonta will be appealed to the Supreme Court. It remains to be seen if the Supreme Court will take up the challenge. 

 

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

NV: Davion Treadwell, Shot in Self Defense, Dies 9 Months Later

Davion Treadwell of Las Vegas was shot in the early morning hours of Jan. 23 on the 2800 block Vigilante Court, near East Azure Avenue and Losee Road, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. He died Sept. 10 from complications of a gunshot wound to the neck.

His manner of death was ruled a homicide by the coroner, but North Las Vegas police said the shooting was being considered self-defense.

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TX: Armed Samaritan, Domestic Defense, Neighbors Hold Chad Dick at Gunpoint for Police

Chad Dick is the father of George, who is married to Hillary

The victims, who police identified as Hillary and George Dick, were taken to HCA Houston Healthcare Clear Lake Hospital where they were stabilized for their injuries. George was hit in the stomach, while Hillary was shot in the arm, police added.

In responding to the incident, Dickinson police said they were called to a home where the couple, their two children and the suspect all lived. Officers arrived to find neighbors holding the suspect at gunpoint.

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NE: 43-Year-Old Intruder Shot, Killed in Bellevue

Officers said they were called to a home for a possible home invasion around 3:39 a.m. Saturday which "resulted in the 43-year-old intruder being shot."

The intruder has been identified as forty-three-year-old, Lou P. Slaughter Jr., of Omaha.

BPD said three people were inside the home when the man Slaughter Jr. tried to get in.

 

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NC: Robbery Suspect and two Bystanders Wounded in Durham Mall

Interviews by investigators and reviews of video determined that two men approached a man selling jewelry outside a store on the second floor of The Streets at Southpoint on Nov. 26, and one of the men tried to rob the salesman, the Durham Police Department said in a news release. 

The vendor and the would-be robber, a 26-year-old man whom police have not identified publicly, both had guns and fired at each other, wounding the suspect and two bystanders, a 10-year-old girl and a 58-year-old man.

The man and child were treated at local hospitals and released the same day. The suspect was still hospitalized on Friday. Police said they have not yet identified the man who was with him, and so far no charges have been filed.

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IL: CCW Carrier Shoots Male who Threatened him with a Firearm

The incident occurred around 6:45 a.m. this morning in the 2700 block of W 65th Street in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the city's southwest side.

Authorities said that a 37-year-old male was in an alley this morning when he got involved in a verbal altercation with an unknown male offender in a vehicle.

The offender in the vehicle produced a firearm at which time the 37-year-old drew his own firearm and fired shots at the offender. The 37-year-old victim had both a valid FOID and valid Illinois Concealed Carry License and authorities indicated the man shot in defense.

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GA: Fatal Shooting of Philip Appiah found to be in Self Defense

No charges have been filed after an Uber driver was fatally shot by a security guard in late November after dropping off a woman at a Union City business, police said.

Philip Appiah, 21, was found by Union City officers in a fetal position next to his car bleeding from his head and mouth near Citizens Lanes bowling alley and Cru-Lounge along Goodson Connector Road on Nov. 23, an incident report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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CO: Fatal Shooting of Vencenzio Luciano was Self Defense

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The shooting that killed 41-year-old Vencenzio Luciano in early October was a result of self-defense, according to Colorado Springs police investigators and the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

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New Gun Tax for Cook County Illinois, Previous Gun Tax Ruled Unconstitutional

 

On November 4, 2021, the Cook County, Illinois board (Chicago is in Cook County) amended a gun and ammunition tax which had been ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court on October 21, 2021. From chicagotribune.com:

Cook County commissioners voted Thursday to amend a guns and ammunition tax that was found unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court, aiming to give the measure another lifeline by designating that money for violence prevention.

In a 12-2 vote, with three commissioners absent, the county board approved the amendment, which states all revenue from the firearm and ammunition tax must go toward programs or operations geared toward gun violence prevention. The passage follows an Oct. 21 ruling from the state’s highest court that found the levy was unconstitutional.

This fulfilled the prediction of Justice Michael J. Burke, in a special concurrence. From the Illinois Supreme Court ruling:

Justice Michael J. Burke, specially concurring:

Moreover, the reason why those statutes preempt handgun regulations, not handgun taxes, is obvious—the Illinois Constitution only allows the legislature to preempt regulations, not taxes. And taxes that infringe the right to keep and bear arms are already precluded by the Illinois Constitution. See Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 22; id. art. VII, § 6. Moreover, even if the statutes mentioned by the County did intend to specifically preserve for home rule units the power to tax handguns in the manner under consideration here, that would not show that the framers of our constitution intended to authorize a home-rule unit’s discriminatory taxation of firearms, where the text of that constitution clearly prohibits taxation that infringes on the right to keep and bear arms.

A new challenge to the amended tax seems likely. It is too early for a lawsuit to have been crafted and filed in court. A visit to the Guns Save Life.com website did not reveal any announcement of their response to the amended tax. 

The Supreme Court decision on October 21 was unanimous with Chief Justice Anne M. Burke abstaining.  It is not known why the Chief Justice did not participate in the decision. Her husband Edward Burke is power broker in Chicago politics, an Alderman of the 14th Ward. From npr.org:

There's no evidence to suggest that Anne Burke, who is about to become the state's highest-ranking judge, deliberately swung cases to benefit her husband's clients. But one thing is indisputable: Some of the Supreme Court decisions Justice Burke helped shape spared some of her husband's clients from significant financial and legal risk.

Chief Justice Burke avoided any appearance of impropriety in the gun tax case by not participating in it.  

This correspondent predicts the words of Justice Michael J. Burke will appear in the next lawsuit challenging the gun and ammunition tax. From the decision

Again, I believe that the majority’s analysis wrongly leaves the door open for a municipality to enact a future tax on firearms or ammunition that is more narrowly tailored to the purpose of ameliorating the cost of gun violence. The only problem with that approach is that it would still violate the Illinois Constitution.

Will Justice Burke continue to abstain in a new gun tax lawsuit? No one knows. No reason was given for her abstaining in the recently decided case.  

The last lawsuit took nearly six years, from December 17, 2015, to October 21, 2021 to work its way to the Supreme Court, and for the Court to find the gun tax unconstitutional. The Cook County Board took two weeks to re-institute the amended tax. Will it take another six years for a new lawsuit to go to the Supreme Court again? Will the people of Illinois be continually subject to an Illinois legal game of whack a law? 

The gun tax in Cook County is premised on a flawed assumption, The claim is: More guns equal more illegitimate violence. The evidence does not support this assumption. There is more evidence the number of guns does not make a difference in the level of violence, and the number of legal guns does not affect the number of illegal guns.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

WI: Domestic Defense, Theoplis McClain Wounded, Charged with Multiple Offenses

The 22-year-old woman who police say shot the man is not facing charges.

“She was not charged based on self-defense issues,” said South Milwaukee Police Chief Bill Jessup.

Theoplis McClain of Milwaukee was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with three counts of felony bail jumping, with domestic abuse assessments as a domestic abuse repeater and habitual criminality repeater, South Milwaukee Police said.

If convicted, McClain could face fines up to about $30,000 and decades behind bars, according to a criminal complaint. 

The shooting occurred in the 1800 block of Rawson Avenue around 2:50 p.m., Nov. 2. At the time, Jessup called the shooting a “domestic incident” and said the man was treated for the wound and released.

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KS: Home Occupants Shoot Burglary Suspect Shawn James Tallant, Jr.

The first subject encountered was identified as Shawn James Tallant Jr. of Baxter Springs. Tallant was leaving the area when officers approached and observed that he was suffering from two gunshot wounds to the thigh and leg. He was detained and an ambulance was dispatched.

The occupants of the home came outside voluntarily without incident. Detectives were on scene to conduct interviews both there and later at the Police Department. It was alleged by the occupants, identified as Braden Matthew Coe and Leslie Cantrell, that Tallant had invaded their home and assaulted them. They stated there were two juveniles in the home also at the time of the invasion.

They barricaded themselves and the children in a bedroom and when Tallant continued towards them. Coe fired several shots, striking Tallant twice. One in the thigh and another round in the calf. Officers seized a 9mm handgun from the scene.

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LA: Domestic Defense in Concordia Parish under Investigation

WILDSVILLE, La. — A woman reportedly shot and killed her boyfriend during domestic dispute Sunday evening Concordia Parish and says it was self-defense.

Brandy Spears, the public affairs director with Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the incident at 277 Luttrell Road in Concordia Parish just after 8 p.m. Sunday, where a caller stated she had been beaten and had shot her boyfriend, who was still present on the property.

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DC: Pay more for "Ghost Guns"; get more "Ghost Guns"?

 In Washington, the District of Columbia, the murder rate is soaring. The DC leadership has a scapegoat for their political problem - blame guns! Especially blame homemade guns!

They have a political solution: pay people more for snitching on people with guns, especially guns the DC politicians have banned in one way or another.

A significantly increased reward has been offered for anonymous information leading to the confiscation of guns and the arrest of people illegally possessing those guns, for a period of just over a month. The increased reward - of up to $7,500 - was announced on November 22, 2021. From wtop.com: 

As homicide rates remain worryingly high in the District — up 12 percent compared to this time last year, according to D.C. police data — the city is raising the monetary incentive to get illegal guns off the street.

While the District offers up to $2,500 for tips that lead to the recovery of illegal guns, the city is partnering with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to raise that reward to $7,500.

(snip)

Contee said that tips that lead to the recovery of any illegal weapons will still receive a partial reward.

The triple level reward will only last until the end of 2021, or five weeks and three days. The DC police department guidelines do not mention the increased reward yet. Here are the guidelines from the DC Metropolitan Police Department: 

Providing a gun tip anonymously is easy and safe. The tipline is open 24 hours a day. Note the following guidelines:

• Calls to the anonymous Firearm Tip Line will be checked for veracity prior to rewards being paid.
• Callers do not need to identify themselves to be eligible to receive a reward.
• The process is absolutely anonymous -- calls cannot be traced to identify the source of the call.
• Rewards are paid for tips that result in a firearm recovery and/or arrest. Reward amount varies depending on the number and type of firearm(s) recovered and whether any arrests are made as a result of the tip, not to exceed $2,500.
• Tips are assigned a unique AMS Tip Number. To receive payment, callers must retain this number. After seven days, callers may contact the Public Information Office at (202) 727-4383 to check on the status of the tip. If the tip has been deemed reliable, PIO staff will provide additional instructions.
• Payment will be made through a single-use debit card through the DC Office of Finance and Treasury. Instructions on how to obtain the debit card will be provided at the time a tip is verified and payment is approved.
• No identification necessary.

It appears "ghost guns" are near the historical percentage of guns which do not have serial numbers found in DC.  From nbcwashington.com:

Officers have taken more than 2,000 guns off the street and, as the city works to curb gun violence, there is growing concern over ghost guns, which are sold as parts and then assembled by the customer.

 Ghost guns have no serial number, require no background check and can sometimes even evade a metal detector. The Metropolitan Police Department has found them at murder scenes and on kids as young as 13. The I-Team tracked the numbers and found a record number of ghost guns already recovered in the District this year.

In 2020, they found 282 "Ghost Guns". In 2021, by mid-November, they had found 313.  That is about 16% of the guns confiscated in DC.

In 1977, 20% of the guns seized by police in D.C. were homemade.

 128. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Analysis of Operation CUE (Concentrated Urban Enforcement), interim report 133-34 (February 15, 1977).

In 2010, over 12% of firearms in the DC and Prince George's had no serial numbers, in as study done by the Washington Post.

How a "ghost gun" is defined in DC is uncertain. From x99news.com: 

Last week, the DC Council voted to amend the city’s law banning ghost weapons in response to a federal lawsuit filed in September that alleged the law is “too far-reaching.”

Under current law, a ghost rifle is defined as “a firearm which, after removing all parts other than a receiver, is not as detectable… by metal detectors that are traverse.”

When all parts except the receiver are removed from a gun, only the polymer frame remains – which is not metal. For example, the suit alleges that the city “apparently unwittingly… made existing polymer-framed pistols illegal.”

Dick Heller filed a lawsuit. The DC Council has moved to amend the law:

However, the council approved an amendment to the law that would require weapons with attached barrel, trigger and firing mechanism to be detectable, even if the receiver is polymer-based. It would also add legal process for residents to possess homemade firearms.

The amendment has not gone into effect, as the change has to be approved of by the Mayor, Muriel Bowser (D). 

It seems the amendment would exempt nearly all firearms.

Over the last two years police have made more than 60 arrests for illegal guns resulting from tips. They paid out nearly $80,000 in rewards, or about $1,333 each arrest, at two to three arrests per month.

The program does not seem particularly popular. The rules make it clear a tipster has no idea how much they may actually get paid when a gun is confiscated or a person arrested. 

How many of the arrests were for the victimless "crime" of someone exercising their Second Amendment rights? The process to obtain a permit to own or carry a firearm in the District is long and difficult.

When you are willing to pay more for something, you will typically get more of it, all other things being equal. 

Increase the top award from $2500 to $7500 for five weeks, you would expect to get a few more tips. The short duration of the program and the uncertainty of the award means the effect will be very limited.

Perhaps Dick Heller will receive recompense for the time and trouble of his lawsuit, used to inject a little sanity into the DC mess. 

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

IL: Chicago Woman Fires at Carjacking Suspect (CCW)

The woman fired at the carjacker when he approached her at gunpoint just as she was getting into her car in the parking lot of the Chase Bank at 10260 S. Michigan Ave.

Hours later, a bullet casing from the shots the woman fired remained lying on the ground. The woman said she had just left the bank and had some cash in her hand – but before she could get to her car, parked a few feet from the front door of the bank – she said someone else opened her front door and a gun was aimed at her head.

“Thank God I had my gun, or I’d probably be dead right now,” the woman said.

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PA: Holmberg Homeowner Wounds Intruder

The shooting happened around 11 p.m. on the 4700 block of Ashville Street.

Police say they arrived to find a 31-year-old suspect shot in the face in the basement.

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TN: Attempted Disarm Results in Wounded Person, Self Defense is Claimed

According to police, the victim entered into the shooters apartment on Rosa L. Parks Blvd. and attempted to take the residents gun.

The resident fired and shot the man. He is being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

 

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VA: Estranged Husband Shot during Claimed Attack with Knife

According to the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office, the homeowner of this house called police to report her estranged husband had attempted to attack her with a knife. That man was 40-year-old Daniel Wayne Eades.

After the alleged attack, Eades was shot multiple times by a friend of the homeowner’s inside the house. Eades died from the gunfire. When police arrived, they found multiple knives and a handgun. But as of now, authorities have not confirmed any arrests.

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CO: Planned Gun "Buyback" in Denver and Aurora Likely Illegal/Unworkable

Image courtesy Dean Weingarten, small portion of guns turned in, Phoenix, May, 2013

Colorado politicians have planned a gun "buyback" for March of 2022. They probably will not be able to hold the event, as Colorado law makes if nearly impossible to hold a "buyback" legally.

Those who want a disarmed population coined the Orwellian term "buyback" to describe events were people turn guns in to police, to be destroyed, for money. The police cannot "buyback" guns they never owned to begin with. 

About 2013, people started fighting back against this propaganda effort by privately purchasing guns at these events. 

At some events people used the money to buy better guns.

States started requiring guns purchased by local governments be sold, and the money used for the public good. 

Local entrepreneurs/activists started selling home made guns at these events, earning a profit and making for good photo opportunities.

Organizations such as Guns Save Life organized turn-in of junk guns in order to buy good guns for youth programs.

The number of "buybacks" fell precipitously. A few continued in states where draconian law prevented private parties from purchasing firearms at these events, such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California.

Academic studies have confirmed these events do not reduce crime or suicides, and may have a small effect of increasing crime for a short period. 

Colorado banned such events as a byproduct of a push for gun control. 

Most people who initiate these programs do not research them. They insist on doing them for illogical or propaganda reasons. That seems to be the case of Denver and Aurora "buybacks" planned for 2022. From cbslocal.com:

Starting in March 2022, a new gun buyback program will be implemented in hopes of remedying the problem.

“Our goal is to get guns off the street. What we’re seeing is an extraordinary uptick in crime in both Denver and Aurora,” Denver District 5 Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer told CBS4’s Mekialaya White via Zoom.

Sawyer says now is the time to take action, after a massive increase in violent and property crime in recent weeks. That includes two shootings in Aurora injuring several teenagers just last week.

“I think for a long time there’s been a hesitancy for government to get involved in a program like this, especially in the metro area. There’s a crisis in our communities, especially with young people,” echoed Aurora Councilman-at-Large Curtis Gardner. “So, we are partnering with Colorado Springs-based nonprofit RawTools that will take guns volunteered at our buyback that will turn them into garden tools and jewelry. It creates a really neat synergy for the community.”

“We think it’ll be a really valuable partnership between both cities,” added Sawyer.

At each buyback, residents can turn in firearms anonymously.

Such events are not allowed by Colorado law. Every transfer has to go through a federally licensed dealer. The dealer charges a fee. It makes an anonymous turn-in unworkable, and almost certainly illegal. It is an unintended consequence of the draconian "Universal Background Check" law.

The law, passed in 2013, made private sales illegal. All transfers have to be conducted through a Federal Firearms Licenses, making them subject to government approval, thus, no longer private.  Permanently giving a weapon in to another entity to be destroyed, is a transfer, under the law.  

In 2013, Colorado "buyback" events were cancelled because they were made nearly impossible by the new Colorado law. 

It seems unlikely the proposed event organizers will be able to get an exception to the Colorado law passed before March of 2021. It appears the event organizers and those promoting the event in the Media, have not considered the legal implications before publishing their efforts. 

Ignorance of gun laws is common among those who push for disarming the public. 

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

TX: Video Released of Chad Read Shooting in Lubbock

Nearly three weeks after the death of Chad Read, his widow and her attorney released video Wednesday of the deadly shooting altercation between Read and Lubbock land developer and businessman, Kyle Carruth.

Carruth is the now ex-husband of Judge of the 72nd Judicial District Court in Lubbock and Crosby Counties, Anne-Marie Carruth. Because of that, the Lubbock District Attorney’s Office recused itself from the case that will now be handled by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The couple was separated for months before Kyle Carruth filed for divorce in September. The divorce was finalized last week, according to court records.

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WY: Casper Man Shoots Suspect who Attempted to Force his way into a Home

The shooting occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Friday at a home on the 3800 block of Greenway Street on the city's east side. Police were told a 51-year-old man from Cheyenne tried to force his way inside a home through the front door. 

The Casper man, identified only as a 33-year-old, ordered the suspect to leave several times, police said. The 51-year-old man, whose name was not released, refused to comply, and when he continued to try and force his way inside, the Casper man retrieved a gun and shot through the door.

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WA: gunfight in Parking lot, Robbery Suspect Alexander Richard Yell Wounded

An armed shoplifter and a security officer exchanged gunfire on Black Friday in the parking lot of the Kennewick Walmart, sending fearful shoppers and employees running for safety. 

Robbery suspect Alexander Richard Yell, 31, was the only one wounded after reportedly being shot two to three times at close range, according to initial broadcast reports.

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MI: Homeowner Holds Habitual Criminal at Gunpoint for Police

Daniel Earl, 38, of Quincy could have gotten shot Tuesday by homeowner Jim Johnson, authorities said, instead Earl is in jail, where he faces a prison sentence on a charge of home invasion as a habitual offender. 

Johnson arrived at his Sebring Road home and observed the front door ajar. He looked into the living room and saw Earl facing away from him with a hatchet in his hand, authorities said. Johnson went back to his truck, got a handgun, and held Earl at gunpoint.

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WA: Homeowner and Police involved in Gunfight with Armed Suspects

When officers arrived, they encountered an armed suspect and officers opened fire. 

The armed suspect that confronted the officers was taken to Harborview Medical Center and is expected to survive his injuries.

According to investigators, a second suspect was also involved in a shooting with the homeowner. 

Police said two Des Moines Police Department officers were involved in the shooting.

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MO: Assault leads to Self Defense Claim in Springfield Shooting

KYTV-TV reports that the man told investigators that a stranger to the homeowner knocked on the door around 11:30 a.m. Sunday and an altercation began. Police say the homeowner accused the stranger of assaulting him, prompting the homeowner to shoot and kill him.

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Ohio Constitutional Carry Passes House

 

Ohio Statehouse

In Ohio, the Constitutional Carry bill, HB227 is moving forward.  It passed the House Oversight committee on October 28.  On November 17, it passed the House, 60 to 32. From dayton247now.com:

“The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms. I am proudly pro-Second Amendment and this bill is pro-Second Amendment,” said Senator Niraj Antani, a co-sponsor of the bill.

The bill would also make the mandatory eight hours of training optional.

“People should get training, but it doesn't have to be required. The Constitution does not require training in order to have your constitutional rights,” Senator Antani said.

Dayton 24/7 Now’s Mamie Bah asked Antani, “Are there any concerns of safety here?”

He said, “Concealed firearm carriers by and large are law-abiding citizens who are trying to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

Now the bill goes to the Senate. The Republicans have a supermajority in the Senate, 25 to 8. The bill should pass in the Senate, but each legislative fight involves personalities. Several states have had Constitutional Carry delayed because of one or two Republicans in powerful committees were not committed to fight for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If the bill passes the Senate, then it goes to Governor DeWine.

Governor DeWine has been ambivalent on Second Amendment rights. He has not threatened to veto Constitutional Carry. He has not supported it either. In January of 2021, he signed a bill eliminating one of the last state "duty to retreat" statutes.

In January, GOP Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law eliminating an individual’s duty to retreat before using force. The measure expands the so-called “stand your ground” right from an individual’s house and car to any place, “if that person is in a place in which the person lawfully has a right to be.”

DeWine had previously signaled he might veto the bill, and had expressed dissatisfaction lawmakers were ignoring his own legislation proposed after the 2019 mass shooting in Dayton that killed nine. Instead, he signed the stand your ground bill in “the spirit of cooperation” with the General Assembly.

It is a good time for Ohio Second Amendment supporters to be pushing for Constitutional Carry. Many Republicans believe they need to show their support of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to separate themselves from the Democrats and their unpopular policies and president.

Constitutional Carry is a way to prove their bona fides with little risk. 21 states, including Texas, have already enacted the reforms. No state has seen measurable downsides. Not one state has voted on a bill to repeal Constitutional Carry, once enacted. This correspondent does not recall any state where such a bill has been introduced.

In Ohio, 60% of the votes in both chambers are needed to override a governor's veto. The Republicans have 64 seats in the House. They need 60 votes to override. The Republicans have 25 seats in the Senate. They need 20 votes to override a veto.

There is a good chance of Constitutional Carry being enacted in Ohio this year. Adding another state to the 21 existing Constitutional Carry states sends a positive message to the Supreme Court in the NYR&PA carry outside the home case. That case is under consideration at this time. The decision in the case is expected in June of 2022.

Five states have reformed their laws to Constitutional Carry in 2021, so far. Ohio could be number six.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

 

CA: Security Guards Wound Robbery Suspect at Marijuana Business

Police said more than 10 people in several cars came to the Pendleton Way site at 12:27 a.m. Sunday and gained entry after threatening someone inside at gunpoint.

Once inside, the robbers grabbed a large amount of marijuana and started to flee, police said.They were confronted by two security guards outside, and a gun battle ensued, police said.

One of the suspected robbers, a 32-year-old Oakland man, was wounded in the exchange of shots. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was in stable condition, police said. The other suspects fled.

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Pennsylvania Constitutional Carry Moves Forward, in Spite of Veto Threat

 

Constitutional Carry is advancing in Pennsylvania. Senate Bill 565 is a strong Constitutional Carry bill, which mostly removes current prohibitions on carrying concealed, the requirement for a permit to carry openly or concealed in Philadelphia, and maintains the possibility of obtaining an optional license to carry if one is desire.

On November 9, 2021, the Pennsylvania Senate passes Senate Bill 565 by a vote of 29 to 21.

On November 17, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 565 by a vote of 107 to 92. 

The bill will almost certainly be vetoed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D). From wgal.com: 

Opponents pointed out the proposal is unlikely to be enacted, as Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said he will veto the legislation, and argued the bill would make people less safe by making guns more readily accessible.

Senate Bill 565 started in the Senate on April 16, 2021. Here is the short synopsis: 

An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in firearms and other dangerous articles, repealing provisions relating to firearms not to be carried without a license, providing for license not required, further providing for prohibited conduct during emergency, repealing provisions relating to carrying firearms on public streets or public property in Philadelphia, providing for sportsman's firearm permit, further providing for licenses and repealing provisions relating to proof of license and exception.

The General Assembly states the purpose of the bill. They say most firearms laws are ineffectual:

The General Assembly finds that:

(1) The laws in existence regulating firearms ownership,

possession and use LICENSING are ineffectual in preventing

crime and only interfere with the natural rights of law-

abiding citizens.

 

(2) It is necessary to codify the inherent right to the

carrying of firearms, whether openly or concealed, and that

the right to self-defense is an inherent natural right that

shall not be questioned as stated in section 21 of Article I

of the Constitution of Pennsylvania.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Section 6106 of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes is repealed:

 

Then follows a long list of requirements for licensing and exceptions for the usual list of police, military, constables, etc.  After that list, which is to be deleted, upon passage of the bill, we see the following text, which would become law:

Section 2. Title 18 is amended by adding a section to read:

 

§ 6106.2. License not required.

 

(a) Declaration.--Notwithstanding any other provision of

law, every person present in this Commonwealth WHO IS NOT

PROHIBITED FROM POSSESSING FIREARMS UNDER FEDERAL LAW OR THE LAWS OF THIS COMMONWEALTH shall have an affirmative, fundamental and constitutional right to keep and bear firearms, including the right to carry openly or concealed, carry loaded or unloaded, train with, transport, possess, use, acquire, purchase, transfer, inherit, buy, sell, give or otherwise dispose of or receive any firearm or self-defense device without a license , permission or restriction TO CARRY A FIREARM of any kind from or by this Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions.

 

(b) Optional license.--Obtaining a license to carry a

firearm under this chapter shall be optional. The voluntary

nature of the license shall not be construed to require that any

person obtain a license to carry a firearm under this chapter.

 

Then the law shows how an optional license may be applied for and obtained. 

 

These are significant movements to restore the right to keep and bear arms to Ohio.

 

Yes, Democrat Governor Wolf will likely veto the law. There are probably not enough votes to override the veto. A veto in Pennsylvania requires a 2/3 vote in the General Assembly. There are 50 senators and 203 representatives in the General Assembly.

 

 

The long term consequences bode well for Constitutional Carry. All the people who voted for Constitutional Carry have made the psychological leap to do so. They have made their decision. It will be difficult to backtrack on it.

 

It appears a conservative (red) political wave is building for 2022.  Governor Wolf will be term limited out.  

 

The votes for Constitutional Carry are likely to be there after the 2022 elections. If there is a Republican governor in Pennsylvania in 2022, the chances of passing Constitutional Carry look very good.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

FL: Woman, Motorcyclists Clash, Woman Pulls Gun, is Shot

"We don't know why she hit him." Sampsell said. "She swerved into him and prior to the vehicle making impact he warned her to stay away, and he is pulling away and she gets to the side of him and comes right into him."

The motorcyclist and two other witnesses, who did not know each other, then followed Morales to her home in attempt to help identify her for police, Sampsell said. 

Once at the home, Morales exchanged words with Derr and the witnesses and then went into her house and came back with a gun, the lieutenant said.

"Morales pointed a handgun at the witnesses and Derr," a press release states. "Derr having a valid Florida concealed weapons permit, drew his concealed handgun and fired multiple rounds, striking Morales."

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GA: Armed Neighbor Shot and Killed, Four Teens Charges with Felony Murder

All four were indicted for felony murder in the death of Steven Boothe, said Brad Shealey, district attorney. The four were also indicted for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony armed robbery, criminal attempt to commit a felony and aggravated assault, records show.

Tucker and Ramsey were 17 at the time of the incident, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office said; Williams was 16 and Stallings was 15, but both will be tried as adults, Shealey said.

The killing took place June 13 at 4247 White Water Road in southern Lowndes County, Sheriff Ashley Paulk said in a previous interview. The county’s 911 center received a call regarding the incident at about 3:30 p.m., said Capt. Stryde Jones of the sheriff’s office.

During an apparent home invasion, a resident hid in a closet and phoned a neighbor, saying there was a robbery in progress, Paulk said. The neighbor, Boothe, came over with a pistol but was himself shot to death, Jones said.

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NC: Raleigh Man shoots Person Breaking into Home

Police said a man came home to find someone breaking into his house. The homeowner shot the break-in suspect in the leg in what police described as self-defense.

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VA: Fairfax Man Claims Self Defense in Food Star Store Shooting

A Fairfax County police spokesman says a man called police on Saturday evening to report that he had shot somebody in the Food Star store on Leesburg Pike in Fairfax County.

The spokesman says the caller told police he was acting in self-defense when he shot the man.

The wounded man was being treated for injuries that were considered to be life-threatening.

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FL Followup: Charges Dropped against Ocklawaha Man who Claimed Self Defense

Charges against an Ocklawaha man accused of firing shots into a vehicle were dropped by prosecutors who cannot find the witness, and officials believe the alleged suspect may have a self-defense case.

Assistant State Attorney Sasha Kidney said in a report submitted to the court that the only witness/victim in the case able to identify the defendant as the person who fired the gun at the victim's vehicle has fled the country and they've been "unable to locate him after a diligent search."

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FL Followup: Andrew Coffee IV found not Guilty of Second Degree Murder

Fearing for his life, Coffee IV told investigators that he fired two or three rounds. The sheriff's office maintained it announced its presence.

Coffee IV told investigators that he didn't know it was deputies because they did not announce who they were.

His girlfriend, Alteria Woods, who was also at the home, was shot 10 times and died during the gunfire.

A grand jury previously exonerated the officer and deputies who fired their weapons during the incident.

However, a jury on Friday found Coffee IV guilty of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon

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PA: Gunfight, Delivery Man and Armed Robbers; 1 Killed, 1 Wounded

Police say the armed men approached the victim and demanded money.

The victim then reportedly told the suspects the money was in his car.

While the suspects were looking through the victim's car for cash, he pulled out his gun and fired, according to police.

"I don't really like violence, but it's in self-defense, so if he didn't shoot them, they might have shot him, so I think, in that case, there's not much he can do," said Gail of Mayfair.

Two of the men were hit several times by bullets and taken by police to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital.

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WI: Kyle Rittenhouse Freed by a Jury of His Peers in Kenosha

 

On Friday, November 19, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, was found not guilty by a jury of 12 men and women.

The jury had deliberated for three and a half days. There were five charges and two sub-charges. The jury instructions ran to 34 pages. What the prosecution said about the law and what the judge said were contradictory.

In spite of enormous efforts by the dominant media to create a narrative of a white supremacist targeting black people for cold blooded killing, the overwhelming video evidence showed a young man working to protect the community and help people. When attacked by violent and mentally ill people, he defended himself from deadly harm. He showed admirable restraint; he immediately attempted to turn himself in to the authorities, and was prevented from doing so by the police. He then proceeded to the nearest open police station, near his home, and turned himself about 1 hour after the event.

A jury, enduring threats of violence, saw several hours of Kyle himself on the stand. 

Thomas Jefferson said: 

“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.”

In spite of what appeared to be a politically motivated prosecution, which was willing to bend rules and Constitutional protections in its attempt to win, the jury reached a conclusion most close observers of the evidence had reached in the first two weeks after the event. 

Kyle Rittenhouse is a free man. It remains to be seen if the many media outlets and individuals who lied about him and defamed him prior to the trial will be held to account.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

 

MO: 60-Year-Old Resident Shoots Intruder Climing into Home Through Window

ST. LOUIS — A 60-year-old man shot and killed a suspect who he said was trying to break into his home in the College Hill neighborhood Friday night.

St. Louis police responded at 11 p.m. to a burglary call at a home on the 1500 block of E Grand Avenue. When they arrived, they found a man in his 20s lying on the back porch with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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WA: Two Teen Armed Robbery Suspects Shot by Cannabis Store Employee

SPANAWAY, Wash. - Two teens were shot Thursday night during an alleged armed robbery at a cannabis store in Spanaway.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Office says a store employee called 911 around 9:30 p.m. to say that their business, Blessings Cannabis, had been robbed by four or five males with guns who were wearing hooded jackets and masks.

The employees told deputies that the suspects pointed guns at them while they stole money and marijuana. At one point, an employee retrieved a gun and shot at the suspects.

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LA: Disarm, or Access to gun by Burglar? St. Helena Man Shot with Own Gun

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The St. Helena Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting of an elderly man who was shot at his home with his own gun by an intruder.

According to a spokesman with the St Helena Sheriff’s Office, a 72-year-old man was shot inside his home on November 18, just after 12:00 P.M.

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Kyle Rittenhouse, Dominick Black, Wisconsin Weapons Law and The Kenosha Prosecutor

 

Image from facebook, page taken down. Cropped, scaled, and green text added by Dean Weingarten.

On August 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people who attacked him, during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two, in claimed self defense. There is no question he was attacked. It is all on video. As of this writing, the jury is in deliberations. We should know the results soon. 

One result was reached before the jury was given their final instructions. The weapons possession charge against Kyle Rittenhouse was dismissed by Judge Schroeder. This author has written the charge should never have been made. There were reasons to keep the charge. It served several political purposes.

Dismissing the weapons charge is far more significant for Kyle Rittenhouse's friend, Dominick Black, than for Kyle.

Video link on Youtube.

Dominick Black started dating Kyle's sister, McKenzie, in 2020. Kyle and Dominick grew close. They called each other brother.

In May of 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, his close friend Dominick Black, Kyle's sister, McKenzie, who was dating Dominick, and a couple other people traveled to Dominick's family acreage in northern Wisconsin, near Ladysmith. The family has a 13 acre property with an old gravel pit used as a gun range.

About May 1, 2020, Dominick Black purchased a gun with money provided by Kyle. The agreement was that Dominick would retain legal and physical possession of the rifle until Kyle reached the age of 18. Then Dominick would transfer legal and physical possession of the rifle to Kyle. One of the reasons Kyle wanted an AR15 type rifle was because Dominick had purchased his own AR15 type rifle 2-3 months earlier. Kyle would turn 18 eight months later.

Kyle could not legally purchase the rifle until he was 18 years old. Kyle could legally possess the rifle in Wisconsin. He could not legally possess the rifle in Illinois until he obtained a Firearms Owners Identification Card (FOID). Kyle applied for an FOID in May of 2020. The FOID process was backed up several months. Months after Kyle was charged, the Illinois authorities refused to issue an FOID because of the Wisconsin charges.

Before August 25, Kyle had shot the rifle once, at Dominick's family's range in Ladysmith. After the single shooting, the rifle had been kept in the gun safe of Dominick's stepfather, at Dominick's residence. There was no substantial transfer of the rifle to Kyle. This is important. A "straw purchase" under federal law requires a substantial transfer, not a short and temporary transfer. A rifle can be loaned to a friend for a hunting trip, for example, without the transfer creating a "straw purchase".  Neither federal nor Wisconsin state law forbid Kyle Rittenhouse from possessing a rifle.

On August 27, 2020, Assistant District Attorney ADA Binger filed charges against Kyle Rittenhouse. The Kyle maintained he had defended himself in Kenosha a little before midnight on August 25. Seven charges were filed in less than two days, probably less than 36 hours. This was done in what Judge Bruce Schroeder described as the most complicated case he has seen in his 40 year career. This is one reason the weapons charge was included. The charges were placed very, very fast, before most facts were known, or evidence even gathered, in a case where the defendant had voluntarily turned himself in to the police.

ADA Binger is not familiar with guns. It is obvious from his presentations in court. He probably was not familiar with 948.60. The charges were rushed, without serious investigation.

Most of the facts of the case were already known by September 14, 2020. It was clear at that time, there was a very strong case for self defense.

It was clear, by September, 2020, that neither Kyle or Dominick had violated 948.60. The penalties for the weapons charge are much more severe for Dominick than for Kyle.

On November 3, 2020, over two months later,  ADA Binger charged Kyle's friend, Dominick Black with two charges of providing a dangerous weapon to a person under the age of 18, where the person discharges the weapon, and someone dies as a result. 

The statute is 948.60(2)(c):

 (2) 

(a) Any person under 18 years of age who possesses or goes armed with a dangerous weapon is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

(b) Except as provided in par. (c), any person who intentionally sells, loans or gives a dangerous weapon to a person under 18 years of age is guilty of a Class I felony.

948.60(2)(c) (c) Whoever violates par. (b) is guilty of a Class H felony if the person under 18 years of age under par. (b) discharges the firearm and the discharge causes death to himself, herself or another.

A subparagraph of the statute creates an exception which show Kyle and Dominick were not in violation:  948.60(3)(c)

 (c) This section applies only to a person under 18 years of age who possesses or is armed with a rifle or a shotgun if the person is in violation of s. 941.28 or is not in compliance with ss. 29.304 and 29.593. This section applies only to an adult who transfers a firearm to a person under 18 years of age if the person under 18 years of age is not in compliance with ss. 29.304 and 29.593 or to an adult who is in violation of s. 941.28.

One of the things which happened during Kyle's testimony in his case, was he demonstrated he understood Wisconsin weapons law better than ADA Binger did.

For Kyle the maximum penalties are a fine of up to $10,000 and or up to nine months in jail. 

For Dominick, the maximum penalties are a fine of up to $10,000 and/or six years in prison for each charge. Dominick is facing up to twelve years in prison.

The charges against Dominick are a powerful weapon for a prosecutor to use to compel cooperation by a witness. 

It is likely one of ADA Binger's main goals to confiscate and destroy the two rifles. As Dominick was the legal owner of the rifles, the rifles would normally be returned to him, if he were not convicted of a crime. The gun confiscation would send a powerful message to the population, that owning guns is a bad idea.

In the McClosky trial in St. Louis Missouri, the prosecutor stated one of his main goals was confiscate the weapons used by the McClosky couple in defending their home.

Dominick's trial was moved to be after Kyle's trial, months before Kyle's trial.

With Judge Schroeder dismissing the weapons charges against Kyle, it appears the weapons charges against Dominick go away as well. How can a person be convicted of supplying a dangerous weapon to a person under 18, when it did not happen? The exception in the law for Dominick is in the same subsection of the law, 948.60 (3)(c) as for Kyle.

Judge Bruce Schroeder is the same presiding judge in Dominick's case as in Kyle's case.

The logical thing to happen, is for ADA Binger to drop the charges against Dominick, once Kyle's trial is over. Barring that, Dominick's attorney should file a motion to dismiss the charges to Judge Schroeder. 

Dominick Black is a victim of incompetent and/or corrupt prosecutors in this case.

Having the charges dropped mean the rifles legally owned by Dominick Black should be returned to him. They are likely to be very valuable.  Based on past famous trials, they could easily be worth a quarter million dollars.

If Kyle is found not guilty of all charges, then Dominick should honor their contract and transfer the rifle Kyle provided the money for, to Kyle.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

IA: Woman Homeowner Shoots, Kills Intruder

An Anderson woman shoots and kills a man suspected of breaking into her home. 911 dispatchers received a call from a female homeowner in the 1300 block of E. 8th Street around 12:47 a.m. The woman told police there was a break-in at the home, and she shot the suspected burglar. By the time police arrived, they found the alleged suspect dead in an upstairs bedroom.

 

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Armed Encounter with a Yuma County Sheriff's Deputy

On November 1, 2021, I was doing some target shooting and chronograph work on public land, in an unused sand and gravel pit with a good backstop, off a dirt track north of the Foothills/I8 interchange. The weather was clear and calm, about 72 degrees.

I had just fired my last shot when a Yuma County deputy pulled up behind my vehicle. 

It was about 0940. I put down the pistol I was shooting. It was suppressed. I waited for the deputy to advance about 50 feet. The pistol was in full view.

The deputy asked if I knew how far I was from houses, I said it was more than a quarter mile. A quarter mile distance from occupied dwellings is required to shoot on public land in Arizona. The deputy said that I was an adequate distance from any buildings.

I was carrying my old Glock17, concealed. 

He asked if I had a firearm on me. I said I did. He asked if I would please refrain from touching it while we talked. I said that was fine.

He indicated someone had called in about someone shooting in the area, and, while what I was doing was legal, I might consider changing the location or geometry a bit. 

He asked for, and I handed him, ID. It was my Arizona drivers license, with the option of not having the Social Security number on it. 

Was that necessary? Probably not. I believe you pick your battles and choose your ground. This ground was about legal shooting, not whether the deputy had the authority to demand to check my ID.  

This correspondent had been in his shoes. I knew he was following protocol. It doesn't hurt that I am known in the county.  There have been other incidents where deputies have contacted me during Second Amendment activism.

He checked it out with dispatch. The acoustics were very good on his earpeace. I could not hear anything of the reply.  He asked if I lived in the area. I said, yes, then corrected myself and said, I have a place in the area. I asked if he minded if I retrieved my target (25 yards away). He did not have a problem with that.

He reiterated that many people walk in the area, so I should be very careful. He said more winter visitors (snowbirds) were showing up, now that the weather was cooler. He mentioned there was traffic in the area, and I had to be sure of my backstop.

He recorded my information, made a mild suggestion that I orient to obtain a better backstop, and wished me a good day.

It was about 9:56 when we finished. 

He went back to his vehicle.

I loaded up my vehicle. He backed up from blocking me in and drove off. I followed.

He did not ask for any permits. Arizona does not require permits. He immediately recognized I was acting legally, said so, and shifted to promoting firearms safety. He let me know we want to accommodate out winter visitors. (They support many local businesses.)

My suspicion is a winter visitor called. It has happened to this correspondent while open carrying. In a previous case, one deputy opined it was likely someone from Canada. 

With the current border restrictions, the Canadian possibility was less likely than other visitors.

Most states are not as free as Arizona. In some states, target shooting on public land is rigorously restricted. In other states there is very little public land. Visitors from those areas are sometimes startled with the freedom we have in Arizona.

Significantly, while I had all the paperwork necessary to prevent legal hassles, the deputy never asked about the suppressor on my pistol. 

This correspondent would like to see Arizona emulate Texas with the silencer/suppressor law passed there in the last legislative session.

If Arizona would pass such a law, the deputy would be forbidden from any legal hassle about silencers/suppressors. They would be specifically protected.

The incident shows the importance of selecting sheriffs who are sensitive to Constitutional issues, especially Second Amendment rights. 

Most contact with peace officers will be with local peace officers. If the local jurisdiction is administered by peace officers who are Constitutionally sensitive, the chances of problems with exercising your rights are much less likely.

Knowledge of the local laws is useful in preventing problems with deputies and other peace officers. 

The Internet makes information about local laws fairly easy to find.

©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

OH: Domestic Defense, Woman Shoots Estranged Boyfriend

Deputies responded to the 300 block of Township Road 1057 in Proctorville, Ohio. The occupant of the home, 31-year-old Natasha Clark told deputies that she had shot her estranged boyfriend as he tried to enter through her front door.

The man suffered one wound to the chest from a small-caliber handgun, and he was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. He is in stable condition.

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TX: Homeowner shoot Suspect Twice, is Disarmed

A Camp County Sheriff’s Office deputy was dispatched at 4:40 a.m. to a residence on a Camp County road. The homeowner stated that he heard a truck with a loud exhaust driving down the dead end road in front of his house at around 4:30 a.m. before hearing the engine turn off in the road in front of his house. A short time later, the homeowner stated he heard a noise outside and observed a male subject breaking into his storage shed. The reports states the homeowner grabbed his shotgun and went out and confronted the subject who was allegedly breaking into the building with tools belonging to the homeowner.

“He shot the intruder. However, the man got up and they then struggled for the gun. The suspect was shot again before he managed to take the gun and flee,” Camp County Sheriff John Cortelyou said.

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IL: Homeowner Shoots Man in Leg

A homeowner in the 100 block of north Entrance Ace.in Kankakee shot a man who was trying to get into his home about 4 Sunday morning.  City police the intruder was not trying to take anything he was seeking safety from two other men who were beating him just minutes earlier.

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Book Review: Dred Scott The Inside Story by David T. Hardy

 

Dred Scott The Inside story, by David T. Hardy, 2019, 84 pages, paperback

The Dred Scott decision by the United States Supreme Court, delivered an opinion, written by Chief Justice Roger Taney, in 1857, that rocked the nation. Many claim the decision precipitated the secession of the southern states and the War Between the States, or the Civil War, as many prefer. 

One of the most famous passages in the decision is where Chief Justice Taney is explaining why black people cannot be allowed to be citizens:

It would give to persons of the negro race, who were recognised as citizens in any one State of the Union, the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, singly or in companies, without pass or passport, and without obstruction, to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased at every hour of the day or night without molestation, unless they committed some violation of law for which a white man would be punished; and it would give them the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.

David Hardy has done fascinating original research on the Dred Scott case. The case is one of the most studied in American history. There are several mysteries involved. Hardy explores them and is able to uncover what Chief Justice Taney and others on the Court expected to accomplish with the case. 

The book is only 84 pages long. It is crammed with excellent scholarship and references. This is a very well done example of historical detective work.  

In his youth, Chief Justice Taney was anti-slavery. As he grew older, he became pro-slavery. To those interested in conspiracies, there was a conspiracy to bring the Dred Scott case to the Supreme Court. The expected outcome of the case, by Chief Justice Taney, was to end the controversy over slavery, by taking the issue out of the hands of the Congress. Thus, the conspirators thought, they could preserve the United States and prevent future conflicts.

The book illustrates the problem with grand conspiracies; the law of unintended consequences.  Hardy persuasively argues the Dred Scott decision lead directly to the election of Abraham Lincoln, and the war that followed.

The book is filled with interesting historical facts about the case and the people involved. A mountain man who married well and became one of the richest men in society. The bond between an illiterate slave and the son of the man who owned him, which was maintained over decades and lead to the slave's freedom; the four military officers who all claimed Dred Scott as their servant, to increase their monthly pay by nearly 50%, all at the same time.

For students of history, the book gives a fascinating look into the dynamics of 1850's politics, and how they lead to a radically changed society through the War Between the States and its aftermath. 

There is no question the Supreme Court justices of the time believed the Second Amendment protected an individual right to "keep and carry arms wherever they went."

Whatever Chief Justice Taney got wrong in the Dred Scott decision, the right of individual citizens to keep and carry arms was well understood in 1857.

Highly recommended, five stars.

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Gun Watch

 

 

OR: 74-Year-Old Woman Holds Burglary Suspect for Police

Karges told us, “Deputies arrived on scene and observed a 74-year-old an elderly female in possession of a firearm, detaining a male suspect. The resident complied with deputies’ requests to set aside the weapon and the firearm was rendered safe.”

Deputies took the suspect, whom Karges identified as 21-year-old Dustin Beau Campbell into custody.

“Through their investigation, deputies learned that the resident arrived home to find the door open and several items out of place,”Karges told us. “While inside the home, the resident located Campbell. At that time, the resident drew her personal firearm, holding Campbell at gunpoint until deputies’ arrival.”

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Guam: Armed Neighbor Uses Gun to Stop Home Invasion

“I grabbed my gun and I went and made sure that the front area was clear, because you don’t know how many are there. Then I ran back and I saw him and I chased him,” Manansala recalled.

Manansala then did what he prayed he would never have to do.

“I put a gun on his face and I said ‘I want to see your hands, let me see your hands, I don’t want to shoot you today,’” Manansala said.

The man he stopped, Eric Fortes, was released from prison a few days earlier. He was serving time on a theft by receiving charge after he had been found driving a stolen vehicle in 2019. He had also been charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance in 2018, according to court documents.

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