Officials say that during the assault, Simmons also struck their mother and the brother’s daughter who were caught in the middle of the altercation.
During the attack, the brother got his handgun and gave multiple warnings to Simmons to stop, including firing a “warning” shot into the floor, according to deputies.
Simmons continued to hit his brother who finally shot a round into Simmons’ leg.
A preliminary investigation found two men were attacking another with a knfie and a pole Thursday morning in the area of Decatur Avenue and Tennessee Street. A fourth man then stepped in to help the victim and shot one of the alleged attackers.
That person died. Police haven’t identified them yet.
The victim drove away and crashed nearby on a motorcycle. First responders took them to the hospital in stable condition to treat his stab wounds.
Slovakia map in public domain
While researching bear/human conflicts, two more incidents were found where Slovakians used handguns to successfully defend themselves against European brown bears (Ursus arctos). Slovakia is one of the central European countries which have adopted statutes so that people can legally carry handguns for defense of self and others. The area of both attacks is located about 20 km north of Banská Bystrica, just north of central Slovakia.
On March 30, 2024, a young man was searching for mushrooms in dense forest in the district of Žilina, near the village of Stráňavy. He was off the hiking trail when a brown bear charged him. Fortunately, he was carrying a handgun, and fired at the bear, stopping the attack. Members of the Slovakian State Nature Conservancy quickly investigated. They assembled a team including members of the local hunting associations and local police, and hunting dogs. The team was able to trace the bear involved.
During the search, the bear attacked the hunters, who were forced to fire at the bear. The Slovakian account does not specifically say if the bear was killed. The local account does not identify the handgun or ammunition used in the defense.
On October 29, 2025, two National Park workers were in the field inside the Great Fatra National Park, in the district of Ružomberok, near the village of Liptovské Revúce. The two workers, a man and a woman were unexpectedly attacked by a European brown bear. The man was carrying a legal handgun. He fired several times at the bear until the bear fled the scene. The two park workers were not injured. The incident was immediately reported to the police and the official Team to investigate brown bear incidents. When the team searched the area of the attack, the found a dead brown bear. The bear was an old bear. It weighed about 290 lbs.
Grizzly bear in mountains, public domain
Because of increasing bear numbers and bear attacks, Slovakia has proposed a cull of 350 bears out of a population estimated at 1300. This would be about 27% of the existing bear population. Brown bears, ursus arctos, can increase their population by about 18% per year, if they have sufficient food supplies. In areas with significant human populations, access to human produced foods on farms and ranches supplies much more food than would be available in most untouched wilderness. Brown bear populations have been increasing over much of their range, from Europe to areas near Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in the United States.
In 1972, a commission considered a population of 300-500 bears to be an "optimal" level for Slovakia. A paper published by the Slovak Wildlife Society and funded by the World Wildlife Fund indicated there were about 800 European brown bears in Slovakia in 2007. The bears are concentrated in the central mountainous region of Slovakia. The factors considered to arrive at the optimal level were not published. In 2015 a Slovak source published that genetic research from 2013-2014 indicated a population level of between 1000 and 1500 bears in Slovakia.
Brown bear populations have been increasing over much of their range, from Europe to areas near Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in the United States. Along with the increases in bear populations, there have been increases in bear/human conflicts. Governments around the world are now facing the challenge of balancing local residents desires to be safe in the forest with international and urban pressure not to kill bears or reduce their populations. Japan has started to take aggressive action to limit bear populations in response to record numbers of people killed by bears in 2025.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
COLERAIN, Bertie County — A Colerain man faces multiple charges after a homeowner caught him during an alleged break-in and held him at gunpoint until a Bertie County deputy arrived, according to the sheriff's office.
The Bertie County Sheriff's Office said a deputy was dispatched around 9:14 a.m. Tuesday to a home in the 200 block of Sally Freeman Road for a reported break-in in progress.
According to the sheriff's office, the homeowner had the suspect at gunpoint when the deputy arrived.
In the video, a masked man approaches a person who is at a gas pump. The man at the gas pump has a concealed pistol. He watches the masked man approach. When the would be robber pulls a gun, the concealed pistol owner draws his weapon and shoots the suspect, who runs off.
On April 18, 2026, a 58-year-old man committed a mass murder in Kyiv, Ukraine, using a legally registered firearm. Two police officers fled the scene. The Minister of the Interior, Ihor Klymenko established an administrative working group to consider the creation of a national law to allow citizens to carry handguns for self-defense. The working group was established on June 11, 2026.
Ihor Klymenko was replaced as Interior Minister on July 16, 2026. Ivan Vyhivskyi is the current Minister of the Interior. It is not clear if the working group has submitted recommendations to the parliament, or if the working group is still working.
On August 9, 2026, an article published in sud.ua describes a petition submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The petition is No. 41/010504-26ep. The petition outlines reasons for the Ukrainian government to solidify requirements to purchase, possess, and carry handguns in Ukraine. The current system is regulated by acts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has control of the police forces of Ukraine and the National Guard. In effect licenses to possess or carry handguns have been handed out, very rarely, by officials within the National Police force of Ukraine, pretty much at their discretion. Not many are handed out. Requirements for shall issue permits suggested in the petition are these:
An article in sud.ua, published on August 18, 2026, gives more details about the proposed Ukrainian weapons law. The proposal would create a "shall issue" system of permits to allow veterans to purchase, possess, and carry concealed handguns. The article shows more details from the petition No. 41/010504-26ep, as it applies to veterans. The requirements are a bit different from those listed in the August 9th article.
- State registration of each weapon.
- Identity verification and confirmation of the absence of legal grounds for refusing a permit.
- Medical and psychiatric assessments.
- Confirmation of knowledge regarding safe handling rules.
- Periodic confirmation of the right to possess weapons.
- An absolute prohibition on carrying weapons while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- Suspension or cancellation of the permit in legally defined circumstance
The petition makes the point such reforms are becoming popular in other countries in central Europe. It lists the Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldava, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Those countries have instituted forms of shall issue carry permit systems, and have not suffered from increased crime.
It is unclear if the change of Ministers of the Interior of Ukraine means a change in support for a Ukrainian law regulating the ownership and carry of handguns. Since the war, attitudes toward the citizen ownership of weapons have changed. Some polls indicate a majority of citizens now favor a weapons permit system.
The current system has been accused of being riddled with corruption. A Ukrainian publication indicates handguns, sub-machine guns, and assault rifles have been issued as "award pistols". The claim is made such could be had for a price of $30,000. If that sort of money can be made inside the current system, there is certain to be opposition to reform legislation.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
On September 14, 2026, at approximately 4:34 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received a 9-1-1 call from a resident in the 3900 block of Walnut Street in Eureka reporting that he had shot a male subject who had forcibly entered his residence. The resident reported the suspect fled the area on foot toward Walnut Drive.
Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the scene, along with officers from the Eureka Police Department. A male subject matching the description of the suspect was located in the area of W Street and Glatt Street suffering from a gunshot wound.
According to Goose Creek police, someone tried to get inside an apartment, prompting an exchange of gunfire. The person inside the apartment returned fire.
No injuries were reported. Investigators said they found no signs that the suspect was struck by the returned gunfire outside the apartment.
A West Easton man is accused of fatally shooting his mother’s boyfriend after intervening while the boyfriend was attacking her at their borough home.
Ryan James Yaindl, 26, of the 100 block of Spring Street, is charged with felony criminal homicide. Yaindl was arraigned Saturday before District Judge Robert Christian Weber, who denied bail.
Investigators said the 39-year-old went to the residence to confront another man about an alleged debt. Police said the resident, a 47-year-old Kerrville man, met him at the door, and the 39-year-old is accused of brandishing a knife during the confrontation. Police said the resident shot him.
Police said the resident is cooperating with detectives and has been interviewed. Based on preliminary information, detectives believe the resident acted in self-defense, police said.
“After the shooting, the victim was alert and walking and did not appear to have life-threatening injuries when he was transported by EMS to a local hospital,” the city said in a release.
The police department said it believes the juvenile was targeted and that there is no indication of a public threat.
The juvenile reportedly fired shots back at the suspect, police said.
Officers were initially dispatched to the 900 block of 47th Place North following a report of a burglary in progress. While officers were responding, the call was upgraded to a report of shots fired and a person wounded.
When officers arrived, they found Hamilton suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Birmingham Fire and Rescue transported him to UAB Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A man has been charged with assault and burglary, and his alleged accomplice was shot and killed by the victim, police said.
It happened at a Frayser apartment complex on Madewell around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday.
When authorities arrived at the scene, they located a Devonta Johnson suffering from a gunshot wound, MPD said.
A surprising number has been revealed from comparing the ratios of firearms found in over a hundred years of federal government data on firearms production, export, and import to the firearms reported to be owned by gun owners in the William English Survey done in mid 2026. Ratios validate the Survey's methods and numbers of firearms findings.
The survey paper, released in August of 2026 is the best designed and executed survey to date in an attempt to determine the extent of firearms ownership in the United States. The 2026 Survey has been designed to overcome minor defects in the original survey done in 2021. Questions have been sharpened and clarified. Ownership has been limited to the individual questioned. The Survey respondents are reasonably represented in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey participants were not volunteers for this particular survey. First, a national representative sample of 51,398 individuals aged 18 or over was chosen. Then a screening question was used to identify 18,206 individuals as potential gun owners. Then 16,688 individuals were validated as gun owners. In the middle of the survey, a question was used to validate the responses. Only people who read the entire question could answer it correctly. 98.2% of respondents passed the internal checks. Their responses were used to determine the numeric results of the survey.
The 16,688 respondents were found to average 5.2 firearms per owner, or about 87 thousand firearms. This is a very large sample. The smallest sample was in Vermont, with 28 respondents. California had 1,549 respondents. Texas had 1,686. It is reasonable to believe the floor for the number of firearms in the private stock in the United States is 461 million, as stated in the Survey. Such is the lowest reasonable number. It is a very conservative number because of choices made in the interest of caution. Owners reporting over 100 firearms of a particular type were trimmed from the estimate. Households with incomes of over $150,000 only showed in 9% of the respondents. They should be about 23% of respondents. A low share of high income households from surveys is said to be a common phenomena. This matters because the percentage of people owning firearms increases with increasing income, and the number of guns owned per person increases with increasing income.
The Survey estimates a total of 461 million firearms in the private stock of the USA, including 208 million handguns, 154 million rifles, and 99 million shotguns.
The comparison numbers are from figures compiled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). They were placed into a spreadsheet available online by the Trace. Using the numbers in the data from ATF/Trace, we find 513 million at the end of 2024, including 231,263,816 handguns, 171,038,075 rifles, and 110,688,257 million shotguns. The numbers show there is some attrition of firearms lost, destroyed, thrown away, or worn out over time. The comparison is with the ratios of handguns, rifles, and shotguns from reports to the government of firearms manufactured - exported + imported over more than 125 years. The agreement is astounding.
The ratios are nearly identical, as shown in the graphic. The largest difference is in shotguns, where the difference is .1%. The numbers come from two completely different sources. One set is from the government statistics of cumulative firearms over more than 125 years. The other is from a survey of gun owners reporting what they have in 2026.
Skeptics may say: In a large sample of 87 thousand firearms selected at random, you would expect the resulting ratios to be extremely close. Yes. That is exactly what you would expect of a very large sample selected by random. That is the point. It is validation of the sample methodology. It is validation of the accuracy of the reporting by respondents.
The ratio validates the Survey method, respondents accuracy of reporting, and randomness of the sample.
If, as seems likely, further refinements in a future survey show higher numbers of firearms in the private stock of the USA, the ratio would not be expected to change.
©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Deputies said that shortly before 10 p.m., 30-year-old Daqwuantavest Taqwuan Barber was standing outside his apartment complex at 300 Furman Hall Road when he was approached by 41-year-old Jared Matthew Wakefield.
Officials said that, for reasons that remain under investigation, Wakefield fired at Barber, striking him at least once. Barber was taken to Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital, where he died around 10:40 p.m. During the incident, Barber and at least one other person fired at Wakefield, who was struck at least once during the exchange of gunfire and also taken to the hospital.
Natchez Police officers responded to 96 Hunter’s Lane after an altercation had reportedly escalated. Natchez Police Chief Lee Best told The Natchez Democrat newspaper that the victim was shot after allegedly forcing his way into the residence.
Emergency medical services transported the wounded man to Merit Health Natchez for treatment. While the exact extent of his injuries has not been released, officials said the victim was conscious and able to speak with officers following the incident.
It all started when a woman told the police that her friend was dropping her off at the home. She says that when she arrived, the male victim, who is her mother’s boyfriend, approached her.
That is when she says the victim caused a disturbance that turned physical and led to him punching her.
She says her friend attempted to defend her, but the victim started attacking her friend, which caused them fall to the ground tussling. She then told police that the gun her friend had on him went off.
HPD said the man then presented a knife and refused to put it down, according to hospital security. Police said that at least three security guards tried to talk the patient into putting the knife down, but that he refused.
Guards said that when the patient became uncooperative, they used tasers on him to get the knife away from him, according to HPD. Authorities said that the suspect did go down after being shocked, but eventually got back up and reached for the knife again.
Basadar Lawya St. Phard, 27, was shot and transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to police. He was later pronounced dead. The individual detained following the shooting was treated at the scene for minor injuries and was taken to the Detective Division for questioning. RPD also consulted the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, and the individual was released without charges.
On 09/07/2026 at approximately 1900 hours Officers began investigating a domestic disturbance. During the course of the investigation it was learned the suspect involved in the domestic disturbance was firing shots into an apartment complex. Officers responded to the area and located the suspect. When confronted the suspect did not follow commands and was uncooperative. Officers took up a position of advantage. While doing so, and giving commands for the suspect to drop the gun, a single gunshot was heard. Officers approached the suspect and discovered she was suffering from a gunshot wound. No officers discharged their firearms. Medical personnel attempted life saving measures but were unsuccessful. Due to the circumstances involved the CSPD Homicide Unit responded. Any future updates will come from the PIO.
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