by permission from Stephen P. Wenger
comments in () by the same
http://www.spw-duf.info
Oops, Wrong House: Two village residents who police said were shot by
the owner of a Warren Avenue home after they broke into the residence
are in jail facing felony burglary and robbery charges. Julio Urena,
17, and Juan Martinez, 25, pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday
afternoon in Village Court. Haverstraw [NY] Village Justice Ronald
DeCaprio set bail at $50,000 for each suspect. Urena was shot in the
buttock and Martinez was shot in the arm after a home on Warren Avenue
was broken into shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday… The homeowner shot both
suspects with a rifle, he said. No charges were brought against the
homeowner. Permits are not required to own a rifle… (This shooting was
mentioned in another item, shared yesterday.)
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009910060342
---
Oops, Wrong Store Owner: A Chicago man suspected in an attempted armed
robbery was shot and killed Thursday night in what Akron [OH] police
are calling a confrontation with the owner of a neighborhood market at
Raymond and Campbell streets. Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards said the
store owner, Ali Ahmed, 59, had closed for the night and was walking
to his vehicle in the rear parking lot at about 7:30 when the suspect
approached. There was an exchange of gunfire - witnesses reported
seven or eight shots - and both men were hit, Edwards said. Ahmed was
taken by ambulance to Akron General Medical Center with wounds that
were not life threatening, Edwards said… According to police radio
traffic moments after the shooting, one man was shot in the head and
the other in the hand… Ocie Priester, a 60-year-old who does interior
remodeling, said Ahmed was aware of the dangers of owning such a store
and took measures to protect himself. Ahmed had a .44-caliber handgun,
he said, and showed it to him once… (Note the shot to the hand,
presumably Ahmed's. I have long cautioned that guns, gun hands and
gun-hand arms and shoulders are often hit in gunfights. This is why
it's important to learn to shoot with either hand and to have a
firearm available to either hand. I recognize that it is possible that
the hand struck was not the gun hand but one used in a defensive
movement.)
http://www.ohio.com/news/63381637.html
Thursday, October 8, 2009
10-08-09
buy permission from Stephen P. Wenger
comments in () by the same
http://www.spw-duf.info
comments in () by the same
http://www.spw-duf.info
Senators Weigh in on McDonald: Two pro-gun rights senators are wading
into a lawsuit pending before the Supreme Court that could further
expand the Second Amendment and restrict governments' ability to
police the flow of firearms. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and
Jon Tester (D-Mont.) are joining Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) in filing a
joint amicus brief before the Supreme Court - repeating an effort they
first made last year in the District of Columbia's gun-rights case.
The lawmakers say they plan to ask justices to apply the Second
Amendment more forcibly to states, siding with the National Rifle
Association in seeking to overturn the city of Chicago's handgun
registration laws…
From SAF: The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear the case
of McDonald v. City of Chicago, and decide whether the right to keep
and bear arms secured by the Second Amendment protects Americans from
overreaching state and local governments. The Supreme Court case is of
paramount importance to American citizens, to see that their
constitutional rights are respected not only by the Congress, but by
state and local governments… Protecting our gun rights is expensive
and it's impossible to put a price tag on. This time freedom will cost
$250,000 to defend your Second Amendment rights in this challenge to
the Chicago gun ban. SAF stands firmly committed to defend these
rights and we are asking you to stand with us and we need your help to
stop the anti-freedom extremists now! We urgently need you to demand
that all State Attorneys General file an Amicus Brief stating they
agree that the individual right to keep and bear arms is protected by
the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and applies to
all 50 states…
https://secure.conservativedonations.com/saf_faxag/?a=3074
The Good News: …Most experts seem to agree that this recitation of
ancient cases coupled with the court's eagerness to take up the issue
of incorporation even with no conflict among the lower circuits
indicate that a majority of Justices are not satisfied with the status
quo. Recently, Steve Chapman reported in the Chicago Tribune that
"law professor Ronald Rotunda of Chapman University told me that he
gives the Chicago law only a one in five chance of surviving." And
Rotunda is not alone. Avery Friedman, one of television's favorite
civil liberty experts and legal consultants, told the Chicago Gun
Rights Examiner yesterday that although he isn't personally opposed to
most local gun control ordinances across the country, he sees little
hope for Chicago's gun ban at the Supreme Court. "Unless Justice
Kennedy does an about-face," Friedman says, "the chances of the
survival of Chicago's ordinance are about as high as Sonny Corleone in
the toll booth."
Meanwhile, from the Chicago City Council…: …Driving a cab is a
dangerous job. A new survey from the University of Illinois at
Chicago, to be released today, found that one in five Chicago
cabdrivers has been physically attacked on the job… On average,
drivers report being attacked three to four times during their
careers. Some report being attacked up to 60 times, according to the
survey, which interviewed 920 of about 10,500 licensed cabdrivers in
Chicago… The council is advocating two reforms that they say will help
protect cabdrivers. One of the reforms would require a sign in cabs to
remind passengers that attacking a cabdriver is a class 3 felony… The
second reform proposed by the council would allow drivers to park on
business streets in the 49th and 50th wards, which include the Rogers
Park neighborhood, home to many immigrants. Cabdrivers aren't allowed
to park on residential streets or on streets with retail businesses
between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. in all but the 46th Ward… (No doubt, the
council will vigorously oppose any effort to let cabbies carry
firearms, even after the city loses in McDonald.)
http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/1810958,CST-NWS-cab07.article#
---
Poll Shows Decreased Support for Infringements: Only days after the
U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to one of the nation's
most egregious gun laws, a new Rasmussen poll shows waning support for
stricter gun laws. The Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and
Bear Arms said today that the poll results indicate strongly that
"America's philosophical pendulum is definitely swinging back in favor
of gun rights and individual liberty." "Whether Congressional
anti-gunners like it or not," observed CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb,
"the American public has wised up to the fact that prohibitive gun
control measures, like the gun ban in Chicago that is now being
challenged in the Supreme Court, have not stopped violent crime and
only disarm the victims. Americans are concerned about their personal
safety and the safety of their families, and they have had it with
Utopian gun bans that leave them defenseless against merciless thugs."
…
Bloomberg Targets Gun Shows: Undercover investigators working on
behalf of the New York City mayor's office repeatedly bought guns from
unlicensed dealers at gun shows even though they disclosed they
probably couldn't pass a background check…The investigation tested
private, unlicensed dealers at the shows in Nevada, Ohio and Tennessee
to see whether they would sell weapons to someone who said he or she
probably could not pass a background check. It also tested licensed
dealers at the same shows to see if they would sell to a gun to a
person who was buying the weapon for someone else, or what is called a
"straw purchase." Combined, 74 percent of the sellers failed the
integrity tests, the mayor's office said. The report, which was
released on the Internet along with footage of the transactions, calls
for background checks for all gun-show purchases and for the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to better police the
thousands of events held each year… Overall, 19 of the 30 private
sellers failed the integrity test, and 16 out of 17 licensed dealers
"willingly sold to an apparent straw purchaser." … (While is
surprising that licensed dealers would take the risk of participating
in an obvious straw purchase, 47 sellers, spread over three states, is
a fairly small sample.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100702261.html
In one video, a man trying to buy a gun at a gun show in Ohio tells
the dealer that he probably couldn't pass a background check. The
dealer, smiling, says that does not matter, "Because I wouldn't pass
either, bud." In another video, this time at a gun show in Nashville,
a man asks a female friend to buy a Glock handgun on his behalf, in
what appears to be violation of federal law. Instead of asking the
actual buyer to fill out the paperwork, the dealer, who is aware that
the buyer is trying to evade disclosure, asks the friend for a piece
of identification, then sells the gun to her… One gun seller, in
Niles, Ohio, did stop the sale of a Ruger to an investigator after he
insisted on having a woman with him fill out the paperwork. Overall,
out of 47 purchases, 35 were classified by the city as illegal…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/nyregion/08guns.html?ref=nyregion
…The 11 sellers terminated the sale confirmed that private sellers
know the law. As one seller in Columbus, Ohio, explained "I mean even
as a private citizen, I'm kind of allowed a certain latitude, but once
you say that [you can't pass the background check], I'm kind of
obligated not to....I think that's what the rules are." The
investigation also revealed that some private sellers are in fact
apparently "engaged in the business" of selling firearms without a
federal license, in violation of the law. For example, one seller sold
to investigators at three different gun shows and acknowledged selling
348 assault rifles in less than one year… Through the licensed and
private seller scenario, investigators purchased 38 guns in total, 36
semi-automatic handguns and 2 assault rifles… (If these guns were to
be misused, no doubt the victims would be deader if they were shot
with an autoloading firearm.)
http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=11273310
Republican Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp is speaking out
against an investigation by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg into
questionable gun sales at gun shows in Tennessee and two other states.
Bloomberg said private investigators were sold guns despite saying
they probably could not pass a background check. Wamp, a congressman
from Chattanooga, said in a Twitter posting Thursday that: "Bloomberg
and his anti-gun cronies should stay the heck out of Tn." Wamp said
Tennessee will defend its Second Amendment rights and that armed
citizens "keep streets safe." A copy of Bloomberg's report is being
sent to every member of Congress and the findings will be shared the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
http://www.whnt.com/news/sns-ap-tn--tennesseegovernor-gunsting,0,460438.story
Commentary:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d7-Antigun-Michael-Bloomberg-goes-undercover
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6925#
Brady Bunch Chimes In: "Many transactions at gun shows are a threat to
public safety. We need leadership on this issue from the White House
and we don't have it right now. President Obama supported tightening
the rules at gun shows as a Senator and as a candidate for President
in 2007 and 2008. But since taking office, he has refused to engage on
this issue, and he appears to have silenced his Cabinet secretaries as
well. The President needs to urge Congress to close this dangerous
loophole, and his Administration needs to provide the federal Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the resources to
effectively enforce federal gun laws. Thanks to Mayor Bloomberg and
the New York City Police Department, the public can see firsthand what
goes on at these weapons markets. Private sellers trade AK-47s for
cash without even seeing identification, and straw purchases occur
regularly without oversight…"
RKBA Advocate Resigns Ministry: A Kentucky pastor who hosted a rally
celebrating God and guns a few months ago has resigned his ministry to
promote gun rights and church security. Ken Pagano held the "Open
Carry Celebration" at New Bethel Church in south Louisville in June.
But he is now working part time at a local gun range and helped form
the International Security Coalition of Clergy. He formed the group
with a New York rabbi who [sic] and they are promoting the use of
armed and trained security at houses of worship. Pagano told The
Courier-Journal the church supported the rally, but he felt like a
liability and he brought too much attention to the small congregation.
He also said he was burned out with the ministry.
http://www.newsmax.com/us/us_guns_in_church/2009/10/08/269875.html
---
Virginia County Drops Park-Carry Ban: Loudoun County officials
approved a measure Tuesday lifting the county's ban on carrying
weapons in public parks and community centers. The move brings Loudoun
in compliance with state law. The Board of Supervisors unanimously
approved the ordinance amendment, which still allows Loudoun to
prohibit the discharge of weapons - including firearms, slingshots,
dart devices and bows and arrows - in public parks and centers. The
county code previously restricted the carrying of those weapons, as
well. The amendment was deliberated in May at the board's Public
Safety and Human Services Committee meeting. But when it came before
the full board in June, supervisors sent the measure back to the
committee after they could not agree on whether visitors to parks and
community centers should be given an explicit right to fire a gun in
self-defense… The state had previously barred counties from
restricting the carrying of guns unless the restriction was enacted
before 1987, an exception that allowed Loudoun to keep enforcing its
ban. But the Virginia General Assembly removed the grandfathering
clause in 2004…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100604192.html
---
Idaho Open-Carry Dinner Rejected by Two Eateries: First, they were
turned away from Fuddruckers, then Idaho Pizza Company, farther out.
But here at Shari's, just west of the Idaho State Police building in
Meridian, John Carter and Mike Ludlow are finally able to sit down to
dinner, black Glocks still strapped to their hips. The evening, up to
this point, had certainly taken on a no-room-at-the-inn feel. Their
objectives were simple: to sit down in a restaurant with their
handguns clearly hanging in hip holsters, and to enjoy dinner with
other like-minded and explicitly armed individuals. Carter and Ludlow
are two pro-Second Amendment, gun-carrying activists trying to
establish a local gun-rights advocacy group. On this night, however,
their interest goes beyond your everyday, "to keep and bear arms"
right. The firearms right that Carter and Ludlow are interested in
advocating, exercising and promoting is called "open carry." They're
not only advocating carrying a gun for the entire Glock-fearing or, as
the case may be, Glock-loving world to see, they also have a strong
interest in seeing you openly carrying a firearm, too…
http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/no-pizza-for-open-carry-gun-families/Content?oid=1225835
---
Meanwhile, in Michigan…: A few days ago I got a call from a Michigan
Sheriff who told me: "The Michigan Municipal League is making a
presentation on open carry at the Sheriff's convention. I'll let you
know what they say." This is the same municipal league who fought hard
against the concealed carry law, so naturally I thought the worst. I
just assumed they'd found a new strategy for arresting open carriers.
(The old strategy wasn't working because sometimes when a misguided
LEO arrests someone here a lawsuit against the municipality is filed.)
I called Brian Jeffs, President of Michigan Open Carry, and gave him a
heads up thinking that he might want to attend the meeting. He did
attend and afterward sent me the following email: "Boy did you get it
wrong. The talk wasn't about how to arrest OCers, just the opposite.
It was about how you can't arrest them without facing a law suit." …
When You Least Expect It…: A mother of three who gained national
notoriety after she openly carried a loaded handgun to her daughter's
soccer game was shot dead along with her husband in what appeared to
be a murder-suicide. Meleanie Hain, 31, and Scott Hain 33, were
pronounced dead shortly after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at their 1 1/2-story
brick home in Lebanon, a small city about 80 miles west of
Philadelphia… Some neighbors told the Lebanon Daily News they heard or
saw the children - a 10-year-old boy and girls aged 2 and 6 - running
from the house and screaming "Daddy shot Mommy!" shortly before the
911 emergency center was alerted at 6:20 p.m… Neighbor Mark Long said
the Hains had been having marital problems for about a week. He said
Scott Hain had left home on Tuesday, and Meleanie Hain didn't know
where he was, but that he returned Wednesday… Scott Hain worked as a
parole officer in neighboring Berks County, the News reported. He was
formerly a guard at the Camp Hill state prison, according to the
newspaper… (Not to minimize the tragedy but the Tory media will likely
focus on the wife's ownership of firearms as a private citizen rather
than the husband's role in law enforcement.)
http://townhall.com/news/us/2009/10/08/gun-toting_pa_soccer_mom,_husband_found_shot_dead?page=full
---
Florida Man Acquitted in 2006 Shooting: Carlos Moz never denied he
shot a man in the head, but he claimed it was to defend himself and
his brother. On Thursday, a jury agreed, finding Moz, 34, not guilty
of aggravated assault… The man Moz shot, 21-year-old Nathan Tony
Monson, was released from a hospital just days after sustaining a
bullet wound in front of his left ear. He survived the shooting with
some hearing loss but no other permanent injuries, according to Brett
Willis, the assistant circuit defender who successfully defended Moz.
Willis said his client fired the shot from a legally owned 9 mm
handgun on the night of Oct. 1, 2006, after his client's older brother
was severely beaten by an unruly mob of at least six eenagers in front
of California Records, a store next to the Kangaroo convenience store
on Park Hill Drive. The beating victim, Juan Moz, was injured by large
chunks of asphalt hurled at him by "a group of ne'er-do-wells
harassing a couple of guys who were just walking," Willis said…
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/24284/#
---
Oops, Wrong House: Two village residents who police said were shot by
the owner of a Warren Avenue home after they broke into the residence
are in jail facing felony burglary and robbery charges. Julio Urena,
17, and Juan Martinez, 25, pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday
afternoon in Village Court. Haverstraw [NY] Village Justice Ronald
DeCaprio set bail at $50,000 for each suspect. Urena was shot in the
buttock and Martinez was shot in the arm after a home on Warren Avenue
was broken into shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday… The homeowner shot both
suspects with a rifle, he said. No charges were brought against the
homeowner. Permits are not required to own a rifle… (This shooting was
mentioned in another item, shared yesterday.)
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009910060342
---
Oops, Wrong Store Owner: A Chicago man suspected in an attempted armed
robbery was shot and killed Thursday night in what Akron [OH] police
are calling a confrontation with the owner of a neighborhood market at
Raymond and Campbell streets. Akron Police Lt. Rick Edwards said the
store owner, Ali Ahmed, 59, had closed for the night and was walking
to his vehicle in the rear parking lot at about 7:30 when the suspect
approached. There was an exchange of gunfire - witnesses reported
seven or eight shots - and both men were hit, Edwards said. Ahmed was
taken by ambulance to Akron General Medical Center with wounds that
were not life threatening, Edwards said… According to police radio
traffic moments after the shooting, one man was shot in the head and
the other in the hand… Ocie Priester, a 60-year-old who does interior
remodeling, said Ahmed was aware of the dangers of owning such a store
and took measures to protect himself. Ahmed had a .44-caliber handgun,
he said, and showed it to him once… (Note the shot to the hand,
presumably Ahmed's. I have long cautioned that guns, gun hands and
gun-hand arms and shoulders are often hit in gunfights. This is why
it's important to learn to shoot with either hand and to have a
firearm available to either hand. I recognize that it is possible that
the hand struck was not the gun hand but one used in a defensive
movement.)
http://www.ohio.com/news/63381637.html
---
Rule Five Reminder: An Adams County, Colorado man is trying to find
the person who broke into his home on two separate occasions. After
the first break-in, Guy Sitzman decided to purchase a home security
system in case the burglar came back. Apparently, he did… Toward the
end of the tape, Sitzman noticed the man walking around the side of
his house. When the tape ran out, the system went back to "live" mode.
That's when Sitzman saw the man leaving through his back door. The man
was carrying a rifle and a pistol. Despite his initial fear, Sitzman
decided to grab another gun and ran after him. "I ran out back and
fired two shots off at him," Sitzman said. The man dropped the items
he stole from Sitzman's house and took off… (Rule Five: Maintain
control of your firearm.)
http://www.wbir.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=101312&catid=141
---
Dumb Crook Award?: When a friend was critically wounded in Northeast
Washington in May last year, Deonte Marshall immediately got on a
cellphone and dialed 911 for help. That call led to his conviction on
a federal gun charge Tuesday. Authorities said Marshall was standing
next to a male friend critically wounded by two gunmen May 10 in the
1700 block of North Capitol Street. Marshall called 911. Detectives,
who listened to 911 tapes, could hear Marshall asking a dispatcher to
send an ambulance. Then, authorities alleged, Marshall apparently
turned to someone at the scene and said "give me your [gun] before the
police come." …Police believed that Marshall, 29, had spirited a gun
away from the scene. While searching his home in the unit block of
Randolph Place NW two weeks later, they found a loaded .32-caliber
revolver, authorities said in court papers. Marshall was precluded
from having such a weapon because he is a convicted felon. His
criminal record, prosecutors wrote, included convictions for
unauthorized use of a car, possessing cocaine with the intent to
distribute it, drug distribution and being a felon in possession of a
firearm… (We normally teach that 911 recordings can be your friend but
not if you say stupid things while you're on the phone.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100701182.html?hpid=sec-metro
---
New Club in Tucson Area: …Shortly after Jones took a concealed weapons
class through Marana Parks and Recreation, Marana farmer Ron Wong
approached him and offered to let him form a shooting club at a
private shooting range on Wong's property… The range itself can be
reached by traveling a long dirt road east from North Sanders Road in
Marana, until you reach a giant, dug-out hole in the ground that's
about 400 yards long and about 250 yards wide. The walls are 20 to 30
feet deep… In June this year, the Marana Shooting Club officially
launched as a limited liability corporation with eight board members
and a bit of money to get started. The group got the money together on
its own, without grants or sponsorships. Its members didn't want to be
beholden to anyone, Jones said. "And we were able to do it," he said.
"We are solvent. Not by an awful lot, but the bills are all paid."
That includes insurance and paying for the club telephone line.
And by forming a club, the group gets to maintain a family-friendly
setting with a focus on safety - outsiders can't just drop in… (Not
specifically mentioned is the decision not to involve the Arizona Game
and Fish Department.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)