by permission from Stephen P. Wenger
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http://www.spw-duf.info
NSSF vs. MAIG: In a recent report by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) coalition, an anti-gun organization led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the group misuses firearms tracing data in order to push its own gun-control agenda… The MAIG report also alleges that states with strong regulations and oversight of firearm sales have less firearms trafficking than states that lack such measures. Though countless examples to refute this claim exist, let's focus on three: California, Virginia and South Carolina.
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Federal Judges Not Birds of a Feather: A Federal Magistrate Judge in Massachusetts just outdid the Brady Center in their ludicrous interpretation of the United States Supreme Court Heller decision which declared that we have an individual, fundamental enumerated Constitutional right to carry a weapon for the purpose of self defense. On October 14th, Judge Marrianne B. Bowler of Massachusetts ruled that the Second Amendment does not preclude laws or actions which are not "...tantamount to an absolute restriction on plaintiff's right to possess firearms in his home." …Unlike Judge Bowler in Massachusetts, Judge Gonzalez quoted directly from the Heller decision. Nowhere in the Heller decision does the High Court state that the right to keep and bear (or carry) arms is limited to the home. Instead, the High Court gave the home as an example as to where the right applied. The exact words the Court used was "such as" which, as any first grader knows, means for example and does not mean "only." The High Court also gave two examples of where the right could be restricted in public; Schools and Government buildings. Places the Court described as "sensitive." If the Court had intended to restrict their decision "only to the home" they would have said so and would have had no need to devote as much of the opinion to a discussion of carrying firearms in public as they did…
http://www.examiner.com/la-in-los-angeles/massachusetts-and-california-federal-judges-on-the-2nd-amendment
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But That's a Gun-Free Zone!: Two postal workers were killed Monday in a shooting at a post office in west Tennessee during a possible robbery attempt, authorities said. The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department told the Associated Press that two female employees were killed Monday morning in what may have been a robbery at the Henning post office. Officers are searching for a maroon Chevrolet Malibu with two men inside. A witness told a state employee at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville, Tony Burns, that the shooting happened during a robbery attempt. Mr. Burns said his sister-in-law, a U.S. Postal Service worker, was assigned to the Henning office Monday. He said she told him she escaped unharmed… (Even if we are able to repeal the ban on firearms in non-secure federal facilities, it's unlikely that postal employees would be allowed to carry. Nonetheless, the tragic death of these two women points out the folly of creating gun-free zones as criminals are more likely to be encouraged than dissuaded by such postings.)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/18/2-workers-killed-tenn-post-office-shooting/
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Florida – Five Years of Stand-Your-Ground Law: …If history serves, the gunman stands a very good chance in court. The case may not even make it to trial. That's because of Florida Statute 776.013(3), which took effect five years ago this month. The old law gave you the right to protect yourself with deadly force inside your home. The 2005 law gives you the right to protect yourself in a park, outside a Chili's, on a highway – just about anywhere. You need only to "reasonably believe" that pulling the trigger or plunging the knife or swinging the bat is necessary to stop the other person from hurting you. Reports of justifiable homicides tripled after the law went into effect, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Last year, twice a week, on average, someone's killing was considered warranted. The self-defense law – known as "stand your ground" – has been invoked in at least 93 cases with 65 deaths, a St. Petersburg Times review found. In the majority of the cases, the person's use of force was excused by prosecutors and the courts. Proponents say that means the law is working, allowing people to protect themselves without having to ponder legalities in the heat of an attack. You don't have to wait to see how much of a victim you're going to be. You don't have to wait for the first bone to break. But the law has also been used to excuse violence in deadly neighbor arguments, bar brawls, road rage – even a gang shoot-out – that just as easily might have ended with someone walking away… (There appears to be a movement among Florida's journalists to prevent criminal stupidity from becoming terminal stupidity. Ever since I have been back in Arizona, stand-your-ground has been the law, whether by case law or statute, and I don't recall this many incidents being attributed to it. Admittedly, Florida's population is about 2.8 times greater than Arizona's but the five-year-old change in Florida's law was and continues to be highly publicized. Many people are familiar with the first portion or Heinlein's quotation about an armed society being a polite society but are unfamiliar with the entire paragraph, which includes, "But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things that kill off the weak and the stupid these days.")
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1128317.ece
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Meanwhile, in Illinois…: A jury found a University Park man guilty Friday of killing a neighbor whose dog had urinated on his prized lawn. The panel convicted Charles J. Clements, 69, of 530 Landau Road, of second-degree murder for the death of Joshua Funches, 23. But the jury rejected a more serious charge of first-degree murder against Clements, signaling they concluded that at the time he shot Funches, Clements thought he was acting in self-defense but that his belief was unreasonable. Authorities said Funches was walking his fox terrier on Landau Road on May 9 when the dog urinated on Clements' lawn. Neighbors said Clements, a retired truck driver and former Marine, was a fanatic about his lawn, chasing errant children from the grass he worked on every day and winning beautification awards for his efforts. Clements then confronted Funches about the dog's deposit and then followed him down the street. Clements said in court filings that Funches threatened him, swore at Clements' wife and then hit Clements in the face. He said he was in fear for his life when he pulled a .45-caliber handgun from his pocket and fired a single gunshot at Funches, striking him in the abdomen and killing him… (Note the disparity in ages between the 23-year-old puncher and the 69-year-old shooter. Personally, regardless of how much I prized my lawn, I wouldn't have pursued the dog owner.)
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2806104,101710lawnshooting.article
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No Lack of Fertilizer in the White Mountains: …Women are becoming gun owners and learning to shoot in larger numbers than ever before. The old methods of protecting yourself, such as blowing a whistle, learning martial arts, and using things like pepper spray and mace, aren't enough to help women feel safe anymore. Crime touches every part of the country, even in rural areas. Local radio personality Barbara Bruce knows first-hand what it feels like to be unprotected. "I have a stalker and sleep with a butcher knife and bells on my doors," Barbara said. "I don't want to be a victim." Bruce took a gun safety class offered by local resident Linda Gilbertson, a NRA certified firearms instructor, and she wasn't the only one. "I held 13 classes this summer for women only and have a waiting list," said Gilbertson. During the class that Bruce attended in September, there were four women in attendance. "I try to limit the classes to four so I can have more one-on-one time with them," states Gilbertson… (I'm all for women being trained to use firearms safely and effectively but can't help wonder about local radio personality Barbara Bruce being taught to grasp a pistol with all four fingers or each hand. I gave Barbara my business card five years ago, shortly after the first edition of my book was published but have never heard from her.)
http://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/article_0b9bd34c-d7df-11df-9744-001cc4c03286.html
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Oops, Wrong Eatery: Johnston County [NC] deputies said an attempted robbery at a local restaurant on Friday evening turned into a shootout, leaving one suspect dead. The robbery happened shortly before 6 p.m. at Shoeheel Grill, Grocery and Gas at 8212 Old Beulah Road in Kenly, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said. The owner, his son and two female employees were the only people in the store when a man walked in and displayed a weapon, Bizzell said. The man pointed the gun at the owner's son. The owner came from a back room with a weapon. The two exchanged gunfire in the store. The suspect was shot but made it outside to his van, Bizzell said. The owner also went outside and noticed a second suspect in the parking lot, Bizzell said. At this point, the owner had gotten a second weapon. The second suspect began firing a rifle at the owner, who returned fire. The second suspect fled on foot into some nearby woods, Bizzell said. The first suspect was found dead in his van…
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8462902/
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Oops, Wrong Musician: In a bizarre shooting in front of an upscale restaurant in downtown Sacramento [CA] on Saturday night, police said a member of a jazz band pulled a pistol and shot one of two men who had picked fights with a waiter, a homeless man and the band member. The band member, whom police did not identify, was detained but not arrested… The events began shortly before 7 p.m. when two men described as large white men in their 20s, possibly intoxicated, tried to pick a fight with a valet parking attendant and mooned patrons at Ella restaurant at 12th and K streets, witnesses told The Bee. The men crossed the street to the Broiler restaurant, where they entered the building and again started trouble, police and witnesses said. As they exited the building, the men touched one of several human-sized cat figurines belonging to a jazz band that was playing on the patio just outside the restaurant. A band member told the men to stop it. At that point, a homeless man in his early 20s confronted the two men and they beat him, said Sgt. Norm Leong, police spokesman. They punched a waiter who tried to intervene, knocking him to the ground, and then the two men punched the band member and backed off,Leong said. But the two men again approached the band member, at which point he pulled a pistol and shot one of the assailants, Leong said. Leong said the man suspected of firing the gun was not arrested. He said police will refer the case to the District Attorney's Office to determine if he shot in self-defense and whether charges are merited against anybody in the case… (My suspicion is that the musician may end up being charged with unlicensed CCW, unless he holds a CWP issued in another county.)
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/17/3110857/sacramento-cops-say-musician-shot.html
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Rule Two, Rule Three Reminder: Police in New Hampshire say a 23-year-old Manchester man had to be hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself in the leg with a friend's gun shortly after attending a gun show. Manchester police Lt. James Soucy said Michael Hunter and 23-year-old Andrew Shelley each bought two guns at a show in Manchester on Saturday. Police said the men drove to Shelley's apartment and that Hunter shot himself with Shelley's .40-caliber handgun outside of the car while trying to locate the gun's safety. Officials said he was listed in fair condition after being taken to a hospital. (Rule Two: don't let the muzzle cross anything you're not prepared to shoot. Rule Three: Keep your finger out of the trigger guard until your sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire.)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2010/10/17/nh_man_shoots_self_in_leg_after_buying_gun_at_show/
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Rule Four Reminder: A 76-year-old woman was shot in the head on Sunday by a man target practicing with a rifle in Hiram [ME], police said. Investigators said Yvonne Dorrity was outside doing some yard work at about 11 a.m. with her son, 47-year-old Mark Hendricks, when they heard a very loud gun shot from the sand pit across the street. Dorrity told police that she immediately felt the bullet hit her in the head just above her right eye…Police arrested 20-year-old Sean McNulty, of Parsonsfield, who they said was target-shooting a rifle in the sand pit at the corner of S. Hiram and New Settlement roads in Hiram. Investigators said that McNulty had set up gallon milk jugs filled with water on the bank of the sand pit. Police said a bullet ricocheted off of one of the jugs and continued another 350 feet before it struck Dorrity in the head… Dorrity was treated at her residence by Sacopee Rescue personnel for injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. McNulty was charged with reckless conduct. (Rule Four is generally expressed as being sure of your target and what's beyond it but ricochets are usually difficult to predict. This once was more likely off a rock or packed dirt, not the relatively soft milk jug. I cannot count the number of times I have been hit or seen others hit by ricochets. Unless they involve very heavy bullets, they are usually of low energy but I have seen several penetrations of skin by shards of jacket material from JHP bullets. If you do not wear wraparound eyeglasses or side shields at shooting ranges, make it a point not to turn your head sideways toward the direction from which ricochets can occur. I have seen one case where the fragment of a lead bullet came within ¼" of the eye of someone who ignored such advice.)
http://www.wmtw.com/news/25421381/detail.html
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Rule Five Reminder: For years, customs agent Jose Melendez-Perez was hailed as an American hero of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Now, after making what he says was his first major mistake in 44 years of public service, Melendez-Perez is fighting to get his old job back. He faces a disciplinary hearing this week in Florida. Melendez-Perez, 64, an immigration officer at Orlando International Airport, stopped the supposed "20th hijacker" from entering the United States in August 2001. He won national acclaim for grilling passenger Mohammed Qahtani for 90 minutes and then denying him entry. But six months ago, Melendez-Perez drove a U.S. Customs and Border Protection van home for the weekend, violating agency policy. He locked his service weapon, an agency computer and other items inside. Someone broke into the van and stole the items, which were never recovered… (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.)
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/10/18/20101018customsagent1018.html
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Note the Injuries: A police officer was shot twice in the leg on Sunday night after an exchange of gunfire in a building in East New York, Brooklyn, the police said. The officer and a suspect, who was also shot three times, were in stable condition. The officer, Richard Ramirez, 29, was among three plainclothes officers who observed a man riding his bicycle on the sidewalk, and when the man saw the police, he ran into a building at 454 Bradford Street, authorities said. The officers, who were part of an anticrime unit, chased the man, who sources said was 17 and from Brooklyn. When the man was unable to enter an apartment on the third floor, he turned and fired on the officers; a German-made gun with six expended rounds was found at the scene, said the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly. Mr. Kelly made his comments at a news conference at Kings County Hospital Center, where Officer Ramirez was taken with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to a hospital spokesman. He was undergoing surgery late Sunday evening to remove a bullet from his calf. The alleged shooter, whose name was not released, was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center and was also undergoing surgery… (A few years ago, while reviewing NYPD summaries of officer-involved shootings, John Farnam observed that when officers are shot by criminals they are most often struck in the lower abdomen or legs and are rarely struck at distances beyond six meters. This is consistent with inexperienced shooters pushing or jerking shots low and to the non-dominant side. For this reason, many instructors counsel not to use kneeling or prone positions without cover as doing so may only serve to place your most vital organs in the line of fire.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/nyregion/18cop.html?ref=nyregion
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2009 LEO's Killed in the Line-of-Duty: An assistant police chief with 27 years of law enforcement experience was shot and killed on an Arkansas highway after stopping a suspected stolen vehicle. A 30-year-old U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot multiple times while on patrol near San Diego. A patrol officer in Pennsylvania awaiting backup was ambushed in his police cruiser after responding to a 9-1-1 call. These three officers, who paid the ultimate price for their desire to serve and protect the public, are just three of the 48 law enforcement officers from around the nation who lost their lives in the line of duty during 2009. You can read more about the sacrifices made by these brave men and women in the just-released Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2009, an annual reminder of the dangers of policing… (The linked article summarizes the circumstances of these deaths, along with non-lethal assaults and accidental deaths. Several of the incidents were captured by dash-mounted cameras and I'm sure that many list members have viewed at least some of these incidents. They often showed tipping points, where resistance emerges. While officers may not always be able to disengage at that point, the private citizen would generally be well served by disengaging when signs of resistance emerge.)
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/october/law-enforcement-officers-killed-and-assaulted-1/leoka_101909
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- The Golden State, with some of the strictest gun laws in the country, is the source state for 73 percent of its own recovered firearms. This means that nearly three-quarters of the firearms recovered in California were originally bought in the state. Neighboring Arizona, where the state legislature respects the Second Amendment and trusts its law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to keep and bear arms, has a paltry seven percent of the guns recovered in California. What's more, that seven percent makes the Grand Canyon State the second highest source of recovered firearms for California!
- The Commonwealth of Virginia, though it restricts law-abiding citizens to only one-gun-a-month, is considered to be a top source state by the MAIG – a seeming disconnect with the organization's claim that tough gun laws limit trafficking.
- In South Carolina, one-gun-a-month was repealed (allowing for more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens) and, like the rest of the U.S., South Carolinians experienced a decrease in violent crime. For the purposes of the MAIG study, South Carolina, without one-gun-a-month, didn't even crack the top 10 on the MAIG list of source states…
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Federal Judges Not Birds of a Feather: A Federal Magistrate Judge in Massachusetts just outdid the Brady Center in their ludicrous interpretation of the United States Supreme Court Heller decision which declared that we have an individual, fundamental enumerated Constitutional right to carry a weapon for the purpose of self defense. On October 14th, Judge Marrianne B. Bowler of Massachusetts ruled that the Second Amendment does not preclude laws or actions which are not "...tantamount to an absolute restriction on plaintiff's right to possess firearms in his home." …Unlike Judge Bowler in Massachusetts, Judge Gonzalez quoted directly from the Heller decision. Nowhere in the Heller decision does the High Court state that the right to keep and bear (or carry) arms is limited to the home. Instead, the High Court gave the home as an example as to where the right applied. The exact words the Court used was "such as" which, as any first grader knows, means for example and does not mean "only." The High Court also gave two examples of where the right could be restricted in public; Schools and Government buildings. Places the Court described as "sensitive." If the Court had intended to restrict their decision "only to the home" they would have said so and would have had no need to devote as much of the opinion to a discussion of carrying firearms in public as they did…
http://www.examiner.com/la-in-los-angeles/massachusetts-and-california-federal-judges-on-the-2nd-amendment
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But That's a Gun-Free Zone!: Two postal workers were killed Monday in a shooting at a post office in west Tennessee during a possible robbery attempt, authorities said. The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department told the Associated Press that two female employees were killed Monday morning in what may have been a robbery at the Henning post office. Officers are searching for a maroon Chevrolet Malibu with two men inside. A witness told a state employee at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville, Tony Burns, that the shooting happened during a robbery attempt. Mr. Burns said his sister-in-law, a U.S. Postal Service worker, was assigned to the Henning office Monday. He said she told him she escaped unharmed… (Even if we are able to repeal the ban on firearms in non-secure federal facilities, it's unlikely that postal employees would be allowed to carry. Nonetheless, the tragic death of these two women points out the folly of creating gun-free zones as criminals are more likely to be encouraged than dissuaded by such postings.)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/18/2-workers-killed-tenn-post-office-shooting/
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Florida – Five Years of Stand-Your-Ground Law: …If history serves, the gunman stands a very good chance in court. The case may not even make it to trial. That's because of Florida Statute 776.013(3), which took effect five years ago this month. The old law gave you the right to protect yourself with deadly force inside your home. The 2005 law gives you the right to protect yourself in a park, outside a Chili's, on a highway – just about anywhere. You need only to "reasonably believe" that pulling the trigger or plunging the knife or swinging the bat is necessary to stop the other person from hurting you. Reports of justifiable homicides tripled after the law went into effect, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Last year, twice a week, on average, someone's killing was considered warranted. The self-defense law – known as "stand your ground" – has been invoked in at least 93 cases with 65 deaths, a St. Petersburg Times review found. In the majority of the cases, the person's use of force was excused by prosecutors and the courts. Proponents say that means the law is working, allowing people to protect themselves without having to ponder legalities in the heat of an attack. You don't have to wait to see how much of a victim you're going to be. You don't have to wait for the first bone to break. But the law has also been used to excuse violence in deadly neighbor arguments, bar brawls, road rage – even a gang shoot-out – that just as easily might have ended with someone walking away… (There appears to be a movement among Florida's journalists to prevent criminal stupidity from becoming terminal stupidity. Ever since I have been back in Arizona, stand-your-ground has been the law, whether by case law or statute, and I don't recall this many incidents being attributed to it. Admittedly, Florida's population is about 2.8 times greater than Arizona's but the five-year-old change in Florida's law was and continues to be highly publicized. Many people are familiar with the first portion or Heinlein's quotation about an armed society being a polite society but are unfamiliar with the entire paragraph, which includes, "But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things that kill off the weak and the stupid these days.")
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1128317.ece
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Meanwhile, in Illinois…: A jury found a University Park man guilty Friday of killing a neighbor whose dog had urinated on his prized lawn. The panel convicted Charles J. Clements, 69, of 530 Landau Road, of second-degree murder for the death of Joshua Funches, 23. But the jury rejected a more serious charge of first-degree murder against Clements, signaling they concluded that at the time he shot Funches, Clements thought he was acting in self-defense but that his belief was unreasonable. Authorities said Funches was walking his fox terrier on Landau Road on May 9 when the dog urinated on Clements' lawn. Neighbors said Clements, a retired truck driver and former Marine, was a fanatic about his lawn, chasing errant children from the grass he worked on every day and winning beautification awards for his efforts. Clements then confronted Funches about the dog's deposit and then followed him down the street. Clements said in court filings that Funches threatened him, swore at Clements' wife and then hit Clements in the face. He said he was in fear for his life when he pulled a .45-caliber handgun from his pocket and fired a single gunshot at Funches, striking him in the abdomen and killing him… (Note the disparity in ages between the 23-year-old puncher and the 69-year-old shooter. Personally, regardless of how much I prized my lawn, I wouldn't have pursued the dog owner.)
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2806104,101710lawnshooting.article
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No Lack of Fertilizer in the White Mountains: …Women are becoming gun owners and learning to shoot in larger numbers than ever before. The old methods of protecting yourself, such as blowing a whistle, learning martial arts, and using things like pepper spray and mace, aren't enough to help women feel safe anymore. Crime touches every part of the country, even in rural areas. Local radio personality Barbara Bruce knows first-hand what it feels like to be unprotected. "I have a stalker and sleep with a butcher knife and bells on my doors," Barbara said. "I don't want to be a victim." Bruce took a gun safety class offered by local resident Linda Gilbertson, a NRA certified firearms instructor, and she wasn't the only one. "I held 13 classes this summer for women only and have a waiting list," said Gilbertson. During the class that Bruce attended in September, there were four women in attendance. "I try to limit the classes to four so I can have more one-on-one time with them," states Gilbertson… (I'm all for women being trained to use firearms safely and effectively but can't help wonder about local radio personality Barbara Bruce being taught to grasp a pistol with all four fingers or each hand. I gave Barbara my business card five years ago, shortly after the first edition of my book was published but have never heard from her.)
http://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/article_0b9bd34c-d7df-11df-9744-001cc4c03286.html
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Oops, Wrong Eatery: Johnston County [NC] deputies said an attempted robbery at a local restaurant on Friday evening turned into a shootout, leaving one suspect dead. The robbery happened shortly before 6 p.m. at Shoeheel Grill, Grocery and Gas at 8212 Old Beulah Road in Kenly, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said. The owner, his son and two female employees were the only people in the store when a man walked in and displayed a weapon, Bizzell said. The man pointed the gun at the owner's son. The owner came from a back room with a weapon. The two exchanged gunfire in the store. The suspect was shot but made it outside to his van, Bizzell said. The owner also went outside and noticed a second suspect in the parking lot, Bizzell said. At this point, the owner had gotten a second weapon. The second suspect began firing a rifle at the owner, who returned fire. The second suspect fled on foot into some nearby woods, Bizzell said. The first suspect was found dead in his van…
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8462902/
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Oops, Wrong Musician: In a bizarre shooting in front of an upscale restaurant in downtown Sacramento [CA] on Saturday night, police said a member of a jazz band pulled a pistol and shot one of two men who had picked fights with a waiter, a homeless man and the band member. The band member, whom police did not identify, was detained but not arrested… The events began shortly before 7 p.m. when two men described as large white men in their 20s, possibly intoxicated, tried to pick a fight with a valet parking attendant and mooned patrons at Ella restaurant at 12th and K streets, witnesses told The Bee. The men crossed the street to the Broiler restaurant, where they entered the building and again started trouble, police and witnesses said. As they exited the building, the men touched one of several human-sized cat figurines belonging to a jazz band that was playing on the patio just outside the restaurant. A band member told the men to stop it. At that point, a homeless man in his early 20s confronted the two men and they beat him, said Sgt. Norm Leong, police spokesman. They punched a waiter who tried to intervene, knocking him to the ground, and then the two men punched the band member and backed off,Leong said. But the two men again approached the band member, at which point he pulled a pistol and shot one of the assailants, Leong said. Leong said the man suspected of firing the gun was not arrested. He said police will refer the case to the District Attorney's Office to determine if he shot in self-defense and whether charges are merited against anybody in the case… (My suspicion is that the musician may end up being charged with unlicensed CCW, unless he holds a CWP issued in another county.)
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/17/3110857/sacramento-cops-say-musician-shot.html
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Rule Two, Rule Three Reminder: Police in New Hampshire say a 23-year-old Manchester man had to be hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself in the leg with a friend's gun shortly after attending a gun show. Manchester police Lt. James Soucy said Michael Hunter and 23-year-old Andrew Shelley each bought two guns at a show in Manchester on Saturday. Police said the men drove to Shelley's apartment and that Hunter shot himself with Shelley's .40-caliber handgun outside of the car while trying to locate the gun's safety. Officials said he was listed in fair condition after being taken to a hospital. (Rule Two: don't let the muzzle cross anything you're not prepared to shoot. Rule Three: Keep your finger out of the trigger guard until your sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire.)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2010/10/17/nh_man_shoots_self_in_leg_after_buying_gun_at_show/
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Rule Four Reminder: A 76-year-old woman was shot in the head on Sunday by a man target practicing with a rifle in Hiram [ME], police said. Investigators said Yvonne Dorrity was outside doing some yard work at about 11 a.m. with her son, 47-year-old Mark Hendricks, when they heard a very loud gun shot from the sand pit across the street. Dorrity told police that she immediately felt the bullet hit her in the head just above her right eye…Police arrested 20-year-old Sean McNulty, of Parsonsfield, who they said was target-shooting a rifle in the sand pit at the corner of S. Hiram and New Settlement roads in Hiram. Investigators said that McNulty had set up gallon milk jugs filled with water on the bank of the sand pit. Police said a bullet ricocheted off of one of the jugs and continued another 350 feet before it struck Dorrity in the head… Dorrity was treated at her residence by Sacopee Rescue personnel for injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. McNulty was charged with reckless conduct. (Rule Four is generally expressed as being sure of your target and what's beyond it but ricochets are usually difficult to predict. This once was more likely off a rock or packed dirt, not the relatively soft milk jug. I cannot count the number of times I have been hit or seen others hit by ricochets. Unless they involve very heavy bullets, they are usually of low energy but I have seen several penetrations of skin by shards of jacket material from JHP bullets. If you do not wear wraparound eyeglasses or side shields at shooting ranges, make it a point not to turn your head sideways toward the direction from which ricochets can occur. I have seen one case where the fragment of a lead bullet came within ¼" of the eye of someone who ignored such advice.)
http://www.wmtw.com/news/25421381/detail.html
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Rule Five Reminder: For years, customs agent Jose Melendez-Perez was hailed as an American hero of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Now, after making what he says was his first major mistake in 44 years of public service, Melendez-Perez is fighting to get his old job back. He faces a disciplinary hearing this week in Florida. Melendez-Perez, 64, an immigration officer at Orlando International Airport, stopped the supposed "20th hijacker" from entering the United States in August 2001. He won national acclaim for grilling passenger Mohammed Qahtani for 90 minutes and then denying him entry. But six months ago, Melendez-Perez drove a U.S. Customs and Border Protection van home for the weekend, violating agency policy. He locked his service weapon, an agency computer and other items inside. Someone broke into the van and stole the items, which were never recovered… (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.)
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/10/18/20101018customsagent1018.html
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Note the Injuries: A police officer was shot twice in the leg on Sunday night after an exchange of gunfire in a building in East New York, Brooklyn, the police said. The officer and a suspect, who was also shot three times, were in stable condition. The officer, Richard Ramirez, 29, was among three plainclothes officers who observed a man riding his bicycle on the sidewalk, and when the man saw the police, he ran into a building at 454 Bradford Street, authorities said. The officers, who were part of an anticrime unit, chased the man, who sources said was 17 and from Brooklyn. When the man was unable to enter an apartment on the third floor, he turned and fired on the officers; a German-made gun with six expended rounds was found at the scene, said the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly. Mr. Kelly made his comments at a news conference at Kings County Hospital Center, where Officer Ramirez was taken with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to a hospital spokesman. He was undergoing surgery late Sunday evening to remove a bullet from his calf. The alleged shooter, whose name was not released, was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center and was also undergoing surgery… (A few years ago, while reviewing NYPD summaries of officer-involved shootings, John Farnam observed that when officers are shot by criminals they are most often struck in the lower abdomen or legs and are rarely struck at distances beyond six meters. This is consistent with inexperienced shooters pushing or jerking shots low and to the non-dominant side. For this reason, many instructors counsel not to use kneeling or prone positions without cover as doing so may only serve to place your most vital organs in the line of fire.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/nyregion/18cop.html?ref=nyregion
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2009 LEO's Killed in the Line-of-Duty: An assistant police chief with 27 years of law enforcement experience was shot and killed on an Arkansas highway after stopping a suspected stolen vehicle. A 30-year-old U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot multiple times while on patrol near San Diego. A patrol officer in Pennsylvania awaiting backup was ambushed in his police cruiser after responding to a 9-1-1 call. These three officers, who paid the ultimate price for their desire to serve and protect the public, are just three of the 48 law enforcement officers from around the nation who lost their lives in the line of duty during 2009. You can read more about the sacrifices made by these brave men and women in the just-released Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2009, an annual reminder of the dangers of policing… (The linked article summarizes the circumstances of these deaths, along with non-lethal assaults and accidental deaths. Several of the incidents were captured by dash-mounted cameras and I'm sure that many list members have viewed at least some of these incidents. They often showed tipping points, where resistance emerges. While officers may not always be able to disengage at that point, the private citizen would generally be well served by disengaging when signs of resistance emerge.)
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/october/law-enforcement-officers-killed-and-assaulted-1/leoka_101909
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