One More Look at the Thune Amendment Vote: ... Groups supporting gun bans such as the Violence Policy Center and the Brady Campaign received a lot of news coverage for reports released last week claiming permit holders are dangerous. These advocacy groups focus on arrests and not convictions, and they make mistakes about whether those charged with violations actually have concealed-handgun permits. Even in the few cases where they correctly identify problems, they never discuss the low rate of law violations by permit holders. When a permit holder fires a gun defensively and kills or wounds an attacker, even if the shooting was justified, that person is almost always arrested. A police officer who arrives on the scene can't be sure what happened until an investigation is completed. These justified shootings are exactly why concealed-handgun permits are allowed. It's misleading to include such instances as a cost of concealed-handgun laws. A large majority of refereed academic studies by economists and criminologists find that crime rates across the country fall after concealed-handgun laws are adopted. None claimed to find a significant increase in crime. Thirty-nine senators voted this week to stop the Second Amendment at state lines. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/26/americans-right-to-carry/ --- Oops, Wrong House, Florida Version: Octavious Barnes died Sunday still clutching the $1,100 he took from an 82-year-old bar owner before he was shot. Now, three Blountstown women accused of helping Barnes, 24, face murder charges in connection to his death... Jessica Nicole Long, 19; Heather Marie Ammons, 22; and Mandy Allen, 43, planned and aided Barnes in the robbery of 82-year-old Bradley Harvil, owner and operator of the Slip N' Slide bar, Shuler said. On Sunday, authorities said Barnes broke into Harvil's house, which is connected to the bar, and demanded money. Shuler said Barnes was waving a black pistol and assaulted Harvil with a shocking device used to debilitate [sic] people with heart conditions. Harvil gave Barnes about $1,100, but then a second struggle ensued, authorities said. Harvil was knocked over and a TV set fell on top of him, but Harvil was able to reach his own gun, a .357 magnum. He fired twice, hitting Barnes once in the chest and a second time in the eye. The second shot killed Barnes, Shuler said. Only later was it learned Barnes had robbed Harvil using a toy pistol made to look like a real weapon...(All's well that ends well but is seems as though Harvil would have been better served to have kept his handgun holstered even inside his own home.) http://www.newsherald.com/news/shoots-76013-bristol-year.html --- Oops, Wrong House, British Version: A businessman was held on suspicion of attempted murder after confronting a gang of youths who allegedly threatened to kill his wife and attacked his stepson outside their home. Colin Philpott was roused from bed and, still barefoot, challenged the group as his stepson, Alex, was battered in the front garden of the family's £500,000 property. In the scuffle which followed, one of the youths, named locally as Josh Hasler, was stabbed a number of times and collapsed in the street. Police were called, leading to the arrest of Mr Philpott and five of the youths, aged 16 and 17. The incident took place in an estate in Crowthorne, Berks, which residents said had been plagued by problems with drunken, rowdy teenagers from outside the area who congregate at a nearby park... Mrs Philpott's 25-year-old son was treated in hospital for a broken nose and concussion. The 16-year-old boy who was stabbed five times in the chest was said to be in a stable condition at Royal Berkshire Hospital. It was believed a letter opener may have been involved in the incident. Police arrested Mr Philpott, 57, who runs an escalator cleaning company, on suspicion of attempted murder. He was held in custody... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5908617/Man-held-after-confronting-gang-at-home.html --- How to Deal with Cops: While this article was clearly prompted by the recent brouhaha that has spread from Cambridge MA to Washington DC, it contains some of the material that should be covered in a good CCW course. I do have a couple of problems with the advice. First, do not attempt to exit your vehicle unless specifically directed to do so. Any tactically aware officer will regard that as a threat. Further, in a traffic stop, do not start going into your glove compartment, etc., for documents as the officer approaches, to save him time. He is in no hurry and will not know if you are reaching for vehicle registration and proof of insurance or for a weapon. Also, an officer will also recognize your attempts to "divert" him with conversation as precisely that. Most officers are very experienced dealing with deceptive criminals. In Arizona, where there is not statutory requirement to advise an officer that you are carrying, doing so vastly increases your chance of only being issued a warning. The way to do so however, is to hand over your permit with your license and state, "I'm licensed to carry concealed and I am carrying." Avoid using the words "gun," "firearm" and "weapon" as they are likely to trigger an anxiety response. http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/how_to_deal_with_cops.html --- NRA-ILA Alerts: List members are encouraged to check the alerts for the week, posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx --- From John Farnam: 21 July 09 Harmless vagrants? >From a friend in NM: "For twelve years, our local sheriff's office has repeatedly assured those in our neighborhood that this vagrant, and occasional B&E/assault suspect, was 'harmless' and represented no threat to anyone. The sesame-street image was promoted in the face of dozens burglaries, most involving violent entry, of which he was suspected. He verbally threatened to shoot at least two homeowners when he encountered them during break-ins. Local media laughingly labeled him 'The Cookie Bandit,' owing to his proclivity for stealing food, as well as other, more valuable, items. Last week, he finally shot someone, fatally, one of our deputies who approached him, pursuant to yet another complaint. Both the officer and the suspect were fatally shot during an exchange of gunfire. It was only a matter of time! Subsequently, NM State Police have identified this "Cookie Bandit." He is a murder suspect who has been wanted since 1972 for a double-homicide in Canada and is suspected of a number of other murders in CA, WA, and OR. It looks as if our 'harmless vagrant' was actually a serial murderer!" Comment: No good comes from naively converting violent criminals into amiable cartoon characters! "World's Dumbest Crooks," and other media-generated sewage, hardly qualifying as "news," but concocted solely to increase ratings, encourage potential victims of violent crime to look upon VCAs as benignant morons who don't represent any real threat. Only fools believe that, and only fools willfully decline to honestly confront the vicious, wanton brutality of which these habitual criminals are capable. Ignorance can be cured. Conversely, willful naiveté is a sign of an unstable mind! "A sound mind can be neither bought nor borrowed, yet unsound ones are bought and sold every day!" /John 22 July 09 Preparedness! >From a friend an CA: "Yesterday, I attended an informal military rifle match. Most shooters and observers were veterans, and many were working LEOs. An elderly gentleman, shooting a Garand with which we was piteously unfamiliar, got a hand inserted into the receiver just as he inadvertently released the bolt, which had been locked to the rear. The bolt slammed forward on his hand and cut it significantly. Once extracted, the hand bled profusely, and the gentleman's reaction was disbelief, followed by slow-motion panic (dithering)! With all the LEOs there, many with their families, not one had a trauma kit! I, a non-LEO, had mine, which I religiously have with me ever since I took your Tactical Treatment of Gunshot Wounds Course. I got to the injured party, settled him down, and quickly applied an IBD to his lacerated hand. Bleeding stopped immediately, and the whole bloody extravaganza came to a quiet end, as quickly as it had begun! He was carried away by an ambulance shortly threafter. All around me were persuaded that I was an itinerant surgeon, and wondered where I got my marvelous trauma kit. I assured them that even non-doctors are allowed to possess IBDs!" Comment: "When it's least expected, you're elected!" Unpreparedness, like cheap insurance, never seems a significant issue, until it is too late! Trauma kits, like guns, need to be carried constantly. You don't get to make an appointment for emergencies, as we see! /John ("IBD" is an Israeli Battle Dressing. Yes, it is as foolish to fully rely on the Emergency Medical System [EMS] as it is to fully rely on the police. Many communities now offer Community Emergency Response Team [CERT] training to residents, in recognition of the fact that EMS can be overwhelmed in a disaster. The injury described is what is known as "M1 thumb." John Garand's US M1 Rifle requires that the ammunition, in an en bloc clip be inserted from above, when the bolt is locked back. As the eight cartridges, clipped together, are pressed into the rifle's integral magazine, the bolt is released, with a great deal of spring pressure behind it. It is essential to place the knife edge of the hand if front of the "handle" of the operating rod as the clip is inserted into the magazine, to prevent this injury. As the operator feels that the bolt has been released, the hand is pivoted upward, raising the thumb out of the path of the bolt as it slams closed. The profuse bleeding described in this case suggests that the shooter was on some form of anticoagulant therapy, something that should probably have been brought to the attention of the range officers.) 24 July 09 Only in the UK! A police officer and "Police Firearms Instructor" in the UK, during a 2007 "gun safety" lecture/demonstration, shot and seriously injured an attendee who was sitting in the audience! Litigation is still ongoing. The gun involved was a S&W M29 (44Mg). As with the Japanese, all firearms knowledge in the UK comes from police, and everyone else, naively watching American gangster movies. In news reports there were innumerable references to "Dirty Harry." Clueless journalists (who weren't there) jubilantly described the victim as being "blown halfway across the room." These guys really need to get out now and then! "Dummy rounds" provided for demonstrative purposes turned out to be real rounds, not that anyone in the UK could tell the difference. Not a single journalist has ever even asked why this officer pointed the gun at the victim in the first place. Even that basic component of safe gun-handling is apparently lost on the gun-phobic British. In classic "Who, me?" fashion, the deputy chief constable is quoted as saying, "'Whatever the individual actions involved in the shooting... Thames Valley Police has always accepted that the incident should never have happened." Nice to see Detective Obvious right on top of this! Watching gun-handling in the UK is painful, like watching toddlers playing with guns! They don't have a clue, but their historic haughtiness prevents them from humbly seeking any species of competent training. The once-proficient British Gun Culture is long-since dead and buried! Our British ancestors were proud, omnipotent, accomplished warriors. Their pathetic descendants are clueless, frightened sheep! Of their entire classic warrior repertoire, all that remains is arrogance! /John (As John has pointed out previously, evidence of professional-level interest in firearms is sufficient to get a British police officer removed from duty on the armed squads. There is a curious gap between the expertise in firearms among British special-operations troops and the lack of it among their police. Perhaps that's why one friend, a veteran of the 22nd SAS Regiment, left the London Metropolitan Police and moved to Australia. On the other hand, he left police service there after one of his own teammates shot him in the neck with an MP5 submachine gun during a raid. Last I knew, he was working as a contractor in Iraq. Nothing good comes of hoplophobia [an irrational fear of weapons].) -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .