The Forgotten Virtue of Firearms: During Christmas week, a registered sex offender with a conviction for attempted murder used a gun to take three hostages at a Wytheville, Va., post office. Not too surprisingly, the national media gave the crime extensive news coverage. Such sensationalism leaves a distorted image about what happens with guns every day in the United States. When guns work to stop crime, there's not nearly as much drama to sensationalize and, as a result, that much less coverage. In Oklahoma City the previous week, an armed citizen singlehandedly stopped an attack that surely would have resulted in a multiple-victim public shooting. The media gave the event scant attention. The scene went down when a Marine, who was on leave and came home for the holidays, started firing in an apartment parking lot. Before anyone was harmed, another man aimed his permitted concealed handgun at the attacker and ordered him to put down his weapon. The shooter dropped his gun and ran into his father's apartment, barricading himself in. Three-and-a-half hours later, the man surrendered to the police... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/05/the-forgotten-virtue-of-firearms/ --- How's This for Unbiased Journalism?: I am particularly intrigued by the choice of the photo of what appears to be a Mormon missionary to represent Utah in what claims to be a report of the ten states with the lowest and the ten states with the highest estimated rates of firearm ownership. Snide remarks abound. http://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/lifestyle/most-trigger-happy-states --- The Beat Winds Down in Maryland: The Armory is stocked with everything a gun enthusiast could want, from collectibles to rifles, handguns to shotguns. Only one thing is missing from the Annapolis gun shop: customers. Despite a national and statewide uptick in handgun-permit applications and a nationwide increase in gun-related background checks, local dealers like Hal Goldstein said they're not seeing lots of business these days. Sales are off 50 to 60 percent at his business, which is just off West Street inside the city limits. "I could have closed in August, and I would have saved money," he said. If his shop is any indication, local gun sales are bucking the national and state trend. Though gun sales are not tracked statewide or nationwide, permits and other requirements are, and they're usually used as a sales barometer for the industry. Maryland residents need to apply to state police to get a handgun permit. In 2008, 3,641 permits were issued; in 2009, 5,129 were issued, a 30 percent increase... http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/01/04-17/Gun-sales-up-but-not-here.html --- The Pendulum Swings in Arizona: A move by state legislators to retroactively change self-defense laws is unconstitutional, the Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled. Without dissent, the judges said Cesar Montes, convicted of the 2005 shooting death of Benjamin Cota in Pima County and the wounding of two others, is not entitled to take advantage of changes in self-defense laws enacted after the shootings. Unless it's overturned, the new ruling also could affect other cases in which people convicted of murder have been trying to use the now-void new law to get new trials... But lawmakers also specifically wrote the change to apply to any cases that had not yet gone to a jury, a move that backers acknowledged was designed to help Fish. The Arizona Supreme Court subsequently ruled, however, that the law, as written, was not retroactive, leading to Fish's conviction... It's unclear how the decision applies to the case of Fish. Fish's conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeals on other grounds, with that court saying he was entitled to a new trial, which the Coconino County Attorney's Office has said it would not pursue. No one was available to comment on whether the new ruling changes the position... (Fish fatally shot a man who charged him, screaming threats, as they were hiking in opposite directions on a forest trail. Unfortunately, the incident occurred in Coconino County, one of the four of Arizona's 15 counties to have voted Democrat in the last three presidential elections. His trial took place in Flagstaff, a very "progressive" environment.) http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/323906 --- Beleaguered Wisconsin Gun Shop Dodges Bullet: Federal investigators recommended revoking the license of Badger Outdoors gun shop after a 2006 inspection - a rare move that could have closed the West Milwaukee business, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation has found. But there was no revocation and the store remains open, operating as Badger Guns. Federal records show the license recommended for revocation was voluntarily relinquished, the players inside the operation took on new roles and a new license was issued, creating what one federal official called a "clean slate" for the store. Badger Guns came under intense scrutiny in the past year after two Milwaukee officers were shot with a gun purchased there. Over the past two years, six Milwaukee officers in all were wounded by people using guns purchased from Badger Guns or Badger Outdoors. Badger Outdoors and later Badger Guns have sold the bulk of crime guns recovered by police in Milwaukee for at least the past decade, according to records obtained by the Journal Sentinel. And federal court records since 2004 for eastern Wisconsin show three-quarters of straw buyer criminal cases - where someone with a clean record buys a gun for a felon - involved purchases from Badger Guns or Badger Outdoors... (As I understand it, all firearm dealers have been driven out of Milwaukee proper and Badger Guns is one of only two remaining in the metro area; that might have an effect on the quoted statistics.) http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/80518507.html --- Patents Could Derail California Microstamping Law: Firearms microstamping, signed into by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) in October 2007 and slated to take effect this New Year's Day (2010), is not in effect since the technology remains encumbered by patents. Microstamping - the process by which firearms manufacturers would have to micro laser-engrave a gun's make, model and serial number on two distinct parts of each gun, including the firing pin, so that in theory the information would be imprinted on the cartridge casing when the pistol is fired - must be certified as patent-free by the California Department of Justice before the law can go into effect. Though microstamping cannot be certified because the technology remains covered by patents, last month the California Department of Justice issued proposed regulations for the technology, a move that was questioned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) - the trade association for the firearms industry... http://www.rightsidenews.com/201001058038/editorial/california-microstamping-law-not-in-effect.html --- New Yorker Prepare to Lobby for RKBA: Dozens of local sportsmen will head to the state Capitol in Albany on Jan. 12 to try to educate state legislators about the benefits of fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities. Formally known as Sportsmen and Outdoor Recreation Legislative Awareness Day, the event will bring sportsmen from around the state to Albany to meet with legislators and hear from speakers, including NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Legislative Office Building... http://www.poststar.com/sports/article_d065766a-f8f6-11de-9520-001cc4c002e0.html ...This event will take place on January 12, 2010 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM in the Well of the State Legislative Office Building at South Swan and State Streets. SAFE will be putting together a bus for the trip to Albany leaving the Huntington Park and Ride (north side of the LIE on service road between Pinelawn Road and Broad Hollow Road, Route 110) at 4:30 AM and returning at 8:30 PM. The bus has restroom facilities and a DVD player which we hope to use. If you want to make a strong impression on our local Senators and Assembly members that we are serious about our rights for firearms ownership and use, this trip is a must. Right after you commit to going on our bus trip call your State Assemblyman and State Senator and make an appointment to meet with them in their offices in Albany NY on January 12th. You can call the legislators local office or you can call the Assembly switchboard to make this appointment: (518)455-4100; Senate switchboard: (518)455-2800. Then call Assemblyman Kolb's office and let him know you're coming: (518)455-4751... http://www.ammoland.com/2010/01/04/if-you-are-serious-about-your-firearms-rights/ --- Being an RKBA Ambassador: I've only been involved in political activism, Second Amendment or otherwise, for about seven years which is nothing compared to some of the people I know who have been doing this for twenty, thirty years or more. In that time I've learned that there are many approaches to how activists go about trying to spread their message and convert people to their side. Some folks are more comfortable working from afar writing letters and making phone calls, others like to be closer to the front lines by working with legislators, conducting training classes, etc. There are also those that tend to be more aggressive and "in your face" so to speak. One thing that has always bothered me is that some people feel that their way of being active is the best way and everyone else is doing it wrong. For example, I've seen people who prefer to openly carry a firearm denigrate those who prefer to carry concealed. I've often felt it is better to embrace all forms of activism and work together than to try to make others do things your way, but there is one topic I do think needs to be addressed and that is the issue of being overly confrontational... http://www.examiner.com/x-2206-Cleveland-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m1d4-Being-a-gun-rights-ambassador --- It Never Happens?: Security guard today just tried to physically dis-arm me. Grabbed my right arm with his left hand and attempted to grab my pistol grip with his right. Elbow to the face and a back step rear kick/shin scrape to his right knee/shin...turned and hit him with a full body roundhouse punch. Knocked his a$$ out cold. Because the cops were called I can't give full details until everything is settled but it was at a big box store... (There are those advocates of open carry who discount the possibility of a disarming attempt. They may be rare but, in 2002, a man carrying openly in south Phoenix was killed when two guys attacked and robbed him of his Glock pistol. His co-workers had advised him that he should get a permit to carry it concealed, particularly in that neighborhood. I have queried a couple of people at the local dog park about why they were wearing empty holsters; one told me that he had had a few incidents while carrying openly in the forest, including one in which three guys tried to circle him, which he took as an attempted disarm. If you choose to be a poster boy for open carry, be prepared for incidents ranging from snide remarks and calls to police to disarming attempts. Above all, make sure you use some form of security holster.) http://georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=40381 --- California Open-Carry Event: They brought their guns to downtown Livermore - to have a cup of coffee and demonstrate their right to literally bear arms. A group of more than a dozen people met at a downtown cafe Saturday afternoon, some of them had unloaded semi-automatic pistols holstered to their belts with their ammunition clips readily available. The demonstration was put on by members of the "open carry" movement. The event at the Panama Red Coffee Co. was similar to others held recently in the Bay Area, at which gun owners exercise their rights to carry the weapons in public, said Livermore police Lt. Lance Bye. It is legal to carry an unloaded weapon without a special permit in most of California as long as the gun is unloaded and not near a school. Bye said the group, which held a similar event in Livermore last month with no problems, called police beforehand to make sure the event would be in compliance. Officers met with a handful of them in a nearby parking lot, including to check the weapons. "It was very low key, low profile," Bye said. "We received no complaints from the public." ... (Arguably, in some California counties carrying openly is analogous to doing so in Wisconsin in that the sheriff will usually not issue permits to carry concealed. California differs, however, in banning loaded firearms in "public places" for those who lack permits or licenses to carry firearms.) http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_14121268 --- How Small a Nit Can We Pick?: The principal of Red Pine Elementary in Eagan [MN] will not be disciplined for letting a parent shoot balloons with a BB gun in the school gym, a spokesman for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District said Monday. In a decision that he later called "unwise," Principal Gary Anger allowed a parent volunteer to bring the BB gun from home after a program held for Red Pine families on Dec. 8. While a few people finished cleaning up the gym, the volunteer shot down balloons that had floated to the ceiling. District administrators said last month that they were investigating the incident after Star Tribune reporters began asking questions. That inquiry wrapped up before the holiday break, said district spokesman Tony Taschner. Secondary students in the district who come to school with weapons - even look-alikes - are recommended for expulsion. However, policy allows firearms on school grounds in certain situations. Peace officers and color guards can carry them, for example, and other people can with written permission from a principal... http://www.startribune.com/local/south/80673997.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUZ --- Perhaps Boys Who Will Be Boys Shouldn't Have Real Guns: Washington Wizards basketball star Gilbert Arenas is scheduled to meet Monday with law-enforcement authorities to present his side of the story about a locker-room dispute with a teammate nearly two weeks ago... Arenas has already admitted bringing three unloaded firearms to the Verizon Center - to get them out of the house and away from his kids - and storing them in a locked container. According to Yahoo! Sports, he took them out of the container before a Dec. 21 practice and laid the guns on a chair, then told teammate Javaris Crittenton to choose one and make good on a threat that stemmed from a card game on a late-night flight from Phoenix back to Washington two days earlier. As the game got more expensive, Crittenton joked about what could happen to people who didn't honor their debts. Arenas has a well-deserved reputation as a prankster and laying out the guns apparently was his way of trying to diffuse any lingering tension between the two. Instead, the gesture enraged Crittenton. According to a New York Post report, Arenas and Crittenton wound up drawing guns on each other... The problem with gunplay, though, is that it's never funny and that a casual attitude toward violence only encourages more of the same. Arenas has already been suspended once, after pleading no contest to misdemeanor weapons and vehicle charges following a traffic stop in California 2003; he sat out Washington's season opener in 2004. No matter how this latest incident is handled by authorities, Arenas should know better than to expect leniency this time around. Another former NBA player got off easy the first time he, too, was charged with a weapons violation, lecturing schoolkids and taking out ads in the local newspaper touting gun safety. His name is Jayson Williams. As you read this, he is scheduled to be retried on a reckless manslaughter charge in the shooting death of a limousine driver during a party at his home. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/04/arenas-police-meet-monday-about-gun-incident/ Federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury to explore an incident in which Washington Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas allegedly brandished high-powered handguns in the team locker room, The Examiner has learned... If charges are brought against Arenas, he could face a separate felony count for each handgun, with a maximum of five years in prison on each count... (Bad cases make bad law. While Arenas and Plaxico Burress have helped highlight the unreasonable firearm laws in DC and NYC, respectively, they have not done so in a manner that has been helpful to the cause.) http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Grand-jury-mulling-gun-charges-against-Wizards_-Gilbert-8718511-80662317.html --- Oops, Wrong House: A homeowner shot a teenage burglary suspect on Sunday, KPRC Local 2 reported. Robert and Pam Cole were asleep at their home on Cloverleaf Street near Texarkana Street in east Harris County [TX] at about 11 p.m., when they heard glass breaking. "We were both jarred awake," Pam Cole said. "We knew something was wrong. The alarm was going off." "Someone is coming in the house and she yelled out,' Get your shotgun,'" Robert Cole said. "I came out of the bedroom and down the hall here, a man with a black hoodie and a fire extinguisher like he was going to beat somebody, was in the living room. I came out of the bedroom with the shotgun ... shot him in the hip. He screamed, dropped the fire extinguisher and dived into the hole he came in." Harris County sheriff's deputies found the suspect down the street. He was laying in a neighbor's yard and yelling for help... http://www.click2houston.com/news/22117126/detail.html http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2010m1d4-Violent-home-invader-shot-by-armed-homeowner --- FBI Use of Force Guidelines?: Two Orange County men have been sentenced to two years in prison for breaking into the garage of an FBI agent and trying to steal beer, officials said today. Jeffrey Michael Drach, 20, of Yorba Linda, and Justin Wesley Case, 21, of Placentia, were sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to residential burglary. The men entered the Yorba Linda home Nov. 18 through a partially opened garage door, the Orange County District Attorney's office said. The FBI agent - identified only as James M. - entered the garage and identified himself as a law enforcement officer and ordered them to stop. The agent briefly struggled with one of the men before both fled in a car. James M. shot at the car as it drove away but neither man was injured... (Most private citizens, in most states, would be sweating criminal charges for s shooting of this sort.) http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/beer-theft.html --- As Seen from New Mexico...: ...The morning of Dec. 27, witnesses told police two men tried to break into an apartment at Telshor Manor Apartments at 1410 Telshor Blvd. A 26-year-old resident was apparently startled awake, grabbed a handgun, and opened fire at the intruders, according to police. Steve Anthony Martinez, 27, a convicted burglar, was found dead of gunshot wounds outside the apartment... New Mexico residents can legally respond with the level of threat that is being leveled against them, said District Attorney Susana Martinez. "For example, someone comes into my home and I take out my gun and they start to attack me, I can use deadly force, but if someone is breaking into my car, can I shoot them? No, because you have to be confronted with deadly force," Martinez said. In the Dec. 27 case, the alleged victim "was at home, in bed and a man stood in the doorway of his bedroom with a knife held over his head and he had means of protecting himself and the other person in the room." That's the difference between New Mexico law and Texas's "Castle Doctrine," which includes responding with lethal force to threats against property, she said. "We certainly have the right - as human beings and as citizens of this state - to defend ourselves from deadly force," Martinez said... http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_14117247 --- No Charges in Self-Defense Shooting: There is new information tonight, 6-months after a fatal shooting in Moorhead [MN]. Police say that the man who shot and killed a teenaged intruder will not face charges. Police say Vernon Allen acted out of self-defense and all the evidence was consistent. They say the shot gun shell found in his bathroom was in the same place where Allen said he was standing when he shot LaFromboise at close range. Also, toxicology reports show LaFramboise's alcohol content was 0.21, almost 3-times the legal limit for driving. There were no signs of drugs in his system. On June 20th, police say the 17-year-old walked into Allen's apartment and tried to punch him twice. When Allen grabbed a gun from his room, the teenager grabbed the gun's barrel. Police have been criticized for taking a long time with this case. Others have accused the department of being racist. Police say they just wanted all the evidence in the case... http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/28043/ http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2010m1d4-The-Self-Defense-Shooting-of-Joel-LaFromboise-and-his-Fathers-Response --- Tangentially Related: ...What a difference one year makes. Liberals may be forgiven for looking at the latest public opinion surveys and wondering if they somehow stumbled into the Valley of Death instead of Obama's promised paradise. The president remains somewhat popular personally, but, as Matthew Continetti of The Weekly Standard wrote recently, "Obama's domestic program is exceedingly unpopular. The public disapproves of the president's bailouts, stimulus, health care reform, and cap and trade policies, not to mention his decision to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay." That Continetti was perhaps too kind is seen in this stunning fact: When George W. Bush returned, bloodied and bruised, to his Texas home after eight years in the White House, 43 percent of Americans surveyed by Scott Rasmussen "strongly disapproved" of the job he had done. Today, after less than a year in office, 46 percent express the same intense level of opposition to Obama... (I have said before and I still believe that the Big Brother regime will go down as the biggest example of the law of unintended consequences in American history.) http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Obama-is-moving-America-Right-8714881-80544477.html ...Four years ago on a small regional flight, I noticed four Arab passengers sitting in different rows. One appeared to be reading a holy text, another an Arab newspaper, a third stared out the window. The final one closest to me was dressed in western clothes and seemed relaxed... On hold at the gate, a plan emerged: "If they are terrorists, wouldn't you rather find out while on the ground?!" I leaned back to the more casually dressed man sitting near me, "Do you live here or in Chicago?" "Chicago," he replied with a smile. "I coordinate corporate tours for visiting executives from the Middle East. We are returning from a tour of a plant in Indiana." The sigh of relief in the plane was evident; others joined in the conversation. We had profiled. We had faced our fears. We had found friends, not terrorists. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but the terrorists who wish to kill Americans are Muslim extremists. Whether it is politically correct or not, we're all profiling. Profiling is not bigotry; it's smart self-defense! ...Professional behavior-detection officers are looking for specific micro-facial expressions that are hard to hide. Officers won't share what they are looking for, but even you can look for behavior indicators that show a certain level of stress, fear or anxiety above and beyond what is normal while traveling. It's the vague, evasive responses where a brief flash of fear shows itself. Be assertive but respectful in sharing any concerns you feel with flight attendants. Such concerns expressed early could trigger secondary screening that could save lives... http://townhall.com/columnists/TerryPaulson/2010/01/04/time_for_passengers_to_profile_and_act?page=full The attempted bombing of Delta/Northwest 253 on Christmas Day was not the first from the Islamic terrorists nor will it be the last. Since I am a pilot, I have had people ask what can a passenger do onboard an airplane to help thwart a terrorist attack. Having personal experience with a few events myself, as well as reading articles and hearing stories from other crewmembers, I can give you some information which might assist you in dealing with a suspicious passenger or situation... http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35060 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. The tactics and skills to use a firearm in self-defense don't come naturally with the right to keep and bear arms. http://www.spw-duf.info .