Category: Self Defense

Lynnwood, WA jewelry store owner shoots at suspects during attempted robbery

Lynnwood police responded to a reported armed robbery with shots fired at 12:26 p.m. at 6501 196th Street Southwest.

There, officers found a pickup truck rammed into the front entrance of Medina Jewelers, where multiple armed suspects tried to rob the store.

Surveillance video captured the suspects driving three vehicles in circles around the parking lot. Then, the truck barrels into the store, sending glass flying and store employees running.

A group of masked suspects jumped from the other cars and ran inside through a gap in the glass, with one holding what looked like an axe.

The store owner then grabbed his gun and fired shots at the group, sending them running without taking anything. The suspect driving the truck then gets out, appearing hunched over while waiting for the getaway car.

Police said it’s unknown if any of the suspects were struck by gunfire.

What they’re saying:
“Oh my God, it sounded like a total crash,” said Julie Baumgartner, a neighbor. Baumgartner was watching a movie next door in her apartment when the robbers struck.

“I mean glass breaking loudly, very loudly, that’s what made me look out my living room window right away and I saw the truck inside the jewelry store,” she said.

Police are searching for the cars the suspects fled in: a black BMW SUV and a silver Toyota or Infiniti sedan. Police said the black BMW struck a parked vehicle while fleeing and may have visible damage to the front passenger side.

“It was broad daylight and a pretty rare occurrence for us,” said Commander Joe Dickinson with Lynnwood Police.

Dickenson said they’re still working to learn if the suspects had a gun, and says it’s fortunate that no employees of the jewelry store were hurt.

“You had several witnesses that were out and about, several pedestrians walking around, all of a sudden a car crashing into a building and shots ringing out is cause for alarm,” said Dickinson.

“It’s just sad, because they’re just really nice people,” said Baumgartner. “I’m glad there wasn’t any customers in there that got hurt, because they would have, the way the truck went into the building.”

Fitting Together Two Self-Defense Frameworks

Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy & The Five Elements: how two self-defense frameworks fit together.

Spend enough time studying the law of armed self-defense and you will eventually run into two influential ways of thinking about when deadly force is justified. Massad Ayoob has spent decades teaching ability, opportunity and jeopardy—the AOJ triad. Attorney Andrew Branca, author of The Law of Self Defense, offers a five-point framework: innocence, imminence, proportionality, avoidance and reasonableness.

More than a few gun owners have seen these as competing systems. Which one do you pick? But that’s the wrong question. AOJ and the five elements aren’t rivals. Rather, they are complementary frameworks and understanding how they fit together makes both more useful.

Continue reading “”

Woman uses shotgun to defend family members from two men fighting her family members

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Two brothers were arrested in the early morning hours of October 6 after a fight with one of the men’s girlfriend’s family.

Dazeon Hersey, 19, and Juawan Hersey, 21, face multiple charges after police responded to a home on Pinewood where they found a woman holding a shotgun, defending her family from the men.

Juawan was living at the home with his girlfriend at the time.

Units forced entry and placed the men under arrest.

Dazeon faces charges of Domestic Violence, Assault, Obstruction and Resisting Arrest.

Juawan is charged with Domestic Violence, Assault and Using Weapons While Intoxicated.

South Glens Falls homeowner shoots alleged intruder
State Police said the homeowner shot the person around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday on Main Street

SOUTH GLENS FALLS — A homeowner allegedly shot someone breaking into their Main Street home early Tuesday morning.

Troopers responded at 4:39 a.m. for a reported home invasion, where they learned someone entered the occupied home at 46 Main St. before being shot by the homeowner, State Police said. No one else was injured.

The suspected intruder was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital for treatment of the gunshot wound, which troopers believe is non-life-threatening. State Police spokeswoman Trooper Stephanie O’Neil said the person has remained in police custody at the hospital. No one had been charged with a crime as of Tuesday afternoon.

O’Neil declined to comment on whether the shooting was justified, noting it remains under investigation.
New York does not have a “stand your ground” law, meaning in the state, a threatened person has a duty to retreat to safety before using deadly force in self-defense against a crime. That changes, however, if a person is in their own home and is not the initial aggressor or if there is a reasonable belief someone is attempting to break in to commit a crime such as a burglary.

Kip Dare, owner of barbershop Kipper’s Clippers across the street from the home where the shooting occurred, said he arrived to work around 9 a.m. Tuesday.

“As I round the barbershop, I see the yellow tape,” he said. “When you see the yellow tape, you know it’s not good.”

Dare said he didn’t know the residents, who rent, well, but had cut the hair of an employee of a family-run water sprinkler business at the home.

Troopers said the investigation is ongoing and a large number of police remain in the area. Two State Police cars remained around the taped-off home as late as 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Homeowner shoots, kills man who broke into his Lytle home after disturbance, police say

LYTLE, Texas — A 36-year-old man was shot and killed after police say he ran from a disturbance and broke into a nearby home at random, where he cornered the homeowner late Sunday night.

Lytle Police said the incident began just after 10:30 p.m. Sunday in the in a home off Butch Cassidy Street in the Saddle Ridge Estates subdivision.

Police said the man was involved in a disturbance at one home and appeared aggressive and out of control, according to witnesses. He then ran from the house and broke into another residence just a couple of houses away.

Police said the man had no connection to the second home and appeared to have chosen it at random.

Once inside, police said the man cornered the homeowner. The homeowner then shot him to protect himself and his family.

 

The 36-year-old man died at the scene. His name has not been released.

Police also found a juvenile girl with knife wounds at the home where the initial disturbance occurred. She was taken to University Hospital. Her condition was not immediately released.

The Texas Rangers were called in to assist Lytle police with the investigation at both locations.

 

I do not advise ‘warning shots’. A prosecutor could make the case that you doing so meant you felt your life wasn’t in danger enough to defend yourself, thus putting you behind the 8-Ball of the criminal “justice” system

Ann Arbor Coin Shop Clerk Fires Warning Shot, Foils Armed Robbery Bid

An armed man walked into Ann Arbor Stamps & Coins last Thursday afternoon, pulled a gun, and ran off empty-handed after the store’s own employee fired back with a warning shot. Ann Arbor police are now searching for two people believed to be connected to the attempted robbery, which unfolded at approximately 1:50 p.m. on August 27 in the 3000 block of Washtenaw Avenue.

According to an Ann Arbor Police Department update shared on Facebook by Breaking News 989, an adult male entered the store and produced a firearm before fleeing on foot. Police say a second adult male was already inside the shop and is now considered a person of interest, with investigators working to determine whether the two allegedly worked together in the attempt, as FOX 2 Detroit reports.

Investigators confirmed that the store clerk produced his own firearm and fired one shot during the encounter, an action FOX 2 Detroit describes as a warning shot that scared off the alleged robbers. No injuries were reported, nothing was struck by gunfire, and no property was taken from the shop. The clerk fought back rather than hand anything over, and both suspects ran from the scene.

Continue reading “”

More Than the ‘Assault Weapons’ SCOTUS Case, THIS is What Terrifies the Gun Control Industry Most of All.

“In recent years, women made up almost half of all new gun owners, a striking shift from the historical norm, when women accounted for about 24 percent of gun owners,” Rosanna Smart and Andrew R. Morral of the RAND Corporation recently wrote. “After more than a decade of stable gun ownership, women’s ownership rose starkly between 2018 and 2021, going from 10 percent of adult women owning guns in 2018 to 15 percent in 2021, then up again slightly to 16 percent by 2024.”

They add that the big surge in women’s gun ownership has occurred since 2018 and, almost without exception, is seen across the board without regard to race, age, income, party identification, or education. Men, too, have bought guns amidst record firearms sales boosted by the chaos of 2020, though not to the same transformative extent as women. As broad demand for the means of self-defense has put the lie to the already overstated argument that gun ownership was a passing fixation of rural white men, women have rushed to take advantage of the empowering technology.

“Some of the largest relative increases were among groups of women with historically low rates of gun ownership, such as Hispanic women and those living in the Upper Midwest, who saw ownership rates more than double after 2018,” add the RAND authors.

Smart and Morral draw on data from the General Social Survey (GSS), which is conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. The GSS numbers largely square with other sources.

“Ownership is demographically diverse: 45.7% of validated gun owners are female, 25.6% do not identify as White (alone), and the gap in ownership rates between White Americans (34.6%) and Black Americans (33.0%) has narrowed to less than two percentage points,” Georgetown University’s William English wrote last month, of numbers from the National Firearms Survey.

— J.D. Tuccille in Women Are Better Armed Than Ever

Fort Lauderdale- Armed Renter Stops Two Armed Burglars

The news gave us a scoreboard. The useful part is what the news left out.

Around six in the evening, an hour before sunset, two armed men broke into a Fort Lauderdale home. The home was rented as a bed and breakfast. The neighborhood is older single-family homes set apart from one another. One later report said the attackers had an AR-style rifle. Neighbors heard as many as ten gunshots.

The resident fought the older burglar, then shot the younger burglar in the upper torso. Both burglars ran. The defender called 911. He stayed at the scene and talked to police. Officers followed a blood trail and found the wounded attacker nearby. He was 18. He went to surgery and was listed in stable but critical condition. The second attacker, 25-years-old, has a criminal record as an adult. He was identified, located, and arrested. Both attackers face charges of home-invasion and attempted aggravated murder.

That is the official story. It tells you who lived, who was arrested, and who was charged. It is not enough if you keep a gun at home and treat that as a plan.

The fight we didn’t see

Was the defender already armed when the door was kicked in, or did he have to fight his way to a firearm? Those are two different evenings.

If the gun was on him, the defender could have used it from cover. He did not have to introduce himself or stand in a doorway and offer himself as a target. Armed men who kicked in your front door are not dropping off Christmas cookies.

If the defender’s gun was in another room, the defender had to first survive a fight with two armed strangers. That is the plan that most “I have a gun at home” households are built around. That is the plan that few of us practice. Is that the best plan you have?

There is more we want to know. When did the defender start shooting and when did he stop? Neighbors heard a lot of gunfire. In most states, lethal force is legally justified only while you face an immediate threat of death or grave injury. When the threat ends, so does the justification for using lethal force. Two men with guns in their hands are definitely a threat.

Hope is not a strategy

It sounds decent to shout a warning and hope your armed attackers run away. Let’s ask a colder question. If they meant to flee at the first sign of an occupant, then why did each of the burglars bring a gun with them?

Criminals carry firearms to take what they want. You keep a firearm so you are still alive when the police arrive.

Two questions worth asking tonight

You do not need a new hobby. You need honest answers that fit your situation. Most armed defense happens in your house or on your property.

  • When the front door fails, can you reach a gun without walking into a fight?
  • After shots are fired, do you know what you will say to 911 and then to the police?

This defender lived. The attackers were caught. That is a good night compared with the alternatives. It is not a reason to feel finished. Owning a firearm is not the same as being ready. Please look at your own house before someone else does.

DO IT THIS WAY ⇓

Woman shoots masked intruder dead in Frankford apartment break-in: police

PHILADELPHIA – A 29-year-old man is dead after investigators say he broke into a Frankford apartment and was shot dead by the woman who lives there.

What we know:
Police say the shooting happened at an apartment building on the 4600 block of Castor Avenue around 5 a.m.

Investigators believe a 29-year-old man wearing a ski mask shattered a second floor window and entered an apartment.

A woman who lives in the apartment encountered the intruder and fired at least two shots, one striking the man in the head.

Officers found the man lying on the bedroom floor and brought him to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters that the woman and the intruder knew each other and had some sort of prior relationship.

Investigation continues
What’s next:
No arrests or charges have been reported as of Wednesday morning.

Police have not said if the gun used in the shooting was legally owned.

NOT THIS WAY ⇓

California Man Arrested After Firing Warning Shots at Burglars

Let’s start off by noting that yes, warning shots are stupid. I don’t feel like getting into why, generally speaking, in this piece, because it’s not about that. It’s about a California man facing charges for firing warning shots.

It started with the nightmare scenario for many people: the proverbial bump in the night. Someone was inside of the home in the dark of night who shouldn’t have been there.

So a man who works as a security guard decided he needed to do something, but he apparently didn’t want to hurt anyone.

A security guard was in custody Tuesday after firing warning shots to scare off burglars during a home invasion in Hacienda Heights.

Several suspects allegedly broke into a home to commit a burglary around 9:20 p.m. Monday in the 15400 block of Skyline Drive, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said.

An armed security guard at the residence, which is located within the gated Skyline Estates community, fired warning shots in the air to scare off the burglars, the sheriff’s department said.

Several suspects fled the location in a dark-colored sedan while others remained inside following the shots, according to the sheriff’s department….

Deputies detained the security guard who informed them that he fired the warning shots in the air. It is illegal to discharge a firearm without threat of the loss of life, the sheriff’s department said.

Now, some items were stolen and were recovered nearby, so there is evidence of a burglary.

Further, because the guard was home at the time, it means it was a “hot” burglary. Those are considered fair game in most states, especially those without an explicit duty-to-retreat law. California does not actually have one of those. Believe it or not.

So while firing a warning shot into the air was colossally stupid, and the man should most likely be charged if that round hits anything or anyone, that’s not what he’s charged with, and that is the problem here. If he technically shot straight up into the air, terminal velocity limits what the round will do when it returns to the Earth, but the issue is that few people will hold a gun perfectly straight, and thus the problem.

A burglar in the home with you is a threat to your life. That’s established doctrine in most states, and the reason for that is the high number of “hot” burglaries that turn into violent encounters, including homicides.

Of course, this is Los Angeles, where they value the lives of criminals over ordinary citizens. Why, those burglars might have been illegal aliens who should be welcomed to take all of our crap because we live on stolen land or something!

Charges should fit the crime, but the only “crime” here is the stupidity of that warning shot, especially up into the air. Especially as that block seems to have everyone packed in like sardines.

Still, it’s Los Angeles. Is anyone really surprised that they’re going to be hell on someone defending themselves during a home invasion? Seriously? That doesn’t make it right, though. Not in the least.

DOJ Sues Minnesota Over Gun Permit-to-Purchase Laws and Waiting Periods

On September 24, the Department of Justice took a huge step that could have major repercussions for gun control. The DOJ filed a lawsuit saying Minnesota’s firearm purchase permit and 30-day waiting period are unconstitutional.

Daniel Rosen, the U.S. Attorney General for the District of Minnesota, said:

“We are committed to protecting Minnesotans’ right to purchase firearms and we will not tolerate procedures that are wielded in a way that impairs that right.”

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said:

“Law-abiding citizens do not need government permission to purchase a firearm, and forcing a citizen who has already passed a background check to wait up to sixty days to obtain a firearm is intolerable under the Constitution.”

The suit is being brought against the state of Minnesota and the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minnesota’s original purchase permit law was enacted in 1977 but has been modified several times, most recently in 2025.

In 2023, the state expanded its waiting period from seven to 30 days, the same as the time limit for local police or the county sheriff to grant or deny a permit.

According to the DOJ, police in both Minneapolis and St. Paul routinely take more than the 30 days the law allowed and that wait times of up to 60 days are not uncommon.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon commented:

“The Supreme Court held that the home is where the need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute. When a person needs to defend their home, they need to defend it now, not thirty to sixty days from now.”

Continue reading “”

It’s a Texas Twofer™

Austin homeowner shoots, kills 24-year-old man who police say broke into home

A homeowner shot and killed a 24-year-old man who police say broke into an Austin home and entered a bedroom early Wednesday.

Austin police identified the man on Thursday as Dmario Antonie Jones.

Officers were called to the 200 block of Virtus Bend at 3:51 a.m. Wednesday after a reported burglary. They arrived to find Jones with gunshot wounds, according to authorities. Austin-Travis County EMS attempted lifesaving measures before Jones was pronounced dead at 4:10 a.m.

Police said their preliminary investigation showed that Jones entered the home intending to burglarize it. After he reached a bedroom, police said the homeowner shot him. Detectives questioned the homeowner, whom police did not identify publicly, and later released them. As of Thursday, no charges had been filed in connection with the shooting.

⇓ *cough* – *cough* ⇓ [lazy, lackadaisical law enforcement]

Jones had pleaded guilty a week earlier to a state jail felony theft charge stemming from the May theft of roofing materials from a Travis County lumber yard. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail but received credit for 120 days he had already spent in custody, according to court records.

In a separate case, the Travis County district attorney’s office declined Aug. 31 to pursue an organized criminal activity charge against Jones, citing insufficient evidence.

Man dies after being shot during reported home invasion in Pampa

PAMPA, Texas (KVII) — A man died after police say he forced his way into a Pampa home and was shot by an occupant who feared for their safety.

Pampa police responded around 11:30 p.m. Friday to a reported shooting at a home in the 1300 block of North Duncan Street.

Officers found a man inside the home suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers and other emergency personnel treated him before he was taken by ambulance to Pampa Regional Medical Center.

He was later transferred to an Amarillo hospital in critical condition, where he died from his injuries.

According to the preliminary investigation, the man knew the residents of the home but was uninvited and forced his way inside.

Police said one of the occupants, fearing for their safety, got a handgun and shot the man.

The Pampa Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division is investigating. Once the investigation is complete, the findings will be presented to the district attorney for review and consideration of possible criminal charges.

Some more for our friends way south of the border

Colombian President’s Open Carry Is Signal to Narcoterrorists and Citizens Alike

The last time I wrote anything about Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella was early September, when he ended the decade-long suspension of carry licenses and encouraged residents to legally protect themselves.

Like Mexico, Colombia has pretty restrictive gun laws and a powerful criminal element who ignores them with impunity, while average citizens are largely helpless unless they too are willing to break the law.

Now De La Espriella is sending a message to narcoterrorists and lawful citizens alike. A group calling itself the Conquering Self Defense Forces of the Sierra Nevada has laid siege to the city of Santa Marta, a popular tourist destination home to about 600,000 people. The group had set fire to vehicles and threatened the residents to stay home or else face the consequences.

De La Espriella, in return, sent the military to Santa Marta, where they killed a high-ranking member of organization. The president himself showed up in Santa Marta earlier this week, and spoke to officials and the press while openly carrying a handgun on his hip. The gun-carrying has upset some of De La Espriella’s detractors on the left, and even caught the attention of the New York Times.

The president’s gun display ignited debate across Colombia. In Santa Marta, some praised Mr. De La Espriella for his swift arrival and the strong message he sent to the armed group by deploying troops.

“In the last four years, security was terrible,” keeping tourists away, said Luis Arévalo, 37, who rents tents to beachgoers. “There’s been a change, just one month in, since the Tiger arrived,” he added, using Mr. De La Espriella’s nickname.

“He’s roaring.”

Others in Santa Marta described Mr. De La Espriella’s visit as a publicity stunt. “Everyone says that — pure stunt,” said José Ángel Gutiérrez, a 71-year-old retiree.

… Tiziano Breda, senior analyst for ACLED, said Mr. De La Espriella had set up a confrontation between government forces and the armed group that is the de facto authority in the area, and has ordered similar shutdowns before.

“They are both pushing citizens to abide by their respective rules,” he said. “The armed group says the blockade is continuing until Friday, and the government is encouraging shops and businesses to open already,” he said, adding that this created a real risk of retaliation for civilians who trusted the state and reopened.

Which, frankly, is all the more reason for De La Espriella to encourage Colombians to lawfully arm themselves, and to work with the legislature to reform the country’s gun laws so that it’s easier to do so.

De La Espriella’s decision to open carry isn’t a one off. The Times reports that his administration posted a video of the president in the city of Cali on Thursday, where he once again had a handgun on his hip. If he wants the criminal element to see this as a sign of his strength, great, but it’s far more important to continue to aggressively combat them and restore law and order to cities where these cartels have become the de facto authorities.

In the meantime, De La Espriella should encourage Colombia’s law-abiding citizens to take up arms in self-defense. His open carry is already signaling that, but he should be much more open and explicit about the ability of average, everyday Colombians to protect themselves from the narcoterrorists who want to rule over them with an iron fist.

New Jersey Faces Lawsuit Over Knife, Baseball Bat Ban For Self-Defense

pro-Second Amendment group led a lawsuit Monday seeking to have New Jersey’s laws barring the carrying of items like baseball bats and knives for self-defense thrown out.

The Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs and Knife Rights filed the lawsuit on behalf of four individual plaintiffs, arguing that by prohibiting the use of items other than firearms for self-defense, New Jersey was violating the Second Amendment rights of residents. The complaint said that the state has been in “panic mode” since the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller v. District of Columbia.

“New Jersey demands that its citizens be defenseless when they go about their day in public. Defenseless. Until forced to issue Permits to Carry a Handgun by the Bruen decision in 2022, New Jersey banned its citizens from carrying any weapon for self-defense,” the complaint filed Monday says. “Still today, New Jerseyans cannot carry any ordinary object for protection against violent crime, not a baseball bat, not a stick, not a knife, not a pair of scissors, not anything. If a person keeps an ordinary baseball bat in her car or if she keeps a small baton (sometimes called a kuboton) on her keychain she can find herself arrested and thrown in prison under New Jersey law.”

“The Second Amendment protects all common arms not just guns. There are many situations in which a person may prefer to defend against violent attack with something other than a firearm,” the legal filing continued. “New Jersey does not allow that. This is how a single mom using a carpet cutter to defend herself and her young daughter against a violent and potentially fatal beating found herself a convicted felon.”

In a 1990 decision from the New Jersey Supreme Court, the conviction of a single mother for carrying a carpet cutter and using it to protect herself when an ex-boyfriend was beating her was upheld.

The Supreme Court has already ruled on non-firearms being protected, issuing a unanimous ruling in Caetano v. Massachusetts that held that stun guns were protected by the Second Amendment. While the main opinion was unsigned (also known as a “per curiam” opinion), a concurrence from Associate Justice Samuel Alito went into more detail.

“A weapon is an effective means of self-defense only if one is prepared to use it, and it is presumptuous to tell Caetano she should have been ready to shoot the father of her two young children if she wanted to protect herself,” Alito wrote in a separate opinion. “Courts should not be in the business of demanding that citizens use more force for self-defense than they are comfortable wielding.”

“The Commonwealth of Massachusetts was either unable or unwilling to do what was necessary to protect Jaime Caetano, so she was forced to protect herself,” Alito added. “To make matters worse, the Commonwealth chose to deploy its prosecutorial resources to prosecute and convict her of a criminal offense for arming herself with a nonlethal weapon that may well have saved her life.”

Second Amendment Foundation President Massad Ayoob, who has decades of experience as a law enforcement officer, firearms instructor and an expert witness in the use of force for self-defense, explained why many states tend to treat knives and other items more stringently in self-defense cases in an August interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Historically, the pistol was seen as the weapon that would be chosen by the lady or the gentleman and the knife and the club were seen as the weapons of the thug and there’s a little bit of that yet today,” Ayoob said.

Police: Uber Eats driver shoots armed man in self-defense
Investigators say an Uber Eats delivery driver shot a man in what appears to be self-defense outside a Pollo Tropical in Port St. Lucie

Investigators say an Uber Eats delivery driver shot a man in what appears to be self-defense outside a Pollo Tropical in Port St. Lucie.

The Port St. Lucie Police Department said officers responded around 3:43 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, to the restaurant at 1365 NW St. Lucie West Blvd. after receiving reports of a shooting.

Officers found Christopher Harris, 37, suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest. He was flown to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, where officials say his injuries were determined to be non-life-threatening.

According to Port St. Lucie Police Chief Leo Niemczyk, the man who fired the shot is an Uber Eats delivery driver.

Niemczyk told WPBF 25 News the incident started over a parking spot.

“He [Harris] pursued him inside. There was a little interaction in the doorway entrance. The Uber Eats driver went inside, picked up his order, went out, and the other person pursued him outside, shoved him and pulled out what appeared to be a knife, what was identified to be a knife,” he said.

Niemczyk said the Uber Eats driver shot Harris once in the chest.

“Christopher Harris. He was the aggressor. He pursued the other individual. He followed him back outside. He shoved him. He pulled out a weapon,” Niemczyk told WPBF.

He said that justifies the man who pulled the trigger defending himself.

“It’s self-defense. It also fits the stand-your-ground rule because he is being pursued. He has no duty to retreat. In fact, he did try to retreat. He did try to avoid the situation, but he was pursued. So 100%, he turned around and used appropriate action. He met deadly force, being a knife, with deadly force by firing one round. It appears to be 100% justifiable,” Niemczyk said.

After being shot, officials say Harris went back inside the restaurant, where people began providing aid and called 911.

Investigators said one knife was recovered after it had been removed from Harris’ waistband while people were helping him. Police said another knife was later found in his front pocket.

Harris is facing charges of attempted aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and felony battery based on a prior battery conviction. Officials say once he is released from the hospital, they expect him to be booked in the St. Lucie County Jail.

The Uber Eats driver is not facing criminal charges in the case.

Better video

Oregon concealed carry license laws challenged by gun rights group

The lobbying group Gun Owners of America filed suit against the city of Salem and Marion County on Friday, challenging Oregon’s concealed handgun carry license laws.

The lawsuit targets restrictions that bar certain out-of-state residents from obtaining permits in Oregon and the state’s refusal to recognize permits from other states.

Cynthia Ladd, the group’s Oregon director and an Arizona resident, is the plaintiff.

In a sworn declaration filed in federal court, Ladd wrote that she’ll be visiting the state Capitol in Salem and meeting with legislators in the next 90 days as part of her lobbying work and wishes to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense in the city. But her Arizona concealed gun permit is not recognized and she can’t apply for one in Oregon.

The state, though, adopted a law in 2021 that bans guns from the Oregon Capitol, even those who have concealed handgun licenses. The city of Salem also prohibits unlicensed possession of loaded guns in the city.

The suit alleges that Ladd is “a typical, law-abiding American citizen with ordinary self-defense needs, who cannot be dispossessed of her right to bear arms in public for self-defense in Oregon simply due to her nonresident status.”

The city of Salem declined comment, citing the pending litigation, according to Robert B. Layne II, the city’s spokesperson.

To obtain an Oregon concealed handgun license, an applicant must be a resident of Oregon, or a non-resident who lives in a bordering state, including Washington, Idaho, Nevada or California.

Non-residents who live in a state bordering Oregon can apply for a concealed carry license to an Oregon county sheriff’s office that borders their state. Oregon county sheriffs, though, have discretion on whether to process non-resident applications, and many restrict them strictly to people who work or own property in their county.

Ladd’s lawsuit is one of a number of similar suits that have targeted residency barriers and out-of-state restrictions on concealed carry gun permits.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen found New York’s concealed carry laws unconstitutional. It stated that gun-control provisions had to comport with the text and “historical tradition” of the Second Amendment. Since then, state and local governments have had to show their own gun regulations are consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.

Some states recognize many permits, others only a few, and others, like Oregon, only recognize their own permits granted for residents.

On Friday, the Liberty Justice Center petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the state of Minnesota’s law that requires a long-haul trucker who has concealed gun carry permits in Florida and Georgia to also obtain a license from Minnesota if he wants to carry a gun there.

An update on this:

Wife Tells 911, ‘My Husband Had to Shoot’ After Alleged Intruder Killed

Transcripts of a 911 call about a homeowner shooting an alleged intruder earlier this month have been released, and at one point the homeowner’s wife says, “My husband had to shoot.”

Breitbart News reported the September 7th incident in which an alleged intruder, identified as 37-year-old David Lee Jr., was shot and killed by a Mobile, Alabama homeowner.

Now, FOX 10 TV has acquired and published 911 calls from that night, one of which was from a business owner and the second of which was from the wife of the homeowner who shot Lee.

The first call came in after a business owner saw Lee on his property around 9:13 p.m. The unidentified business owner told 911 that Lee “was just climbing at the top of our barbed wire getting in when I saw him.”

He noted that Lee allegedly made his way up some stairs, only to fall off after unsuccessfully trying to enter a window.

Minutes later, the 911 call from the wife of the Mobile homeowner came in, and she told the dispatcher that a person whom they did not know was trying to get into their home. She then said, “My husband is armed and he is trying to get the person to leave. He is knocking at our window.”

The sound of the window breaking could be heard and then a gunshot, and the dispatcher asked if Lee was making his way through the house. The wife responded, “No! My husband had to shoot.”

Lee died at the scene.

This wasn’t on my radar, but good to know it’s been – sort of – resolved.

UPDATE: Washington Reverses, Says NRA-Certified Instructors Can Teach

The Washington State Patrol (WSP) appears to have reversed course on allowing certified National Rifle Association firearms instructors to provide safety training as part of the upcoming permit-to-purchase training requirement, TGM has learned.

The problem was first reported by TGM here.

In an email to subscribers of a list of potential instructors Monday, WSP Commander Kevin Baird advised, “The email sent September 11, 2026 regarding NRA sponsorship of firearm safety training resulted from a misunderstanding of the terminology used and how the statute is written.

“I’m pleased to report that the NRA Executive Director, Josh Savani, reached out to me on Friday to clarify the NRA’s position. Based on that clarification, independent NRA-certified instructors may provide the firearm safety training required under RCW 9.41.1132 and RCW 9.41.070.

“However,” Baird continued, “as with all other training providers, WSP must still review and certify the training curriculum to ensure it includes all elements required by law. Those requirements include:

RCW 9.41.1132(1):

(a) Basic firearms safety rules;

(b) Firearms and children, including secure gun storage and talking to children about gun safety;

(c) Firearms and suicide prevention;

(d) Secure gun storage to prevent unauthorized access and use;

(e) Safe handling of firearms;

(f) State and federal firearms laws, including prohibited firearms transfers and locations where firearms are prohibited;

(g) State laws pertaining to the use of deadly force for self-defense;

(h) Techniques for avoiding a criminal attack and how to manage a violent confrontation, including conflict resolution; and

(i) Live-fire shooting exercises on a firing range that include a demonstration by the applicant of the safe handling of, and shooting proficiency with, firearms.

“We have not yet begun reviewing individual curricula,” Baird wrote. “That process will begin once we have processed the majority of the training-provider applications.

“My apologies for the confusion created by the previous email,” he said. “We are working to provide information as quickly and transparently as possible while developing the processes and procedures necessary to implement this significant undertaking. As someone described it to me last week, ‘we are building the airplane while flying it.’ We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through these implementation details.”

Last week’s announcement created a furor, drawing longtime gun rights activist—and NRA-certified firearms instructor—Jane Milhans into the fray. She singlehandedly brought the problem to NRA’s attention, initiating a scramble on both ends, with NRA exchanging information with Baird.

The situation also drew attention from TGM, Ammoland News and radio host Jason Rantz writing about it at Seattle-Red.

As reported last week, an exchange of messages regarding whether NRA-certified instructors would be okayed to provide the necessary safety instruction required by the new state law, RCW 9.41.1132, ignited the controversy.

A message sent last week by WSP to members of a ListServ P2P group, which stated, “RCW 9.41.1132 (3) states (bolding added for emphasis): ‘The training must be sponsored by a federal, state, tribal, county, or municipal law enforcement agency, a college or university, a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers firearms training, or a firearms training school with instructors certified by a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers firearms training.

“We reached out to the NRA to determine if an NRA Certified Trainer would be considered to be ‘sponsored’ by the NRA thereby meeting the requirement of ‘a nationally recognized organization that customarily offers firearms training’.

“The answer they provided is: NO. They said because these individuals are neither employees nor contractors, and the NRA is not involved in scheduling, promoting, etc. of the classes, the NRA would not be considered as sponsoring any classes for them.”

This was the original message that set off the communications flurry resulting in Monday’s reversal.

“While NRA-certified instructors are not employees or contractors of NRA,” Savani explained, “holding a current certification does entitle an instructor to certain rights and privileges that could be seen to make them ‘sponsored’ for purposes of RCW 9.41.1132(3). For example, NRA certified instructors are permitted to use NRA trademarks in promotion of their NRA training courses. We do not allow use of our marks lightly, and use of these marks puts NRA’s imprimatur on any of our courses being taught by a certified instructor.”

Home Invader’ Is the One Species Most States Still Don’t Protect.

A lot of folks in Arizona love and embrace the Second Amendment. After all, one doesn’t need a permission ship to bring your heat in the Copper State. In Saint David, a 67-year-old man learned that a bedroom window isn’t a senior citizen discount lane.

Last week, a homeowner with two small children inside heard suspicious noises and checked his cameras. He saw a strange old man breaking out a window and trying to climb inside. Mr. Homeowner fired upon the would-be intruder.

The 67-year-old won’t make his 68th birthday party. Meanwhile the kids inside the home didn’t miss breakfast and remained uninjured and unmolested.

 

After being shot, the intruder abandoned his attempt to climb through the window, but he didn’t get far.  Cops found him “unresponsive” outside the window. Medics tried, but failed.

 

For some do-gooders, the excuse menu writes itself. Maybe he was a mental case. Or drunk. Possibly stoned. Perhaps just a confused neighbor. Maybe he just had a poor life coach.

None of it gives anyone a climbing permit to bust a window and force entry into a home in the middle of the night (or any other time). One with children. Age isn’t a free pass. “He lived nearby” isn’t an invitation. If your plan includes break-glass-and-force-entry, you’ve chosen to be the one species that most states don’t protect.

This was a father standing between a bad dude and two little children. Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels says we need to wait for the full investigation. Fine. The part already on the table doesn’t require a séance to figure out. Occupied house. Broken window. Stranger coming through.

Fox10Phoenix has it:

An Arizona homeowner allegedly shot and killed a suspected intruder early Sunday morning, according to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were notified of a potential burglary in progress at a Saint David home in the early morning hours on Aug. 30.

The homeowner said he was inside with his family, including two small children, when he heard what sounded like a window being broken. When he checked his home security system, someone was seen outside, the man told officials.

After entering the main living area, the resident said he saw a shadow near the window, as if someone were trying to get into the home.

That doesn’t sound like it requires much more of an investigation.

Hey Paul, does this have any effect on you?

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella Loosens Restrictions on Being Armed for Self-Defense

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella issued a decree loosening a decades old restriction on carrying firearms in public for self-defense.

BBC reported that the restriction had barred “even those in possession of a permit to carry guns” from being armed in public without first acquiring “additional authorization.”

The restriction on carrying guns in public, even for self-defense, began in December 2015 under then-President Juan Manuel Santos.

As De la Espriella campaigned for the presidency, he pledged to be tough on crime. He believes ensuring law-abiding citizens can be armed for self-defense is part of fulfilling that promise.

He said it is “not right that criminals are armed to the teeth while decent people can’t defend themselves.”

On September 8, 2026, De la Espriella posted to X, “For years, citizens who obey the law were restricted while criminals continued arming themselves to the teeth illegally. That has to change.”

Upon signing the decree, De la Espriella also made clear that law enforcement will continue to rigorously pursue and disarm the criminal element in Colombian society.