Category: Self Defense

Ludlow homeowner shot alleged thief who charged him in self-defense

KENTON COUNTY, Ky. (WXIX) – A Ludlow man will not be charged after shooting a man police say broke into several cars in the area.

Damon Hammons is the man recorded on video trying to break into cars as well as a home shortly before he was shot, according to Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.

Sanders says the man who shot Hammons acted in self-defense. FOX19 is not naming him because he is not being charged.

“It’s a very unusual thing to happen in Ludlow,” Sanders said. It’s normally a sleepy little river town.”

It happened on Dec. 5 just before 5 a.m.

Sanders says the man shot Hammons after he saw the man breaking into a car.

The homeowner told Hammons he was calling the police, according to court documents.

The homeowner later told police that he warned Hammons “to get out of here,” to which Hammons allegedly answered, “I’m not scared of you.”

The homeowner continued, “He started coming after me and stuff. I feared for my life.”

Said Sanders, “Ultimately, this comes down to a matter of self-defense.”

Sanders says the homeowner told Hammons several times he had a gun and not to come near, but Hammons charged him nonetheless.

“When this person, who we can only describe as a criminal, keeps coming towards him, I think it was completely reasonable for the homeowner to fire in self-defense,” Sanders said.

Investigators are still working to find out how much damage Hammons caused that night.

“We know he broke into a number of vehicles and caused quite a bit of property damage,” Sanders said. “We know he tried to break into at least one residence.”

Part of the alleged crime spree was caught on camera. It allegedly shows Hammons unsuccessfully trying to break into a home.

Sanders points to a moment in the video where he says Hammons yells for help. He says he’s unsure why Hammons does so.

The prosecutor also says Hammons is lucky to be alive.

“That shot could easily have killed him, going through his neck. It could have paralyzed him.”

Hammons is out of the hospital and will likely be charged once investigators have a damage estimate.

Amazon worker shot, colleague returns fire killing suspect outside facility

An Amazon contract worker was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after a gunman allegedly opened fire at an Amazon facility in Arizona Wednesday, according to police.

The alleged gunman was shot and killed by a second Amazon contract worker who returned fire, investigators said.

The incident occurred in the parking lot of an Amazon Flex facility in Chandler, Arizona, around 9:30 a.m. local time, police said.

The suspect, identified as Jacob Murphy, 29, who allegedly fired multiple rounds at one of the contracted workers before a second contract worker returned fire, Sgt. Jason McClimans of the Chandler Police Department told reporters at a news conference.

The unidentified wounded worker was taken to a local hospital in “life-threatening condition,” according to McClimans. Murphy was not employed by Amazon and was declared dead at the scene, police said.

“At this time, police cannot determine if the actions of the third male resulted in Murphy’s death or if Murphy took his own life,” the police said in a statement.

The second unidentified contracted worker who fired at the suspect was cooperating with the investigation, McClimans said.

The investigation was ongoing.

“We do not know what led up to this,” he said. “We believe this was confined to one suspect only.”

The Amazon facility and local schools were locked down when the shooting took place, according to police.

“We weren’t sure if this was an active shooter, but within 20 minutes, we were able to lift those lockdowns,” McClimans said.

Bryton Bobbitt, a contracted Amazon worker, told ABC affiliate KNXV he was getting ready for a normal workday when the shooting occurred.

“All of a sudden, just hear pop, pop, pop. [I] start looking around, like where did that come from? A few of our other workers started running,” he told the affiliate. “I was already in my work van, I put it in gear and tried to find a safe place and got out of here.”

A spokesman from Amazon told ABC News that operations at the facility were suspended following the incident and all employees and partners were sent home with pay.

“We’re deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence in our parking lot. We’re working closely with law enforcement as they investigate and are focused on supporting our team during this difficult time,” Richard Rocha, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement.

Homeowner shoots, kills woman burglarizing property,

HOUSTON (Gray News) – A homeowner in Houston shot and killed a suspected burglar, according to police.

Houston police said they are investigating the fatal shooting that happened around 3:45 a.m. Monday.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting, where they found an unresponsive woman in a ditch next to the roadway. Paramedics pronounced her dead on the scene.

According to witnesses, the 26-year-old deceased woman and an unidentified man were seen burglarizing vehicles in the area. One resident shot and killed the woman, and the man fled the area on foot.

Police said no charges have been filed at this time as the investigation is ongoing.

Is There Anything We can do to Stop Mass Murderers in the United States?

That question comes to mind since President Biden recently claimed we need to massively disarm honest US citizens in order to stop mass-murderers. Instead of accepting the President’s words at face value, I looked at what the experts say. There are many questions we might ask and lots of facts we can consider. We do many things today to stop violence in the US. There is more we could do, and this is what I found;

  • We stop several thousand violent events every day.
  • The United States is about average in its rate of mass murder.
  • We stop more than half of the attempted mass murderers who attack where honest citizens are allowed to go armed.
  • Most mass murderers go through a predictable process, and we ignored warning signs time after time.
  • We should stop making the murderers into overnight celebrities, but that is hard to do.

A Walmart employee murdered several of his co-workers in Virginia. That happened a few weeks ago. President Biden then commented that,

“[T]he idea we still allow semi automatic weapons to be purchased is sick.  It’s just sick.  It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single, solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.”

The president’s comment sounds bizarre given what we know. We know that more than 5,000 ordinary US citizens use a firearm to protect themselves from a serious threat every day. Stopping that much assault, robbery, rape and murder every day sounds like an immense socially redeeming value to me. The president obviously disagrees.

That level of armed defense shouldn’t come as news. We’ve seen similar reports for the last few decades. The data is broadly consistent, including a report from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention that was commissioned by the Obama Administration.

All of us are biased, but we have good reason to be. We think that what we see in the news gives us a representative picture of what is happening in the world overall. It feels that way to us, but in truth there is a lot of news that goes unreported by our local news stations. Our news media covers a mass murder in the US for days but they only cover a mass murder that happened in another country for a few minutes. That distorts our thinking about where violence happens.

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Homeowner shoots, kills intruder in Bedford County

BEDFORD COUNTY, Pa (WTAJ) — A home intruder was killed Saturday morning in Bedford after State Police said the homeowner shot him.

State Police out of Bedford said they received a call of a home invasion and assault along Shoups Branch Road in Liberty Township shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday. While on the phone with the 72-year-old male homeowner, they said the 911 call disconnected. When the call reconnected, there were reports of shots fired.

When police arrived, they found the alleged intruder, Dakota Hall, 22, of Huntingdon, with a gunshot wound. Police said Hall died of his injuries at the scene.

The 72-year-old was taken to UPMC Bedford for injuries suffered in the assault.

Troopers said there is no threat to the public but they are still investigating. The Bedford County Coroner’s Office and the Bedford County District Attorney’s office are assisting with the investigation.

Chicago shooting: Concealed carry holder shoots 2 men during possible car theft attempt

CHICAGO (WLS) — A concealed carry holder shot two offenders during a possible attempted car theft early Saturday morning, Chicago police said.

Police are still investigating the attack as it joins the growing number of incidents where armed residents are shooting their alleged attackers to avoid becoming victims of a crime.

The moment Kyle Jorgensen heard it, he said he knew it was gunfire.

“Fell asleep with the window open and I woke up to gunshots, and my dog’s looking out the window, freaking out. Probably heard eight or nine shot,” he said.

The gunshots rang out early in morning in the heart of city’s Loop .

A 31-year-old man was walking toward his parked vehicle in the Loop’s 0-100 block of West Randolph Street at about 3:37 a.m., police said. A red SUV passed him, and someone fired shots in his direction.

The victim, who holds a FOID card and concealed carry license, took out his gun and fired several rounds, police said. The SUV then fled the scene. The victim, who was not injured, saw someone get out of his parked vehicle and run away.

Investigators said minutes after the shooting, the same red SUV involved in the shootout pulled up to the emergency room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital with a man in his 20s seeking treatment for a gunshot wound to his left knee.

About the same time, another man in his 20s walked into Lurie Children’s Hospital with a gunshot wound to the lower back.

Both were subsequently taken into custody.

Police said they are seeking a third offender, whose age is unknown.

“You see all the smash and grabs that happened in broad daylight, so you can be a victim any time of the day,” said Denise Arnold.

“When we first moved, there was nothing like for almost a month, then it got on and off. It got really bad,” said Laurel Protexter, who has lived in neighborhood almost three years. “You never know what’s going to happen. It’s very unfortunate.”

Area Three detectives are investigating the incident. Police did not immediately provide further information.

This latest incident is at least the second time in about a week that a legally armed resident in Chicago has shot an alleged attacker to avoid becoming a victim of a crime.

Just to clarify.
This requirement isn’t for concealed carry. It’s to simply BUY a firearm.
I think this monstrosity isn’t going to make it through the court system, but it does illuminate just how mindless a lot of people are, which isn’t a new thing, as the Framers recognized the malady even back then when they demanded a Bill of Rights.

Measure 114’s live fire training component leaves trainers in limbo

While Oregon’s new voter-approved gun control measure is getting worked out in the courts, there remains uncertainty among local gun shops and firearms instructors in Central Oregon.

Sharon Preston, owner of Ladies of Lead in Redmond — and an instructor who specializes in self-defense training for women — says there are a lot of questions that still have not been answered about the implementation of Measure 114.

Preston says business has been through the roof. But she says she’s had to stop firearm sales, not knowing what is next with the measure. But she says selling guns is only part of what she does.

“Selling guns is a very small portion of my business. I do it as an added value to my clients, so it’s educational based gun sales. But my main focus is always going to be in training,” said Preston.
She’s been forced to find alternatives as 114 is in limbo.

“I’ve heard too many stories in this store from women, locally. The brutality and violence they have been through, survived through. They want a tool that will allow them to live their lives large again, and they’re not going to be able to get on. That’s why I’m switching to crossbows, pepper ball guns, tasers, knives,” Preston said.

Preston’s biggest concern with the measure lies in the required live fire training — meant to prove shooting proficiency. As of now, she says no guidelines have been spelled out as to how the state will facilitate the training courses. And no one knows who will be authorized by the state to lead those courses.

And there are other unanswered questions.

“They don’t know how many rounds we have to shoot, at what distance we have to shoot, at what target we have to shoot. They don’t know what firearm we can use. So there’s so many questions out there,” said Preston.

The next hearing on Measure 114 will be held Tuesday at Circuit Court in Harney County. Those who support the measure will be able to argue against the temporary hold set in place by Judge Robert Raschio.

Louisiana homeowner kills man defending his home

IBERIA PARISH, La. (KLFY) — One person is dead and two others are wanted fugitives after a homeowner shot and killed a man in an attempted home invasion Tuesday night, authorities said.

The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday deputies responded to a call at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 9000 block of Old Jeanerette Road. Upon arrival deputies found a deceased male inside the home.

Police said the deceased male had entered the home with two other men and fired his gun at the homeowner, and the homeowner shot the intruder. The two remaining suspects fled the home and are still at large.

The name of the deceased is being withheld at this time pending investigation and notification of family, authorities said.

Intruder shot and killed after breaking into home in Grayson Co.

GRAYSON COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) — The Grayson County Sherriff’s Office says it responded to a home invasion in which a man was fatally shot on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

Deputies say it happened around midnight in the 1000 block of Mt. Zion Road in Elk Creek. They say when they arrived they detained the homeowner until the scene was determined safe.

According to a Facebook post from Grayson County’s Sheriff’s Office, deputies discovered the intruder entered the home by breaking a bedroom window. Deputies reported the homeowner went to retrieve his handgun when the intruder grabbed him from behind. They say this led to a struggle, and the homeowner fired two shots.

Deputies say the intruder, 41-year-old Samuel Craig Cheeks, was pronounced dead at the scene. They say his body was transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office to complete an autopsy.

Deputies say the homeowner appeared to have acted within the law.

Grayson County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the incident.

Woman shoots, kills suspected carjacker in self defense

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – North Las Vegas Police are still looking for a suspect involved in a November carjacking in which the victim shot and killed one of the suspects.

On November 19th, a woman told detectives she went to pick up her friend on their way to a Friendsgiving. The woman said the pair was too early to the party, so they decided to park near the house on San Miguel Avenue and Coleman Street to wait. Arrest report documents note she said she noticed a vehicle approach them fast. She said the suspects parked directly in front of her car blocking it. She told detectives two black males got out of the vehicle with guns pointed at the women. The men yelled at the women to get out of the car. Before she could process what was going on, one of the males opened the driver’s side door and grabbed her by the shirt, yanking her out of the car. One of the men got into the driver’s seat and attempted to drive away but was not able to get the vehicle into drive. The woman said the car requires a button to be pressed to drive the car. The man had trouble doing so and placed his gun in his lap while he attempted to steal the car. The woman told her friend to run.

The report said a second suspect got into the passenger seat and told the first suspect, “Just go.” The woman noticed the suspect wasn’t holding the gun anymore. The report states that she grabbed it out of his lap and ran. Seconds later, the man tackled her from behind. The report said she tried to get the man off but he was holding her tight. That’s when she turned and shot him.

She told detectives she was unsure if she shot him once or twice. The report said the second suspect started shooting at her. The woman ran to a house and hid in a side yard. The woman told detectives the gun was jammed, so she fixed it. The report said she heard what she thought was the second suspect cry out that his friend was shot. She told detectives once she heard sirens she came out and approached the police. The woman was put into handcuffs but later told she was not under arrest.

Officers arrived and found a deceased male adult bleeding from his head lying in street. The report said the man was wearing a black ski mask, jacket and jeans. During the course of the investigation, detectives saw a vehicle of interest casing the area in multiple surveillance videos.

On December 2nd, LVMPD officers located Jaylin Morrison and took him into custody. The arrest report links Jaylin’s vehicle matching the vehicle of interest casing the victims. Detectives said Jaylin was a known associate with the deceased suspect. Arrest documents said Morrison cased the victims, blocked their car with his, had two other associates get out of the car with masks and guns, removed the victims from their car, entered the victim’s car with the intent to steal it and attempted to steal the vehicle.

Morrison is facing charges of 2nd-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit robbery, attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, burglary with the use of a deadly weapon, and attempted grand larceny of a vehicle.

Warner Robins police say restaurant worker shot, killed armed robber in self-defense

Concealed carry holder shoots 2 during attempted robbery on Chicago’s West Side

CHICAGO – A concealed carry holder shot and critically wounded two would-be robbers Monday morning in the Lawndale neighborhood.

The 56-year-old man was inside his vehicle just before 6 a.m. in the 4700 block of West Arthington Street when a car with three teens inside pulled up, according to Chicago police.

One of teens got out of the car and pointed a gun at the victim while demanding his belongings, police said.

A struggle ensued and the victim, who is a FOID and concealed carry license holder, pulled out his gun and started shooting police said.

The suspects’ vehicle attempted to drive away but crashed nearby, police said.

The driver of the vehicle suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was listed in critical condition, police said. A second teen who was riding in the backseat broke his leg during the crash and was transported to an area hospital in fair condition, police said.

The third teen was found several blocks away with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital where he was listed in serious condition.

All of the suspects were males between 15 and 18 years old, police said.

The concealed carry holder was not injured during the incident.

Suspect killed man in Phoenix neighborhood in self defense,

PHOENIX – An argument in a neighborhood near Bell Road and 32nd Street ended with a man being shot and killed on Friday, Phoenix police said.

Investigators say the shooter was defending himself when he killed 45-year-old Jorge Rodriguez, and he was not arrested.

The incident happened at around 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 after Rodriguez reportedly began arguing with the suspect, who was working in the area at the time.

The suspect told police that Rodriguez took out a gun and pointed it at him.

“The suspect took out his own handgun and shot the victim,” police said.

The case is still under investigation, and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will determine if any charges will be filed.

Quote O’ The Day
The eight-point boost in favorability between now and then could be the result of people in those states recognizing that living under a shall-issue carry regime is not an apocalyptic scenario but, rather, business as usual as it had been in most of the country.

Analysis: The Popularity of the Bruen Decision Should Not Come as a Surprise

You wouldn’t know it from the reaction of political leaders in states affected by the decision, but the Supreme Court’s holding in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen is very popular among the American public. That’s because a decades-long cultural shift towards concealed carry had already succeeded well before the justices ever took up the case.

A Marquette University law school poll released this week found 64 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court’s holding that the “Second Amendment protects the right to possess a gun outside the home.” By contrast, 35 percent say they oppose the decision, with only 16 percent saying they’re strongly opposed.

That such a substantial majority gave a warm reception to the concept of public concealed carry rights should not come as a shock. For nearly all of the country, the Court did little more than affirm the status quo.

When the decision was handed down, three-quarters of the population lived in a state where law-abiding adults faced only limited barriers to carrying a concealed firearm for self-defense. They could do so in 25 of those states without even needing to obtain a government-issued permit.

A tandem of shifting cultural practices and state legislation made that possible. Beginning in 1987 with Florida’s adoption of “shall-issue” concealed carry permitting, where state officials can’t subjectively deny permit applications, a revolution in liberalized gun carry laws began to sweep the country.

Right to Carry, timeline.gif

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DON’T BELIEVE GIVING UP RIGHTS PROVIDES SECURITY

New York Time columnist David Brooks is reminding America why they shouldn’t put faith in opinion writers pontificating from their metropolitan ivory towers.

Brooks recently said America would be a much safer country if Americans would simply give up their freedoms and become more like Europe. If America wouldn’t hold onto the individual right to keep and bear arms spelled out in the Second Amendment, and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, he argues it would be a much safer place.

In his estimation, giving up the ability for self-defense and defense of loved ones would make crime just go away.

“That would take a gigantic culture shift in this country. A revamping of the way we think about privacy, a revamping of the way we think about the role government plays in protecting the common good,” Brooks said during a segment on PBS’ “Newshour.” “I think it would be something. I think it would be good not only to head off shootings, but good to live in a society where we cared more intimately about each other. And I would be willing to give up certain privacies for that to happen.”

That’s certainly out of the mainstream of how the rest of America views lawful firearm ownership. There were over 21 million background checks for the sale of a firearm in 2020, the most ever in a single year. Last year, Americans submitted to 18.5 million background checks. In 2022, background check figures are headed for the third strongest year on record. During the week up to and including Black Friday, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) tallied over 711,000 background checks, with over 192,000 on Black Friday alone. That was the third busiest day for FBI’s NICS ever.

The Plan: Give Up

Just how would America achieve this utopia that Brooks imagines? Just give up, he said. Give up your rights. Give up your freedoms. Submit to an Orwellian state that provides you with all your needs. He admits this wouldn’t be easy.

“But for many Americans that would just be a massive cultural shift to regard our community and regard our common good in more frankly a European style,” Brooks explained.  “I think it would benefit our society in a whole range of areas, but it’s hard to see that kind of culture change to a society that’s been pretty individualistic for a long, long time.”

America broke away from European-style rule for a reason. The Founding Fathers rejected the British crown’s demands to give up guns then. Based on background checks for gun sales, America continues to reject calls for strict gun control. A recent Gallup poll found that support for more gun control dropped nine points from 66 percent to 57 percent in an October survey.

Failed Disarmament

The argument that individuals should surrender their gun rights has been tried elsewhere with predictable results. Gun owners that complied with gun seizures find themselves unable to protect themselves while criminals that ignore the law are empowered. A recent report from ABC News in Australia showed that criminals find it easier now to obtain illicit firearms than before the multiple amnesty periods when government officials collected firearms from Australians. New Zealand instituted their own gun confiscation program and crime spiked. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ushered in Draconian gun control, including confiscation, and the country and crime hit new peaks.

The only ones left with guns were the criminals. That’s a lesson that Canada’s grappling with now as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is eyeing his own gun confiscation scheme and banning the transfer of any handguns. Some Canadian provinces are rejecting the heavy-handed measures. Sadly, history is replete with examples of regimes that took away its citizens firearms only to become tyrannical and turn their citizens into defenseless subjects. Those that fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence expressed their fear of a tyrannical government and enshrined our right to keep and bear arms for self defense in the Bill of Rights for a reason.

Brooks is wrong to think that ridding ourselves of rights and lawful gun ownership would reduce crime. The answer to rampant crime is more law enforcement. The changes needed to safeguard America’s communities don’t begin with turning our backs on freedoms. It starts with holding elected officials in The White House, Congress, state capitols and district attorneys responsible for not enforcing the law and failing to hold criminals accountable.

Brooks’ notion is a devil’s bargain. Americans know it. Surrendering freedom has never resulted in anything less than creating a society of victims.

Carroll police chief says early morning shooting likely a case of self-defense

Carroll’s police chief says his department’s initial investigation indicates a man who was critically wounded early this morning was shot in self-defense. Carroll Police Chief Brad Burke says residents in an apartment building started calling 911 around 1 a.m.

“The first one that came in was that a subject was up at Fairview Apartments…banging on doors, trying to get into apartments,” Burke says. “The second call came in within just seconds of that one and he said that someone tried to kill him, there was a gun was involved and that he was currently hiding in a different apartment in a different building.”

The man who was shot has life-threatening head wounds according to the police chief.

“He was conscious, alert and breathing when our officers arrived and then when the ambulance took him to the hospital,” Burke says.

The man has been flown to a hospital in Iowa City for treatment. Two agents from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation have been conducting interviews with witnesses. Burke says it appears the injured man was shot with his own gun during a struggle.

BARR: ‘Run, Hide, and Fight’ Makes As Much Sense As Duct Tape To Stop Terrorism

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the anthrax scare shortly thereafter, the federal government urged Americans to prepare for possible future attacks by, among other things, sealing the windows of their homes with plastic sheeting and duct tape.

More recently, in the aftermath of violent incidents involving armed criminals targeting “soft” targets such as students in schools, shoppers in malls, or worshipers in churches, Uncle Sam has pressed two similarly unhelpful strategies: “run, hide, fight” and gun control.

Neither of these strategies, which Washington has repeatedly promoted, has prevented or even minimized deaths or injuries caused by criminals targeting students, shoppers, co-workers, or church goers. Still, as Sonny and Cher declared in their 1967 hit, “the beat goes on.”

As with other advice proffered by federal agencies — whether about what car to drive or foods to eat — the pointers about responding to active shooter incidents is not only unhelpful, but counterproductive. This has been demonstrated repeatedly in cases where individuals chose to confront armed perpetrators rather than run away from them, and in so doing saved lives.

Whether it was the armed and trained church security parishioner at the West Freeway Church in White Settlement, Texas in December 2019, the armed and trained young man at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana last July, or the individual at the Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado earlier this month, taking action against armed criminals bent on murdering innocent victims is a strategy far superior to one that advocates running and hiding.

Even when a passive response plan appears to make sense, as when a murderous gunman barged into the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas this past summer and began murdering children, things can go tragically awry (in that case, police themselves hid and failed to fight).

Notwithstanding the many actual incidents in which individuals’ actions confronting shooters saved lives, government publications continue to downplay taking the initiative to confront an active shooter. The Department of Homeland Security’s publication, “Active Shooter, How to Respond” admonishes readers that any “attempt to take the shooter down” should be considered only “as a last resort.” In other words, wait until everything else fails before confronting the shooter. Common sense alone suggests that such a point comes only after precious time and lives have been lost.

Clearly, confronting an “active shooter” carries risk. Riley Howell was mortally wounded when, in May 2019, he rushed a perpetrator who had entered his classroom at the University of North Carolina and started firing a pistol at students. By all accounts, Howell’s heroic sacrifice saved numerous lives.

Do the potential benefits of confronting a criminal shooter outweigh the risks? Ask the 240 parishioners at the West Freeway Church of Christ who were saved as a result of the quick, defensive response by church security members to an active shooter armed with a shotgun. Pose that question to the many dozens of people attending the Club Q on November 19th who did not become victims, thanks to the two club patrons who chose not to run and hide, but quickly tackled the shooter and subdued him with his own firearm.

The Biden administration’s knee-jerk response to any active shooter criminal act, regardless of circumstances, is “GUN CONTROL!” Sometimes, that refrain becomes almost comical in its detachment from the real world.

For example, following the Club Q murders and another by a disgruntled Walmart employee in a company breakroom in Chesapeake, Virginia the same week, President Biden demanded a ban on all “semiautomatic firearms.” Such an absurdly broad strategy would mean outlawing every Glock or Colt Model 1911 handgun, along with hundreds of other models of semiautomatic handguns and rifles owned lawfully by millions of citizens, and that are sold every business day in the United States.

Biden’s statement illustrates the degree to which his administration and its supporters remain ignorant of firearms, firearms owners, and the value of a citizenry that has lawful access to firearms for defensive purposes.

The gun-control shibboleth urged by the Left as the solution to every mass shooting incident, coupled with the government’s “run, hide, and fight” strategy for dealing with an active shooter, make as much sense as advocating duct tape and plastic sheeting as a way to thwart acts of terrorism.

How to Stop School Shootings

My heart sinks every time I see breaking-news graphics announce another school shooting. It’s like a gut-punch — the lost lives, the suffering of the wounded, the horrors the First Responders must encounter, and the families that will never again be whole.

The blame and blood-dancing usually start before the bodies are even recovered. The talking heads call to ban or further regulate firearms, magazines or accessories in common usage, as if the contents of my gun safe located thousands of miles from the crime scene somehow played a role in the killings.

Politicians will gleefully announce new infringements, none of which could have prevented the mass murder, but that is never their intent. They were eagerly awaiting another opportunity to do something that will score points with their base and their donors, as well as disarm law-abiding Americans.

Keep in mind that more than three-times as many people die each year from excessive alcohol use than from firearms, yet no one is calling to ban bourbon or vodka, because the booze-ban industry died on Dec. 5, 1933, while the gun-ban industry sputters on. Their misguided efforts have no chance of ever stopping mass murders because they are solely fixated on banning an inanimate object, while ignoring the person pulling the trigger and those who help facilitate the crime.

In my humble opinion, if we truly want to stop school shootings we should harden the staff, not just the buildings, and we should focus on the other bad actors, too, not just the trigger-pullers. It’s time to start holding parents, law enforcement and the legacy media strictly accountable — criminally, morally and very publicly — for aiding and abetting these preventable deaths.

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Man shoots another man in self-defense at Midland gas station

MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – A Midland man was arrested after a shooting at a gas station.

According to a city of Midland press release, on Saturday, November 26th at approximately 8:30 P.M., Midland Police Department officers were called to the DK Convenience Store in the 5800 block of W. Interstate 20 in reference to shots fired.

While responding to the scene, officers were notified of a gunshot victim with non-life-threatening injuries at Midland Memorial Hospital, identified as 21-year-old Luis Miguel Espinoza Galindo. During the investigation, it was discovered that Galindo fired his gun at two males, one of which returned fire in self-defense, striking Galindo.

Galindo was released from MMH and later transported to Midland County Jail for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon.

The investigation is ongoing.

Handgun owners carrying daily in US doubled in 4 years; self-protection cited as main reason: study.

Twice the number of Americans were carrying handguns daily in 2019 compared to 2015, according to a new study published this month.

Around 6,000 gun owners carried handguns every day in 2019, up from 3,000 in 2015, according to a study from the American Journal of Public Health published on Nov. 16.

The number of respondents to the online survey who said they had carried a gun in the last month also nearly doubled from 9 million to 16 million in 2015.

The study focuses

solely on owners carrying a handgun on their person, not in their car.

Twice the number of Americans were carrying handguns daily in 2019 compared to 2015, according to a new study published this month.
The upward trend found in the study comes as states loosen restrictions for carrying a handgun and more gun owners cite protection as a top concern.

A U.S. Supreme Court case last June also overturned strict gun carrying laws in New York.

The authors wrote, “This ruling could further catalyze the loosening of firearm-carrying regulations in different parts of the country at a time when, as our study indicates, trends in handgun carrying already point to more US adults carrying loaded handguns in public places, including without a permit when a permit is required.”

The study authors said a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning restrictive gun-carrying laws in New York could “catalyze  the loosening of firearm-carrying regulations in different parts of the country.”

The study’s lead authors were Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, an epidemiology professor at the University of Washington; Amy Gallagher of the University of Washington; Deborah Azrael of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center; and Matthew Miller from Northeastern University, and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

The authors added, “Little is known about the frequency and features of firearm carrying among adult handgun owners in the United States. In fact, over the past 30 years, only a few peer-reviewed national surveys, conducted in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2015, have provided even the most basic information about firearm carrying frequency.”

In 1994, the percentage of gun owners who said their main reason for having a firearm was protection was 46%, by 2015 it went up to 64% and spiked to 73% by 2019. In 2021, it was 83%.

Only one state allowed permit less handgun carry in 1990 but by 2021 it had increased to 21 states, according to the study.

CPD: Woman shoots man attempting to get in her car on South Side

CHICAGO — A woman shot a man in the head, who was attempting to get in her car, early Wednesday morning on the South Side — according to Chicago police.

Just before 2:10 a.m., police said four male suspects exited a black sedan in the 1300 block of East 89th Street and one of them attempted to open another vehicle armed with a handgun.

The driver, a 23-year-old woman and valid concealed carry holder, fired a shot striking the man in the head. Police said she then fled from her vehicle on foot and was shot in the left arm.

The three other suspects fled and are not in custody. Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.