Category: Self Defense

Natural Law, Scripture and the Right of Self Defense

Now that Republican leaders have fended-off the widely anticipated Red Wave, Left-leaning politicians who are keen on relieving Americans of their constitutional rights can pursue their previously unspoken agenda.

Gun control wasn’t a big issue in the midterm elections, largely because most Americans don’t like it. But now that the dust has settled, the American Left is free to seek more gun control.

Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration are emboldened to renew their efforts to impose gun control. In Oregon, new gun restrictions are being celebrated by the Left because people must now receive permission from the government before being allowed to purchase a firearm for self defense or sporting. Regrettably, this law was widely promoted by a number of churches and synagogues in the state.

The authoritarian Left in America hates the Second Amendment. One of their arguments theorizes that our gun rights should be eliminated because AR-15s were not available to the Continental Army at the Battle of Yorktown, just muskets and bayonets.

Extending this logic to the First Amendment, perhaps we should ban cable news and Facebook because they too did not exist in the mid-18th century. I’m not convinced that would be proper but it might be kind of fun to do it for a couple of weeks just to see what happens.

We’re led to believe that our Second Amendments rights are a freakish aberration in our Constitution, that guns are the root of much evil. In truth, the principles behind the Second Amendment are really old. Ancient, in fact.

In his 1754 treatise on The Absolute Rights of Individuals, the distinguished English jurist William Blackstone wrote of “the natural right of resistance and self-preservation,” and the importance of “the right of having and using arms for self-preservation and defence (sic).”

Blackstone’s writings were designed to improve upon the 1689 English Bill of Rights, which included the right for some people to bear arms, though it was not a universal right.

Before legal and political thinkers specified the right to bear arms, scholars and theologians were promoting the concept of the right of self defense and the right to resist tyrants. During the Great Reformation, Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon and others affirmed the right of self defense, which was a very scary idea for 16th century European theocrats.

In affirming self preservation, the Reformers did not contemplate the people defending themselves with strongly worded letters to Rome protesting public disembowelment. They presumed people would be armed with weapons of the day.

The Magna Carta did not guarantee the right to bear arms but it did provide the right of resistance should the king not abide by its terms. This also presumes the right to bear arms. It’s no coincidence that when King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, the English nobles who attended the ceremony carried swords.

The Dooms of King Alfred required Anglo-Saxon landowners to provide men, ready to fight, in defense against the 9th century Viking raiders who frequented England’s shores. Like the Magna Carta, Alfred also presumed the men of his kingdom would be armed.

This acknowledgement of self defense as a God given right isn’t limited to the Anglo-Saxon or European traditions. Going back as far as 124 BC, Chinese Emperor Han affirmed the right of people to arm themselves, “to prevent tyranny and to punish evil.”

Ancient as these civic traditions of self defense are, most are predated in scripture. The Gospel of Luke records Jesus Christ telling his disciples before his betrayal, “Let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.” Whether Jesus meant this literally or figuratively is subject to debate but the underlying wisdom is unambiguous: be prepared because the future is dangerous.

Biblical Christianity doesn’t merely permit us to defend ourselves, it demands we defend our families. Paul’s first letter to Timothy reads, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

This involves more than providing food and shelter; it also means protecting our loved ones from assault, rape, and murder. Apparently, some of Oregon’s so-called faith leaders are not familiar with this New Testament passage. More’s the pity.

By comparison, men’s fellowship at the church I attend in Texas includes presentations from local theologians and Bible scholars, group discussions on church doctrine, study of scripture, prayer, and range time with pistols and rifles.

When modern politicians seek to relieve us of our Second Amendment rights, they are contradicting millennia of common law, natural law and scripture. They are embracing the policies of tyrants who know that unarmed people are docile subjects rather than free citizens.

If we are denied the right of self defense, it’s only a matter of time until we’re denied others.

Sleeping Poughkeepsie Man Wakes, Shoots Home Intruder in the Face

In a bizarre case of self-defense, a home intruder was sent to the hospital after waking up the wrong person.

Just after 8 PM on Saturday, Poughkeepsie police received a call saying a man was shot inside an apartment on Main Street in the city. After racing to the scene, officers were met in the hallway before they were even able to reach the apartment by a man who greeted them with a weapon.

The unloaded handgun was laid out on a table by a 46-year-old City of Poughkeepsie resident. Inside the apartment, police discovered another man suffering from a gunshot wound to the face. The injured 39-year-old was on the floor and police say it appeared the bullet entered the man’s face and exited out of his neck.

The shooting victim was transported to Mid Hudson Regional Hospital and later transferred to Westchester Medical Center. Police say that even though the man was shot through his face, he only sustained soft tissue damage. As a result, the wound was not considered life-threatening.

Police interviewed the 46-year-old shooter in an effort to put together the pieces of what actually happened. According to their report, the Poughkeepsie resident says he was fast asleep in his apartment when a man jolted him awake by pointing a gun at his face. He said the intruder explained that he wanted money and threatened him with the weapon.

The awakened man said he was “scared to death” and thought he was going to be shot, so he grabbed at the gun. A struggle began between the intruder and the resident when the gun suddenly went off, shooting the 39-year-old burglar in the face.

After hearing his story, police released the shooter from custody and no charges have been filed. Meanwhile, the 39-year-old who was injured after allegedly breaking into the apartment has disappeared. Police say he left Westchester Medical Center where he was being treated and his whereabouts are now unknown. The investigation is ongoing.

Man survives shooting in the head; charged after Greene County investigators say he strangled woman

GREENE COUNTY, Mo. (KY3) – Investigators say a man survived a gunshot to the head moments after he was strangling the shooter’s mother at a home in Greene County.

Steven Bailey, Jr., is charged with domestic assault and first-degree burglary. He is hospitalized and recovering from his injuries. A judge set bond for Bailey at $500,000.

Greene County deputies say this was not the first time he was at that house on North Farm Raod 143. They say Bailey was the suspect in an Arson incident at the same home in April.

Deputy Paige Rippee said the teenage boy has not been arrested or charged. The teenager told investigators during the assault that Bailey told him, “You’re next, boy.”

“What he was doing was acting in self-defense for a victim,” said Deputy Rippee. “He saw a crime occurring, jumped into action, and did what he had to do to save the victim.”

The boy told deputies he fired the shotgun after begging Bailey to stop choking his mother.

“He (Bailey) has a history of dealing with law enforcement, specifically with domestic assault,” said Deputy Rippee.

Investigators say Bailey has been involved in 15 reported domestic assaults in Greene County since 2006.

A Leader of the Victim Center in Springfield, Brandi Bartel, said the next step for kids in this situation is to not deal with it alone.

“Create a safe space for that child to feel comfortable talking about what happened. Believe the child,” said Bartel.

Bartel said believing in kids is the first step in helping. She said kids who go through trauma might have significant mood changes, sleep issues, or show disinterest in things they used to like.

“Children often feel like it was their fault,” said Bartel. “It’s heartbreaking to know that’s something that a child will believe to be true, based upon something they have no control around, happened to them.”

Bartel said in similar situations, such as the incident on November 15, speaking up is the best thing you can do.

“Those are things that people can recover from and go on to live very resilient thriving lives,” said Bartel. “But it’s” just almost impossible to do that alone. Children need a safe space.”

Greene County Deputies said the woman did not go to the hospital.

Former Marine shoots, kills man suspected of two Limestone County robberies

A man suspected in two Monday night robberies was shot and killed by a witness, according to the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office.

James Lee Henry, 53, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, is accused of robbing a Circle K in Athens before heading to a service station in Ardmore and ordering the clerk to give him money at gunpoint.

According to the sheriff’s office, “a Good Samaritan (former U.S. Marine), legally armed with his personal protection weapon, observed the robbery outside the front door. Upon Henry exiting the store, the Good Samaritan gave several verbal commands for Henry to drop his gun; however, Henry did not comply. Instead, Henry pointed his weapon at the Good Samaritan and, upon doing so, was immediately shot.”

Henry died at the scene.

Citizens in Ardmore are thankful for the veteran’s quick actions. One worker at a nearby restaurant told WAAY 31 that he feels safe knowing people can use their right to bear arms to protect others.

“I left here two hours before it happened. … I found out when my wife got home from work,” said Kevin Bartlett, who works across the street from the Shell Quik Mart in Ardmore. “Then I talked to one of the guys that had closed last night, and he told me what had happened. My first reaction, like I told you, is just, ‘God bless the Second Amendment.'”

All stolen funds were recovered and the investigation is ongoing, the sheriff’s office said.

Chickasha Police: Homeowner shoots, kills man attempting to enter house

CHICKASHA, Okla. (KFOR) – A homicide investigation is underway in Chickasha after a homeowner shot and killed an intruder Tuesday afternoon.

“It was very scary,” said Nicholle Smith, who lives nearby. “I actually started shaking.”

Officers tell KFOR they were called to the scene near Westbrook St. and W Country Club Rd. around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon.

“Our officers received a call of a domestic disturbance at 3015 Westbrook, in which a subject had broken into the home,” said Lt. Gillian O’Brien with the Chickasha Police Department. “As the subject made entry into the home, the homeowner opened fire right away.”

“I mean, it was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I mean, just, you know, as quick as someone could squeeze the trigger,” added Brandon Bowman who lives next door. “I mean, it happened so fast… I walked outside and could smell gunpowder right away.”

The intruder was pronounced dead at the scene. KFOR saw at least a dozen shell casings scattered across the home’s floor.

According to the Chickasha Police Chief, the homeowner did know the man who broke in. However, their exact relationship is not clear.

Why the man broke into the house on Tuesday is also still being investigated by the police department.

“Once we notify next of kin, we may be able to release more details, but it’s going to take some time and investigation,” said Lt. O’Brien.

Officials say whether the homeowner will face charges is up to the district attorney.

Governor wants money to arm teachers, staff inside Mississippi schools

JACKSON, Miss. — Gov. Tate Reeves said he wants Mississippi lawmakers to put up more money to put armed teachers and staff inside schools.

The governor released his 2024 Executive Budget recommendation Tuesday for the coming legislative session. Included in the recommendations is a program called the Mississippi School Safety Guardian Program, which Reeves said is in response to a rash of school shootings across the nation.

Under the proposal, teachers or staff members would be nominated by the school district to undergo a thorough training program on active shooter situations and issued a gun, holster and bullets. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety would train the selected staff members.

“While law enforcement is the best-case scenario, having someone who is on the scene trained with a firearm that could possibly stop a shooter before more lives are lost is a good thing to have,” said Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell.

The governor’s plan pays $500 a month to the personnel who are trained for the enhanced safety role.

Akemi Stout, president of the Jackson Federation of Teachers, doesn’t support the proposal.

“How can this be to be so important to arm educators? People are afraid of their guns, so imagine if there is an instant where there is an armed intruder in the school and that person freezes, or the gun is taken from them,” Stout said.

Supporters point to the Pearl High School shooting, where an assistant school principal retrieved his weapon from his car to stop the shooter.

Also included in the governor’s budget recommendations are eliminating the state income tax, advancing the “new pro-life agenda,” giving Mississippi children “a first-rate education,” lowering health care costs and building a “high-quality” workforce.

“Our ultimate aim is straightforward: to advance responsible policies that lay the foundation of a strong society and allow Mississippians to flourish,” Reeves said in a statement. “We will maximize freedom, we will protect your rights and safety, and we will build a future that every Mississippian can be proud of. In other words, my budget continues to put you – the taxpayer – first.”

Lawmakers return to the Capitol in January for the start of the session.

An friend terms posts like this übërpösts™ (in other words: It’s looong)
I’ll append commentary and observations from around the net.

Observation O’ The Day
It’s a look into the smartest minds of the enemy. Joe Huffman

The Ad Industry’s Plan to Fix America’s Gun Crisis

If you want a crude sketch of the biggest corporate players in a given year of TV, look no further than the Emmy Award for best commercial. Twenty-five years of winners form an ensemble cast of petty bourgeois preoccupations: Nike, Chrysler, Bud Light. This year’s nominees included a commercial for Meta (the artist formerly known as Facebook), one for Chevy (repping the still-muscular auto spend), two for Apple (a perennial contender), and two for the prevention of school shootings—one of which won the Emmy.

PSAs Killed Cigarettes. Can They Help End Gun Violence?

PSAs Killed Cigarettes. Can They Help End Gun Violence?© Getty; The Atlantic

Continue reading “”

Remember, Professor Yamane is presenting the standard model, not defending it.

This video concludes my ongoing series systematizing the dominant academic approach to understanding Gun Culture 2.0, what I call “The Standard Model of Explaining the Irrationality of Defensive Gun Ownership.”

Here I engage the 5th of the model’s 5 points: That something other than objective risk motivates defensive gun ownership.

From a sociological perspective, that something else centers on the discipline’s Holy Trinity: class, gender, and race. From a psychological perspective, defensive gun ownership is a maladaptive coping mechanism.

Suspected home intruder shot, killed by homeowner 

SAN ANTONIO – A suspected home intruder is dead after being shot during a confrontation with a homeowner on the Southwest Side, according to San Antonio police.

The shooting happened around 6 p.m. Saturday in the 200 block of Hazel Street.

Police said the homeowner, a man in his early 20s, went to the back door of his home to confront a possible intruder.

The homeowner found the alleged intruder, a man in his mid-30s, near the back door and fired two gunshots, striking him in the chest, SAPD said.

When officers arrived, they performed CPR on the man who was shot until EMS took over. The man later died from his injuries at the scene.

Police said it’s possible the homeowner and the alleged intruder could be related.

The investigation continues.

It’s nice when the crims do part of the job for you, and even provide the gun.

Home invasion suspect shot accomplice before he was killed by homeowner’s son

KATY, Texas (KTRK) — A home invasion suspect was shot and killed inside a Katy home overnight, and deputies believe he accidently shot his own accomplice before his death.

Just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, deputies with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home invasion in the 3200 block of Windmoor Drive. There were three people inside the home at the time — a mother and her two adult sons. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said two men dressed in body armor kicked the front door down.

The victims told investigators that the suspects were pounding on the door, identifying themselves as Houston police officers. ABC13’s Charly Edsitty spoke to the adult sons, who said they were trying to fall asleep when they heard someone yelling that they were with HPD. That’s when the sons got up to see what was happening.

Gonzalez said for unknown reasons, when the suspects got inside, they began shooting immediately. When the adult sons confronted them, one of the suspects began firing toward them. That’s when Gonzalez said the suspect may have inadvertently shot his own accomplice.

The wounded man dropped his pistol as he tried to flee, Gonzalez said.

One of the sons said he grabbed the pistol off the floor and started firing, fatally shooting the suspect that initially began shooting at them.

The suspect who was inadvertently shot ran out of the house and took off with a getaway driver in a dark-colored car, Gonzalez said.

Deputies were carefully surveying the home for evidence.

“There are some firearms. There’s ballistic evidence inside the house,” Sidney Miller with HCSO said.

Investigators said they do not think the home invasion was random and believe the home was targeted. They’re working to determine what the motive was.

The search for the two suspects who fled the scene is ongoing.

1 DEAD, 1 CRITICALLY INJURED IN SOUTH SHORE SHOOTING INVOLVING CCL HOLDER DURING ATTEMPTED ROBBERY

CHICAGO (WLS) — One person was killed and another was very critically injured in a shooting during an attempted robbery at a South Shore grocery store, which involved a concealed carry license holder.

Chicago police said the incident happened around 6:20 p.m. in the 2600-block of East 73rd Street.

According to CPD, a man walked into the store and pulled out a gun to start a robbery. A Good Samaritan who CPD said has valid FOID and CCL cards also pulled out a gun and shot the would-be robber.

The would-be robber fired back and struck a third person, the employee who he targeted to rob, police said.

The would-be robber was pronounced dead at the scene. The 64-year-old man who was shot by the offender was taken to University of Chicago Hospital in critical condition. The CCL holder was not injured.

“My grandchildren were upstairs and are terrified…so was I,” said neighbor and witness Stephen Galin.

Police said three guns have been recovered from the scene. An investigation is ongoing.

Neighbors wake to news of deadly shooting by off-duty border patrol agent

SAN ANTONIO – A deadly shooting by an off-duty U. S. Border Patrol agent early Friday morning has left people at one West Side apartment complex a bit rattled.

San Antonio police say the agent told officers it happened after he interrupted a car burglary at the complex, located near Ingram Road and Highway 151, around 2 a.m.

The agent told police he caught that man and three others breaking into a vehicle and confronted them. He said one man pointed a handgun at him, while someone else shot at him. The agent said he pulled his own weapon, hitting the man in his left armpit.

Police say the burglary suspects then carried the wounded man to a car and drove off. Investigators later learned he had been dropped off at a hospital, where he died.

Back at the apartment complex, Brian Malott and his wife were trying to make sense of the gunfire that woke them up. “She jumped up and went to the window. I said, ‘Babe, hit the ground. Go! Get down!’,” he said.

A few minutes later, Malott said he heard his neighbor, the border patrol agent, calling to him from outside. “He told me, he said ‘Neighbor, someone was in your truck. Come out quick.’ So I came out. He had already, he got one of them,” Malott said.

As it turned out, Malott’s pickup is the vehicle the suspects had targeted. He says they took a gun from the center console in his truck. He believes it is the same weapon the man pointed at the agent just before he was shot.

“The gun was laying here in a pool of blood,” he said, pointing to a wet spot on the ground.

Others, meanwhile, slept through the entire commotion, but woke later to the news. Matthew Rios said he was surprised by the shooting, but not by the car break-ins.

“It’s definitely been a problem here,” Rios said. He said a relative who also lives in the complex had her vehicle burglarized several times recently.

Rios said just Thursday morning, he discovered his car had been stolen.

“Walked up to the parking space and there’s glass all over the floor and then the car was gone,” he said. While the break-ins may not have been unexpected for Rios, he says the deadly outcome did come as a bit of a shock.

 

Phoenix police investigate Circle K shooting; store clerk claims self-defense

Phoenix police are investigating a shooting that occurred early Thursday morning at a Circle K near 35th Avenue and Greenway.

Officers responded to the area just before 2:00 a.m. after receiving calls about a shooting, Phoenix police spokesperson Sgt. Melissa Soliz said in a statement.

When police arrived, they found a man with a gunshot wound.

According to the statement, preliminary information indicates that the man who was shot and the store’s clerk got in some form of fight that ended in the clerk firing a gun at the man.

Soliz said the unidentified store clerk was interviewed by Phoenix police and claimed the shooting was in self-defense.

The gunshot victim, who is unidentified, was transported to the hospital with serious injuries where Soliz says he is now recovering.

More Reasons Anti-Gun Policymakers Are Wrong About Armed Self-Defense

Despite the June U.S. Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which clearly affirmed the right of lawful Americans to carry a firearm for self-defense outside the home, many state and local politicians continue to try to pass more-restrictive laws on firearms carry.

As this was being written, the New Jersey legislature was pushing for a ban on guns in so-called “sensitive places,” while in Longmont, Colo., city councilors were considering similar restrictions.

Unfortunately for the citizens in those jurisdictions, these policymakers ignore the fact that guns are used in self-defense well over a million times each year; in fact, four separate instances of armed self-defense in the last week of October show just how wrong-thinking these gun-ban advocates are.

On Halloween night in Spring, Texas, a woman was moving her car into her driveway when two men—one with a handgun, the other with a rifle—allegedly approached her from behind, then forced her back into her home at gunpoint.

According to a report from local media, the woman’s roommate, who was inside the home, heard her screaming and emerged, armed with a handgun to confront the intruders. During the confrontation, he appears to have shot one of the alleged criminals in the abdomen.

Fortunately, neither the woman nor her roommate were hurt. At last report, police were still looking for both of the suspects that entered the home, as well as another suspect that drove them away.

Just two days earlier, an Alabama woman proved that a loaded firearm is much more effective protection than filing a protective order. In the 1:15 a.m. break-in in Hatchechubbee, Ala., the victim shot her estranged husband once in the abdomen.

According to reports, the woman had previously filed an order of protection against the intruder, but it had expired the week before. She was in the process of having the order reinstated when the break-in occurred.

That same day, in Ferguson, Mo., a man who was attacked by alleged carjackers shot one of the three men, who he said was holding a gun, and who he claimed had reached for his car door handle.

Later that morning, a man in a nearby neighborhood looked out of the window of his home and saw what he thought was a body in his backyard, according to a report. Police believe the dead man—who was dressed in a black hoodie, black sweatpants and black tennis shoes—was likely one of the attempted carjackers.

Lastly, in Edinburg, Texas, on Oct. 25, a woman likely feared for her life when someone broke into her house through the garage and tried to get into her bedroom. According to media reports, the woman warned the man that she had called the police and that she was armed.

The man apparently didn’t believe her and, unwisely, continued his attempt to break into the bedroom. That’s when the woman shot him through the bedroom door, ending the attack.

Investigators later found the suspect in a nearby open field with a gunshot wound to the arm. He was arrested and was being held at the Hidalgo County Jail with a $750,000 bond. The woman was shaken up, but unharmed.

The next time a cynical anti-gun politician tells you normal citizens never successfully use firearms for self-defense, just tell them to read the NRA’s Armed Citizen column.

Police: Man armed with large landscaping rock fatally shot by homeowner in Fairfax Co.

OAKTON, Va. — Officers are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred outside a Fairfax County home Wednesday evening.

Around 6 p.m., officers responded to a report of a shooting at a home in the 11400 block of Waples Mill Road in Oakton, Virginia.

A man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a news release.

Police claim that the homeowner then went back inside his house and got a firearm. At some point, the man reportedly got inside the home with an object that appeared to be a large landscaping rock. The homeowner then fired his gun and shot the man. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives are still working to identify the man shot. Preliminary evidence suggests the homeowner and man did not know each other.

Police say the homeowner was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following the shooting.

The homeowner’s two children, wife and another adult were inside the home during this incident. Police said no one else was hurt.

Detectives are investigating this case as a self-defense fatal shooting.

“Hopefully, when we can positively identify this individual we can maybe start putting some puzzle pieces together,” said Second Lieutenant James Curry with the Fairfax County Police. “Again, preliminarily, we don’t have any reason to believe there was any connection between the homeowner and this man,” Curry said.

Police say they did receive a call for a strange man in the neighborhood earlier in the day Wednesday, but when officers arrived they did not see him. They are still trying to determine if it was the same man who was shot.

Police explained that they are interviewing neighbors and hope to review security video from the neighborhood that may show what happened.

Stay with WUSA9 for further updates.

Suspected intruder shot, killed while trying to crawl through home window,

A 29-year-old man was killed when police say he was shot while trying to break into a west Birmingham [Alabama] home.

The burglary call went out at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday at a house on Avenue O.

The homeowner told police the intruder was trying to crawl through the window of her house. She grabbed her gun and fired a couple of shots, striking the burglary suspect once in the chest.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the homeowner knew the man.

Authorities said the wounded man then ran a block to the Chevron on Bessemer Road where he collapsed at the front door of the store. A store worker called Birmingham 911 at 12:46 p.m.

West Precinct officers arrived at the store and provided aid to the man until paramedics arrived. He was then transported to UAB Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:11 a.m.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said the man’s name is being withheld pending notification of his family. The investigation is ongoing.

The man is Birmingham’s 126th homicide this year. Of those, seven have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.

In all of Jefferson County, there have been 170 homicides, including the 126 in Birmingham.

Gun Control vs. Gun Rights: The State of Play

Two trends that are reflected in recent state and federal gun legislation. One trend stems from the New York State Rifle and Pistol Ass’n Inc. v Bruen ruling in June, the other from the New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act passed in response to Bruen.

Bruen’s Domino Effect

In Bruen, the U.S. Supreme Court found that New York State’s concealed carry law was unconstitutional because it required “proper cause” for an individual to obtain a concealed carry permit. As a result, a new precedent was set for Second Amendment legislation, with many states’ gun control laws now challenged. The National Association for Gun Rights has sued several states and cities to end their assault weapons bans, including the Illinois cities of Highland Park and Naperville along with the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Hawaii. The Connecticut Citizens Defense League, along with two former Connecticut corrections officers and a firearms instructor, have also filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut assault weapons ban. In Colorado, a judge recently blocked an assault weapons ban following a lawsuit filed by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. Bruen was also cited by a judge in West Virginia who abolished a federal law requiring firearms to have serial numbers, and by a judge in Texas who ruled that citizens under criminal indictment retain the right to bear arms.

New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act’s Domino Effect

However, Bruen’s no-tolerance stance did not deter Governor Kathy Hochul in her push for more gun control legislation. In July, Hochul signed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA). This legislation makes it illegal to carry a gun in public places such as churches, schools, subways, and Times Square. It also makes issuing concealed carry permits dependent on completion of hours of training, along with the review of every applicant’s social media activity from the past three years. Gun rights advocates immediately won a temporary restraining order against New York’s new law, but a federal appeals court lifted the restraining order a few weeks ago.

California bill similar to New York’s CCIA failed to pass the legislature by one vote. In early October, New Jersey unveiled its version, which includes stipulations such as disqualifying conceal carry applicants who have past restraining orders or other “character of temperament concerns,” (similar to the CCIA’s “good moral character” requirement which has been accused of having racist roots) and requirements for permit holders to carry insurance to protect against accidental discharge.

As we approach the 2022 midterm elections, Biden once again amped up calls to Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, Stacey Abrams vowed to roll back Georgia’s permitless firearms carry law, and candidates like Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth and Connecticut governor Ned Lamont support assault weapons bans. Politicians such as Governor Lamont have also recently referred to the overwhelming public support of gun control.

Continue reading “”

Does Gun Control Save Lives or Cost Lives?

The world is violent. Lots of people think that we should pass more laws to make the world safer and less violent. It sounds obvious that we could reduce the number of criminals who use weapons by passing more gun-control laws. We’re not the first ones to think of that. We have thousands of gun-control regulations on the books already. I’ve been looking at the subject of gun-control and personal safety for a decade. I think gun-control laws put us at risk. The reasons are complex and not necessarily obvious.

Let’s be clear what is not under discussion here. We’re not talking about rights. Some people say they have a right to “be safe”. Some people say they have a right to “self-defense”. What you have a right to do may not have anything to do with how laws actually work in practice. Let’s look at what we already know.

We know that criminals commit violent crimes with a firearm about 510 times a day. That data is from 2019. That is the last year where the FBI has data from all 50 states.

Isn’t it obvious that we need more laws to stop those criminals? Shouldn’t we pass another law even if it only stopped a single crime? Isn’t that the least we should do?

I like that you obey the law and you think other people obey the law too. The problem of violent crime is more complex. There is more violent crime, much more than I’ve mentioned so far.  There are also lots of gun-control laws. Last, and certainly not least, honest citizens stop a lot of violent crimes because the intended victim had a gun of their own. Each of those factors has a vital influence on what gun-control laws can actually accomplish.

While it is true that criminals use guns to commit crimes, criminals also commit crimes without using a gun. In fact, that’s closer to the rule than the exception. Only one-out-of six violent criminals used a firearm (15 percent). That means that taking guns from every criminal would still leave us with a lot of non-gun crime. The remaining five-out-of-six violent criminals would still commit their acts of violence. And that assumes the currently-armed criminal will suddenly become peaceful if we took away his gun. That isn’t very realistic. Taking the gun away from a violent criminal doesn’t turn him into a nice person who obeys the law.

But we have to do something. We can’t just let armed criminals hurt people. Why shouldn’t we pass more laws?

Those are good questions, but what makes you think we haven’t “done something” already? We have over 23-thousand firearms regulations on the books today. And anti-gun politicians pass more gun-control laws every week. We should certainly be safe by now if ink-on-paper was all it took to stop crime. We’ve tried that approach tens-of-thousands of times.

OK, maybe those gun-control laws didn’t work.  We just need to write ones that will.

Let’s think this through a little more before we propose more laws. Life is more complex than what we see on the news. Bad guys are not the only ones who use guns. Good guys use guns too, a lot. Honest citizens legally use their firearms between 1.6 and 2.5-million times a year to stop violent crime or to prevent great bodily injury. That is over 4,500-times-a-day that honest citizens use a gun to save lives in the United States. Four-out-of-ten households have a gun today. One-out-of-a-dozen citizens are legally carrying a concealed firearm in public every day.

That is hard to believe. Why don’t I know that? How do I know you’re telling me the truth if the news didn’t show those stories?

Those are good questions. Those are brilliant questions. The answer will take more than a minute.

Continue reading “”

Columbus city claims that since it’s a ‘home rule’ city, that the Ohio legislature is blocked from passing certain laws affecting city goobermint.

Court Injunction Temporarily Blocking Expanded Self-Defense Ohio Gun Law

A court injunction is now temporarily blocking part of Ohio’s expanded self-defense gun law. A Franklin County judge has granted the preliminary action, limiting House Bill 228, which was originally passed in 2018.

The injunction stems from a lawsuit filed by the City of Columbus, blocking a section of the law that partially prohibits Ohio cities from passing local gun control ordinances.

Other portions of the law that eliminate some duties to retreat before legally using a firearm in self-defense are still in place

Prosecutors cite self defense, won’t charge man in fatal shooting this week in St. Paul

Prosecutors said Friday that the man arrested in connection with a homicide early this week made a strong claim of self-defense and will not be charged.

Deandre L. Buckner, 28, of St. Paul, died shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday off Payne Avenue on the western edge of the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood, police said.

A 20-year-old man was quickly arrested near the shooting scene on suspicion of murder.

However, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said in a statement late Friday afternoon that “we declined to file charges in this incident due to facts uncovered in the police investigation that strongly support a self-defense and defense-of-others claim by the person who fired the fatal shot.”

The office did not elaborate on the specifics of the claim by the man, whom police identified as the shooter. The Star Tribune is not naming the man, because he’s no longer subject to being charged.

A resident in the 600 block of Preble Street called 911 and said “people with guns were outside,” and shots were fired within 30 seconds, a statement from police said.

An officer nearby heard the gunfire and went to the scene, according to police. The officer found Buckner and called for additional police, the statement continued. Fire Department medics arrived and declared the man dead at the scene.