March 13
1639 – 3 years after it is founded at Cambridge Massachusetts, by the donation of half his estate and all his library, Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.
1741 – As part of the “War of Jenkins’ Ear”, between Britain and Spain, British forces attempt and fail to capture the port of Cartagena in modern Columbia.
1781 – Astronomer William Herschel, using a homemade telescope in the backyard of his home in Bath, England, discovers Uranus.
1845 – Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto premieres in Leipzig
1862 – The Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves, prohibiting the military from returning escaped, or captured ‘contraband’ slaves, is passed by Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
1930 – Astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh, using photographs taken by the 13 inch Lowell Astrograph telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, discovers Pluto.
1954 – The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ begins between French forces under Christian de Castries and Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp
1969 – The Apollo 9 mission ends when the command module Gumdrop returns the crew safely to Earth after they test the Lunar Module Spider in Earth orbit.
1979 – The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of the island of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d’état.
1996 – At Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, Thomas Hamilton, using 4 handguns, kills 16 students, 1 teacher and wounds 15 others before killing himself.
2016 – Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al-Mourabitoun moslem terrorists attack a hotel in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing 19 people and wounding 33 more before being killed themselves.
Kurdish Hawk terrorists detonate a VBIED on Atatürk Boulevard in Ankara, Turkey, killing 37 people and wounding 125 more.
2020 – In Louisville, Kentucky, Breonna Taylor is killed by return fire when police officers, with a ‘No Knock’ search warrant, forcibly enter her home and are fired on by her boyfriend who claims he believed they were burglars perpetrating a home invasion, since the officers never identified themselves
March 12
1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.
1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam, in the San Francisquito Canyon of the Sierra Pelona Mountains, fails. The resulting floods killing 431 people.
1930 – Ben Kingsley, err Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.
1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States, the first of his “fireside chats”
1947 – During the beginning of the Cold War, President Truman announces his Truman Doctrine to Congress that “it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
1989 – English computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the World Wide Web.
1993 – North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
2003 – The World Health Organization officially release a global warning of outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
2009 – Financier Bernard Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street’s history.
2011 – A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
2014 – A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills 8 and injures 70 others.
2020 – The United States suspends travel from Europe due to the SARS‑CoV‑2/COVID-19 pandemic.
Opponents, Anti-Gunners Horrified as Constitutional Carry Looks Inevitable in Florida.
Whether it’s called constitutional carry, permitless carry or unlicensed concealed carry — which is probably the most accurate — the fact that soon millions of Floridians will no longer need a permission slip from the government to defend themselves has critics frothing at the mouth.
It’s going to happen, and there’s nothing they can do about it – that’s the bottom line.
They’re powerless to stop the massive restoration of our civil rights, regardless of how hard they whine or how absurd their prognostications of impending doom become. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has promised to sign the bill, and leaders in the House and Senate – where Republicans enjoy super-majorities – have promised to put a bill on his desk.
No one is taking the news harder than Frank Cerabino, a columnist for The Palm Beach Post who has enjoyed ridiculing guns, gun owners and civil rights for more than 30 years. As the bill progressed through the legislature, this angry little toad of a man has become positively deranged.
He’s lost what little sanity he once had, and that was never much. Cerabino’s March 7 column, which was titled “The ‘constitutional carry’ lie and why gun advocates don’t love the latest Florida bill,” shows just how toxic his pent-up why-won’t-they-listen-to-me! anger has become.
In his column, Cerabino describes constitutional carry as “political fiction,” and then he completely loses his damn mind.
“‘Constitutional carry’ is like ‘legitimate rape.’ It doesn’t exist,” he actually wrote.
No, Frank, nothing is like rape – nothing – and you should know that. To compare rape to anything is repugnant, morally wrong and massively offensive. It trivializes the horrors sexual assault survivors struggle to live with every single day. It defies belief that this disrespectful and hurtful comparison was actually published by a daily newspaper.
In another tangled line, Cerabino showcases his ignorance of the law, rifles and ballistics.
“Open carry would also allow them to walk around in public with weapons too big to conceal, such as military-style mass casualty weapons like the AR-15, which fires projectiles capable of liquifying body organs and passing through metal,” he wrote.
First, neither the House bill nor the Senate bill allows for the open carry of arms. That’s the problem many of us have with this legislation, and the reason it’s not accurate to call it constitutional carry. Therefore, no one will be walking around with a “military-style mass casualty weapon like the AR-15” in Florida unless they’re hunting, fishing or camping.
As to the AR-15’s magic liquifying abilities – nope. Sorry, Frank, but that’s pure bunk. The 5.56x45mm round was nothing more than a mediocre varmint cartridge until Eugene Stoner put it in his AR. In fact, many states prohibit hunters from using the round to harvest deer because it is too small. Compare the 5.56x45mm round to the two previous military calibers – 7.62x51mm and .30-06 – and you’ll learn the error of your ways, Frank.
Cerabino claims that after Gov. DeSantis signs an unlicensed concealed carry bill, we will want another – and we most certainly will. But his final comparison insults everyone who holds their right to keep and bear arms dear.
“This is what happens when you negotiate with terrorists. You give them one imaginary constitutional right and they’ll demand another,” Cerabino wrote.
Terrorists? Really?
I know more than a few heroes who left chunks of their bodies in foreign countries while fighting actual terrorists, Frank. They’re strong Second Amendment supporters who wouldn’t appreciate being your terrorist label. Also, they never raised their hand and swore to protect and defend any “imaginary” constitutional rights. The only terrorists involved in this fight are those using the First Amendment to encourage further infringements upon the Second.
Friendly fire
Nearly every state that successfully passed constitutional carry experienced some pushback from a small minority of firearms instructors during the legislative process. Unfortunately, Florida isn’t immune from this nonsense. One gun shop here was passing out leaflets titled: “Constitutional Carry (Maybe not such a good idea?)”
“Constitutional Carry (if passed) will allow any Florida resident of legal age, the ability to carry a firearm without any license or training,” the leaflet states. “Unfortunately, a lot of people will look at it as not having to pay for a Florida Concealed Carry class and save money. This is NOT what is good for the public, nor a responsible person.”
It was written by the gun shop’s training division, and signed “because we care.” I’m not naming the shop nor the owner. To his credit, he didn’t post his opinion online, nor did he run to the local media. Though misguided and wrong, his position is not difficult to understand. He’s worried that the end of the state’s mandatory training requirement will lead to a loss of revenue for him and his trainers. However, history shows us this is not always the case.
Many of the 25 states that passed constitutional carry experienced an increased demand for professional firearms training. Florida trainers will likely see the same uptick.
It’s about to become much easier to carry a defensive firearm in the Gunshine State. Gun owners will no longer need to beg permission from the state, pay a $97 fee, submit to background checks, mugshots and fingerprints like a common criminal in order to exercise a basic constitutional right. Most Floridians understand that carrying a defensive firearm is a heady responsibility, so of course they will seek out professional training, if they haven’t done so already.
Constitutional carry, unlicensed concealed carry or whatever else you want to call it will restore the constitutional rights of millions of Floridians. At the end of the day, that’s far more important than anyone’s financial concerns.
If there were, Bloomberg wouldn’t have to astroturf it
There Is No Firm, Sustained Support for Gun Control.
A frequent talking point in the gun control debate is that Americans overwhelmingly support “common sense” gun control measures, such as universal background checks and red flag laws. The Biden administration referenced these surveys last month, when it announced that $231 million will go to states that enact “red flag” laws and push gun control policies. These surveys are constantly invoked in legislative hearings and in the media. But surveys often compress complicated bills down to one-sentence summaries, and the results are often unreliable.
Gun control advocates claim that over 90% of Americans support universal background checks, which would require checks for privately exchanged firearms. Fact-checkers from Politifact and Snopes support these claims. When asked why Congress won’t pass a universal background check law, academics point to the lobbying power of the National Rifle Association.
But in 2016, despite billionaire Michael Bloomberg‘s overwhelming financial backing, ballot initiatives for universal background checks failed in Maine by 4% and won in Nevada by less than 1%. In both Maine and Nevada, the background check initiatives had far more financial support, and the media was overwhelmingly sympathetic to the cause.
If the surveys conducted by gun control advocates were accurate, these should have been easy wins. But surveys often ask very simple questions such as, “Do you support or oppose requiring background checks on all gun sales or transfers?” The actual laws in question, however, can run for dozens of pages and are far more complicated than one-sentence summaries imply.
"Journalists who expose actual fascism, censorship of free speech, and government control of social media access are…DANGEROUS FASCISTS!" https://t.co/WqLIuaOrXy pic.twitter.com/2EFnTtCeWE
— The Truth About Guns (@guntruth) March 10, 2023
Georgia Man Crushed to Death While Trying to Steal Catalytic Converter: Police
A Georgia man was crushed to death by a car while he was allegedly attempting to steal a catalytic converter from a local auto-shop, police confirmed with Fox News Digital.
According to the Chatham County Police Department, Matthew Eric Smith, 32, was found dead on Tuesday at approximately 9:15 a.m., after a catalytic converter fell and crushed him at South Bound Auto Sales.
Thefts of catalytic converters are surging across the nation as thieves seek out precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium that fill the inside of the antipollution car part.
Autoshop owner Mike Abouharb shared that he found the man’s body when he arrived at work in the morning.
“I didn’t even get close to him,” Abouharb told WTOC-TV. “I called the police right away.”
Police ruled the death accidental, sharing that Smith’s death was “the result of an attempted catalytic converter theft.”
March 11
1861 – The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted, taking effect on February 22, 1862.
1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.
1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
1941 – President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies ‘on loan’.
1977 – The hostages held in Washington, D.C. by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
1978 – 38 Israelis are killed and 71 wounded by 11 Fatah moslem terrorists – 9 of whom are later killed at a roadblock – when they hijack a bus traveling on the Israel Coastal Highway
1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making him the USSR’s last head of state.
2004 – Bombs set by al-Qaeda moslem terrorists simultaneously explode on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain, killing 191, and wounding 2000 people
2012 – U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, murders 16 and wounds 6 more Afghan civilians in the villages of Balandi and Alkozai of the Panjwayi District near Kandahar, Afghanistan. He is later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.
Unpossible! Everyone knows Europe is a gun control utopia!
German gunman kills six, unborn child, at Jehovah’s Witness hall
HAMBURG, March 9 (Reuters) – A gunman in Germany shot dead six people before killing himself at a Jehovah’s Witness worship hall in Hamburg, authorities said on Friday, in an attack that is bound to renew calls for stricter gun controls.
Eight other people were wounded, including a seven-months pregnant woman who lost her unborn daughter, police and prosecutors said at a news conference.
Officials said they had been tipped off about the perpetrator but had not taken away his legally-owned gun before the shooting at an event on Thursday night.
The killer’s motive remained unknown but a political reason had been ruled out, the officials said.
Authorities identified the gunmman only as Philipp F. The 35-year-old, a German citizen and former Jehovah’s Witness, began shooting through a window at the hall, where dozens of people were gathered, before entering.
He shot himself on the first floor when police arrived minutes after the shooting started shortly after 9:00 p.m. (2000 GMT), the police said.
Germany has suffered a number of mass shootings in recent years as well as a plot by a heavily armed group that aimed to overthrow the government. Following the previous shootings, Germany introduced stricter gun ownership rules and the government has announced plans to tighten controls further.
The Hamburg shooter was known to police, who had visited his apartment prior to the attack in response to an anonymous tip raising concerns about his state of mind. But they did not have enough grounds to take away his weapon, a legally-held semi-automatic pistol made by German company Heckler & Koch, officials said.
Following the shooting, police returned to his apartment and found 15 loaded magazines of ammunition, they said.
The victims included four men and two women, and the unborn female child. The wounded included a Ugandan and a Ukrainian citizen, and four people suffered serious injuries.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are an international Christian denomination that was founded in the United States in around 1870. They are best known in many countries for their door-to-door evangelism.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses said in a statement the religious community was “deeply affected by the horrific attack on its members of the faith in a Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a service”.
The officials said about 50 people were at an event held in the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in the Alsterdorf district of the city when the shooting started.
[1/8] Police officers work at the scene of a deadly shooting at a building housing a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in Hamburg, northern Germany, March 10, 2023. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Police responded in force, with more than 950 officers deployed, partly because grainy, dark footage of the attack taken by a member of the public had made it seem like there could be a second attacker. It later emerged that the man acted alone.
The building in a residential area has been used by the group as a place of worship for several years, resident Annelore Peemueller told Reuters.
Phone footage from another resident showed a person outside the building shooting in through a window.
“I heard loud gunshots,” said the person, who declined to give his name. “I saw a man shooting at a window with a firearm.”
HISTORY OF SHOOTINGS
On Friday, people laid flowers outside the hall in remembrance. Forensic workers loaded several bodies, one in a coffin, the others in bags, into a black van.
“There were 12 continuous shots,” another unidentified witness told reporters. “Then we saw how people were taken away in black bags.”
Germany has been shaken by a number of shootings in the last few years. In February 2020, a gunman with suspected far-right links shot dead nine people, including migrants from Turkey, in the western town of Hanau before killing himself and his mother.
In October 2019, a gunman killed two people when he opened fire outside a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
According to the federal office of administration, there are more than 940,000 registered private gun owners in Germany.
Germany’s strong hunting and gun sports tradition is a big part of gun culture in the country. The DSB marksmen’s association has around 1.35 million shooters among its members in 14,200 clubs across the country.
The mayor of Hamburg expressed shock.
“I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims. The forces are working at full speed to pursue the perpetrators and clarify the background,” Peter Tschentscher said on Twitter.
House Votes 419-0 To Declassify All Intel On COVID Origins.
The Senate voted unanimously last week to approve a similar measure. The bill would require the declassification and release of all intelligence related to the origins of COVID and the virus’ possible connections to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) within 90 days of receiving the president’s signature…………
Man killed in Battle Creek in apparent self-defense shooting
BATTLE CREEK — A 40-year-old Fulton man was killed in a Wednesday shooting inside an apartment in what police are calling a self-defense shooting.
The man is accused of breaking into an apartment at Georgetown Estates, Battle Creek police said.
Officers responded to a distress call at the 1975 E. Columbia Ave. apartment complex around 9:41 p.m. Wednesday where they found Donald Richard Guthrie had been shot.
Guthrie was transported by LifeCare Ambulance to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo where he later died, police said.
“It appears that Guthrie had forced his way into the victim’s Georgetown Estates apartment, at which time the victim shot Guthrie,” police said in a release. “At this time, it appears that the victim acted in self-defense.”
The case will be submitted to the Calhoun County Prosecutor’s Office for review, police said. An investigation is ongoing.
Police declined to release any further details Thursday.
Oklahoma House Republicans vote to expand a person’s right to self-defense with a firearm
House Republicans advanced a bill Thursday to extend the area where a person can defend themselves with a firearm, an expansion of the so-called “castle doctrine” that has been a top priority for pro-gun groups for years.
House Bill 2049 changed the definition of “dwelling” from a building or house to the edge of the property line, possibly justifying a person’s use of deadly force to protect themselves as long as they are on land they own or rent.
Also referred to as “stand your ground laws,” Oklahoma law does not require a person to leave a situation if they feel threatened. Instead, current law states someone has a right to stay and shoot a person who is threatening their safety, as long as they are in their home.
Rep. David Hardin, R-Stilwell, the bill’s author, said that the expectation of self-defense should include the entire property.
“This is a simple bill … on your property if you feel that your life is threatened you have a right to protect yourself,” Hardin said. “This bill was never intended where you could just walk out and shoot anybody on your property. But if that person confronts you with deadly force, then you would be allowed to use deadly force.”
The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration.
Democrats, who voted against the bill, expressed concern that innocent encounters, possibly with trick-or-treaters or hikers mistakenly coming onto private property, could end in a shooting death.
Rep. Monroe Nichols, and other state House Democrats, gathered for a news conference on June 2, 2022, to call for gun control measures.
“Maybe I’ve been watching too much ‘Yellowstone,'” said Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, referring to the violent television show that centers on property rights disputes in Montana. “But can you understand that there is some concern that this definition really opens this up to the possibility of unsafe actions?”
Hardin disputed those claims, saying any shooting would still be investigated by law enforcement and a person would be held accountable if it were determined their life or safety was not at risk.
Pro-gun groups have lobbied for the bill, including the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association.
No, the wilting flower, necklace clutching, editors should man up
Justice Should Be Mindful of Words
Given the range of concerns over the recently passed Campus Self-Defense Act, Gov. Jim Justice could have chosen his words more carefully as he signed the bill.
Justice said West Virginia is sending “the message, ‘By God, if you wanna mess with us, we can mess back.’”
Yikes.
Such language does nothing to settle the nerves of officials on the campuses of state institutions of higher learning, who are understandably thinking about the challenges such a law will present. The last thing we need is the governor firing off a politicized yee-haw to encourage people to “mess back,” in dangerous situations.
National Rifle Association state director Art Thomm was more delicate in celebrating the law.
“The Campus Self-Defense Act recognizes the fact that danger doesn’t disappear just because you’ve stepped onto campus grounds,” he said. “Now, those who choose to exercise the right will have the ability to protect themselves, their classmates, and their loved ones should they need.”
That is the kind of language calculated to ease fears, rather than increase them.
It’s no secret Justice is ramping up his effort to appeal to West Virginians as he aims for his next political office. Perhaps he should be more mindful of his responsibility to be above such stunts as he leads and serves those people, now.
Federal Court Issues Flawed Decision Striking Down Missouri Gun Sanctuary Law
The ruling has significant shortcomings and may be overruled on appeal. The Biden Administration’s position in this litigation is wrong for much the same reasons as the Trump Administration was wrong to target immigration sanctuaries.
On Tuesday, federal district court Judge Brian Wimes issued an important ruling striking down Missouri’s Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA). SAPA is a “gun sanctuary” law that restricts state and law-enforcement cooperation with efforts to enforce federal gun control laws.
Gun sanctuary laws enacted by red states are in large part modeled on immigration sanctuary laws enacted by numerous blue states and localities, in order to limit state cooperation with enforcement of federal immigration laws. During the Trump Administration, the federal government lost numerous lawsuits challenging the legality of immigration sanctuaries (I went over those cases in detail in a Texas Law Review article, and a piece for the Washington Post). Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and several red states have decided to imitate the blue states’ success. Courts—including both liberal and conservative judges—were right to rule in favor of immigration sanctuaries, and Judge Wimes should have applied the same principles in the gun context, as well.
Judge Wimes correctly recognizes that “Missouri cannot be compelled to assist in the enforcement of federal regulations within the state.” Longstanding Supreme Court precedent holds that the federal government cannot “commandeer” state officials to help enforce federal law. That precedent played a key role in the Trump Administration’s defeats in various immigration sanctuary cases, most notably in the California “sanctuary state” case, which is closely analogous to the Missouri gun litigation. Judge Wimes could have saved himself a lot of time and effort by simply applying the same logic here.
Instead, the court concludes that SAPA violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution (which mandates that constitutionally authorized federal law is supreme over state law) because the Missouri law goes beyond merely refusing to help the feds and actually “regulate[s] federal law enforcement” and “interfere[s] with its operations.” But, in reality, SAPA does no such thing. Its provisions merely impose constraints on state and local officials. To the extent that may not be true, Judge Wimes should have struck down applications of the law to federal officials, while leaving intact the constraints it imposes on state ones.
A Dunning homeowner shot a suspected burglar in his left forearm at about 1:20 a.m. Sunday, March 5, inside the owner’s house in the 3600 block of North Newcastle Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.
The resident reported that he was awakened by his dog barking and that he then called out his son’s name and when no one responded, he retrieved his gun and went to search his home, according to police.
He also told police that when he went to check the basement, his dog ran in front of him and made a distressing sound and that he then saw a man in the basement holding a dark object, police said. He told officers that he instructed the man not to move and fired one shot after the man allegedly began moving toward him, police said.
The basement lights reportedly were off during the interaction, police said.
The man, who was transported in serious condition to Lutheran General Hospital, reportedly told officers that “she told me” the side door would be open, police said. There were no signs of forced entry on the home’s side door, and it may have been left unlocked, police said.
The suspect, who was identified by police as Jeremy Tyler Polfliet, age 27, of the 3600 block of Esquire Lane, Georgia, was charged with residential burglary, police said.
The homeowner has an Illinois firearms owner identification card, police said.
The incident marks the second time this year in the 16th District that a resident shot a suspected home intruder. The other occurred on Monday, Jan. 30, when an 80-year-old man shot the intruder in his chest.
Something like Harry Reid’s ‘mishaps’?
McConnell Being Treated for Concussion After Fall
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is being treated for a concussion after his fall at a hotel in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night, his spokesman said.
McConnell, 81, is expected to remain in the hospital “for a few days” as he receives treatment for injuries sustained by his fall. The Kentucky Senator was attending an evening dinner for the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee aligned with him, when he tripped and fell, his office said. The dinner was at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC, formerly the Trump International Hotel, Washington, D.C.
“Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion. He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment,” said David Popp, McConnell’s communications director, in an update on Thursday.
March 10
241 BC – The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet around the Aegates Islands, off the western coast of the island of Sicily, bringing the First Punic War to an end.
1496 – On the island of Hispaniola, the city of Santo Domingo, the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas, is founded by Christopher Columbus before he departs for Spain, returning from his 2nd voyage of exploration
1535 – Tomás de Berlanga, the fourth Bishop of Panama, discovers the Galápagos Islands on a voyage to Peru.
1629 – Claiming he was entitled to do this under the Royal Prerogative, Charles I Stuart King of England dissolves Parliament, beginning the period known as the Personal Rule or as the Eleven Years’ Tyranny, the first step that led to the English Civil War, and the execution of the King under rule of Oliver Cromwell.
1831 – The French Foreign Legion is created by King Louis Philippe of France from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom.
1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican–American War.
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful test of a telephone, speaking; “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” to his assistant Thomas Watson, in the next room
1891 – Almon Strowger patents the Strowger switch, the first telephone circuit switching device.
1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to 6 years in prison, but serves only 2 years before being released.
1933 – A 6.4 magnitude earthquake on the Newport–Inglewood Fault, offshore southern California, hits the Greater Los Angeles Area, leaving 120 people dead and millions of dollars in property damage.
1959 – Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans begin a revolt against Chinese intervention and surround the Dalai Lama’s palace in Lhasa to prevent his arrest.
1969 – In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr.
1970 – U.S. Army Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with committing war crimes at My Lai village in Vietnam.
1977 – Astronomers discover rings around Uranus.
2019 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes near near the town of Bishoftu, Ethiopia, six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people aboard. This 2nd crash, determined to be due to a fault in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, leads to all 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide until the computer control system malfunctions are finally repaired and tests completed in December 2020
2020 – The World Health Organization officially announces the COVID-19 viral outbreak as a pandemic.