The Stats on Self-Defensive Gun Use Liberals Don’t Want You To See

Last Sunday Millions of Americans watched the video of an armed parishioner named Jack Wilson taking down a shooter just seconds after he opened fire. Two were killed, but an untold more would’ve been massacred had the attendees been unarmed as sitting ducks. At least seven people had firearms on them, enabled by a law that took effect in September allowing Texans to carry their firearms in church.

It’s not uncommon to hear liberals argue that guns never prevent mass shootings – and that is partially accurate, but not for the reason they think. A mass shooting is defined as one where four or more people are killed. Thanks to Wilson, this shooting didn’t progress to meet the definition of a mass public shooting in the first place.

It’s thanks to what has become a viral video that we can see  armed resistance preventing a tragedy from worsening, and the frequency in which guns are used in self defense is more than implied by what the media reports.

The estimates very across studies between as few at 100,000 self defensive gun uses (SDGUs) per year to millions due to methodological differences. However, simply taking an average number from the array of studies available would give us SDGU tally exceeding the use of firearms in crime.

To summarize a number of studies on the issue:

  • The National Crime Victimization Survey is administered twice a year by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and provides the most conservative estimate of SDGU at about 100,000 cases per year. Of note, the survey requires individuals to self-report to the federal government that they used a firearm in self-defense while providing their name and contact information. Most will be hesitant to do so for obvious reasons, so this estimate should be taken as the absolute minimum.
  • A 1994 survey conducted by Bill Clinton’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 500,000 times per year.
  • Obama’s CDC conducted a gun control study in 2013, finding that “Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million…”
  • Criminologists Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz published a study back in 1995 in which they found that gun use accounted more for defensive gun use than it did for criminal activity.” A literature review of thirteen studies in their paper provides a range of between 800,000-2.5 million SDGUs. A follow-on study in 1997 argues that that SDGU accounted for more than 80% of all gun use in America.
  • CDC survey data from the 1990s that was unpublished but accessed and analyzed in 2018 by Kleck implies roughly 1 million SDGUs per year.
  • According to the National Survey of Private Firearms Ownership, there are 1.5 million self-defensive gun uses every year.
  • According to a paper by David Kopel, Paul Gallant, and Joanne Eisen, “[F]irearms are used over half a million times a year against home invasion burglars; usually the burglar flees as soon as he finds out that the victim is armed, and no shot is ever fired,” and “Annually, three to six times as many victims successfully defend themselves with handguns as criminals misuse handguns (thus handguns do up to six times more good than harm).”

There are at least hundreds of thousands of SDGU per year – but don’t expect to hear about 99.99% of them in the mainstream media.

Alabama lawmaker prepares bill to allow deadly force in church for self-defense

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBMA) – A proposed new law aims to help protect places of worship in Alabama.

One state lawmaker says he’s preparing a bill to allow the use of deadly force in church for self- defense and the defense of others.

Rep. Lynn Greer (R- Rogersville) tells ABC 33/40 he expects this year’s bill to be similar to the one he filed the past two years. But he says this year he’s been working with the District Attorneys Association and the Attorney General’s Office to improve it.

Greer expects the bill to allow a person to use deadly physical force in self-defense or the defense of another if that force is used against an aggressor committing or attempting to commit a crime involving death, serious physical injury, robbery in the first degree, or kidnapping in the first degree on the premises of a church.

Greer expects his bill to include training from sheriff’s offices for church security members, and that it would provide immunity from criminal prosecution or civil action for a person using such deadly force.

Pastor Darryl Warren believes that bill could help, as he works on security for New Saint James Baptist Church in Birmingham.

“In church, it’s disheartening to know one day we may even need metal detectors in church, but this is where we’ve gotten and it’s disheartening to know someone would come into the church and do harm in God’s house but we live in a fallen world,” said Warren.

He has a eight person security team and nine cameras installed, monitoring inside and outside.

“A third phase might even be hired security if it comes to that and then having the sheriff’s department to come in and do some training as well,” he said. “So, we want to cover all the bases we can and make the members feel as secure as they can while they’re worshiping.”

Defense attorney Ben Preston believes the law already covers the church.

“I feel you have the right to defend yourself in certain situations no matter where you’re at,” he told us.

But says adding specific language could strengthen that.

He does have concerns about what the immunity would include and who would determine who and what qualifies.

“If they’re just going to give blanket immunity, it sounds like they would never be charged period,” he said. “Which would, then they’re not being charged, they’re not bonding out, they’re not having to wait for the stand your ground hearing, waiting for the judge to decide if they’re going to prosecute.”

Preston notes that we are still waiting for the bill to be released to read the exact language and learn what will be included in the immunity section.

Pastor Warren says immunity may offer assurance to his security team.

“That they are not going to be held liable for carrying out the act of defending someone in church,” he said. “So, if you have legislation to take care of that, it kind of removes the sense of- I’m worrying about if I do this, what’s going to happen to me.”

Greer got his bill through the House in 2018, but it died in the Senate.

If his bill does make it through the House in 2020, Senator Arthur Orr (R- Decatur) tells ABC 33/40 he plans to sponsor it in the Senate.

“We should help places of worship protect themselves,” Orr told ABC 33/40.

He says the state doesn’t need to encourage reckless behavior, but that he’s looking at what could be done to still add a layer of protection.

Orr added that he’s looking at what other states have passed, including Texas.

Homeland Security Chief Orders Review Of State Laws Allowing Driver’s Licenses For Illegal Aliens

Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ordered a review of state laws that allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses and restrict data sharing with federal immigration authorities.

Wolf on Tuesday ordered all of the components of DHS to conduct a department-wide review of the state laws to determine how they affect their day-to-day operations, according to a memo obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The DHS chief’s directive indicates he is prepared to take aim against the state laws.

“Accordingly, I am instructing each operational component to conduct an assessment of the impact of these laws, so that the Department is prepared to deal with and counter these impacts as we protect the homeland,” Wolf’s memo read.

The memo follows implementation of New York’s “Green Light” law, and passage of a similar bill in New Jersey in December. Both laws not only allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses, but also restrict DMV data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.

In New York, in particular, numerous county clerks have expressed reservation over the fact that illegal aliens can obtain a driver’s license with foreign documentation — arguing that such a policy paves the way for voter fraud, identity theft, and even terrorism. DHS had already voiced its opposition to a provision in the New York law that prohibits Homeland security Investigations, a division of ICE, from accessing DMV information — even if the agency is investigating serious crimes.

“Laws like New York’s greenlight law have dangerous consequences that have far reaches beyond the DMV,” DHS spokeswomen Heather Swift said Tuesday. “These types of laws make it easier for terrorists and criminals to obtain fraudulent documents and also prevent DHS investigators from accessing important records that help take down child pornography and human trafficking rings and combat everything from terrorism to drug smuggling.”

LIMESTONE COUNTY WOMAN PULLS PISTOL ON MAN TRYING TO ATTACK HER ON I-65

An Elkmont woman pulled her pistol on a man after law enforcement says he chased her and tried to run her vehicle off I-65.

34-year-old Charles Baker is now at the Limestone County Jail on domestic violence reckless endangerment and possession of controlled substance charges. Deputies said an altercation between him and woman got physical on Sunday.

The fight began at his home on Roberts Road in Elkmont.

The female victim tried to get away from Baker by leaving the residence.

Court documents say Baker followed the victim up Interstate 65 North and ran her vehicle off the road while chasing her. It also says the incident could have caused injury or damage to the victim or other drivers.

Baker tried to stop her and get in front of her vehicle. That’s when deputies say she pulled her pistol on him. He fled the scene after seeing her gun.

Deputies later found Baker at the intersection of Thatch and Clem Roads. They searched his vehicle and found meth in his car.

Baker’s bond is set at $7,500 and he has a court date set on Feb. 13.

Man shot by off-duty Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy

An off-duty Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy shot a man in the torso after he found the suspect inside his personal vehicle, authorities said Tuesday.

The 25-year-old man was taken to the hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, officials said. His condition was not immediately known.

The deputy, whose name was not released, was not hurt, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

The man allegedly lunged toward the deputy after getting out of the vehicle, the Sheriff’s Department said. The deputy then shot the man, striking him once, though it was not released how many shots were fired.

Suspected Robber Trying To Steal Cell Phone Shot By Victim

Police Wednesday were investigating an early morning incident during which one man allegedly attempted to rob another of his cell phone, and was hospitalized after being shot by the attempted robbery victim.

It happened about 6:30 a.m. at 3100 45th Street in the Swan Canyon neighborhood of City Heights, San Diego Police Department Officer Dino Delimitros said.

“An argument between two men turned violent when one of the men attempted to rob the other of his cell phone,” said Delimitros. “The robbery victim produced a handgun and shot the other man once in the upper body.”

Delimitros said the shooter called 911 to report the incident “but fled the scene prior to police arriving.”

“The shooting victim was transported to a local hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and was in stable condition today and is expected to survive,” Delimitros said.

Indiana churches set up security teams after law changes to allow guns in church

Reading this, you’ll see there’s still a lot of “it surely couldn’t happen here” still going around. A man with a ‘background in law enforcement’ and graphic examples of every size of congregation having been attacked, and he still has some kind of philosophical problem with providing armed security? This is the delusional type that needs a ‘cluebat’ upside his head until he finally sees the way of truth & knowledge.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — It’s a debate that has sparked new legislation across the country—should people be allowed to carry guns in churches? Indiana State Senator Jack Sandlin says absolutely.

“We need to let everybody in Indiana know they have the right to protect themselves,” Sandlin said.

Sandlin authored legislation that was signed into law earlier this year.  It allows people to carry guns into church even if there’s a school or daycare on the property, which before the law, would have been considered a felony.

“I’ve had conversations with several different churches that have started to set up security teams within their churches as a result of the passage of the statute,” Sandlin said.

On Sunday at a church in Texas, a man pulled out a gun, and opened fire. He killed two people before a member of the church’s security team took out his own gun and killed the shooter with a single shot. Over 200 people were inside the church.

“If they hadn’t had an armed security team in the church, that could’ve gone on for a number of minutes, and then casualty count goes up pretty dramatically,” Sandlin said.

Incidents like this are why some local churches now put a priority on security.

Jack Dodd attends a small church near Kokomo. Dodd and his pastor recently went to an active shooter training. They have plans in place, but don’t yet have armed security.

“We have two individuals, myself and another individual, that sit in the back of the church always in the same spot, very near the door so that we can challenge anybody who walks in,” Dodd said.

Dodd has a background in law enforcement and says he has plenty experience handling firearms. However, he says he still has not decided to bring his gun to church.

“We are a small country church, and we have talked about that,” Dodd said. “We’ve been a little bit resistant to it because you just don’t feel like you need a weapon in church… but then you hear about these kind of situations that come up.”

Sandlin hopes this law will remind Hoosiers they can protect themselves in church, but he also warns that a trained security team may be the best way to protect the congregation.

“I wouldn’t recommend just telling people to bring their guns to church,” Sandlin said. “I think that you have to have a security survey, I think you have to have a plan and know how you’re going to respond.”

“Just having somebody with a firearm is not the answer,” Dodd said. “It must be trained individuals.”

If Jews want peace, they must prepare to defend themselves
“Si vis pacem, para bellum.”
If you want peace, prepare for war. —Roman proverb

According to CNN, the man suspected of stabbing Jews during a Chanukah celebration at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York was taken into custody with “blood all over him.” However, Pamela Geller has reported on Twitter what neither CNN nor any of the other anti-Semitic media outlets would dare to print: “Monsey Machete Assailant Is Recent Muslim Convert and May Be Linked to Another BRUTAL Synagogue Stabbing.” Likely, the man’s head was filled with verses from the Koran and the Sunna, like this one from Sahih Muslim 41:6981, 6983: “[A] stone says: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; kill him!”

So why were there no defensive guns at the event, when there were reportedly 100 Jews at the rabbi’s Chanukah celebration? There certainly was armed defense present at a Christian worship service, in readiness for a possible attack, in Texas! This Chanukah season, an appropriate question may be this: “Why have Texas Christians acted more in line with the example of Judah Maccabee than New York Jews?”

“If someone comes to kill you, arise quickly and kill him.” —Talmud, Sanhedrin 1994,2,72a

It is more than a source of embarrassment to many Jews, this author included, that numerous Jewish political and religious leaders support victim disarmament laws, which go against long established Jewish laws, the most basic of which is the commandment to “choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Throughout Jewish history, there have been threats requiring armed defense to preserve the Jewish people and their religion. The biggest threat — from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich — has always come from the state and its representatives. It should not be lost on Jews that Joe Biden, about as devoted to state power as one can get, criticized Texas governor Greg Abbott for signing a bill that allows Texans to defend themselves against attack in their places of worship. Clear-headed Jews thank God that Donald Trump, perhaps the most philo-Semitic president of all time, is chief executive, rather than a statist Democrat, like Biden, who would disarm the people, allowing them to be murdered in their synagogues and churches, as well as in their own homes.

It is sad that so many Jews have forgotten their history and have chosen to put their trust in left-wing leaders who choose death over life (in the tradition of such Jewish leaders as Max Naumann and Hans Joachim Schoeps, in Hitler’s Germany). Jews must stop trusting in the government to protect them and, instead, need to take responsibility by invoking their Second Amendment right to self-defense. As the Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership (JPFO) so aptly put it, “[t]he main threat to Jews in America, as elsewhere, is a government ‘gone bad.’ Jewish ‘leaders’ who emphasize victimhood to unify Jews are misguided. Jewish ‘leaders’ could strengthen Judaism by teaching proper observance” of Jewish law.

“You shall not murder.” —Exodus 20:13

The above commandment does not prohibit the righteous taking of a human life, only the immoral taking of a human life. Properly translated, this negative commandment reads, “You shall not murder.” The positive corollary of this commandment would go something like this: “You shall use deadly force, if necessary, to protect innocent life.” Thus, all righteous citizens in a republic, to the greatest extent possible and appropriate, should possess the proper means by which to fulfill their shared obligation to defend the lives of their loved ones and fellow citizens.

“If a burglar be found breaking in, and be struck dead, it is not murder.” —Exodus 22:2

Jewish law has always required the active defense of every innocent life. According to God’s commandment, in Exodus 22:2, a thief should be proactively attacked, to defend against the deadly threat he poses. If the thief were to die of his wounds, the defender’s blood is not to be shed as a penalty for having justifiably taken the life of a criminal. A person who is capable of defending the innocent but chooses not to do so is guilty of a tremendous wrongdoing. Also, he who actively enables the deaths of others, by supporting government-sponsored victim-disarmament (AKA “gun control”), has blood on his hands — the blood of those wrongly murdered, with no chance of rightfully defending themselves against their criminal aggressors, be those assailants lone outlaws or state actors.

A government official’s breaking of his oath to defend the Constitution — which includes the Second Amendment — is a wicked deed, akin to endorsing the same types of fascist victim disarmament policies enforced by Hitler’s criminal gang of National Socialists.

Besides Joe Biden, another potential dealer of death on the national stage, in 2019, has been Governor “Blackface” Northam of Virginia. Northam is planning to arrest and incarcerate legal gun-owners, to further his unconstitutional — indeed, criminal — crackdown against law-abiding Virginians. This includes Jews, of course, who share the common desire with their fellow Virginians simply to live in peace. But with the police busy and, therefore, usually arriving too late to a crime scene to defend human life, firearms need to be available to ensure the security and tranquility of Jewish communities.

The old Roman idea “Si vis pacem, para bellum” remains true to this day. If Jews want peace, they must prepare to defend themselves.

 

Supporters of Iran-backed militia storm the US Embassy in Iraq

Just me, but I wonder why there weren’t lots of militia uniformed, “protesters” piled up dead just inside that gate they crashed.
The moslems there won’t think any less of us than they already do, and since that culture only recognizes and respects strength and power; turning those protesters into bloody rag bags doesn’t bother me in the least and would provide a suitable example for anyone else considering similar actions.

Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the main building inside embassy. There was a fire at the reception area near the parking lot of the compound but it was unclear what had caused it. A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: “The message was delivered.”

The embassy attack followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said it was in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.

Dozens of protesters pushed into the compound after smashing the gate used by cars to enter the embassy. The protesters, many in militia uniform, stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were only about 200 meters away from the main building. Half a dozen U.S. soldiers were seen on the roof of the main building, their guns were pointed at the protesters.

Smoke from the tear gas rose in the area, and at least three of the protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing. It wasn’t immediately known whether the embassy staff had remained inside the main building.

The protesters hanged a poster on the wall: “America is an aggressor.”

Earlier, the mob shouted “Down, Down USA!” as the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area and also sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows. The graffiti, in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah, read: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”

Also, hundreds of angry protesters set up tents outside the embassy. As tempers rose, the mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy wall.

No one was immediately reported hurt in the rampage and security staff had withdrawn to inside the embassy earlier, soon after protesters gathered outside.

Seven armored vehicles with about 30 Iraqi soldiers arrived near the embassy hours after the violence erupted, deploying near the embassy walls but not close to the breached area.

There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon and the State Department on the breach of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

The U.S. airstrikes — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East.

Tuesday’s attempted embassy storming took place after mourners and supporters held funerals for the militia fighters killed in a Baghdad neighborhood, after which they marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the sprawling U.S. Embassy there.

AP journalists then saw the crowd as they tried to scale the walls of the embassy, in what appeared to be an attempt to storm it, shouting “Down, down USA!” and “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday’s strikes send the message that the U.S. will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.

The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia had vowed Monday to retaliate for the U.S. military strikes. The attack and vows for revenge raised concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.

US should attack Iran in response to attack on our embassy in Iraq

Once again, a U.S. embassy has come under an attack orchestrated by Iranian terrorists – but this time it is our embassy in Baghdad in Iraq rather than in the Iranian capital of Tehran as in 1979, when Iranian revolutionaries captured the U.S. Embassy and held 52 American hostage for 444 days.

Several dozen Iraqi Shiite militia members forced their way into the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad Tuesday setting fires and causing other damage, angered by weekend U.S. airstrikes that killed members of an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq.

We must maintain control of our embassy in Baghdad. A U.S. official told Fox News that 100 Marines are being sent to the embassy to increase security.

President Trump is wisely standing firm, tweeting Tuesday to explain the American airstrikes and to deliver a sharp warning to the governments of both Iran and Iraq: “Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many,” the president tweeted. “We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!”

The president’s tweet is a welcome display of U.S. resolve, but more than a tweet is needed to show Iran it cannot attack the U.S. embassy with impunity. It’s time for an American military response.

 

New Tennessee Gun Law Decreases Requirements For Concealed Carry Permit

A new gun law in Tennessee will make it easier for people to obtain a  concealed carry permit.

The legislation signed by Governor Bill Lee earlier this year creates a new concealed carry handgun permit with less stringent training requirements than the traditional permit. The original permit will be known as an “enhanced” permit and keep the same eight-hour course requirement. The new handgun permit will require a ninety-minute course than can be completed online. No hands-on training is needed.

Clarksville gun store owner James Allen said the bill allows potentially unsafe gun owners to obtain a permit. He said training requirements under the new law are too lax.

“There’s no hands-on training on proper safety and how to hold a gun, how to shoot a gun and when to shoot a gun,” Allen said. “It’s a stupid law.”

State Representative Andy Holt of Dresden sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives. He said the nonrestrictive training requirements are no cause for concern because Tennessee already recognizes concealed carry permits from states including Georgia and Alabama that require no training. He also said the expansion of gun rights in the state makes all Tennesseans safer.

“At the end of the day, I still believe that more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens equates into less crime…and I’m a proponent of less crime,” Holt said.

The law takes effect January 1.

College Students Know More About Firearms–and Rights–than Gun-Grabbing Politicians

In a matter of days, lawmakers in Virginia could pass some of the most radical gun control bills in the nation, the impact of which will be felt across the country.

As a recent college graduate who founded Students for Trump from my freshman dorm room, I remain active on college campuses today as co-chair of Turning Point Action. Everywhere I go, I meet young people who are closely following events in Richmond. Many of them are genuinely scared police are coming for their guns. During our lifetime, we’ve watched lawmakers chip away at our rights, and we are here to say, “Not today, Gov. Northam. Not today.”

Like many in my generation, I didn’t grow up with firearms. I was introduced to them in a high school ROTC program, which focused heavily on the Constitution. I learned the basics of firearms and self-defense. Perhaps more importantly, that class taught me the Second Amendment guarantees all the other rights in the Constitution.

As I visit with college students across the country, I am struck by how informed and educated they are about their rights. We may be young and inexperienced, but we know what’s going on around the world. In Hong Kong and Venezuela, we watch governments oppress their unarmed citizens. In our own country, we watch as state and local politicians exploit tragedies to pass more gun control laws. We watch New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg buy his way into power and influence across the country………..

Young people are fed up with politicians who exploit tragedies to push more failed gun control schemes. We’ve spent our youth watching politicians chip away at our rights. We will not stand idly by and let this continue. My generation is engaged, energized, and willing to stand up and fight for our rights in Virginia, and around the country. We are not only watching and listening to everything unfolding in Richmond, we engaged in this fight. Many of us are proud to be part of the NRA’s new student group, Students For 2A. We will never let a tyrannical government take away our rights.

Range Review: Ruger Lite Rack LCP II .22 LR

Ruger is one of the most diverse makers of firearms in the United States, with products ranging from rimfire and centerfire rifles for plinking and hunting to handguns for target shooting and self-defense. One gem among these various products is a small, semi-automatic pistol called the LCP. Launched in 2008, it was an immediate hit with the concealed carry crowd and has become a standard in its market.

As good as the LCP is, the original design wasn’t perfect. The LCP’s sights are really nothing more than tiny bumps machined directly into the slide. They work to get the handgun pointed in the right direction but seem more of an afterthought than a design feature. Another common gripe is the trigger. Many users think the trigger is too long and heavy. Not intended to be a target pistol (see complaint about sights above), the trigger is acceptable for concealed carry use but is heavy and long nonetheless.

Ruger heard these complaints and introduced the LCP II in 2016 (reviewed here). It addresses the concerns of sights by adding slightly bigger machined-in bumps. The trigger is improved by switching from a long and heavy double-action-only pull to a lighter and shorter single-action-only pull. Ruger also added a last round hold-open to the pistol to aid in reloading and as an indication that the magazine is empty.

Given Ruger’s success with the LCP and LCP II, it was inevitable that either pistol would be made available in something other than .380 ACP. Internet rumors have swirled for quite some time about different calibers. Many people, myself included, were guessing that a version in .32 ACP or possibly .32 NAA was soon to be released. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the first new offering is chambered in none other than .22 LR.

At first glance, the Lite Rack .22 LR version is nearly indistinguishable from the .380 ACP variant. Both pistols share the same overall size and shape. Grip texturing and overall cosmetic patterns like cocking serrations and placement of logos are also nearly identical.

Tested: Ruger-57 Pistol

With precious few guns on the market chambered to fire it, and even fewer load options for those guns, the 5.7×28 mm FN cartridge has seemingly been on life support for most of its 30-year lifespan, kept alive only through the patronage of a small but dedicated fan club and select military/government agency adoption. That’s a shame, because it’s an interesting little chambering, offering several intrinsic design advantages, and it is an absolute hoot to shoot. Caught in a self-perpetuating loop where a deficit of firearm options has led ammunition makers to deem it unworthy of their finite production resources—and vice versa—what the 5.7 mm has really needed to help resuscitate it was a major gunmaker willing to break the vicious circle by taking a chance on it. That it was Ruger to step up to the plate, with its December introduction of the Ruger-57 handgun, should not come as any great shock to those familiar with the Southport, Conn., company’s reputation for seeing opportunity where others just see risk.

Operating via delayed blowback, the Ruger-57’s barrel moves rearward with the slide only about 1/4″, but its long enough to allow the projectile to leave the barrel and for pressures to drop to safe levels.

Texas church shooting and Hanukkah stabbing spur calls for increased security at places of worship

Of all channels..NBC.

A shooting at a church in Texas and a stabbing at a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration in New York over the weekend have renewed calls for increased security and the right to be armed in places of worship.

In Texas, a gunman killed two people before a volunteer armed security team shot and killed him in the church near Fort Worth on Sunday. That led Texas politicians to praise a recent law that allowed guns to be carried in places of worship.

The issue of whether worshipers should be armed breaks along the usual fault lines in the wider debate on gun laws. Supporters of gun control legislation say the better solution is to reduce gun ownership, rather than to invite weapons of death into the pews. But in Texas, which has a strong gun culture, Republicans seized on the shooting Sunday as proof of their long-held belief that more trained gun owners can prevent casualties during mass attacks.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, praised the law that allows licensed handgun holders to carry weapons in houses of worship that don’t explicitly ban them. The law, which was passed after 26 people were killed at a church in Sutherland Springs in 2017, took effect in September.

On Monday, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Fox News that had that law not been passed, “I fear that we could have lost, you know, hundreds” in Sunday’s shooting.

Paxton, a Republican, said he hoped other states would pass similar measures.

“I think they’ll end up saving lives for years and years and years,” he said.

Jack Wilson, a member of the volunteer security team at the church, said he was concerned about the shooter’s appearance from the moment he came in wearing a wig and a fake beard.

“Most of the members there didn’t feel like it would happen, but we were prepared if it did, and, you know, had we not had the security team in place, it would’ve been much, in my opinion, probably a much more severe outcome than what happened,” he said.

In the New York attack, five people were stabbed at a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration Saturday in what Gov. Andrew Cuomo called “domestic terrorism.” Cuomo directed state police to increase patrols in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods across the state.

Four Jewish elected officials in New York asked Cuomo to go a step further Sunday, calling for him to declare a state of emergency and to deploy the National Guard to “visibly patrol and protect” Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods.

On Sunday, according to The Associated Press, several members of the community stood guard armed with assault-style rifles. Rockland County officials later said a private security company would help municipal law enforcement patrol the community.

Image: Armed members of Jewish community

Armed members of the Jewish community stand guard at a celebration in Monsey, New York, on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.
Patrick Brosnan, founder of the security firm Brosnan Risk Consultants, praised the congregants who fought back.”You have to look this evil in the face,” he said. “You have to step up. There’s not enough law enforcement out there.”

Virginia Beach to hold special session to consider “Second Amendment Constitutional City” resolution.

The Virginia Beach City Council will hold a pair of special sessions next week to discuss — and vote — on becoming a “Second Amendment Constitutional City.”

“The City Council hereby expresses its strong support for the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms and urges the members of the General Assembly and the Governor to take no action which would violate the freedoms guaranteed by either the Virginia Bill of Rights or the federal Bills or Rights,” reads a draft of a resolution requested by Mayor Bobby Dyer, Vice Mayor James Wood and Council members Jessica Abbott, John Moss and Rosemary Wilson.

The council is set to discuss the resolution at 4 p.m. Jan. 6 in the council’s conference room. After a short break, the council will reconvene at 6 p.m. in its chambers for a formal vote.

The previously unscheduled meetings, which Dyer called for on Monday, come amid a push by newly-empowered Democrats to pass gun control regulations.

Earlier this month, hundreds of people flooded Virginia Beach City Hall to ask the council to resist the proposed legislation. The crowd, which was advocating for a Second Amendment Sanctuary ordinance, was so large on Dec. 3 that police blocked the front doors of the building before the regularly scheduled 6 p.m. meeting even began…………..