Gun Law Reform in Bolsonaro’s Brazil, Homicides Drop Precipitously

In December, 2018, in an article published by the Wall Street Journal, this pronouncement was made. From the wsj.com:

Now, Brazil is set to embark on an experiment that will determine what happens when you loosen gun restrictions in a country battling an overpowering wave of gun crime.

Homicides in Brazil were at historic highs in 2017. They dropped a bit in 2018, as candidate Bolsonaro ran on reform of the gun laws to allow self-defense, and reform of the law to get tough on crime.  The homicide numbers dropped from 59,000 in 2017, to 51,000 in 2018. President Bolsonaro was elected in October of 2018.

After taking office on 1 January 2019, President Bolsonaro issued his first decree reforming some of Brazil’s extreme gun laws on 15 January 2019. The drop in Brazil’s homicide rate accelerated.

Gun control in Brazil has a long history. By 1997, restrictions on gun ownership were deemed as “severe” by the Wall Street Journal. From the wsj.com:

In Brazil’s violent cities, where 90% of the murders are committed with guns, ownership restrictions have become so severe that Taurus has branched out into motorcycle helmets, bulletproof vests, and auto parts.

(snip)

Brazil’s 1997 law, which requires gun owners to have unblemished police records and pass rigorous psychological and shooting-proficiency tests, has slashed Taurus’s sales to private individuals by more than 80% in the past two years, Mr. Murgel says. Taurus has sought to make up for that with an aggressive push into motorcycle helmets and increased gun sales in the U.S., where Taurus’s advertising spending is up threefold this year.

Early in the Bolsonaro presidency, a Brazilian lawyer predicted the homicide rate would drop. From ammoland.com:

César Mello, asked that I include information that early reports are showing a 25% drop in Brazil’s homicide rate, in the first quarter of 2019. If this trend continues, 16,000 lives will have been saved in the first year of President Bolsonaro’s time in office.

The rate reduction was not quite that high. Only 10,000 lives were saved.  From wtop.com:

Brazil had 41,635 killings in 2019, down 19% from the prior year and the least number of homicides since 2007, when the so-called Violence Monitor index was launched. It is a partnership between the non-profit Brazilian Forum of Public Security, the University of Sao Paulo’s Center for the Study of Violence, and news website G1, which published the data Friday.

“IN OUR GOVERNMENT HOMICIDES, VIOLENCE AND FALLACIES FALL!” an exultant Bolsonaro wrote on his Twitter account, sharing the G1 news report. “Our government extends a strong embrace to all the security agents of the country. Brazil continues on the right path.”

When translated to homicide rates, the rate dropped 17% in 2018, then 23% more in 2019. The population of Brazil in 2019 was 210 million. The rate of homicides per 100,000 was 19.83.  That is less than 2/3 of the homicide rate in 2017, which was 30.8.

Brazil has not had a homicide rate this low since 1995, before the highly restrictive gun law of 1997 was passed.

When the NYTs did an article on the reform of Brazil’s gun laws during the Bolsonaro administration, somehow, the reduction in the Brazilian homicide rate was not included.  The article was published on 31 March, 2020.   From the nytimes.com:

During Mr. Bolsonaro’s first year in office, the government issued more than 200,000 licenses to gun owners. The federal police, which issues licenses for self-defense, approved 54,300 permits in 2019, a 98 percent increase from the previous year. The army, which grants permits to hunters and collectors, issued more than 147,800 new licenses in 2019, a 68 percent increase.

The only mention of homicides in the NYTs article is this:

In Brazil, a country of more than 209 million that has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, the right to bear arms is not a constitutional guarantee, as it is in the United States. The gun rights movement has long been on the losing side of policy debates.

Will the Brazilian homicide rate continue to drop? We will find out over the course of the next few years. Leftist academics are already finding excuses as to why the reform of Brazilian gun laws made no difference.

They had predicted homicides would rise as the reforms were implemented.

Man shoots suspect armed with knife in central valley

LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Las Vegas police said detectives were investigating a shooting in the central valley on Sunday night.

The incident started about 6 p.m. on April 5, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lt. David Gordon. Officers were in the area of West Washington Avenue and Spyglass Lane, near Decatur Boulevard.

At the scene, LVMPD homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said the investigation started as the Metro air unit observed a motorcyclist acting “suspicious” in a shopping center near Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard.

Spencer said the motorcyclist then took off recklessly, speeding northbound on Decatur. The air unit followed to a community near Decatur and Bonanza Road.

At Vermont Avenue, Spencer said the motorcycle either stopped or crashed. The rider got off, removed his motorcycle gear, then ran eastbound toward the Friendly Ford dealership.

The suspect then jumped a barbed wire fence behind the dealership into a neighborhood. Spencer said a citizen, a CCW carrier in his 40s, went outside and saw the police helicopter above him.

The man told police he saw the suspect, a man in his 20s, jump the fence. He reportedly told the suspect he was calling the police and to stop running. The man followed the suspect to a pathway in the condominium complex, Spencer said, when the suspect pulled out a knife.

The man fired two rounds, hitting the suspect, then went to get a first aid kit. Metro officers arrived on scene and helped the man render aid. When medical arrived, Spencer said the suspect was pronounced dead on scene.

The citizen told police what happened and at the scene, Spencer said they believe the shooting was in self-defense. However, the case will be sent to the Clark County District Attorney’s office for review.

Pizza shop owner shoots attempted robber in Wissinoming

WISSINOMING – Authorities say a 16-year-old is in stable condition after he was shot by a pizza shop owner during an attempted robbery.

According to police, the incident happened on the 5800 block of Torresdale Avenue just after 10:30 p.m.

The teen allegedly tried to rob the store at gunpoint when the owner shot him once in the top of the left hand.

Police say the shop owner is legally authorized to carry a firearm.

The teen was taken to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital by private vehicle and placed in stable condition.

Authorities say the suspect is currently in custody.

Homeowner shoots suspect in West Plains home invasion

SPOKANE COUNTY — A man who said he was just doing a homeowners dishes was shot by the homeowner in a possible occupied residential burglary last night.

According to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office report, deputies and Airway Heights police officers were called to the home on the 2600 block of North Colville Road — northeast of Airway Heights and north of Palisades Park just off Trails Road — at about 11:55 p.m. on a call of a burglary in progress. The report said the homeowner and his wife were upstairs watching TV and had just turned it off when he heard a noise downstairs.

Fearing an intruder the homeowner armed himself with a shotgun and went downstairs where he encountered a man, later identified as 29-year-old Kenneth B. Caldero, in the kitchen using the microwave. When the homeowner asked Caldero what he was doing he replied he was doing their dishes, upon which the homeowner told him to leave.

Caldero failed to follow the instructions, and the homeowner again demand he leave. Caldero began walking toward the house’s staircase, and fearing for his family’s safety, yelled at him to stop or he would fire, at which point Caldero apparently advanced on the homeowner and struggle ensued. The homeowner fired a round of birdshot into the home’s floor, at which point Caldero stepped back and then again advanced on the homeowner.

The homeowner was able to load another round in the shotgun’s chamber as Caldero continued his advance and fire a round into the intruder’s leg. Caldero subsequently fled the residence and was found by officers a short distance away yelling for help and bleeding profusely from his thigh. Officers applied immediate medical attention to deal with Caldero’s wound, and after medics arrived and rendered further assistance, he was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Caldero told officers he thought he was at a friends house and went inside to use the bathroom but must have gone into the wrong house because “some guy shot him.” He provided the name of the friend, but after further questioning said his friend was in prison, which deputies were able to confirm. Deputies were unable to locate any call history of Caldero’s friend at the victim’s residence or even near it.

Caldero remains hospitalized and will face first-degree burglary charges when released. Deputies said the homeowner will not face charges with the information currently known.

Deeming firearms retailers ‘essential’ during the pandemic affirms the 2nd Amendment as an individual right

And this gets laid out at The Trace of all places…

What does seem clear, Blocher said, is that the closures do not amount to a ban on armed self-defense, since anybody with access to one of the hundreds of millions of guns circulating in the United States can still use it to protect themselves.

That can be very true. That the collective right to keep and bear arms is not harmed in anyway by the closure of gun stores. However, the great precedent set by Trump declaring at a federal level (And many states individually doing the same) that firearms retailers are deemed essential is that it affirms the right to keep and bear arms as an individual right and that even someone who does not already own a firearm has the right under the second amendment to go out and purchase one.  Awesome.

They used to say an anti-gun liberal was merely a conservative who hadn’t been mugged yet. Now it seems to be one who hadn’t had the cluebat of being their own First Responder upside their head.

I’m One of Those Anti-Gun People Who Just Bought His First Firearm

Ilya from Michigan writes . . .

If you’d have met me three weeks ago, you’d unequivocally know my stance on guns. I was not only against the ownership of AR-15s, I was in the minority of folks who thought all private gun ownership should be illegal.

I’m still in a bit of disbelief that there is a dangerous weapon in my house: one that more frequently contributes to accidental deaths, violent homicides, and suicides, rather than the romanticized personal protection experiences.

What happened? The world changed overnight and my opinion…evolved.

I’ve always been a strongly opinionated person, but I pride myself on the idea that my beliefs are loosely held. Strong opinions are great, but what you don’t want is to be egotistically blinded by them. I don’t want to be held hostage by a belief that is no longer valid, given new information.

My views before

I live a pretty privileged existence. My family lives in one of the most affluent communities in Michigan. Everyone in the neighborhood leaves their doors open with bikes on the front lawn. Rarely do we worry about anything being stolen, let alone violent crime. I wasn’t born with this privilege, but worked really hard to get where I am.

Circumstances shape people’s understanding of the world, and my situation highly influenced my views on gun ownership. There was no argument, be it constitutional, personal protection, safety, hunting, or anything else that would change my mind and stop me from logically deconstructing your argument.

Guns are used in more than 20,000 suicides, 10,000 homicides, and just under 1,000 accidental deaths in the US each year. Yes, one can argue that people kill people, not guns. But I’d argue that access to firearms makes it much easier to accomplish the act. I believed that at the national scale, guns were a danger to our society. I wanted no part of this.

How my views have changed

For months, I heard the news of a novel virus spreading in China, which had the potential to turn into a global pandemic. This happens regularly, with Cov-2, H1N1, Ebola, MERS, etc.

We read about it in the newspapers, hear about people dying in other countries, watch coverage of civil unrest, and then we hit the off button and get back to our 21st century privileged American lives. It’s not that we aren’t worried or believe that this can’t happen to us; rather, we’ve never experienced anything similar to this. Our imagination can only take us so far. We think it’s “them”. This will just go away.

Then [it] got real. Countries started shutting down. Stay-home orders were being issued. Supply chains were disrupted and people were hoarding daily necessities.

Cracks in our supply chain became evident and we started experiencing shortages reminiscent of the former Soviet bloc. Companies were going out of business or downsizing. People were losing their jobs at an unprecedented rate.

I’m not a prepper. I’ve never left a store with more food or supplies than what’d I’d typically consume in a few days. I don’t overreact. But the supply disruptions, along with economic uncertainty, started to worry me.

Are we, as a country, prepared? Am I prepared?

We model our future preparedness based on past worst-case scenarios. My grandmother, who lived through WWII in Eastern Europe, stashed every penny away for what she called “the dark days.” The worst days she can recall in her life’s experience.

But as one of the best minds in risk assessment, Nassim Taleb, notes, you can’t prepare for the worst-case scenario based on past events, because the worst-case scenario hasn’t happened yet.

At about the same time, I was chatting with friends who are gun owners and they mentioned the long lines at gun shops. People were buying out all of the guns and ammo. But instead of my typical reaction of “guns are bad and those people are crazy,” my mind started wondering about all of the tail risk possibilities during this event.

What happens when food supply chains fail? What if my area becomes unsafe? Do I need to learn how to hunt? With what? Will civil unrest break out?

People will do anything they can to ensure the survival of themselves and their families. Our preparedness models are based on past assumptions of stability and civil obedience. But we’re in an uncharted territory.

The question I asked myself: What do I need to do to feel safe and protect my family?

I called my friend, who advised me that for personal protection, I should get a handgun. The next day, I walked into a store I never thought I’d set foot in. The line was long. I patiently waited while periodically watching the Fox News station on TV.

The store employees were all armed — very stern, but also very nice. I’ve never felt as safe around so many firearms. That’s when I filled out the background check form and I bought my first gun.

Philly Store Owner Shoots and Kills Attempted Robber

A Philadelphia store owner shot and killed a man who tried to rob his business, according to investigators.

Police said a man in his 20’s tried to rob a store on the 2700 block of Germantown Avenue at 4:25 p.m. Saturday. The store owner then pulled out a gun and opened fire, shooting the man five times.

The man was taken to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:08 p.m. The store owner was taken into custody for questioning.

Man shoots suspect after ‘fearing for his life’ in Bel Air

BEL AIR, Md. (WBFF) – A man was injured in an overnight shooting in Bel Air, at an apartment complex off of Harford County’s Route 24.

Tyler Reid, 28, was found suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper body at about 12:59 a.m. on Foxhall Drive in the Calverts Walk complex, said the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators determined Reid, who doesn’t live at the location, got in an argument with his girlfriend, who lives there, said the Sheriff’s Office.

Jordan Ellison, 27, another resident, got involved in the altercation and Reid physically assaulted him, said the Sheriff’s Office.

Ellison fired a round at Reid with a rifle during the struggle, saying he was fearing for his life, said the Sheriff’s Office.

Ellison has not been charged in this case. Charges are pending against Reid for second-degree assault and will be pursued after his release from the hospital.

REBELLION: ‘This Is Not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia Where You Are Asked For Your Papers!’ Says Maine Sheriff

Maine’s Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols has a strong message for the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, who issued “stay-at-home” orders with threats of police punishment if not followed. Sheriff Nichols issued a statement on the Franklin County Facebook page saying in no uncertain terms he will not follow the unconstitutional order.

“We will not be setting up a Police State. PERIOD,” he wrote. “The Sheriff’s Office will not purposefully go out and stop vehicles because they are on the road or stop and ask why people are out and about. To do so puts our officers at risk. This is not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia where you are asked for your papers!”

The sheriff’s announcement comes as a welcome sign to Americans who have been arrested for inane things like praying outside, surfing, or trying to drive to work. Someone has to stand up to the unconstitutional directives that are being handed down daily by government officials and it will fall on the sheriffs to uphold what they know to be their legal and lawful duties, none of which involve trampling the rights of citizens…….

Nichols made it clear that he only intends to arrest for matters of law-breaking, and nothing else. Executive orders aren’t laws. He finished his announcement with words of encouragement for his constituents: “Most of you are doing a fantastic job – we appreciate that! Please look out for one another, especially the elderly and shut-ins. Please be a good neighbor/citizen always showing compassion. Please be kind especially on social media, negativity online only adds to the stress people are currently experiencing.”

Nichols signed this brave decree with his name and followed it with “Of the People, For the People.”

My guess is that the guy declined to press charges and let the teenager off the hook because things will be taken care of on the street, instead of in the courtroom. But that’s just me taking into consideration ‘The Chicago Way’.

Concealed-carry holder — wounded by gunfire — shoots 16-year-old gunman in West Side attempted robbery

A 29-year-old concealed-carry license holder exchanged gunfire in an attempted robbery Thursday morning on the West Side, wounding a 16-year-old gunman and suffering two gunshot wounds himself.

Shortly before 7 a.m., the license-holder was walking in the 600 block of North LeClaire in Austin when a group of three to five suspects came up and demanded his money and belongings, Chicago police said.

As a 16-year-old boy in the group pulled out a weapon, the 29-year-old drew his own gun and exchanged gunfire with the group, police said.

The license-holder was shot in the leg and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. The 16-year-old was struck twice in the abdomen and taken to the same hospital in fair condition.

A police source said the boy was released from custody after the man refused to seek charges.

Everytown Law: It’s Totally Constitutional To Close Gun Stores Right Now

For years, Everytown for Gun Safety has presented itself as a moderate “gun safety” group that isn’t interested in stripping Americans of their rights, but is only in favor of “commonsense gun safety” regulations. Now they’re exposing that lie all by themselves. In a time of uncertainty, and during an emergency, Everytown is doing everything it can to prevent Americans from acquiring firearms and ammunition. There’s nothing common sense about that. Their position has nothing to do with gun safety and everything to do with keeping as many Americans as possible unarmed and defenseless when more Americans than ever before are choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Nor from what I’ve seen.

Will COVID-19 kill the Constitution

Jacob Sullum
The great American jurist St. George Tucker, writing at the beginning of the 19th century, called the right to armed self-defense “the true palladium of liberty” and “the first law of nature.” But California Gov. Gavin Newsom thinks that right, guaranteed by the Second Amendment, is optional.

After Newsom ordered “nonessential” businesses to close in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, he let local sheriffs decide whether that category included gun dealers. Newsom’s decision, which allowed Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva to unilaterally ban the sale of firearms and ammunition, illustrates how readily politicians ignore constitutional rights in the very circumstances where they matter most.

Villanueva’s ban, which several gun rights groups challenged in a federal lawsuit last Friday, was inconsistent with recent guidance from the Department of Homeland Security as well as the Second Amendment. In an advisory published on Saturday, the department added firearm retailers to its definition of the “essential critical infrastructure workforce,” which Newsom explicitly exempted from his order.

On Monday, Villanueva, who describes himself as “a supporter of the Second Amendment” but also suggests that keeping guns for self-protection is irresponsible, rescinded his ban, citing the new federal guidelines. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, whose business closure order initially covered gun stores, likewise recognized them as “essential” after seeing the federal advisory.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf also deigned to allow firearm sales, but only after three members of the state Supreme Court said that “it is incumbent upon the Governor to make some manner of allowance for our citizens to continue to exercise this constitutional right.” Notably, that rebuke came in a dissent from a March 22 decision summarily denying a challenge to Wolf’s violation of the Second Amendment.

The reversals by Murphy and Wolf, who are now allowing firearm sales by appointment and in compliance with social distancing rules, show that shutting down gun stores was never necessary to curtail transmission of COVID-19. But their reluctance to respect the Second Amendment and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s unwillingness to intervene do not bode well for civil liberties at a time when many people seem to think that fighting the pandemic trumps all other concerns.

To “save the nation” from COVID-19, Cornell law professor Michael Dorf argued two weeks ago, Congress should suspend the writ of habeas corpus, an ancient common-law right that allows people detained by the government to demand a justification. Yet the Constitution says that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

Although neither of those circumstances applies, Dorf suggested that the spread of the COVID-19 virus from other countries to the United States could be construed as an invasion. While “no one knows” whether the courts would accept that interpretation, since “Congress has only ever suspended habeas in wartime,” Dorf said, “there is reason to think that the courts would dismiss a habeas case following nearly any congressional suspension.”

In a recent survey of 3,000 Americans, the University of Chicago’s Adam Chilton and three other law professors found bipartisan agreement that “now is the time to violate the Constitution,” as they put it. The survey asked whether the respondents would support various constitutionally dubious policy responses to the epidemic.

Sizable majorities of both Democrats and Republicans favored confining people to their homes, detaining sick people in government facilities, banning U.S. citizens from entering the country, government takeovers of businesses, conscription of health care workers, suspension of religious services and even criminalizing the spread of “misinformation” about the virus. “Even when we explicitly told half of our sample that the policies may violate the Constitution,” Chilton et al. report, “the majority supported all eight of them,” including the speech restrictions.

“After the threat has subsided,” the law professors conclude, “Americans must recognize any constitutional violations for what they were, lest they become the new normal.” By then, it may be too late.

This is due to the diplomatic policy of using liberal Port Visits & Liberty Calls to ‘show the flag’ as well as provide economic support to foreign nations; Our ships don’t just sit in a port for a few days, a lot of ‘supply’ business is conducted and the sailors on Liberty go out on the town to spend their pay. QED, they pick up the local ‘flavor’.

Now we have the core of a whole Carrier Strike Group –1 of only 8 currently fully operational – out of action. Pretty good military attrition for a bug that more than few say was let loose from a Chinese gubbermint biolab.

Aircraft carrier captain pleads for help after more than 100 crew are infected with coronavirus.

WASHINGTON — The captain of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that has more than 100 cases of coronavirus wrote a stunning plea for help to senior military officials.

In a four-page letter, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Capt. Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt described a disastrous situation unfolding aboard the warship, a temporary home to more than 4,000 crew members.

“We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors,” Crozier wrote. “The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating.”

He proposed offloading the majority of the crew, quarantining those infected, testing others for the virus and professionally cleaning the ship. He explained in his letter that by keeping the crew on the vessel the Pentagon was taking “an unnecessary risk” that “breaks faith with those Sailors entrusted to our care.”

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Dinos were chasing him…… Were they pink?

Florida mother shot burglar who entered home because ‘dinosaurs were chasing him

DELTONA, Fla. – A Florida man was shot by a mother of three after deputies say he broke into her Deltona home early Tuesday morning because he thought that dinosaurs were chasing him.

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said this happened at a home on the 2600 block of Libby Court.

According to deputies, 32-year-old Joseph L. Roberts tried to break into the home around 5:45 a.m. by shattering a front window.

“The woman inside, a 42-year-old mother with several teenagers in the house, called 911, saying ‘I don’t want to shoot him, but I’m going to have to! Get out of my window! Get out of my window!'”

Sheriff Mike Chitwood said during a press conference that the mother gave White several verbal warnings to leave. When he didn’t, she opened fire.

When deputies arrived, they say they found Roberts in the house — and he had quite an interesting story.

“He told us that the dinosaurs were chasing him and he thought he got some bad weed.”

White was airlifted to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford with non life-threatening injuries after being shot in the forearm.

“He’s lucky she was a bad shot.”

Chitwood said they are seeking an enhanced penalty for committing a burglary during a national emergency.

“I guess the only explanation is watch where you’re buying your weed at during this time.”

A ‘reverse drive-by’.
Of course, my estimate is that all parties involved were up to no good.

Gunman Critically Hurt After Men He Was Shooting At Return Fire

A 47-year-old man is in critical condition after he was shot multiple times after he allegedly fired shots at two men on Chicago’s Southwest Side on Sunday afternoon.

According to Chicago police, two men, ages 29 and 21, were driving in the 7900 block of South Knox Avenue in the city’s Scottsdale neighborhood on Sunday evening when another man pulled out a gun and began shooting at their car.

Both men then pulled out their own weapons, striking the 47-year-old man multiple times.

The man was shot in the abdomen, right torso and right leg, and was taken to Christ Hospital in critical condition, police said.

Neither of the men in the vehicle was hurt in the shooting.

 

Go look in a mirror and you will see who your real ‘First Responder’ is.

Coronavirus Clobbers Cops and Suddenly Second is First Fallback

Reports are surfacing in several jurisdictions about the number of police officers testing positive for Coronavirus, underscoring the importance of the Second Amendment among people who might have been indifferent about the right to keep and bear arms…until now.

Over the weekend, TIME magazine reported that “about 700 New Jersey police officers have tested positive for the coronavirus.” Acting State Police Supt. Col. Patrick Callahan said more than 700 officers have been quarantined at home.

However, the Philadelphia Inquirer subsequently reported that Callahan had “overstated” the number. The newspaper noted that “while 1,272 officers had been ‘quarantined,’ the actual number of those testing positive was 163. In addition, it said that 1,435 officers were ‘out for other reasons,’ but did not elaborate.”

The Sun reported Monday “Almost 5,000 (New York) cops are currently out sick as the coronavirus crisis continues to ravage New York with fears looming of disorder on the streets. The number of police officers out sick on Sunday amounts to nearly 14 per cent of the 36,000-strong force.”

The Associated Press reported “More than a fifth of Detroit’s police force is quarantined; two officers have died from coronavirus and at least 39 have tested positive, including the chief of police.”
The story also revealed “Nearly 690 officers and civilian employees at police departments and sheriff’s offices around the country have tested positive for COVID-19, according to an Associated Press survey of over 40 law enforcement agencies, mostly in major cities. The number of those in isolation as they await test results is far higher in many places.”

Altogether, these reports reinforce the argument made over the weekend by Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, which has filed a lawsuit in New Jersey to reopen gun shops and shooting ranges. He says the same principle applies nationwide, where police manpower shortages might translate to problems for the public, despite official insistence they have things under control.

“This is exactly why the Foundation lawsuit to force New Jersey to re-open gun stores during this emergency is so important,” Gottlieb said. “People need to be able to obtain the means of self-defense in times such as these. This is why the right to keep and bear arms is essential.

“The Second Amendment wasn’t written for duck hunters,” Gottlieb added. “The right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution to assure every citizen has the means to defend himself or herself when help may not arrive in time, or maybe not arrive at all.”

Since the COVID-19 outbreak began more than two weeks ago, anecdotal reports of citizens rushing to gun stores to purchase firearms and ammunition have surfaced, suggesting many people were buying guns for the first time. The Second Amendment in essence became their first fallback.

Alarming to gun owners from one coast to the other has been the widespread shut downs of police agency services including fingerprinting for concealed carry license or permit applications. Some agencies are accepting renewals only, deciding to suspend new permit applications. This has already resulted in one lawsuit in North Carolina, filed by SAF, the Firearms Policy Coalition and Grass Roots North Carolina.

Several other lawsuits are under consideration, Gottlieb hinted in a telephone conversation late last week.

Italy and France are now prescribing hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as treatments for coronavirus patients.

We’ve been talking about anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for about three weeks now. However, U.S. health agencies like FDA and CDA, are still very cautious about the effectiveness and safety of the two drugs due to small trial size and lack of sufficient data.

In France, the government caved to pressure from renowned Dr. Didier Raoult, who led the new additional study on 80 patients, results show a combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin to be effective in treating COVID-19. Dr Didier Raoult, a professor of infectious diseases who works at La Timone hospital in Marseille, then declared in a video on YouTube that chloroquine was a cure for Covid-19 and should be used immediately.

Dr. Raoult reportedly walked out of the scientific advisory committee advising the government after allegations that the government was being influenced by the big pharmaceutical companies which wanted to block hydroxychloroquine because it was cheap, being out of patent.

In another report, France now allows drug chloroquine to be given to coronavirus patients with extreme case of the disease. Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Monday, “The anti-malarial drug chloroquine can be administered in France to patients suffering from the severest forms of the coronavirus but only under strict supervision.” Veran also cautioned: “The high council recommends not to use this treatment… with the exception of grave cases, hospitalized, on the basis of a decision taken by doctors and under strict surveillance.”

Italian government also announced on Friday that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine could be used to treat all coronavirus patients. Italian government also said the payment will be paid for entirely by the Italian national healthcare system. Yesterday, we also reported that Hungary, the United Kingdom and India, have all banned export of the anti-malarial drugs to explore the usage in treating coronavirus patients in their respective countries.

HHS accepts donations of medicine to Strategic National Stockpile as possible treatments for COVID-19 patients
FDA issues emergency use authorization for donated hydroxychloroquine sulfate, chloroquine phosphate

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today accepted 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate donated by Sandoz, the Novartis generics and biosimilars division, and one million doses of chloroquine phosphate donated by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, for possible use in treating patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or for use in clinical trials. These and other companies may donate additional doses, and companies have ramped up production to provide additional supplies of the medication to the commercial market.

“President Trump is taking every possible step to protect Americans from the coronavirus and provide them with hope,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “Scientists in America and around the world have identified multiple potential therapeutics for COVID-19, including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. The President’s bold leadership and the hard work of FDA and HHS’s Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response have succeeded in securing this large donation of medicine. We’ll continue working around the clock to get American patients access to therapeutics that may help them battle COVID-19, while building the evidence to evaluate which options are effective.”

HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) worked with colleagues within HHS, the companies, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security to secure the donated shipments. Given the importance of understanding the efficacy of these medications for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19, federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), are working together to plan clinical trials.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to BARDA to allow hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate products donated to the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible.

The EUA requires that fact sheets that provide important information about using chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine sulfate in treating COVID-19 be made available to health care providers and patients, including the known risks and drug interactions.

The SNS, managed by ASPR, will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to ship donated doses to states. The SNS does not regularly stock either drug.

Hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate are oral prescription drugs approved to treat malaria and other diseases. Although there are no currently approved treatments for COVID-19, both drugs have shown activity in laboratory studies against coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Anecdotal reports suggest that these drugs may offer some benefit in the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Clinical trials are needed to provide scientific evidence that these treatments are effective……….

 

Not all that long ago these types were having conniptions about people who were using the wrong ‘gender pronoun’.
A real crisis apparently brings things into a clearer perspective, and from the überproggie New Yorker magazine, no less.

Choose Your Weapon

As shoppers stock up for a potential Armageddon, an Oregon gun store has sold out of ARs and .308 rifles, many of which went to first-time liberal buyers.

There was no complimentary hand sanitizer for the concerned customers of Gorge Guns, in Hood River, Oregon, on a recent Friday. Erika Bales, the shop’s twenty-nine-year-old owner, wasn’t worried about the virus. “I figure, just let nature take its course,” she said. Her customers were less nonchalant. Bales, who had a neat manicure and a number of tattoos, said that, days earlier, people had begun realizing that “everyone’s buying things and everything’s gonna be gone.” The resulting rush was, for her, unprecedented. She was out of ARs and .308 rifles. A few shotguns remained, and she told shoppers that they could saw them off, to a legal length. “Obama didn’t even bring in these numbers,” Bales said.

At noon, a woman in her sixties came in. She wore plastic gloves and had a scarf wrapped around her face, and she traced a wide arc around the only other non-employee in the store. “I’ve been doing this since the beginning of March,” she said, referring to her protective gear. “I don’t feel sick at all. I’m self-quarantining.” She left her house only for essential activities. This was one. “I’m buying a gun,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”

She went on, “My son was a little upset about it.” (He preferred his bow and arrow.) “I’m old and I live alone, and we don’t know if there’s going to be civil unrest. The world is not the same.” She added, “It didn’t have to be this way.” Unlike many of the shop’s regulars, she was no fan of Trump: “He’s a divider all the way. First he said, ‘Five people have died, big deal.’ Now he’s saying, ‘I always knew it’d be dangerous.’ ” Talk turned to Portland. “It’s a ghost town,” a young woman said. Her name was Rosemary, and she was helping Bales out, since the restaurant where she waited tables had closed.

“I don’t like to go in cities anymore, anyway,” the customer said.

“But these rumors about them putting this country in full lockdown are inaccurate,” Rosemary said. “It’s a scare tactic. It’s not like all of a sudden we’re gonna wake up one day and everyone is sick and the whole world is ending.”

“I don’t know,” the customer said. “The exponential growth is happening.”

“If anything, we’re definitely repopulating, if nobody is at work,” Rosemary said cheerily. “We won’t have a shortage of humans, that’s for sure.”

Bales helped her customer choose a weapon. (“Pick three,” the customer told her.) As Bales rummaged around, the customer said, “I’m going to have a soldier train me. A friend of my son’s.” Bales returned with the first option. “A .22 Mag,” she said. “Holds thirty rounds.”

The customer peered at the gun.

“It’s a Kel-Tec PMR-30,” Bales said.

“I like the color of it,” the customer said. “It’s not black.” She picked it up. “It feels good. And it’s got a safety. I’m going to take this one. You’ve got ammo for it, right?” Bales nodded and noted a few of the gun’s features. “As long as you’re accurate, it’ll do damage,” she said.

“This is just going to be for close range,” the customer said. “In my house. If it happens.” (Asked what “it” was, she said, “In two months, if the cities are starving, they’re gonna come out. And I understand that.”) Bales piled boxes of ammunition on the counter. “I’ll take them all,” the customer said. She ducked outside to get her wallet from the car.

“I think she’s a liberal,” Bales said, once the door closed. “There’s so many coming in. First-time-gun-owner liberals. I’ve probably seen ten this week. It’s so funny, because I hope it just turns them on to liking the Second Amendment. I mean, the Constitution was created for a reason. To protect us.”

The customer returned. The bill was nearly seven hundred dollars, including electronic ear protection and sixteen boxes of bullets. She could come back and pick up the gun once her digital background check cleared. The customer asked, “If I don’t get approved, what happens?”

“You already got approved,” Bales said, glancing at a computer, with some surprise.

“O.K.! Can I take it?”

“Yeah. Some people go through fast.”

The new gun owner asked if there was a shooting range nearby. She asked if she needed a concealed-carry permit. She asked how to carry the gun out. “I can’t believe this!” she said, stepping into the world with her brand-new gun.

Hmm. This one nearly slipped by me. I gotta do a better job of keeping my eyes peeled closer to home.

Shooting in Newton County deemed self-defense

STARK CITY, Mo. — A 36-year-old man was being treated for gunshot wounds after he allegedly attacked another man with a machete Thursday at a residence near Stark City, and the victim grabbed a rifle and shot him in self-defense.

Newton County Sheriff Chris Jennings said deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance on Norway Road and found Cody S. Bowman, 36, there with gunshot wounds, and Joseph Ward, 23, with an injury from having been struck in the head with a machete.

Bowman was taken to a Joplin hospital for treatment of his wounds. Assault charges were filed on him Friday, and the sheriff indicated he would be transported to the Newton County Jail once he is released from the hospital. Bowman is charged with first-degree assault, first-degree burglary and two counts of armed criminal action.

Jennings said Ward, who lives at the address, also was treated for injuries following the disturbance.

According to a probable-cause affidavit filed with the charges, Bowman was still in the yard of the residence, running water from a garden hose over gunshot wounds to his arm and hand when deputies arrived on the scene. He told the deputies that he had been shot four times. Deputies subsequently located two bullet wounds on him.

Occupants of the residence told deputies that Bowman was not supposed to be at the residence but broke some glass in a door trying to get in. Ward went outside and told Bowman to leave, and Bowman threw a machete that struck Ward in the head.

Ward told deputies that he then retrieved a .22-caliber rifle and shot Bowman twice as Bowman was coming at him with a bar that he had picked up in the driveway.

The affidavit states that deputies found a machete inside the house, where occupants said they had taken it to keep the weapon away from Bowman after he threw it. They also found five shell casings and three live rounds in the yard.

Bowman still had a large knife on his person when deputies first arrived. He was told to toss it on the ground, and he did, according to the affidavit. The document states that he was wearing a sheath for the machete on his belt.

Bowman lives near the residence where the disturbance took place. According to the affidavit, he told a deputy in January that he was no longer allowed at the residence where Ward and one of Bowman’s adopted siblings live.

The sheriff said Bowman’s motive for the assault remains under investigation.

 

Man shot during Saturday morning break-in

COLUMBIA, S.C. — According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, a man was shot while attempting to break into a home on Great North Road.

According to RCSD, on Saturday, March 28 around 8 a.m., deputies were called to a break-in happening on the 500 block of Great North Road.

When they arrived, they found a man in the driveway who had been shot in the upper body. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report.

The homeowner told law enforcement that the man was trying to enter her home through a window and when she told him she had a gun, he threatened to come in and use it on her.