Guns Are The Great Equalizers

“Be not afraid of any man;
No matter what his size;
When danger threatens, call on me—
And I will equalize!”
Anonymous, on the virtues of the Colt revolver, c. 1875

The anti-gun movement is compelling. How could you not be when your entire argument is based on saving human life? Their objective is noble; however, their reasoning has flaws. Guns don’t simply exist to allow crazed murderers to take innocent life – they are the great equalizers for a civil and law-abiding society.

Studies have shown that there is a large range in how many times weapons are used for self-defense in America every year. Estimates range from 500,000 to 3 million defensive uses per year, affirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of defensive uses is higher than one would likely suspect, the firearm is usually dispatched for defensive use by someone completely ordinary, and the majority of these occurrences receive little media attention.

In fact, the rate of occurrence is so high and so under-reported that The Heritage Foundation has launched a project to share some of the stories of Americans who use their weapons in a defensive manner each month. While readers may follow the link to read the rest of the November stories they shared, I wanted to share one particularly compelling story verbatim:

Nov. 5, Genesee County, New York: A 76-year-old man used his shotgun to fend off an armed home intruder, potentially saving both his life and the life of his wife. The man responded to a knock on his door during the night, only to have the intruder force his way inside at gunpoint and tell the couple to give him all their money or else he would kill them. The intruder then ordered the couple to go into the basement, where the man thought the intruder was going to kill them. Instead, the man was able to grab his loaded shotgun and shoot the intruder in the hip, then held him at gunpoint for 15 minutes until police could arrive.”

Any loss of human life is horrific, hands down, full stop. I completely agree with the anti-gun lobby there. However, I would count myself naive if I believed that adding barriers to obtaining weapons would actually reduce the amount of gun violence we see in this country, and not simply reduce the number of law-abiding gun owners who rely on their weapons for defensive use every year.

Guns are the great equalizers of our society, the things that deter crime and allow everyone to stand on equal ground.

They are there for the elderly couple who could by no means fight off an intruder who breaks into their home.

They are there for the college student living by herself in a cheap apartment in the city.

They are there for the young mom who wants to protect her family.

And, they are there for every community and ethnicity in America that has ever felt marginalized or discriminated against. They are there to remind them that they are equals under the law, and that includes their right to defend themselves.

As Cliff Maloney, president of Young Americans for Liberty, once said, “An armed society is a polite society.” If society is to be equal and to treat one another lawfully, that equalization must begin with the right to self-defense.

A former American Airlines mechanic admitted he tried to sabotage a plane at the Miami airport.

Yeah, suuuure it was so he could get some more overtime.

A former American Airlines mechanic accused of trying to sabotage a commercial airliner pleaded guilty to attempted destruction of an aircraft in federal court.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, admitted that he intentionally tried to damage or disable an aircraft’s air data module (ADM) system, which reports aircraft speed, pitch and other critical data, on July 17.
He “inserted a foam substance into the ADM system and used super glue to hold the substance in place,” the US Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Alani was indicted in September for willfully attempting to damage, destroy, disable and wreck a civil aircraft, according to a grand jury indictment. The charges carried up to 20 years in prison.

Brookhaven homeowner shoots, kills burglary suspect

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. – Police confirmed a homeowner shot and killed a burglary suspect Wednesday afternoon in DeKalb County.

The shooting happened at a home off Wilmont Drive near Clairmont Road. Brookhaven Police told Channel 2 Action News they received a 911 call from the homeowner around noon.

Officers are talking to the homeowner to find out exactly what happened, but it appears the homeowner interrupted the burglary inside his home. The suspect died from his injuries.

Police told Channel 2′s Tom Jones the man has a right to defend himself.

“He’s not identified as a suspect. But as this investigation moves forward we’ll have to see where the facts lead us,” Deputy Chief Brandon Gurley said.

One neighbor told Jones the gunfire sounded like it came from two different guns, but police did not say if the burglar had a weapon.

The neighbor also said the shooting is unusual for the neighborhood. But she is a gun owner and understands why the neighbor did what he did.

“If someone is in your home I know the law on that. Yeah, you do have a right,” she said.

Police are working to identify the suspect. Officers said daytime burglaries increase during the holidays because criminals know people are buying valuable items.

This was the second time in 24 hours that a metro Atlanta homeowner shot an intruder. A Rockdale County resident exchanged gunfire with two suspects during a home invasion.


Woman wounded after exchanging gunfire with home invaders Tuesday night

CONYERS – Rockdale County investigators are trying to determine the circumstances in what appears to be a violent home invasion Tuesday night. The incident left the female homeowner wounded. Deputies also believe a suspect was shot as well.

According to 11Alive News, Sheriff Eric Levett was at the scene on Tuesday night on Lost Valley Drive in Conyers. He said deputies received a call sometime after 6 p.m. about a person shot. When they arrived they found the injured woman.

“She indicated that two black males entered her residence by way of kicking in her front door,” Levett said. “She somehow made it to her bedroom to take cover and locked herself inside the bedroom.”

However, the suspects ran up the stairs and kicked in that door as well.

“Shots were fired,” Levett said. “We don’t know if she shot first or if the suspect or suspects shot first.”

The woman was shot twice, the sheriff said. They believe she struck one of the men. Authorities said the suspects left the scene after the exchange of gunfire.

The woman was airlifted to a hospital. Her condition is not known at this time. Investigators also contacted other area hospitals and law enforcement agencies to see if any other patients showed up with a gunshot wound.

“We received a call about an hour and a half later from DeKalb County stating that they had located a male subject in the roadway that appeared to have some gunshot wounds to his person,” the sheriff said.

However, the sheriff said it’s unclear at this time if the man that was found in the road is connected to this scene.

“Both parties, the victim and this male gentleman that was located are both in surgery,” he said. “We have investigators at both hospitals.”

Deputies are still trying to determine what led up to the incident.

“We don’t know if this house was targeted, we don’t know if she was followed or what the circumstance as to why, this what we believe, to be a home invasion occurred.”

It’s also unclear if anything was taken during the crime. Levett said they will know more information after they are able to talk to everyone.


Myrtletown Card Shop Owner Fires Gun at Would-be Robbers

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Dec. 17, 2019, at about 4:30 p.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a business on the 1600 block of Myrtle Avenue, in the county’s jurisdiction of Eureka, for the report of a robbery in progress with shots fired.

Upon arrival to the business, deputies made contact with the store owner. According to the store owner, just prior to deputies’ arrival a female suspect entered the business and inquired about selling baseball cards. As the store owner was completing the transaction, an unknown male suspect entered the business and attempted to steal the business’ money drawer.

A struggle ensued between the store owner and the male suspect. At some point during the altercation the store owner discharged a concealed firearm once. The suspects then reportedly fled the business, uninjured, on foot without the business’ money drawer.

Deputies searched the surrounding areas but were unable to locate the suspects.

The suspects are described as:

  • Male adult, possibly dark-complected, approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall to 6 feet tall, medium build, wearing dark pants, a dark thermal-type long sleeve shirt underneath a dark short sleeve shirt, a dark baseball cap and a white mask over his nose and mouth.
  • White female adult, approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall, heavy build, with black hair, wearing a purple jacket and blue jeans.

This incident is still under investigation.

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.

FedEx Driver Fatally Shoots Suspect During Armed Robbery In Northeast Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Police say a FedEx driver fatally shot a suspect during an attempted robbery in Northeast Philadelphia Tuesday night. The shooting happened shortly after 7 p.m. on the 600 block of Unruh Avenue in the city’s Lawndale neighborhood.

It should have been a routine delivery with the 32-year-old FedEx driver dropping off a package to a home in the area. But that’s when police say an armed gunman approached and robbed the driver, perhaps not anticipating that the FedEx driver was also armed.

“He was able to tell police that he was making a delivery on the 600 block of Unruh and right when he got done making that delivery he was approached by at least one male and he was robbed at point of gun,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

Police say the driver was shot once in the abdomen during the robbery. Police say as they were receiving calls about shots fired in the area, the FedEx driver was able to drive himself to a nearby parking lot away from the scene.

He was transported to Einstein Medical Center and is in stable condition.

He told police that after being shot in the stomach, he pulled out his own weapon and returned fire at the suspect.

“Initially, we did not know whether the perpetrator was struck by gunfire,” Small said.

But minutes later, police were called to the 1400 block of Creston Street where they found a 27-year-old man in a driveway suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to chest, back and torso. The suspect died at the hospital.

Also near that scene, investigators located a vehicle where some of the items stolen from the FedEx truck were found inside. Police also say blood and a shell casing was found inside the vehicle.

A second person of interest was also located with the vehicle. Police are looking into whether that person drove the robbery suspect from the shooting scene to where he was found.

Back on Unruh Avenue, at least seven spent shell casings were found near where the package was delivered.

This is now a homicide investigation so police will determine whether the FedEx driver was acting in self-defense.

When asked if drivers are allowed to carry firearms, FedEx told CBS they “are not at liberty to disclose details of our internal policies.”

Everybody’s Polite at the Shooting Range

There’s a lot of talk about how civility has declined in America since Donald Trump took office.

They are right, of course.

I was driving in Los Angeles the other day, and people behaved like animals. The homeless people downtown looked quite sane compared with the lunatics in BMWs piloting their murderous machines like go-carts, driving with their knees while they text with one hand and sipped their frappa-latte with the other.

Ijits of the highest order were driving on the shoulder and using turn lanes to go to the front, then cut people off at the last second, flipping them the bird as they did so. I thought I was in Mexico City or New Delhi … except for the flipping-off part. It would have been funny, had it not been so dangerous.

It was so bad that–when a fleeing robber crossed into oncoming traffic and nearly hit me head-on bypassing stopped cars at an intersection–I wrote it off as just another LA psychopath trying to save ten seconds. Then five police cars came around the bend after him, and the helicopter with the spotlight.

Americans are wound up and stressed out, sure; but civility was cratering long before Donald Trump took office. Many people took his election as a cue to turn the a**hole up to 11. Our loss of civility is a feature, not a bug.

Speaking of a**holes: the riots after the UK election inspired me to go get some pistol practice this morning in anticipation of our own 2020 extravaganza coming up soon.

I went to the San Diego GlockStore for a spring, then The Gun Range for 30 minutes of practice. In both establishments, I noticed something:

Everybody … was … polite. Everybody. Super polite.

Patrons were courteous and patient with one another in the parking lot. Customers waited their turns and said “please,” “thank you,” and “sir/ma’am.” Nobody yelled at the (armed) employees to hurry up with their order. I felt as though I’d stepped into a time warp.

It’s not like people were walking around in terror of one another, worried about dissing someone and getting capped. On the contrary, everyone seemed relaxed, comfortable, and friendly.

All present seemed to understand one another, to know within those two micro-communities

Around here, Words and Actions have Consequences

Pro-gun message supplants pro-transgender slogan on U. Virginia bridge.

The University of Virginia’s Beta Bridge has played host to student messages for some 50 years. Most recently, the bridge featured the mural “PROTECT BLACK TRANS WOMEN,” but this was painted over during the weekend with a pro-Second Amendment slogan.

According to The Cavalier Daily, the terms “2A” and “GUNS” were painted, while “WOMEN” was crossed out. The original message, put up by the SABLE Society, was repainted, but was again modified with the pro-gun terms.

The report notes the gun message appears to reference various Virginia towns threatening to become Second Amendment “sanctuaries” if the newly Democrat-controlled state legislature follows through with (allegedly) unconstitutional firearm restrictions.

It is not yet known who is responsible for the pro-gun message.

UVA spokesman Brian Coy said that although the bridge “is a long recognized public forum that may on occasion cause controversy or disagreement,” the university acknowledges “that people, particularly black trans women, feel demeaned or threatened by this message and the way it appeared.”

Exposing How The Hoax Of Climate Change Drives Delirious Political Policies

Once again, it’s Throwback Tuesday and time to wrap up the series on the hoax of man-made climate change by covering how undermining legitimate science affected government policies based upon fraudulent science.  Despite the scandal of Climategate in 2009 and Climategate 2.0 in 2011, the UN IPCC and associated scientists, whose wealth redistribution scheme was based upon the hoax of climate change, work doubly hard to discredit legitimate scientists, as we have found, through unsavory tactics and issue increasingly worsening fraudulent reports based on a political agenda instead of actual scientific data.  Through this measure, it uses fearmongering tactics to brainwash the people and those in government into buying the snake oil that stifling wealthy nations’ economies to give third world nations other people’s money will end/disrupt/quell/limit/slow climate change through decreasing the non-greenhouse gas of Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

Numerous former UN IPCC scientists with impressive credentials and legitimate work, who became disillusioned with the panel and its politically manufactured “scientific” conclusions, are willing to testify to the dishonesty of the process.  But, the UN IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri, in conjunction with Al Gore, calls “climate change” his religion.  Pachauri is no longer with the UN IPCC because of a sexual harassment scandal.  Pachauri’s resignation letter read, “For me the protection of Planet Earth, the survival of all species and sustainability of our ecosystems is more than a mission. It is my religion and my dharma”.

Donna Laframboise, a journalist who has written numerous books critical of the UN IPCC, indicates the IPCC reports lack scientific integrity and individuals relying on those reports are basing decisions on information lacking scientific integrity.  According to Laframboise, “the IPCC goes back, after the fact, and changes the original scientific report so that it aligns with the politically negotiated summary”.

She also noted, “After the summaries are haggled over, the IPCC alters what the scientists wrote. That’s the reason the IPCC routinely releases its summaries before it releases the underlying scientific report. In this 2007 news clipping, the IPCC chairman explains: “we have to ensure that the underlying report conforms to the refinements.”

Greenpeace co-founder turned climate skeptic Dr. Patrick Moore commented on Laframboise’s report, noting this is the “perfect reason for the US to abandon the UN Paris climate ‘agreement.’”

Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputy shot off-duty at home, kills attacker

WATSON, La. (KLFY) – One man is dead after an off-duty deputy-involved shooting in Livingston Parish.

Shortly before 1 a.m. today (Dec. 16), the Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputy was at his home when he was reportedly confronted by an armed individual. A physical altercation occurred, in which both the deputy and his attacker discharged their guns. Both were struck by gunfire.

The attacker was pronounced dead at the scene, while the deputy was transported to a local hospital for treatment. Neither person’s identity has been released.

The Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigation was contacted to investigate and gather all facts surrounding the incident. Louisiana State Police Troop A is assisting in the investigation.


 

THE ARDENNES:
BATTLE OF THE BULGE

The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II, and took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945.

During most of the eleven months between D-day and V-E day in Europe, the U S Army was carrying on highly successful offensive operations As a consequence, the American soldier was buoyed with success, imbued with the idea that his enemy could not strike him a really heavy counterblow, and sustained by the conviction that the war was nearly won. Then, unbelievably, and under the goad of Hitler’s fanaticism, the German Army launched its powerful counteroffensive in the Ardennes in December 1944 with the design of knifing through the Allied armies and forcing a negotiated peace.

The mettle of the American soldier was tested in the fires of adversity and the quality of his response earned for him the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with his forebears of Valley Forge, Fredericksburg, and the Marne.

This is the story of how the Germans planned and executed their offensive.
It is the story of how the high command, American and British, reacted to defeat the German plan once the reality of a German offensive was accepted.
But most of all it is the story of the American fighting man and the manner in which he fought a myriad of small defensive battles until the torrent of the German attack was slowed and diverted, its force dissipated and finally spent.
It is the story of squads, platoons, companies, and even conglomerate scratch groups that fought with courage, with fortitude, with sheer obstinacy, often without information or communications or the knowledge of the whereabouts of friends. In less than a fortnight the enemy was stopped and the Americans were preparing to resume the offensive.
While Bastogne has become the symbol of this obstinate, gallant, and successful defense, this work appropriately emphasizes the crucial significance of early American success in containing the attack by holding firmly on its northern and southern shoulders and by upsetting the enemy timetable at St. Vith and a dozen lesser known but important and decisive battlefields

Today is Bill of Rights Day when the Virginia legislature’s vote in 1791 surpassed the number of state’s needed to ratify the amendments.

Now, they’ve got some of the modern day Virginia legislators threatening to use the Virginia National Guard to confiscate arms if the local LE agencies won’t execute proposed laws to ban & confiscate arms in the hands of the citizenry.

If I recall history, almost the same thing happened in Massachusetts back in 1775 and we all know how that ended up.

 

UNM student from Saudi Arabia charged with illegally possessing handgun

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Hassan Alqahtani had plans to walk across the stage and collect his diploma from the University of New Mexico on Saturday, and then he and his parents were going to Disneyland to celebrate the accomplishment.

Instead, the 27-year-old Saudi Arabian mechanical engineering student will be spending the weekend behind bars, charged in federal court with being a non-immigrant student visa holder in possession of a firearm. The criminal complaint also says Alqahtani had a list of people he planned to kill, which included UNM professors.

Alqahtani, who recently earned his bachelor’s degree from UNM, turned himself in to authorities on Friday afternoon. During his first appearance later that evening in federal court, Magistrate Judge Karen Molzen ordered that he be held through the weekend. He will have preliminary and detention hearings Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

Greta Thunberg tells cheering crowd ‘we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall’ if they do not tackle global warming as she attends climate protest in Turin.

#1 – Who is “We?”
#2 –

Greta Thunberg told cheering protesters today ‘we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall’ if they fail to take urgent action on climate change.

The Swedish teen activist was addressing the crowd at a Fridays for Future protest in Turin, Italy.

She arrived there from Madrid where she had been attending the UN climate summit but said she feared the event would not lead to change.

COP25 Attendees Grab Grub at Burger King Despite UN’s Anti-Meat Alarmism

When all these econuts act like their prophesies of climate doom are real and actually begin behaving like there is a crisis, I might begin to believe them.

The anti-meat messaging at the U.N. Climate Change Conference apparently hasn’t deterred attendees from grabbing a bite at one of the world’s most popular burger joints.

Climate Depot’s Marc Morano caught on video long lines at the Madrid climate confab onsite Burger King, even though the outlet wasn’t serving the Impossible Burger, the chain’s recently unveiled vegan offering.

“Burger King only offered real cow meat at the summit location,” Mr. Morano said in his Thursday report. “No fake meat burger available is even more ironic, given that the U.N. just gave its ‘Planetary Health’ award to the company responsible for Burger King’s fake meat ‘Impossible Meat’ burgers on December 10.”

Victims of home invasion killed intruder

BATON ROUGE – Officials have confirmed the death of one man following a Thursday night shooting in the unincorporated community of Alsen, in the northern area of East Baton Rouge Parish.

Deputies with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office were summoned to the scene around 10 p.m., shortly after shots were fired at a home in the 200 block of Rafe Mayer Road.

Authorities say Herman Hills was killed in the shooting.

According to deputies, Hills was armed with a gun as he forced his way into the family’s home and demanded money. The family fought back, wrestling with Hills to get a hold of his gun. During the altercation, one of the family members shot Hills, killing him.

Hills had a lengthy criminal history, his most recent run-in with police was only days ago, on Dec. 9, when he was arrested for theft.


Suspect fatally shot during robbery attempt at apartment on eastside

HOUSTON — Houston Police homicide detectives are investigating a shooting on the eastside that has left at least one person dead overnight.

The shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. Friday at the Timber Ridge Apartments near the East Freeway and Federal Road.

Details are limited at this time.

HPD was called out because of the shooting when officers learned that two possible young suspects may have tried to rob someone at the complex.

Police say the victim was armed and opened fire on the suspects, fatally wounding one of them.

Myth busted: Campus carry never caused that increase in violence liberals predicted

Nothing unusual in busting proggie mythology.

The argument in favor of arbitrarily revoking the Second Amendment rights of college students, as is done in dozens of states, has ostensibly been rooted in safety concerns.

And it just got a lot weaker.

Two anti-gun professors wrote in the Washington Post that “campus-carry laws will invite tragedies on college campuses, not end them.” Another liberal professor, writing for the New York Times, warned that “when there are more guns around, there is more risk – it’s as simple as that.”

The trouble with such predictions is that they tend to be tested as time goes by. And as it turns out, they simply weren’t true. Students just aren’t waging the gun battles that anti-gun activists expected. A new report from the College Fix looked into this narrative, and it came up empty.

When a reporter reached out to numerous universities that permit campus carry, “all of the schools that responded confirmed that they have seen no uptick in violence since their respective policies were put in place.” Responding colleges included Emporia State University, Dixie State University, and Valdosta State University. Separately, the Texas Tribune has reported that after the Lone Star State implemented campus carry at four-year colleges state-wide, it resulted in “no sharp increase in violence or intimidation,” and in fact, the following year was “quiet” and “uneventful.”

These are just a few examples, but even studies cited favorably by gun control advocates admit that “results certainly do not prove that campus carry causes more crime.” Essentially, it’s now clear that conservatives and libertarians had this one right. Allowing American adults aged 18 to 22 to exercise their Second Amendment rights on public college campuses is a no-brainer, as there are few rights more fundamental than the right to self-defense. Plus, the inconsistent nature of current “gun-free campus” rules already makes little sense.

The current system in many states bans college students from carrying guns but would allow adults of the same age who do not attend college to carry firearms. This is an arbitrary inconsistency that makes little sense, as there’s nothing to suggest that college students are more violent or less responsible than their noncollege peers. So, too, guns are often allowed at high-risk off-campus sites such as fraternity houses, yet barred from the actual campus — a glaring inconsistency that makes little sense. And now it’s officially confirmed that arbitrarily revoking college students’ Second Amendment rights doesn’t even make anyone safer.

It’s impossible for blue-state legislators and liberal college administrators to keep justifying their harsh anti-gun policies. That is, unless they’re willing to admit that they just hate the idea of gun rights.

Trump Pushes to Allow Troops to Carry Personal Weapons on Bases

President Donald Trump said Friday that he would review policies that keep troops from carrying personal weapons onto military bases.

“If we can’t have our military holding guns, it’s pretty bad,” Trump said in a wide-ranging speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Maryland, “and I’m going to look at that whole policy on military bases.”

“So we want to protect our military. We want to make our military stronger and better than it’s ever been,” Trump continued in the speech, in which he also renewed his call for allowing trained teachers and military retirees to carry concealed weapons in schools.

Schools and military bases currently are “gun-free zones” that are easy targets for deranged shooters such as the one in Parkland, Florida, who killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week, Trump said.Defense Department policy mainly has been that base security is the province of military police. In most cases, troops are required to leave their personal weapons at home or check them at the gate in an effort to prevent accidental shootings and discourage suicides.”We had a number of instances on military bases, you know that,” Trump said in his speech, apparently referring to active shooter episodes.

In making the case for personal weapons on military bases, Trump appeared to be referencing the July 2015 incident in Chattanooga, Tenn., where four Marines and a sailor were killed.

The shootings occurred at a recruiting storefront in a strip shopping mall and at a U.S. Naval Reserve Center some miles away. But Trump said the victims “were on a military base in a gun-free zone.”

The victims were Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, 40; Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, 35; Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist; Lance Cpl. Squire D. “Skip” Wells, 21; and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, 26.

The FBI and local police said that Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez carried out a drive-by shooting at the recruiting center and then drove to the U.S. Naval Reserve Center, where he was killed in a shootout with police.

Then-FBI Director James Comey later said that Abdulazeez was “motivated by foreign terrorist organization propaganda.”

“You know the five great soldiers from four years ago, three of them were world-class marksmen,” Trump said in his account of the incident. “They were on a military base in a gun-free zone.”

“They were asked to check their guns quite far away. And a maniac walked in, guns blazing, killed all five of them. He wouldn’t of had a chance if these world-class marksmen had — on a military base — access to their guns,” Trump said.

In his 2015 Senate confirmation hearing to become Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley was asked about the Chattanooga shootings and said that “in some cases I think it’s appropriate” for recruiters to carry weapons for self-defense.

He said that arming recruiters was complicated by a patchwork of state laws but “I think under certain conditions — both on military bases and in outstations, recruiting stations, reserve centers — we should seriously consider it.”

Then-Lt. Gen. Milley was commander at Fort Hood, Texas, in April 2014 when Spec. Ivan Lopez opened fire, killing three soldiers and wounding 12 others before killing himself.

Numerous lawmakers then called for allowing troops to carry weapons on base, but Milley said at a news conference that he didn’t support the idea.

“I don’t think soldiers should have concealed weapons on base,” he said.

Orangevale burglary suspect shot by homeowner

ORANGEVALE, Calif. (KTXL) — Authorities are investigating a burglary attempt and a shooting on Santa Juanita Avenue in Orangevale.

Shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday, a man called authorities to report a burglary attempt at his home. The man told authorities he confronted the burglar and shot him.

The man said the burglar ran to a car and the car fled the scene.

Soon after, Roseville police located a man riding in a car on Sierra College Boulevard who had a gunshot wound to the upper body.

He was transported to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive.

At this time, Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies believe the man found on Sierra College Boulevard is the same man suspected of burglarizing the home in Orangevale.


Man shot while trying to break into apartment on Spottswood

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Police said a man was shot Thursday while trying to break into an apartment near Highland and Southern.

Police found a man with a gunshot wound around 1 p.m. at the University Highlands apartments in the 3400 block of Spottswood.

Officers detained one man on the scene and are continuing to investigate.

Police said the victim was trying to break into a residence when he was shot.

It was a scary situation that neighbors were shocked to hear about, but they’re hoping this failed burglary attempt will serve as a deterrent to any future criminals.

Residents said they’ve never had a violent break-in like this.

“That’s why I was alarmed when I heard about it,” Ladarius Jordan said. “A break-in is unusual around here. But I guess you gotta be on your Ps and Qs at times.”

“I mean, I haven’t heard about any break-ins,” Alisha Stephenson said. “You might hear an argument or something, but nothing too serious.”

People WREG spoke with said the resident had every right to protect his home and property.

“It comes to safety first,” Jordan said. “If someone’s trying to attempt a burglary or robbery of your home, you have all rights to defend yourself. It just so happens that the person got shot.”