TX:Store Owner wins Gunfight with Masked Man

Deputies received a 911 call around 7:30 p.m. about the robbery and found the robber dead upon arrival.

Sheriff Larry Smith tells CBS19 a black masked man entered the store with a gun.

(snip)

 A preliminary investigation revealed shots were fired from both parties.

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NC: Armed Suspect Killed at Hotel Room

This was an early morning shooting, 2:20 a.m.

Police identified the man Sunday night as Terry Lebrone Wilson, 36.

The police said Wilson was shot while he and another man were trying to commit an armed robbery at a room at the motel. Police are trying to find the second man involved.

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SC: Estranged Husband Shot and Killed

Domestic relations are a significant fraction of homicides.

Simpsonville investigators said Ferrell was the estranged husband of someone staying at the home. There were also family members of the estranged wife inside the home, as well as one non-relative, according to police.

The homeowner told police that he shot the man after he attacked him and broke into his residence, police said.

Donnelly says EMS arrived and determined that the man was killed with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head.

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Katie Pavlich: Federal Judge Accuses DOJ of Defrauding The Court

Late last week reporter Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson published a piece about alleged serious misconduct and intimidation from DOJ attorneys during the trial and lawsuit of former ATF agent and whistleblower Jay Dobyns against the government.

One of the recently unsealed documents, a Dec. 1 opinion by Judge Allegra, finally explains why in October the judge voided his original decision, made in August, to award Dobyns $173,000. (He later reversed his decision to void the judgment, which still stands.) The reason: The judge believed that Justice Department attorneys had “committed fraud on the court.”

One area in which Allegra decided deception had occurred was in the treatment of Thomas Atteberry, the special agent in charge of ATF’s Phoenix office, and Carlos Canino, then the assistant special agent in charge of the agency’s Tucson office. In 2012, a Justice Department attorney, Valerie Bacon, asked both Atteberry and Canino not to reopen the investigation into the arson at Dobyns’ Tucson home because it could hurt the Justice Department’s defense in this case.

Atteberry and Canino were listed as witnesses in the case, but the judge didn’t hear about the DOJ effort to squelch the investigation until the trial, which he considered a concealment by the Justice Department. They went ahead and reopened the case, which remains unsolved, anyway.

More alarming was the other “fraud on the court” that Allegra cited: “An ATF agent who testified in this case may have been threatened by another witness during the trial.” Justice Department attorneys ordered the agent not to report the threat to the court or he would face repercussions, Allegra said.

 As a refresher, Dobyns is the first law enforcement agent to ever successfully infiltrate multiple layers of the notoriously dangerous and violent Hells Angels motorcycle gang through "Operation Black Biscuit." After doing so and after his identity was exposed, he received death threats against himself and his family. ATF did nothing to protect him. When his house was burned to the ground at 3 a.m., ATF supervisors tried to frame him for the arson after Dobyns blew the whistle and exposed supervisors had done nothing to address serious and credible threats against his family. (You can read a detailed account of the situation here). As a result, Dobyns sued the Bureau.

More Here at Town Hall

David Codrea: Judge alledges 'fraud on the court' by government attorneys in Dobyns case

Wow.  Must read for followers of Fast and Furious scandal.

Commenting on revelations about Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and Department of Justice (DOJ) actions in the case of retired agent Jay Dobyns against his former employer, attorney David Hardy equated them with “a BATF and DOJ Watergate... or worse,” Friday. Noting that actions taken over a civil lawsuit evidently have included concealing evidence, secret threats against witnesses, and surveillance of attorneys and witnesses, the new information lends further credence to Dobyns’ allegations and appears to show government lawyers engaged in a criminal conspiracy.

“For people like me, who have sympathized with Dobyns but tried to reserve judgment about his case, the documents push us further into the retired agent’s camp,” Tim Steller of the Arizona Daily Star admitted. “You can’t read the few filings that have been unsealed in the case without wondering why the Justice Department is going to such extremes and spending so much on what is, at base, a relatively minor contractual dispute that could have ended years ago.”

Dobyns gained fame after infiltrating the Hells Angels and writing about his experiences in the New York Times bestseller, “No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner-Circle of the Hells Angels.” He has since been the subject of numerous reports focused on retaliation he has been subjected to for coming forward with information exposing official wrongdoing. He was also instrumental in providing background information on management personalities and practices involved in the Operation Fast and Furious “gunwalking” scandal.

Dobyns had sued his employer for failure to properly investigate an arson attack that destroyed his home and endangered his family, and for reneging on protection agreements over death threats he received, after the bureau withdrew his cover identity following the Hells Angels case. In September, Senior Judge Francis M. Allegra of the United States Court of Federal Claims awarded Dobyns $173,000 and denied government royalty claims against Dobyns for his book, seemingly providing an end to a prolonged six-year ordeal until the government challenged that ruling in the 11th hour. In a move surprising to many case-watchers, the judge then voided his own judgment, provoking speculation but no answers as to why.

Some of that may be getting clearer with the unsealing of case documents, now available on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. Language used by Judge Allegra in his now-unsealed December 1 opinion does not mince words, and seems damning.

“[T]he court ... issued an order voiding the prior judgment based upon indications that the defendant [ATF], through its counsel, had committed fraud on the court,” Allegra wrote. “[F]raud on the court consists of conduct: 1. On the part of an officer of the court; 2. That is directed to the ‘judicial machinery’ itself; 3. That is intentionally false, willfully blind to the truth, or is in reckless disregard for the truth; 4. That is positive averment or is concealment when one is under duty to disclose; 5. That deceives the court.”

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UT: Armed Man holds female suspect for Police

VERNAL, Utah – A woman was taken into custody after her alleged attempt at an armed robbery at an Arby’s restaurant in Vernal was foiled by a concerned citizen who had a gun in his vehicle.

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ND: Gun Law Reform Introduced

An omnibus gun law reform bill has been introduced in North Dakota by Representative Roscoe Streyle, from Minot.  The bill, HB 1241(pdf), would bring into law many reforms that have proven popular in other states.   Among the reforms in the bill:

1. The restrictions on the use of legal gun mufflers and short barreled rifles for hunting would be removed.  These restrictions never made any sense, and are being eliminated all over the country.  35 states do not prevent the use of gun mufflers for hunting; no legislative purpose for the heavy handed restrictions on gun mufflers has been found.  From the bill:

 1.
An individual in lawful possession of a device that will silence or deaden the sound or natural report of a firearm when the firearm is discharged may hunt any game for which the individual is licensed and for which a firearm is allowed with that device for or attached to the firearm.
 
2. 
An individual in lawful possession of a short-barreled rifle may hunt any game for which the individual is licensed and for which a rifle is allowed.

2. Restrictions on people with concealed carry permits are removed for a number of 'gun free zones'.    The zones to be eliminated for permit holders include church functions, publicly owned parks(where hunting is not allowed), political rallies or functions, and musical concerts.   As concealed carry permit holders have been found to be more responsible than police officers, this is a "good first step" for gun law reform.   Permit holders will be allowed to carry in retail outlets that sell alcoholic beverages, but only if they do not consume alcohol there.  From the bill(pdf):

2 b. An individual possessing a concealed weapons license from this state or who has reciprocity under section 62.1-04-03.1 for the weapon allowed by the license, if the individual does not consume alcoholic beverages at the establishment or site and is not under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

 3.   The law removes the prohibition on hunters and trappers from carrying a loaded handgun in their vehicle.   This last reform seems particularly valid as a safety measure to me.   Wisconsin used to have a law prohibiting the carry of loaded guns in vehicles.  This caused hunters and trappers to load and unload their firearms many times during the day.   Loading and unloading are some of the most dangerous times for firearms accidents.   Minimizing the number of times that firearms must be loaded and unloaded while hunting and trapping is likely to decrease firearm accidents.

4.  A "shall sign" requirement for Sheriffs and other Chief Law Enforcement Officers (CLEOs) to sign on the federal forms required to obtain tax stamps for gun mufflers and some firearms.  This has been a popular reform in a number odf states, to prevent local officials who are either afraid to approve of the federal tax forms, or who may have personal predjudice against approving them.  Legislation such as the above takes the ability to avoid signing these forms out of their hands.

HB 1241 was introduced by Representative Streyle, Brabandt, Karls, B. Koppelman, and Toman

It was introduced in the Senate by Armstrong, Larsen, and Unruh.   
From bismarcktribune.com:

Streyle cited the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and gun rights in the state constitution then questioned the state conceal carry laws he was calling on to be reversed.

“Why do we carve out exemptions on where citizens are allowed to exercise their inalienable rights?” Streyle said. “As a state, we have given permission for people to carry conceal carry firearms, but we don’t trust those people to be responsible with firearms in certain locations.”

It was scheduled for a hearing in the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee last Thursday, 22 January, but a vote has not yet been reported.  Here is the NRAILA page for contacts of the representatives involved.


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

MO: Gun Beats Knife in Dunkin Co.

Officials say the disturbance involved two relatives, Travis Phillip Bullock and Johnny Mallett. The two reportedly got into a fight and then Bullock went into Mallett's home with a knife in what the sheriff's department calls a threatening manner.

Mallett shot Bullock, according to the sheriff's department. Bullock was then taken to the Campbell ambulance shed, according to officials, where he was pronounced dead due to the gunshot wounds by the Dunklin County coroner.

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FL: Woman uses two guns, shoots intruder(more details)

It started with a man knocking on the door about 12:30 p.m., asking if a particular person was there. The resident said he didn’t know anyone by that name and tried to close the door. But the intruder pushed his way in, put a gun to his head and said, “This is a robbery, give it up.”

A woman in a nearby bedroom heard the commotion and came out with a handgun. She dove on the floor firing at the intruder, who shot back. The woman went back into the bedroom to get another handgun and continued shooting. The intruder was hit several times and fell to the floor yelling, “I’m shot; I’m paralyzed.”

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Charles C.W. Cooke: David Gregory and Why Law Is Only for the Little People

As with most prissy, arcane regulations, laws that are designed to regulate the functionality of firearms tend instead to serve as an invitation to caprice. Herewith, a report from William Jacobson on the Extraordinary Tale of NBC’s David Gregory:

The short version is that the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department warned NBC News that it could not possess an actual high-capacity magazine, but NBC News went ahead and did it anyway. The MPD recommended a warrant for Gregory’s arrest, but that request was nixed by the D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan because — my paraphrase — Gregory was just too nice a guy and had no other criminal intent.

That attitude stood in stark contrast to the D.C. Attorney General’s vigorous prosecution of other lesser-known people who also were nice people and had no other criminal intent, but violated D.C.’s gun laws.

I do not intend to reiterate here just how extraordinarily difficult it is to execute laws that aim to track pieces of unserialized metal. Nor, for that matter, will I attempt to lay out what any earnest attempt to do so would end up doing to privacy rights in the United States. Rather, I want to focus on the grossly unequal manner in which such rules will inevitably be enforced, and to examine also what this does to the notion of equal protection. From my perspective, the startling thing about the Gregory affair is not so much that the powers-that-be eventually declined to prosecute him for his transgression, but that he was so unfailingly sure that he would be allowed to break the law without consequences.

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Fl: 74-Year-Old man Checks on Wife, Shoots Burglar

As he walked through the house, the man saw a hand reaching through broken glass trying to unlock the rear kitchen door. The man then fired two shots through the top of the door and heard a scream. He later saw the burglar get into a vehicle and leave. Police found drops of blood near the back entrance to the home.

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Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2015/01/24/4747148_police-man-74-opens-fire-at-burglar.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

WA: Resident Finds, Fights, and Fires; Police Investigate

No charges were filed.

The resident fired his pistol after it appeared to him the suspect was reaching into his waistband for a firearm. The suspect ran and the resident fired again for a total of four shots. He told officers he wasn’t aiming at the suspect. He wanted him to stop; he was described as cooperative with officers.

Officers were investigating whether the resident should be cited for reckless endangerment for firing four rounds at a fleeing suspect and into an unknown backdrop. The resident’s fear the suspect had a gun also could support a claim of self-defense.

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OK: No Charges for Clerk who Shot, Killed two

TULSA — No charges will be filed against a Tulsa convenience store clerk who shot and killed two armed men during an attempted robbery of the store.

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WA:He said, She said

The 28-year-old woman said she shot her boyfriend in self-defense because he was attacking her.

Her boyfriend, 33, told police the gun went off accidentally.

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MI: 5 Suspects in Robbery, shot at, 3 caught

This was the third robbery at the store since 2010.


KENT COUNTY, MI – Sheriff’s detectives say two of five robbers remain at large Friday, Jan. 23, after a smash-and-grab holdup at Paul Medawar Fine Jewelry.

One of the Medawar workers fired a shot during the afternoon holdup, but did not hit any of the suspects, police said.

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TX: Homeowner wins Gunfight, Intruder Dies

Officers say one of the suspects fired a pistol into the apartment after he partially forced his way in. That's when one of the men inside the apartment got his pistol and returned fire.

The armed suspect died at the scene and an unknown number of suspects fled. The dead man's identity is pending notification to family members by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

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MI: Homeowner ruled justified in Jamie Fialek Death

MUSKEGON, MI – Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson has ruled that a Moorland Township homeowner's fatal shooting last April of an acquaintance trying to force his way into the home was justified.

"The death of Jamie Fialek was the result of the use of deadly force in self-defense, defense of others and under the 'castle doctrine,'" the prosecutor wrote in a dispositional report released Friday, Jan. 23.

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David Codrea: Virginia Lobby Day highlighted effective gun rights activism

David gives an informative account of his trip to Virginia.

Wednesday, this column published the text of the speech I delivered at the General Assembly in Richmond on Monday for Lobby Day. Now that a video has been released, it's embedded above. I’d been invited by Virginia Citizens Defense League, which participates every year to promote bills that advance the right to keep and bear arms, and oppose those that restrict it. What follow is are experiences and impression from the trip.

After a drive that started in Ohio at 9:30 that morning, and took eight-hours over unfamiliar highways and connections, I arrived at the hotel in late afternoon. There was just enough time to check in, unpack, and plot the course to the VCDL pre-Lobby Day dinner meeting at a downtown hotel. Taking surface streets, I promptly got introduced to Richmond road patterns. Being prevented from making right or left turns at intersections throughout the town would thwart me throughout the trip, but there was one familiar traffic truism—jaywalkers everywhere do so with the same sense of entitlement.

That meeting was my first real introduction to the inner workings of VCDL, and it was impressive. I've participated in lots of grassroots activities before, and have to say the organization, focus and openness were all impressive. President Philip Van Cleave and other officers were knowledgeable and patient explaining what Lobby Day was about and how the day would be organized, with lists and summaries of “good” and “bad” bills, and a time-tested tactic of breaking activists into teams to make sure coverage with legislators would be comprehensive and unified in message.

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Richard Davis, Inventor of Soft Body Armor, at the Shot Show

Richard Davis, in short sleeves, at the Shot Show, Las Vegas, 2015

At the Shot Show this year, I was working away in the media room.  Media are given a room and special access at the Shot Show, as they are most places.   A guard at the door insures that only the privileged are allowed inside.  (The management also provides free food.)  I was chatting with Destinee of FateofDestinee fame when I got the call.   Richard Davis was at the shot Show and willing to talk! 

Richard Davis is legendary to gun culture people born before 1960.   He has done more to save police officer's lives than thousands of administrators and hundreds of doctors.  He invented modern soft body armor.   Armor so light weight and comfortable, that officers would routinely wear it.   Armor that defeated the most common projectiles.   He was so driven to get it into officer's hands and on their chests and backs, that he offered an 'installment plan' consisting of five post dated checks.  

You sent him the checks, he would send you the body armor and cash the checks when they became valid.   His ground breaking bullet resistant vests sold for about $75 in 1978.  

Richard lived up to his reputation as a natural raconteur, bon vivant, and salesman.  He was constantly cracking jokes, chatting up a young lady present, and was willing to offer up many interesting anecdotes, though some were off the record.  

According to Davis, he was at John Ross' house when Ross was writing 'Unintended Consequences'.  The novel went on to become an iconic story of resistance to a distopian government hostile to the second amendment.  Davis clearly is in the book, thinly veiled as Davis Richards.   

Richard got into the business of making soft body armor after he was shot with a pistol while delivering pizza in 1969.  He searched for an effective defense.   His search and the invention of Kevlar fiber resulted in lightweight, flexible body armor, soft body armor.  

Various  types of soft body armor had been tried before.  Some were effective, but expensive, not very flexible, and uncomfortable.   Archduke Ferdinand, whose assassination is said to have set off WWI, was wearing a bullet proof vest made of silk when he was shot.   The shot hit his neck, not the armor.   The vest cost $800 at the time, about $20,000 today. 

We talked about the Sikh Temple shooting in Wisconsin, where body armor saved the life of Lt. Brian Murphy.  Murphy was shot 15 times but survived.   Davis said that 30 more women and children were inside, and that the murderer had plenty of ammunition when he was stopped.

Richard Davis gave his definition of body armor failure.   According to Davis, body armor failure is when a police officer could have been saved by wearing body armor, but failed to wear it, and was shot and killed because they did not wear it. 

He gave an example of the Miami FBI shootout where the FBI was not wearing their body armor because it was so uncomfortable.  He said that even though vests are not rated for rifle rounds such as the .223 used by Michael Platt, if a round hit intervening material, such as glass or a car door, the armor had a good chance of stopping it.

He also gave a list of people who were assassinated who could have been saved if they wore soft body armor.  He listed:   President Garfield, President McKinley, President Teddy Roosevelt (wounded), George Wallace, and Malcolm X.  I added Lee Harvey Oswald.  

He said that his body armor saved two heads of state, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan (the bullet was stopped by a guard's armor, but would have penetrated him and her, but for the armor) and the Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, who after being shot, said to the crowd "I am the son of God, and I cannot die."

Davis, at 71 seemed happy, active and pleased that fame has passed him by.   He sold the Second Chance name for $45 million, bought a yacht (great deal, used) and has been enjoying himself. 

The National Institute of Justice had been investigating the use of Kevlar for bulletproof vests before Davis, but as with the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, private industry got the patent and brought vests to the market before the government did.   In a few years, NIJ came up with standards for the production of vests.  

The NIJ standards for vests that once again made them less comfortable and less likely to be worn, mostly because the standards require very little 'blunt force trauma'.  Departments were reluctant to buy vests that were not 'approved' by the government's voluntary standards.   Vests made to NIJ specifications have to be thicker and stiffer.

Davis was at a booth when my brother discovered him.  My Brother said "this body armor reminds me of the ultra-thin vests that Second Chance produced."   Richard Davis was standing in front of him, and said.   "That was me.  I invented modern soft body armor.

The above vest will stop .44 magnum ammunition out of a six inch barreled revolver.

Davis sold his armor by touring the country and shooting himself while wearing a vest.   He has shot himself over 200 times.  The marketing was very effective.  He sold lots of vests, documented over 1,000 lives saved, became rich and enjoyed life.

The vests at the booth were incredibly thin and light, and were said to be able to stop standard .44 magnum loads from a six inch barrel.

They do not meet NIJ standards, but they stop most threats, and police wear them.  Numerous individuals buy non NIJ vests, and some departments as well, according to Davis.

I hope that Richard Davis has a long and happy life.  He is an exemplar of the American success story.   Invent a useful product.   Save and improve numerous lives.   Become rich, live long, and prosper.

©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

IL: 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear 'Assault Weapon' Ban Case

The 7th Circuit federal court of appeals will hear a case against a local ban on some common rifles, handguns, shotguns, and magazines.  The city of Highland Park, notorious for its anti-second amendment laws, passed an ordinance that requires residents to turn in, modify or remove the banned items from the city.   Ordinance 136(pdf) deals with "Assault Weapons".  The ordinance includes very broad boilerplate language.   Some claim that the ordinance was lifted from the City of Chicago.

The definitions are broad and cover most semi-automatic rifles, and a fair number of pistols and shotguns.   Highland Park has a very low crime rate, so it is hard to justify the ban as having any practical effect, except to anger second amendment supporters and to make a symbolic statement.  

I found particularly amusing the fact that the ban seems to include nearly all airsoft guns.  The ordinance includes a ban on all "Large Capacity Magazines" and has a very broad definition of what a firearm is.   From the ordinance:

(F) "Firearm" means any device, by whatever name known, which is
designed to expel a projectile or projectiles by the action of an explosion, expansion of gas or escape of gas, excluding however:

(1)
Any pneumatic gun, spring gun or B-B gun which expels a
single globular projectile not exceeding .18 inches in diameter;

As most airsoft guns use expansion of gas, or escape of gas to propel projectiles  of greater than .18 inches in diameter, and have magazine capacities of more than 10 rounds, they seem to be included.   No one seems to have been prosecuted under the ordinance to date.

Courthouse news reports that the attorney for the plaintiffs, who say that the ban is clearly unconstitutional, were well prepared.  The city attorney, not so much.  Volks is the pro-second amendment attorney, Wilson the attorney for the disarmists, Easterbrook one of the judges on the panel.   :

"But you haven't pointed to one study showing that assault weapons are better for self defense than handguns," the judge said.
Vogts was clearly prepared for this. "They are accurate, reliable and easy to use. They have many attributes useful for self-defense. They are some of the safest as well because they use lightweight rounds less likely to go through walls and hit a family member during self-defense. This is essentially the technological evolution of firearms."
Highland Park's attorney, Christopher Wilson, generally seemed far less prepared for the grilling he received. He repeatedly stumbled and referred to Blackstone before an impassive Easterbrook.
"This doesn't implicate Heller or the Second Amendment ..." Wilson began.
Easterbrook laughed: "That's ridiculous! Of course it implicates it."
"No," Wilson replied, " the right is not a right to carry just any weapon, but a right to carry handguns."
Easterbrook picked up the plaintiffs' logic: "The Supreme Court said that commonly owned weapons are covered, and plaintiffs say these are commonly owned. If we don't know whether that's the case, then summary judgment was inappropriate."

It is far too early to predict the outcome of this case.  While those who have studied the second amendment might expect a quick striking down of the law, the district court upheld it, essentially holding that second amendment protections were very, very narrow.  In the Courthouse News article, no references were made to U.S. v Miller, where the Supreme Court held that arms that were effective for militia use were protected. 

Clearly, semi-automatic firearms are useful for militias.  The Seventh Circuit may also provide guidance on what the court considers as 'common'.   The plaintiffs say that many of the banned guns are "common".  As the AR and AK style rifles are some of the most popular in the country, it is a severe stretch to claim that they are not 'common'.   I have seen disarmists attempt to do so by saying that they are only 'three percent of all guns' or similar arguments.

Of course, using that logic, you could ban all guns as uncommon.   Even the most popular of firearms would have to have production figures of 9 million to reach a 3% definition of common.  Even the ubiquitous model 94 Winchester was not produced  in those quantities. 

 Definition of  disarmist 

 ©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch