Excuses, Excuses

Excuses, Excuses

A reader pointed me to an article in the February 7, 2009 Flint (Mich.) Journal about Genesee County's remarkable increase in justifiable homicides:

He knocked on the door, ready to confront the man he believed had broken into his apartment.

It would be the second time that night that the two men had quarreled, and this time, Jerome A. Washington, 40, showed up with what looked like a gun. It was just a plastic toy.

Washington was fatally shot April 23 by the man who said he feared for his life and also had a gun -- a real one.
His death was ruled a justifiable homicide -- one of at least seven in Genesee County last year, a dramatic increase from previous years. An eighth slaying is expected to be classified as justifiable pending review from the prosecutor's office.

But then article starts interviewing the relatives of criminals that died, and the whining starts:

"I don't feel like someone should be able to take someone's life with a gun, and they still get to face some freedom," said Washington's grandmother Eula Smith. "It just doesn't add up. I don't believe he did go there to start any problems."

I understand that someone is grieving because a relative went down a path of either gross criminality or incredible stupidity. One of the whiners tells us:

When you ask Joyce Dye about her brother, there's a slight pause.

The Flint woman had only three short weeks to get reacquainted with Paul Lee Jr. before he was killed. He was fatally shot June 13 as he tried to rob LT's Clothing and Accessories on Clio Road.

He'd only recently been released from prison after serving 20 years. It was a stupid mistake, Dye acknowledged -- but did he deserve to die? She doesn't think so.

She believes her brother's death -- and his life -- were written off in part because of his past criminal history. Lee went to prison in 1986 for second-degree murder.

"(The store owner) didn't have to shoot him eight times to knock him down," Dye said. "It's just goofy. That's the hard part, that nobody faced charges in his death."

For the families who have lost someone, all they hear is that the loved one's life means less. And many times, families say it's because that person had a criminal past.

Uh, no, not because Lee had a criminal past, but a criminal present. He was shot because he was committing a robbery--a crime where violence, or the threat of violence, is used to force someone to give up something of value. Lee made the decision that someone else's life was worth less than the contents of a cash register. Applying the transitive rule tells us that since:

Victim's life worth less than cash register contents

Therefore:

Lee's life is worth less than Victim's life

Lee's life is clearly of the lowest value--because Lee chose to make that equation.

There's a lot of denial going on in some of these cases, which doesn't surprise me:

States vary in their laws for justified homicides, with some requiring that a person being threatened try to flee first.

Leyton said that once he is given the police report, several senior prosecutors review the case, then meet to discuss whether charges should be filed.

"None of the cases we decided in the past year were difficult decisions," he said. "They were all quite clear."

Not to the families of the people who were killed, though. Many of them echo the same worry -- that the deaths of their loved ones weren't taken seriously because of criminal pasts.

Paul Lee's mother, Alice Rawls, said that because her son was on parole from a shooting, she believes police and prosecutors didn't give his death a second glance.

Rawls of Grand Blanc Township remains convinced that her son was set up by someone angry about a previous shooting that landed him in prison more than 20 years ago.

She said Lee was getting his life back on track and was up for a promotion at work.

"He was a very smart person," she said. "They just wrote him off because of his criminal history."

Which is more likely? That the same bad pattern that sent him to prison for shooting someone before was being repeated? Or that he was "set up" and then the prosecutor wasn't smart enough to figure this out?

Of course, here's the clueless academic:

Richard Moran, a criminology professor at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., attributes the increase to laws that make it easier to rule a death justifiable homicide.

"Under the guise of being able to protect oneself, we have kind of given a license to go out and kill people any time you feel threatened," Moran said.

Previous laws on the books protected those who had to kill someone because they were in immediate danger, Moran said, and the new laws give "cultural support for killing other people."

What has changed is that a lot of people that used to be victims now are allowed to defend themselves with a gun, both because permits are now available, and because Michigan no longer requires you to cower in fear and run when attacked. What used to be a victim is now a victor.

I'm sick of hearing criminal next of kin whine about how unfair all this is. I understand that there are justifiable homicides that make you say, "This didn't need to happen." Over at the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog, I occasionally post news items that are legally correct, but you just want to cry and say, "You fools! This didn't need to escalate to this level!"

But of the seven justifiable homicides summarized in the sidebar article, there is only one that might be even slightly in this category--and it appears that the woman who started a knife fight died because the other woman also had a knife. The others are not "there was a little misunderstanding" or a minor dispute that was escalated:

Stevens, 46, was shot in the abdomen during a fight March 15 with his 72-year-old housemate. In less than a month, prosecutors ruled Stevens' death a justified homicide, saying he attacked his housemate, striking him with a glass beer mug and pushing him down the stairs.

And:

Jerome A. Washington: Washington, 40, was found dead from a gunshot wound inside a Lapeer Road home about 1:15 a.m. April 23. Police said that earlier in the night at a nearby party store, he'd had words with the man who shot him, but both parties left before the quarrel escalated. Later that night, Washington showed up at the other man's apartment with a plastic gun that resembled a real gun and was fatally shot. The shooter told police he had felt threatened.

Going looking for someone that is not a threat to you any longer, and then threatening him with what appears to be deadly force. That's a no-brainer. That also describes what Washington apparently was.

And:

Cordero Jones: Jones, 21, was fatally shot in the early morning hours of May 8 in what officials said was a shoot-out when he entered a home with the intent to rob someone.

No sympathy at all.

And:

Raymond Blount: It was nearly 4 p.m. May 17 when police said Blount popped out of a closet in his ex-girlfriend's home, armed with a knife. Another man in the house, armed with a handgun, confronted Blount, chased him out of the house and shot him. Police said they couldn't prove whether Blount was shot inside the home before being chased outside. The ex-girlfriend was cut on a finger by Blount's knife and was treated at a local hospital.

How much clearer does it need to be?

And:

Paul Lee Jr.: Lee had been out of prison for only about seven months before he was fatally shot June 13 during an attempted armed robbery of a Clio Road store. Police said Lee went into LT's Clothing and Accessories with a handgun but was stopped by the store owner, who wrestled with him for the gun. The store owner was shot in the hand before he grabbed his own gun and shot Lee several times.

Too stupid to live.

And:

Perry D. Manuel Jr.: Manuel, 28, was at a party when he shot at another man, grazing his face with a bullet, police said. Officials said the two men met up a short time later, and again Manuel was armed. Prosecutor David Leyton said the shooter feared that Manuel was going to shoot at him again, so he shot first, killing Manuel.

Maybe strictly not necessary, but Manuel had an option to not get shot--don't run around shooting people.

Comforting Myths of Gun Control

Comforting Myths of Gun Control

"Give the robber what he wants, and he probably won't hurt you." While this is probably statistically true--and that's the reason that 7-11 has a policy that prohibits employees from being armed on duty--it is often enough not true that being armed is a darn good idea.

This news story from May 8, 2009 WSB radio in Atlanta is valuable for a number of reasons:

(WSB Radio) -- A 17 year old Atlanta teen has been arrested and charged with the January 7, 2009 murder of John Henderson, a bartender at the Standard Restaurant and Spirits in Grant Park.

Atlanta Police say Johnathan Redding was already in police custody Thursday night when he was charged with Henderson's Killing.

Detective Keith Meadows told reporters that it was Redding's Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun that led to his being charged with 22 crimes including felony murder, aggravated assault and armed robbery.

Two days after Henderson's murder on January 9th, police say Redding and three other teens were involved in a home invasion. Police say during that break-in, the homeowner, armed with an semi-automatic rifle fired at Redding striking him in the shoulder.


Police say Redding dropped his weapon as he fled the home. Because police were conducting ballistic tests on weapons in crimes committed after Henderson was killed, they were able to connect Redding to the murder at the Standard and also to an armed robbery in the parking lot of the Standard two and a half weeks before.

Police Chief Richard Pennington told reporters in an afternoon news briefing that Redding sough medical attention for his shoulder injury and was hospitalized for some time. During the three months after Henderson's murder, detectives went about the work of building a case against Redding.

Since Redding's discharge from Grady, he's been in the Atlanta City Jail on charges stemming from the alleged home invasion on January 9th. Police charged Redding in the home invasion on April 10th and charged him with the Standard shooting Thursday night.

Pennington says Redding is not cooperating with authorities. He's believed to be a member of a gang known as "30 Deep."

Police are looking for three additional suspects all about 17 years old in connection with John Henderson's death.

Henderson was shot during a robbery at the Grant Park area bar where he worked, Standard Food & Spirits. He was shot multiple times despite complying with robbers' demands, according to investigators.

The killing took place as Henderson and another bartender were getting ready to close the bar, on Memorial Drive, when four to five armed men broke through the bar's glass door. [emphasis added]

The lessons:

1. Comply with robbers' demands--get shot multiple times.

2. All of those being held in these two tremendously serious crimes are under 18. I've never been terribly enthused about trying minors as adults, but there seems to be a pattern here that is quite dangerous.

3. I've pointed out in the past that gun registration isn't a terribly useful method of crime solution, because criminals seldom leave guns at the scene of a crime, and they don't register their guns. Here's one of the rare cases where a criminal left a gun at the scene of a crime--without being hauled away on a gurney. But guess what? None of the suspects could legally purchase a handgun from a dealer, because they are four years too young. I rather doubt that they registered these illegally purchased handguns. The absolute best possible outcome of mandatory gun registration might have been to find the last person who legally possessed this gun. The chances that this was whoever sold the guns to these suspects is, shall we say, tiny. Most likely, registration would only tell you whose gun was stolen in a burglary.

4. We don't know if the "semi-automatic rifle" used by the homeowner was one of those dreaded "assault weapons" or not, but here's exactly the sort of case where a high capacity rifle is really useful: multiple armed criminals forcing entry into your home.

5. We try to log every news story that we find of civilian gun self-defense in the U.S. at the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog--but it appears that this foiled home invasion either didn't get news coverage, or we didn't see it--and this sounds like exactly the sort of "if it bleeds, it leads" news story that you would expect to get media attention. This shows that our best efforts are still missing civilian gun defense incidents of some importance.

6. In spite of not having the useless gun registration information that gun control advocates insist are necessary to solve crimes--Atlanta police are clearly doing a fine job of correlating information about very different crimes, and using it to find bad guys.

Gee, Do You Think?

A reader sent a tip to The Armed Citizen concerning a news story that did not explicitly call this self-defense--but you read the story, and tell me what you think.  From the June 15, 2010 Virginian-Pilot:

Police are investigating a triple shooting that left two men dead and wounded a teenager.

The shooting occurred late Monday night in the 400 block of Chapel St., according to Cpl. Paula Scheck, a spokeswoman for Hampton police. Investigators have learned that a resident of the home and two acquaintances were sitting inside a detached garage about 10:30 p.m. when three men wearing masks walked up with handguns.

Gunfire erupted and two of the masked men were shot. One of them suffered several gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead inside the garage, police said this morning. The other was pronounced dead about 12:30 a.m. at a hospital.

Three men wearing masks approach me carrying handguns, and my first assumption is not: "Fellas, did you get bum directions to the Lone Ranger Lookalike Competition?  And where's Tonto?"

This Guy Is Glad The Law Changed, I'm Sure

A backpacker in Denali National Park, Alaska, apparently took advantage of the change in federal law allowing the carrying of firearms in national parks.  From May 31, 2010 Associated Press:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— A backpacker shot and killed a grizzly bear with his handgun in Alaska's Denali National Park, officials said.

A man and woman reported that they were hiking Friday evening when the bear emerged from trailside brush and charged the woman, park spokeswoman Kris Fister said in a statement.

The man fired nine rounds from his .45 caliber, semiautomatic pistol at the animal, which then stopped and walked into the brush.

My first reaction is, "Why are you carrying a .45 caliber pistol in grizzly bear country?  Did you want to upset the grizzly bear?"  But it apparently worked, somewhat to my surprise.

California Home Protection Bill of Rights

In 1984, the California legislature passed the California Home Protection Bill of rights, which added California Penal Code sec. 198.5:

Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury within his or her residence shall be presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury to self, family, or a member of the household when that force is used against another person, not a member of the family or household, who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence and the person using the force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred.

As used in this section, great bodily injury means a significant or substantial physical injury.

Effectively, if a stranger forces way into your home, the presumption is that they intend a resident great bodily injury. If you use deadly force against someone forcing entry into your home, this presumption puts you at great legal advantage if the prosecutor decides to pursue criminal charges against you.

I can remember when California passed this "castle doctrine" law.  My recollection is that the motivation for passage of this law was a case out of Los Angeles in 1982 or 1983.  A burglar forced entry into someone's home, and the woman of the house either stabbed or shot the burglar--and the district attorney prosecuted her, because she didn't have proof that the burglar intended her death or great bodily injury.

If this seems utterly bizarre: actually, it is not.  There are a lot of people out there who are so horrified by deadly force that they are prepared to make the most absurd excuses.  A co-worker, many years ago, explained that there are all sorts of perfectly innocent reasons why someone might force entry into your home.  "Maybe there's been a traffic accident, and they need medical supplies."  (Not a dummy; he's now a multimillionaire.)

Anyway, I have seen the case that caused the legislature to pass 198.5, but I can't find it now.  If you know the details, please let me know.

It's The Little Details...

It's The Little Details...

That really make the news story! From the January 20, 2010 Kansas City Star:

A man who put a container on a pharmacy counter, claimed it was a bomb and demanded prescription drugs left after the pharmacist wielded a shotgun.

...

Kansas City, Kan., police said the robber today was a heavy-set, white male with short, gray hair and a beard and about 50 to 60 years old.
He drove an early 2000 model, four-door Ford Taurus that was either blue or gray with Johnson County tags.

Shotgun fire might have damaged the car’s right rear quarter panel, they said.

I would look for someone desperately seeking clean underwear, too.

Never bring a bomb to a gunfight.

The Relaunch of The Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog

The Relaunch of The Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog

If you have clicked over to the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog recently, you will notice that you now go to http://www.TheArmedCitizen.com, which is much easier to remember--and the blog is much fancier looking, using WordPress. This is entirely the doing of my co-blogger, who has aspirations that it will become so popular that the advertising revenue will let us buy Congresscritters by the gross (or something like that).

Maersk Alabama Attacked By Pirates Again

Maersk Alabama Attacked By Pirates Again

It didn't go so well this time for the pirates; the victims returned fire. From the November 18, 2009 New York Times:

LONDON — Seaborne raiders in a high-speed skiff tried again on Wednesday to commandeer the Maersk Alabama, the American-flagged ship seized by pirates in April, the United States Navy said.

In a separate episode, the captain of a hijacked chemical tanker was reported to have died of gunshot wounds inflicted when pirates seized the MV Theresa with 28 North Korean crew members northwest of the Seychelles on Monday. The spate of attacks reflected the increasing boldness of pirates roaming far from their bases in Somalia to seize vessels and sailors to hold for ransom.

The United States Navy Central Command said four suspected pirates in a skiff came within 300 yards of the Maersk Alabama at 6.30 a.m. Wednesday about 600 miles off the northeast coast of Somalia as it headed for the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

But a security team on board the Maersk Alabama responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to the human ear and evasive maneuvers to thwart the attack, the Navy said in a statement.

“Due to Maersk Alabama following maritime industry’s best practices such as embarking security teams, the ship was able to prevent being successfully attacked by pirates,” said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of the Central Command. “This is a great example of how merchant mariners can take pro-active action to prevent being attacked.”

Yes, it is rather amazing how turning a low-risk activity (piracy) into a high-risk activity seems to help, doesn't it? Into the 19th century, American merchant ships were generally armed--and not just with small arms--to deal with the problem of piracy. But the prevailing sentiment elsewhere seems to be to pay ransom instead.

Never Bring A Knife To A Gunfight

Never Bring A Knife To A Gunfight

And a tire iron isn't much, good, either. From the October 27, 2009 Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

PORT CHARLOTTE - Two men, armed with a knife and a tire iron, reportedly forced their way inside a Port Charlotte home Saturday night, only to find the occupants had guns.

The botched home invasion robbery ended quickly when one of the suspects sustained a nonfatal gunshot wound to the stomach, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities have arrested one man and intend to charge the other upon his release from a Fort Myers-area hospital in connection to the attempted robbery at the 21000 block of Beaverton Avenue.

The incident occurred around 10 p.m. at the home of Peter L. Gilmore, 69, and his 25-year-old son, James S. McGlone.

Two men, later identified as Keith Sowers, 32, of Punta Gorda, and Port Charlotte resident Joshua Eugene Becerril, 29, wearing stockings over their faces, kicked open the front door, deputies said.

Becerril reportedly held Gilmore at knifepoint. McGlone ran into his father's bedroom, where Gilmore kept several guns, and was chased by Sowers, toting a tire iron.

Sowers allegedly hit McGlone over the head with the tire iron before being shot in the stomach.

Aggression and an impact weapon works fine, until you meet a higher technology.

Great Article in the Latest America's First Freedom

Great Article in the Latest America's First Freedom

My co-blogger on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog, Dave Burnett, has a spectacular article (and the cover story) in the latest America's First Freedom. He uses the data from more than 4100 incidents that we have blogged since 2003 to present a very useful statistical model of gun self-defense in the U.S. I'm proud to be associated with a fine young man like Dave Burnett; I'm very glad that I started the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog when I did.

I Thought Automatic Weapons Were Available Everywhere

I Thought Automatic Weapons Were Available Everywhere

There's a news story about a guy in Massachusetts who is being charged with terrorism, and the October 21, 2009 WBZ channel 38 article includes this rather interesting statement:

'SHOOTING PEOPLE AT A MALL'

Prosecutors say Mehanna had "multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people at a shopping mall."

"The conversations went so far as to discuss the logistics of a mall attack including coordination, weapons needed and the possibility of attacking emergency responders," Loucks said.

"They had discussions regarding how to do it, whether to do it from multiple entrances, what to do when emergency responders arrive," he added.

The plan was scrapped because the men could only get handguns and not the automatic weapons they wanted.

"They determined it was not feasible to go forward," Loucks said.

Prosecutors would not say which malls were targeted.

THE OTHER SUSPECTS

Loucks said Mehanna conspired with two other men: Ahman Abousamra, who authorities say is now in Syria, and an unnamed man, who is cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

Investigators say the men "were inspired by the success of the Washington D.C. area snipers who were successful in terrorizing the public" in 2002.

According to authorities the three did not believe civilians were "innocents because they paid taxes to support the government and because they were non-believers." [emphasis added]

To hear the gun control fanatics tell the story, you can get machine guns, bazookas, etc. at practically every gun show. And yet the government says that Mehanna found that getting machine guns wasn't so easy. Fascinating.

This is one of the reasons that I encourage those who have concealed weapon permits to be armed when going to crowded public places. One of these days (maybe, one of these days again), there is going to be a mass murder in a public place that doesn't involve mental illness, but terrorism. The life you save may not just be your own, orthat of your loved ones, but a complete stranger who some terrorist has decided needs to die for the greater glory of Allah.

Deinstitutionalization Sure Was Peachy For This Guy, Wasn't It?

Deinstitutionalization Sure Was Peachy For This Guy, Wasn't It?

From the October 18, 2009 Syracuse Post-Standard:

Schroeppel, NY - When Deanna Candee and her son, Adam, returned from a shopping trip Saturday to their Schroeppel home, they suspected something was wrong when they saw the garage door open.
Candee’s home had been ransacked. An intruder was still inside.
As her 25-year-old son moved toward the cellar to check out a noise, Deanna, 48, started into the house, said Wilson Candee, Deanna’s father-in-law.
The intruder confronted her and grabbed her by the hair, Wilson Candee said. Adam heard his mother scream, went to her aid and pulled the intruder off. He and the stranger began to struggle.
The fight ended, Oswego County Sheriff’s officials said, when Deanna grabbed her pistol and shot the man.
Phoenix police found Timothy Hartigan, 39, dead in a bedroom when they arrived shortly after 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Sunday, Wilson Candee provided details about the struggle based on his conversations with Candee, his grandson, and investigators.
Candee legally owned the gun with which she shot Hartigan, sheriff’s department officials said.
...
Wilson Candee said the intruder’s motive did not appear to be theft. Money left in a wallet was untouched and no articles appeared to have been gathered for removal, he said.
But he said he was told the house had been thoroughly vandalized with doors broken, glass smashed, and pictures and knick knacks knocked from the walls. Cutlery was strewn along the hallway leading to the bedroom. There also were signs that the intruder had cooked bacon and eggs, he said.
Hartigan had a history of mental illness, according to his former wife, Denise L. Cunningham, and a man answering the phone at Hartigan’s mother’s home who identified himself as Hartigan’s brother-in-law.

When Hartigan was taking his medications he was a great guy, a good father to his two children and a good friend to many, Cunningham said. He was artistic and enjoyed drawing and woodcarving, although he did less after he was diagnosed, she said.

“When he was on his medicine he was a good person,” Cunningham said. “He would never have dreamt of doing this.”

Cunningham said her former husband was diagnosed a decade or so ago and recently had been treated at University Hospital.
“His son and I had just gone to visit him ... we actually saw him a week ago today,” Cunningham said.
The hospital released Hartigan on Tuesday, she said. Hartigan’s illness could not be learned Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the hospital declined to comment, citing privacy regulations.

Hartigan was no longer living at the downtown Syracuse YMCA, where he had resided about eight years, Cunningham said, and she didn’t know where he was living after his discharge.

This is, unfortunately, a recurring situation for many of the mentally ill since deinstitutionalization: in and out, in and out, homelessness, shelter, and back again. The problem is never really solved. For those with schizophrenia, the institutional setting didn't really solve the problem, either, but at least they weren't going to be killed in a tragedy like this. Once Deanna Candee knows why this happened, it is likely that whatever trauma this incident has for her is going to be worse--once she realizes that Hartigan wasn't in his right mind, and this entire disaster could have been prevented.

There are so many of these tragedies--and yet the mainstream media choose to ignore it, because it doesn't suit their agenda.

Children With Access To Guns

Children With Access To Guns

I sometimes get asked, "What's wrong with laws requiring guns to be kept locked up when children are home alone?" I agree that it is looking for trouble to leave a gun somewhere that child can get access to it--but there are circumstances like this one below that the situation could have been far worse if this ten year old wasn't able to defend himself and his little sister. From July 17, 2009 WAFB channel 9:

PORT ALLEN, LA (WAFB) - A ten-year-old boy left home alone with his sister used his mother's gun to shoot an intruder in the face, police said.

Late Tuesday, West Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies received a call to a Port Allen apartment complex after several shots rang out from inside one of the apartments. "You are out here trying to work and for someone to come and do that and invade your home is very hard," the children's mother said. She asked to not be identified.

Deputies say Dean Favron and Roderick Porter knocked several times on the apartment door. The two young children, a ten-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl, stood on the other side, terrified. "He told his sister to be quiet and seconds later, they started kicking on the door and finally kicked the door in," said Sheriff Mike Cazes. The two children ran to their mother's bedroom closet.

In a panic, the ten-year-old grabbed his mother's gun for protection. "He did what I told him to do. I never told him to get the gun, but thank God he did," she said. Once the two suspects opened the door, threatening the kids, deputies say the boy fired a bullet into the lip of Roderick Porter. The two men were taken to the hospital by a third suspect, who is a 15-year-old juvenile. Once they got to the hospital, they were later arrested. "It's just hard. I don't understand why they would do that. I know they have little brothers and sisters and they wouldn't want anyone to break into their house," said the mother.

Yes, such incidents are relatively rare--just like accidental shootings by kids are relatively rare. But they are common enough that the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog has a label for it: minor defender--and we have 17 examples that we have collected.

Holocaust Museum Shooting Today

Holocaust Museum Shooting Today

From June 10, 2009 CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The suspect in Wednesday's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Maryland, two law enforcement officials told CNN.

Gunfire at the entrance of the museum wounded at least two people Wednesday, emergency officials said.

A private security guard and the shooting suspect were wounded, according to officials of the D.C. police.

Sgt. David Schlosser, a spokesman for U.S. Park Police, told reporters a man armed with a "long gun" entered the museum at 12:50 p.m. and fired at a security officer, and both were wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

"My understanding is that two other security officers at the museum returned gunfire at the man that had entered the museum," Schlosser said. Watch Schlosser tell what's known so far »

Schlosser said he didn't know exactly what kind of firearm the man had and whether the shooting was before or after he passed through a metal detector.

That couldn't have happened--DC still has very strict gun control laws!

More seriously: when I took my family to DC some years ago, we went to the Holocaust Museum--and they had a very large and obvious sign at the entrance warning that concealed weapon permits from other states were not valid in DC, and that anyone found with a weapon on them (as they passed through the metal detectors) would be arrested and charged. This was the only place in DC where I saw such a sign, and I thought it was a bit odd.

Of course, it also meant that the shooter knew that he was attacking a place where he was guaranteed that only uniformed personnel would be able to shoot back. Another triumph of gun-free zones.

A Horrendous Mass Murder--That Didn't Happen

A Horrendous Mass Murder--That Didn't Happen

This is one of those news stories that would have been splashed all over the national news media for days on end, because so many people would have died--but one student had a gun, so only one of the bad guys died--and it therefore will be ignored. From May 4, 2009 WSB-TV channel 2 in Atlanta:

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. -- A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and they’re thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones met with one of the students to talk about the incident.

“Apparently, his intent was to rape and murder us all,” said student Charles Bailey.

Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.

“They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, ‘Give me your wallets and cell phones,’” said George Williams of the College Park Police Department.Bailey said the gunmen started counting bullets. “The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough,” said Bailey.

That’s when one student grabbed a gun out of a backpack and shot at the invader who was watching the men. The gunman ran out of the apartment.

The student then ran to the room where the second gunman, identified by police as 23-year-old Calvin Lavant, was holding the women.

“Apparently the guy was getting ready to rape his girlfriend. So he told the girls to get down and he started shooting. The guy jumped out of the window,” said Bailey.

A neighbor heard the shots and heard someone running nearby.

“And I heard someone say, ‘Someone help me. Call the police. Somebody call the police,’” said a neighbor.

The neighbor said she believes it was Lavant, who was found dead near his apartment, only one building away.

Bailey said he is just thankful one student risked his life to keep others alive.

Counting bullets? They weren't going to let any witnesses get out of there alive. If you have any doubt as to whether keeping colleges gun-free zones makes sense, I think this answers the question. This student didn't draw a gun and start shooting when it looked like a robbery. When the bad guys made it clear that they were going to kill them all, he drew and fired--and probably saved ten lives.

G. Gordon Liddy's Show This Morning

G. Gordon Liddy's Show This Morning

I'll be on G. Gordon Liddy's radio show a little after 11:00 AM Eastern time today to discuss the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog's 4000th entry.

A Milestone: The 4000th Entry on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog

A Milestone: The 4000th Entry on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog

The Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog just crossed a rather significant milestone: the 4000th entry. Since I started this project in 2003, Dave Burnett and myself (and Pete Drum, before he went on to other activities) have been posting every news story that we could find in which civilians in the U.S. used a gun in self-defense. By "civilian" we mean persons who are not active or retired police officers (who have a special status in the law when it comes to carrying and using weapons).

These entries are (with one or two exceptions, such as when my neighbor chased an intruder out of his daughter's room) all derived from published news sources. Of necessity, this means that these were incidents sufficiently high profile to receive the attention of both police and news media.

The 4000th incident isn't necessarily typical, but it isn't all that atypical, either. No shots were fired. The mere display of a gun by a concealed weapon permit holder stopped a nasty road rage confrontation from escalating to violence. And contrary to the claims that many opponents of shall issue made in state after state of what would happen if shall issue laws were passed, the person with the gun wasn't the aggressor; he was the victim of a person who clearly lacked sufficient self-control to cool off.

Regular readers know that the reason that I started the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog was an email exchange between myself and anti-gun Professor John J. Donohue back in 2003, in which he claimed that legitimate defensive uses of guns by civilians were extremely rare. Thanks, Professor Donohue, for making me do this!

Along the way, we started adding labels by state and interesting characteristics of the incidents. Some interesting statistics from these 4000 incidents:

By state: Alaska (31); Alabama (143); Arkansas (63); Arizona (98); California (265); Colorado (48); Connecticut (18); D.C. (2); Delaware (16); Florida (368); Georgia (161); Hawaii (3); Iowa (14); Idaho (19); Illinois (61); Indiana (117); Kansas (37); Kentucky (69); Louisiana (102); Massachusetts (22); Maryland (30); Maine (15); Michigan (118); Minnesota (29); Missouri (89); Mississippi (79); Montana (19); North Carolina (184); North Dakota (6); Nebraska (14); New Hampshire (22); New Jersey (13); New Mexico (29); Nevada (45); New York (87); Ohio (184); Oklahoma (102); Oregon (44); Pennsylvania (146); South Carolina (109); South Dakota (8); Tennessee (181); Texas (506); Utah (39); Virginia (83); Virgin Islands (1); Vermont (7); Washington (76); Wisconsin (33); West Virginia (22); Wyoming (9). (To find all incidents involving a particular state, use this URL with the post office two letter abbreviation substituted for AK.)

There were 212 incidents involving concealed carry permit holders.

Not every outcome was happy. There were 30 incidents in which the defender was killed (although often saving the life of another, or preventing the attacker from escaping). There were 191 incidents in which the defender was shot (although not necessarily killed).

For all the talk by gun control advocates that "a criminal will just take away your gun and use against you" there were only six incidents in which the defender's gun was taken away and used against the defender. By comparison, there were 183 incidents in which the criminal's gun was taken away and used against the criminal! More startling is that many of these involved victims that were unarmed at the start of the crime.

There were 67 female defenders, and 15 defenders under the age of 18.

Sobering numbers: there were 90 criminals identified as being under 18, and 1009 of these incidents were home invasions--where the criminals intentionally broke into a dwelling that they knew was occupied.

For all the talk of inadequately trained civilians, we have one incident involving mistaken identity.

As I have previously mentioned, while there were some pretty scummy characters engaged in self-defense that have popped up over these last 5 1/2 years, and a few incidents that were technically legal but poorly advised, I have been impressed how many of these have been perfectly reasonable people doing perfectly reasonable things--until they were attacked by a criminal.

Who's At Risk?

Who's At Risk?

When I was young, one of the very comforting ideas that helped me weakly support gun control was that for the most part, if you stayed away from criminals and druggies, you didn't have much to worry about. It may have even been true, once upon a time. Similarly, it is an article in faith in some gun control circles today that even if there are a lot of people who use guns in self-defense, a lot of them are criminals using them in defense against other criminals.

As I have been editing the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog these five plus years, I have noticed that yes, some of the people using guns in self-defense I would not invite over dinner. There have been legal defensive uses that show poor judgment, where a little care might have precluded the need to shoot anyone.

There have been a few drug dealers who have shot people who were trying to rip them off--and while the police have not charged the drug dealers with a crime involving the shooting, they have charged them with drug violations.

But I have been surprised and gratified at how few such cases there have been. And even when the victim using the gun isn't going to win any citizenship awards, even non-violent criminals don't deserve to be victims of violent thugs. This news story from the April 10, 2009 Wenatchee (Wash.) World is one of those reminders:

WENATCHEE — Josh Ray always sleeps with a gun next to him.

"I just feel safer," he says.

Early Monday morning, he felt he had to use it to defend himself.

The 25-year-old Wenatchee man says he was just falling asleep on his living room couch when "my door flew open and there was a man standing there in the doorway and he said, 'Freeze, police.' "

Ray, who says he is an avid viewer of the television reality show "Cops," was not buying it.

"I kind of got real scared and I jumped in the air and put my hands up but it took me only a couple of seconds to know that this guy's not a cop," Ray said. "I know from watching that show that if police are coming to someone's house, they announce themselves before they boot the door open, not afterwards."

The next few seconds would culminate in the wounding of Ray, the death of the man at the door, Scott D. Bates, and possibly the solving of three armed robberies at Wenatchee area pharmacies. Wenatchee police say they suspect that Bates was involved with those robberies, one of which was committed with an accomplice. Wenatchee police cannot confirm what happened inside the residence before they were called.

Ray called The Wenatchee World to say that he was never convicted of three misdemeanors, a statement that was published in stories earlier this week. The only charges listed for Ray in the The Washington State Patrol's criminal data base are the new charges pending against him. After the shooting he was booked into the Chelan County Regional Justice Center on suspicion of possession of less than 40 grams of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a legend drug, Ambien, a sleep aid. No other charges are pending against him in the WSP database.

Ray said he had a pistol on the coffee table next to the couch, but when he jumped up, the movement put him closer to a semi-automatic rifle, which he grabbed. At that point, he said, Bates shouted, " 'Freeze' at least two more times and I pretty much said BS. Those were the only words I ever said to that man."

Ray said Bates then shot him in the thigh and "it hurt really bad and I immediately returned fire. I shot him eight to 10 times. I wanted to make sure I didn't get shot again because he still had the gun in his hand when he was on the ground."

Better in jail facing drug charges, then in the morgue, facing an autopsy.

What a Weird Case

What a Weird Case

The March 28, 2009 Austin (Tex.) American-Statesman has one of those news stories that makes you scratch your head. It would appear that a police officer failed to identify himself under circumstances where there was a plausible basis for the homeowner to believe that he was under criminal attack:

Travis County prosecutors on Friday dismissed the case against David Lozano, who lost his leg in a late-night shootout with an Austin police officer at Lozano's Northeast Austin house in 2007.
"We believe that Mr. Lozano maintained a reasonable belief that on that day and time he was defending himself, his wife and his property," Travis County Assistant District Attorney Steven Brand said.
The dismissal came after a series of expert witnesses for the state and defense cast doubt on whether officer Roger Boudreau told the truth about the confrontation, according to lawyers in the case.
"Had it not been a police officer, this case would have been dismissed a long time ago," said Lozano's lawyer, Ryan Deck. "A police officer changed everything."
Lozano, 48, spent 13 months in jail before he was released on bail last year.

If you are writing a novel, here's a way to set up a tragedy:

Lozano and his wife, Rosemary, were having marital problems leading up to the incident on March 11, 2007, according to Deck and a police affidavit.
That night, a man with whom Rosemary Lozano had had an affair threatened David Lozano in a phone conversation, Deck said. Then that man, Miguel Salazar, called police and reported a domestic disturbance at the Lozano home, Deck said.
Next, according to both Boudreau's account as detailed in the police affidavit and Lozano's account as told by Deck, Boudreau knocked on the door, heard someone chamber a round into a gun through the door and moved off the porch.
Lozano thought it was Salazar knocking and intentionally made the sound with the gun to scare him, Deck said. After Lozano looked through the peephole and saw nobody, he opened the door, Deck said.
Boudreau never identified himself as a police officer during the incident, according to Deck and the affidavit.
What happened after the door opened was in dispute.

In dispute, but the rest of the article explains why all charges were dropped--an audio recording demonstrated that Boudreau was, at best, grossly mistaken about who fired first. Even if Lozano was in the wrong--and it isn't clear that he was--Boudreau's statements about his actions were so at variance with the facts that the prosecutor would never have won the case.

A police officer should always identify himself as a police officer when responding to a domestic dispute.

Call The Police? Call For A Pizza

Call The Police? Call For A Pizza

One of the wittier libertarian complaints about relying on government in urban areas is the disparity of response times. "Call 911. Order a pizza. See which gets there first." It's not really a fair comparison. Yes, the pizza will usually get there faster, because it is a capitalist, competitive situation, but there are so many other differences that I can only regard it as humor, not a serious criticism. (Where I live now, the police would arrive first. There's no pizza delivery here.)

But I thought of that when I read this news account of what happened when a pizza delivery guy discovered that the only tip he was going to get was whether he lived or not. From the March 8, 2009 South Carolina State:

Irmo - A suspected robber is dead after officials say a pizza man shot him in during the robbery.
Lexington County Sheriff James Metts says Saturday night, four men ordered pizza to a house on Avery Place Lane with the intent of robbing whomever delivered it. None of the four lived there and officials say the homeowner did not realize his home was being used for a robbery.
Pizza Hut delivery man, 43-year-old Christopher Miller, says he showed up at the home at 10:30 p.m. and 17-year-old Paul Sturgill was standing on the sidewalk waiting for him. Officials say soon after Miller got out of the car, two other men ran at him from the woods.
When Miller started running away, that’s when authorities say Sturgill continually tried beating him in the face. Miller, who has a concealed weapons permit, says he pulled out .45 caliber handgun that he had in his fanny pack and shot Sturgill in his chest.
Sturgill was taken to the hospital where he later died.
The three other suspects ran and officials are still looking for one of the men.
He’s 18-year-old Justin Roundtree. Metts says he’s wanted for robbery and criminal conspiracy. Roundtree is a member of a criminal gang and is 5-foot-5 and weighs 160 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Outnumbered 4:1. Ambush. In the dark. But he was armed, and he came out scared but alive.

It turns out that pizza delivery drivers shoot robbers so often that we have added a label for it on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog so that you can see just such incidents.