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CA: Police Beat, Stun Deaf Man After Confusing Sign Language With Threatening Gestures
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Jonathan Meister was retrieving some stuff he was storing at an ex-roommate’s home when he looked up to find several members of the Hawthorne Police Department approaching. The South Bay man claims officers didn’t give him a chance to explain what he was doing before placing him in handcuffs, beating him and using a stun gun to shock him into submission. The problem began when police reportedly misunderstood Meister’s attempts to speak in sign language as threatening gestures.
SUBMITTER'S COMMENT: I know a federal judge ruled police departments have no obligation to hire intelligent applicants, but I was not aware that they had to hire idiots. I hope Mr. Meister wins his lawsuit and that all the officers involved lose their jobs. |
UK: Is it time to join the 'preppers'? How to survive the climate-change apocalypse
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We are getting close to what might be called The Noah Scenario. Last month was the wettest January in Britain since records began in 1767. ... You might not want to panic just yet, but you might decide that it is time to join the "preppers" – people who are secretly preparing to abandon modern life when the apocalypse, in whatever form, does arrive. ... When you have no choice. When soldiers are on your street, your neighbours have begun to steal from you and plague-sufferers are camped in your drive – or perhaps slightly before all that. Preppers have a catch-all term for this moment: the SHTF scenario, in reference to the day when the Shit finally does Hit The Fan.
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A bayonet on your home defense gun? Why not
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In recent years, people who traditionally lean an old pump-action shotgun in the corner of their bedroom or have a bed-side revolver for self-defense have migrated to semi-auto rifles, specifically AR-15s chambered in 5.56x45mm. While older shooters balk at the thought of using a rifle round indoors to defend their home, terminal-ballistic-minded shooters have begun to realize that 55 grain .223 over penetrates less than 00 buck shot and 9x19mm Luger. The biggest downside is noise. An AR-15 fired indoors without a sound suppressor will do serious permanent damage to your hearing. |
Supreme Court may clarify gun use outside home in Drake case, now backed by 19 states
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With the recent reversal by the U.S. 9th Court of Appeals on “may-issue” in California, the Supreme Court may look at the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense in what’s known as the “Drake case” in the near future.
At the heart of the matter is John Drake, a Fredon, New Jersey, man who was denied a permit by the state to carry a concealed handgun.
Drake, owner of an ATM business, often carries large amounts of cash and applied for the permit for self-defense. After being denied under New Jersey’s strict “may-issue” doctrine, Drake filed a lawsuit citing violations of his civil rights. |
CA: Court strikes California law restricting concealed weapons
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Ruling on hold
James Chapin, the San Diego deputy county counsel who defended the permit system, said the county will ask the full appeals court for a rehearing before an 11-judge panel. The ruling will be on hold while that request is pending.
O'Scannlain, one of the court's most conservative members, was joined by fellow conservative Connie Callahan in the majority, while liberal Judge Sidney Thomas dissented. |
VA: Defending Yourself Against Knockout Gang Criminals With A Gun in Virginia
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I’m sure many of you have heard of the “knockout game.”
If you haven’t, it is a game where the participants randomly select an innocent stranger and attempt to knock them out with one punch.
Three people have already been killed in suspected knockout attacks. As Matt Walsh notes:
In some corners of the Earth, this activity is also known as “attempted murder.” Here, for some teenagers, it’s a hobby, like collecting baseball cards.
Matt advises his readers to defend themselves with a gun. This is good advice, but before you do that, here’s a primer on Virginia law. |
OK: Oklahoma House panel approves guns in Capitol bill
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An Oklahoma House committee on Tuesday approved measures designed to expand gun rights, including legislation that would allow residents with concealed weapons permits to bring their firearms into the State Capitol.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 9-6 for the measure and sent it to the House floor for debate and a vote. But opponents questioned the wisdom of authorizing residents to bring weapons into a building that is frequently the site of impassioned debate over public policy issues. Firearms are currently banned from the Capitol except for those carried by law enforcement officers. |
TX: Civil rights group calls for changes to no-knock policy
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The Texas Civil Rights Project unveiled a new report Tuesday that studies how state law enforcement agencies approach knocking on someone's front door and announcing they are there before executing a search warrant.
The December death of Burleson County Deputy Adam Sowders is a driving force behind the report. Henry Magee shot and killed Sowders when he and other deputies entered Magee's home to execute a search warrant. Magee claimed self defense, and a grand jury did not indict him, so he won't stand trial.
"A good policy like this may be what could have prevented this tragedy," said Texas Civil Rights Project director Jim Harrington. |
CA: Court declares open season on public safety
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California law accounts for those who shouldn't be packing at all times by authorizing sheriffs and police chiefs to determine who is allowed to carry a concealed weapon in public. To qualify for a permit, the law says applicants must be “of good moral character,” must have “completed a course of training” and must have “good cause.”
Those standards hardly qualify as onerous. But they were too much for a federal appeals panel, which shot down California's law in a ruling last week that identified Second Amendment rights broader than any previously recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court. |
WY: Wyoming Lawmakers Vote to Let School Staff Carry Guns
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Sponsored by Representative John Eklund (R-Cheyenne), the bill would repeal a law that currently requires public K-12 schools to remain “gun-free zones.” It also requires any school employees who wish to carry a firearm on school property to complete 40 hours of firearm training.
Eklund asserts that allowing school staff to have weapons will deter criminal activity. “I believe that it might be a deterrent for a terrorist or criminal to break into a school or harm our kids. It might be a deterrent to know that there might be guns waiting on the other side of the wall.” |
SD: SD Bill That Would Have Given State Gun Laws Supremacy Over Federal Government Fails
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A bill that would have given South Dakota state gun laws supremacy over those of federal and local governments failed in a legislative panel Tuesday.
The House Local Government Committee voted 8-4 to reject the measure.
The bill would have made it a felony for law enforcement officers to carry out federal or local firearms regulations that were more restrictive than state laws. It also would have invalidated any presidential executive orders and local ordinances that restricted firearm possession and use. |
ID: Idaho senators back guns on campus bill
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A bill allowing concealed weapons on Idaho's college campuses passed the Senate 25-10 Tuesday, as Second Amendment advocates overcame opponents who criticized the measure as making learning environments unsafe.
Sponsor Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, said barring guns from campus strips students and faculty of their constitutional freedoms guaranteed by America's Founding Fathers.
The bill now goes to the House, where a similar measure passed muster in 2011. That's likely to happen again, meaning Idaho would join Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Wisconsin and Utah among states that currently allow guns on campus. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has pledged to sign the bill. |
Podesta Poison – Part Two
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Included in the CAP agenda were high-cap magazine bans, backdoor gun owner registration and banning “military-grade assault weapons” (apparently the term “assault weapon” is no longer considered sinister enough and requires yet further embellishment). Among the semi-auto schemes CAP supported was a bill requiring a long list of semi-automatic firearms to be covered under the same classification as legal “machine guns”—possession of which requires registration and FBI background clearance, the blessing of a local chief law enforcement officer and photographing and fingerprinting, along with restrictions on movement across state lines. |
CT: Vanderboegh to Conn. state police: 'you are not the enemy'
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Several weeks ago gun rights activist and blogger Mike Vanderboegh received a hand-delivered notice from the state of Connecticut via the local sheriff's department in his county in Alabama. The notice asked that Vanderboegh call the Connecticut State Police to answer questions concerning his advocacy for gun rights and his support for civil disobedience among residents who resist the state's new draconian gun restriction laws.
In the weeks since that letter was delivered Vanderboegh has become aware that he is the subject of an investigation being conducted by the Connecticut State Police. |
MO: Mo. Senate backs off reporting of stolen guns
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Bowing to pressure from the National Rifle Association, the Missouri Senate on Monday stripped a provision from a broad gun rights bill that would have required gun owners to report stolen firearms.
The Republican-led Senate had approved the provision last week, but senators reversed themselves in a 22-9 vote after the NRA called on lawmakers to oppose the bill because of that amendment. The provision would have required firearms owners to report a stolen gun within 72 hours of learning about the theft. |
Concealed carry boom continues; women are big segment of buyers
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Sunday’s report by KWES News that New Mexico saw “more than twice as many concealed carry permits…issued” last year puts that state in line with just about every other state in the nation, and women comprise a large segment of new gun buyers.
According to a report the other day by Newsmax.com, “Nationwide, an estimated 8 million to 10 million citizens legally carry guns, a jump from about 20 years ago, when the figure was less than 1 million.” |
IL: IL state senator would require federal manufacturing license to print gun parts
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As discussed yesterday, 3-D printing of firearms is not yet the biggest threat to the gun ban zealots' fantasy of a "government monopoly on force," by virtue of the fact that more capable firearms can still be more easily and cheaply made by more traditional methods. As the printing technology advances--which it will, and probably quickly--that could change, but it hasn't happened yet. Still, there's something about the idea of printing guns that just seems to frighten anti-gun politicians far out of proportion to the threat the technology poses to the forcible citizen disarmament agenda. |
My First IDPA Match: Training For Self Defense Through Competition
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After meeting world shooting champion and Smith & Wesson Team Captain Julie Golob at the SHOT Show in January, she invited me to come check out the 17th Annual International Defensive Pistol Association [IDPA] Indoor Nationals to get a first hand look at competition shooting.
This year's competition spans until Saturday but I'll be shooting today with a small group of Smith & Wesson executives and a couple other newbies to the competition world. It's my first real shooting competition, so I'm bracing myself for a humbling experience. There are thirteen stages that require 180 rounds (I brought 250 just in case). |
Finding common ground with New York Times columnist
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Op-Ed columnist Joe Nocera runs a blog for the New York Times called The Gun Report, which seeks to “aggregate daily gun violence in America.”
Mr. Nocera, along with his assistant Jennifer Mascia, do a Google News search each day looking for gun-related incidents: shootings (homicides, suicides), accidents, negligent discharges, DGUs or defensive gun uses (situations where good guys with guns deter or stop bad guys with guns).
The goal was not to conduct a scientific study or a super comprehensive statistical analysis, because Google News search certainly has limitations, but to get a “feel for the scale and scope of gun violence in America,” as Nocera wrote. |
WV: Morrisey joins 18 other AGs in Second Amendment case
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The attorney general in West Virginia is supporting a case in New Jersey where a man is challenging the concealed weapons permitting law.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey Monday said West Virginia has joined 18 other states in a friend of the court brief filed before the U.S. Supreme Court by Wyoming Attorney General Peter K. Michael.
The case, Drake v. Jerejian, challenges New Jersey's requirement that concealed carry permit applicants must demonstrate a "justifiable need" to carry a handgun outside of the home. |
FL: Juror in 'Loud Music' Trial Wanted Murder Conviction
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Juror #4 – who asked to be identified simply as "Valerie" – said two and then three jurors ultimately believed Michael Dunn was justified in the 2012 shooting death of Jordan Davis. Valerie, who wanted a conviction, says the group knew within the first hour that they would be unable to reach a unanimous decision.
The first thing jurors did when handed the case was turn to page 25 in the jury instructions, she said. The question: do you believe that Michael Dunn was justified or unjustified in the murder of Jordan Davis?"
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CA: Concealed-carry law gets a chance in court
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Previous court decisions have confirmed that people with criminal backgrounds can be prevented from getting a concealed-carry permit. That obviously doesn't mean they won't have a gun in a pocket as has been pretty well demonstrated in Chicago and elsewhere, but it does mean they might think twice about accosting someone if they don't know if that person has his or her own pistol handy. Tabulations of crimes against persons show they decline after concealed-carry laws are liberalized.
Another argument favored by those who don't want people to be able to protect themselves in dire situations is that there are plenty of police officers whose job is to do that for us. |
Court grasps the core meaning of gun 'rights'
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Then they overturned the lower-court ruling: “(T)he question is not whether the California scheme (in light of San Diego County’s policy) allows some people to bear arms outside the home in some places and some times; instead, the question is whether it allows the typical responsible, law-abiding citizen to bear arms in public for the lawful purpose of self-defense. The answer to the latter question is a resounding ‘no.’” |
Gun Club for Liberals: The Un-NRA
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Gun owner and Second Amendment advocate Marlene Hoeber isn't your typical member of the National Rifle Association. In fact, she isn't a member of the NRA at all.
The Oakland, Calif., laboratory equipment mechanic regularly visits firing ranges, where, along with other members of her gun club, she shoots a variety of weapons. "Guns are fun to play with," she says. She even makes her own ammunition.
She has no use, however, for the NRA's conservative political agenda. By her own description, Hoeber is a feisty, liberal, transgender, tattooed, queer, activist feminist. |
The Ninth Circus Gets One Right
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It's always refreshing to see all hope for individual rights and freedoms in the U.S. is not yet lost. Such was this case in a 2-1 ruling in Peruta v. San Diego from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a case centering on the Second Amendment. Of course, Patriot Post readers are well aware that this Amendment is the final guarantor of all the others, not to mention the Constitution itself. Thus it should come as a welcome breath of fresh air that the normally Looney Tunes court known more commonly as the “Ninth Circus” is actually standing up for this right. Sadly, however, only two-thirds of the three-judge panel deciding the issue “gets it.” |
CA: Gun control made harder in California
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Even if you accept the notion that the 2nd Amendment confers an individual right to bear arms — a proposition we wish the Supreme Court had rejected — states should be able to place reasonable restrictions on that right in the interests of public safety. One such restriction is California's requirement that permits to carry a concealed weapon be issued only for "good cause." Last week, a federal appeals court needlessly weakened that provision.
By a 2-1 vote, a panel of judges of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of five residents of San Diego County who had challenged the county's interpretation of the good cause requirement, which denies permits to applicants who can't cite some specific threat to their safety. |
TX: Second Amendment responsibilities
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On a broader front we see an almost unanimous call for denying guns to those who are mentally impaired. One would imagine that identifying those individuals who should be thus limited and actually preventing their gun usage would require draconian law enforcement steps. Do we really want to be in the business of spying on one another for signs of mental illness and then “ratting each other out” to the authorities. That sounds a lot like what we might experience in a typical “police state”? Is that the price we are willing to pay for an uncertain measure of additional security? |
MS: Miss. House eyes tax holiday for guns and hunting
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Mississippians could be able to buy guns, bullets, all-terrain vehicles and boats without paying sales taxes for a couple days under a proposal moving forward in the House.
The Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday would take place on the first Saturday and Sunday of September under House Bill 1539, which was passed Tuesday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
The bill exempts not only guns, ammunition and archery supplies, but also hunting supplies including shoes, bags, knives, tree stands, all-terrain vehicles and boats. Customers could also put items on layaway, still getting the tax break when they buy them later. |
Evolve Asks Gun Owners Not to Be Dumbasses
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Today, Saatchi & Saatchi New York is launching the first ever campaign for the gun responsibility organization Evolve, encouraging people to take personal responsibility for gun safety and generally not be dumbasses.
Saatchi & Saatchi’s pro-bono campaign features a short, satirical video called “The Bill of Rights for Dumbasses.” The 1:40 video portrays Thomas Jefferson and other historical figures debating the language of the second amendment. Jefferson thinks the amendment runs a little long, and after much debate, convinces the rest of the council to remove the “as long as they aren’t being dumbasses about it” part from the amendment.
Ed.: The video is embedded in the story. |
FL: Holiday shooting in chiropractor's office was self-defense, authorities say
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Velez's girlfriend, who has not been named, was one of chiropractor Lenny Linardos' patients at West Coast Spine and Injury Center on U.S. 19, said Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco. Recently, Linardos told the woman that Velez was having an affair with an employee at the chiropractic office.
Velez called Linardos and threatened him, Nocco said. Linardos, 46, took the threats seriously. Nocco said Velez showed up at the clinic around 11 a.m. Monday. Once inside, he confronted Linardos, who shot Velez.
Investigators believe Linardos fired in self-defense. |
GA: Self-defense cited in Flowery Branch shooting
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Flowery Branch police say self-defense was the motive in a fatal shooting outside a tavern over the weekend.
Police Chief David Spillers tells the Gainesville Times (http://bit.ly/1gWV9Xh ) that Donald Lee Battle Jr. confronted a man and his date in a parking lot near the Branch House Tavern early Saturday morning.
Police say according to witnesses and surveillance footage, Battle pointed a handgun at the couple and the man responded by pulling a gun from his car and shooting him. |
New Jersey newspaper tells Wyoming to butt out
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New Jersey's biggest newspaper has a message for the least populated state in the nation: butt out.
The Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark published an editorial on Tuesday telling Wyoming to mind its own business.
The editorial came after Wyoming last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to submit a brief on behalf of itself and 18 other states supporting a New Jersey man who is challenging that state's concealed weapons law. |
GA: Gun carry bill passes Georgia House
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Legislation passed Tuesday by the Georgia House would allow school districts to arm teachers, and gun owners, with carry permits, to take their weapons into churches, bars and government buildings.
House Bill 875, “Safe Carry Act,” authored by Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, with Rep. Dustin Hightower, R-Carrollton, as a co-sponsor, passed by a 119-56 vote. The legislation now heads to the state Senate, which has been reluctant in the past to expand gun carry privileges. |
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