Iraq Vet Murdered in Alaska: An Army military police officer survived 15
months in Iraq, but it was the Anchorage streets that claimed his life.
Authorities say Army Sgt. Evan Minnear died at the hands of a convicted
felon who had been out of jail 16 days and was not supposed to be
carrying a firearm. Authorities believe Vongdeuane Vongthongdy killed
Minnear outside the Woodshed Lounge in downtown Anchorage on Sunday.
Vongthongdy was already on probation for the felony assault with a
weapon during the shooting. The 24-year-old Minnear had been in the Army
since January of 2003 and had been assigned to Anchorage's Fort
Richardson base since October 2005. His unit came back from Iraq to Fort
Richardson in November 2007.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460504,00.html
CCW Banned for Off-Duty Alaska Troops: (Alaska does not require a permit
for concealed carry.)
http://www.usarak.army.mil/policies/PUBS-ACROBAT/USARAK_Policies/CGCOFS%20POLICY%20STATEMENT%2020.pdf
---
Robbery Victim Saved in Connecticut Shootout: Eight hours after finding
himself in the middle of a late-night robbery and gun battle in front of
his business, Dexter Jones was back in his barbershop on Dixwell Avenue
Tuesday greeting customers... Jones, 44, who grew up in New Haven and
has run his shop for more than a dozen years without incident, was
robbed at gunpoint at about 11 p.m. Monday outside the shop. His
neighbors, Garfield and Desmond Mills, who run Wing Madness next door,
saw what was happening, drew their own guns and ended up in a shootout
with the robbers. "If it wasn't for them, I think I would have lost my
life last night," Jones said...
http://nhregister.com/articles/2008/12/03/news/new_haven/a1_--_shooting3.txt
---
Welcome to Kennesaw, We're Packin': ...In 1981, Morton Grove, IL passed
a law prohibiting citizens within the city limits to own firearms. In
response, the city council of Kennesaw, GA unanimously passed a city
ordinance in 1982 requiring heads of households to own at least one
firearm with ammunition. The crime rate in Kennesaw at the time was
already quite low, with only 11 burglaries per 1,000 residents in 1981;
but nonetheless, the crime rate dropped even lower (by 89%) after the
ordinance was passed... (I actually had a Firearms Instructor
Development School classmate killed in a robbery of a shooting range;
while rare, it can happen.)
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263000
---
Bill Would Further Encumber New Jersey Gun Owners: ...State handgun
permits currently take months to receive, and can be further delayed or
denied to anyone unsuitable. Applicants go to their local police,
disclose personal and employment information under penalty of perjury,
get fingerprinted, consent to criminal and mental health background
checks, submit references, pay fees, and then wait, sometimes six months
or longer... S1774 criminalizes use of more than one permit per month,
no matter how long the applicant waited for them or when they expire. It
ignores the background checks and pre-certification, treating honest
citizens like criminals and interfering with self defense and property
transfer. If a gun recently bought for protection from a stalker or
batterer malfunctions or is stolen, it cannot be rapidly replaced when
needed most...
http://blog.nj.com/njv_scott_bach/2008/12/targeting_gun_rights_instead_o.html
---
DC Amends Gun Law: The D.C. Council voted unanimously yesterday to give
preliminary approval to legislation that would require gun owners to
renew their registrations every three years and to notify police
annually whether they still own guns. The Fire Arms Registration
Amendment, which would also ban assault weapons, was described as
building on legislation passed by the council in September to adhere to
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the city's 32-year handgun
ban... Yesterday's gun legislation is the next step in the District's
gun control efforts. Its earlier attempts before the September
legislation prompted a gun-rights activist to sue and the U.S. House of
Representatives to pass legislation that would have all but stripped the
city of its regulating authority. The lawsuit is pending; the
congressional measure died in the Senate...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120203709.html
---
Pennsylvania Town Revises Gun Ordinance: It's a simple change of
language, but one that means so much for people concerned with their
Second-Amendment rights - whether it's legal to carry a gun in a public
park. Millersville Borough Council took up the issue at a recent
meeting, and voted to change a park ordinance so that residents are
allowed to bring a gun to the park but are forbidden from firing it
there... "What we're saying with this is that ... you can carry a
firearm in the park if you have a permit. The issue is whether or not
you can then use that firearm." Millersville police Chief John Rochat
said that, under Pennsylvania law, gun owners can "carry a gun just
about anywhere they want." ...
http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/230917
---
HS Precision Sticks with Horiuchi: In spite of an avalanche of e-mails,
HS Precision, (the rifle and stock maker that promoted its products with
a glowing endorsement from hired killer Lon Horiuchi) has decided to
ignore gun owners who expressed outrage at this bit of marketing
insanity. (The company was even mocked by Tom Gresham of GunTalk last
Sunday.) ...It has been reliably reported to us that HS Precision
considers the people who have contacted them to be "kooks" and "fringe
element." Apparently Remington does not share the same disdain for
their customers. We strongly believe that a company that is far more
interested in the approval of government agencies than American gun
owners is a danger to all of us...
http://oregonfirearms.org/alertspage/12.03.08%20alert.html
---
Security Officer Won't Face Charges: A security guard who shot and
killed a man wielding samurai swords on the grounds of a Scientology
facility in Hollywood will not face criminal charges, the Los Angeles
County district attorney's office said Wednesday. The decision by
prosecutors was in line with the conclusion of Los Angeles police
detectives, who determined that the guard, a 64-year-old retired Seal
Beach police officer, acted in defense of himself and other guards at
the church's Celebrity Centre...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-briefs4-2008dec04,0,1853307.story
---
Everything's Relative: While it's extremely difficult to obtain a
license to carry a concealed weapon, it's fairly easy to purchase a gun.
In either case, law enforcement officials said most people take the
legal route to gun ownership. "Crooks don't buy their guns, they steal
them," said Sam Cross, director of general operations for Palm
Desert-based Coachella Valley Security Academy... (Not mentioned is that
California requires a safety test specific to the handgun being
purchased and a ten-day waiting period on both handguns and long guns.
It's virtually impossible to get a CWP in Riverside County but
relatively easy in neighboring San Bernardino County.)
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20081203/NEWS08/812030313
---
Rule Two, Rule Three Reminder: An LAPD officer was wounded in an
accidental shooting during an investigation in Venice, authorities said
Tuesday. Officer Anthony Solis was shot in the leg as the result of a
"negligent discharge" of his police weapon around 11 p.m. Monday,
according to Officer Julianne Sohn of the Los Angeles Police
Department's Media Relations Section. The gunshot came from his own
weapon, said LAPD Officer Karen Smith... While chasing the suspect,
Solis accidentally fired a single round from his .45 caliber Glock duty
weapon... (Rule Two: Don't let the muzzle cross anything you're not
prepared to shoot. Rule Three: Keep you finger out of the trigger guard,
up on the frame, until your sights are on the target and you're prepared
to fire.)
http://www.ktla.com/landing_news/?Officer-Accidentally-Shot-During-SoCal-M=1&blockID=144701&feedID=171
---
California Expands Lead-Ammo Ban: A ban on hunting with lead ammunition
within the California condor's 2,385-square-mile range will be expanded
to prohibit its use in the shooting of small nuisance animals, according
to a settlement announced Wednesday between environmentalists and state
wildlife authorities. The Condor Preservation Act already forbids lead
for killing big game such as deer, antelope, bear and bighorn sheep, and
non-game species such as feral pigs and coyotes within their range. The
settlement reached by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for
Biological Diversity and California Department of Fish and Game aimed to
clarify rules regarding shooting of smaller pests...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-condors4-2008dec04,0,3916020.story
---
Rochester PD Switches to Beretta PX4: During the next several weeks, the
indoor firing range at the Monroe County Public Safety Training Facility
will be loud and busy, as every sworn member of the Rochester Police
Department will undergo lengthy firearm training sessions. The 763
members of the Rochester Police Department will be making the transition
to new handguns. The department is replacing all of its .45-caliber
Beretta Cougar handguns, which were recently discontinued by the
manufacturer, with a new .45-caliber version - the Beretta Px4 Storm...
The Gates Police Department also recently switched to the same handgun,
and Chief Dave DiCaro said the Px4 is lighter than the Cougar model and
therefore is easier to control... (They must have different physics in
New York State - as a general rule, a lighter gun will recoil more.)
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20081203/NEWS01/812030331/1002/NEWS
---
Mumbai Police Had Not Fired Rifles for Ten Years: The state constabulary
was grossly unprepared to deal with the worst-ever terror attacks on the
metropolis because of an acute shortage of weapons and ammunition.
Official records show that for a force of well over 1.8 lakh, the home
department procured a meagre 2,221 weapons - 577 for Mumbai, and 1,644
for the rest of Maharashtra... In the absence of a firing range and of
ammunition for practice, members of the law enforcement agencies have
not opened fire in the last ten years. ''I've been in the police force
for a long time, but I had no occasion to open fire for practice,'' a
senior inspector of police said. As per the police manual, officials
ranking from constable to assistant inspector get rifles with 30 rounds
each, and those with the rank of police sub-inspector and above get
revolvers, also with 30 rounds each...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai_cops_hadnt_fired_in_10_yrs/articleshow/3783461.cms
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
