Free Republic

Police are searching for two burglary suspects after Sgt. Craig “Hutch” Hutchinson was killed in a shooting at his house early Monday morning. The sergeant was shot at his home on Oak Meadow Drive in the Cimmaron neighborhood, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Sheriff Greg Hamilton said Hutchinson radioed the department around 1:22 a.m. when he saw suspects running around his backyard. By 1:32 a.m. when officers arrived at Hutchinson’s house he was found on the ground in the backyard near a creek. He was transported to a Round Rock Hospital where he was pronounced dead. “Our...

Missouri lawmakers passed a sweeping expansion of gun rights Friday, allowing people to carry concealed guns without needing permits while also expanding their right to stand and fight against perceived threats. The legislation, which goes to Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, was among the most prominent measures passed by the Republican-led Legislature on the final day of its annual session. Under the measure, most people could carry concealed guns, even if they haven’t gone through the training now required to get a permit. The legislation would also expand the state’s “castle doctrine” by allowing invited guests such as baby sitters to...

Video Link Great advice from Don West, co-defense counsel representing George Zimmerman.

ST. LOUIS • Ernest Williams, 14, says he, his cousin and their friend were wrong to sneak out on their bikes at night, hop a backyard fence and rummage through someone’s car for pocket change. The car’s owner interrupted the boys and shot at them about 12:45 a.m. Sunday, killing Ernest’s 13-year-old cousin, Martinez Smith-Payne. Ernest wishes they had gone home instead of riding down that North Point neighborhood alley. “I was just thinking while in the jail cell, what was up in that car was not worth Martinez’s life,” Ernest said on his front porch Monday, standing next to...

Two years ago, in May of 2013, James George Stiffler shot a man who was burglarizing his home in Lewis and Clark County, Montana. The burglar, Henry Tomas Johnson of Helena, managed to make it to his car, but died before being able to leave the property. The case illustrates the ability of forensic science to determine details of what happened. From helenair.com: Henry Thomas Johnson, 37, of Helena, was shot dead in 2013 while apparently ransacking a home in Lewis and Clark County. Nearly two years later, the county attorney has charged homeowner James George Stiffler with felony...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, said the second man involved in a home break-in that turned deadly near the Charlotte/Mint Hill border has been arrested. Another suspected intruder was killed when a 14-year-old inside the house shot and killed him Tuesday night, police said.The two intruders, who police identified as 18-year-old Isai Delcid and his 22-year-old brother Carlos Delcid, attempted to break into the home on Rolling Fields Lane just after 5 p.m., according to investigators. Isai was shot and died at the scene while police said Carlos fled. Officers arrested Carlos late Tuesday night and charged...

Suspect Jaime Lewis When you are an elderly woman, you are likely to have more leeway in how you interact with criminals.  It is partly a matter of being more vulnerable; and partly a matter of the statistics reinforcing the stereotype that women are less aggressive than men.  In Georgia, a 73-Year-Old woman shot an intruder through her bedroom door, after he had broken into the house.  The woman heard the doorbell ring a little before 10 pm, but did not answer.  She saw a truck parked in the middle of an intersection, and called 911.   From ajc.com:...

Long Beach homeowner Tom Greer, 80, told a TV station he began firing after his collarbone was broken during an assault by the woman and a man that Greer discovered in his home. ... Greer said he fired at the burglars inside and outside his home, even though the female burglar told him not to shoot because she was pregnant. ... An autopsy has confirmed Miller wasn’t pregnant, Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Ed Winter said Friday. ... Under California law, homeowners have a right to protect themselves with deadly force inside their homes and in the immediate vicinity —...

Lakesha Thompson sports a particularly warped view of the entitlement mindset: An elderly man shot and killed a would-be burglar inside his Oak Cliff home. Police say the homeowner saw Deyfon Pipkins, 33, trying to climb into the window and fired his weapon at least once at the intruder. The homeowner is legally protected by the Castle Doctrine, which allows a person to defend his or her home against an intruder. “It means they don’t actually have to retreat once someone comes in their home,” Sergeant Calvin Johnson, Dallas Police Department, said. “You have the option of using deadly force...

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL (WFLA) - When soldier Michael Sharkey was deployed to Afghanistan two years ago, he asked a friend to watch over his New Port Richey house. Sharkey and his wife are now living in Hawaii where he is currently stationed. They plan to move back into their New Port Richey home someday. But, right now they are fighting to get their house back. They say strangers broke in, changed the locks, moved in and they refuse to leave. "I want the people out," said Sharkey. "They're criminals living in my house." Sharkey was shocked to find out...

Tears flowed on both sides of a Spokane courtroom Thursday as a jury acquitted Gail Gerlach of manslaughter in the March 2013 death of Brendon Kaluza-Graham. Gerlach’s wife, Sharon, wept and embraced her family as the verdict, not guilty on both a first-degree and second-degree manslaughter charge, was read in open court. Ann Kaluza-Graham, grandmother of the man shot dead trying to steal Gerlach’s SUV, burst into tears as she said her grandson never got a chance to answer theft charges or prove himself a changed person. “This was a tragedy,” Gerlach said in a brief statement after the verdict...

The shooting occurred on October 19, 2012, at about 2:44 am and was a classic case of self defense and castle doctrine.   The deceased was a violent convict that had a long history of crime and fighting, and had alcohol, cocaine, and Oxycodone in his system when he was shot. His relatives complained vigorously when they found out that he was shot, claiming that "they did not have to shoot him". On June 27, 2013, it was reported that Jack Dillon would not be charged.   A grand jury had determined that his decision to shoot Jeffrey Carson fell within...

The east Allentown man who shot a robber to death Wednesday night was first pistol-whipped by three robbers acting together, a neighbor said Thursday. And when the resident of 655 Westminster St. pulled a gun in self-defense, one of the robbers fired at the resident, a man in his 50s, said the neighbor, recounting what the resident told him. .... Other neighbors said they believe the armed resident has a license to carry a firearm. A woman who opened the door of the alleged shooter's small, single-story home Thursday said the family did not wish to comment. Kevin Kern, who...

The Colorado man who police say shot and killed his 14-year-old stepdaughter after allegedly mistaking her for a burglar has been identified as a highly decorated Army officer. According to information released to MailOnline Tuesday afternoon by officials at Fort Carson, Colorado, 2nd Lt Daniel Meade has been named in a fatal incident involving his daughter, Kiana O’Neil. The victim, of Colorado Springs, was gunned down after a burglary was reported at her family's home. Police spokesman Larry Herbert said the girl's stepfather fired the shot, but said it was unclear if he had mistaken the teen for a burglar....

Police arrested a 43-year-old Detroit man who attempted to break into Kid Rock's home. The man, who has not been identified, was arrested at his home north of Detroit after the singer offered a $5,000 reward to anyone who could provide information on him. Prior to his arrest, Kid Rock posted surveillance images of the suspect  - who was notably wearing crutches during the attempted burglary - on his website and stated that he is an 'avid hunter and marksman' and 'will not hesitate to shoot anyone' who threatens his family. 'Don't mess with a mother****** like me,' the singer,...

NEW ORLEANS -- A 14-year-old boy is hospitalized in critical condition after being shot in the head by a Marigny homeowner. Police say the teen was standing on the shooter's property in the 700 block of Mandeville Street. Now the homeowner faces an attempted second degree murder charge. "I think its a terrible situation. I know Merritt very well. He's a very good friend and it's very sad," said neighbor Charles Hazouri. Around 2 a.m. Friday, the New Orleans Police Department says a 14-year-old boy ended up shot in the head, allegedly standing in 33-year-old Merritt Landry's yard. Police say...

In our discussions of the Stand Your Ground principle, bogeymen and shadows predominate. We hear much of the National Rifle Association, of the conservative nonprofit “ALEC,” of “the South,” and, particularly ludicrously, of “white supremacy.” Disinformation and hyperbole, too, are rife. To take the more extravagant of the rule’s critics at face value would be to conclude that permissive self-defense regimes are recent inventions — a hijacking of the justice system by would-be vigilantes and their enablers. But all of this is rather silly. In truth, the Stand Your Ground principle, which holds only that one may fight back...

It's no secret that there are a lot of concealed carry permit (CCW) holders in New Mexico. As of the last count there are 22,000 licensees in the state according to: Legally Armed. Thanks to Governor Bill Richardson the law was passed and even our state's current governor, Susanna Martinez packs heat and has her CCW license. See the New Mexico Concealed Carry Act HERE. After all this is the Wild, Wild West and known acclaimed outlaws like "Billy the Kid" have been known to frequent these parts. Let's face it Guns and the Frontier way are a part of...

Numerous writers, most recently Emily Bazelon of Slate, have touted the Brice Harper case from Montana as evidence against the castle doctrine, which allows people to use lethal force when it’s necessary to keep intruders off their property. These accounts tend to minimize the threat that Harper faced when he shot and killed Dan Fredenberg, and while it’s a difficult case, it hardly proves that the castle doctrine is bad policy.Harper was in some sort of relationship (he refused to call it an “affair” in interviews with police) with Dan Fredenberg’s wife, Heather (who said it was “pretty much”...

I’m going to assume you’re a reasonable person. You do not provoke or engage in physical confrontations for the sport of it. You are legally authorized to possess a firearm. Further, your self-defense case does not hinge upon your alcohol consumption, your right to stand your ground or some off colored remark you may have made a week ago. Regardless of all of these things, you may still end up seeing the inside of a courtroom after you fire your gun defensively and there are still three big things in particular that can land you into blistering hot, legal and...