Free Republic

The trouble started the night Jeff, one of the guys I drink and talk about God with, announced that he’d been summoned to court for the Zimmerman trial jury pool. We’d kept politics out of our Wednesday night meetings, which are held on my back porch, the six of us seated at an old dining room table propped next to my broken hot tub (Florida short-sale homes come standard with broken hot tubs). Instead of Bible Study, we call it our Tavern Ministry, and while we were often drunk halfway through, a churchlike decorum had always held sway. Once the...

A woman's boyfriend fatally shot the armed ex-boyfriend who attacked her in her Brighton Heights home early Sunday, Pittsburgh police said. The Allegheny County Medical's Examiner's Office identified the dead man as Curtis Edmonds, 37, of Brighton Heights. Police did not identify the shooter or the woman. The shooter, a 39-year-old man from Penn Hills, was not charged. (snip) Online court records did not show any protection from abuse orders filed against Edmonds. He had convictions on his record related to drugs and possessing a firearm despite previous felonies. He arrived early Sunday, confronted her and forced his way in....

The pharmacist initially retreated, but when he could retreat no longer, he pulled his own concealed weapon and shot and killed the masked gunman. Police say the pharmacist is a concealed-carry permit holder.

BOZEMAN — The number of Montana residents with concealed weapons permits has more than doubled since 2008.

The criminal homicide rate for the general population has been added to more accurately compare to the murder plus manslaughter rate for those with a Minnesota carry permit. Minnesota is one of a few states that track crimes committed by Concealed Carry permit holders.  When the Minnesota law was passed, an annual report of crimes committed by permit holders was required.  The Minnesota permit is simply a permit to carry, the law does not discriminate between carrying concealed and carrying openly.  Reports for the law are available for 2003, and 2005-2012 in pdf files.   The number of people...

Minnesota is one of a few states that track crimes committed by Concealed Carry permit holders.  When the Minnesota law was passed, an annual report of crimes committed by permit holders was required.  The Minnesota permit is simply a permit to carry, the law does not discriminate between carrying concealed and carrying openly.  Reports for the law are available for 2003, and 2005-2012 in pdf files.   The number of people with Minnesota permits that commit murder or manslaughter is remarkably low.  Only three instances are recorded in the Minnesota Carry Permit annual reports for the nine years reported....

Editor's note: Compiled from responses submitted to reporter Rick Bella, who asked readers to share their stories and observations about getting a concealed handgun license and carrying concealed weapons. Submissions have been edited for length and clarity. Watch for Bella's full report Tuesday on Oregonlive and Wednesday in The Oregonian. Ed Hurtley Portland I have had a Multnomah County-issued CHL for about 2.5 years now. I took a class with an instructor that was a referral from a friend. The class was very well run, and had a mix of people; white, minority, male, female, liberal, conservative. I have only...

In 1994, when Arizona started its shall issue concealed carry weapon (CCW) program, there was considerable interest in how many and what types of homicides would be related to the new law. I started teaching classes for the Arizona CCW permit when it went into effect, and I immediately noticed that my students were well above average in attitude, responsibility, and civility.   They always pitched in to assist in setting up where necessary, and their personal checks have always been good. When the first statistics became available, I eagerly digested the information. One person with a CCW permit had committed...

Misinformation about the interpretation and application of Arkansas’s new gun laws, specifically about reciprocity, was spread between the legal counsels for the Arkansas State Police and the Idaho State Police in mid-September.What the issue boils down to is whether or not Arkansas will honor Idaho concealed “weapons” permits if said “weapon” is a handgun.The snafu popped up in an official letter dated Sept. 17 written by Arkansas State Police Lt. Cora Gentry to the Idaho State Police: It is our Department’s legal counsel’s opinion that the license issued by another state must specifically be a concealed “handgun” license to be...

UPDATE:  Arkansas Senator Jason Rapert has advised Arkansas Carry that ASP Director Col. Stan Witt has issued a correction letter to Idaho.   Here is a copy of the letter:  http://www.isp.idaho.gov/BCI/documents/CWLRECIPROCITY/Arkansas%202013.pdf It was brought to our attention that the Arkansas State Police is side-stepping Act 1089 by Sen. Jason Rapert.  This bill basically obligated Arkansas to recognize all concealed handgun permits in the country.  The Arkansas State Police claim that a state that issues a "weapons" license is not the same as a "concealed handgun" license and therefore will not recognize any state that has "weapon" instead of "handgun" on their...

It's deja vu again: A Wisconsin woman visiting the 9/11 Memorial yesterday was arrested after a security guard screening her bag spotted a gun in the purse. Ursula Jerry, 41, had a .380-caliber semi-automatic Kel-Tec gun in her purse. The Wall Street Journal reports, "The weapon had two rounds in the magazine-none were in the chamber, the official said." Jerry also told cops, "I travel with this from home on Amtrak to New York City. I don’t mean harm to anyone." Jerry has a permit for the gun in Wisconsin, but not NYC. Responsible gun owners would know that New...

On a road trip from Arkansas through Alabama, an armed citizen, on vacation with his wife, had an encounter with a police officer. Officers on the street have always been more supportive of armed citizens than police administrators.   As state after state made it easier for ever increasing  numbers of citizens to be legally armed in public, the attitude of police became more positive as they gained experience with armed citizens. In the words of Kopis, a contributor to opencarry.org, here is what happened on the road in Alabama: So i rolled the windows down, took the key out...

Sheriff George David has illegally denied concealed carry permits to hundreds of people who applied for them, according to some of the state’s top experts on the subject. An investigation by the Beaver Countian has uncovered over 300 instances in the past two years where individuals who appear to qualify for gun permits under state law, were then denied the right to carry a concealed firearm because of additional policies created by Sheriff David. Sheriff David requires individuals who are cleared to have a gun permit by the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS is a system run by the Pennsylvania...

The game was called "point 'em out, knock 'em out," and it was as random as it was brutal.The object: Target an innocent victim for no other reason than they are there, then sucker punch him or her.But on this day in Lansing, there would be no punch. The teen-age attacker had a stun gun. He did not know his would-be victim was carrying a legally concealed pistol. The teen lost the game................The 17-year-old in gym shorts approached his target. The 28-year-old Lansing man was waiting for his daughter at her school-bus stop at REO Road and Ballard Street.....The teen...

Domino’s employee Bryon Park, 54, had just returned to his vehicle after delivering a pizza to a room in a Days Inn motel in West Melbourne, Fla., about midnight Friday when Fredrick Lorenza Kelly Jr., 32, approached him with a large knife, the Brevard Times reports. Kelly allegedly threatened to kill Park if he didn’t hand over money. A police official reports Park grabbed a gun he carries in his vehicle and fired once toward Kelly, who was later pronounced dead at the scene, the Times reports. “Preliminary evidence in the case demonstrates that the intended victim of the...

I have not actually posted in some time, other then the occasional reply to a post, and now I post a vanity. I encountered the California Highway Patrol while carrying concealed and wanted to share the experience. I was returning from Sacramento to my home near Angels Camp, in the Motherlode region of the state, when I crested a rise in the road . My radar detector, I have one for entertainment not circumvention of the law, went off and I saw a CHP on the shoulder to my right, a CHP approaching in the opposite lane, and behind the...

Photo by Oleg Volk Most police support armed citizens, but that is not true of all police, especially politically appointed administrators in large cities.   As the reality arrives, after shall issue concealed carry laws are passed, most administrators come to see that they have been mislead by citizen disarmament ideologues, and admit, even grudgingly, that they were wrong. The big cities in Michigan fought hard against allowing citizens to carry guns.  Now many opponents cannot seem to remember why.  From freep.com: Michigan's prosecuting attorneys association led the push against changing the law in 2001. Today, Ionia County Prosecutor...

While there were two lawyers at the defense table, there were three at the State’s: Bernie de la Rionda, John Guy, and Richard Mantei. With about a hundred lawyers to pick from, knowing her office would be in the spotlight, State’s Attorney Angela Corey wouldn’t have put anyone on the team she thought would make her look bad. Mantei was third chair, and the lowest guy on the totem pole gets the scut work in any organization. For instance, he was the one they sent in to argue that the state had proven its case when it hadn’t during the...

Watching the Zimmerman trial in 2013 was like watching the OJ Simpson trial in 1995: while the general public got a hell of an education on how these things work thanks to live TV trial coverage, those “in the business” were assessing the skills and strategies of the key players. The face of the defense was that of a two-man team, Mark O’Mara and Don West. The general consensus was that they did a helluva good job, and that O’Mara was the best lawyer in the courtroom during that trial. Some criticized him for not being harsher on some witnesses;...

From Firearms Records Bureau v. Simkin (Mass. Aug. 8, 2013): Simkin is a New Hampshire resident and a federally licensed firearms dealer who is engaged in the “buying and selling [of] firearms in the region, from private parties, at gun shows, and at auctions.” Since 2002, he has held a temporary nonresident Class A unrestricted license to carry firearms in Massachusetts. In February, 2009, Simkin applied to the bureau for a renewal of his license, stating as his purpose for requesting the renewal that he traveled in and through Massachusetts for business purposes, carrying firearms, ammunition, and cash, and...