Free Republic

A jury convicted Philip K. Green, 40, of reckless homicide.  Green had a CCW permit, and called the police after the shooting.   Green knew the man he shot, and had gone to several bars with him and two others.  This is the first homicide conviction for a Wisconsin resident with a CCW permit.  The permit system has been in place for over 2 years, with over 200,000 permits issued.  If we assume an average of 100,000 permits per year, then the rate of convictions for CCW holders in Wisconsin becomes .5/100,000 with this conviction.  That is about 1/10th of the...

A study published in the latest issue of the academic journal Applied Economics Letters took on many of the claims made regularly by advocates of stricter gun laws. The study determined that nearly every claim made in support of stronger restrictions on gun ownership is not supported by an exhaustive analysis of crime statistics. The study, “An examination of the effects of concealed weapons laws and assault weapons bans on state-level murder rates,” conducted by Quinnipiac University economist Mark Gius, examined nearly 30 years of statistics and concluded that stricter gun laws do not result in a reduction in gun...

The evening of February 27, 2008, in the Miami area, Gabriel Mobley and a friend were viciously attacked by two men. Using his licensed concealed carry pistol, Mr. Mobley successfully fought off the attack, killing both of the aggressors. He was charged with two counts of second degree murder – murder which, under Florida law, requires “malice”. Mobley exercised his rights under Florida’s self-defense immunity state, 776.032 Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force, to avoid going to trial on the basis that it was more likely than not, based on the evidence, that he acted...

Detroit Chief of Police James Craig During his 28 years on the police force in Los Angeles, James Craig tended to agree with his state’s tight control over concealed carry permits, believing fewer guns would lead to fewer violent crimes. But when he moved to Portland, Maine, in 2009 to serve as the city’s new police chief, he discovered a different culture – one where guns actually made people safer. Now Craig, the chief of police in Detroit, Mich., has a message for the law-abiding folks in his crime-ridden city: Arm yourselves, and criminals will think twice about attacking...

Inside his neighborhood market, Mohamed S. Ahmed was screaming for help after a pair of armed robbers had left him bleeding. Outside the northeast Minneapolis store, two men pounded on the window, trying to get back into the University Market after Ahmed managed to lock them out. “They seemed really agitated, super agitated,” said Matt Dosser, who was walking by about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. At first, “nothing made sense, then I saw the gun.” Dosser, who has a permit to carry a gun, reached for his own weapon. One of the robbers “turned around and looked at me,” Dosser recalled....

Construction worker Craig Paulson was thinking about where to go for lunch as he worked on renovations inside a bank-owned residence in a quiet, tree-lined and well-manicured neighborhood in Uptown on one of the last days in November. His appetite and lunchtime thoughts quickly faded, however, when Paulson, working alone in a back room inside the residence on the 3300 block of Girard Avenue, turned around and found himself faced with a “large” man wielding Paulson’s own three foot crowbar just steps from where he was working. The lifelong construction worker and father of three kids of whom he has...

Quinnipiac University economist Mark Gius has published a new study, "An examination of the effects of concealed weapons laws and assault weapons bans on state-level murder rates," in the journal Applied Economics Letters. From the abstract: The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of state-level assault weapons bans and concealed weapons laws on state-level murder rates. Using data for the period 1980 to 2009 and controlling for state and year fixed effects, the results of the present study suggest that states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates than other...

Wichita will open most of its public buildings – including libraries, recreational centers, CityArts and the Wichita Art Museum – to people carrying concealed guns under a new state law. Fearful of lawsuits, the City Council voted 4-2 to allow concealed-carry in all but 16 of 107 city-owned buildings effective Jan. 1. Guns will continue to be banned at City Hall, Mid-Continent Airport buildings, police buildings and city housing department facilities. In city buildings that are leased to third parties, such as the Wichita Boathouse, the operators retain the right to ban guns. The state law, Senate Substitute for House...

There is an interesting case in Wisconsin where a Concealed Carry Weapon license (CCW) holder has been charged with "negligent operation or handling of a dangerous weapon".  From jsonlin: According to the criminal complaint, Marvin W. Jackson, 34, was shopping in the Burlington Coat Factory at 3700 Durand Ave. After he took of his jacket and laid it on a rack while he tried on another, his female companion picked up Jackson's jacket and laid it over her arm because he had forgotten it on a rack earlier. But as she did, Jacson's silver .38 caliber two-shot derringer fell...

THERE THEY were, just below Martha Stewart and Paula Deen and Allure in the magazine rack at the supermarket: the gun periodicals. I bought three. Back at the place where I was staying — this was in upstate New York, a week ago — I pored over the ads and the editorial content, trying to understand what they were saying, and to whom. First, they want you to buy a gun. It will probably not be your first gun; it will be an addition to, and an improvement on, the gun or guns you already own. It may deliver “precision...

"And I Carry" - The real face of permit-to-carry holders in Minnesota. A 2.5 minute video created to dispel stereotypes: http://youtu.be/8pTsEGeqTaE Think you know who permit-to-carry holders are? Twin Cities Gun Owners & Carry Forum, with the generous help of Crucible Arms, put together this short documentary showing a cross section of Minnesota's permit-to-carry holders. Find Twin Cities Gun Owners & Carry Forum on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tcGunsAndCarry We need groups across the country to create and post videos like this.

The family of an armed robbery suspect is ticked off that a “Good Samaritan” shot their kin while he attempted to rob a dollar store in Mobile, Ala.

Ohio State Seal Practical experience has convinced skeptics that ordinary people can be trusted with carrying lethal weapons.  They go from skeptical, to neutral, to becoming supporters.   This is the typical progression for a person who is willing to be convinced by facts.   Most people can change their mind about an issue if it does not challenge their basic assumptions about reality, because that threatens their very identity.  The assumptions of the "Blood in the Streets" anti-rights groups are those of the "progressive elite" model of modern murder.   In that model, murder occurs when an ordinary citizen flies into...

The latest sweeping changes to Ohio gun laws, including a “stand your ground” provision, have generated fierce debate, and the gun bill containing them is set for action in the Ohio House this week. House Bill 203 contains a number of components, including efforts to ensure that cities can’t avoid paying attorneys fees when their gun laws are challenged, and ensuring that people don’t get concealed-carry licenses in Ohio who don’t even qualify for purchasing a gun. “We are attempting to get our constitutional rights back,” said Gary Witt, legislative coordinator for Ohioans for Concealed Carry. But the bill, scheduled...

When new Police Chief Cecil Smith arrived in Sanford, Fla., in April, he suspended the city's neighborhood watch program — the one under whose auspices George Zimmerman had patrolled the streets until he fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin. Now Smith is restarting the program, but the police department says it will exercise more control over volunteers, including doing background checks and asking them not to carry guns. "We just don't see the need for anybody to be armed," Smith told the Associated Press. Smith has chosen to ask the volunteers rather than order them, perhaps because Florida law allows...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A man with a concealed-weapons permit shot and killed an alleged robber in an incident outside of a New York Fried Chicken restaurant that ultimately left two men dead, investigators said Thursday. The two related shootings occurred around 12:45 a.m. Oct. 31 at 734 S. Division Ave. One of the people killed was the robbery suspect, police have said. His name has not been released. Family members have identified Domnick Floyd, 23, of Grand Rapids, as the second victim at the shooting scene. They said that police told them that Floyd was picked out for robbery...

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.