This is just cool

Hotel clerk fights back in Cleveland

Hint for all the bad guys out there: Bring a gun to a gunfight and you will get shot. This feral ape took 3 rounds from the clerks 9mm and was caught in the parking lot and taken to the hospital by police.

Pro-Gun Groups Disagree on Bill Improving Background Checks

By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
August 30, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - A Second Amendment group is warning gun owners that a "massive gun control bill" is now working its way through Congress -- and is surprisingly close to becoming law.

Gun Owners of America also admits that it is the only national pro-gun group to oppose the "NICS Improvement Act of 2005" (H.R. 1415).

Introduced by gun control advocate Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, H.R. 1415 is intended to improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which screens would-be gun buyers for mental problems or criminal convictions that would bar them from buying guns.

Most background checks are processed through NICS in seconds, but some are delayed if the FBI lacks complete, updated, and automated information from the states.

The bill notes that approximately 24 million criminal records are not automated or not accessible to NICS; and another 16 million criminal records are not up to date. Some lack information on whether an arrested person was convicted or acquitted, for example.

Many states have failed to computerize the necessary information and make it available to NICS in a "usable format," and that's what the McCarthy bill would address.

But Gun Owners of America warns that the bill would give the states hundreds of millions of dollars to "further prop up the unconstitutional Brady Law." GOA argues that the federal government lacks the authority to conduct background checks on gun buyers under the Second and Tenth Amendments.

Rep. McCarthy and Sen. Charles Schumer, both New York Democrats, first introduced this bill in 2002 after a double murder at a Long Island Catholic church. The gunman had passed an instant background check because the NICS did not have information about his mental health problems and a restraining order that should have prevented him from buying a gun.

The bill passed the House in 2002, but was killed in the Senate.

"There are many good pro-gun members on the committee who are being fed misinformation," Gun Owners of America said. "They're being told that this is a harmless bill that will simply make the Brady law work more efficiently."

According to Gun Owners of America, the bill is "anything but harmless" because it will make available to the federal government millions of state records "that could include state tax returns, employment records, library records, DMV, hospital, mental health and some misdemeanor records -- all in the name of making sure you're not prohibited from owning a gun."

GOA argues that the bill will allow for an enormous data dump from the states to the federal government -- "laying the infrastructure for even more gun control in the future."

"H.R. 1415, perhaps the most massive expansion of gun control since the Brady bill passed in 1993, is not a bill that should be supported by pro-gun conservatives," GOA said. It warns that the bill's strongest supporters include anti-gun lawmakers and gun control groups.

"If you don't act quickly, your representative will hear only voices of support for this monstrosity," Gun Owners of America said.

Okay with NRA

The National Rifle Association takes a less ominous view of the bill.

"This bill...would improve availability of criminal history and other records for conducting background checks on firearm buyers," says an analysis on the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action website.

The NRA said the bill, among other things, also prohibits the FBI from charging a user fee for background checks on gun buyers.

The NRA agrees that NICS records are inadequate -- and it notes that inaccurate or incomplete records can delay firearm purchases and result in "wrongful denials" of law-abiding gun-buyers.

"This bill would help fix those problems," the NRA-ILA said. "Importantly," the NRA noted, H.R. 1415 also requires removal of records that are incorrect or irrelevant in determining a person's eligibility to buy a firearm.

For instance, if a person was at one time committed to a mental institution, but was later found not to be mentally ill, that record should be removed from instant check databases, the NRA said.

The bill requires federal agencies and states to provide "all relevant records" to the FBI for use in the NICS system.According to the NRA, "This would generally include records of convicted felons, fugitives from justice, persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, and persons subject to domestic restraining orders, as well as federal records of illegal aliens."

It also includes records of people who have been adjudicated mentally defective or committed to a mental institution.

H.R. 1415 passed of a House crime subcommittee in May and is slated to come before the full Judiciary Committee in September.



All original CNSNews.com material, copyright 1998-2006 Cybercast News Service.

Best police shooting ever

Gun `Microstamping` Bill Passes California Senate

The California Senate on August 24 passed a bill that would require the "microstamping" of semi-automatic handguns--giving cartridges fired from those guns a unique imprint, which according to gun control advocates, somehow would help police solve crimes.

Kansans eager for concealed carry law

By James Carlson
The Capital-Journal

The Kaw Valley Gun Club has no problem filling its concealed gun safety classes as Kansas gets closer to issuing its first concealed-carry permits.

"I'm getting a lot of calls," said Bill Dittman, KVGC president.

In the two months since applications became available, 1,095 people have applied to the Kansas Attorney General's office for four-year concealed-carry permits.

And the rate of submissions is only increasing. Applications to carry concealed weapons in the state became available on June 1. Permits won't be issued until Jan. 1.

In Shawnee County, 568 people have picked up applications, and 77 have returned the completed form, said Sgt. Pat McGuire with the Shawnee County Sheriff's Office.

Chuck Sexson, the new director of the concealed-carry unit in the attorney general's office, said applications came in slow at the beginning. Now he is receiving an average of 45 to 50 new applications each day, with as many as 80 coming in on some days.

"It's pretty much what we expected," Sexson said. "People want to get theirs in before January."

Most applications are coming from the population centers in Johnson, Sedgwick and Shawnee counties, where Sexson says there are more concealed gun safety instructors. As part of the application process, permit-seekers must show proof of eight hours of gun safety instruction.

"It's just harder for people to get into a class in the smaller counties," Sexson said.

Statewide, there are 302 instructors certified to teach the attorney general-approved class. Shawnee County alone has 32 instructors, more than any other county.

Dittman said he has conducted about 15 classes so far at KVGC with more than 160 people attending. But he has been surprised at the lack of women in the classes.

"I thought more women wanting to protect themselves would be coming in," he said.

Dittman estimates that 95 percent of the people in his classes are middle-aged men.

George Petersen, a geologist by week and certified concealed gun safety instructor by weekend, said he has already conducted two classes in Shawnee County with about 30 people between the two.

"I'm traveling all the time for my job, and people are asking me about the class everywhere I go," he said.

Petersen charges $150 for his class. Dittman charges $125 for KVGC members and $150 for nonmembers.

The class itself is some gun safety and a lot of Kansas law instruction.
"Basically, we tell them what they can and can't do with their gun," Dittman said.
To qualify for a permit, applicants can't have a felony criminal history. People involuntarily committed to a mental health or substance abuse treatment center also are disqualified from receiving a permit.

Of the processed applications, Sexson said about 90 percent have met the qualifications to receive a concealed-gun permit.

He said applicants will receive notices in November or December to inform them whether they have been approved. Approved applicants can then go to a Department of Motor Vehicle bureau and have a picture taken. Within seven to 10 days, they should receive their permits.

Applications, which will cost a total of $150 in fees, can be picked up at local sheriff's offices or online at the Attorney General's Web site, www.ksag.org.


James Carlson can be reached at (785) 295-1192 or james.carlson@cjonline.com.

High Flying Motorcycle Accident

This guy's flying high during his motorcycle accident.

Agent Shooting Himself In The Foot During A Weapons Demonstration

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent that shows shooting himself in the foot during a weapons demonstration for Florida children. The cop during a "drug education presentation" in April 2004 to a Florida youth group when his firearm (a Glock .40) accidentally discharged. The shooting occurred moments after the agent told the children that he was the only person in the room professional enough to carry the weapon. He is no longer permitted or able to give "educational motivational speeches and presentations."

Plane crash into wall

Wall test for atomic bomb. Plane is run into it at 500mph and nothing happens to it. The plane incinerates

We can limit gun violence by empowering responsible citizens to defend themselves

By James J. Na

As Seattleites emerge from their state of shock over the July 28 shooting spree at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, there no doubt will be discussions on how to prevent a repeat of this kind of monstrous evil, whether perpetrated as a form of decentralized terrorism inspired by anti-Semitism, or as an act of a deranged individual.

Predictably, there will be cries to restrict the instruments of Naveed Afzal Haq's actions — firearms — as a means to control violence of this sort in the future. Coming on the heels of another shooting spree in March of this year on Capitol Hill, there will be much political temptation to be seen to be "doing something."

And legislating more restrictions on the right to keep and bear firearms is often viewed as an emotionally satisfying and politically convenient way to meet that psychological need to do something — anything — in the aftermath of a tragedy like this.

But that inclination is misguided on two points, one based on principle and the other on practicality. First, as a matter of principle, a free, open society like ours does not, and ought not, preemptively restrict freedom of the general population out of fear that a small criminal minority would misuse that freedom.

Just as the fact that a few pedophiles use the Internet to trade child porn should not move the society to restrict access to the Internet for the public at large, neither should the right of the vast majority of responsible, law-abiding citizens to own and carry guns be sacrificed in the false hope that criminals would then be constrained.

Second, as a matter of practicality, such a restriction on guns does nothing to curb violence. Even if legal firearm ownership were completely banned today, no serious person would argue that we could eradicate the availability of firearms on the black market. Those who intend to harm others will still be able to get guns — illegally.

Those who are unable to do so, but still harbor criminal intents, will use other means to inflict harm. In England, for example, a man went on a slashing spree with a sword at a church in 1999; and early this year, a recent University of North Carolina graduate, a native of Iran, plowed into a crowd with a sport utility vehicle "to avenge Muslim deaths."

Guns, knives and any other conceivable arms are obviously banned in our prison system, but despite the most strenuous control measures, people are still assaulted and murdered at prisons, often with improvised weapons. It is a fact of life that there will always be those few, for whatever reasons, who seek to inflict physical harm upon others even in the most benign of utopias.

Then what are we to do as a society?

What we ought to do is precisely the opposite — to encourage a responsible, armed citizenry. Of course, I want to make it absolutely clear that I do not encourage vigilantism. I am not suggesting that people arm themselves and go looking for trouble. You leave that to the professionals who get paid to take the risk.

Nor am I suggesting that an armed citizen could have entirely prevented the Jewish Federation attack. But an armed citizen defending his school, church, synagogue or home could mitigate the extent of the casualty level should such a calamity strike again (as happened in Pearl, Miss., in 1997, when an assistant principal interrupted a school shooting by retrieving his gun from his car — ironically it was illegal for him to bring a gun to school — and holding the suspect at bay until the police arrived).

Despite what some politicians and groups say, there is no magic solution for curbing murderous violence. We cannot ban mechanical objects and expect twisted human beings to cleanse evil from their souls suddenly. Furthermore, in a free, open society like ours, where we all live with some degree of mutual trust and a social contract to not do harm to each other, there is no reliable way of preemptively stopping someone intent on harming others.

The only thing we can do is to try to limit the damage by continuing to empower the majority of law-biding, decent individuals with the freedom to defend themselves.

James J. Na, senior foreign policy fellow at Discovery Institute (discovery.org), co-authors "The Korea Liberator" (korealiberator.org) and "Guns and Butter Blog" (gunsandbutter.blogspot.com).
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

Unarmed clerk in condition white

Armed clerk fights back

SHOCKING POLICE VIDEO

SECURITY GUARD THEATER #11 An amazing armed robbery caught on tape ends when a robber gets knocked out jumping off the counter trying to get away. See the uncut police videos the networks won't air. 50+ episodes only available online. From the creator/executive producer of television's 'Shocking Police Video' and 'Protect & Serve'.

Victim focuses on self-defense as parole of attackers nears

TERRY KINNEY
Associated Press

HAMILTON, Ohio - A woman who was repeatedly raped 23 years ago has learned self-defense and how to shoot a gun in case two of her attackers return to her town when they're paroled on Monday.

"If it's me or them, it's not going to be me anymore," said Cathy Lindsey. "I would not hesitate for a minute to protect my life."

At the time of the attack, Lindsey was a 24-year-old divorced mother of three, working part time and attending college.
"I thought I was doing well," she said. "Then my life was shattered."

Three men broke into her Middletown home, tied her up and held a gun to her head and raped her repeatedly. They made her beg for her life and for the safety of her children, who were in another room, and forced her to say over and over that she would not tell police.

When they finally left, Lindsey drove to a hospital and ignored the men's threats to kill her. She identified two attackers, and later picked the third from a police lineup. They had been so bold - or so inept - that they took turns wearing a single pillowcase over their heads, Lindsey said.

All three men denied any involvement, but police found their fingerprints in Lindsey's apartment and found the gun, pillowcase and clothesline used to bind her hands in the home of Richard Reed Jr., who lived across the street.

Reed, 53, and Robert Hogsten, 49, are being released Monday, after serving all but five years of their sentences on rape convictions. In exchange for their guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped charges of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.

Hogsten said last week he did not plan to return "so I don't have to be around the victim, so the victim does feel better."
Reed's family expects him to return to the area. He has a son in nearby Monroe.

"He just wants to spend time with his family and see his grandchildren," Richard Reed III recently told The Middletown Journal.

Lindsey dreads the possibility that either man could live near her home in Middletown. Both have been declared sexual predators, Reed during a February hearing and Hogsten last week during a hearing here in Butler County Common Pleas Court, which Lindsey attended.

"They're arrogant and violent and they can think of only one thing - revenge," Lindsey said. "I feel like a walking target. I walk down the street like I've got a bull's eye on me."

The third man convicted in the attack is Hogsten's brother, Edward Hogsten, 50. He did not take a plea bargain, was convicted of rape, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 28 to 68 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2011.

Lindsey, a licensed practical nurse, said she has nightmares about being attacked by the men again. She does not leave her house alone and depends on her husband to drive her to and from work.

Dana Gilbert, assistant director of the Rape Crisis & Abuse Center in Cincinnati, said Lindsey's fears are understandable, even after so many years. Counselors generally urge victims to seek protective orders and support groups, but learning self-defense techniques also can be helpful, she said.

"If they would feel more comfortable knowing how to defend themselves, that is certainly something that would make them feel empowered," Gilbert said. "I would hate to see a confrontation, but if someone feels safer and more empowered, that's good."

Lindsey and her husband, Michael, filed for protective orders to be served on Reed and Hogsten before their release, and have applied for permits to carry concealed weapons. Michael, a prison guard and Army veteran, has helped teach his wife to shoot.

Her preference is a snub-nosed revolver, but she also can handle his .45-caliber automatic, her husband said.

"She's not looking forward to that time, but she's prepared," he said. "I think she can pull the trigger, absolutely. Hopefully, she'll never have to find out."

Middletown City Manager Bill Becker, a former police officers who was one of the detectives investigating the case 23 years ago, said he never was a fan of concealed carry laws.

"But it's certainly Cathy's right, if she feels the need, and in this particular case, I wouldn't blame her," he said.

Although Lindsey says she hates being so afraid and dreads the public hearings that dredge up memories of her rape, her husband believes that talking about it so openly is also cathartic.

"Every time, she gets a little stronger," he said.

Let Me Show You How Stupid Kalifornia Is.

August 26, 2006 Vox Populi, John Longenecker

What a disgrace.

Who puts the K in Kalifornia? It’s not the Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger because of his Austrian heritage, but the tactics of the State Legislators who put the K in Kalifornia years before anyone even heard of Governor Arnold’s running for Governor. Here is yet another example of those stupid, unAmerican tactics – Assembly Bill 352, the requirement for a semi-automatic handgun to stamp the serial number on the casing of the cartridge. If it doesn’t, the gun is deemed to be unsafe.

Uh-huh. Unsafe? Sind Sie dumm? Translation: Are you stupid?
AB 352 would “expand the definition of unsafe handgun to include semiautomatic pistols that are not designed and equipped with a microscopic array of characters, that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched into the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and which are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired.”

It’s putting a K in Kalifornia by dint of the fact that it won’t work, it can be circumvented by criminals several different ways, it unduly penalizes innocent gun owners by forced compliance and penalty, and, of course, it exercises powers not granted. Let’s take a look.

It won’t work because the technology doesn’t exist at this time, and even without that technology – and a necessarily reliable one at that – the law still makes non-complying weapons illegal, deemed as (get this) unsafe. This kind of misnomer, or craftily using the inappropriate but emotional adjective for such a stated reason, betrays the legislature’s real intent; gun banning, a little at a time. Why?

The gun is not unsafe because supposedly in 2007-2008 it won’t further furnish its own indicting evidence (guns already furnish plenty of forensics) – any gun is unsafe in the hands of a criminal, and who says that before the fact a cartridge casing of a law-abiding owner is likely to be involved in a criminal act? This opens the door to falsified evidence, not to mention forced compliance of innocent citizens who vastly outnumber the criminals who would be stupid enough (?) to select semi-automatics from now on.

How it can be circumvented for furtherance/concealment of crime is simple enough even a legislator can see it. Which is why they wrote it against the legal gun owners. Gun laws don’t stop crime or criminals. (Idiots). If – and I’m saying if – such a mechanism can be developed to reliably imprint individual casings once they’re fired, why can’t the criminal shooter simply police their brass? This means to cover the area and take up every spent casing and dispose of it elsewhere, for good, perhaps in the Pacific Ocean. So much for the law.

Stupid legislators punish honest owners by writing a law which can be further circumvented by using a revolver instead of a semi-automatic.

At this point, I always like to point out how more than 22,000 don’t stop crime, but only frustrate the law-abiding. Is das jetz ein anderan ein? Ja, das ist einanderen ein. Is this yet another one? Yes, this is another one! *These idiots don’t understand plain English!

All of these laws, including this one, chase crime, and do not stop it, the real desire of most citizens. Dear Kalifornia legislature: name one gun law that stops crime. But on the issue of actually meeting crime - often actually stopping it for real - forty other states are more enlightened than Kalifornia is, they furnish an excellent model in that they just don’t seem to have the same crime problems Kalifornia and Washington D.C. have.

Hm. Stopping crime in progress. If it works in forty other states, why not try it here?
Furthermore, the stamping might identify the weapon but certainly not the shooter. Now, that’s three out of three that won’t work. It could never prove who did the shooting. This is as limiting as the state claiming you (or a legislator) ran over a neighbor just because someone traced the licence plate back to the vehicle: it doesn’t show who was driving, which is the critical data. I’m all for license plates, but they, too, have their evidentiary limitations: it may show who owns what, but it doesn’t show who did what, namely the criminal act. A legislator’s personal car could be used, then what? You’re going to have to locate a different type of evidence if you’re going to identify with moral certainty who shot whom, and moral certainty is technically a big deal throughout Law. And that would be the very good faith purpose of such a law, would it not?

Try again.

When this law fails - and it will - it’s will have been a terrible waste of time and professional reputation.

It would be so easy for someone to collect just one sample spent cartridge from elsewhere – perhaps months earlier and perhaps miles away – and allege it to have been found at the scene of a shooting. This could very, very easily happen for the weapon owned by a policeman or legitimate bodyguard, unless their weapons are exempt. Hm. That would not be cool. That casing could be from the shooting range, a hunting trip, a negligent discharge in the hands of a friend or even a laboratory, but the legislators don’t care who gets caught up in the nightmare – as long as a cartridge casing is produced so they can look smart, to Hell with Justice. And to exempt public servants from such allegedly valuable requirements would be very suspicious.
Of course there is the complete picture: how does the secured stamped casing match the bullet if a bullet is even recovered? [And if such a bullet isn’t recovered, how do we even know which gun then?] Supposedly recovered casings could easily be a casing just lying around and have no evidentiary significance in a shooting, except to idiots who don’t understand guns and who don’t understand Law. They just hate both.

Evidence of this is where the anti-liberty movement claims to target violence, but hits innocent bystanders. Yer a lousy shot.

President Johnson cared about the issue of rotten legislation. He cared enough to mention this (I don’t care who wrote it for him):

You do not examine legislation in light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
Now the concept is recognized and preserved for all time. Good. And he was a Democrat, like Humphrey, Mondale and Kennedy who were pro-liberty, and they were pro-gun enough to back that liberty and spoke of it often. What the Hell happened to our Democrats? A lot of Democrats are remembered with respect, affection and solemnity. A lot of politicians are remembered so.

Not this crowd.

What does the Kalifornia legislature speak of today and how do they intend to get it? It forgets that citizen possession of weapons is a government hands-off way of life here under our system, because the armed citizen is the first and best line of defense. (Most police officers will acknowledge this, Sacramento, if you’re interested.) Changing that system is not permitted by law, and it’s not wise for any community, but it’s done anyway. The end result is that citizens are disarmed, little by little, as official dependency industries grows and a lot of people make a lot of money.

More genius, more elitism, since law enforcement draws from the pool of the average citizen for its officer candidates, and nearly all gun owners are just as innocent and law-abiding in their background checks and values systems as police candidates/graduates (or we wouldn’t have many officers!).

As for powers not granted, legislators ignore the Constitution, which technically makes the subject of citizen ownership of guns entirely verboten and closed to discussion. When this country was formed, the founding fathers had an exquisite idea of what they didn’t want any more of, and they had the very clear idea that protecting the sovereignty they declared required that citizens, as the ultimate authority of the nation, be forever armed. Forever. Ultimate authority. This over-reach exists in every era and it always will. This is why the subject is not even open to discussion.

Yet, officials pry it open with minute issues, anti-violence rhetoric, and ridiculous go-nowhere legislation. Assumption of powers not granted – for any so-called justification, anti-violence or otherwise – reflects a very poor understanding of the nature of the relationship between them and the people they work for. It means that such persons were unfit for the job since Day One. That explains a lot.

Nope, this law won’t stop a single crime, and probably won’t solve one, but it will vex citizens in that sick, unending endeavor of supervision and surveillance and of using force to back it up. (The German word for sick is krank.)

Iss das nicht ein schtupid move? Ja, das ist ein sehr schtupid move.

It keeps the K in Kalifornia. Stupid, unreasonable laws which assume powers not granted and which will not do as promised.

How does this affect non-gun owners?

Officials want to have all the force and to Hell with the People. That’s you, and it emboldens officials to further over-reach and to take powers not granted for all other issues important to you and your household. There is a direct connection between gun control and a simultaneous official defiance of the law all other issues.

Pro-liberty assembly persons: how about a moratorium on all anti-liberty, anti-violence, anti-gun bills, including AB352?

It’s not good for California. It’s not good for the country.
______________________________________________________
John’s website is http://www.goodforthecountry.com/

Posted in Vox Populi, John Longenecker at 9:17 am by John Longenecker Permalink

Homeowner shot and killed intruder

AURORA, Colo. -- A homeowner shot and killed a man who he said tried to force his way into the home Tuesday morning 8/22/06. It happened in the 1700 block Fulton at about 8:27 a.m. "The intruder used a window that was partially opened with an air conditioning unit to gain entry into the home and climbed inside," said Detective Bob Friel. "At that point he was confronted by the homeowner and the intruder was shot one time with a shotgun. "According to Friel, the intruder pushed out the air conditioner to gain just before he was shot. Police said the man was rushed to the hospital but died from his wounds. They also said the homeowner had been burglarized in the past. The investigation into the shooting is continuing.

Can’t Believe This Is Happening to Me

Posted by Rob Longenecker on August 24th, 2006

In defensive situations, people deny that they are actually being attacked. “this can’t be happening to me”, “why would this guy want to hurt me?”

It’s predictable. People even say it out loud, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”

People who are victims of violence have a hard time understanding what is happening to them. People often get so wrapped up in what’s supposed to happen, or should happen that they’re not present to what is happening.
We’re just not used to violence. Most of us have no experience of it. It doesn’t seem real when it occurs. Most adults have never been in a violent confrontation.

How do you go from the comfort your “mental recliner” to the fires of hell? How do you shift your reality that fast and react decisively, with the intention to survive?

Tucker and I had a part-time shooting school in the mid 1980’s. I lived in the country and I had a 50-yard shooting range with a big dirt backstop 8 feet high and 50 feet wide. We decided to teach people defensive shooting and had success attracting students.

One day, “Annie” came with her mom and two aunts - four ladies, all with Charter Arms .38 Special revolvers - wanting to learn to shoot defensively. We split the day alternating between classroom sessions and shooting. They all did well since we concentrated on distances from 3 feet to a maximum of 7 yards.

We taught them to combine speed and accuracy. We discussed the fact that people who were threatened or attacked often said, either out loud or to themselves, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” We felt we had given them a good grounding in the law, mental conditioning, confrontation avoidance and shooting skills.

Several months later, I received a phone call from Annie’s mom. I was shocked to hear her mother say, “Annie’s been in a shooting.” My heart jumped. I didn’t know the outcome until she told me Annie was okay and the guy who attacked her was dead.

The story was that Annie, newly divorced, had been out late at a club. She left her purse in the trunk of her car, taking her keys, money and I.D. into the club. Her Charter Arms .38 was in her purse. When she came out after closing time, she returned to her car, opened the trunk and retrieved her purse. After closing the trunk she opened her driver’s side door.

At that moment a young guy poked a gun in her ribs and told her to get in and slide over. As I recall, his gun was a .25 auto of some kind. Thank goodness he wasn’t interested in her purse.

He drove her car and pointed the gun at her as he drove. Annie told us later that she actually said to the guy, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” She said it several times.

After 20 minutes they were in a lightly populated area. He turned into the drive of a burned-out house, stopped the car, opened his door and got out. He turned back, pointing the gun at Annie, and told her to get out of the car and leave her clothes in it.

What he didn’t know was that Annie had gotten over her panic, placed her purse on her right side by the passenger door and slipped her hand into it. She had a good grip on the little revolver. When he told her to get out and leave her clothes in the car, she knew she had to act. There was no assurance that he’d let her live. Even so, she hesitated.

In our classroom we had discussed reaction times. She knew she had the element of surprise even though he had a gun. The guy felt in control and he relaxed. Still, it takes something to shoot another person, even when you want to survive. It was then that he reached in, grabbed her left shoulder, pointed his gun at her and yelled a command to hurry up or else.

We had told the Annie in class to fire two shots to center of mass, then assess the situation to see if more shots were required. Annie’s hand came out of the purse and emptied the gun into the threatening mass.

The first shot X-ringed the center of his chest, the second was in the same vicinity. The third shot hit him in the side as he turned away. The fourth shot hit the back of his shoulder and the fifth shot went over him as he fell face-down outside the vehicle. The little revolver only held 5 rounds. She had forgotten all about firing two shots.

Annie got to a phone, called a friend, called the police and was no-billed by the grand jury. One bad guy takes a dirt nap and one young lady gets to live and take care of her young daughter. After a few days, Annie felt remorse and questioned her actions.

Tucker went to see her since he’d been in real life shootings as a police officer and could offer some real world experience. He had her see that she had done the right thing and that the bad guy had caused his own demise. She was okay with it and glad to be alive.

One last twist to the story is that Annie wanted to get rid of the little gun that saved her life. She didn’t want it reminding her of the incident. Guess what she did - she swapped it for her mom’s identical Charter Arms .38 special revolver and has carried that since so far as we know.

Thank goodness Annie had the time and the control to go beyond “I can’t believe this is happening to me” and took the action necessary to survive.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 um 9:24 pm and is filed under Good To Know, Top Gun Life Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

So, you got your CCH

Many states around the country over the last several years have enacted 'shall issue' concealed carry legislation. That means more and more citizens are arming themselves, but with what? In Kansas, the issuance of a concealed carry license more or less says that the holder of the permit has demonstrated an ability to hit a target 25 times from 3, 7, and 10 yards without shooting himself or anyone else at the range. It also says that the permit holder has been advised of the rules of engagement for concealed carry. It does not mean that the person knows what equipment to carry or how to carry it. More on that later...

Doctors kill

A friend emailed this to me and I thought it was cool...

FACTS TO PONDER:
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician are 0.171.
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health Human Services.

Now think about this:
Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that's 80 million...)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths; per gun owner is .000188.
Statistics courtesy of FBI

So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
Remember, “Guns don't kill people, doctors do."
FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!!!
Out of concern for the public at large, I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention.

My bike

Here is a pic of my 2006 Buell XB12X Ulysses. I have 10k miles on it and am completely addicted to riding it. I feel pity for anyone who is stuck riding anything else.

Cool motorcycle I saw at Osh Kosh this year.