Texas CHL holder uses weapon in self defense

Strange in San Antonio has the scoop.

Don't mess with the twirlers

Girl Beats Off Muggers With Marching Band Baton:

Don't mess with the marching band. That's what California authorities are saying after a 17-year-old girl used her marching band baton to beat back two would-be muggers.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Michael Rust says the Quartz Hill girl was walking to school April 24 when two men approached her from behind, tried to grab her coat and demanded money.

Instead, one got a punch in the nose and the other a kick to the groin. Rust says the girl then beat both of them with her band baton before she ran away.

via Lest Darkness Fall

They got off easy

Man sprays 'toilet-papering' teens with fox urine:

A 50-year-old man told authorities he was fed up with teens toilet-papering his house during homecoming week. This year, he decided to defend his property — with a squirt gun filled with fox urine.

Now, Scott Wagar is in trouble with the law. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Kandiyohi County District Court to misdemeanor assault and other charges. He was released on personal recognizance.

According to police, on Sept. 16, Wagar used night vision goggles and saw 15-20 people running toward his place. He told them to leave and sprayed them with the fox urine. He also struggled with one teen who he says grabbed him from behind.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Wagar says he's innocent, and has a right to defend his property. He says groups of teens have been toilet-papering and egging his house during homecoming for about eight years, and each year it gets more destructive.

He says he sprayed the kids with a mixture of one-third fox urine and two-thirds water because "it stinks, but it doesn't hurt anything."

Fortunately for the teens, they chose to vandalize the property of a mere civilian, who is now charged with assault for protecting his property. If they had decided to egg and t.p. the Willmar Police Department HQ, I'm sure everyone would have had a good laugh and gone merrily about their business.

Yeah. I'm sure of it.

via The War On Guns

Mixing cocktails with cocktails

Self and property defense in San Antonio:

Police say Shawn Degan, the owner of Perfection Tattoos at 3507 Blanco Road, shot and killed Ricky Davis Jr. about 2:35 a.m. in front of the business.

Degan was sleeping inside his shop, police said, when he heard breaking glass at the front window. He looked outside and saw a man going to a car. The man returned with a Molotov cocktail and tossed the burning object inside the broken window.

Degan retrieved a shotgun and fired toward the suspect, police said, later identified as Davis, 29.

So, a question for gun-banners. Are you also going to ban glass bottles, rags, gasoline and oil?

The worst thing about all this is that it seems that the Molotov-thrower was after the wrong tattoo artist. What a stupid, senseless waste.

Thanks again to Strange in San Antonio.

The answer is obvious

Man Attended Church Mass Before Going To Nearby School With Gun

Police don't know why he showed up at the school.

Obviously because he knew that there were going to be lots of easy targets there, and no opposition. He only had the bad luck to run into an off-duty deputy who held him in check until reinforcements arrived. And if the deputy had not been there, what then?

via Strange in San Antonio

Church shootings

The Copycat Effect reports that there were two church shootings. Just a couple of more examples for your "yes, I do have a good reason" files.

Avoiding the Kill Zone

Perhaps foremost in my own personal philosophy of self defense is: stay out of dangerous places to begin with. Although adhering to this rule may not always be possible, it should be among the first things that are considered in staying safe.

USCCA has a good article on avoiding the Kill Zone.

While the concept of Kill Zones developed out of the ambush tactic,
their use is not restricted to ambushes, nor are they used only by the
military anymore.

Kill Zones are used by terrorists all the time as well as by common
street criminals. Targets of ambushes now include ordinary citizens
along with government officials and corporate executives. And many
violent crimes are committed in what could be classified as Kill Zones.
(We will continue to refer to them as “Kill Zones” even though the street
criminal may more often use them for robbery, rape or assault.)

Kill Zones are a subject you should know about if you are serious about
tactics and survival. It’s the last place you want to be if you are the
target of an attack. Conversely, it’s the place you want to draw
potential threats into.

I assume that most folks who regularly carry a firearm are already familiar with this concept. Still, it's good reading, especially for those who might be new to the concept of personal self defense.

An interesting comment regarding NIU

From Playing the Odds by David Calderwood:

I’ve been to NIU’s campus many times over the past six years. One notable fact was the ubiquity of armed campus police officers. For a person who attended a small Midwestern university thirty years ago where the three campus policemen didn’t even carry guns during the school year, it took some getting used to, having armed cops hanging around in every dorm and seemingly on half the street corners I drove past.

The head of NIU’s Campus Police stated that officers arrived at the lecture hall within two minutes of the shooting. By then the shooter had killed himself, leaving an obvious tragedy in his wake (six dead victims as of this writing). As Greg Perry noted in an earlier LRC column, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."

Emphasis mine. So on this campus where armed campus police officers are "ubiquitous," someone was able to sneak onto campus and into a lecture hall with a shotgun. The shotgun is famous for many things, but being easily concealed is not one of them.

What a bunch of useless squibs.

Bullet-Proofing the Mind

Lt. Col Dave Grossman's Bullet-Proofing the Mind: today's must read from the Buckeye Firearms Association.

Sometimes you should look under the bed

Here's an article about a man in Greensboro, NC, who caught an intruder underneath his own bed.

"(When) I looked underneath there, I saw these eyes staring back at me. I was like 'what the crap! This ain't normal,'" said Lynn. "So I start(ed) slinging him around. I was upper cutting him, beating him left and right."

Not quite the same reaction I would have had, I don't think. I'm reminded of the phrase, "shooting fish in a barrel."

An important thing about this article is this:

Zabedra-Ilario told police it was the first time he's broken into
anyone's home, but it was not the first time he's been peeping.

"It was almost something he was proud of, like someone would covet a trophy," said GPD detective David Lyndrup.

This guy was working himself up to bigger and worse things, like rape. Fortunately his first attempt at something bigger than mere peeping was thwarted by a good thrashing. I doubt if it will stop him in the long run, though.

via Lest Darkness Fall

Naked bigotry at Facebook

From Forbes.com:

Last week Ignatius Piazza submitted pay-per-click ads on Facebook, one of the nation's largest online communities, offering a Front Sight 4 Day Handgun Training course, plus 1 Day 30 State Concealed Weapon Permit Course for pennies-on-the-dollar and capped off the offer with a free Springfield Armory XD Handgun in 9mm, .40SW, or .45 ACP for the first 5,000 who respond -- thus making a commitment of over $3 million dollars in free handguns.

Piazza was stunned when Facebook rejected his ad stating, it violated Point 6 of Facebook's advertising guidelines which reads, "Provocative images will not be accepted. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene, or inappropriate language. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content."

I love it when the enemy makes it so clear where they stand.

via Conservative Scalawag

911 Nightmare

Fortunately, no one was hurt. Unfortunately, that includes the would-be burglars.

I Wish The Police Had Caught The Man Who Came to My House Today at Gun Owners Against Violence:

I want to know whether it was 5 minutes or 6 minutes or 3 minutes that passed between the moment when I was asking the operator to please send the squad car back because the guy was just now running along the side of the house ... and the length of time that this operator was taking to explain to me that she was not the dispatcher and how they functioned there and that it was like email (?!) ... and the amount of time, following that, when she was telling me that she had still not yet contacted the dispatcher ... and the passage of time that was allowing my expletive-enunciating doorbell-ringing certainly-running possible-would-be-burglar to what? Calmly choose a direction in which to amble and mingle with the off-to-work crowd? Nod amiably to a passerby while leisurely getting into his car? Take a bus? Choose another house?

Texas' first concealed handgun self defense of 2008

I can't find any cite for this today, but I heard it on the news this morning, thanks to the local public radio station.

Texas has already recorded its first self-defensive handgun use of 2008. A case of road rage, apparently. When the vehicles stopped, one man attacked the other man with a baseball bat. The man being attacked shot and killed the bat-guy.

The man with the gun has a CHL, if that makes a big difference to you.

Final word: "Police determined it was self defense. No charges will be filed."

UPDATE: JR found the link.

Five little stones

The MSM kept insisting that the armed woman who stopped the church shooter in Colorado was a security guard. They just can't stand it when someone without a uniform and a badge uses a gun in justifiable self defense.

But then bloggers like Call Me Ahab uncovered the truth. The woman was a member of the congregation who had armed herself and volunteered to provide security.

Security Guard: 'God Guided Me And Protected Me' (via Shooting the Messenger):

"There was chaos," Assam said, as parishioners ran away, "I will never forget the gunshots. They were so loud."

"I saw him coming through the doors" and took cover, Assam said. "I came out of cover and identified myself and engaged him and took him down."

"God was with me," Assam said. "I didn't think for a minute to run away."

So we have a woman armed only with a handgun taking down a monster armed with a rifle.

And the giant came tumbling down.

Putting the lid on the bottom

All American Blogger talks about Gun Free Zones and the Ketchup Bottle:

Let’s switch gears for a second and consider the ketchup bottle. For years, the ketchup bottle would sit on the shelf and gravity would draw all the ketchup to the bottom of the bottle. Then, when a person needed some of the condiment, they had to work to get it out of the bottle. Finally, someone said, “Why don’t we just flip it over and put the lid on the bottom?” Now, the ketchup is there when you need it. Why didn’t they think of this before? They were trained in a particular way of thinking, and they had to move themselves away from it.

Unfortunately, the most effective form of this paradigm shift is when some anti-self-defense nitwit gets mugged or assaulted. They usually change their minds about it, then. Still unfortunately, their propaganda creates converts to the Cult of Victimhood faster than reality can administer the individual cluebat.

With her dad's old .38

First, go read this one at Shooting the Messenger. Fits quotes the Brady Campaign:

While there are still many unanswered questions about the circumstances, one fact is undeniable: Sean Taylor’s tragic, untimely shooting death is the latest example that in America no one is safe from the scourge of gun violence.

Now let's tie this in with this post from The War On Guns.

The rejects suspected of being maniacs with murder in their evil hearts will, however, still have full unrestricted access to utility knives, fuel oil and fertilizer, and gasoline and matches, as well as be allowed to move freely throughout society.

Here's the truth: no one on Earth is safe from the scourge of violence. The medium used to commit an act of violent aggression against another human is irrelevant.

Keeping in mind the previous two links, examine now the case of Maria Pittaras (scroll down to "Man Shot Dead...").

Robert J. Metz made it a point to know most everyone in his neighborhood, beeping his car horn whenever he drove by anyone who was outside.

If somebody was building something, the 47-year-old construction worker was there to offer advice and often lend a hand.

But his happy-go-lucky demeanor masked a mental illness that was slowly consuming Metz, relatives say.

Maria Pittaras, 28, was something of an enigma in the neighborhood. She moved to the Turtle Lakes subdivision at the Pasco- Hillsborough counties line about a year ago, just around the corner from Metz and his wife, Carolyn, Pittaras' father recalls.

Neighbors didn't see her outside much; she did most of her real estate-related work from home. She kept her yard immaculate and occasionally entertained friends with outdoor barbecues, neighbors say.

[...]

Sometime before 2 a.m., Metz donned a dark mask and gloves, grabbed a knife and crawled into his neighbor's home through a window, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said.

Metz crept into the bedroom as the woman slept, jumped on top of her and held the knife to her throat. She grabbed her .38-caliber pistol and fired two shots, striking Metz in the neck, Doll said.

So what do we have here? We have a man with a mental instability who tragically stopped taking his medication. However, he still had the mental capacity to wear a dark mask, disguising himself. He even had the forethought to wear gloves so that he would not leave fingerprints. It is not hard to speculate that his choice of a knife--rather than a gun--shows careful planning, because a knife makes no noise that might awaken the neighbors late in the night.

We can't say for sure what would have happened if Ms. Pittaras had not been armed with her father's gun, but it isn't hard to imagine that she would have been murdered, or raped, or both.

But she did have a gun, and she is still alive.

By the way, the weekly newsletter from USCCA is free for everyone to subscribe to, not just members. Follow the link above to read the latest issue and sign up.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus got some airtime

On NPR this morning. Only a couple of minutes, but they were focused on the movement going on at nearby Texas State University in San Marcos (previously known as Southwest Texas State University). Just thought I'd mention it.

Check out their website, if you haven't yet, at ConcealedCampus.com.

UPDATE: Here's a news report about it, via NRA-ILA.

Taser Background Checks

I just learned that the Taser corporation requires sellers to perform a background check on customers for certain models of Tasers. The online form to do so can be seen here. Note that critical personal information must be given to the Taser seller.

Do you need to do anything special to sell Tasers? you ask.

Surely, you jest.

So...Taser requires a potential purchaser of specific models to give their name, address, driver's license number, and social security number to the yahoo who became a Taser dealer.

Further...there is a separate registration for those with a concealed weapons permit, requiring the potential customer to turn over their CWP number.

(NOTE: The Texas CHL is a concealed handgun license, and the state of Texas does not recognize it as a license to carry anything but a handgun).

For one other model of Taser, the customer is allowed to perform a background check on himself, for whatever that's worth.

Kind of puts a kink in the "I will control my own destiny" ads that Taser has been running in some gun mags. It might be difficult to control one's own destiny when you have to give such sensitive information to some guy who happens to sell Tasers. Of course, Taser sellers are not required to keep records nor are they constantly threatened with action from the ATF if they forget to cross a T. You might as well give your SSN to the cashier at Walmart.

Send Conoco a message

Conoco-Phillips "Pleased" to Have Federal Judge Disarm YOU at the War On Guns.

In the "property rights vs. civil rights" argument, I realize some people are torn. Some people think property rights trump all other rights.

They are wrong.

The ultimate right is the right to life. If the right to preserve your own life is taken from you, nothing else matters. Many libertarians say that eventually, if enough people refuse to be employed at such a workplace, the problem will work itself out. The employer will have to change his discriminatory policies to continue to exist.

In other words, if the best job you can get--or the only job in your small town--prohibits you from defending yourself, and you work there anyway, then you deserve to have your rights stripped from you.

Employers should not have legal authority to strip their employees of a fundamental right.

Taser Registration

As far as I'm concerned, since the Taser is a self-defense device, it is an "arm," and therefore should be protected as an arm under the Second Amendment.

Apparently the Taser company doesn't think so. This page can't be linked to directly. To discover this fine print, you have to go to the Taser website, click on the appropriate page to go to the C2 (the "civilian" model, since "civilians" don't deserve the same level of protection as "law enforcement"), click on "buy now," and then click on the text description. Here's the screen shot of what turns up. Look toward the bottom for the bad news.


So, not only are you forced to register it before it can be activated, you have to pay another $9.95 for it. After registering, the customer is given an activation code which will enable the device.

No, I'm not planning on buying a Taser. But this is something people should know.

And if you think this registration information isn't going into a permanent database, you're fooling yourself.

P.S. I've been instructed that this is an "extreme right viewpoint." I don't see it, myself. I thought it was more of an "extreme ability to defend oneself without ending up in a database" viewpoint.