Archive for the ‘Self Defense’ Category

February 20th, 2009

Yakima homicide justified

Originally reported on January 22, 2009 over at Tri-CityHerald.com

YAKIMA — A robbery suspect was shot dead by an armed civilian late Monday, the first incident of justifiable homicide city police said they could recall in recent memory.

Franklin McWain, 33, died at a hospital from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. An autopsy was performed Tuesday.

A police news release said the shooting occurred in the 800 block of North Second Street about 11 p.m. Monday.

According to the release, a 27-year-old Yakima man told officers he was waiting outside a residence for a friend when he was approached by McWain.

The man, identified as Michael Valadez, 27, said McWain struck him on the head with a stick and demanded money. Valadez told police he was struck several more times before firing two shots at McWain. Valadez had a valid concealed weapons permit.

Valadez ran from the area and flagged down a passing police officer. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of a head wound and a broken left arm.

The release said police found evidence at the scene that backed up the man’s story.

He has not been charged with a crime. The case is being referred to the Yakima County prosecutor.

McWain was a longtime Yakima resident whose criminal history included six felonies, police said.

Court records show he was found guilty of charges related to eluding, theft and drugs, among other offenses.

February 18th, 2009

NY Senator, Husband Keep 2 Rifles Under Their Bed

Get this: a New York Democrat senator who believes that the right to keep and bear arms to protect one’s family and home is just that – a right. These are the stories I LOVE coming across. Read on below…

NY senator, husband keep 2 rifles under their bed

NEW YORK (AP) – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has drawn criticism from fellow Democrats in New York because of her pro-gun stance, says she keeps two rifles under her bed.

Gillibrand says she and her husband, Jonathan, keep the firearms to protect their upstate home.

“If I want to protect my family, if I want to have a weapon in the home, that should be my right,” Gillibrand, who has two small children, said in an interview published in Monday’s Newsday.

Her spokesman, Matt Canter, said Monday that the rifles are not loaded and the Gillibrands follow gun-safety procedures. He would not say if they keep ammunition nearby.

Gillibrand was a little-known second-term congresswoman from a rural Republican district when she was tapped by Gov. David Paterson to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As a member of the House, she had earned a 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association.

The day her appointment was announced, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy threatened a 2010 primary challenge. She was elected to Congress after her husband was killed and her son wounded in a shooting rampage on a Long Island Rail Road train in 1993.

Gillibrand has said that her views are broadening as she moves from representing one rural district to the entire state. She has said she would work to fight gun violence while still protecting hunters’ rights.

Gillibrand told Newsday that while she and her husband don’t hunt, her mother, brother and father do.

“I grew up in a house where my mom owns about eight guns,” she said. “She keeps them in a gun case.”

(This version CORRECTS last name of spokesman to Canter.)

(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

June 26th, 2008

2nd Amendment Solution – Gun Free Zones (VIDEO)

This one’s for you, Mayor Adrian Fenty. I hope your “gun free zone” begins it’s quick rot today, at 10am EST.

P.S. Though this video is meant to be satire, the message is so close to home it’s scary. How can the left not see that this is exactly the OPPOSITE of what gun laws produce?

In case you haven’t noticed, criminals, who don’t have a problem breaking laws – stay with me here – DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM BREAKING LAWS. That’s right. Just because a sign is posted or a law effected that states that crime is not allowed, thugs with evil intent in their heart will only and always do as their heart desires – evil. The only real balance that exists is equalizing the playing field. In the case of gun violence, this means more guns for the law abiding citizenry, not less. But fedora toting Fenty and his ilk just don’t get this simple logic. They prefer to live in candyland while innocent citizens die due to these lawmakers’ ignorance and stupidity.

June 23rd, 2008

Hopeful for Heller

In a matter of hours we could have a ruling on Heller – arguably the biggest case currently in front of the Supreme Court. This ruling really has the potential to carve out the path of gun ownership and rights for the next century or two, maybe longer.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

While many are conjecturing on what they hope the Supreme Court rules, others still claim they know what the Supreme Court SHOULD rule, based on evidence of past documents, indicative of the founders’ intent. Some have indicated that the right to bear arms should be coupled with registration requirements, and others still claim that additional laws, waiting periods, and other such superfluous measures must be taken to make gun ownership ‘safe’ or ‘reasonable’.

While on the surface, these arguments seem logical, it is a bottomless pit. The temporary hope of security is squashed by the long term effects of restricting policies. Gun Laws–over 20,000 strong and counting to date–have proven largely ineffective. Registration has proven the first steps to confiscation. Note that the references to England and Australia are not those of handgun or machine-gun-only bans. These are outright bans on all firearms, excepting a select few, which grossly infringe on the right of the people to use firearms for things such as hunting, recreational shooting, Olympic target shooting training, self defense (a God Given right and responsibility), and even law enforcement (the “bobby’s don’t even carry a modern weapon, unless you consider a stick “modern”).

In all of the cases of gun bans, U.K., Australia, and even D.C., one trend has been undeniable. Gun crimes go up. Way up. Guns become a commodity on the black-or underground-market, and hoodlums have access not just 9-5, but 24/7.

If we knock on reason’s door, we get a response. Bans create commerce. That’s right, drug bans, prohibition, gun bans, and even sex trade bans. Often, these bans have just the opposite effect than was intended. In the U.K., there is a tremendous underground effort, widely successful, to import arms from surrounding countries. In fact, reporters have been astonished when they’ve discovered how simple and inexpensive it was to get a fully functional firearm which could be used in any number of criminal ways.

These firearms, while available to all who really look, are only used by the criminals. Why? They’re illegal, and in case you haven’t taken notice, it’s the people who commit crimes regularly – stick with me here – who COMMIT CRIMES REGULARLY. They want to cheat, steal, and kill. This is in their hearts. They don’t care if some lawmaker has said it’s no good to buy guns. They do what they want, because they are lawless, brutish thugs who want nothing more than to live by their own laws, created in their minds and executed by their own skewed inner judge.

This is what has been revealed as the fallacy of gun control. Pull back the curtain, and you see that gun control doesn’t work, it will never work. As long as man has the means to create guns, guns will be used by the worst of humanity.

So, how then do we protect the rest of civilization from these loose cannons we call criminals? We know laws do nothing but disarm the lawful, while empowering the lawless. For those still not with me here, I’ll spell it out: ARM THE POPULACE. That’s right, put a gun in the hands of as many responsible people as you can, as quickly as you can, and you have the makings of a polite society. There, I said it. When a thug knows that opposition, even deadly force, could be right in front of him (instead of 3-30 minutes away) then he takes a whole new look at his decisions. You see, God has given us all a little gift called the will to survive. We cower at the thought of our own mortality; and even cold, seemingly heartless thugs share at least this much in common with society’s betters.

Now for the frosting: This debate is moot. The second amendment is really a matter of the rights of the people. The arguments are currently for or against the individual right vs. the right of an organized militia (U.S. Army). However, this also is a moot point. Why? Well, isn’t it obvious? The Bill of Rights, the document authored by the Greats of this nation’s founding, was written for you and me, the people. This was not a hall pass, conditionally or temporarily granting us rights to pass to and fro. The Bill of Rights is a message to all governments, now and in the future, telling in no uncertain terms what the rights of the people are. These rights, granted by God, are for all men. The infringement of these rights will warrant a reaction that the 2nd Amendment testifies to: self defense against all tyranny.

Maybe some are confused by the bill’s language, esp. the presence of a reference to the ‘State’. Is this the “State of California”, or the “State of being free”? In just asking the question, I think it clearly proves rhetorical. The State, whether a land mass or a State of being, both refer to one in the same. States were created to preserve freedom, a state which the settlers fought and died for.

This is another crucial piece of the puzzle. John Adams, George Washington, and Mr. Franklin didn’t just risk everything so they could have tea with George the third. They risked life, limb, and country so they could enjoy the freedoms they knew were inherently theirs, and they did it against a tyrannical government. Their sentiment at the time was for one overarching objective: guard against future tyranny as the one just defeated. Power belongs with the people, and the people grant the power.

“This is a free country”. Children run in the streets screaming this to their foes, knowing the truth stands on their side. I love my country, and am honored to live in a land which provides me and my family such a bright future. Some despise our freedoms, some want to destroy them, and some simply don’t understand them. That’s fine. You’re free to come if you want to be one of us, or leave if you don’t.

That’s what’s so great about our country: our freedom to choose our own course. But one thing I will not tolerate is the efforts of the select minority to strip these freedoms away from me and my fellow Americans. This is my land. If you don’t care for such freedoms, or cannot manage these freedoms for yourself, then please choose another land with another government. We are here to stay. Say what you will, but in our hearts, we remain unsympathetic to the whining of parliaments, politicians, and presidents who would infringe on our God Given Freedoms.

And should the time come, we will fight for these rights, every one of us, just as our Forefathers did before us: with our lives.

June 20th, 2008

Concealed permit holder stops bank robbery (VIDEO Link)


CANTON TOWNSHIP, MICH — A bank robbery attempt was foiled when Nabil Fawzi, an upstanding citizen took action and used his concealed handgun to stop the would be robber.

54-year-old Joseph Webster from Washtenaw County had entered the bank and quietly approached the teller window. He said nothing, but handed the teller a note telling her that he had a bomb strapped to himself. The teller hit the silent alarm and began stuffing a sack with $1 bills when Webster insisted she give him “bands of 50s and 100s.”

Little did Webster know that Fawzi, who had previously served in the Lebanese army for six years, was prepared for just such an occasion. After determining that the situation was safe, Fawzi pulled his concealed firearm–which he had a permit to carry–and cooly told the thief “You’re not going to rob this bank.” When Webster replied that he had a bomb, Fawzi merely responded, “I don’t care. You are not robbing this bank today!”

Fawzi searched the suspect for a weapon, then led him to a seat nearby, and waited for the police to arrive.

Fawzi has been hailed as a hero by locals in the town.

VIDEO LINK:
http://www.wxyz.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=12688@wxyz.dayport.com

http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=deb8d417-008a-4e73-8386-1237c14d1376

June 20th, 2008

Man protects neighbors, himself from attacking bear

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Howard Beasley, a power plant supervisor in the city of Galena, Alaska is responsible for saving the lives of his teenage neighbors as they were faced with an aggressive bear.

Howard Beasley noted that the large male black bear had been in the area recently feasting on moose calves. The bear’s foray into the town led it to explore backyards, garbage cans, and neighborhoods, too.

When Chris Kriska and his younger sister couldn’t scare off the bear, Beasley stepped in and took over.

“I went over there and happened to hear the neighbor’s dog barking and walked over and sure enough, here he comes walking out,” commented Beasley. “He was only about 30 feet away. He looked me straight in the eye with his head down and shoulders hunched up. He was not going away.

“So I threw down on him and shot him,” said Beasley.

Beasley used a 12-guage shotgun loaded with a slug to take down the bear.

“People came out and shook my hand, said it was the first good night of sleep they’d had in a long time,” Beasley said. “People were having nightmares. I had no idea it had such a big impact on people.”

Millan says the shooting is clearly justified.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/06/15/Alaska_man_shoots_aggressive_black_bear/UPI-13021213571691/

© 2008 RIKBA.com - All Rights Reserved.