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My Life as a Convicted Gun Offender Who Did Nothing Wrong
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Three years ago this month, thanks mostly to poorly written laws and a vindictive judge, I turned 27 while incarcerated in Mid-State Correctional Facility in Fort Dix, New Jersey.
I got sentenced to seven years in prison for legally owning guns. I had purchased them in Colorado and brought them with me to New Jersey, home to some of the harshest gun laws in the country, where I moved to be closer to my young son. I complied with all of the regulations, but one day the police searched my car and charged me with unlawful possession of a weapon—even though my handguns were locked, unloaded, and in my trunk. The court said it was on me to prove that I wasn’t breaking any laws, which obviously was very difficult. |
Senators bicker over state stand your ground laws
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Trayvon Martin's mother told a panel of senators Tuesday that states' 'stand your ground' self-defense laws do not work and must be amended, reviving the politically charged gun control issue a year ahead of the 2014 midterm elections. But little besides politics emerged from the session, held in the Senate's made-for-television hearing room. Democrats who hold majority power in the Senate and are trying to keep it supported Sybrina Fulton's call.
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WA: Tukwila road rage incident leads to gunfire
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A road rage incident in Tukwila on Tuesday lead to gunfire, with one person suffering a life-threatening injury.
Police say just before 5 p.m. a man had parked on the side of 47th S. when another car came up behind him. That man got out of his car, banged on the window and showed a gun. The driver of the other car pulled his own gun and the two exchanged gunfire.
Both of them drove away from the shooting, and both called 911. Both claimed self-defense. |
Jacksonville mom testifies at stand your ground law hearing
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A panel of U.S. senators Tuesday dissected Florida's controversial "stand your ground" self-defense law with the help of the mothers of two 17-year-old African-Americans shot to death last year.
"I face the very real possibility that my son's killer will walk free, hiding behind a statute that lets people claim a threat when there was none," said Lucia McBath, whose son, Jordan Russell Davis, was killed while sitting in a car during a dispute over loud music in Jacksonville. |
OH: New Gun Bill Would Change Ohio’s Lethal Force Test
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The controversial so-called “Stand your Ground” law in Florida gives people there the right to use deadly force in their defense without being required to retreat. The Buckeye Firearms Association’s Ken Hansen says the bill under consideration in Ohio is different than the “Stand your Ground” law that is on the books in the Sunshine state. He says there would still be a standard that the person firing the weapon in self-defense would not be allowed to create the situation that put him or her at risk. And Hansen notes there would still be a requirement that the person firing in self-defense legitimately feel as if their life or well-being is in danger. |
Here's The Origin Of Sen. Cruz's Claim That Stand Your Ground Benefits African-Americans
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is facing criticism for explaining to a congressional hearing panel that featured Trayvon Martin's mother that Stand Your Ground self-defense laws benefit African-Americans, a dubious theory invented by right-wing media.
Seeking to rebut statements that Stand Your Ground laws are racially discriminatory during the October 29 hearing before a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee, Cruz defended the laws by citing "press reports" that detailed how in Florida African-American defendants were successful 55 percent of the time asserting a Stand Your Ground defense compared to a 53 percent success rate for white defendants: |
WA: Women flock to the shooting range
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We’ve mentioned in this column before that women are one of the fastest growing groups in shooting sports.
Why, all of a sudden it seems, are women finally discovering shooting?
So, I decided to find out. One day recently, I rolled on down to East End Rod and Gun Club in Milton-Freewater, where I had been invited to come talk about women’s shooting with Stacy Alexander-Fulgham, the founder of the Washington State chapter of A Girl and A Gun Shooting League. |
'Stand Your Ground' and my son Jordan
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Local Moms Demand Action chapters are working hard to end Stand Your Ground, a law that the gun lobby helped to pass and which now exists in more than 20 states. To invoke the law, a killer doesn’t have to prove that they were acting in self-defense because their life was threatened. They just have to claim that they believed they were in danger. When the trial over my son’s death starts next year, Michael Dunn is expected to defend himself using provisions of Florida’s Stand Your Ground.
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OH: Officers say homeowner shot suspected robber in Coal Grove, OH
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Brandon Blaike Danner, 18, of Duty Drive in Coal Grove, was shot multiple times while he was attempting to steal from a shed, according to police.
Sheriff Jeff Lawless with the Lawrence County Sheriff's Office says Danner was shot four times in the upper torso with a .380 caliber handgun. The sheriff says Danner will be charged with felony breaking and entering and other charges are pending as the investigation is on-going.
The sheriff says the homeowner who shot Danner is not facing any charges and is claiming self-defense. |
AZ: Shooting People from a Car in Alleged Self-Defense Is No Crime in Arizona
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No witnesses saw the gruesome end of a road-rage clash between Scottsdale lawyer David Appleton and ex-rodeo cowboy Paul "Tom" Pearson in the dark parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy on the evening of November 10, 2011.
As Appleton tells it, speaking publicly for the first time about the incident, the "moment of truth" came as he flailed against the seat belt of his blue Toyota FJ Cruiser, his neck firmly in the grasp of the bigger man reaching through the driver's-side window with his left hand. |
Warning shots: they can land you in jail, and you'll probably deserve it.
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One of the sure ways to get a certain number of gun owners up in arms is to post a story about someone being arrested for firing a warning shot. The attitude seems to be that if the person didn’t shoot at someone else, and didn’t hit anyone accidentally, where’s the harm?
Warning shots seem to be grossly misunderstood by a large percentage of gun owners, who are confused about their legality and practicality. It’s really quite simple: they’re virtually never justified. (I’d go so far as to say that they’re never justified under any circumstances, but that’s just me.) |
FL: Florida city bans guns for neighborhood watch volunteers
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The Florida city where neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin is changing the rules on how civilian patrols can operate to help prevent a recurrence and revive the program's reputation.
The new rules, to be released at a community meeting on November 5 in Sanford, Florida, will state explicitly that residents acting under the authority of neighborhood watch may not carry a firearm or pursue someone they deem suspicious. |
Springfield Armory Sponsors Smith & Wesson IDPA Back Up Gun Nationals
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Springfield Armory, one of the most recognized names in competition shooting, will be a major sponsor of the Smith & Wesson IDPA Back Up Gun Nationals, according to the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA).
Springfield Armory joins Apex Tactical Specialties, Harris Publications, Michigan Ammo Company, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the Self Defense Association, SIG SAUER and Smith & Wesson, the title sponsor, in supporting this latest IDPA national championship event. As part of their support, Springfield Armory will host the hospitality suite for competitors and staff. |
CT: When is Enough, Enough?
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Posted security guard stations are even completely irrelevant. How many times have you actually seen a security guard at the corner of Ruden and Simon Place? How about one just walking around campus at night? Even the security guards posted at the entrances of Forest Hills and Savin Court hardly stop anybody. I know a girl whose ex-boyfriend was able to walk into Forest Hills, while a security guard was on duty, get into her building, break into her room, and beat her. What if he had a gun on him? He could have killed her, along with her roommates and anyone else he pleased, and who would have stopped him? No one. |
CA: NRA Threatens to Sue Silicon Valley Suburb Over Bloomberg-Backed Gun Control Measure
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The Yes on Measure C campaign has raised at least $8,000 so far. And the "no" group has just $400 in its coffers. None of that money comes from the National Rifle Association, according to Dan Walsh, treasurer for the pro-gun group.
Despite its lack of financial backing, the NRA is threatening to sue to stop Sunnyvale's measure, saying it violates the Second Amendment. An attorney for the group has suggested that it would pursue litigation all the way up to the Supreme Court. |
VA to veterans: If you’re late paying bills, we will prohibit you from ever owning a firearm
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Since I wrote the article titled “Disarming America’s Heroes” I have been inundated with emails and phone calls from veterans and the families of veterans. The horror stories I am hearing are proof that the VA and the Obama administration have launched an all out assault on the Constitutional rights of our nation’s wounded warriors and other veterans.
Veterans are being declared incompetent not because they have a serious mental illness that makes them a danger to themselves or others, but because they have a physical disability resulting from their service in the armed forces or because they simply let their spouses pay the family bills.
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NY: Some blame New York gun law for Rochester gun company’s move to South Carolina
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The company becomes the second firearms company to announce plans to leave the state since the SAFE Act was signed into law. In July, Kahr Arms, based in Rockland County, announced the move of its headquarters to Pennsylvania, citing the SAFE Act as the principal reason.
“Why would you stay here? If you can get closer to the bulk of where your market is now going to be, why wouldn’t you move?’’ said Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association.
The SAFE Act bans the sale in New York of most of ATI’s product line, King said. |
CA: Sacramento shooting by deputy DA still under investigation
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Gardner, 38, is on unpaid administrative leave while the Sacramento Police Department investigates the incident and the Mendocino County DA's Office conducts an internal affairs investigation.
"It's still an ongoing investigation," said SPD spokesman officer Doug Morse. "We have not completed it yet, and we have not submitted it to the District Attorney's Office."
The Sacramento District Attorney's Office confirmed Wednesday that it had not yet received any information on the case from the SPD.
"It's just the nature of the investigation," Morse said of the length of time it has taken so far, calling the time frame "extremely typical" for this type of case. |
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TO REMEMBER |
| No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He, who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and at discretion. — James Burgh, Political Disquisitions: Or, an Enquiry into Public Errors, Defects, and Abuses [London, 1774-1775]. |
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