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Bill Cosby weighs in on Trayvon Martin case
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"The gun."
Those two simple words flowed easily from the mouth of social commentator Bill Cosby during an exclusive interview Friday regarding the Trayvon Martin case, arguably the most high-profile, citizen-on-citizen U.S. slaying facing the Obama administration. ...
Trayvon was killed Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who told police that a "confrontation" with the unarmed 17-year-old led him to shoot in self-defense.
Mr. Cosby, a Navy veteran, said "the gun" empowered Mr. Zimmerman, whose actions have stirred a firestorm of debate, protests and remarks from President Obama.

FL: One in Every 17 Floridians Can Carry a Concealed Gun Submitted by: Anonymous	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Ever casually glance around the supermarket and wonder just how many folks loading milk into their cart are also secretly packing heat? The answer, based on new data from the state, is one in every 17 of them. Or at least that's how many Floridians now have valid concealed carry permits as the state chugged past the 900,000 mark last month. Dade alone now has more than 80,000 permits.

NY: Goodbye to CoBIS and microstamping 'for now'
Submitted by: GunPoliticsNY
Website: http://www.gunpoliticsny.com

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For the past decade, New York's taxpayers have shoveled an estimated $1 million to $4 million a year into the Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS) program, also known as gun DNA. All new guns sold in New York were tested by law enforcement to offer a ballistic sample that could be traced to shell casings and entered into the CoBIS database. Not a single crime has been solved as the result of this program and it has been omitted from the new state budget.

MO: Trayvon Martin rally outside the NRA convention Submitted by: Anonymous	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Thanks to Twitter, I found this unofficial, previously unscheduled event that is planned for the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis. It will feature some local politicians as well as possibly some out-of-town visitors. The flyer for the event is below.

NY: Four NYPD cops shot in Brooklyn following hostage standoff
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An ex-con brandishing an illegal gun wounded four NYPD cops Sunday in a wild shootout inside his sixth-floor Brooklyn apartment after menacing his pregnant girlfriend and their infant son.
Three of the officers were shot in the leg; one was grazed in the face. They were all in good shape, and two were released from the hospital within hours.

Suspect Nakwon Foxworth, 33, was in critical condition, hit three times in the gunfight inside his Sheepshead Bay apartment. The apartment was strewn with baby toys and guns.

How to Buy Your First Gun for Defense Submitted by: rick schwartz Website: http://www.weprotectyourkids.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Congratulations on having the courage to defend yourself and your home. It is the right decision and you are your first line of defense. Remember, police come after the crime has been committed so being able to defend yourself is important and it will save your life. But how do you go about getting your first gun? And what do you buy?

MI: Guns allowed at school? Submitted by: rick schwartz Website: http://www.weprotectyourkids.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Concealed weapons should be allowed on campus. There, I said it. After years of believing weapons should not be allowed on university property, I have flipped my position. I can no longer find a valid reason as to why law-abiding citizens who attend and work at Eastern Michigan University or any university campus should be left defenseless.

MA: Norton Woman Has Not Forgiven Trooper Who Accidentally Shot Her
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Cheryl Blair has only been outside her home twice in the last three months, still needing a cane to do the work her left leg canât.
Blairâs life changed in an instant last New Yearâs Eve when she was accidentally shot by an off-duty state trooper who was hunting in the woods behind her home.
Blair was walking her dogs when she heard the deafening sound. ...
The half-inch lead ball pierced her pelvis on the left side, shrapnel exploding, as police say John Bergeron mistook her dogâs tail for a deer they say he had seen in the area earlier in the day.
âIt wasnât until I started yelling that I realized he had shot me and not a deer, and he had horror and panic in his voice,â she said.

IA: Clarification of self-defense and stand-your-ground
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The facts in our case tell us that Trayvon on the night that he was killed was carrying a bag of Skittles, a can of Arizona iced tea, and his cell phone. Zimmerman, 28 years old, was driving a car, had a 9 millimeter semiautomatic handgun. Following Trayvon, Zimmerman called 911 to report a suspicious person walking in the neighborhood in Sanford, Fla. The police reported to have asked Zimmerman not to follow the kid but he did not stop and apparently he left his car to provoke Trayvon. Zimmerman told the police that Trayvon assaulted him, punching his nose and slamming his head into the pavement and that these are the reasons he killed him.

AK: Justifiable homicides increasing
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Prosecutors still reject many claims of self-defense under the new law, and no long-term studies definitively tie the rise in justifiable killings to the passage of laws that relieve citizens of the responsibility to back away from threats. But the Martin case has focused a spotlight on incidents in which the mere statement that people feel endangered allows them to, depending on your sense of what's right, defend themselves against thugs or act like vigilantes.

IL: Cook assault weapons ban justified
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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An Illinois Supreme Court decision this past week on Cook Countys ban on assault weapons fell short of what the gun lobby wanted, but it was discomfiting for those, including us, who blanch at the thought of gangbangers and other bad guys being able to legally possess these powerful guns.

The justices did not reject the countys ban as some gun control advocates had feared they would, choosing instead to punt sending the issue back to the trial judge, who had dismissed the legal challenge, for a further hearing.

FL: Sheriff: Leesburg man may have killed guest in self-defense
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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A Leesburg man may have acted in self-defense late Saturday when he shot and killed a 27-year-old man who was staying at his home, Lake County Sheriff officials said today.

Witnesses told investigators that Jakob Penrod, 21, and Gregory Gayle began fighting just before 9 p.m. at the home on Huggins Street. Gayle had been staying at the home for the past three weeks with his sister, who is Penrod's fiancé, according to reports.

AL: Alabamas version of stand-your-ground law draws questions
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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It seemed everyone in the room had a what if scenario.

What if they met an armed man threatening a waiter at a restaurant? What if five men broke into their home while they were outside? What if a man offended them on their own property? Did the law allow them to stand their ground and use physical deadly force?

At one point Thursday night, Forrest Marshall, a Calhoun County assistant district attorney who presented an informal class on gun laws at the Calhoun County Sheriffs Office, had to scratch his head at some of the questions.

IN: New laws overturning Ind. Supreme Court decisions demonstrate balance of power
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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On a yellow sheet of paper torn from a legal pad, Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan Jr. keeps the list.

It's just four Supreme Court case names and four Indiana Senate bill numbers, but amid those words and numbers lies the balance of power between the state's judicial and legislative branches.

This year's General Assembly approved four measures signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels that overturned four 2011 rulings of the state's high court. In each case, state law was clarified or changed in response to the court's interpretation of it.

SC: Campuses no place for concealed weapons
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Campus concealment bills have met opposition from school administrators and police the two groups that, more than anyone else, would have to face the gun issue from the wrong end of the barrel. Supporters of the bill use the requirements needed to earn a concealed weapon permit as the proof that only the most responsible and well-trained citizens would have a concealed gun. The U.S. Army's friendly-fire casualty numbers show that even the best training on a firing range can't demonstrate a person's ability to act calmly in the middle of a firefight.

CA: 'Gun rights' -- The right to gun down 'threats'?
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Yet these statutes have been enacted in state after state, the neatly pre-written text of each new bill mimicking that of the last. They are pitched as a means to fight crime--a laughable idea, considering how they encourage violence.

Somehow, the right to bear arms has morphed into a right to use them whenever we wish. And in a growing number of states, that notion is now legal.

Something is horribly wrong here.

NY: Mayor Bloomberg: Washington needs to stop cowering before the gun lobby
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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Over the past four months, we have had eight police officers shot in the line of duty. One of them, Peter Figoski, did not survive.

Every one of the criminals who has shot at our police officers possessed his gun illegally. Every one. And make no mistake: It will happen again and again until those in Washington stop cowering before the gun lobby.

Across the country, more than 80% of gun owners support simple fixes to the background check system that would help stop the flow of guns to criminals. The ideologues who run the gun lobby dont want us to know that, but its true.

MI: Redford woman claims self-defense in shooting
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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She swung on me, so I defended myself and swung back, she said. We're fighting in front of my car and this guy comes over and starts choking me. My feet were off the ground and I kneed him right between the legs to get away.

At that point she apparently reached inside her car, pulled out the .22-caliber handgun and fired one shot into the air.

If it had just been a fight with another girl, I could deal with that, she said. The only reason I grabbed the gun is because the guy was choking me. All I wanted was for him to get away from me.

MS: Officials: Shooter may have acted in self defense Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: http://www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office told WLOX that the man killed in the shooting at a home on Kiln-Waveland Cutoff Road in Waveland is Louie Matranga. ... Officials said they have not taken the shooter into custody because they are investigating the possibility that the shooter may have acted in self defense.

PA: Experts debate Florida's Stand Your Ground law
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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The Trayvon Martin case now has legal minds wondering whether George Zimmerman would have been arrested if he had shot 17-year-old Martin in Pennsylvania. And the answer seems to be yes.

Floridas Stand Your Ground law which allows law-abiding citizens to claim self-defense if they believe they are in great danger is one of the factors fueling the controversy surrounding Martins death.

Martins shooter, Zimmerman, 28, has not been arrested for the Feb. 26 shooting. Many blame Floridas law, which allowed Zimmerman to claim self-defense even though Martin was unarmed and was not trespassing on Zimmermans property.

FL: Group Wants Sen. Rubio To Withdraw Support For Stand Your Ground Law
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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We dont know the facts in this case I think a lot of people have rushed to judgment, Rubio said, according to the News Service of Florida. Its a self defense law. Stand your ground does not allow you to chase somebody and shoot them. Im not saying thats what happened in this case, but if it happened in this case, or any other case, stand your ground does not apply. Lets wait until the facts are out so we can have an intelligent debate.

GA: Tyrone sued over gun shop zoning
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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A group of Tyrone residents have filed suit against the Tyrone Town Council in Fayette County Superior Court in an effort to overturn the recent inclusion of guns shops as a conditional use in commercial zoning districts such as the one situated adjacent to Southampton subdivision where a gun store and indoor shooting range has been proposed for the Southampton Plaza shopping center on Ga. Highway 74.

People: Rihanna "tougher than stunt double" on "Battlefield" set
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: http://www.marktaff.com

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She said Rihanna especially took to the guns. 'When it was time to shoot I told her not to be nervous and to have fun with it. When she finished she was grinning from ear to ear and said, I see why you love this stuff'.'

'I showed her how to hold the gun so she'd look a little more professional. And there is one scene where she was dragging one of the guys out and I helped her out with how to pick him up. '