Strickland Shot Through Door

Law enforcement officers may have fired through a front door Friday night as sheriff's deputies and University of North Carolina Wilmington police officers attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Peyton Strickland in connection with the Nov. 17 robbery of two PlayStation 3 game stations from a UNCW student...

"Some of the bullets went through intervening targets, probably the door," Garrett said. Both bullets that struck Strickland passed through him into the house, he added.

[Via Unit Structures]

That's Quite Some Collection

According to Abraham, there are 100 million illegal guns floating around the city, most of them stolen.

According to Cousin G, who sent me this link, "With a population of just under 1.6 million, there are therefore almost 63 illegal guns for every resident of the city..."

Don't you just love "authorized journalists," you know, the folks who are supposed to question and investigate government claims, the way they blindly accept every "official" utterance as Gospel and follow in lockstep with the agenda...?

We're the Only Ones Not Prohibited Enough

The City Council is looking to pass an ordinance that would prohibit anyone but police and fire marshals from bringing guns onto city property.

Because we have proven time and again here at WarOnGuns that only "The Only Ones" are professional enough...

[Via Cousin G]

With Friends Like These

The friend of a college student killed by New Hanover County sheriff's deputies posed with guns in photos on the Internet.

That made authorities think they would be at high risk when they entered the Wilmington home shared by four people.

A picture of a "friend" is all the pretext they need.

And that made them shoot Peyton Strickland when he was unarmed, and kill his dog for good measure.

This story is a real turnaround and bears further watching, because previous accounts had Strickland named as the alleged thief. According to this, it was Mills, and he didn't even live in the raided house.

Make no mistake--government fears an armed citizenry. It scares the hell out of them. What further proof do we need?

[Via Cousin G]

KT Ordnance Update

...unofficial word is that Richard Celeta has had criminal charges filed by the state of Montana against him...

Hairy Hobbit gives us the latest info on this case. An update was also posted the other day at Wolfesblog.

RELATED READING:
BATFU Raids KT Ordnance
Help KT Ordnance

This Day in History: December 6

General George Washington’s battered forces manage to outsmart British General William Howe’s year-end attempt to drive the Americans from the hills in what is now Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia.

We're the Only Ones Terrorizing Enough

Three more Chicago police officers were charged Monday with corruption, only three months after four rogue officers faced charges of using their badges to break into homes and rob them...

Prosecutors say the officers abused their authority to terrorize and steal from people. They say the men allegedly forced their way into homes of drug dealers and ordinary citizens. The officers allegedly took everything from drugs to guns and in come cases thousands of dollars in cash.

Thank goodness Chicago has such aggressive citizen disarmament in place. Otherwise, someone could get hurt and it would be their gun's fault.

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

[Via Cousin G]

The Hipster

"Looks like a good way to be shot by cop if this rig is seen under your coat at the bank, serving on jury duty, etc."--WmH

True--they may think you're packing a video game controller.

I love hip Santa Monica socialist capitalists--particularly the kind who make a big deal out of supporting A.N.S.W.E.R. Talk about a group that's hostile to armed citizens, but they love the idea of being "strapped" if it's a fashion statement.

I think WmH is exactly right in his prediction--nobody in that part of town is used to seeing just plain folks with holsters. If a Birkenstocker does get blown away, any guesses the family survivors' lawsuit will include the language "knew or should have known"?

We're the Only Ones Playing B3yond Enough

A teenager accused of robbing a student of two new Playstation 3s on the day the popular game consoles were introduced was shot to death by police sent to arrest him...

“If this boy would’ve come to the door, opened the door, we probably wouldn’t be talking,” the sheriff said Sunday.

Roommate Mike Rhoton said Strickland was unarmed, but may have been holding a video game controller when he went to the door as it was bashed in by officers...

Strickland’s dog, a German shepherd, also was shot to death...

Sounds like a proportionate response. Anybody get the feeling there's...I dunno... a war going on?

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

[Via HZ]

UPDATE: Cryptic Subterranean adds his perspective.

We're the Only Ones Unregistered Enough

A top Dallas County sheriff's commander who was demoted for keeping an unregistered Thompson submachine gun in his office locker for about five years wasn't the only high-ranking officer who knew about the weapon, according to an internal affairs investigation.

Larry Locke was demoted from assistant chief deputy to captain in July by Sheriff Lupe Valdez for not properly securing the 1940s-era "Tommy gun" in the department's property room as required by policy.

...Locke failed to tell him the gun was not properly documented and was not registered with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives...

The Tommy gun has since been registered and placed in the property room.

So if I keep an unregistered Tommy gun for five years, BATFU will be satisfied if my employer demotes me? How about if Wayne Fincher does? Or is that only an option for "The Only Ones"?

[Via Blackfork6]

We're the Only Ones Still in Charge Enough

How else do you explain why Jack Byrnes Jr. is still in charge of the village police department, despite not having been seen in town for more than three months?

...Byrnes himself has been the target of lawsuits, the center of controversy and the subject of much, oft-times unpleasant, speculation. He was overseeing the department in 1999 when 5,000 rounds of ammo disappeared and again when his officers were accused of faking hours they worked and double-billing both the village and the sheriff's department mere months later...

People said Byrnes never faced the music in town — indeed, he received a hefty raise after the 2001 incident — because his father, Jack Byrnes Sr., sat on the police commission for years. No conflict there, right?

Sounds like you could do a lot worse than to have this guy absent for 3 months...

[More from "The Only Ones" files...]

[Via Declan]

This Day in History: December 5

On this day in Williamsburg, Virginia, a group of five students at the College of William and Mary gather at Raleigh’s Tavern to found a new fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa. Intended to follow strictly American principles as opposed to those of “England or Germany,” the new society engaged in the fervent political debate typical of student life at Thomas Jefferson’s beloved college in Virginia’s capital. The fluent scholars of Greek and Latin who gathered to found the society, which was destined to count presidents and poets of the newly declared republic among its ranks, could not have differed more greatly from their Patriot fellows suffering as prisoners of the crown in British-occupied New York.

Jefferson? Wasn't he the fellow who advised:

Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body, and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks.

I guess. Just so you don't try that at his "beloved" William and Mary.

Blast from the Past

Every month this magazine presents on its Web site (www.gunsmagazine.com) a complete issue from the corresponding month of half a century ago. It’s like opening a time capsule and getting not just a glimpse, but a real understanding of what a different time that was. It’s proven to be one of the more popular features I link to on my own website, both for old-timers and especially for younger readers.

These links have proven to be one of the more appreciated features here at WarOnGuns in terms of site visits and comments, and we have a new one just below this post. "Blast from the Past," my Rights Watch column for the Dec. 2006 issue of GUNS Magazine, is now online.

GUNS Magazine, December 1956

Veteran vs. Sullivan Law

The articles published, month after month in GUNS have been so consistently imaginative, exciting, authoritative, and well, just excellent in every way that they will eventually lead me to an advanced stage of frustration. You see, I am a die-hard pistol enthusiast who is unable to get his hands on even an air-pistol, much less the real product. Why?

Because local and state laws prohibit the average citizen to possess pistols and revolvers, And I'm average...

The U. S. Government spent a great deal of time and money to teach me to shoot a pistol effectively. In fact, it even went to great lengths to provide me with the proper live moving targets: mostly North Koreans. Now I hate like blazes to lose this hard earned talent because of some silly and non-effective gun laws. The morning papers prove every single day that there is no shortage of weapons among the underworld citizenry of the city. In fact, even the younger elements seem well heeled. No doubt, with little effort, I too could get my hands on one of these "hot rods," but since I enjoy the status of an honest lawful citizen this method is and always will be out. Frankly, I'm up against it.

I sincerely hope that this letter will be published for it may help arouse the sleeping pen hands of other weaponless pistol enthusiasts. Perhaps if we make enough noise the sleeping councilmen down at city hall may take another look at our gun laws.

Ray Zanon
New York City

This was written 50 years ago.

Sorry, Mr. Zanon--not enough of your generation perceived the threat. And I can't say with confidence that enough of us do today.

The December 1956 issue of GUNS Magazine is now online.

Also in this issue:

• "Is the Single Action the Perfect Revolver?
• "How Good Were Indians as Shooters?"
• "Why No Left-Handed Rifles"
• "World's Biggest Gun Collection"
• Classic ads of the period
• And much more

Pack the Peace of Christ or We'll Kill You

Through worship, rap and the spoken word the conference, held at Philadelphia Mennonite School, delivered a Christian message of peace, urging participants to 'pack the peace of Christ', instead of a gun.

I don't care if they dance through life with eyes closed and arms upraised singing "Kumbaya," but they then go on to advocate a host of citizen disarmament edicts, that is, imposing their "religion" on the rest of us--under force of state arms.

In the words of a 1747 Philadelphia sermon:

"He that suffers his life to be taken from him by one who has no authority for that purpose, when he might preserve it by defense, incurs the Guilt of self murder since God has enjoined him to seek the continuance of his life, and Nature itself teaches every creature to defend [it]self."

These fools can self-murder all they want and I won't force my will on them--just leave me and mine out of the equation.

I'm also reminded of a Woody Allen line:

"The lion will lie down with the lamb, but the lamb won’t get much sleep."

Imaginary Gun Violence on Rise in Maine

State officials say there have been 19 bank robberies this year, more than any year in recent memory. They also say in almost all of them, the robbers showed a gun or claimed they had one.

The answer is obvious. Maine banks need to modify their "No Guns Allowed" signs to include theoretical ones.

This Day in History: December 4

A force of Continental dragoons commanded by Colonel William Washington--General George Washington’s second cousin once removed--corners Loyalist Colonel Rowland Rugeley and his followers in Rugeley’s house and barn near Camden, South Carolina, on this day in 1780.

Questions & Answers

Would stricter gun laws save lives?

No.

How can we stop rise in gun crime?

Easy.

Well, I'm glad that's settled.

[Via Cousin G]

We're the Only Ones Contagious Enough

[Use BugMeNot to bypass site registration]

It is known in police parlance as "contagious shooting"-- gunfire that spreads among officers who believe that they, or their colleagues, are facing a threat. It spreads like germs, like laughter, or fear. An officer fires, so his colleagues do, too.

In other words, give an "Only One" a gun and mob mentality takes over? I think until we can ensure that this phenomenon has been drilled out of them, there's only one responsible solution.

[I found this link via a Slate article, which blames the guns, naturally, and I found that while reading some excellent commentary over at Armed and Safe.]

They Hate Us Because We're Free

Sky Harbor International Airport here will test a new federal screening system that takes X-rays of passenger's bodies to detect concealed explosives and other weapons...

The technology already is being used in prisons and by drug enforcement agents, and has been tested at London's Heathrow Airport..

I can think of all kinds of other places these would work once we get everybody conditioned to this. Hey, if it makes us safer, why not? Besides, what have you got to hide?