… Only outlaws will have Katanas. I guess they don’t want anyone in the UK to be able to do something like this.
Category: Carrying / Self-Defense
Official Oppression in Pennsylvania
The case I posted about here has finally hit the papers in Pennsylvania. Sheriff Wollyung of Franklin County is pretty clearly abusing his authority as a law enforcement officer, and trampling on one man’s rights:
“He was cautioned it was best to leave (the gun) outside,” Wollyung said. “Instead of taking the easy way out, he has to take the arrogant stand.”
So because he had the audacity to assert his legal right to carry a firearm in a place where he was legally permitted, he has taken the “arrogant stand”. I think it’s not Mr. Rotz who’s the arrogant on here.
The right to carry a firearm is not the right to annoy, harass, intimidate or alarm others, Wollyung said.
“I personally believe he violated the spirit of the law, if not the law itself,” Wollyung said.
That’s the worst of it. Sheriff Wollyung has declared himself to be above the law, and the sole arbiter of its “spirit”. If this isn’t Official Oppression, I don’t know what is. There is no “spirit of the law” it is quite simply not unlawful to carry a firearm openly into a polling place in this commonwealth. If the legislature wanted to outlaw this practice, or proscribe open carry for LCTF holders, it could have done so. It did not.
Tom Corbett, the Attorney General for Pennsylvania, is on the short list for a run for Governor in 2010 when Fast Eddie’s term is up. If he wants to build some more pro-gun street credentials, he’ll investigate the actions of this sheriff, and consider bringing charges under our state’s official oppression statute.
UPDATE: It would seem that Sheriff Wollyung, while highly concerned about people lawfully carrying firearms in the Commonwealth, isn’t all that concerned about one of the courthouse security guards returning to work while he stands accused of sexually assaulting a three year old boy. (NOTE: The Rotz in this case is unrelated to Greg Rotz, the man who has his license unlawfully revoked)
Janet Huckabee on Concealed Carry
Huckabee: I do. I would hardly say I’m a marksman. I definitely would not go that far. But again, I’ve had my concealed-weapon license for quite a while — I’ve actually had mine longer than my husband. It’s something that, I think, if you’re going to have a weapon, you should go learn how to shoot it.
Douglass: I guess the question was, why a concealed weapon?
Huckabee: Well, because if you have one in your vehicle or something and it’s under your seat, if you don’t have a license you could be in serious trouble. I’ve traveled across the country with two females. I think it’s a dangerous situation that perhaps you could be stranded. There’s, to me, nothing wrong with being able to protect yourself.
Can’t argue with that, but I’m still sticking with Fred.
History Lesson
Clayton has a bit on the history of guns in Church. Back when people didn’t much have the luxury of academic debate on self-protection, bringing a gun to church was required.
MS-NBC Turns up the Bias
Can you get any less objective than this?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRtVDDqzM_0[/youtube]
It seemed to save a lot of people for something that’s inane.
More on Colorado CWP Holder
Denver News has more on the CWP holder that stopped the latest mass shooting. I feel bad that the media light is being shined on this woman and her church. Two parishioners were murdered before she could stop them, and she herself, even if she was in the right, still has to deal with having killed another human being. This is the kind of thing where people ought to have a little privacy.
Stabbing Firefighters in Boston
It’s not a hazardous pastime when the good people in Boston are told by their betters they don’t have permission to protect themselves.
Pistol Packing Grandma Pinched at Disney
Looks like a Pennsylvania grandmother got herself in some hot water by trying to carry a .32 ACP Beretta Tomcat into Disney World. She is not in possession of a Pennsylvania LTCF, or any other license recognized by the State of Florida:
“I forget a lot of things. That might sound silly and stupid, but I did not remember that the pistol was down there,” Richardson told Eyewitness News after her released.
Other Disney World vacationers said they’re not buying Richardson’s story.
“I would know if there was a gun in mine. I know everything that’s in my purse. So I hope the law handles her in a good way so she’ll think twice before she does something like that again,” a Disney visitor told Eyewitness News.
Richardson doesn’t have a permit to carry the gun, but said she carries it for protection back home and she never had plans to hurt or scare anyone at the park.
Yeah, if you’re so old you’re forgetting a lot of things, including where you put your gun, you probably shouldn’t be carrying. Nontheless, I think some prosecutorial discretion is in order. I don’t think society has much to gain by throwing the book at this woman because she didn’t happen to realize that she needed to ask the government for permission before exercising a constitutional right.
Colorado Church Shooting Stopped by CWP Holder
Ahab tells us that it’s quite likely this particular mass shooting was stopped by someone who had a Colorado Concealed Weapons Permit. It’ll be interesting to see this story, which I can promise you the media won’t tell, develop.
UPDATE: Dave Hardy says it was an armed woman.
UPDATE: Looks like Dave got that from Insty who got if from Michelle Malkin.
UPDATE: SayUncle has much much more.
UPDATE: Kurt Hofmann linked this story in the comment, which suggests lends some credence to Ahab’s theory.
UPDATE: Confirmed. The woman was a Colorado CWP holder.
Easton Shooting Debate
I’m not sure this is a debate really anywhere except among Pennsylvania journalists:
 When it came to whether Robert Pierce Jr. was justified in shooting a would-be robber, Northampton Country District Attorney John Morganelli said the decision was “crystal clear.”
“We don’t expect our citizens to wait until they’re shot,” he said at a news conference this week.
He’s referring to the self-defense shooting case I blogged about here. But there are other sides to the story:
Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire NJ, a Newark-based organization devoted to reducing gun violence, said gun proliferation leads to more gun violence.
“It’s clear that the more guns you put on the street, in whoever’s hands, the more likely that there will be gun violence,” Miller said. “Allowing citizens to carry guns around does not make society safer.”
Miller said New Jersey has fewer gun-related incidents because the state does not allow permits to carry concealed guns.
To be sure New Jersey has fewer gun-related incidents like this, because New Jersey denies honest citizens the right to protect themselves. In New Jersey, Mr. Pierce would just be another statistic; just another murder victim.  That would be just fine by Bryan Miller. It would also be just fine by Patricia McClain-Afford:
Patricia McClain-Afford, co-president of Guns Down, an Easton-based organization, said citizens carrying guns risk injuring themselves or becoming disarmed by a criminal, thus endangering themselves further.
“I just don’t agree with the idea that it’s right for people to get guns to defend themselves, because then the bad guys have guns, the good guys have guns and then everybody’s just shooting at each other,” she said.
Wow, I trembled before the intellectual veracity of that argument. The fact is that Mr. Pierce is alive because he lives in a state that allows honest citizens the right to have the means to defend themselves. The system works, even if some people don’t want to accept that.