5 to 4

I was a little disappointed that the Supreme Court decision was just 5 to 4. To me, it is obvious the founders always intended it to be an individual right and how 4 justices came to the conclusion they didn't is beyond me.

Brady Campaign

Here is some of the email I got from the Brady Campaign regarding the Supreme Court decision. (Yes, I get emails from the Brady Campaign. You have to keep an eye on the opposition).

Dear jeff,


Just hours ago, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling on the most significant Second Amendment case in our country's history, District of Columbia v. Heller.

I want you to know that we have hit the ground running. Our fight to enact and defend strong gun laws to save lives will be undiminished.

The Heller decision will no doubt embolden ideological extremists to file new legal attacks on existing gun laws. But with the help of the Brady Center’s legal team, those attacks can, and must, be successfully resisted in the interest of public safety.



I must be one of those "ideological extremists" they are talking about.

This is a big win but we can't stop fighting because I know the other side isn't going to stop.

Supreme Court Rules DC Gun Ban is Unconstitutional

This is a big win. I'll have a lot more on this over the next few days but here is something from the Scotusblog.

Answering a 127-year old constitutional question, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun, at least in one’s home. The Court, splitting 5-4, struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession.

Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for the majority stressed that the Court was not casting doubt on long-standing bans on carrying a concealed gun or on gun possession by felons or the mentally retarded, on laws barring guns from schools or government buildings, and laws putting conditions on gun sales.

In District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), the Court nullified two provisions of the city of Washington’s strict 1976 gun control law: a flat ban on possessing a gun in one’s home, and a requirement that any gun — except one kept at a business — must be unloaded and disassembled or have a trigger lock in place. The Court said it was not passing on a part of the law requiring that guns be licensed. It said that issuing a license to a handgun owner, so the weapon can be used at home, would be a sufficient remedy for the Second Amendment violatrion of denying any access to a handgun.

Kids and Guns

I have a 4 year old son and a 2 year old son and I also have guns in my house. I also have loaded guns in my house but do I worry about the boys getting hurt with these guns? No and in fact I worry more about other things hurting them like falling in the bathtub or having an accident on their bikes.

I am constantly educating and reinforcing gun safety with them. Also, since I let them touch and hold the guns while we are doing this education, they aren't curious about them. In fact, now they could really care less when I have one of my guns out unless it is a new one they haven't seen before then they want to see "Daddy's new gun."

I am writing this because I don't have anything else to write and thought I would throw out some controversy but also here is a good article on this topic.

Read the article here.

Penn and Teller Expose the Fallacy of Gun Control

This is a good video.  Penn and Teller expose the fallacy of gun control laws in their special way.  It is 28 minutes long.

If you don't see the video then go to this link.

No to H.R. 1022

In this post I urged you to go to this site and sign the petition to say no to House Bill 1022.  It currently has over 30,000 signers but we need to get more aggressive.  JR over at A Keyboard and a .45 notes in this post that the bill appears to be gaining momentum and he provides links to contact your representive to urge them to vote against this bill.


This bill is far more aggressive than the Clinton Assault Weapon Ban and will result in far more guns being banned.

Here is a good summary of the bill.

Concealed Handgun License

Last night when I got home I received a little surprise, my concealed handgun license. This was something that I procrastinated doing for three years but I finally got it done. As I wrote about in this post if you want to do one little thing to help preserve our 2nd Amendment rights, then get a CHL.

Now, my next project is to have Shelley get hers.

Case for Guns

Here is an excellent article called a Case For Guns that was in the New York Sun. This is straight from Bloomberg and Hillary country. The author asks:

How often do we have to read about an estranged wife or girlfriend getting gunned down by her ex? Enacting more gun laws hasn't protected women in this city. Maybe instead of going after the gun manufacturers, our mayor should be trying to enact legislation to toughen stalker laws and to increase the penalties for those who violate orders of protection. How about offering self-defense classes or gun permits and firearms training to battered women before they become death statistics?

Read the article here.

Armed Citizen

This is an example in my community of a citizen protecting themself.

A burglary suspect, who was shot early Friday during a break-in at an Arlington home, was arrested by police who tracked him to a wooded creek bed west of the house, police said.

The unidentified suspect was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth about 7 a.m. after officers caught him near the home he allegedly burgled in the 2000 block of Mill Creek Drive, police said.

Read the story here.

Armed Citizen #11

From www.nra.org.

Seventy-four-year-old Willie Brown had shrugged off the noises downstairs as typical bumps in the night. But then, a man holding a knife appeared in his bedroom doorway. Brown described the ensuing events to a local reporter: “He said, ‘Don’t move, I got a knife.’ I said, ‘You got a knife, huh?’ He said ‘Yeah’ … I reached under my pillow and came up firing my .38 Smith and Wesson. He said, ‘Oops’ and turned and ran down the steps.” An officer later spotted the wounded suspect driving erratically at high speeds and arrested him. “I might be old, but I am not slow,” said Brown. “I think [the intruder] might be through breaking in people’s houses for a while.” (Belleville News Democrat, Belleville, IL, 06/16/06)

Armed Citizen #10

From www.nra.org

Dressed in black with socks on his hands and armed with a tire iron, a would-be robber certainly looked the part as he approached the southwest Houston home of 26-year-old Derriun Raney and knocked on the door. Police say that when Raney opened the door, the man struck him in the head repeatedly with the tire iron. Raney drew a pistol and fired several shots, striking his assailant in the stomach. The unidentified man died in the front yard. Raney suffered a cut on his head, but was otherwise uninjured. (Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX, 04/15/06)

Armed Citizen #9

Three men broke into a couples home in St. Augustine, Fl with baseball bats and guns. The men ordered the couple and some visiting family members to the floor while they searched for prescription medicine. A family member in another room heard the noise and armed himself with a firearm. He entered the room and fired several shots hitting one suspect in the torso. All the men fled and the police apprehended two of them and the wounded man was found collapsed in the street.

Armed Citizen #8

From the Arlington Sun Gazette.

An armed citizen confronted an alleged burglar inside his Northern Virginia home. The intruder ran from the family room towards the bedroom of the homeowner's teenage daughter. A struggle ensued and ended when the homeowner shot the intruder. The intruder fled on foot and was arrested at the hospital when he sought treatment.

Armed Citizen #7

I took this story from here.

A 66-year-old woman shot an intruder who she found hiding in her home.

The man, 22-year-old Christopher Lessner, had just fled from police after being pulled over for speeding on Interstate 30. He fled along a creek bottom and eventually scrambled into the woman’s backyard on Northhaven Court.

The intruder tried to break into the house at least twice. There were muddy hand and foot prints on the back of a Suburban parked in the carport. Lessner apparently grabbed onto the back of the car port, got himself up onto the house and tried to break in through a second story window. When that didn't work, he apparently walked along the top of the roof then jumped into the backyard and then ended up kicking in the back door.

Once inside, Lessner hid in a front room closet. Little did he know, Buxton, a concealed handgun license owner, would find him.

According to reports, when Susan Buxton found the man she told him to “lay down and stay still” as she held her handgun drawn.

“He ignored her and tried to grab the gun and even then she didn't shoot, she just backed away and told him again “lay down, be still or I will shoot,” said Shelly Bugenis, Buxton’s daughter said.

Lessner darted from the home after Buxton shot him in the leg. He later was found hiding on a nearby balcony.

Lessner is recovering at Harris Methodist Hospital. Officials say he faces charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, evading arrest, criminal mischief and criminal trespass.

Arlington police do not anticipate filing charges against Buxton.

Armed Citizen #6

A Wal-Mart customer with a concealed-carry permit came to a female employee's rescue when violence erupted in a crowded store. Police say an employee was working in the deli when her ex-husband leapt across the counter and began stabbing her. That's when 72 year-old Due Moore intervened, shooting and killing the ex-husband.

Armed Citizen #5

A "Good Samaritan" came to the rescue of a woman who was the apparent victim of a sexual assualt in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The man was surveying possible construction sites in the area when he saw two partially disrobed people struggling in an alleyway. When the woman screamed for help, the man ran to assist her. The suspect jumped into his vehicle and tried to hit his victim with the car. The Samaritan drew his .40-cal handgun, fired several shots and killed the attacker.

Armed Citizen #4

Gayle Martin was sound asleep when the doorbell rang at 5 a.m., but he didn't open the door because he didn't recognize either of the two men standing on his porch. He continued watching the men through his front window as they went around his house and began battering his back door. Within moments, the two thugs came crashing through the door into the kitchen and living room area. That's when Martin drew is .357 Magnum and fired three shots, causing the men to run away. Authorities found the home invaders nearby, both suffering from gunshot wounds.

Armed Citizen #3

Two teenage thugs in Dayton, Ohio had the tables turned on them when one night in June they targeted a man licensed to carry a firearm. They approached Mark Hill and one of them shoved him. When he turned around, they both flashed handguns according to the police report. Hill backed away and then pulled out a Glock 23 and fired, hitting one of the gunman several times. Both men fled shortly thereafter. The men were later arrested when they sought medical attention.

Armed Citizen #2

Judith Kuntz, a 64-year-old homeowner from Fort Lauderdale, FL., was awakened by the sound of glass breaking during a forced entry. She was prepared for such an event and had a revolver in her hand when the intruder entered her room. Her shot struck and killed the man from 10 ft. away.

Armed Citizen

American Rifleman magazine has an interesting section in each issue called Armed Citizen where it recounts many stories where Americans protected themselves with a weapon. The MSM (mainstream media) doesn't like to publish these types of stories because it would go against their agenda to revoke the 2nd amendment and eliminate every American's right to bear arms.

Studies show that firearms are used more than 2 million times a year for personal protection, and that the presence of a firearm, without a shot being fired, prevents crime in many instances.

Two million times? How many of these stories do you ever hear? One, two maybe...

For example, a resident of Hempfield Township, Pa., tried at first to halt a 3 am break-in at his house by firing two shots. The intruder allegedly used a fireplace poke and his fists to break out a pane of glass, but refused to heed the warning and charged the homeowner. The next time the homeowner fired his handgun he struck the bandit in the legs and drove him out of the house..

If anyone has more examples of these types of stories please email them to me.