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Although anti gun rights laws are often associated with Democratic or liberal politicians, the idea of gun rights actually fit in with liberal values. Read the rest of this article »

The village of Oak Park, IL is one of only a few municipalities in the United States which still has a ban on the ownership of handguns for self defense, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in D.C. v Heller.  In spite of the decades long handgun ban, there are weekly (and sometimes daily) armed robberies in Oak Park, along with the occasional shooting.  Oak Park is also short on cash, but has decided to become embroiled in a lengthy and expensive legal battle to keep the pointless handgun ban, rather than to use common sense.  Since money is limited, Oak Park is cutting police protection to save money, while violent crime against Oak Park residents continues: Read the rest of this article »

The Washington State Patrol says six people are dead and two are wounded after a shooting rampage. Police said the suspect is known for having mental health issues and that he was on a Mount Vernon watch list. Police said they believe the suspect is responsible for all eight shootings. Read the rest of this article »

Barack Obama is an ardently anti-gun politician, and voted to allow the prosecution of citizens who defended themselves with guns in their own homes.  Given that fact, it is interesting how recent news events show Obama takes his own security very seriously, at the expense of his neighbors and ordinary citizens: Read the rest of this article »

Due to my profession, I tend to focus on the right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the United States constitution. However it is important to note that the right to keep and bear arms for self defense was a preexisting right that is guaranteed by the Second Amendment. In other words, the Second Amendment is simply an acknowledgment of the right to own a gun, and a command that the Government not infringe that already existing right, rather than the source of the right: Read the rest of this article »

I recently debated the issue of gun rights with a relative of mine who is decidedly anti gun.  She has never fired a gun, and has no desire to do so.  She is afraid of guns in and of themselves, rather than being concerned about the actions of criminals.  I though I would post a particularly salient portion of the discussion, as I can best remember it: Read the rest of this article »

As reported, the armed robberies in Oak Park, Illinois are increasing, despite the more than 20-year-old handgun ban: Read the rest of this article »

As I’ve previously mentioned, crime in England has skyrocketed since their passage of strict gun control laws.  The criminals still shoot innocent citizens, and gun smugglers bring illegal guns into the UK just as illegal drugs are imported.  The criminals who are willing to commit violent crimes such as murder are just as willing to violate a relatively minor gun control law.  Tired of seeing law abiding citizens at the mercy of criminals, Graham Showell decided to do something: Read the rest of this article »

I’ve seen that some people, most of whom have never fired a gun, are opposed to parents teaching their children to fire guns.  I disagree, and feel that children who are interested in firearms should be taught to shoot under responsible adult supervision, once they are mature enough to do so safely. Read the rest of this article »

The bike by shootings reportedly happened about 11:30 p.m. at the intersection of North Avenue and Karlov Avenue, in the Humbolt Park neighborhood.  A male cyclist rode by, opening fire on two pedestrians, before peddling away. Read the rest of this article »

Randy Shannon is the head coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes, and he dislikes guns.  Because of his personal feelings on guns, he has reportedly banned his college football players from having guns, even off campus in their private homes. Read the rest of this article »

This video clip shows the Taurus Judge, a revolver chambered for .410 shotgun shells as well as .45 Long Colt. I also discuss the Taurus Judge in greater detail here. Read the rest of this article »

This video clip includes an interview with a woman whose suffered an attempted home invasion, which was caught on tape.  The home invaders wore gloves to avoid leaving behind finger prints, and cut the phone line to prevent the home owner or the security system from calling the police. Read the rest of this article »

I was reviewing the search engine statistics for this website, and found that there were quite a few people searching for “What is Gun Control”?  I, and many readers of this website are quite familiar with gun control, however I thought an introduction to gun control might be helpful for some people: Read the rest of this article »

In this video clip, ABC’s 20/20 discusses the myth that gun control laws reduce crime. Instead, of showing a reduction in crime, John Stossel finds that gun control leads to an increase in crime, prevents law abiding citizens from defending themselves, doesn’t deter criminals, harms the weaker members of society, and paves the way for school shootings.  It is refreshing to see a major news outlet reporting these facts in a unbiased manner. Read the rest of this article »

A good percentage of crime consists of criminals victimizing other criminals, often over drugs, money, or gang turf.  However, criminals will often break into the wrong house, or attack the wrong person, after mistaking them for someone else.  Self defense in this situation is yet another reason to own a gun: Read the rest of this article »

As the Wednesday Journal reports, a highly intoxicated man who jumped out of a car on Austin Boulevard hurling racial slurs and swinging a bat was shot by one of his would-be victims.  This is particularly interesting because it happened right on the border of Oak Park and Chicago, which both ban handguns, and in the state of Illinois, which bans concealed carry: Read the rest of this article »

As the Sun Herald reports, an 84 year old Mississippi man used his handgun to stop a home invader.  The elderly man was at home with his 74-year-old wife, at about 5 a.m. at their residence in the area of Adams Street, in Bayside Park. Hancock County Sheriff’s Investigator Andre Fizer said the couple heard a noise as an alleged criminal tried to break through the front door, then tried to enter through a back door, and also through a rear window of the residence.  As he grew weaker trying to hold off the intruder at the back door, the resident asked his wife to bring his .45 caliber Colt handgun. He fired one shot through a lower panel of the door, wounding the alleged home invader, Wade Ledesma. Read the rest of this article »

As the Chicago Tribune reports, the Morton Grove, Illinois handgun ban has been repealed by a 5-1 vote of the village board. Read the rest of this article »

While discussing the lawsuit which seeks to strike down Chicago’s ineffective and likely unconstitutional handgun ban, Mayor Richard Daley made a series of anti-gun arguments.  These arguments appear to be based upon faulty or non-existent reasoning, and make the utterly untrue assumption that law abiding citizens will generally misuse guns for no reason at all.  This article analyzes and rebuts Daley’s rather weak anti-gun arguments one by one: Read the rest of this article »

Almost every day, politicians and other public figures get on their soapboxes and argue for gun control. They say their latest pointless and ineffective gun control laws will be “tough on criminals.” The reality of the situation is that criminals like gun control laws. This is because criminals will still have guns, and their victims will be easier targets. get Allow me to explain further: Read the rest of this article »

As the Chicago Tribune reports, a woman was robbed by a man who threatened to shoot her on the platform of the Austin Blue Line stop, Oak Park police reports indicated. The woman was standing on the platform when she was approached by a man who asked her for spare change. When she declined, the man stuck a hand under his shirt and threatened to shoot her with a gun. The criminal then grabbed her by the wrist, and took her cell phone and wallet valued at $350. This robbery, like the countless others in Oak Park, IL, occurred despite the decades long handgun ban. Read the rest of this article »

As the Wednesday Journal reports, on Monday morning, an Oak Park woman was preparing to take her baby to the doctor when a masked intruder burst into her apartment. The home invader then began beating the Oak Park woman with a baseball bat. During the beating, the woman dropped her 6-week-old baby. As the man continued to beat the woman about her upper body, a witness ran outside and waved down a passing police officer. The mother and infant were taken to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, IL for treatment of fractures and lacerations. The Wednesday Journal also reports that Oak Park police have a suspect, Anthony K. Murdix, 42, of Aurora, IL in custody. Read the rest of this article »

There is a lot of misinformation out there about gun control, gun rights, self defense, “assault weapons,” and the like. This article is intended to briefly set the record straight: Read the rest of this article »

As the Indy Star reports, a Franklin, IN man took his bolt action, .22LR caliber rifle and confronted a burglar. The burglar wrestled the gun away from the home owner, James Duncan, and shot him in the shoulder. Mr. Duncan survived, and there are important lessons to be learned here: Read the rest of this article »

As the Sun Times reports, a woman was shot in the leg after she struggled with two male attackers who stole her property in the West Loop, near the intersection of Randolph St and Halsted St early Friday. The men succeeded at taking her property after a struggle and as they were fleeing, fired shots at the woman, striking her in the leg. Read the rest of this article »

As the Sum Times reports, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has blamed the news media for Chicago’s recent sharp increase in violent crime. So far, Mayor Daley has blamed guns, the Supreme Court, and now the news media. Perhaps instead of assigning blame to blameless parties, the Mayor should take steps to address the real causes of crime: Read the rest of this article »

As the Sun Times reports, after stating that violent crime in Chicago is “out of control,” Governor Rod Blagojevich offered to loan Illinois state troopers and National Guard equipment to Chicago to help augment the Chicago Police officers. Read the rest of this article »

As the Wednesday Journal reports, there were 5 people victimized in 3 Oak Park, IL armed robberies.  All of the criminals used handguns, despite Oak Park’s longstanding (and likely unconstitutional) handgun ban: Read the rest of this article »

The Department of the Interior was preparing to promulgate rules that would allow concealed carry for self defense in national parks. As the NRA reports, rather than closing the comment period as scheduled and moving toward finalizing this federal regulation, U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), succeeded in delaying the implementation of the final rule by bullying the Department of the Interior to extend the deadline for comments an additional 30 days. The goal of this extension is to give the anti-gun-rights lobby more time to oppose self defense rights in our national parks. Please contact the department of the interior and let them know that you support concealed carry and self defense rights: Read the rest of this article »

As Mercury News reports, Enrique Chavez of Anaheim, CA was a Los Angeles police officer, until he left his loaded gun on the back seat of his pickup truck while driving with his 3 year old son. The young child picked up the gun and pulled the trigger, shooting Chavez in the back and leaving him paralyzed. Enrique Chavez then sued Glock, the holster manufacturer, and the retailer, alleging that their products were defective . My thoughts on this situation are discussed below: Read the rest of this article »

I’ve seen that some people dislike handguns such as Glocks and some of the Springfield XD pistols because they lack an external safety, such as can be found on the Springfield 1911. This article addresses my thoughts on the matter: Read the rest of this article »

Rather than deterring criminals, who will manage to have a gun in violation of the law, handgun bans will result in the unjust prosecution citizens who are defending themselves against criminals.   Such an outcome is plainly contrary to the (misguided) intent of such bans, which is to protect law abiding citizens from criminals.  A couple of example from the state of Illinois help illustrate the point: Read the rest of this article »

Some anti-gun-rights groups will try to argue that gun ownership somehow causes increased suicide rates. This is similar to the equally incorrect assertion that the presence of guns leads to crime. The fact is, those who are serious about committing suicide will do so, and many of them choose guns for a variety of practical reasons. Allow me to elaborate: Read the rest of this article »

The Wednesday Journal, Oak Park’s local newspaper, ran an article discussing the history of Oak Park’s handgun ban. The facts: Oak Park’s handgun ban was the knee jerk reaction to a murder that was committed not in Oak Park, but Chicago. Two decades later, criminals in Oak Park commit shootings, robberies, and pistol whipping, while only Oak Park’s law abiding citizens obey the ban and are left vulnerable. Read the rest of this article »

As the Sun Times reports, a man armed with a knife stormed a police station in Shanghai, China on Tuesday, stabbing 9 officers inside and killing at least five - all without a gun. Read the rest of this article »

Purchasing a gun now is a prudent choice, given the fact that when you actually need the gun, it will be too late to buy it. I am not speaking of the world ending or other unlikely events (no, I don’t believe society will collapse any time soon) but rather about events that can and do happen, when it helps to have a gun: Read the rest of this article »

The Tribune ran an article about Glen Soustek, a Roselle, IL man whose life was saved by his handgun.  This excellent article is an especially good read, given the recent lawsuits filed against Chicago, Oak Park, and other Illinois cities that violate the individual right to gun ownership for self defense. Read the rest of this article »

Within hours of the Supreme Court declaring that handgun ownership is a basic right, the city of Chicago was sued over their handgun ban. I’ve previously discussed why such handgun bans won’t work, and how criminals will just ignore the gun control laws. I’ve also discussed how rights such as gun ownership, free speech, and the right to a lawyer cannot be legislated away by a city, state, or federal government. That same reasoning applies here, and is not included in this article to avoid redundancy. Instead, I’ll address the comments by Mayor Daley and Chicago’s chief of police Jody Weis: Read the rest of this article »

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has declared the Second Amendment protects the right of an individual to keep and bear arms, striking down the (failed) District of Columbia handgun ban. This article discusses what exactly the court held, and what that means for American gun owners: Read the rest of this article »

Pistols and revolvers each have their own advantages and disadvantages. This article discusses the pros and cons of each type of handgun: Read the rest of this article »

The shooter, Wesley Neal Higdon, had been reprimanded for talking on his cell phone and not wearing safety glasses.  He left work for about half an hour, then returned to kill 5 people and then kill himself.  During the shootings, he apparently had time to reload his handgun.  Again, we have a tragic shooting where a criminal bent on murder and suicide was the only one armed, and as a result, the law abiding, unarmed people died. Read the rest of this article »

“There will be no more gun clubs on City of Toronto property and there will be no new gun clubs in the City of Toronto ever,” said Toronto Mayor David Miler. Read the rest of this article »

A pizza delivery driver was reportedly attacked by 3 robbers during a delivery.  He was able to draw and fire his gun in self defense. Read the rest of this article »

Often times in the wake of a particularly horrific shooting, politicians and even ordinary citizens feel compelled to “do something.” Gun control advocates seize on this urge to act, since it is human nature to want to take action in the wake of a tragedy. This tends to lead to wasted effort or actions that actually make the situation worse. Sometimes the best course of action is no action, or at least action after considerable thought is given to the issue: Read the rest of this article »

Cameron Sands, a 19 year old would-be home invader from Fort Worth managed to fatally shoot himself during an attempted home invasion.

Grand Prairie, TX police say that Cameron Sands kicked in the door of the home he was invading, and then inadvertently shot himself in the stomach while trying to pull the gun out of his waist band. After shooting himself, Sands dropped the gun and ran, but only made it to the driveway before collapsing. He was then found dead in the early morning hours.

Luckily for these home owners, the would-be home invader managed to negligently shoot himself and save them from violent attack by a criminal. Unfortunately, most home owners aren’t that lucky when it comes to home invasion, and would do well to have a gun for self defense.

A Canton, MI concealed carry permit holder lawfully used his gun to stop a bank robber: Read the rest of this article »

Many gun control advocates argue that we need handgun bans in order to prevent crime. Empirical evidence collected from cities that have handgun bans (such as Chicago and D.C.) flatly disprove that idea. It appears that a hand ban, rather than a handgun ban, might better prevent crime. Allow me to explain: Read the rest of this article »

In a saddening statement, the Humane Society has decided to oppose the basic right to defend oneself and one’s family.  Read the rest of this article »

As previously discussed, safe and responsible gun storage is essential. I’ve been asked what features I recommend for gun safes, which I discuss below: Read the rest of this article »

The mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, has banned guns on city property. Read the rest of this article »

Last year, Kansas modified its concealed carry laws to permit patrons at bars to carry. WIBW reports that bar owners are largely unaware that their customers have been lawfully carrying, and the reason the bar owners are unaware is simple: concealed carry permit holders are not the cause of gun related crime, and are instead an asset to our society. Read the rest of this article »

An 8 year old girl in Grain Valley, MO was killed today by the negligence of adult(s). Read the rest of this article »

“Zero Tolerance” policies are becoming more and more popular in our nation’s schools, workplaces, and other venues, especially as far as guns and other weapons related items are concerned. The problem is that these policies lead to unjust results and defy common sense. Zero tolerance policies run contrary to the ideas of justice that we as a civilization have been developing for centuries, and should be abandoned. Allow me to explain: Read the rest of this article »