The Northern Muckraker

Why I Carry a Handgun for Protection, Vol. 62

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:42:00 +0000

Because in the city in which we reside the supposed good guys can sometimes actually turn out to be the bad guys.

Detectives with the Arizona Department of Public Safety have concluded that not only did some law-enforcement officer members of the ~~wannabe biker gang~~ motorcycle club the Iron Brotherhood assault a 23-year-old man in a Prescott bar last December 22, breaking his nose among other injuries, the heroic first responders then told massive whoppers about exactly what happened:

"The DPS report notes that numerous members of the club made statements that were contradicted by videotape, other evidence and civilian witnesses."

The victim's transgression? He asked the club's president some questions about the patches on his vest. This apparently angered sergeant-at-arms and Phoenix "officer" Eric "Guido" Amato, who then decided to administer a little attitude adjustment.

Naturally, once other cops showed up to investigate the incident the blue wall of silence immediately went up, as found out by a parallel investigation:

"A separate administrative review conducted by a Coconino County sheriff’s commander and released Thursday by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office concluded that at least two Yavapai County sheriff’s deputies — [William] Suttle and Capt. Marc Schmidt — hindered investigators by lying and withholding information."

Open and shut, right? Nope. DPS, despite their findings, has declined to recommend criminal charges against any of the goons but instead merely identified some "potential criminal allegations" against several members of the club including assault, disorderly conduct, obstruction and false reporting.

"Officer" Amato is under a separate internal affairs probe by the Phoenix PD but unbelievably is still out on the street in the South Mountain Precinct as a, get this, "Community Action Officer" (no doubt serving and protecting by educating the citizens about such serious threats as criminal motorcycle gang members).

Two of the cops at least had the integrity to resign their positions, according to the story, but all of them remain uncharged and unsanctioned to date, almost five months later.

If any other biker gang had engaged in this conduct they would have been long ago jailed and criminally charged. We already know the answer but we'll ask the question anyway - what's taking so long in this case?

"The Iron Brotherhood claims on its website to be a fraternity of motorcycle-riding law officers who do not associate with criminals."

Not exactly true, because at least some of them apparently are criminals.

We reserve our right to protect ourselves against an unprovoked criminal assault from anyone, whether they wear a badge for a living or not.

Hush, child. Your bottle is warming

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:10:00 +0000

A quick response to the Messiah's pathetic mewling in the Rose Garden earlier today:

"By now, it’s well known that 90 percent of the American people support universal background checks"

Says who? Please cite where you discovered such magical fairy-dusted numbers, sir. If anywhere close to 90 percent had truly supported that legislation it would have passed in a slam-dunk. It didn't, of course, which leads us to conclude that you in fact are the one stretching the truth here.

"We’re talking about convicted felons, people convicted of domestic violence, people with a severe mental illness"

Persons who are already prohibited from buying a firearm from anyone anywhere at any time. So you're proposing to make it doubly or triply illegal?

"But instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. They claimed that it would create some sort of “big brother” gun registry, even though the bill did the opposite."

Universal background checks by definition would create a de facto gun registry that no doubt would be used to locate and attempt to confiscate firearms at some future date. As to the ban on creating an official registry, it's true that one was in the legislation, but the one word "notwithstanding" in the bill basically negates the language and allows the Attorney General to do just that.

"There were no coherent arguments as to why we wouldn’t do this."

There were many, sir. You just dismissed them as you do any viewpoints that differ from your collectivist worldview.

"But if action by Congress could have saved one person, one child"

So we take it you're in favor of any action that saves lives, up to and including waterboarding, then?

"I’ve heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. "A prop," somebody called them. “Emotional blackmail,” some outlet said. Are they serious?"

Yes indeed. The same people you've been carting around on Air Force One, parading up in the Senate gallery and pimping out on sycophantic news programs? This is a textbook definition of employing the transfer technique, and you should be ashamed of yourself for dancing in their children's blood to advance your political agenda.

"And I see this as just round one"

Bring it on.

At least he knows which end to hold

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 23:48:00 +0000

The President's propaganda office, under immense pressure to produce evidence that Barry has indeed held a firearm at one point in his life, has released a picture of the Messiah apparently engaged in a bit of skeet shooting at Camp David. As if the Second Amendment was put into the Bill of Rights to protect an admittedly fun way to while away an afternoon.

"This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way"

Parody is still protected speech under the First Amendment, as far as we can tell. We're sure the Messiah's minions are hard at work undermining that right as well. In the meantime, we eagerly await the Internet memes that undoubtedly will result from the pic.

The mom jeans add an outstanding sartorial touch, by the way.

And I want France to have free ice cream on Tuesdays

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:31:00 +0000

"Obama Has Massive Lead in Global Poll"

So what?

Only votes cast by U.S. citizens count in the upcoming election, as much as the Messiah and his supporters wish for that not to be the case, as judging by the latest polls that's the only way they're going to be able to pull off a win. Tam, who resides in the battleground state of Indiana, notes that pretty much every single Republican ad she's seen (and she's apparently seen plenty) mentions repealing the abomination that is Obamacare, while all of the Democrat candidates' ads won't even mention the currently millstone-like Obama, much less his signature legislative accomplishment.

Things are definitely getting interesting.

The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:50:00 +0000

... are Louisville, Kentucky police officers Trey McKinley, Donald Pugh, Jeremy Linton, Daniel English and Joseph Vidourek, as well as Sgt. Kirby Shobe.

These fine public servants, especially "Officer" English, rousted National Guard Lt. Col. Donald Blake Settle, a highly decorated 29-year soldier with a traumatic brain injury, last January simply because he was wearing dirty clothes from a remodeling job and was observed by English to be having difficulty speaking while Settle was conversing with an acquaintance he ran into at a local mall while shopping for a gift card.

Despite his (accurate) protestations that he was neither impaired nor a homeless vagrant, Settle was menaced twice with a TASER, brutally tossed to the ground and handcuffed, and then threatened with arrest (for what? The story doesn't say, and there definitely was no actual crime being committed) before the cops made some calls and finally managed to figure out that he was telling the truth. Did that information make one bit of difference?

Naw, they still rudely told him to hit the road:

"Settle said he was told to leave the mall and get his gift card somewhere else on the way out of Louisville."

Didn't they already make a movie about exactly this kind of official abuse of innocent veterans by such smug self-proclaimed guardians of proper dress and diction?

Naturally, none of the cops were disciplined for their wrongdoing, not even "Sergeant" Shobe, who despite apparently being the supervisor at the scene didn't bother to fill out a report on the incident, most likely because enough clock ticks had passed for even that half-wit to figure out that he and his fellow thugs might actually face some consequences for their unlawful actions.

"'You always err on the side of caution because what, to me, this looks like, is that we were trying to cover something up,' [Louisville PD Col. Vince] Robison said, later clarifying, however, that it didn’t appear there was any “conspiracy” to cover anything up, just a “poor job” in not documenting what happened."

Oh no, no conspiracy at all, it was just a (very convenient) crappy job by his officers. But no punishment for said crap performance. What a professionally-run department.

Settle has been told he will have to sue the department to receive a copy of the sham "investigation" into incident. According to the story, he plans to do exactly that. We hope he gets some significant monetary damages as well to assist him in his recovery.

Thanks for visiting

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:26:00 +0000

An illegal immigrant who made his way into the U.S. through Mexico, got caught, made a nebulous asylum claim of "religious persecution" from a government that no longer existed at the time he left his home country (but the rest of his family seemingly has no issues and stayed there), had his claim denied, is ordered deported in 1996 and not only ignored the order but subsequently missed not one but two court hearings to appeal his status, is finally located and picked up by ICE and is in jail awaiting return to his homeland, so naturally he's crying about how unfair the system is.

The man unwisely married and had five children while under that active deportation order, so of course it's America's fault that his family is apparently going to be split up. Nope, he has no sense of personal responsibility whatsoever for his current predicament despite the choices being entirely his at every step of the process.

And no, he doesn't qualify for President Obama's illegal end-run around the law relaxation of immigration policy for certain individuals, which seems to be the main point of the story - let's let everyone unlawfully here stay!

By the way, the illegal alien is from Romania, about as white as a country gets, so the tired old racial bias argument simply won't play here.

You're too stupid to figure it out yourself

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 21:52:00 +0000

First Nanny Michelle Obama apparently isn't finished lecturing Americans about what to eat and even how to shop for their vittles:

"Tips from the mother-of-two and healthy living fanatic include to 'steer clear of the cookie, snack and soda aisle'... 'And if you stay at the outer aisles you try to avoid going in and getting the processed, packaged foods.'"

You don't say?

The most disturbing part is that this "fanatic" would unilaterally ban burgers and fries if she all of a sudden had the power, simply because she personally disapproves of such fare.

Maybe you should work on the President before you presume to harangue the rest of us, ma'am. He, true to his hypocritical nature, is definitely not paying attention to one word of your incessant nutritional nagging.

The Jack-Booted Thug of the Week...

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:08:00 +0000

... is NYPD Officer Flynn, badge 3034, who is seen here threatening to jail a local activist for videotaping a checkpoint outside 1 Police Plaza from approximately 300 feet away while standing on a public street:

Needless to say, the actions engaged in by the photographer were entirely legal and no such arrest took place. Another example of the kinds of empty and impotent threats regularly made by those in "authority".

"They're filming you filming this location".

So what? You have your cameras and so does the citizen. Sounds quite fair to us. And failing to obey your illegal order is not a crime, ma'am.

(link via Carlos Miller)

Why I Carry a Handgun for Protection, Vol. 61

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:24:00 +0000

So that when six 13 and 14-year old feral youth happen to target us for attack simply because the thugs were "bored and looking for something to do" we will be able to successfully defend ourselves, unlike what happened to North Cottage Hill, Ohio resident Pat Mahaney last Saturday.

Mahaney was stomped into unconsciousness by the teens was only saved from a worse fate by an alert neighbor who quickly called police. He spent four days in the hospital with internal injuries. The feral youth apparently don't feel the least bit bad about their actions, either:

"'They were pretty arrogant in the interview with us,' [Police Chief Gary] Foust said. 'It’s appalling. I think it’s despicable. This appears to be premeditated and there was no remorse on behalf of any of the assailants.'"

Foust also maintains that there was no racial component to the case despite all the assailants being black and the victim white. One can only wonder if he would be so quickly and publicly dismissive of that motive had the opposite been true.

Regardless, if Mr. Mahaney had been equipped and prepared to repel the assault he might be in a far less painful state today.

He probably had more than 3 ounces of liquid "on" him as well

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 22:10:00 +0000

The folks in charge of "security" at JFK Airport in New York City certainly have a bit of explaining to do after a stranded jet-skier inadvertently defeated their 100 million dollar perimeter detection system when his craft sank in Jamaica Bay off Runway 4-L Friday night.

Daniel Casillo, whose keys, ID and money apparently went down with his craft, swam approximately three miles to shore, climbed a fence, walked across two active runways and strolled into Terminal 3. He was only stopped once a Delta worker noticed him standing there dripping wet and wearing a bright yellow life preserver.

Naturally, all of this massive and embarrassing "security" fail is the boater's fault:

"He was charged with criminal trespass."

Like the poor guy had a choice in the matter. What was he supposed to do, stay out there and drown because the place is off-limits?

All the other peasants, meanwhile, are still forced to surrender such items as nail clippers, breast milk and inflatable toys to maintain the TSA's silly facade of "security".

Feel safe yet?

Another happy ending

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 20:16:00 +0000

Five armed thugs got the shock of their lives while attempting to rob Continental Jewelry in Garden Grove, California last week when the 65-year-old female business owner pulled out her own handgun and opened fire on the invaders:

The segment at :35 when the cowardly hoods smash into each other, Three Stooges-like, as they frantically try to exit the store all at once is particularly enjoyable. The bottom-feeders were so panicked that they actually left three of their crew behind when they drove off. Police are still searching for the suspects, but we imagine they won't be back to that part of town anytime soon.

Once again, just as we saw in Florida the other week, a legally possessed and justifiably used firearm allowed an elderly citizen to successfully defend themselves against a superior number of armed attackers. The Brady Campaign and Violence Policy Center would have you believe these sorts of incidents are rarer than unicorn farts.

Don't buy it.

Magic

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 13:53:00 +0000

It's quite interesting to note the near-instantaneous transformative effect the presence of a running video camera has on the surly and bullying attitude of Sergeant Scott Eberle of the San Rafael, California Police Department:

(Carlos Miller via Reason)

Amnesty is officially here

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 00:52:00 +0000

The morale of rank and file ICE agents has virtually flatlined, for good reason - apparently the officers no longer can arrest and deport deserving candidates, thanks to that agency's taking of President Obama's unlawful declaration of amnesty for certain classes of illegal aliens (an action he took merely one year after publicly admitting he didn't possess that authority. Well, he seems to have invented some) and extending it to include virtually everyone, even those who obviously don't qualify under the already liberal definition of "Dreamers":

"[National ICE Council President Chris] Crane said a case involving a veteran ICE agent is a perfect illustration. The agent arrested an illegal who was not a “primary target.” The agent’s superior officers ordered the illegal released – even though he did not meet the criteria listed by the Dept. of Homeland Security.

The officer refused to follow orders and is now facing a three day suspension. The 35-year-old illegal immigrant with ten traffic violations was released." (All emphases ours)

Why even have a deportation process if it takes being a serial killer to qualify as a "primary target"?

When that drag-on-society criminal eventually smashes his vehicle into another car and kills someone (which happens all too often), the responsibility for those deaths will fall squarely on the heads of those who supposedly watch out for our "security".

The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 00:15:00 +0000

... are the Alaska State Troopers who arrested an intoxicated man for DUI last Sunday because he was observed floating down the Chena River on an inflatable raft.

Why? He obviously wasn't going to hurt anything or anyone, except maybe himself by falling out of his toy. A drunk in public charge might possibly be warranted but a DUI, with all its serious repercussions?

Please. If floating under the influence rates that kind of serious charge then we know hundreds of people right this very minute on the Salt River in Phoenix and the Apple River in Wisconsin who are guilty as heck. The cops in those places better get out there posthaste to put a halt to that societal scourge.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:00:00 +0000

"Federal Court finds Obama appointees interfered with New Black Panther prosecution"

For those who don't remember this quaint little scene on Election Day 2008:

That disgusting incident of voter intimidation wasn't deemed worthy of punishment, according to Obama's political hacks. But the Republicans are the ones who "rule" based on the color of peoples' skin and thus try to deny them their vote. Riiight.

Now, because of the findings of District Court Judge Reggie Walton, the long-suffering American taxpayer has to pay Judicial Watch's legal fees in the case.

And Eric "Neutral, leaning towards favorable" Holder somehow still keeps his job.

Let them eat cake

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 22:12:00 +0000

First Lady Michelle Obama, she of the lavish restaurant dinners and expensive foreign vacations for her and her extended family under the guise of "official business", at least one in which her children received the label of "senior staff" to avoid embarrassment over the trip's runaway costs, showed up at the Olympics sporting a $6,800 jacket while the rest of the country suffers under her husband's incompetent handling of the American economy.

And these two clueless spendthrifts are supposed to represent the "99%"?

Just another perk of the job

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:34:00 +0000

Only a person who wears a badge for a living (in New York City this time) could possibly be discovered to have a kidnapping victim tied up in his garage and subsequently NOT be taken into custody, charged with a crime or even suffer the loss of his job. Nope, Detective Ondre Johnson was merely relieved of his badge and gun and put on upaid suspension.

That'll show him the error of his ways.

Why I Carry a Handgun for Protection, Vol. 60

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 21:16:00 +0000

So that if a disturbed individual happens to purchase a knife at a grocery store and then begins randomly stabbing multiple people with it we will be able to intervene and protect those victims, just like a legally armed Good Samaritan did last Thursday evening in Salt Lake City, Utah:

"Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. 'A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith's grabbed him.'"

Armed citizens can and really do regularly make a vital difference in these sorts of situations, despite the evermore-ludicrous claims to the contrary from groups such as the Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center. Even the local police agree that the citizen did exactly the right thing:

"By the time officers arrived the suspect had been subdued by employees and shoppers. Police had high praise for gun carrying man who ended the hysteria. Lt. Brian Purvis said, 'This was a volatile situation that could have gotten worse. We can only assume from what we saw it could have gotten worse. He [the permit holder] was definitely in the right place at the right time.'"

Congratulations and thanks are due to that brave individual for putting his personal safety on the line to protect innocent people from mortal danger, and to the police for recognizing and appreciating that effort.

"Change" we can't afford

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:24:00 +0000

Barack Obama, the promise:

“That’s why today, I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.” - January 23, 2009

Barack Obama, the result:

"By the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012, the new debt accumulated in this fiscal year by the federal government had already exceeded $1 trillion, making this fiscal year the fifth straight in which the federal government has increased its debt by more than a trillion dollars, according to official debt numbers published by the U.S. Treasury."

Not only has the deficit not been cut by one single dime, under Obama's watch it has increased by close to 4 trillion dollars even as the rate of spending has been greatly accelerated.

Another empty campaign promise tossed right into the wastebasket once the country's attention is elsewhere.

Remember when former President George W. Bush was (rightly) being castigated for his profligate spending? Well, where is the wall-to-wall coverage now?

EDIT: In an unrelated note, we just noticed this is our 2000th post at the Muckraker. We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to the loyal readers who make this effort enjoyable and worthwhile. You are all greatly appreciated.

Which is it?

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:55:00 +0000

Jonah Goldberg exposes the "transparent" hypocrisy of the President's blind followers:

"This is the great irony of Obama and his defenders. He is a progressive ideologue and a passionate believer in “social justice,” and that’s a large reason why his fans love him so. But if you ever say that he is what he is — if you take his words seriously — they ridicule you for believing he’s anything other than a pragmatist and a moderate."

The minions can't have it both ways, as much as they might want to.

Go read the whole article, it's well worth it.

Bans don't work

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:51:00 +0000

Gun crimes in the supposedly "gun free" paradises of England and Wales, which have a total ban on firearms, are up an astounding 89% since the liberal Labour party there regained power in 1998 in part on their plaintive promises to "do something" in the wake of the Dunblane tragedy.

Yeah, let's copy that plan.

(Link via Unc)

Reduced to placing the jackboots on their own employees' necks

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 21:49:00 +0000

From all published accounts the information obtained from conscientious ATF employees has provided a valuable and devastating indictment of the extent of that agency's involvement in the "Fast and Furious" debacle, in which thousands of firearms were allowed to pass into Mexico over the objections of both law-abiding gun stores and those same rational ATF agents. ultimately causing the deaths of countless Mexican citizens as well as two American law-enforcement officers. The complete story is detailed beginning here for those who need to catch up on the facts of the case.

Well, the top brass at that odious department, true to their jack-booted nature, have apparently decided to try to put a stop to such inconvenient whistleblowing. Acting ATF Director B. Todd Jones on July 9 released a video message to all ATF employees, warning them in part that "Choices and consequences means simply that if you make poor choices, that if you don't abide by the rules, that if you don't respect the chain of command, if you don't find the appropriate way to raise your concerns to your leadership, there will be consequences, because we cannot tolerate -- we cannot tolerate -- an undisciplined organization,".

Well, Mr. Jones, the American public cannot "tolerate" an "undisciplined" and rogue government organization that deliberately breaks its own country's laws as well as those of a neighboring country, directly causing the deaths of at least hundreds of innocent people, and then shamelessly tries to cover up its illegal actions by refusing to respond to a legitimate Congressional subpoena seeking to investigate those activities. Make sure and address that simple concept in your next propaganda video, sir.

What Jones also conveniently forgets is that ATF agents and even some Justice department lawyers did indeed attempt on multiple occasions to address their concerns with their superiors, only to have their "complaints dismissed or ignored". Thus, they were forced to go to bloggers David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh as well as members of Congress to get the story out once it became clear that Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry had been shot and killed with one of the thousands of firearms that the ATF had incompetently "lost".

Congressman Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley have warned Jones in no uncertain terms that intimidation of legitimate whistleblowing activities will not be tolerated. The ATF responded thusly:

"ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun, though, said the video clip was 'taken out of context.'

She said the message was one of eight internal videos released since March that address topics ranging from "trust" to "mission" to "morale."

This one dealt with "choices and consequences," but she said it wasn't meant to "discourage" legally protected activities."

The ATF and Justice Department brass in both Arizona and Washington made the deliberate "choice" to break the law. It's past time they received some "consequences" of their own.

Horrific

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:58:00 +0000

Our hearts and sincerest sympathies go out to the innocent victims of last night's theater shooting. This is indeed a sad and sickening tragedy, and we hope that the cowardly suspect is tried and punished to the fullest extent possible.

The proper thing to do here seems to be to allow more information on the incident to become available before engaging in debate on the issue of guns in society. The usual suspects, however, are ignoring that courtesy and are already dancing on the bodies before they're even cold, heartlessly politicizing things by immediately demanding that law-abiding citizens' firearms be taken away in response to this one apparently deranged lunatic.

We will limit ourselves to correcting New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's inflammatory and demonstrably false statements on radio this morning:

"'I mean, there’s so many murders with guns every day,' Bloomberg continued. 'It’s just gotta stop.'... 'This is killing people every day,' he said. 'And it’s growing.'"

Actually, sir, it's not. Violent gun crimes in the U.S. are at an all-time low even as lawful gun ownership and public carry have reached their highest rates ever.

(Graphic from the 2010 FBI UCR)

In fact, as Mitch Berg notes via Twitter, more people die from gun violence every week in Chicago, Illinois (one of the last remaining places where "authorities" have made gun ownership as difficult as possible and all lawful public carry is banned) than perished in last night's nightmare.

We hope everyone will join us in praying for the victims.

Senior citizen 2, armed thugs 0

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:07:00 +0000

Two masked feral youth charged into an Internet cafe/casino outlet (a business apparently known to deal in large amounts of cash) in Ocala, Florida last Friday evening. One of the thugs pointed a handgun and began ordering the 30 or so terrified customers around. The other, brandishing a bat, smashed an expensive computer monitor.

What the robbers didn't count on was 71-year-old Samuel Williams, a local resident and patron of the cafe who was sitting in the rear of the establishment:

Williams, correctly fearing for his and the other patrons' lives, drew his .380 caliber concealed handgun and opened fire, hitting both suspects. The robbers then fled the cafe but were soon apprehended by police and charged with multiple felonies.

Incidents such as these clearly illustrate the benefits realized by all, including innocent bystanders and fellow would-be victims, when law-abiding citizens exercise their inherent right to self-defense.

The State's Attorney's office has announced that Williams will most likely not face any charges related to his brave defense of himself and others. It seems the only question remaining is when he will receive the key to the city.

Heartwarming

reaver33@gmail.com (Douglas Hester) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 04:38:00 +0000

This is how cops should handle animal calls - with common sense and compassion rather than bluster and force. Bo the pit bull is indeed one lucky dog.

Very well done, Officer Waskiewicz.