 San Francisco’s budget crisis underscores the frivolity of the city’s stubborn and expensive defense of its doomed-from-the-start 2005 gun ban, CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb said last month. He said the city administration’s pursuit of this case, which was almost a carbon copy of a similar court action 23 years ago that was also lost by the city, is a clear indication that “fiscal and philosophical irresponsibility run hand-in-hand on the Board of Supervisors and in the mayor’s office. Mayor Gavin Newsom should have, and probably could have, stopped this case dead in its tracks after the city’s first loss in the trial court. Instead, the city doggedly appealed, and appealed again, and for what? To make a political statement of some sort? When you’re hemorrhaging money from the city budget, pushing a court case that you already know you’re going to lose is remarkable carelessness with the public’s money.”
Popular movie star Angelina Jolie has armed herself with the same guns she used in the movie Tomb Raider, and would not hesitate to use the firearms to protect her growing family, reports World Entertainment News Network. The Hollywood actress, who is pregnant with twins, revealed that she keeps a gun at home for family protection, and said that her action roles in movies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith have taught her how to handle such a gun. She said, “I bought original real guns of the type we used in Tomb Raider for security. If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I’ve no problem shooting them. Brad (Pitt) and I are not against having a gun in the house, and we do have one. And yes, I’d be able to use it if I have to.”
“If you were a robber or a rapist,” asks nationally syndicated columnist Charley Reese, “who would you rather have as a victim? Someone who is armed, or someone who is defenseless? Even a stupid criminal knows the answer to that question. If the police can protect us – which is a claim the gun control people make – then why are so many people murdered, raped and robbed? Even the television fictional stories tell you the answer to that. The cops get there after the crime has been committed. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a crime scene. Nearly all the cop shows open with the police looking at a dead, unarmed body.”
Two teens who were fatally wounded one evening last month in Louisville, Kentucky were apparently breaking into a house when the owner shot them, according to Louisville Metro Police. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Earl Springer, 19, died of a gunshot to the chest outside the home, said Larry Carroll, a deputy Jefferson County coroner. Desmond Deshawn Turner, 19, died several hours later of gunshots in his neck and arm, said Jo-Ann Farmer, chief deputy coroner. The teens were shot shortly after 5 p.m. when they broke into the house. One of the teens had a weapon. During a fight inside the house, owner Billy Jackson shot both teens, apparently in self-defense, said Officer Phil Russell, a department spokesman. Jackson, 70, said the teens were wearing masks, demanded his wallet and threatened to kill him. He said he pretended he was having a heart attack to buy himself a couple of seconds to reach for the gun he had in his waistband. He said he fired to protect his wife, who was in the kitchen at the time.
An outbreak of xenophobic violence has resulted in the murders of 56 people and forced thousands more to take shelter in camps, community halls and churches across South Africa, reports World Net Daily. The victims are foreigners who are strictly forbidden from owning guns. Thomas Eastes, National Chairman of Gun Owners of South Africa, said foreigners are unable to defend themselves from such atrocities because they are not allowed to be armed in South Africa. He believes the rise in crime and chaos is chiefly a result of the Firearms Control Act passed by the South African Parliament. “Arming foreigners and as many citizens in South Africa will surely provide an equal opportunity of survival for all,” Eastes said. “The weak, the marginalized, the oppressed and frail have a chance of survival if they are armed. I believe that firearm ownership places great responsibility on people but also enables foreigners and legal citizens not to live in fear.”