Only in America

[Hermit]

Jim is reaching for his Heckler and Koch..

Lügner!

[Forty Two]

I'm surprised the Frenchies are 3rd on that list. Wine, cheese, weapons!

[Jason]

Ah the FAMAS... excellent rifle for its day. Still not too shabby today.

[JimC]

Jim is reaching for his Heckler and Koch..

Lügner!

Actually, a while back I could have easily reached for my Ruger, a sweet little .22 semi-automatic...

[Hermit]

Jim is reaching for his Heckler and Koch..

Lügner!

Actually, a while back I could have easily reached for my Ruger, a sweet little .22 semi-automatic...

I was thinking of the Luger. The similarity in spelling between that and the German word for "liar" amused me.

[Scot Dutchy]

Leugenaar.

[Seabass]

Arizona state Senate candidate stuns gun control advocates, says he fatally shot mother in self-defense
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arizona-st ... f-defense/

A Republican Arizona state Senate candidate has shocked gun control advocates by sharing details about shooting and killing his mother in apparent self-defense more than 50 years ago.

Bobby Wilson, who is running to represent a southern Arizona district, told The Associated Press that he's not trying to hide anything. He says his mother was "insane" and shot at him with a rifle when he was in bed in their Oklahoma farmhouse one night in 1963. He then shot and killed her -- Wilson's sister also died that night, and the house caught on fire.

"I'm lucky to be alive, twice over," Wilson said.

Wilson wrote about these events in his 2010 book "Bobby's Trials" and also mentions them on his website biography. But they caught public interest when he appeared at a Moms Demand Action forum in Tucson earlier this month. Wilson told the crowd he was "living proof" that the only one who can stop someone trying to harm somebody is a "good guy with a gun."

He didn't say at that event that the person he shot was his mother.

Rep. Daniel Hernandez, a Democrat who represents the same district Wilson is running in, was at the forum. He said Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who was shot in Tucson in 2011, and other gun violence survivors were in the audience. Many were shocked, he said.

Hernandez -- who was at the scene when Giffords was shot -- said Wilson also brought up the Giffords shooting, saying that she should've had security.

"I've never ever heard someone be so aggressive in that view, and also to drag Gabby into it, I thought, was so distasteful and so disgusting," he said.

Jacob Martinez, an organizer with March for Our Lives AZ, said he thinks Wilson's experiences as reported show the necessity of providing emotional help to those who need it -- and ensuring that guns in homes are locked up.

"He should know better than anybody that something needs to be done, and the fact that he can't acknowledge that speaks volumes," Martinez said.

Wilson is running for a seat currently held by Democrat Sen. Andrea Dalessandro. He's in a primary running against Republican Shelley Kais, who says there are other issues that matter to voters.

"We need someone who can secure a position and a voice for the people of southern Arizona and we don't need controversy like this swirling around them," Kais said.

Wilson is undeterred by criticism. The night after the forum, Wilson posted on Facebook he was the only Republican candidate with the "guts" to appear. "I was greeted with boos and catcalls," he wrote. "Loved it!"

The Arizona Republic reported Monday that Wilson was imprisoned after the deaths were discovered. After two trials, the court eventually dismissed his case in the early 1970s. The Republic also reported that newspaper accounts at the time of the shooting gave conflicting details about how Wilson's sister died and other elements of that night.

Wilson said he never confessed to anything at the time because he had amnesia and didn't remember what happened for many years.

After working as an attorney, Wilson moved to Arizona in the mid-1990s. He worked as a private investigator and teaches in the paralegal program at Rio Salado College.

Wilson says he's a licensed gun owner. But he says he hasn't had to act in self-defense since.

"That's the only time I've ever been in that situation, and I hope it's the last time," he said.

[Seabass]

[Sean Hayden]

[pErvinalia]

Not available outside Merka.

[Scot Dutchy]

I can watch it.

[laklak]

Ha! I saw that one and considered awarding an honorary Vibrio award.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Stand your ground!

Gunman in parking space shooting not charged because of 'Stand Your Ground' law
https://abcnews.go.com/US/gunman-parkin ... d=56715356

A man who was captured on surveillance video fatally shooting another man in Clearwater, Florida, during a parking-spot spat as his young son watched nearby will not be arrested or charged by police, according to Pinellas County Sheriff.

"I don't make the law. I enforce the law," Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference today. "The law in the state of Florida today is that people have a right to stand their ground and have a right to defend themselves when they believe that they are in harm."

The sheriff announced the case will be sent to the state attorney's office for review.

"This will go to the state attorney. Drejka will not be charged [and] will not be arrested by us," Sheriff Gualtieri said. "The state attorney will review it and either he’ll concur or not. And, if he concurs, then there’ll be no charge. Period. If he doesn’t concur, then he’ll make a determination as to what to do with it. And, if he feels like he can overcome that heavy burden at a Stand Your Ground hearing of proving by clear and convincing evidence that Drejka was not entitled to use force in this circumstance, then that’s the state attorney’s determination to make."

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, around 3:28 p.m. Thursday, Britany Jacobs, 24, was sitting in her car in a handicapped parking space outside a Circle A Food Store while her boyfriend Markeis McGlockton, 28, and their son Markeis McGlockton Jr., 5, went into the store.

While the father and son were in the store, Jacobs was approached by Michael Drejka, 47, police said. The two then got into an argument because of where Jacobs was parked, according to police.

"According to witnesses, McGlockton exited the store and walked over to Drejka who was still arguing with Jacobs in the parking lot. Witnesses say McGlockton forcibly pushed Drejka causing Drejka to fall to the ground. Witnesses told detectives that Drejka was on the ground when he took out a handgun and fired one single round at McGlockton striking him in the chest," police said in a statement.

In surveillance video released by the convenience store, a man identified as McGlockton can be seen pushing Drejka to the ground. Drejka then raises his hand, which appears to be holding a gun, and shoots McGlockton. McGlockton goes back inside the store where Markeis Jr. is standing.

In surveillance footage taken from inside the store, McGlockton can be seen falling to the ground in front of his son. Moments later, Jacobs rushes into the store, tries to help McGlockton and then begins to make a call on her cell.

"Several witnesses called 911 as the incident unfolded. When deputies arrived, Drejka was cooperative with deputies. Drejka told deputies he placed his firearm in his Toyota 4-Runner prior to their arrival," police said.

McGlockton was transported to a hospital for life-threatening injuries but was pronounced dead about 4:04 p.m. Thursday, according to authorities.

"[It's] sad to see [McGlockton] die in front of his son. ... For a parking lot [space.] For a stupid reason. Just to argue, just to find someone to argue with,” said store owner Ali Selous, who told ABC News affiliate WFTS-TV that McGlockton was in the store buying candy for Markeis Jr.

Deputies transported Drejka to the North District Station to be interviewed by detectives, who also took possession of Drejka's handgun. Drejka had a valid Florida concealed weapons license, police said.

Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which was enacted in 2005, allows residents to use force, including deadly force, if they "reasonably believe" they are at risk of death or great bodily harm. The law specifies that people have "no duty to retreat" from their homes or vehicles if they feel threatened.

The sheriff isn't getting much support from the political side for his interpretation of the law.

'NRA, Republicans refute GOP sheriff's stand-your-ground claims'

A Florida sheriff claimed "stand your ground" essentially prohibited him from making an arrest in a politically charged and racially tinged shooting death, but his fellow Republicans who wrote the law, criminal-court attorneys and even the National Rifle Association are accusing him of misapplying Florida’s self-defense statutes.

In explaining why he didn’t arrest the shooter, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told reporters on July 20 that his hands were tied because the stand-your-ground law “created a standard, that is a largely subjective standard” for the use of deadly force by a shooter.

Gualtieri also suggested his office could be civilly liable simply for arresting the shooter, and he stressed how Florida lawmakers last year changed the 2005 law concerning immunity from prosecution.

But on each of those three counts — immunity, civil liability and subjectivity — experts say Gualtieri is just wrong.

“Nothing in either the 2005 law or the 2017 law prohibits a Sheriff from making an arrest in a case where a person claims self-defense if there is probable cause that the use of force was unlawful,” said Marion Hammer, Tallahassee’s NRA lobbyist who helped shepherd "stand your ground" through the GOP-led Florida Legislature.

I suspect that these disagreements with Gualtieri are motivated by worries that his interpretation makes it inescapably obvious that it's a badly written law.

[laklak]

No matter how you write it, any self defense statute will be subjective. Under the old laws, prior to SYG, the test was still "fear for your life". That fear is subjective, and based on the shooter's mental state. The biggest difference was under the old laws there was a duty to retreat. That was problematic, also. How do you determine whether someone tried to retreat in the absence of corroborating evidence? What constitutes "retreat"? If you're on the ground with someone looming over you, do you scoot backwards on your ass? How far?

There is nothing stopping the sheriff from arresting the shooter. Under Florida law, whenever a SYG defense is entered, there is a pre-trial hearing to determine whether or not the claim is justified. The prosecution must then prove, by "clear and convinvcing evidence", that the claim is bogus. Note the "clear and convincing", a lower burden of proof than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard imposed at trial. If the prosecution fails then the charges are dismissed. Plenty of people get arrested and later released. A few sue, but a wrongful arrest suit is difficult to win.

[Sean Hayden]

I was stuck in traffic yesterday behind what turned out to be a road rage incident. A fender bender had escalated into a knife vs gun fight. It seems to happen regularly now.