Elko Daily

To people who have seen some hard living were arrested in Elko on Tuesday the 21st for breaking into a trailer and several outbuildings. 

It appears that the female half of this craptacular crime duo called 911 to report she was being held at gun point by the property owner and a neighbor. 

Elko deputies arrested James Johnson, 54, for one count of burglary and was held on $20,000 bail, and Claudia Knight, 59, for one count burglary with bail of $20,000 and on an outstanding warrant for animal at large.

In rural Nevada, you have a much better chance of the deputies being able to immediately tell the two sides apart, but it's still good regardless of where you live to call 911 and get your story in. 

In a more confusing chaotic situation, perhaps if shots were fired, police might consider the property owner (you) as the aggressor. If things go sideways, they won't be sorted out after everyone is cuffed, by it might be in court, in the hospital, or the morgue.

If you discover or suspect a burglary or trespassing in progress, call it in. Stay on the line with the dispatcher is possible. Make sure they know you're the good guy. Don't give criminals a chance to set the narrative from the start.

​Concerned about what will happen if you are involved in a self-defense shooting? Can you afford a defense attorney? Join the US Concealed Carry Association today for knowledge, training, and legal protection.

Review-Journal

Read the newspaper article, then come back here. 

The homeowner had ample opportunity to stop and realize that the "suspicious" person was most likely a real delivery driver. He could have deduced that by seeing the vest, the package, looking for a uniform or ID card, and seeing the van. The van, if it wasn't a painted blue/gray style van as in the photo, probably has some sort of decal or magnet saying "Amazon" on it. Also, the shooter could have checked the package to see if it was a real one or not or asked the driver for his Amazon ID.

All of these red flags that this might not be an actual burglar were ignored. Stupidity isn't a defense. All the DA has to argue is that a reasonable person would have stopped an assessed the situation, likely coming to the conclusion that the person claiming to be a delivery driver really was.

The assumption that the driver was reaching for a weapon is not a reasonable one. Setting aside the above evidence that the person was not a burglar/thief, the driver did not engage in any hostile or dangerous act (as far as the article reports). 

The driver was retreating and trying to get away. Taking the lack of any objective threatening behavior at face value, it will be highly unlikely if the defendant will be able to argue self-defense. Why? Given that a reasonable person would assume this is a real delivery driver who is running away, it would not be reasonable that he would reach for a weapon while at gunpoint. The defendant's fears were irrational and unfounded.

While a "furtive movement" defense can be made, in this situation that is going to be impossible. Police often use this defense, when they are right and wrong, but under circumstances that are a lot more ambiguous than this. Police are trained to absorb what is going on and make rapid judgements before using force. Even basic firearms defense courses teach this.

Look at the charges, which include "seven counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied structure." He missed seven times (thank goodness). Maybe those rounds hit houses instead of just the van (statute covers vehicles and buildings). The shooter was probably poorly trained and poorly practiced. 

This situation occurred because the defendant failed to observe and process the evidence at hand to enable him to make correct and appropriate choices regarding his response to the situation. This rash decision making (or lack thereof) combined near fatally with his ignorance of the law on justifiable homicide.

I predict a quick plea bargain with very little to no jail time. A misdemeanor conviction won't surprise me. Stupidity isn't a crime, but often it leads to stupid actions which are criminal. While the defendant meant no real harm, he was so stupid that he could have killed someone.

​Concerned about what will happen if you are involved in a self-defense shooting? Can you afford a defense attorney? Join the US Concealed Carry Association today for knowledge, training, and legal protection.

 
So being in lockdown and refusing to pay for Netflix has left me with few options to watch TV. I usually watch cooking shows on the Create channel (10.2) or edifying things on YouTube. I decided to watch the movies I bought on iTunes. One of those was Harry Potter 1. It had been a decade or so since I bought to watch with some nerd girl who ended up marrying a friend from high school, so I figured, what the heck?
 
Yeah, it was even more stupid than when I saw it 10 years ago and when it came out as a late teenager. I never read the books and seeing the movie as a more discerning adult made some things really stand out to me. If you look at the books/movies from the perspective of a gun owner and see it as an allegory to today’s world and schools, JK Rowling’s world is very much like the dumpster fire of gun control and school shootings today.
 
Harry Potter, from a rational, adult perspective, is sheer garbage meant for cheap entertainment and putting money in a few pockets. Okay, a lot of this stems from the fact that Rowling is a crappy writer who got lucky because children don’t notice plot holes you can drive a truck through, but it’s still fun to bash.
 
You want a good children’s story? The Chronicles of Narnia were a work of art. Yes, Lewis borrowed from Christianity and mythology, but as an allegory that took serious work and serious study. Lewis didn’t get to flip open a couple of books, make up wacky phrases, and look through a “Dummies Guide to Witchcraft” to make his book.
 
Lewis’ books took a real, old-fashioned classical education to write. They feature self-defense, rebellion against tyranny, heroism, responsibility, and follow some semblance of logic. By comparison, Rowling’s stuff makes as much sense as an “assault weapons” ban; it sounds good to people who don’t know any better.
 
So let’s tear into that Harry Potter/gun comparison, shall we?
 
Headmaster Dumbledore, the one person who is able to really do something to protect the children and the one with the ultimate responsibility to do just that, failed at his job.
 
Let’s take the first book. Knowing that Voldemort (that’s the really evil bad guy) wants the Philosopher’s Stone to give him immorality, Dumbledore has the stone moved from the bank vault to Hogwarts. That’s like deciding Fort Knox isn’t safe enough and so the bullion depository should be moved to the boarding school where the Treasury Secretary sends his kids.
 
Then at the end of the movie/book, whatever, it turns out that the instructor least suited to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrell, is actually possessed by Voldemort and tries to kill Harry Potter to steal the stone.
 
That’s like having the teacher of Avoid Molestation 101 being a registered sex offender and no one bothering to check. Hey, Hogwarts is sounding almost like Clark County School District…
 
Dumbledore can know that Harry Potter is sneaking around the school and knows what the kids are up to because magic, yet he doesn’t know that Voldemort’s face is under Quirrell’s turban?
So if there is any logic in this world, of course Dumbledore does, but is probably too busy getting high on magic marijuana to care. Or maybe it’s one of those strange British boarding school traditions where kids survive on their own wit or die, like prison.
 
Next, WTF is up with magical powers? The wizard and witches need wands to do magic most of the time, so one wonders if you really need to be magical at all to use them. What if Muggles got ahold of wands? Would they suddenly be able to do magic?
 
Of course they would! This is the UK, after all. The UK has banned guns for all the “Muggle” average citizens. The Ministry of Magic is the police force. The lay witches and wizards are the average Britons lucky enough to be members of shooting clubs (or rich enough landowners to have shoots on their own property). The average citizen of the UK just can’t own a gun; they have to jump through extraordinary hoops almost like a magical person in Rowling’s world.
 
And the magic sucks! First, you need a wand, and then you need practice to swoosh it around and say a prepared phrase? And there’s one phrase that will just outright kill people if you say it? But the kids can’t get the intonation or pronunciation right unless you’re Hermione Granger? Judging from her and the classes at Hogwarts, the money would be better spent watching a couple videos on YouTube.
 
Reminds me of all the anti-gun people saying you need super high-speed training just to carry a gun. In their world, if you wanted to keep an unloaded pistol in a safe in a locked closet you would need a semester at Front Sight or some place similar.
 
Also, ever notice the smug sense of superiority the magic people have towards the muggles? The Malfoy family is the worst of the lot, but that’s because they’re evil, not because they’re unrealistic. The rest of the bunch who think muggles are cute, but not to be trusted with magic are the fictional world’s version of our elitists, like Bloomberg, who thinks average people can’t be trusted with guns. Hagrid, the groundskeeper, isn’t allowed to do magic except when given a special dispensation, even though he can use it relatively well; reminds me of Firearms Officers in British police services.
 
Let’s talk about Hogwarts’ security. Hmm, every semester there is a massive security breach equivalent to allowing a rapist or school shooter run free. Why are people sending their kids there and why is Dumbledore still in charge? Does he run a school district in Florida?
 
Well, good thing the school is protected from those dementor flying demons to keep that escaped prisoner who is trying to kill Harry Potter out of the school! Oh wait, they let him in and no one did anything about the werewolf either.
 
Oh look, someone murdered a cat and a troll got loose in the basement. Let’s send the kids back to their dorms totally unprotected by anyone. No evil force can get into the dorms! Sounds like “barricade the classroom door,” doesn’t it? And of course the hero kids are trapped out in the hall with the monsters.
 
For all of these problems, there is ostensibly a whole Ministry of Magic that sounds like it is supposed to deal with these problems. It should be able to find the secret chamber with the snake in it, find Voldemort and deal with him finally, protect the children, arrest the bad guys…oh wait, the Ministry of Magic is the government, isn’t it? Well we would expect the government to be incompetent too.
 
So that’s it, lest I turn into a total nerd and spend more wasted time of my life dissecting this throw-away entertainment into a master’s dissertation meant to impress that weird, immature girl who loves Harry Potter and never gives it up to you anyway.

Las Vegas Sun

Chase Rosa, a felon on parole and wanted on a warrant, was shot and killed by LVMPD last Tuesday when he tried to carjack a vehicle at gun point after a pursuit. Rosa has a history of stealing cars and carrying concealed weapons illegally.

What would you do if you were in that red car? You're boxed in and suddenly a man with a sawed-off shotgun gets out and points it at you? Is going to murder you as the first or another victim in a rampage? Is he trying to steal your car? In a moment like this, you have no way to know his intentions.

Luckily for the motorist, who statistically was probably unarmed, plainclothes officers were on scene and shot Rosa before he could do anything further.

Always be alert and suspicious of what's going on. Make sure your gun is accessible. You must make a personal decision on what you would do in that situation. Your car isn't worth your life, but are you sure it's your car that the guy wants? Be ready to fight. 

​Concerned about what will happen if you are involved in a self-defense shooting? Can you afford a defense attorney? Join the US Concealed Carry Association today for knowledge, training, and legal protection.

So 6-3 the Supreme Court decided to dismiss the suit against New York City as moot because New York City changed it's uber-restrictive ruling to remove any grounds for a lawsuit. 

Initially, justices took exception to this because they saw plainly what New York City was doing. The court took the case despite the change precisely because it was naked attempt to avoid a devastating (for gun control, ruling). The justices in favor argued that if the tactic were allowed, then cities could do what they want until faced with a potentially adverse Supreme Court decision.

New York City got away with their scam tactic. I also wonder if the justices were improperly influenced by Democratic congresspersons' not-so-veiled threats to pack the Supreme Court or impeach conservative justices should the court not vote as they did here. 

There's lots of better commentary elsewhere on the Internet, so I'm not going to waste my time rehashing what was said just in my own verbiage. The take away I'm seeing is that the court wants to hear a "better" case (or might be waiting for Ginsburg to die). 

This decision doesn't surprise me. I'm disappointed, but not surprised. Why? The Supreme Court is as motivated by politics as anyone else. Earlier courts didn't seem to care much (look at the liberal Warren Court), but this one seems to worry about reputation and feelings. We got gay marriage and Obamacare because of feelings and the zeitgeist that such things were publicly popular. Justices want to be loved too.

In this case, the decision makes sense, if you accept the reality that the justice system often cannot see the forest for the trees. Courts exist to resolve disputes. In this case, NYC supposedly solved the dispute by "fixing" their odious requirement. Thus, nothing for the court to decide on. Unfortunately the court side-stepped the larger issue which was about the Second Amendment being a second-class right and subversion of the court itself.

Some are saying not to fear. Other, better cases are coming. Cases that could possibly be a better catalyst for blowing the Second Amendment wide open and making our dreams come true. There are a lot in the pipeline and several the court has expressed interest in. Ginsburg can't live forever and Trump will likely be president for four more years.

Also, the Second Amendment is merely a reminder of our inherent rights. It doesn't go away because a tyrant or tyrants say so.

Racer.com

On 4/22 LVMPD reported a self-defense shooting at an In-N-Out at 9640 W. Tropicana Ave. The citizen involved killed one of the criminal pair, an armed man. The citizen was a concealed firearm permit holder.

The armed citizen has been identified as local motorsports figure BJ Baldwin of Baldwin Motorsports. Baldwin is a two-time Baja 1000 winner, a racing and off-road enthusiast, and regular and a well-practiced shooter.

Concerned about what will happen if you are involved in a self-defense shooting? Can you afford a defense attorney? Join the US Concealed Carry Association today for knowledge, training, and legal protection.

Review Journal: Henderson man faces federal weapons charges

Okay, the headline is tongue-in-cheek. Gun laws clearly didn't prevent this guy from obtaining all this stuff, one way or another. Cue the "but we closed the XXX loophole!" from the anti-gun crowd. 

Gun laws are almost always good only for arresting people after the fact.

Gov. Sisolak talked to the Review-Journal about his non-existent timeline for re-opening the state. He seemed a little bit more firm in saying that it would happen within 14 days of the downward trend and seemed to give answers that (I think) puts a hypothetical re-opening date around May 15. This would be in-line with California.

He also mentioned a potential special session of the Legislature, which would not happen for some time. If the Legislature does meet in a special session, could guns be on the table?

On the surface, no. The state constitution is quite specific that special sessions can only deal with the matter they were convened for, which would be coronavirus relief. 

So unless you somehow tie guns to the coronavirus, it's not going to happen. Even for this dishonest Legislature and governor, that might be going too far. Sisolak is already unpopular. But, 2019's session was all about gymnastics and one of Sandoval's special sessions ended up paying for a stadium that under state law, never should have received public money.

The one thing they could do is argue that coronavirus related to states of emergencies and target the law protecting the Second Amendment during a state of emergency, but the federal court battle to protect that might be too high of a hill to climb. Like I said, Sisolak is already unpopular enough. Secondly, a repeal of that law would just confirm why it was enacted in the first place.

There always is the possibility of a special gun control session, but if we protested the heck out of the bills we got, that would be darn near a declaration of war on us. Virginia tried that. It's special session lasted for what, less than an hour? before Republicans sank it. Then Democrats got elected in and we know the rest of that story.

So don't worry about a special session right now, but stay frosty.

People are getting their CCWs and Metro is scheduling appointments online for fingerprints! 

The asterisk represents some caveats. 1. The current wait for a permit is around 110 days. 2. Fingerprint appointments are way in the future. One person reported a date in June. 

So while the online application and fingerprint appointment system is great, will this be the future for us once the COVID backlog is cleared? You apply and wait months until you get fingerprinted? The 120 day deadline (four months) becomes six months. Probably a great lawsuit over that, if there is no option to come in and get printed first-come, first-served (the method all of us are familiar with).

The COVID crisis is exposing the flaws of licensing a constitutional right (bearing arms in the manner you choose). First, sheriffs couldn't handle renewals or issuance. Then Metro stopped classes for a while. Now Metro might be creating an extra-legal delay by scheduling fingerprint appoints, which according to them, starts the clock on the 120 days.

Firearm carry licensing needs to be abolished, plain and simple. The state can still issue "good guy cards" so we can skip background checks when we fill out the Form 4473 at the gun store. The checks themselves is another issue...

From the Complex's Facebook page:

See, contacting the county commissioners did help!