CNS News:

A California gun store owner was reprimanded by the cops after waving an AR-15 cardboard cutout outside of his business to draw in customers, according to a report by ABC10 News in Oceanside, Calif.

Brendan Von, a Marine veteran, started waving the large, cardboard sign in front of his store, “Firearms Unknown,” last fall during Black Friday shopping. The store told CNSNews.com today that it uses the sign “on a regular basis.”

According to ABC 10, some people assumed the over-sized gun-sign was real, prompting complaints and even a visit from the local police.

A local woman told ABC 10 that she believed the sign was over the top.

“It looks like a machine gun, it is pretty aggressive,” she said. “I think he’s doing too much, but then again, they do have the freedom to do that.”

“A couple people just going by, flipping me the bird,” said Von, the store owner.  “Either scolding me or yelling some type of obscenity.”

“It kind of frustrated me that somebody would call [the police] and make a false statement like that, knowing that it is a cardboard sign that is very flimsy,” he said.

According to the ABC report, Von said the police asked him to stop or change the sign and after he refused, the police left.

The sad part about this isn’t so much the woman to whom we have to say, “Get thee to thy fainting couch.”  I would expect this from California.

The sad part is that the LEOs would actually ask him to stop.  When he refused, they had no recourse except to leave, since demanding what they did was illegal.

Then again, I confess that I’ve come to expect this from LEOs too.

How sad.

CNN is ISIS.  So here’s a quick note to CNN.  Attack me over this meme.  Go ahead.  Make my day.  Doxx me.  I dare you.  I’d appreciate the traffic it sends my way.  You don’t scare me one damn little bit.

Source

See also WRSA.

The Washington Times:

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) – Exactly one year after it went into effect, an Idaho gun law that allows people to carry concealed firearms without a permit has had little effect on crime rates, state law enforcement officials said.

It has, however, impacted the number of Idaho concealed carry permits being issued, some firearm trainers said.

The law allows most residents age 21 or older to carry concealed guns without a permit inside cities, in bars and in most government buildings.

When the Idaho Legislature enacted its permitless firearms concealed carry law a year ago, it was not without warnings from a broad spectrum, including anti-gun groups and Idaho chiefs of police.

The warnings are still in place, but so far, adverse results haven’t materialized.

“We believe dismantling the longstanding and effective permitting system without taking additional precautionary steps will weaken public safety,” Bill Bones, Jeff Lavey and Rick Allen, chiefs of police in Ada County, wrote in a letter to the Idaho Statesman last year. “Our concealed weapons licensing system is the only way to determine the person is not a felon or dangerous person prohibited from possessing firearms.”

Coeur d’Alene Police concur that the permitless carry law has disabled at least one tool police used to check felons for firearms, but Detective Jared Reneau said the state’s latest gun law seems to have had little effect on crime rates in Coeur d’Alene.

“It hasn’t been a topic of discussion,” he said. “We haven’t noticed a significant increase.”

So far, 12 states – the number has increased from eight a year ago – have adopted permitless concealed carry firearms laws. They include Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, and West Virginia. A permitless carry bill was passed in Michigan’s House this month and is on the way to its Senate.

In Nez Perce County, Idaho’s most gun-friendly county where an estimated 59 percent of residents own guns – the highest rate in the state – Sheriff Joe Rodriguez said his department did not anticipate an increase in gun crimes a year ago when permitless carry became law.

“The way we look at, we live in the Northwest. Everyone has a firearm,” Rodriguez said.

His officers are trained to be alert for weapons, and permitless carry didn’t change that. It didn’t affect crime rates either, he said.

“Nothing has changed,” Rodriguez said.

He anticipated the number of residents applying for concealed carry permits would fall off, but that didn’t happen, either.

“We’re still processing a lot of concealed weapons permits,” he said.

Concealed weapons permits are required in neighboring states and Idaho’s enhanced concealed weapons permit is honored in a majority of them. That makes it a popular choice among gun owners.

Ed Santos, who operates Center Target Sports in Post Falls, which has trained 24,000 firearm owners in 12 years to obtain a concealed permit, has noticed no downward trend in its business.

Santos said some thought the number of concealed carry permits would decrease because they would no longer be needed.

“That has not been the case,” he said. “We’ve actually seen an increase.”

He attributes that to firearms owners becoming accustomed to carrying without a permit, and wanting to travel to other states with a gun in their belt. In most states, they need a concealed permit to do that.

“We really haven’t seen a negative impact,” Santos said.

Post Falls Police Chief Scott Haug, president of the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association, said the permitless carry law has not resulted in an increase in crime. It may, however, have given a green light for people inexperienced with guns to carry firearms without proper training.

One of Haug’s officers found a handgun under a tree in a park, he said, and he has seen people in Walmart with pistols hanging out of their back pockets.

“People get complacent,” he said. “They don’t understand how quickly that gun can be used against them in a matter of seconds.”

This is an amazing article.  First of all, blood isn’t running in the streets.  Second, we learn that peaceable, law abiding citizens still want to be peaceable and law abiding, meaning that for states that still require permitting and with travel freedom being at stake, permits are still valued.  Constitutional carry needs to continue sweeping the nation for God-given rights to be fully realized.  Only peaceable men follow the law.

Third, read the LEO’s warnings again.  They preached their “blood will be running in the streets” sermon before passage of the bill, it didn’t happen, and yet that has had no effect on their sermon.  Facts don’t inform their hysteria.  They never have, anywhere this has ever come up.  I’ve documented this same sort of thing with open carry in Texas, only to see them react with shock when blood didn’t run in the streets.  They’ll preach it until they have no more breath to speak.

Finally, consider that gun sitting under the tree in the park.  It must be the fault of permitless carry, huh?  So what the hell does that have to do with the rest of the article?  Do they pay people money to write this crap?

Juneau Empire:

Quick action from a Hoonah boy saved a fishing party from a charging brown bear on June 18, the Empire has learned through Alaska State Troopers and family members.

It was the first Defense of Life or Property (DLP) killing in the Hoonah area this year, according to trooper spokesperson Megan Peters.

When the attack occurred, Elliot Clark, then 11 years old, was walking through the woods near Game Creek in Port Frederick several miles south of Hoonah. The young outdoorsman was heading to a nearby fishing hole with his uncle, Craig Stoltzfus, Stoltzfus’ father, a cousin and three dogs.

Stoltzfus and Elliot Clark were armed when a brown bear came out of the woods, charging the group head on. The other members of the party were not armed.

Lucas Clark, Elliot’s father and himself a bear hunting guide, told the story in a Tuesday phone interview with the Empire. Elliot Clark declined to be interviewed at this time.

Lucas Clark was in Washington state at the time of the attack, but his account squares with that from Alaska State Troopers, who investigate DLP killings in Alaska. Stoltzfus couldn’t be reached for this story.

“There was four of them in a line … my son was third,” Clark said. “The bear came down the trail at them, fella in the front, who was his uncle, the bear was on him so quickly that he didn’t have time to take his rifle off his shoulder.”

The bear ran through the first two men, who were pushed to the side of the trail, leaving Elliot Clark in front of his unarmed cousin. The boy raised his pump action shotgun and shot the sow, hitting it with birdshot, which is often used just to scare bears off, Lucas Clark said.

“His first shot was a light load of birdshot. That first shot hit him in the shoulder and did absolutely nothing. The next shot hit him in the nose and traveled down through the neck,” Lucas Clark said.

The third shot went into the bear’s shoulder and his back, dropping it to the ground. The bear was so close when Elliot hit it with his third shot, there were powder burns on the bear’s mouth. Still alive, the bear then slid by Elliot’s feet.

“As the bear slid past him and came to a stop, he put a kill shot it him,” Lucas Clark said.

Stoltzfus finished it off with another round.

The moment could have turned out differently. Lucas Clark hadn’t gotten around to putting a sling on his son’s shotgun, leaving the 11-year-old to carry it in his hands. He credits this and a lot of shooting practice with preparing Elliot for the moment.

“He was carrying it in his hands rather than on his shoulder. That was the problem with the other ones, when the bear came at his uncle, he had his rifle on his shoulder and the bear was very close, so he couldn’t get it off in time,” Lucas Clark said.

Just the day before, Elliot still had a plug in his shotgun, meaning his gun only carried three rounds: the “topround” of birdshot and two slugs. He had taken the plug out the day before, Lucas Clark said, after calling his father to ask permission to do so.

The family had seen bear in the area for a few days, and had been carrying guns for protection.

This inspiring story leads to as many questions as it answers in the brief article.  The report hints that the first round was bird shot and the remainder of the tube magazine had slugs, but it isn’t clear.  It would be nice to know this for sure.  Also, what gauge shotgun was he carrying?  That has the appearance of a 20 rather than a 12.  If this young man is going to be traipsing around in the Alaskan bush, give him a 12 gauge, Dad.  He’s ready.

This is what I’ve heard about being in the bush in this part of the states.  The low ready position is the most prepared, and if your weapon is slung on your back you may not have time to react to the threat a bear poses.  Finally, why were the other members of the party not armed?  There is absolutely no way I would be in the Alaskan bush without being armed, preferably with a rifle or shotgun (with slugs in the tube magazine), or a large bore sidearm like a .460 S&W, .454 Casull, .44 magnum or at least .357 magnum wheel gun.

In any case, congratulations to young Mr. Clark. and kudos for your bravery.  You are a legend in the making.  For the rest of your life, men will want to buy you drinks to tell them your story again.

News from the viper’s pit.

This Act may be cited as the Congressional Self-Defense Act.

So after preening and posturing for weeks about how self defense is the right of every American citizen, this bill does what we all knew it would, i.e., gives up on protecting God-given rights for the people and recognizes rights for the elitists.  Because shut up.  They are just like us except better.

You can count me as resolutely opposed to this bill, and I hope it goes down in flames.  No guns for Congresscritters until they have passed it for everyone.

News from Iowa:

JOHNSTON, Iowa  —  New gun laws go into effect on Saturday that include changes to Iowa’s stand your ground law.

The new law effectively eliminates the duty to retreat before turning to deadly force, and while most gun owners support the law as a whole, there are some concerns over Iowa’s more relaxed training laws.

“It can be a slippery slope because initially Iowa law does not require you to ever hold or handle or learn to shoot a gun to even get a permit to carry a gun to start with,” said CrossRoads Shooting Sports Owner Tom Hudson.

That leads to concern over untrained gun owners not being familiar with self-defense laws.

“Nowhere in the permit requiring process does it require you to learn legal code in Iowa,” said Hudson.

One gun owner expressed concerns that people can reapply for permits without any refresher courses or tests.

“If you don’t know how to use it, there’s no point in having it. You’re putting yourself and everyone else around you in danger. I’ve actually had a buddy accidentally shot himself, killed himself because he didn’t know how to use the gun. He had his permit to carry and everything. So yeah, totally against that,” said gun owner Kurtis Spaur.

Hudson says the changes to the law puts more responsibility on shops like his.

“It does absolutely place a responsibility on us to help educate people. Just before you walked up I was helping a young couple select their first firearm for her, that she may want to carry here soon, so that then makes it our duty, and a shop owner’s responsibility, in my opinion, to turn around and say, ‘okay, if you’re going to actively carry, let’s talk about additional resources,’” said Hudson.

Hudson’s shop offers training classes on the ins and outs of the stand your ground law, and says anyone who carries should go through it because there are serious consequences whenever a gun is un-holstered.

“If you choose to use deadly force, if you choose to brandish your weapon, to present your firearm, it should only be because there is absolutely no other choice necessary other than defend your life. You can’t retreat, you can’t de-escalate it, you can’t pick up a rock and try to just knock him out of the way and neutralize them to the point of getting away. There should be so many other steps that should be going through your mind. And while this is going to unfold in a matter of seconds, your mind needs to be prepared to operate that quickly. If not, put your gun away and leave it at home, you don’t need to be carrying it.”

So after leaving the question unaddressed why we should pay any attention to him at all considering the fact that he stands to lose money if this passes in Iowa, he argues with the utmost passion that residents of Iowa should have to pay him money to exercise a right.  Then he closes with this amazing bit of analysis.

If you choose to use deadly force, if you choose to brandish your weapon, to present your firearm, it should only be because there is absolutely no other choice necessary other than defend your life. You can’t retreat, you can’t de-escalate it, you can’t pick up a rock and try to just knock him out of the way and neutralize them to the point of getting away.

Read it again, and closely.  He places beating the assailant with a rock as an option along with retreat and de-escalation.

If this person actually believes something like that he is placing his students in a position for a beating themselves, or a slashing attack with a knife.  And for the female students, rape.  This advice is as bad as I’ve ever seen from anyone on self defense.

Evasion, egress, escape.  That’s after not placing yourself in positions where you don’t need to be.  Then when your life is in danger, do not use a rock.

Codrea:

This year’s march will honor a patriot and friend who ended his earthly struggle almost a year ago. Publisher George Gramlich asked me to inform Oath Keepers that Mike Vanderboegh’s legacy will behonored and carried on, at least in this section of Colorado.

Well, I know George Gramlich and he is a genuinely good guy.  So is David Codrea.  And so was Mike Vanderboegh.  I miss Mike an awful lot.  If I lived anywhere near the area in Colorado, I would be there.