More Guns Less Crime by John Jr (ebook reader macos .txt) 📗

has "heard nothing around the state related to crime with a gun committed by permit hold-

NOTES TOPAGES 12-13/269

ers. There has been nothing like that that I've been informed of." See Terry Flynn, "Gun-Toting Kentuckians Hold Their Fire," Cincinnati Enquirer, June 16, 1997, p. Al.

58. Lee Anderson, "North Carolina's Guns," Chattanooga Free Press, May 31, 1997, p. A4.

59. Lawrence Messina, "Gun-Permit Seekers Not the Criminal Type," Charleston Gazette, July 28, 1997, p. CI.

60. This is the incident discussed in note 3 that occurred during the beginning of 1996 in Texas. As for citizens with concealed handgun permits coming to the aid of police officers see the end of note 68.

61. Peter Hermann, "Unarmed Resident Slain by Intruder; Victim's Rifle Taken by Authorities," Baltimore Sun, Sept. 19, 1996, p. Bl.

62. Christi Parsons and Andrew Martin, "Bead Drawn on Gun Law," Chicago Tribune, May 22, 1997, p. 1; the article includes a long list of such cases, not all of which ended with the charges being dropped. For example,

In Chicago, two motorists, both U.S. Marine Recruiters, were charged with felonies for allegedly having guns in their car when stopped by police for a minor traffic violation. State Rep. Joel Brunsvold (D—Milan) said a downstate woman who kept an assembled rifle in her car to shoot rodents on her farm was pulled over and charged with a felony, as if she had been planning a drive-by shooting. And in March, Chicago Bears defensive end Alonzo Spellman was charged with a felony after volunteering to a police officer during a traffic stop that he had a handgun inside his car.

63. Stephen Singular, Talked to Death (New York: Beech Tree Books, 1987), p. 142. In several other tragic cases people have carried concealed handguns because of death threats, only to be arrested by the police for carrying them; see, for example, Kristi Wright, "Executive Decision," Omaha World-Herald, June 8, 1997, p. IE.

64. A recent case in Oklahoma illustrates how a gun allowed an elderly woman to defend herself:

An 83-year-old woman proved her aim was good Tuesday morning as she shot a burglar trying to get inside her home. Delia Mae Wiggins's home has been burglarized four times. She was beaten by a burglar in November. And she wasn't going to let it happen again. When she heard someone trying to break into her home at about 5 a.m., Wiggins said she grabbed a gun that had been loaded for nine years but never fired. She told police an intruder removed her window-unit air conditioner to enter her home. She said she warned the intruder she was armed. Then she pulled the trigger, hitting the intruder in the thigh. The man backed out the window and fled. (Robert Medley, "83-Year-Old Woman Shoots Fifth Burglar to Try to Victimize Her," Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, May 21, 1997.

This case also illustrates another point, because it involves a crime where the perpetrator would have been classified as knowing the intended victim. The attacker had just a few days earlier "mowed a lawn at a rental property for her."

65. Kristi O'Brien, "Concealed-Gun Legislation Bottled Up Again," Copley News Service (Apr. 15, 1997).

66. As Lon Cripps, the police chief in Langsberg, Montcalm County, Michigan, said in discussing concealed handguns, "There comes a time when you have to take responsibility for your own life. Police officers just aren't always going to be there" (Detroit News, June 14, 1996).

67. States where less than 10 percent of the members responded to the poll were excluded from the polling numbers reported by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

68. Recent legislative testimony during 1997 provides similar evidence. In testifying before the Kansas House of Representatives on behalf of the Kansas State Lodge of the

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Fraternal Order of Police, Joseph T. Gimar said, "We ... continue our support of the [right-to-carry] legislation with the belief that the citizens of Kansas will use it responsibly. ... I have gone to great lengths to speak to as many national [Fraternal Order of Police] members as possible, many in jurisdictions that have concealed-carry statutes, but [I] have been unable to find any that were in opposition to their statutes." (For this and other quotations by law-enforcement officers, see Gary K. Hayzlett, "Kansans Should Get to Carry and Conceal Arms," Kansas City Star, Mar. 21, 1997.)

Many stories involve armed citizens, some with licensed concealed handguns, who have come to the aid of police officers who are being attacked. For example,

Shapiro was arrested April 9 after punching and kicking Howey police Officer David Kiss in the face and mouth during a State Road 48 traffic stop, which also involved his wife, Susan Jane Shapiro.

The melee didn't break up until a Mission Inn employee who was passing by shot Mark Shapiro in the back of his left knee.

The passer-by, Vincent McCarthy, 46, of Eustis, had a permit to carry his .25-caliber automatic pistol and will not be charged, Lake sheriffs authorities said.

The Howey Town Council earlier this week commended McCarthy for coming to the aid of Kiss. (Linda Chong, "Man Gets House Arrest in Law Officer's Beating," Orlando Sentinel Tribune, May 16, 1992, p. 8)

69. Related stories can be found in the Alva (Oklahoma) Review Courier, Jan. 8, 1995; the Tuscaloosa News, Jan. 12, 1995; and the Houston Post, Jan. 22, 1994; see "Gun-Control Survey," Law Enforcement Technology (July—Aug. 1991), pp. 14-15.

Police officers are well aware that off-duty officers have often been able to thwart crimes because they were armed. News stories on such cases