Ohio Judges Declare Themselves a ‘Special Class’, Exempt from Carry Rules

(Ammoland.com)- This from friends in OH:

“Judges of our 4th District Court of Appeals, which covers fourteen counties in southeastern OH, are, by their own one-sided ‘proclamation,’ are licensing themselves to carry concealed handguns, both while sitting on the bench and at all other times.
They are not extending that special privilege to anyone else!
This ‘proclamation‘ altogether bypasses the legal requirements, including training and proficiency, that we peons are required to obey in order to acquire state-issued concealed carry permits.
These judges travel from county to county holding hearings. While traveling, they are accompanied by a bailiff and an LEO, both armed.
One judge casually stated:

‘The probability of an (life-threatening) occurrence is, in reality, pretty low. But the impact, when it happens, is devastating.’

Is that so, your honor?
Well then, I suspect when anyone, even one of us lowly peons, encounters someone who is trying to murder us, one could also accurately describe the event as ‘devastating!’
Yet, the term, ‘devastating,’ apparently only applies to judges. When the identical thing happens to any of us mere insignificant tax-paying citizens, it is merely ‘unfortunate.’

Read more: http://www.ammoland.com/2014/09/ohio-judges-declare-themselves-a-special-class-exempt-from-carry-rules/#ixzz3CWz1AZI4
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Flatfoots Throughout History

Pennsylvania State Trooper Who Shot and Killed his Pregnant Wife Faces No Charges

The Republic

Authorities won't file charges against a Pennsylvania state trooper who shot and killed his pregnant wife at their suburban Philadelphia home.

A three-month investigation found that Joseph Miller's gun went off as he tried to clean it at home in East Norriton.

The bullet struck his wife in the head. Both 34-year-old Joanna Miller and her 22-week-old fetus died.

The Montgomery County district attorney's office concluded the March 7 shooting was negligent but accidental.

Authorities said in a news release Friday that all evidence indicated the Millers were "a close-knit, loving family excited about the pending arrival of a new baby." They had four other children.

San Antonio Cop Shoots Himself by Accident - No Charges Expected

Nassau County Policeman Nikolas Budimlic Won't Face Charges in Fatal Shooting of Andrea Rebello

Andrea Rebello

Chicago Tribune

A police officer who accidentally shot dead a student at a suburban New York university, while responding to an armed robbery at her apartment, has been cleared of all wrongdoing, authorities said.

Nassau County policeman Nikolas Budimlic was justified in shooting at an armed robber who was using Hofstra University student Andrea Rebello as a shield, a report by the county district attorney said on Wednesday.

The fact that Budimlic accidentally shot and killed Rebello, 21, did not change his justification, the report found.

"While her death is tragic, the law regarding justification is clear: A justification defense is applicable to any use of force, even if that use has unintended consequences," the report said.

Police headed to the apartment in Uniondale, east of New York City, early on May 17, 2013, after getting a call about an armed robber holding people hostage. When they arrived, suspected robber Dalton Smith, 30, grabbed Rebello in a headlock to shield his body while pointing a 9mm gun at her head.

"Smith ignored numerous commands shouted by Officer Budimlic for Smith to drop his weapon," the report said. "Smith, alternately pointing his gun at Andrea Rebello and Officer Budimlic, threatened to kill both of them."

For a moment during the tense standoff, Smith lost his balance and loosened his grip on Rebello when she turned her body away from him. When Smith wobbled, Budimlic fired eight rounds at him. Seven bullets hit Smith, but one struck Rebello in the head.

Rebello was transported to the Nassau University Medical Center, where she died.

Gun-mounted Flashlights Spark Concerns in Wake of Accidental Denver Police Shootings

Denver Chief of Police Robert White (Craig F. Walker, Denver Post file photo)

The Denver Post

Denver's police chief said Thursday he has ordered extra training and a review of department policies after the second accidental shooting by an officer this month and the fifth in a little over a year.

Police are still investigating the latest shooting Sunday night, but at least two of the accidental shootings have been blamed on gun-mounted tactical flashlights. Such lights have also been cited in other accidental police shootings across the country, including one that killed a man in Texas.

Police Chief Robert White said he is reviewing the use of all such flashlights and will likely require officers who use them to undergo added training. He has already banned officers from using a specific design of such flashlights.

"It's gotten to the point where I'm concerned about it," White said Thursday. "We're mandating additional training."

The latest incident happened Sunday night near the intersection of South Federal Boulevard and West Alameda Avenue. An officer chasing several car-theft suspects unintentionally fired his gun before taking one adult and three juveniles into custody. No one was hit.

That incident came less than a week after another in which an officer's gun accidentally went off while he was chasing a man suspected of a probation violation. A bystander was wounded in that incident, though it remains unclear whether she was grazed by the bullet or debris from its impact.

The department had three accidental shootings last year.

White said he is thankful no one has been seriously injured in the shootings. But he said the incidents are particularly troubling because accidental shootings are "more often than not a sign of negligence on the part of the officer."

While the two shootings this year are still under investigation and the officers involved remain on duty, White said the three officers involved in last year's unintentional shootings were all disciplined. Punishments ranged from a four-day suspension to a written reprimand.

John Lott on the NFL Decision to Ban Off-duty Cops from Carrying in Stadiums

Breitbart

“Banning off-duty law-enforcement officers from carrying seems completely crazy to me,” John Lott told Breitbart Sports. “We trust these law-enforcement officers when they are on-duty, but somehow we can’t trust them as soon as they are off-duty. Here these guys are willing to offer protection for free in case there is a terrorist attack and the NFL isn’t willing to let them do it.”

Lott, a onetime colleague of President Barack Obama’s at the University of Chicago, currently serves as president of the Crime Prevention Resource Center. An economist who has held positions at Yale, Stanford, Penn, and Rice, Lott has written extensively in the scholarly and popular press on multiple-victim public shootings.

“There are two ways of trying to prevent mass public shootings: 1) secure an area or 2) let victims defend themselves,” Lott posits. “It is basically impossible to completely secure an area. What you end up accomplishing is just ensuring that victims are defenseless. With unarmed victims, gun-free zones are a magnet for those who want to kill many people quickly.”

Now this will put our regular commenters into a quandary. They're gonna have to choose between supporting their hero John Lott and doing their usual cop-bashing.  Interestingly, Lott didn't say a word about denying civilian gun owners with carry permits permission to carry in the stadiums.

NY Director of Homeland Security Uses his Pistol's Laser Sight as a Pointer During a Demonstration

Jerome Hauer, New York State commissioner of The Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services addresses members of the media at the Capitol on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012 in Albany, NY, as members of the administration gave an update on the recovery efforts following Hurricane Irene a year ago. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)

The Times Union

Jerome M. Hauer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's director of homeland security, took out his handgun and used the laser sighting device attached to the barrel as a pointer in a presentation to a foreign delegation, according to public officials. It happened Oct. 24 in Albany at the highly secure state emergency operations center below State Police headquarters.

These officials, one of whom claimed to be an eyewitness, said that three Swedish emergency managers in the delegation were rattled when the gun's laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York, at which he wanted to point.

Hauer, commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, was disabled by a stroke a few years ago and can be unsteady. He isn't a law enforcement official. He carries the loaded 9-millimeter Glock in a holster into state buildings, an apparent violation of state law barring state employees from bringing weapons to the workplace, several witnesses say.

Link provided by ssgmarkcr with the following comment:

Here is another careless permit holder who, while acting recklessly, didn't hurt anyone.  And worse yet, he's a government official.

Actually, I wouldn't have considered this reckless idiot a concealed carry permit holder. But, I suppose it's fair to do so. Just like his civilian counterparts, he gets special treatment and gets away with all kinds of violations.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

Bridgeport Residents Protest Against Cop who Accidentally Shot Himself

Local news reports with video

Protesters in Bridgeport are demanding that criminal charges be filed against the police officer who accidentally shot himself at a bagel shop last week.

Officer Juan Santiago shot himself in the leg at the Bagel King on Main Street. Police say the gun used in the shooting was not his service weapon.

Demonstrators gathered outside police headquarters yesterday. They say officer Santiago should have been charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment.

Many of the protesters are licensed gun carriers. One resident, Elizabeth Drysdale, said, "Had that been me, my permit would have been revoked, my firearms would have been seized, and I would have been arrested on the spot."

City officials say state police are investigating the incident, and the officer is out on sick leave. 

It's interesting that some of the demonstrators are gun owners themselves, but not surprising.  There's a widespread resentment of the cops among many gun owners. I find it a bit exaggerated.  The fact is civilian gun owners get away with this kind of gun misuse all the time. It's even been defended on this blog with the observation that no one else was injured.

Nevertheless, despite the petty motivations of the demonstrators, they are exactly right. All gun misuse should be punished. If we did that consistently, many second, third and fourth offenses would be prevented.