No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.13.13/197 - Release Date: 12/9/2005 Bringing A Mousegun To A Gunfight?: An off-duty NYPD officer died in a gunfight in which he reportedly shot one of his assailants four times and another twice with his department-authorized off-duty .25 ACP pistol. Both assailants are alive and under arrest. http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-cop1211,0,5675180.story?coll=ny-rightrail-columnist Maybe Not A Mousegun: The New York Times describes the officer's pistol as "an eight-shot KHR semiautomatic," which looks like a typo for "Kahr." That would seem to be more consistent with what I know of NYPD policy on off-duty handguns and would have been a 9mm. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/nyregion/11cop.html?ei=5094&en=49df62e0401b7633&hp=&ex=1134363600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all A Few More Details: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/nyregion/11who.html --- Definitely A Mousegun Shooting: An arrest has been made in the attempted murder of a Flagstaff AZ city worker. Before he lost consciousness, the victim told officers that he had been in a fight and had been hit with a baseball bat. He did not know he had been shot in the head with a small-caliber handgun. The shot failed to penetrate the skull and the victim is recovering. http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=120872 --- Oops, Wrong Business: A New Hampshire man is facing armed robbery charges after being pistol-whipped with his own gun by a female clerk. He made the mistake of setting down his revolver in order to pick up the store's cash register. http://www.theunionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Tables%20turned%20on%20robber&articleId=fdb71716-8999-494a-b7d1-3273bb02c8e9 --- Felons And Antique Firearms: Editorial in a Tahoe-area newspaper questions the laws that allowed a convicted felon to purchase an antique handgun that was misused shortly afterward. "If a felon like Ex wants to obtain a gun illegally, he probably can get one. But some common sense and responsibility would have kept this particular gun out of his hands and, perhaps, two deputies out of the hospital." Of note, Nevada law appears to allow anyone to request a background check on the purchaser of a firearm, albeit at the expense of a five-day wait. http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20051211/OPINION/112110065 --- Guns Are Not Talismans: A federal officer, formerly with the presidential detail of the Secret Service was shot in a DC carjacking by two teenagers, who took his pickup truck and his handgun. (Mental awareness and mental preparedness are more important than choice of equipment.) http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=645067 --- From John Farnam: 7 Dec 05 Bearing Arms: A friend who lives in the UK but, when he comes over once per year, shoots with us here in CO recently commented that he can always tell when he has arrived in the USA. He reports that Americans walk "with their heads held high, as if they owned the place!" "You'll see nothing like that in all of Europe, even Western Europe" he laments. "Europeans walk around slumped over, like whipped dogs. They typically look dismayed, fearful, apprehensive." He continues by observing that even he walks confidently and upright when he is over here, carrying a pistol, and breathing American air! Americans who bear arms, not just on shooting ranges, but throughout our day, look upon the practice not as just a banal habit, but as a way of life, a way that is uniquely American. Who bear arms exhibit a dash, which, to the observant, is unmistakable! America's creation was a bold experiment and one most gave scant chance of succeeding. We Americans are an historical aberration, and, when America is gone, nothing like it will ever exist again. It is truly said, "Free men bear arms." /John (Free men bear arms but the wise ones remember that they are not talismans that inherently ward off evil.) -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .