Additional details of the Plaxico Burress incident came to light at the New York Giants wide receiver’s arraignment yesterday afternoon. For earlier GP coverage, see this and this.

In the New York Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Police Department criticized the Giants, who they said neglected to notify the authorities of the shooting, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where Burress was treated, for failing to call the police about his gun-related injury, as state law requires.

The NFL says that it did, in fact, contact the police. Burress is out on $100,000 bail.

Here’s the story of what went down:

Burress arrived at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan at 1:20 a.m. Saturday morning, with four others, including two teammates.

The criminal complaint, released by prosecutors Monday, said that an onlooker then saw Burress near the V.I.P. area of the club holding a drink in his left hand and fidgeting his right hand in the area of the waistline of his pants. The witness then heard a single “pop” sound before hearing Burress say, “Take me to the hospital.”

Burress was on the ground, with his legs shaking, when a bloody gun — a .40-caliber Glock pistol — fell out of his pant leg and onto the floor, the onlooker said. Investigators believe that Pierce was standing next to Burress when the gun went off. The bullet, which broke through the skin of Burress’s right thigh and pierced muscle tissue, traveled through the leg before lodging itself somewhere in the club.

The handgun was later found, minus magazine and with an empty chamber, in teammate Antonio Pierce’s vehicle.

I think it’s safe to say that no one was following any safety rules. Or common sense. Or the law, for that matter.

Expect the Brady Bunch to jump on this and claim that Burress represents one of the “law abiding gun owners” and, as one, is an example of why gun ownership should be outlawed. Never mind that Burress was in possession of an illegal gun without a permit to carry any concealed weapon in a state that didn’t honor the permit he previously had in an establishment that serves alcohol and was drinking.

Jeff Soyer: Cops Fish Mental Health Records

In a good piece of investigative reporting, the Delaware News Journal has uncovered the fact that state police there routinely access databases intended only to be used at the time of a firearm purchase. Even for that, it’s being abused.

The story is here: Gun checks may violate federal law

When the firearms unit was created, the debate in the House was “strictly about purchases, not enforcement,” said House Minority Leader Richard C. Cathcart, R-Middletown. “It seems to me this violates — at a minimum — the intent of the legislation.”

Cathcart, who received an “A+” rating from the NRA before his recent re-election, said the supercheck process needs a quick statutorial fix.

“Obviously, there is a right to bear arms, but the way this is being applied, basically they’re saying it’s a privilege, and they have a right to take away that privilege from people,” Cathcart said. “I have a huge problem with this.”

You should read the whole thing.

Once that data is out there, it’s going to be looked at. Not always by the people or for the reasons intended. If this supercheck backdoor gets closed, you can bet that a future incident, maybe not even gun-related, will convince someone that a “lack of communication” led to tragedy, or that law enforcement’s lack of access hampered their ability to do their job. And the “back door” will possibly become law for the common good.

Prisons beefing up teleconferencing to save money

It costs the state of Connecticut at least $1,600 every time multiple murder suspect Joshua Komisarjevsky appears in a courtroom.

Despite his slight build and boyish appearance, Komisarjevsky is classified as a high security inmate, facing charges of murder, rape and arson from a 2007 home invasion in which a woman and her two daughters were killed in Cheshire.

At every court appearance, a special detail of corrections officers and two state troopers are assigned to accompany him.

So, when Komisarjevsky was due in family court earlier this year on an unrelated matter, prison officials opted for a teleconference. Instead an expensive trip to the courthouse, officers escorted Komisarjevsky down the hall from his cell at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, to a room where he participated in the hearing via two-way video.

I think this makes a lot of sense.

Also, recall that Dr. William Petit, whose wife and two daughters were killed by Komisarjevsky and his partner, has become an activist for the “Three Strike Law.”

Rifle stolen in 1977 is returned to owner

Mike Cassidy had a Marlin lever-action stolen from an unlocked car three decades ago.

But on Friday, 31 years after the theft, Cassidy and the rifle were reunited after a Fort Worth police officer discovered that the stolen rifle had recently been sold to an east Fort Worth gun store.

Officer R.D. Gilfour said pawn shops and gun dealers must document all transactions of secondhand property they receive, including serial numbers. Gilfour said that when a clerk entered the rifle’s serial number into an online nationwide database, police learned that the gun that had recently been sold to the Winchester Gallery Gun Store, 6054 E. Lancaster Ave., had been stolen three decades ago in Albuquerque.

Gilfour obtained a copy of the police report from Albuquerque police and, upon confirming the rifle’s make and model, confiscated it from the dealer. He said it was the oldest stolen gun ever recovered through the database.

He then set out to track down the owner.

Last week I noted a Strategy Page post on an order for 20,000 more M9 pistols for the US Army. The weapons are actually intended for the Iraqi police force, not our army. From the contract:

MARK FOR: IRAQ MINISTRY OF INTERIOR
BAGHDAD POLICE COLLEGE
WEAPONS AND AMMO WAREHOUSE
PALESTINE RD TEL DSN 318-239-8299
BAGHDAD IRAQ

Thanks to the commenters who pointed this out.

Clevelanders Being Lured With Cavs Tickets and Gift Cards in Gun Buy-Back Program

Ohio seems to be making a concerted effort on the turn-in/buyback front. Akron is offering grocery cards for guns.

Boy, 8, charged with killing two, including dad

This double killing in St. Johns, Arizona, by an 8-year-old was carried out with a .22 rifle. Don’t discount the capability (or the danger) of a .22.

Meanwhile, police screwed up by not reading the kid his rights and by interviewing him (rather forcefully, it seems) without any legal representation present.

Cape Girardeau woman shoots, kills would-be rapist at her home

A Cape Girardeau woman shot and fatally wounded Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender who had broken into her home early this morning with the intention of raping her a second time, Cape Girardeau Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said today.

Swingle said he will not be charging the victim, an older woman who positively identified Preyer this morning as the man who raped her on Saturday.

You really should go read the whole thing. The story reads like a commercial advocating self-defense.

Cape Girardeau police had been keeping a close eye on the woman’s home, in the southwest part of Cape Girardeau, since she reported the rape nearly a week ago.

In that instance, she’d heard the glass break in a basement window around midnight on Saturday, and decided to make a run for it through her front door, according to police reports of the incident. When she opened the door, Preyer attacked her.

He punched her in the face and forced her into the bedroom, where he raped her…

Police were actively working the unsolved rape case, Swingle said, and had been frequently driving past the woman’s home in case her attacker returned.

Yet there he was, in her house again.

Earlier that night, the woman had actually called 911 after hearing a suspicious noise. Police had responded but found no evidence of a problem. About two hours later, the rapist returned for real.

He found a main fuse panel in the basement and shut off the electricity. The victim immediately tried to call 911, but the phone would not work because there was no electric.

Having recently purchased a shotgun, she grabbed the weapon and when Preyer began banging on the basement door, she was ready for him. When he crashed through the basement door into her kitchen, she shot him once in the chest and ran, heading for a neighbor’s house, where she called the police.

It only took officers 45 seconds to respond to the 911 call, Swingle said.

So that’s supposed to impress someone? It only took 45 seconds? That’s 45 seconds after she called, which was after she went to a neighbor’s house. Which was after she fled her own home. Which was after she shot the intruder. Which was after the intruder charged her. Which was after the intruder cut the power. Which was after the intruder broke into the house.

Which, of course, was all after he had ALREADY RAPED her last week.

No, 45 seconds response time isn’t terribly impressive. In fact, 45 seconds response time is apparently at least SIX DAYS LATE.

Preyer’s criminal history is speckled with home invasions and assaults, and he has been convicted of failing to inform the county of his change of address in compliance with registered sex offender laws. Swingle was getting ready to charge him with rape, attempted rape, burglary and attempted burglary this morning, armed with the positive eyewitness identification, when he learned around 9:30 a.m. that Preyer was dead.

Preyer was convicted in 1989 of raping and robbing a woman in New Madrid County and he served 15 years in prison on both charges.

He was also arrested last December and charged with attempted rape and second degree felony assault, but Swingle’s office dismissed the charges because he did not think he could get a conviction, he said.

Ah. Not six days late. Nineteen years late.

John Snow points out this doozy:

Some of us own handguns for protection. Others like to hunt with them. Still others enjoy participating in shooting competitions.

But if you’re Martha Stewart’s daughter, Alexis, you own a pistol in order to shoot your dogs in the head

She applied for a gun license after 9/11 so she could euthanize her beloved pets if disaster struck and she had to leave them behind.

This is in New York City. Yes, that New York City.

If the desire to whack your dogs is justification enough to have a gun in the home, what would the police say to someone who wanted to carry a handgun in order to protect and save their life?

My guess is that they’d say a word that begins with “de” and ends with “nied.”

Think Bloomberg would mind if she painted her gun with fashionable shades from DuraCoat? Remember, Hello Kitty stickers are part of the latest danger to police officers nationwide and DuraCoat by Lauer Custom Weaponry is part of the problem.

Hello Kitty guns: Bad.
Goodbye Doggy guns: Good.

An Ohio police officer is in trouble because, even though he tied for the most arrests made, he didn’t issue enough traffic tickets.

“He gets paid as much as the other officers,” [Police Chief Greg] Ryan said. “He should do as much work as the other officers.”

I wish I was shocked at this. But, come on. No big surprise. (Via Phil)