Here’s the headline: Cell Phone Protects Clerk From Knife Attack in Robbery

Here’s the story:

Joseph Wescott says the phone he slipped into his shirt pocket stopped a knife to his chest when a robbery suspect attacked him at the store in a northern Atlanta suburb. He then reached under the counter for the .40-caliber handgun and shot the man.

Good on the phone. Good on the gun. But while phone-only would have protected against the first attack, was the guy going to stop every attack with his phone? If I’ve got to chose between phone-only and gun-only against an attacker, I’ll take the firepower. That said, carrying both is even better.

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear someone claim that this shows how a phone can protect you from knife attacks. Just make sure they stab you in the battery.

Also, I’m wondering why the robber wasn’t using a gun. We keep hearing about how guns are so easy to get (and I’m not really disagreeing), but if things are so bad, how come the bad guy used a knife and the good guy used a gun? Even if the gun control crowd could wave a magic wand and make all guns disappear forever, it would have left this guy on even terms with the bad guy.

Finally, there’s this:

“That was the first time I had ever fired that gun,” [Wescott] said.

Boys and girls, if you’re going to own a gun, at least take it to the range a couple of times. If you’re going to carry it to protect yourself, take it to the range regularly. I’m glad this turned out to be a story with a happy ending, but what if he would have pulled the gun only to go click?

Maybe a round wasn’t chambered. Maybe he didn’t know how to work the safety, or forgot in the heat of the moment. Maybe it’s just broken.

Take it out. Shoot it. Get used to it. Keep used to it.

Cool:

AmmoLand.com, the leader in coverage and reporting of Shooting Sports News, has been accepted and an official news source provider in Google News at News.Google.com

Now all shooting sports news coverage appearing on AmmoLand will also now pick picked up and carried by Google News and displayed to the millions and millions of world wide reader on this popular web news site.

Also, Uncle is AmmoLand’s Gun Blogger of the Month for June.

Last week’s recruiting center killer is a Muslim convert who said this week that he feels his actions were justified because of the war:

“We’re not going to turn the other cheek. It’s definitely not the end of it.”

He clearly seems to believe that he’s fighting on the other side in a war. He killed a US serviceman. He’s unrepentant and says it will keep happening.

And no one cares.

Meanwhile, only hours after the event:

James Von Brunn

We’re informed that this dirtbag is a “white supremacist” and a “known racist.” We’re told about his history of trouble. We’re told about the things he’s said and the things he’s said he’d like to do.

Headlines, headlines, headlines.

If Murdoc were even the weensiest bit cynical, he’d think we’re seeing a double standard here. Particularly since so many have already criticized the media for downplaying the recruiting center story while hyping the killing of an abortionist by a pro-lifer.

Meanwhile, how did this former felon and “known racist” get his hands on a .22 rifle? That’s illegal.

Quick. Pass more laws to restrict firearms ownership by law-abiding citizens because the lawbreakers are ignoring the rules too much.

A list over at Criminal Justice Degrees Guide.

Murdoc didn’t even know about this until he read the blogs:

Gun owners show support for open-carry law at picnic in Kalamazoo

It resembled most any Sunday afternoon picnic in Bronson Park. Except most of the people assembled around tables filled with watermelon and grilled goodies had firearms in holsters strapped to their waists.

The Glocks and the Smith & Wessons remained holstered but visible during a three-hour Open Carry Picnic designed to raise public awareness of what organizers called Second Amendment rights in Michigan to openly carry a firearm in most places.

They were high school teachers, college students, computer geeks and housewives with one thing in common. Rather than a cell phone, the leather pouch they wore at their waist contained a gun. The picnic drew about 40 people on a wet afternoon.

Murdoc was actually staying not too far from Kalamazoo this weekend.

Here’s a good news report on the event:

Hat tips to Huffman and Soyer.

I just realized that the SHOT Show coverage in Shooting Sports Retailer magazine is online.

There’s a different post for each day, with contributions from all of the SSR writers who helped cover the show in Orlando. Lots of good stuff.

The Peanut Farmer

But none of us wants to own an assault weapon, because we have no desire to kill policemen or go to a school or workplace to see how many victims we can accumulate before we are finally shot or take our own lives.

In case anyone wonders if he was just unclear and didn’t really mean that killing police officers is all that “assault weapons” are for, he closes with:

We can’t let the N.R.A.’s political blackmail prevent the banning of assault weapons — designed only to kill police officers and the people they defend.

At least the guy is consistent about always being on the wrong side.