Monday, August 31, 2009



CO: Auto lot owner warned he'd kill any burglars: "A business owner cleared by a grand jury in the fatal shooting of a burglar at his Colorado Springs auto shop last April had warned police after an earlier burglary that he was prepared to kill to protect his property. Jovan Milanovic, 30, called police on Easter to report a burglary at Southwest Auto Sales on Platte Place and told an officer that he was “pissed off” enough about a spate of break-ins that he would shoot any thieves who returned, according to a police report released Thursday. A week later, after lying in wait inside the business, the mechanic fatally shot 20-year-old Robert Johnson Fox after Fox and an accomplice scaled a fence and climbed into the auto lot. Fox’s friend, who escaped uninjured, told police that the shooter and another man ran toward the pair, one of them shouting, “I’m going to (expletive) kill you!” Fox, of Colorado Springs, had a knife strapped to his ankle and others in his pockets, but Milanovic did not report seeing the weapons and said Fox did not approach him or the two other men. Police did not release the report to the public until after a grand jury convened by 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May ruled last week there was insufficient evidence to indict Milanovic, who was never arrested."


La: Post-storm killing ruled self-defense: "In the only reported homicide in Jefferson Parish during Hurricane Katrina's immediate aftermath, a Harahan man was acquitted Friday night of second-degree murder for shooting a man outside a River Ridge home. A Jefferson Parish jury, which heard three days of testimony about drunken men with firearms in the chaotic post-Katrina days, deliberated about three hours before finding that Patrick Barker, 42, acted in self-defense when he shot Dennis Devooght Jr. four times on Sept. 8, 2005. Two of the jurors believed Barker was guilty of the charge. Barker never denied shooting Devooght, 34, as they stood outside a home in the 8600 block of Melrose Place. But he insisted he fired his 9mm semiautomatic pistol only in response to threats Devooght made with his pistol. Barker was tried on a charge of second-degree murder and faced a mandatory life sentence in prison. The shooting happened at the foot of Anthony Shephard's driveway after an evening in which Shephard and Devooght drank a bottle of whiskey, according to testimony. All the men were armed. Barker told detectives: "I pointed my gun at him and said, 'Slowly put the handgun on back of the truck.' He got this mean look and his hand went straight for it (his pistol). And I shot him."


NC: Court restores felon’s gun rights: "The North Carolina Supreme Court says a 2004 law that bars convicted felons from having a gun, even within their own home or business, is unconstitutional. The state’s high court ruled Friday in the case of Barney Britt of Wake County that the General Assembly went too far five years ago when it toughened restrictions on felons owning guns as part of a broad anti-domestic-violence bill. Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson said in a dissenting opinion the decision could encourage challenges against state bans on felons and the insane owning guns. Britt was convicted of felony drug possession in 1979. He completed his sentence in 1982, and his right to own a gun was restored five years later.”


Virgina Tech shooting 2009: Another reason for Right to Carry while hunting: "“The 2009 tragic shooting of two Virgina Tech students visiting a campground in the nearby Jefferson National Forest legitimizes the belief that the ruling handed down last January for ‘right to carry’ within National forests should have been a given. The rule allows Right-To-Carry permit holders to carry concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuge areas in states that recognize their permits. In the past, the Bureau of Land management and Forest Service lands allowed the carrying of firearms, while lands managed by the Department of Interior did not. In recent years, the right to carry has risen from 10 states to 40 states which is an all-time high.”

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