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A customer at Ranchito Taqueria shot and killed a man who robbed the restaurant in southwest Houston late Thursday night, according to the Houston Police Department. It happened just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday at the restaurant on S. Gessner near Bellaire Boulevard. Houston police said the armed man in a mask came inside the restaurant, demanding money and wallets from customers. However, as he was leaving, one of those customers shot the suspect. The incident was caught on surveillance video. Houston police also released surveillance photos of the customer who shot the robber in the video. Investigators said he is...

The CPRC has just issued our newest annual report on the number of concealed handgun permits in the US. A copy of the report is available for download here. Some updated numbers are shown at the bottom of this post. Past reports can be viewed here. Part of the executive summary is shown here: During President Obama’s administration, the number of concealed handgun permits soared to over 16.36 million – a 256% increase since 2007. Unlike surveys that may be affected by people’s unwillingness to answer some personal questions, concealed handgun permit data is the only really “hard data” that...

A recent increase in law-abiding gun ownership bodes well for the country’s future. The great arming is underway, and that’s a very good thing for our nation, for our culture, and for the relationship between citizen and state. On Thursday, John Lott and the Crime Prevention Research Center published a comprehensive survey of the growth in concealed-carry permits in the United States. The numbers are stunning — not just in their growth, but in their depth and consequence. Here’s a sampling. During Barack Obama’s presidency, the number of concealed-carry permit holders increased by a whopping 256 percent. The numbers have...

Firearms instructors are reporting an increase in the number of black women learning how to use guns in self-defense courses around the country -- and the reasons are varied. "Minority women are definitely increasing in numbers," Rick Ector, a firearms instructor, said of attendees at his weekly course just outside of Detroit. "Women overall -- in particular, minority women -- are looking toward guns to protect themselves against crime," Ector told Fox News. "Women are definitely drivers in the market right now." Other cities, like Savannah, Dallas and Cincinnati, have also seen an uptick in the number of minority women...

On March 15th, 2017, the Florida State Attorney's Office released a video of Ashad Russell, a Florida resident with a concealed handgun permit, fatally shooting another man, Edward Strother, who was attacking a Lee County, Florida Sheriff Deputy Dean Bardes. Prosecutors had cleared Russell of criminal charges on February 15th, 2017. The shooting was found justified because the deputy's life was determined to be in danger. The case stems from an incident that occurred on November 15, 2016. The Florida State Attorney's Office just released cell phone video of the event. Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott wrote this on his...

Two Good Samaritans are being credited with saving a woman’s life after she was attacked by two suspected carjackers who hit her over the head after she left Walmart was putting her infant child into a car seat in the store parking lot in Shawnee, Kansas on Sunday. A bystander, who rushed to the aid of the woman after hearing her screams, was shot multiple times by one of the suspects, according to police. Another Good Samaritan saw what happened, got out of his car and shot one of the attackers dead. A shopper who had just exited the store...

Temple Terrace, Florida (WFLA) February 1, 2016: . . . around 11 p.m. on Sunday night. investigators say two men approached 38-year-old Luis Enrique Alonso in front of his home as he was unloading groceries. The suspects grabbed Alonso, and one of the suspects pointed a silver handgun at him. Alonso grabbed the suspect’s gun and a brief struggle ensued. Police say Alonso then drew his own firearm and exchanged gunfire with the suspects. . . . Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (ABC Channel 27), February 1, 2016: . . . It happened Saturday around 4 p.m.

On Tuesday, President Obama stunned Americans and French alike with his false claims about gun violence in America. "I say this every time we've got one of these mass shootings. This just doesn't happen in other countries," claimed Obama. It is a claim that he has continually repeated over the years. Talk about being self-absorbed. The French have witnessed three mass public shootings this year. January saw two attacks, one on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and another on a Paris supermarket. In the November attacks, 129 people were killed and 352 were injured. In just 2015, France suffered more casualties...

Americans are increasingly convinced that owning a gun makes them safer. A new Rasmussen poll found that an overwhelming majority of Americans (68 percent) “feel safer in a neighborhood where guns are allowed.” And a series of polls by Gallup, the Pew Research Center, and ABC News and the Washington Post show similar results. But it isn’t just what people say. They are clearly putting more stock in self-defense. Since 2007, the number of concealed-handgun permits has soared, from 4.6 million to 12.8 million. A new study by the Crime Prevention Research Center finds that a record 1.7 million permits...

Based on the chatter on gun blogs and Internet forums, it looks like a groundswell is underway in Virginia to borrow a page from Napoléon’s playbook and vote ‘to the sound of the guns.’ Thanks to a new law passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by Governor Bob McDonnell (R), all that it will take to vote in Virginia this year is a concealed handgun permit. This means no photo is required to vote . . .

People walking the streets armed with guns must be dangerous, right? The Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center keep claiming that even those individuals who have legally obtained permits to carry concealed handguns are extremely dangerous. With millions of Americans already having been issued such permits from the various states, this is an important issue. The gun control organizations have frequently made these claims in the press. The Associated Press articles by Erik Schelzig and by Jim Abrams have given extensive, uncritical coverage. Members of the gun control organizations have made these claims unchallenged on such places as Fox...

Tomorrow morning the US Senate will vote on whether to allow concealed handgun permit holders to carry handguns across state lines. The legislation sponsored by Senator John Thune (R, SD) would only allow reciprocity in permitting, as anybody would still be required to obey the laws of the states that they travel in. This is the same way driver's licenses work. Yet, gun control advocates are predicting the worst. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D, NJ) warns it is an "attempt by the gun lobby to put its radical agenda ahead of safety and security in our communities." Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D,...

Assuring news "Fire when ready, Gridley " THERE’S GOOD news in the paper, too. Like a front-page story Wednesday by our own Andy Davis that should brighten law-abiding folks’ day. (“Dentist opens fire on purse snatcher/ Police say he shot as wife fought mugger”—Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Wednesday, March 25, 2009.) The lede pretty well sums up the whole story: “Going to the aid of his wife as she and an armed man struggled over her purse on the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in west Little Rock on Monday night, a 63-year-old dentist pulled out a .357-caliber revolver and opened...

Dentist opens fire on purse snatcher Police say he shot as wife fought mugger BY ANDY DAVIS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Going to the aid of his wife as she and an armed man struggled over her purse in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in west Little Rock on Monday night, a 63-year-old dentist pulled out a .357-caliber revolver and opened fire, striking the would-be robber in the buttocks, police said Tuesday. Jonathan Terry, 24, of England fled but was found a short time later seeking treatment at the UAMS Medical Center. When he is released from the hospital, police...

The Memphis Commercial Appeal has published a database by zip code of people who have a concealed handgun permit in Tennessee. One of the justifications they use is saying that if a child will be "spending the night with" another child, then a parent could check to see if the other parent had a concealed handgun permit. If so, then the parent can call that person, and "have a chat with them." Anti gun employers can also check their employees names for political incorrectness and punish gun permit holders in their own special ways. Of course, criminals can use the...

AUSTIN — Demand for concealed handgun licenses has risen nearly 40 percent in Texas in a year, an increase being attributed to many factors, even presidential politics. Though the exact cause may be unclear, what's certain is that the spike in applications has caught the Department of Public Safety unprepared. The state is taking a month longer than the 60 days allowed by law to process original applications and 80 days longer on renewals, which are supposed to be handled within 45 days. "We're trying really hard, but there have been delays because of the tremendous increase in applications," said...

LR man, grandson prevent robbery Two gunmen killed in company holdup BY JIM BROOKS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Two men were shot and killed Monday morning after they tried to rob Downen Oil Co. in central Little Rock, police said. Phillip Williams, 23, and Troy James Williams, 28, entered the business around 11 a.m. and shortly afterward announced a holdup, police said. Troy Williams was fatally shot while he and the owner of the business, Charles Leon Downen, 64, struggled for the gun Williams had put to Downen’s head, police reported. Phillip Williams was shot and killed after he ran from the...