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On February 4th, federal authorities filed a criminal complaint against a Dearborn Heights, Michigan man in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan for a violation of a law that makes it unlawful for anyone who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance to possess a firearm. The complaint alleges that on 2 occasions, this man lied on an ATF form while purchasing a firearm. The FBI began its investigation after the man made threats about “committing acts of terror and martyrdom…on behalf of …ISIS.” The FBI engaged with the man using an undercover asset. He planned to shoot up a church, in large part because there would be no guns on the people in the churches. This story should tell lawmakers and citizens alike that gun-free zones are just asking for trouble.
In other news, good guy with a gun stops bad guy…or gal. In Warren, Michigan this week at the GM Tech center, Didarul Sarder was working as a parking lot valet supervisor. During his shift, he witnessed a woman being stabbed by another woman just outside of the main entrance of the central office building. The victim pleaded with bystanders to come help her, and Sarder jumped into action. He unholstered his weapon, disarmed the attacker, and ended the attack without firing a shot. The attacker is reportedly in custody and suffers from an undisclosed mental illness. Sarder was originally escorted off the property and told not to return, but higher ups at GM reinstated him, despite the company’s no gun policy.
In more good guy news, police in the Philadelphia area are crediting a vigilant gun-owner with saving the life of a cop. Around 3 p.m. every weekday, six to eight township police officers patrol the Upper Darby high school area. While most days are quiet, on Friday, 3 fights broke out, resulting in eight teens charged with crimes and two officers severely injured. One officer breaking up the fight was attacked. 40 to 50 kids were surrounding the officer. A local man came out of his house with his licensed gun and told the kids to back off the officer. He did not brandish his weapon or point it at the kids, but he held them at bay until backup arrived. Both officers currently at the scene were badly injured, but lives preserved by the good guy with the gun.
The leading opponents of Connecticut’s sweeping, post-Newtown gun laws appealed the state’s assault-weapons ban to the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, arguing that semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 are widely popular and well suited for home defense. The current state law infringes upon rights guaranteed by both state and federal constitution, said Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizen’s Defense League. Justices will hear the petition and decide whether to take the case. The court is not likely to hear the case according to experts, especially given the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court’s leading conservative. Even Scalia wrote that Second Amendment rights are “not unlimited,” and he was perhaps the staunchest defender of the Second Amendment.
Finally, it’s been a month and a half since the kickoff of open carry in Texas. Law enforcement, by and large, has had very little to report, and indeed it seems that this far, the controversy surrounding the law has been much ado about a whole lot of nothing. 75 percent of police chiefs expressed concern about the law, but those polled have had, thus far, almost nothing to do. An estimated 3.4 percent of the state’s 27 million residents have any sort of firearm license. In conclusion: so far, so good!