Defense Articles

A 30-year-old man was charged in 3rd District Court on Monday with carrying a gun without a permit after he bought a loaf of bread last week and a bakery worker saw the gun partially tucked inside his pants.

The worker at La Diana bakery, 56 S. 900 West, called police. When they arrived, the man ran and hid in a nearby alley, even after being told to stop, according to court documents.

Officers tackled the man, and a .44-caliber pistol was found about 50 feet away. Police say the man said he purchased the gun for $20 at the homeless shelter. He also said he was in the U.S. illegally, police said.
The man was charged with possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony, and failure to stop at the command of an officer, a class A misdemeanor. He is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on $5,000 bail.

Licensee Responsibilities

A recent incident involving a Federal Firearms Licensee making sales of a large number of handguns to an individual who subsequently diverted these firearms to criminal use, highlighted the need for a higher level of licensee responsibility. This licensee felt that the completion of the 4473 and multiple purchase forms fulfilled his responsibility as a dealer and “the less he knew, the better” regarding what was being done with the firearms once they left his premises.

Licensees must remember that their Federal Firearms License is a privilege, not a right, and that privileges can be taken away for irresponsible action on their part.

Being licensed as a dealer does not require an FFL holder to make a sale to any customer who comes into their store. With the proliferation of civil suits today, a licensed dealer would be well advised to use good judgement in making any sale of a firearm. It would be much easier and far less expensive to defend yourself for not selling a firearm to someone who you felt should not have a firearm, than defending yourself in a wrongful death suit for negligently selling a firearm to someone you should not have made the sale to.

In instances where you have either made a sale to an individual and then had cause to wonder about the sale or had someone attempt to make a purchase where you declined to make the sale, notify your local ATF office.

Hunting season begins in many areas around the country this month. In Air Combat Command for Fiscal Year 2002, three people were injured in hunting related or firearm activities. To be safe during this time, the Ten Commandments of Firearms Safety should be reviewed and etched into everyone’s memory forever. Let the following safety practices govern your actions wherever and whenever you’re involved with firearms: in the woods, on the range, or in your home.

I. Don’t rely on your gun’s safety.

Treat every gun as if it can fire at any time, whether or not there’s pressure on the trigger.

Your firearm has been carefully designed to maximize performance and safety. However; a gun’s safety is a mechanical device and, like any mechanical device, it could fail.

Human error is a more likely reason for a gun safety to fail. By mistake, you may think the safety is on when it really isn’t; or the safety may have been disengaged without your knowledge; or you could think your gun is unloaded when there’s actually a cartridge or shell in it. A gun’s safety is not a substitute for common sense. It’s merely a supplement to your proper handling of a firearm.

Don’t touch the trigger on a firearm until you are ready to shoot. Keep your fingers away from the trigger when you’re loading or unloading. Don’t pull the trigger when the safety is engaged or positioned anywhere between safe and fire.

Read your instruction manual to understand the exact location and operation of your firearm’s safety. Even when the safety is on, maintain control of your loaded firearm and control the direction of the muzzle. In other words, don’t rely on your safety to justify careless handling. If your firearm’s internal mechanisms are broken or have been altered, your firearm may fire even when the safety is on. Remember; you and your safe gun handling practices are your gun’s best safety.

II. Firearms should be unloaded when not in use.

Load your firearm only when you’re in the field or on the target range and ready to fire. Never let a loaded gun out of your sight or out of your hands. Unload it as soon as you’re finished shooting — before you bring it into your car; camp, or home. Remember; unloading your firearm means unloading it completely, so there is no ammunition in the chamber or in the magazine.

Before handling a firearm or passing it to someone else, visually check the chamber; receiver; and magazine to be certain they do not contain ammunition. Always keep the gun’s action open when not in use. Never assume a gun is unloaded even if you were the last person to use it. Always check for yourself.

Let common sense rule when you carry a loaded gun. If you’re in any situation that could risk accidental discharge — such as crossing a fence, wading through a stream, or climbing a tree — always unload your gun. Never pull or push a loaded firearm toward yourself or another person. Never carry a loaded gun in a scabbard, detached holster; or gun case.

III. Use proper ammunition.

Every firearm is designed to use a certain caliber or gauge of ammunition. Using the wrong ammunition, mixing ammunition, or using improperly reloaded ammunition can cause serious personal injury or death. It only takes one cartridge or shell, of the incorrect caliber or gauge or a shell that has been improperly reloaded, to destroy your firearm.

As a gun owner, it’s your responsibility to make sure the ammunition you use exactly matches the caliber or gauge of your gun. Refer to the instruction manual to find out the specific requirements of your firearm. Always read and heed the instructions on ammunition boxes. Confusing shells or cartridges can cause serious personal injury or death and destroy your firearm. Examine your shells and cartridges closely and use only the precise caliber or gauge for your specific firearm.

For example, suppose you accidentally loaded a 20-gauge shell into a 12-gauge shotgun. Because the 20-gauge shell is too small for the chamber, the 20-gauge shell could travel down the barrel and get lodged in the bore. If you then load a standard 12-gauge shell behind it and fire, the 12-gauge shot will slam into the lodged 20-gauge shell and may cause the barrel to explode right in your hands. This is commonly called a 12/20 burst, and it can kill you.

IV. Learn the mechanical and handling characteristics of the firearm you are using.

Not all guns are alike. They have different mechanical characteristics that dictate how you should carry and handle them. Anyone who plans to use a fire arm should first become totally familiar with the type of firearm it is and the safe handling procedures for its loading, unloading, carrying, shooting, and storing.

Before you even unpack a firearm, read the instruction manual from cover to cover and familiarize yourself with the different component parts of the gun. Then read, understand, and follow the commandments of safety.

A man who police arrested after a dramatic chase last week now faces a federal charge.

Christopher Kim Leech appeared in U.S. District Court Monday morning after a federal charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was filed against him on Friday.

Leech, 28, was wanted in connection with a March 15 road rage incident in which police say he fired several rounds at another vehicle while his wife and two young children were with him. A warrant for his arrest on attempted murder was issued in state court.

Police say they received a tip that Leech was at a residence in Ogden. Leech fled from police Thursday and lead officers on a brief chase in Riverdale where police cars boxed him in. Leech was Tasered by an officer when he was seen reaching into his pants.

According to the complaint filed in federal court, police later found a .22-caliber handgun in Leech’s right front pocket with a fully loaded 15-round magazine. Another 15-round magazine was also found in an accessory pants pocket.

On Monday, Leech was provided the copy of the charge against him. He faces a maximum of up to 10 years in federal prison. Federal prosecutors pointed out that Leech has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for assault, riot, theft and possession of stolen property.

Prosecutors say they will seek a grand jury indictment as early as Wednesday and are seeking to have Leech detained pending trial.

Circuit Court

A man hired to fix the roof on a Mukwonago couple’s house cleaned out their gun cabinet while he was on the job, a criminal complaint says.

Chad A. Stechauner, 28, 317 N. Rochester St., Mukwonago, has been charged with burglary for stealing 10 firearms from the Town of Mukwonago home last July, according to the complaint, filed Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Stechauner told police he went into the house for a drink of water and once inside, “he could not say why, but he started to look around the house . . . he stated the whole incident was rather blurry.”

Stechauner said he had been drinking heavily and was not sure why he had taken the guns.

The National Firearms Museum, based in Virginia and sponsored by the National Rifle Association, displays 2,000 firearms in 85 exhibits in 14 galleries. The 15,000-square-foot museum is divided into interests and eras. Of particular interest to veterans are the sections on America’s wars: Revolutionary, 1812, Texas Independence, Mexican, Civil, Indian, Spanish-American, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Persian Gulf.

As NRA National Firearms Museum Assistant Curator Karin Johnston put it, “It’s an American history lesson here, regardless of your feelings about firearms.”

Indeed it is. So see “freedom’s firearms”–the weapons that won and assured our nation’s independence from 1607 to 1991–firsthand.

The War of 1812 is well-represented by an assortment of muskets and flintlock pistols manufactured at the Harpers Ferry Armory.

Flintlocks from the Revolutionary War (1775-1782) surround portraits of founding fathers Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington (America’s foremost veteran).

Australian soldiers and Doughboys of the U.S. 27th Infantry Division served together in France’s trenches during 1917-18. Various WWI machine guns and rifles are displayed in this front-line scene.

A mannequin of a black “Buffalo Soldier,” different hunting rifles and weapons and cavalry accoutrements round out the exhibit on the Western frontier. Arms there were a part of daily life.

GIs of the 116th Inf. Regt., 29th Div., are positioned at a command post along Omaha Beach in June 1944. They are examining a store of captured German weapons and equipment.

Background. Firearm injuries are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Evidence suggests that availability of guns in the home is associated with an increased risk of homicide, suicide, and unintentional injuries and fatalities. Our study examined five demographically diverse primary care practices in Oregon to determine the extent to which patients and members of their households might be at risk for firearm injuries.

Methods. Six hundred and four consecutive English-speaking patients who were at least 18 years old and seeking care at the five different practices were surveyed. Participants were asked about the presence of firearms in the home, methods of storage, history of firearm safety training, and history of firearm counseling by their physicians.

Forty-two percent of respondents reported having at least one firearm in the home. In homes with firearms, 48% contained at least one firearm that was stored unlocked, and 26% contained at least one firearm stored loaded. Twenty percent of homes with children contained at least one unlocked firearm, and 10% contained a loaded firearm. Forty-seven percent of those homes with both children and firearms had at least one gun that was stored unlocked, and 26% contained at least one loaded firearm. Those who reported having had formal firearm safety training were no more likely to store their firearms safely than those without such training. Only 3% of respondents reported that their physician had ever talked with them about gun safety.

Conclusions. Our data indicate that a substantial number of patients cared for by primary care physicians are at risk for firearm injuries.

Key words. Firearms; primary health care; accident prevention; safety. (J Fam Pract 1995; 41:158-162)

In 1992, firearm injury resulted in 37,776 deaths in the United States, making it the eighth leading cause of death.(1) It is estimated that for every firearm fatality, there are 2.6 nonfatal firearm injuries.(2) The economic cost of firearm injuries in 1990 was calculated to be $20.4 billion, and the cost per firearm fatality is higher than that associated with any of the four leading causes of death.(3)

In recent years, violence and firearm-related injury and death have become increasingly recognized as public health problems.(4)(5) Accordingly, reports describing firearm ownership and safety practices have begun to emerge in the medical literature.(6)(7) Although most of these studies have focused on adolescent populations or families with children, firearms present a potential danger to all persons regardless of age.

Evidence suggests that availability of guns in the home is associated with an increased risk of homicide, suicide, and unintentional injuries and fatalities.(8)(9)(10)(11) It is estimated that there are over 200 million firearms in civilian hands and that firearms are present in almost one half of all US homes.(12)(13) A national survey of gun owners revealed that more than one third stored their gunds loaded, and 53% did not store their firearms under lock.(12)

Primary care physicians are expected to routinely counsel their patients about lifestyle issues and health behaviors, but little is known about physicians’ attitudes and practices concerning counseling on firearm injury prevention. Many physicians are unaware of which patients in their practices are at risk for firearm injuries. A study of Maryland pediatricians revealed that only 10% reported counseling at least one fourth of the families in their practices about firearm hazards.(14) Many of these physicians believed that their patients were not at risk for fiearm injuries.

The purpose of our study was to examine five demographically diverse primary care practices in Oregon to determine the extent to which patients and members of their households might be at risk for firearm injuries and to assess whether these patients received counseling on firearm injury prevention from their physicians.

Methods

Physicians at five different primary care offices in Oregon were contacted regarding participation in a study of their patients’ firearm ownership and safety practices. This was a convenience sample chosen to represent a variety of practice styles and geographic and socioeconomic services areas in Oregon. Each one of the primary care offices contacted agreed to participate. The group included (1) a university-based family practice center in an urban area (referred to as “university”), (2) a multiphysician family practice office in a suburban neighborhood (”suburban”), (3) a county health department primary care clinic in an urban area (”health department”), (4) a solo private practice in a rural area (”rural–solo”), and (5) a multiphysician, rural family practice office 200 miles from the other rural locale (”rural–group”).

Six hundred four consecutive English-speaking patients who were at least 18 years old and seeking care at the five practices were surveyed. Each potential subject was approached by the same research assistant, informed that the office was participating in a project on firearm safety, and asked to privately complete an 11-question survey instrument. Potential subjects were informed that disclosed information would be kept confidential and were asked not to record any identifying information on the questionnaire. Participants were asked questions regarding the presence of firearms in the home, methods of storage, history of firearm safety training, history of firearm counseling by their physicians, and basic demographic information.(*)

The overall annual rates of nonfatal and fatal firearm-related injuries in the United States declined consistently from 1993 through 1997, according to a recent report. The annual nonfatal rate decreased by 40.8 percent, from 40.5 per 100,000 persons in 1993 to 24.0 per 100,000 persons in 1997. The annual mortality rate also declined by 21.1 percent, from 15.4 per 100,000 persons in 1993 to 12.1 per 100,000 persons in 1997. The report appears in the November 19, 1999 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

A firearm-related injury was defined as a penetrating injury or gunshot wound caused by a weapon that uses a powder charge to fire a projectile (e.g., handguns, rifles and shotguns). Data on nonfatal firearm-related injuries that were treated in the emergency departments of U.S. hospitals were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The declines in the rates of nonfatal and fatal firearm-related injury were generally consistent across all population subgroups. The decreases in the rates of nonfatal and fatal injury were similar in men and women. Declines in fatality rates in blacks and Hispanics were similar, and were both greater than the decline in non-Hispanic whites. In the rates of nonfatal injury, no consistent pattern was seen in the estimated decline across age groups, but in the rates of fatal injury, age and percentage change were inversely related.

To examine trends in the rates of nonfatal firearm-related injury, cases with unknown intent were allocated to one of three known categories: assault/legal intervention, intentionally self-inflicted and unintentional injury. Most of the nonfatal injuries occurred among men 15 to 44 years of age, were self-inflicted and were associated with hunting, target shooting and routine gun handling.

Numerous factors may have contributed to the decline in the rates of nonfatal and fatal assaultive firearm-related injury. These factors include: improvements in economic conditions; the aging of the population; the decline in the “crack” cocaine market; changes in legislation, sentencing guidelines and law-enforcement practices; and improvements associated with violence prevention programs.

The British Shooting Sports Council yesterday argued against a complete ban on the possession of firearms. And on the first day of the inquiry into the Dunblane shootings, it urged Lord Cullen not to dismiss the current gun laws out of hand as ineffective.

Speaking about the written evidence it had submitted to the inquiry, Patrick Johnson, secretary of the British Shooting Sports Council, said: “We have made a number of positive proposals to Lord Cullen for increasing public safety - largely through more effective practice of the systems and safeguards which already exist - without putting a complete ban on possession of firearms of one sort of another. The current laws and rules should not be dismissed out of hand as ineffective.”

“Lord Cullen has control of the proceedings and his hearings are about to begin,” Mr Johnson said. “It would be wrong of anyone to seek to influence the outcome by making public statements about gun control while his inquiry is in progress.”

Coinciding with the opening of the Cullen inquiry, a report by head teachers said yesterday that schools should install panic alarms, bright lighting, security barriers and prickly bushes to deter intruders. The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) will advise its members to review their policies for ensuring that pupils and teachers are safe.

Walls and fences should be low and topped with railings to prevent intruders from hiding behind them, and impenetrable bushes should be planted near them to make access more difficult, the association’s annual conference heard yesterday. Visitors should be directed through just one entrance and, if possible, the school office should overlook it so that everyone coming on to the site can be seen. Crisis policies should also cover the possibility of bomb threats, terrorism, natural disasters or a pupil or teacher being taken hostage.

Emergency procedures should be drawn up to include informing parents, bringing in counsellors where necessary and making staff aware of the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, the report says.

When a serious incident does occur, injured pupils and staff should be visited in hospital and, if someone has died, representatives of the school should attend the funeral. In such cases, a school should consider setting up a memorial or holding a special assembly. David Hart, NAHT general secretary, said that more funding was needed to improve school security.

A Minnesota city is putting the finishing touches on a proposal to make it illegal to carry realistic-looking toy guns in public. It’s the latest attempt nationwide to cope with dead-ringer weapons that have put police on edge. St. Paul Councilman Lee Helgen says recent incidents in which teenagers or criminals pointed replica weapons at police prompted the bill he plans to introduce as soon as city attorneys vet legal details.

The proposed ordinance would extend an existing ban on traditional BB guns to what are called airsoft weapons — fake firearms that shoot plastic pellets and are used in simulated military games similar to paintball. “These things are really hard to tell from a real weapon, and they are being used to commit crimes,” Helgen says. “We don’t want these things on the street.” Neither do officials elsewhere: *In Beaverton, Ore., police have confronted several teenagers wielding phony firearms. …