Nice Shooting - or - Ammo Is So Much Cheaper Than A Trial

This happened back in October and I missed the story. Cape Girardeau Woman Kills Man Who Returned To Rape Her A Second Time

An intended rape victim shot and killed her attacker this morning in Cape Girardeau when he broke into her home to rape her a second time, police said.

The 57-year-old woman shot Ronnie W. Preyer, 47, a registered sex offender, in the chest with a shotgun when he broke through her locked basement door.

The woman told police he was the same man who raped her several days earlier. Officials do not intend to seek charges against her.

Thank you ma'am.

Mr. Preyer, have a nice stay in Hell.

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Congress Overrides Stalling District

House Passes Rules Easing D.C. Gun Restriction

The House moved Wednesday to compel the nation's capital to broaden the rights of its residents to buy and own firearms, including semiautomatic weapons.

Critics, led by the District of Columbia's sole delegate to Congress, decried the action. They said the vote tramples on the District's rights to govern itself and could endanger both residents and political dignitaries who so often travel across the city.

But the National Rifle Association-backed bill passed easily, 266-152, with supporters saying they were determined to give D.C. residents the same Second Amendment right of self-defense that has been available to other Americans.

Many of those speaking for the bill in debate that went well into the night Tuesday were conservative Democrats from rural districts that strongly support gun rights. Eighty-five Democrats voted for the bill.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the (thankfully) non-voting blowhard who "represents" the District in Congress used the occasion of the bill to grandstand for a vote in the House, saying:

The House has the gall to ask for a vote to nullify the gun laws in my district, depriving my district of the right to protect itself and visitors like yourselves while denying me a vote on this floor on passage. Have you no shame?

I think we can all agree that Congress - Ms. Norton included - is shameless, but the Constitution is clear-cut on the governance of her district, specifically Article I, Section 8, Clause 17:

The Congress shall have Power...To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States...

That would be you Eleanor.

Norton wasn't the only D.C. elected official to express their displeasure at the bill. District of Columbia council member Carol Schwartz said: I ask Congress, leave us alone and let us do our job. To which I say, if you were doing your job in a correct and timely manner Congress wouldn't have felt the need to pass the bill.

In case you're interested, here's a good article that explains the history and status of the District of Columbia.

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WE Are The Well Regulated Militia

Supreme Court Says Americans Have Right To Guns

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense in their homes, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.

The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms restrictions intact.

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.

The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.

Praise be! Justice Kennedy was (finally) on the correct side of a ruling this term. We're safe again until Monday, October 6, 2008. Favorite parts: Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police." and ...whatever remains for “future evaluation” about the strength of the right, “it surely elevates above all other interests the right of law-abiding responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.”

You can find the PDF of the opinion at SCOTUSblog: What Congress did in drafting the Amendment, the Court said, was “to codify a pre-existing right, rather than to fashion a new one.”

Gabriel (apparently my new "go to guy" for legalish stuff) has more: The ruling: the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have firearms. The prefatory clause, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,”merely announces the amendment’s purpose, but does not affect the operative clause, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

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Liberal Hypocrisy Alert!

Texas Lawmaker Borris Miles wants to take away your guns. Not his guns. Your guns.

Well shades of Rosie O'Donnell. You know Rosie is vehemently anti-gun, yet has armed guards to protect herself and her family.

Remember the Liberal mantra: Do as we say, not as we do...

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