Dan Haar of Connecticut’s The  Courant newspaper points out, “No one has anything close to definitive figures, but the  most conservative estimates place the number of unregistered  assault weapons well above 50,000, and perhaps as high as  350,000.  And that means as of Jan. 1, Connecticut has very likely  created tens of thousands of newly minted criminals — perhaps  100,000 people, almost certainly at least 20,000 — who have  broken no other laws.  By owning unregistered guns defined as  assault weapons, all of them are committing Class D  felonies.”  More here…

BELLEVUE, WA – Thirty-four members of Congress including Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran have signed onto an amicus curiae brief in the Second Amendment Foundation’s case of Drake v. Jerejian, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether the Second Amendment secures the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense. Read more

GW: Gun grabbers always use this line: If we could save just one life, then [insert new gun law here] it would be worth it. How about more guns less crime. Witness the proof here.  Hat tip to John Lott for the link.

With her children asleep in the next room and her husband in Afghanistan, the Michigan woman grabbed her gun, rushed to the top of the stairs and drew a bead on the machete-wielding suspect.

No matter what some people would say, being a victim isn’t noble or morally superior to being a capable survivor. Predators who select victims based on the expected inability to resist, often desist when even a small number of the expected easy marks give them trouble. For example, where even a few women are known to be armed, all women benefit from the reduction in attempted rapes and other violent crimes. That no external differences indicate which person is defenseless and which isn’t makes all of us safer. When a threat to your safety comes from a hostile human, it is unrealistic to expect that an assault would be postponed long enough to let you call for help … www.a-human-right.com

Percent distribution of incidents where police came to the victim, by police response time and type of crime. source: U.S. Dept of Justice, 2008. (most recent data available)

* Includes data on rape and sexual assault.