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NEW from THE TRACE: The Rittenhouse shootings started a debate in Kenosha that hasnt ended. Its been more than two years since Kyle Rittenhouse, responding to a call to arms by a former Kenosha alderperson, arrived in the small Wisconsin town with a semiautomatic rifle and killed two men and injured a third. He was acquitted of homicide and reckless endangerment charges last year but the jurys finding that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense only deepened locals concerns about the citys treatment of Black residents, repression by law enforcement, and the role of guns. As community members and leaders grapple with how to regulate firearms locally, the events of the summer of 2020, and the Rittenhouse shootings in particular, continue to define the conversation. Read the story by Isiah Holmes, published in partnership with the Wisconsin Examiner, in full here.

Another study notes increased violent crime in states that have relaxed concealed carry laws. The average rate of gun assaults rose nearly 10 percent over forecasted numbers in the decade after 34 states relaxed their concealed carry permitting requirements, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study also found a 24 percent increase associated with states that let people with violent misdemeanor convictions obtain a concealed carry permit. Context: This is the latest in a long line of studies linking less restrictive concealed carry laws with increases in violence.

Stand your ground law under scrutiny again as a Georgia man receives maximum sentence for a shooting he said was self-defense. On Tuesday, Marc Wilson, who is biracial, received the maximum sentence for his felony involuntary manslaughter conviction related to a June 2020 incident near Statesboro. Wilsons attorneys argued that he exercised his rights under Georgias stand your ground statute when he fired his legal handgun at a truck of white teenagers who he alleges were shouting racial slurs and trying to run his vehicle off the road, killing a 17-year-old girl in the back seat. The judge said the sentencing decision was colorblind, but Wilsons family disagrees. If you put me in Marcs shoes, theres no way that I wouldve been prosecuted, Wilsons cousin, who is white, said. Odds are I wouldve been given a medal probably gotten a parade in my name. Context: An investigation earlier this month from Reveal found that prosecutors have rejected stand your ground claims more frequently from people of color and women experiencing domestic violence, suggesting an unequal application of the law.

Washington, D.C., contests lawsuit pushing to allow guns on the Metro. The federal suit, DCist reports, was filed by three D.C. residents and one Virginia resident days after the Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine argued in a 44-page response that the citys public transit system is a sensitive place, in line with Justice Clarence Thomass majority opinion that jurisdictions would still be able to regulate gun bans in such spaces. Since the Bruen ruling, several lawsuits challenging D.C.s gun laws have been filed. Were tracking them, and efforts across the nation, here.

Columbia, South Carolina, now requires residents to report lost or stolen guns to police. A new ordinance, passed yesterday by the City Council, mandates that gun owners report missing firearms within 24 hours. In March, the council rolled back several gun regulations after the city faced a lawsuit by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and pressure from state lawmakers with close relationships to the National Rifle Association.

1,209 the number of kids under 18 who have been killed by guns so far in 2022. [Gun Violence Archive]

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The Militias Never Left Kenosha - The Trace

SIDNEY The case involving Sundays deadly shooting of a man believed to have forced his way into his former girlfriends home in Sidney is scheduled to be presented to a Shelby County grand jury this week to determine whether the shooter should be charged.

Sheriff James Frye said he expects the panel to dismiss the case because of Ohios new Stand Your Ground law that took effect in April 2021.

House Bill 38 repealed the law, which removed a persons legal duty to attempt to retreat or walk away before firing their gun in public. The law has been updated to keep the castle doctrine, which says a person does not have to retreat in their home or vehicle before firing their gun.

News Center 7, by way of an information request, obtained doorbell video footage of James Rayl seconds before he is hit by gunfire when he appears to force his way into the home in the 2900 block of North Kuther Road on July 31.

>> RELATED: Sidney man is shot and killed after breaking into home, sheriff says

Tuesday, News Center 7s Kayla McDermott reported that in the video, Rayl pounds on the door after he is asked to leave.

In the 911 audio recording of the incident, also obtained by News Center 7 by way of an information request, a woman, presumably Rayls former girlfriend, said, Hes trying the door dad . . . dad . . dad. Is he trying to kill me?

County sheriffs investigators said it is at that moment, Rayl broke the front door and began to go inside. Hes hit immediately by three gunshots.

In the same 911 call, the woman is heard to say, " Dad theres nothing you could have done. You saved my life.

>> 14-year-old shot and killed by his brother, 17, in accident, police say

A neighbor checked on the wounded Rayl -- when the woman inside refused a dispatchers request to do so -- and said he didnt see Rayl enter the home.

If he entered the house, why did he shoot through the door? the neighbor, Jeff Hereford, asked McDermott.

Hereford said he doesnt agree with his neighbors or the incident report on the shooting, claiming he saw everything as well as Rayl on the ground.

Another neighbor, Denesa Goings, told McDermott she believed the womans father had every right to fire a weapon.

Sheriff Frye said the county prosecutors office is to present the case a grand jury on Thursday.

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Shelby County sheriff expects no charges in deadly shooting because of Stand Your Ground law - WHIO

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Jeromiah Taylor is a Wichita-based writer merging contemplative Christianity with direct action.

Black lives are not symbols. Black lives are not theoretical. And yet, every few years the death of a Black person rises above anonymity to become a touchstone for national anxieties.

In subsequent months, protests seize metro areas, hashtags saturate social media platforms and empty performance plagues national politics. Yet after the initial outrage fades, as the quiet of complacency settles once more over the land, it appears that yet again nothing changed.

CJ Lofton was not an idea, not a poster child. He is not a martyr or the icon of a movement. He was a human being. A human being whose life ended at the hands of public employees.

Something must change.

At the heart of Loftons death lies Kansass untenable stand your ground statute. The law decrees that if a person reasonably believes deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves or another they are not obligated to retreat and are exempted from civil and criminal charges in the event of the attackers death.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennet cited the stand your ground statute in his decision to not prosecute the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center employees who restrained Lofton for more than 30 minutes while prone. That resulted in what Sedgwick County chief medical examiner Timothy Gorrill ruled Loftons homicide. According to Bennet, no prosecution would hold up in court as a result of the statute.

This ruling is one of several recent decisions in Kansas against prosecution of authorities. In 2018, Johnston County District Attorney Steve Howe cited stand your ground in his ruling against prosecuting the Overland Park police officer who fatally shot 17-year-old John Albers while he backed out of his driveway. Police responded to a call expressing concern that Albers was suicidal. In 2021, Bennet ruled against prosecuting a sheriffs officer who killed 51-year-old Debra Arbuckle in 2019 while she evaded police. Arbuckles expired license plate initiated the pursuit.

Following the public outrage at Lofton's death, Gov. Laura Kelly, the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple committed themselves to investigating the extent to which foster care and juvenile intake procedures were followed in Lofton's case and considering adjustments to procedures.

Following the public outrage at Loftons death, Gov. Laura Kelly, the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple committed themselves to investigating the extent to which foster care and juvenile intake procedures were followed in Loftons case and considering adjustments to procedures.

This narrowing of scope to the procedural function of state systems is a derailing tactic. While I affirm the importance of protecting youths in the system, Loftons status as a foster child was incidental to his death. It doesnt matter why the police are called. What matters is that all too often, when they are, somebody dies needlessly with no consequences.

The essential policy issue of Loftons tragic death is the near impossibility of prosecuting law enforcement within the confines of the stand your ground statute.

The few voices calling for a revisit of the statute are largely Republican lawmakers, many of whom were involved in drafting the original measure. House Speaker Ron Ryckman indicated a House committee designed to examine the impact of the statute was a priority of the legislative session. However, no action occurred on the phrasing or execution of the statute.

The fact remains that Kansass stand your ground policy is an untenable skirting of basic civil rights. At its core, the statute provides a legal way for law enforcement to bypass due process.

Every community member deserves access to the full extent of the law to defend themselves against criminal or civil charges. Death must never preclude justice. As evidenced by the cited invocations of stand your ground, even community members who were quite literally fleeing their ground are legally executed without due process, leaving their survivors and advocates without a legal avenue to prosecute the deceaseds killers.

Conceptually, stand your ground relies on a blatant preference for the experience, perspective, and claims of authorities. To believe oneself threatened, regardless of any documented circumstances, cannot be a credible defense against causing bodily harm. It is not a credible defense for four adults to claim fear of death or injury at the hands of an unarmed, restrained, 17-year-old with a BMI of 19.4.

If not repealed, Kansass stand your ground law must be overhauled. A clear and measurable criteria for reasonable belief and imminent death or great bodily harm must be outlined, legislated and enforced. Moreover, no statute must preclude civil or criminal charges in the event of a human death. When someone is killed, the victims survivors must have access to every available avenue of justice, no matter the circumstances of death.

Until then, the Kansas stand your ground statute functions as a state-sanctioned fail-safe to protect those who feel threatened by civilians.

I entreat Kansans to not let Lofton become just another hashtag, just another news cycle, the subject of another brief outrage. Lofton is lost alongside countless others. Our moral imperative consists of preventing the loss of any more human beings at the hands of law enforcement.

Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary,here.

Excerpt from:
Kansas cannot allow another death at the hand of authorities to go without notice and action - Kansas Reflector

A former city commissioner in Lakeland, Fla., was sentenced Monday to three years in prison after he admitted to fatally shooting a man he suspected of stealing a hatchet from his shop in 2018.

The former commissioner, Michael Dunn, 51, pleaded guilty in March to a charge of manslaughter with a firearm, according to Polk County court records. In addition to the prison term, Polk County Judge Donald G. Jacobsen sentenced Mr. Dunn to 10 years of probation and 200 hours of community service.

In October 2018, Mr. Dunn was working at the Army-Navy surplus store he co-owned in Lakeland, which is about 35 miles east of Tampa, when he saw the man, Christobal Lopez, 50, conceal a hatchet, the Lakeland Police Department said at the time.

Mr. Dunn stopped Mr. Lopez, a transient who had entered the store with his father, and asked him if he was going to pay for the item, the police said. As Mr. Lopez tried to leave the store, Mr. Dunn pulled Mr. Lopezs sleeve and shot him.

Mr. Lopez died at the scene.

Mr. Dunns initial charge of second-degree murder was downgraded to manslaughter after he took the plea deal, according to court records. He resigned from his post as an elected city commissioner a few days after he was indicted in 2018.

At a sentencing hearing on Monday, Mr. Dunn told Judge Jacobsen that his reaction to seeing Mr. Lopez take the hatchet was based on fear, and that he was almost in autopilot. He also apologized to Mr. Lopezs family.

If I had a time machine, thats what I would want: To have never seen Mr. Lopez, Mr. Dunn said.

Mark OMara, a lawyer representing Mr. Dunn, said during the hearing that his clients decision to shoot Mr. Lopez was not well thought-out, but also is not indicative of anger or animosity.

In March 2021, Brian Haas, the state attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit, rejected Mr. Dunns claim of self-defense. If Mr. Dunns claim had been accepted, he would have been protected by Floridas Stand Your Ground law, which makes it challenging to prosecute people who maintain that they felt threatened and acted to protect themselves.

Paul Wallace, an assistant state attorney, said at the hearing that the prosecutors believed Mr. Lopez was not trying to get into a violent confrontation.

The vast majority of shopkeepers do not attempt to use this type of intervention, Mr. Wallace said.

At the hearing, the prosecutors said that Mr. Dunn had confronted multiple shoplifters in his store, including someone he wrestled with who had a gun.

The prosecutors had asked Judge Jacobsen for a 17-and-a-half-year sentence, while Mr. Dunns lawyers had requested a 3-and-a-half-year sentence of community control, under which he could serve his sentence at home instead of in prison.

Mr. Dunns aunt, who was identified as M. Rodriguez, testified at the hearing that, after the shooting, Mr. Lopezs father was never the same.

He talked because he had to talk, he walked because he had to walk, but we would see him and it wasnt him, she said.

When Mr. Dunn was 19, he accidentally shot a man while he was practicing his aim with a pistol at his home, according to The Lakeland Ledger, a local newspaper. The man survived, and the Lakeland police called the shooting accidental and cleared Mr. Dunn of any wrongdoing.

In July 2018, Mr. Dunn hosted a rally at his store to counter a nearby March for Our Lives rally, which called for action against gun violence after 17 people were shot and killed at a South Florida high school, according to The Tampa Bay Times.

Link:
Ex-City Official in Florida Is Sentenced to 3 Years for Killing a Shoplifter - The New York Times

Delegates at the GOP state convention this weekend will consider resolutions that call for protecting those who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and requiring all Wisconsin elections to be conducted by hand-counted paper ballots.

One resolution proposes supporting U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson on COVID-19, praising the Oshkosh Republican for a panel discussion he hosted last year in which speakers largely expressed skepticism about the vaccine.

Johnson has regularly been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19. A Marquette University Law School Poll in February found 31 percent of Wisconsin voters trust a great deal or a fair amount of what the U.S. senator says about the coronavirus and treatments. Sixty-one percent said they dont trust what he says on the topic much or at all.

The package of resolutions, obtained by WisPolitics.com, run the gamut of conservative causes from universal school choice to calling for Wisconsin to pass a stand your ground law. Those laws allow the use of deadly force in public and state that someone who is attacked has no duty to retreat.

The resolutions originated at the local party level before being screened by a state party committee. Theyre scheduled to be voted on Saturday during convention proceedings in Middleton. Party activists can submit additional resolutions ahead of the floor debate.

The resolutions related to election administration include one that calls for firing Wisconsin Elections Commission staff and reorganizing the agency to be truly fair and honest. Another calls for dissolving the agency and putting the Legislature in charge of election administration.

The agency has been targeted by Republicans for criticism over the guidance it provided local clerks ahead of the 2020 election.

The resolution calling for the use of paper ballots claims recent elections have cast doubt on accuracy in the use of electronic vote tabulation. The Legislative Audit Bureaus review of the 2020 election found electronic voting equipment accurately counted the results in the presidential race.

The resolutions that touch on COVID-19 include one calling for banning mandatory vaccinations. It also calls for an investigation into deaths in Wisconsin hospitals where instead of allowing proven and safe alternative treatments such as Ivermectin to be administered dangerous experimental drugs are being used. Randomized controlled trials have yet to find a beneficial use of ivermectin in treating COVID-19.

The resolution calling for a ban on mandatory vaccinations doesnt differentiate between those for COVID-19 and other diseases. Wisconsin law currently requires students to show they have received required vaccinations against diseases such as polio or have a waiver to attend school.

Other COVID-related resolutions argue national, state and local authorities have no authority to mandate disease mitigations such as masks or vaccinations. Another states, no person or agency can fully understand the complexity of the human body or all of the relationships and interrelationships that comprise public health. It calls public health or environmental emergency orders acts of insurrection against the letter and spirit of our free republic and shall be ignored or deemed advisory only.

Other resolutions would:

*condemn critical race theory and call on the Legislature and local school boards to prohibit its teaching at the elementary, middle and high school levels as well as banning public universities and tech colleges from compelling students to adhere to its tenets.

*call for legislation to ban physical treatments for minors who want to transition their gender. It also calls for legislation to preserve womens and girls sports for biological females. Legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in high school and college sports passed the Assembly this session but wasnt taken up by the Senate.

See the proposed resolutions.

See the rest here:
GOP resolutions call for hand counting paper ballots, praising Johnson on COVID-19 - WisPolitics.com