Gun Owner Defends SA Pharmacy

Concealed carry strikes once again! Law-abiding tax-paying business owners using gun leads to the killing of an armed robber during a pharmacy holdup:

The stranger who had been loitering in the parking lot had walked into the pharmacy carrying a black revolver and a note demanding the narcotic drug OxyContin and some money, according to authorities.

Once inside, the gunman handed the note to a clerk behind the counter, Police Chief William McManus said. The clerk was one of three people inside the pharmacy at the time of the robbery attempt. The others were the pharmacy owner, 62-year-old Bill Wynn, and his wife.

The details about what happened next are unclear, but McManus said the clerk was able to inform the pharmacy owner of the attempted robbery. Wynn, who had been robbed before, somehow managed to arm himself with a gun.

That's when McManus said the robber uttered his last words: “Let's get it on.”

Police said Wynn reacted quickly, shooting the gunman in the chest.

“I was scared to death,” Wynn later said, declining to comment further.

Police arrived to find the gunman, whose identity wasn't released Wednesday, lying on his back in a pool of blood. In his right hand was a cocked revolver.

McManus said Wynn wouldn't face any charges in connection with the shooting. “He was in fear (for) his life,” the chief said. “He has a right and state law allows him to defend himself.”

Would-be robbers take note:

Wynn's wife said it's not uncommon for pharmacists to keep guns.

“A lot of pharmacies do, but we carry one because we have been robbed before,” she said without elaborating.

One of their employees, Maria Martinez, said it's been years since the pharmacy last was robbed.

And I think the pharmacy will remain quite safe for years to come.

Harris County Releases Illegal Immigrants

According to a story by the Associated Press, thousands of illegal immigrants were released from Houston jails this past week.

Many of these people were charged with minor charges, but 177 of the inmates were arrested for felony assault charges, rape, child molestation, and homicide charges. While the percentage of those committing major felonies is small, the fact that the felonies were committed at all is a travesty. Over 3,500 of the inmates released told jailers they were in the United States illegally.

The reason these criminals were released was because ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) did not file the paperwork to detain, prosecute, and deport the criminals.

While many of us will disagree on the the immigration debate, we must all look out for the welfare of our citizens. Most of the immigrants who come to the United States are here to seek jobs and to pursue the American Dream. There are others who come here and commit heinous crimes against American citizens. These heinous crimes cannot be tolerated.

When dangerous felons are released from prison due to the inability of the prosecutor to file the necessary paperwork, we have a problem. How many more lives will be affected by these dangerous criminals who are in our country illegally before we begin to seriously address the illegal immigration problem? How many repeat assaults will we tolerate before ICE deports these criminals?

Supreme Court Upholds Texas Sovereignty

Supreme Court sides with Texas, in a dispute where the World Court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row around the United States violated the 1963 Vienna Convention, which provides that people arrested abroad should have access to their home country's consular officials. The Bush administration was seeking to get the courts to go along with this ruling.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said the international court decision cannot be forced upon the states. SCOTUSblog via Michelle Malkin says:

"The Supreme Court, in a sweeping rejection of claims of power in the presidency, ruled 6-3 on Tuesday that the President does not have the authority to order states to relax their criminal procedures to obey a ruling of the World Court. The decision came in the case of Medellin v. Texas (06-984). Neither a World Court decision requiring U.S. states to provide new review of criminal cases involving foreign nationals, nor a memo by President Bush seeking to enforce the World Court ruling, preempts state law restrictions on challenges to convictions, the Court said in a ruling written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

The decision, aside from its rebuff of presidential power, also treats the World Court ruling itself as not binding on U.S. states, when it contradicts those states’ criminal procedure rules. The international treaty at issue in this dispute — the Vienna Convention that gives foreign nationals accused of crime a right to meet with diplomats from their home country — is not enforceable as a matter of U.S. law, the Roberts opinion said. "

This is a good day for Texas and American sovereignty and for keeping American law unfettered by the internationalist busybodies.

PS. Those seeking an appeal for Medellin are asking for another chance for a brutal murderer (warning: graphic).

Commissioners Meet on Sheriff's ICE policy

The Travis County Sheriff helps the Federal authorities enforce the law, letting ICE authorities review immigration status of detained criminals so they can be deported. Sounds like a good idea. Who could be against that? ... Activists for illegal aliens express outrage: Will opponents of the Travis County sheriff’s decision to allow federal immigration agents full-time access in the county jail ask him to step down as a candidate for re-election?: "Cotera later told the American-Statesman that she knows of members of several community, civil rights and immigrant rights organizations who are interested in asking Sheriff Greg Hamilton to drop his bid for re-election. Cotera said they plan to meet first with the Travis County Democratic Party chair."

Sheriff Hamilton is being asked to explain his situation to the Commissioner's Court today. Let's hope they don't put the new policy on "ice" - (Note: On Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 1:45 p.m. the Travis County Commissioners Court has called Sheriff Hamilton to explain his actions concerning ICE Agents in the Jail. You are invited to be a part of that discussion as the ones against this will be present as well. Commissioners Court meets in the Granger Building, 314 West 11th Street.)

Austin, sanctuary city

The deadly consequences of bad illegal alien sanctuary policies are recounted here. Giving 'sanctuary' to criminal illegal aliens (they are the main beneficiaries of this policy) gets innocent people killed.

UPDATE:
Heather MacDonald on the consequences. See also NRO:“in Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens. ... The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 15 percent to 20 percent of illegal aliens wouldn’t qualify for amnesty based on their criminal record ... A whopping 28 percent of Mexican-American males between the ages of 18 and 24 reported having been arrested since 1995, and 20 percent reported having been incarcerated — a rate twice that of other immigrant groups.”

Sanctuary leaves the local PD unable to deal properly with crime in our midst.

Brown v Austin PD

Armed suspect was shot and killed while being chased by Austin police, and now Austin Statesman reports he was shot in the back. An enlightening 16 pages of reader comments on the article. A bad enough situation becomes a powderkeg because of the racial aspect - white cop kills black suspect. City Council deos a collective "Ruh Roh" and they are treating the case "as a homocide".