Outrage of the Week: Student's Self-Defense Leads to University Disciplinary Action

This week's outrage comes to us from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. There, two students living in an off-campus, university-owned apartment were put on probation for the "infraction" of displaying a legally-owned firearm to thwart a home invasion by a convicted felon.

According to a CNN article, on the night of October 24, students Erik Fagan and Daniel McIntosh were in their apartment when there was a knock on the door. Fagan told CNN affiliate KXLY in Spokane that he opened the door and a stranger, who said he'd just gotten out of jail, asked for $15. Fagan told KXLY he offered the man a blanket and a can of food, but "didn't feel comfortable" giving the man money because he was a stranger.

"My gut instinct was telling me I wasn't going to be able to get that door closed before he came through," Fagan said.

As the man started coming through the door, Fagan said he yelled for his roommate, McIntosh. McIntosh said he came to the door holding his pistol. When the man saw the gun, the students say he turned and ran away.

The story notes that all university housing is patrolled at regular intervals by campus security, but this particular apartment complex isn't gated, and secured key cards or codes are not required for entrance.

The students called 911 and campus security. A short time later, police captured the suspect, whom they identified as a six-time convicted felon with an outstanding Department of Corrections warrant.

If the story ended here, we'd have yet another example of how a firearm was successfully used for self-defense against a dangerous criminal without the firing of a shot. But the story continues.

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Poll Finds Americans Skeptical of So-called Smart Guns

"Smart Guns" is a made-up term for a conceptual firearm that incorporates technology that theoretically permits the gun to be fired only by the authorized user. Failed attempts to develop and market "smart guns" have been going on for years.

This week, the National Shooting Sports Foundation released the results of a poll, which showed, by a wide majority, that Americans are skeptical of the reliability of "smart gun" technology. The poll also revealed that Americans overwhelmingly say that they would not be likely to buy a so-called smart gun and would oppose any government mandate requiring the use of this technology should it become available.

Signs of Life in the Free Market as Americans Vote with Their Dollars

You can tell an awful lot about how people view freedom by how they freely spend their money.

Out of a country of well over 300 million people, a whopping 100,000 or so signed up for medical insurance using the federal and state-based marketplaces required by President Obama's signature law, formally dubbed the "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," but more commonly referred to as "Obamacare." And that figure reportedly includes a lot of people whose perfectly satisfactory medical plans were cancelled as a result of the federal act, and who thus signed up for Obamacare against their will.

Meanwhile, because Americans are still allowed to spend their money they way they see fit in other aspects of life, a far greater number of them invested in a different form of insurance, one which also would be cancelled if President Obama had his way.

Anti-gun Bias Drives Cars-n-Guns Rant

A Bloomberg news article several weeks ago pushed one of the ideas present among the 23 "gun violence reduction executive actions" President Obama issued earlier this year.

The executive action called for "the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies." For several decades, anti-gun activists have hoped to subject the manufacture of firearms to the regulatory authority of the BATFE or Consumer Products Safety Commission, with the intent that those agencies would impose "safety"-related manufacturing requirements that no firearm manufacturer could meet, without the resulting firearm costing more than consumers would be capable of paying.

The Bloomberg article argued that deaths due to motor vehicle accidents had decreased over the years, and that because there are almost as many deaths involving firearms as ones due to vehicle accidents, firearms should possess fingerprint scanners to prevent their use by unauthorized individuals.

NRA Country Lyrics Contest

Enter the NRA Country lyrics contest for a chance to win a trip for two to Nashville to meet Thomas Rhett!

Finish the chorus to Thomas Rhett's hit song, "It Goes Like This." Submit your lyrics, as long or as short as you'd like, here: https://apps.facebook.com/itgoeslike/. You have until Friday, November 22 to enter.

Thomas will choose 10 finalists, NRA Country fans will vote on their favorite, and the winner will receive a trip for two to Nashville to meet Thomas Rhett.

Be sure to visit NRA Country's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nracountry for more information!