Photo: Cache County Jail

He doesn’t seem anything like Dr. Jack Kevorkian. That’s what a district judge thought. Now a Logan, Utah man will be doing time for giving a loaded gun to a young man he knew was suicidal.

48-year old David Thomas Schofield (pictured above) pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony. He was a felon from a 1997 conviction in Arizona for aggravated assault. Schofield also pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor. 1^st District Judge Kevin Allen sentenced him to one to 15 years in prison. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed not to pursue additional charges against Schofield.

Back in June, 20-year old Bradley Stewart Wenneberg has been battling depression and suicidal thoughts. He went to Schofield’s home in Logan, Utah seeking help. Court testimony says Schofield handed Wenneberg a loaded gun as he sat on the couch and told him, “’If you’re going to do it, then pull the (expletive) trigger.’”

Police say, Wenneberg took the .38-caliber handgun from Schofield. Then, in front of his girlfriend and best friend, Ben Mackey, he put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger killing himself.

Mackey told the judge, “I trusted him, and Bradley trusted him as well, and he handed him a loaded gun.” “Your actions caused the death of a troubled but innocent man,” 1st District Judge Kevin Allen told Schofield. “I can’t even imagine what was going through your mind,” said Judge Allen.

Schofield pleaded for probation. He said, “It was a bad judgment call due to a bad week prior, and it just kept building and building.” He said he was clouded by his own mental struggles and made a mistake.

Police say Schofield originally told them while he was using the restroom, Wenneberg took his gun from a bedroom and shot himself. The witnesses reported a much different account of the shooting insisting Schofield urged their friend to pull the trigger.

The judge said, “Mr. Schofield, you and you alone are the reason that young man died that night, and you and you alone are the reason you will be spending up to 15 years in prison.” He also ordered Schofield to pay $7,500 in funeral expenses to the victim’s family, plus ongoing counseling expenses for the parents, as well as the two friends who were witnesses of the shooting.

Brad Wenneberg, Sr., the young man’s father pushed for the maximum sentence saying to Schofield in the courtroom, “You gave him a gun. How stupid can you be, dude? You took my kid from me.”

The expected recoil didn’t take long. The city of Seattle was sued today by a team of gun groups over its recently passed adoption of what was called a “gun violence tax.”

The complaint was filed today in the King County Superior Court. The pro-gun rights groups behind the legal action were the Second Amendment Foundation of Bellevue, Washington, the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, plus a pair of gun owners and gun shops.

Collectively they argue the local ordinance for the gun violence tax is legally unenforceable because the state of Washington statutes prohibit local governments from adopting firearm laws unless they are specifically authorized by the state.

The lawsuit said, “The ordinance serves only as a piece of propaganda, because the ordinance’s mandates are legally unenforceable. The state of Washington has the exclusive right to regulate the sale of firearms in Washington, and cities may not enact local laws or regulations related to the sale of firearms.”

Alan Gottlieb, Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation added in a press release, “The city does not seem to understand that no matter how they wrap this package, it’s still a gun control law and it violates Washington’s long-standing pre-emption statute.”

Seattle City Council president Tim Burgess proposed the gun violence tax and led the push for its approval which happened unanimously earlier this month. He said today,”We took a simple and commonsense measure to support gun safety research and prevention methods. It’s not in any way an attempt to regulate the sale, use or possession of firearms.” Pete Holmes, Seattle City Attorney has argued the recently approved gun-violence tax falls squarely under Seattle’s taxing authority.

Seattle modeled its gun violence tax on the efforts of Chicago’s Cook County, Illinois. It calls for adding a $25 tax on top of the sale of every firearm. Plus, it would tack on another 2 or 5 cents on every round of ammunition. The gun violence tax would begin in January 2016. Revenues collected would be used for assorted gun violence prevention programs as well as gun safety research.

The estimated $300,000 to $500,000 in annual tax revenues collected from the sales of firearms and ammunition were designed to compensate the city of Seattle for the financial toll taken from gun violence. Another measure approved at the same time requires gun owners to file reports if their firearms are lost are stolen.

Photo: ABC News

“He didn’t stand a chance.” Often when a Jihadist gunman is involved, that statement would be made about a victim. This time was much better. Those words were spoken by Anthony Sadler, one of three being hailed as American heroes today. He was talking about the Islamic terrorist he and his two buddies derailed on a train bound for Paris from Amsterdam.

The gunman is a 25-year old Moroccan national. He has been identified as Ayoub El Khazzani. Counter-terrorism authorities in France and Spain knew of him. The French say he had been living in Spain until last year when he went to Syria “due to his membership of the radical Islamist movement.”

Here is how the scene played out.

The French operated Thalys high-speed train has just passed from Belgium into Northern France. A 28-year old French passenger was first to notice the suspect as the gunman left a toilet cubicle. He was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, a Luger automatic pistol, multiple magazines, and a box-cutter. Ayoub El Khazzani got away and opened fire on board.

The next heroic act came from a Franco-American passenger in his 50s. He tried to stop the Islamic extremist and was shot in the shoulder.

Then came the main event. A pair of off-duty U.S. Military heroes and their American friend overpowered the gunman.

22-year old Alex Skarlatos had recently returned from serving our country in Afghanistan. He is a member of the National Guard in Oregon. Skarlatos said, “I didn’t realize what was happening until I saw a guard run past. I looked back and saw a guy enter with a Kalashnikov. My friends and I got down and then I said ‘Let’s get him.'”

The group may have caught a lucky break in that the gunman’s firearm may have jammed. Adds Skarlatos, “We didn’t know if the gun wasn’t working or anything like that. Spencer just ran anyway and if anyone had gotten shot, it would have been Spencer and we’re just very lucky that nobody got killed.”

Spencer Stone, a member of the United States Air Force bull rushed the gunman and put him in a chokehold. He was cut in the neck and hand by a box cutter. A surgery was successful to prevent him from losing his thumb.

Skarlatos finished the job. “At that point I showed up and grabbed the gun from him and basically started beating him in the head until he fell unconscious.” Sadler says, “He didn’t say anything. He was just telling us to give back his gun. ‘Give me back my gun! Give me back my gun!’ But we just carried on beating him up and immobilized him and that was it.”

Khazzani was hog tied with his hands and feet behind his back. Bare-chested, he was arrested when the train stopped at the Arras station in Northern France with 554 passengers aboard. He is now being interrogated by counter-terrorism officials.

President Barack Obama singled out the American heroes saying, “It is clear that their heroic actions may hve prevented a far worse tragedy. Without their cool-headed actions we could have been faced with a terrible incident.”

On Monday at the Elysse Palace, French President Francois Hollande will honor the American heroes and a British man for their heroics on the train. Thanks to all of them for their bravery. Hopefully, they will serve as inspiration to others to stand together and take action in self-defense.

The Detroit Pistons basketball team may need to change its name to the Detroit Pistols. That’s if the law-abiding citizens keep exercising their legal right to bear Arms, and answering one of their local leader’s Call to Arms.

In a city with more than its fair share of problems, there were more than 1,600 gun crimes in the first five months of 2015. That’s an average of more than 10 gun crimes being committed in Detroit every single day.

To combat the violence by gun carrying criminals, every single day more and more of the responsible people of the motor city are revving up their own power by legally carrying guns for self-defense.

It seems the people of Detroit are sick of being victims of rapes and the robberies. They’re tired of being victims of carjackings and home invasions. They want the drugs off their streets. They want the thugs off their streets, too, whether it’s by way of jail or the morgue.

Detroit Police Chief is Cool with Citizens Packing Heat

Detroit Police Chief James Craig is different. Chief Craig is not only okay with the good people of the city exercising their Second Amendment rights, he is a promoter of it. “When you look at the city of Detroit,” says Craig. “We’re kind of leading the way in terms of urban areas with law-abiding citizens carrying guns.” He’s right and he’s smart.

Craig oversees protection of a population of 680,000. He has less than the amount of firearms and firepower he would like. You see, with a city riddled with chronic unemployment, a chronic downtown area, and a chronic local economy, his police force is dwindling, not growing to deal with demand. Mayor Mike Duggan has said 200 to 300 new police officers are set to be hired this year. That will be a shot in the arm.

Still, the best solution for everyone in Detroit is a “We the People” approach to bearing Arms.

As Detroit Police Chief, James Craig first went public with his Call to Arms in December 2013. The men and women of the city have listened. They have legally taken action, too.

In the first year of Craig’s Call to Arms, there were some 8,102 guns registered with the Detroit Police Department. 1,169 new handgun permits were issued. Proof that prior permit holders and new ones were willing to do their part to save Detroit from those carelessly trying to destroy it.

Already in 2015, more than 5,000 more guns have been registered by men and women of Detroit. Roughly 500 more permit holders have been added by the police department to the save the city effort.

The Department of Justice is also funding a plan targeting gun-toting drug-dealers and other criminals with felonies. They’ll handing out much stiffer prison sentences to Detroit felons caught with an illegal gun. For example, someone with three prior felonies could be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in a federal prison if arrested with a gun.

Billboards in town say, “Felon + Gun = federal prisons.” The next ones should read “Citizens + Firearms = Safer, Better Detroit.”

Photo: U.S. Air Force

Some videos are just too cool. They are must see and must share. For instance, take a look at the video below. It was just released by Lockheed-Martin on its YouTube Channel. It shows you an F-35A firing off 181 rounds from a four-barrel, 25 mm Gatling gun.

The F-35 is a fifth generation fighter replacement built for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S Marine Corps. It is designed with the ability to defeat the most advanced threat systems currently in the air and on the ground, as well as those expected in the coming years.

The footage which surely gets the blood pumping was recorded one week ago during ground testing at the wide open spaces of Edwards Air Force Base in California. Plans are for airborne gun testing to be conducted in the fall. In 2017, when the program’s system development and demonstration process is completed, this gun will be operational on the F-35.

The GAU-22 gun is meant to provide the pilots of the low-flying aircraft the enhanced ability to rapidly and repeatedly engage air to ground targets as well as air to air targets. Here is a look at how the weapon is being integrated into the stealthy F-35 aircraft.

As you can see in the video, the Gatling gun is embedded in the left wing. It is designed to remain hidden behind the closed doors. This is important for minimizing the radar cross section until the trigger is engaged.

This testing is to certify the gun’s ability to properly spin up and down. Additional tests will be done next year with a line production F-35A jet to integrate with the full mission systems and avionics capabilities. Test pilots will have the opportunity to then observe flying qualities in confirming the aircraft can withstand the loads of firing the gun, and look at other factors such as muzzle flash.

The first phase of the F-35A gun testing began at the gun harmonizing range on Edwards Air Force Base back on June 9. Over the next few months, the amount of munitions fired gradually increased until the 181 rounds were fired last week.

Daytona Beach, Florida. Folks there know a thing or two about life in the fast lane and partying. The city is one of America’s top guns for fun. Experience obviously played a role in the city commissioners just pulling the trigger to approve an indoor Daytona Beach shooting range to sell alcoholic beverages. The right to bear Arms and drink beer afterward in the same spot is now on target.

Ron Perkinson is the owner of Volusia Top Gun. It’s a business in South Daytona he established a few years ago. He’s proposed a popular new location for his business off I-95 and International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach. He wants to grow his business by turning a vacant building there into an indoor shooting range with an upscale restaurant which serves alcohol.

To some, having booze and bullets on the same property gave them all the ammo they needed to express safety concerns. Perkinson’s strategic plans acted like a silencer for the critics. “Safety is obviously key and No. 1 for not only me, but everyone else there,” said Perkinson. “Everything is going to be revolved around safety.”

The following are examples of how Ron Perkinson sold the new Daytona Beach Shooting Range to the city commissioners.

• It would be an upscale restaurant, not a bar. It just needed to serve alcohol to be profitable.

• Gun safety and families would be the focus, not selling cocktails.

• Guns will always be kept separate from the café where alcohol is served. Whether or not you’re planning to have a drink after shooting at the range, no firearms will be allowed in the café area at all.

• Customers drinking alcohol will have to swipe their ID. Once their driver’s license is scanned, they will not be allowed to enter the shooting range for 24 hours.

• Perkinson also promised to reinforce the building to ensure safety as an indoor shooting range, offering better protection for neighboring businesses such as the Daytona Beach Flea Market.

• He also pledged to call police for assistance when needed, and keep a watch list of customers who may cause trouble at his Daytona Beach shooting range.

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Photo: Defense.gov

There is strong female momentum in the U.S. Military. Just one day after news spread of two females about to graduate from Army Ranger School, comes word the U.S. Navy is open to women SEALs.

In an interview scheduled to air this Sunday on “Defense News with Vago Muradian,” the Navy’s top officer, Admiral Jonathan W. “Jon” Greenert, shared how he and Rear Admiral Brian Losey, the head of Naval Special Warfare Command, are in agreement. If women can pass the grueling six-month Basic Underwater Demotion/SEAL (BUD/S) training regimen, they should be entitled to serve on elite Navy SEAL teams.

Adm. Losey has already recommended female candidates be allowed under the same exacting standards required of males. “Why shouldn’t anybody who can meet these [standards] be accepted? And the answer is, there is no reason,” said Admiral Greenert during his exclusive sit-down interview with Navy Times, and Defense News, its publication partner.

Since 2011, Greenert has served as the 30^th Chief of Naval Operations. He says now they are planning to open the portal to see women SEALs. “So we’re on a track to say, ‘Hey look, anybody who can meet the gender non-specific standards, then you can become a SEAL.'” The SEALs would be the last of the traditionally male-only branches to open to women.

The Navy has previously announced it is on track to open all ratings to women by 2016. However, the Admiral’s latest comments are the first public knowledge of the SEALs openness to accepting female candidates. He didn’t mention any timeline for enabling women SEALs candidates into BUD/S training.

At this time it is not believed there will be many attempts at women SEALs when the opportunity to join becomes available to them. The percentage of women is quite low for the expeditionary specialties such as Seabees and Navy divers. For example, the service reports there are only 10 women sailors in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal community, and only 7 female Navy divers. Though they have been open for decades, less than 3 percent of billets at EOD and fleet diver commands are currently held by women.

Photo: Las Vegas Now

Hillary Clinton didn’t roll the dice much on a campaign stop in Las Vegas. She went to town yesterday for a town hall meeting in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in North Las Vegas. The leading Democratic presidential candidate did not talk about her own pending legal or criminal issues. Yet, she did clearly make attempts to appeal to black voters with comments about the criminal justice system and gun violence.

If you are a supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights in America, the house in Sin City would not let you place a bet guessing which side of the issues she just stood for in front of the North Las Vegas audience. It’s already “game over” for gun owners if she becomes president. She will push for more gun control.

During the town hall gathering, the former Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from New York was asked her opinion on “Stand Your Ground” laws. She said she believed many of the laws regarding “Stand Your Ground” situations need to be “re-written.” She said for too many Americans reaching for a gun has become a “knee-jerk reaction.”

Here is what Hillary said in paving the way for her own presidency reaching out against gun owners. “Yes, there is a role in extreme situations to defend yourself and defend your home,” said Ms. Clinton. “But unfortunately what we’ve seen too much of in the last few years is a spate of people who have reached for a gun before they really figured out what was going on. They’ve been much too eager to use that gun. We’ve seen it with policing and we’ve seen it with civilians.”

Ms. Clinton was also asked a leading question on what she would do to strengthen gun-control laws across the country. Hillary responded by saying she was “not backing off of this fight.” She brought up the Charleston shooting which killed nine African-American churchgoers in June, and said the gun issue in America is “way out of balance.”

She also told them, “I don’t see any conflict between the legitimate protection of Second Amendment rights and protecting people from gun violence from people who should never have guns in the first place.”

Once again yesterday, Hillary Clinton proved to gun owners in America it wasn’t about the house winning in Las Vegas. The big gamble is what happens to the right to bear Arms if she wins the White House.

Photo: U.S. Army

You’re not the only one who is already looking forward to Friday. 96 students will be graduating that day from the rough and rigorous U.S. Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Every graduating class from this intensive training program is special. Friday’s group is special and unique. It includes the first two female Soldiers to earn the right to wear the respected and coveted Army Ranger tab.

The Pentagon released a statement to the media. “Congratulations to all of our new Rangers,” said Secretary of the Army, John M. McHugh. “Each Ranger School graduate has shown the physical and mental toughness to successfully lead organizations at any level. This course has proven that every Soldier, regardless of gender, can achieve his or her full potential. We owe Soldiers the opportunity to serve successfully in any position where they are qualified and capable, and we continue to look for ways to select, train, and retain the best Soldiers to meet our Nation’s needs.”

The two women whose names were not released by the Pentagon are among the first females admitted into the Army Ranger School program since it was opened more than six decades ago. Back in April of this year, the gender addition experiment was instituted on a trial basis.

Friday’s graduating class of 94 men and 2 women represent those who met all of the requirements of the challenging 62-day (and night) course. The current Army Ranger School class started out with a total of 381 men and 19 women. As you can see by the numbers, less than 1 in 4 male Soldiers in the class will graduate. Less than 1 in 9 female Soldiers successfully completed the grueling mission.

The Army Ranger School training program is a test of one’s physical and mental skills and strength. Pentagon officials call it “The U.S. Army’s premier combat leadership course.” They describe the curriculum as “teaching Ranger students how to overcome fatigue, hunger, and stress to lead Soldiers during small unit combat operations.”

Minimal amounts of food and sleep were provided to students over the nearly nine-week period as they were forced to learn how to operate in mountain terrain, heavily wooded areas, and the Swamp Course at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

In addition, the Army Ranger candidates were required to complete the following activities which helped to keep their minds off being hungry and tired:

• 27 days of mock combat patrols
• 4 days of military mountaineering
• 4 air assaults on helicopters
• 3 parachute jumps
• A 12-mile foot march in three hours
• Multiple obstacle courses
• A swim test
• A land navigation test
• Physical fitness testing which included 59 sit-ups, 49 push-ups, six chin-ups, and a 5-mile run in 40 minutes

Approximately one in three Army Ranger School students are forced to “recycle” through at least one phase of the course. The two women graduates recycled through two phases of the course.

While the 2 female Army Ranger School graduates will make history this Friday, their futures come Saturday remain unclear. What is known is that unlike their 94 fellow male graduates, they are not yet eligible to apply for positions in the elite special operations force, the 75th Ranger Regiment, or other ground-combat jobs such as the infantry.

The Pentagon has ordered that all military occupations be opened to women. However, finalized decisions about what specific combat roles female Soldiers will be allowed to fulfill are not expected until later in the year.

Ares Armor Inc. salutes the 2 female Soldiers and 94 male Soldiers for their extraordinary efforts and accomplishment in earning the Army Ranger tab.