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.”

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.

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.

The Minions got in trouble again. This time, they got a three-year old boy in trouble with them. Dublin Airport Authority (DDA) officers in Ireland took away the toddler’s Minion’s Fart Blaster toy gun over the weekend during a pre-flight security check screening.

Little Leo Fitzpatrick was travelling home to Nottingham, England with his mother after a trip to visit her family in Dublin, Ireland. His Minions Fart Blaster created a stink at the Dublin Airport when it showed up on an x-ray machine screening his backpack.

Leo’s 25-year old single pregnant mother, Daire Fitzpatrick, was asked by DDA officers to empty the backpack at which time they experienced the plastic megaphone toy which lights up, makes “fart noises,” and releases a banana scent when the trigger gets pulled. Officials said the gun posed a security threat. So they seized it.

A spokesman for Dublin Airport spokesman released a statement saying, “Toy guns and replica guns are on the prohibited items list and we urge people to check this before they travel. We don’t make the rules but we apply the rules consistently; anything that is a replica gun with a trigger mechanism on it is listed as a prohibited item.”

Little Leo was given the toy one day earlier. It was a present from his grandfather. Daire Fitzpatrick told the Daily Mail she had never seen her son smile so much. “This gun was his life for the last 24 hours. He had become so attached to it and would really hysterically laugh when he pressed the button,” said Daire. “If you look at it it’s just ridiculous it could be considered a weapon. I mean, would you shake with fear if I pointed a Minions Fart Blaster at you?”

Mom says the DDA official even admitted his own child was bearing the same Arms at home. She says her three-year old was devastated, but polite. He was upset and didn’t understand why he had to “share” his new toy with the man he did not know.

DDA apologized to the family and said they would hold the boy’s Minions Fart Blaster toy gun until the family could return to collect it. The family decided to leave the megaphone in Ireland and purchased a new one for Leo when they got home.

Photo: WIAT

You could call it “Guns and God,” “Ammo and Amens” or “Pistols and Prayers,” Whatever you want to call it, “America’s Bible Belt” has opened up a new place for holsters. All praise for it goes to an Alabama church.

Jemison, Alabama in Chilton County is located between Birmingham and Montgomery. It has a population of around 2,500. Many of the people reside in an area called the Jemison Division. However, the Rocky Mount United Methodist Church in town is not about division. It’s about bringing people together. And they are now finding a way to use firearms to do it.

Pastor Phillip Guin (not gun) and his faithful parishioners have created something of a shooting range ministry. They had a grimy gully, a patch of land in the back of the church property which neighborhood rats and snakes had taken over as a congregation area. Through creativity and a bit of elbow grease the church has converted it into a gun range.

They have named it the Rocky Mount Hunt and Gun Club. It is the ultimate, diverse multi-purpose complex. One purpose of the shooting range is to provide some recreation. One purpose is to teach firearm safety and security within the friendly confines of a Christian environment. And another purpose if not the most important to the church, is the mission to welcome more members.

Pastor Guin told WIAT News, “This is an opportunity for us to reach out in the name of Jesus Christ in a setting that is completely unique, even odd by some people’s standards. But who’s to say that church can’t happen right here?”

The pastor believes the Bibles and bullets combination will be met by plenty of open arms. Many of his congregants are gun enthusiasts and hunters. He is praying those in his flock will bring their friends and neighbors in giving the Rocky Mount Hunt and Gun Club a shot.

Can he get an Amen?

Photo: Barvetta Silngletary. SC Now

Welcome to where TMZ meets C-SPAN. A President Obama staffer is now facing gun charges. Police say the domestic violence dispute stems from a lover’s quarrel between Barvetta Singletary and her boyfriend. He happens to be a U.S. Capitol Police Officer.

For more than a year, Barvetta Singletary has served as a Special Assistant to the President and House Legislative Affairs Liaison.

A White House spokesperson released this statement about the Obama Staffer:

“We are aware of the matter and have temporarily place the employee in question on unpaid leave and revoked her access to the complex until we have more information. We will take additional actions as needed.”

According to the charging documents with the Prince George’s County, Maryland, Police Department, 37-year old Barvetta Singletary sent her boyfriend a text asking him to come to her Upper Marlboro, Maryland home for sex. Like just about any guy would, he agreed.

Soon after they had sex, investigators say Singletary confronted the boyfriend. She wanted to know about other women he was dating. She led them outside. They went to the boyfriend’s car and both got inside. Then she asked to see his cell phones. He refused. Allegedly, Ms. Singletary then reached into his bag, grabbed two cell phones and the U.S. Capitol Police Officer’s service weapon. It was a .40 caliber Glock 23.

Police say Barvetta Singletary took the items and ran back into her home. The victim went after her pleading for her to give back his weapon. She would not comply. Instead, she demanded the passwords to his cell phones.

The arrest warrant says after the boyfriend refused, Singletary pulled the gun out of its holster, pointed it at him and said, “You taught me how to use this. Don’t think I won’t use it.” After he again refused to give her the passwords, she told him, “Your phone is more important than me holding the gun on you.”

Police say Singletary then pointed the firearm in the victim’s direction. Then she pulled the trigger and fired off one round. The victim ran away from the home, and called 911. He also told police he witnessed Ms. Singletary wiping down his gun with a towel to remove her fingerprints.

Barvetta Singletary was arrested at her home without incident. President Obama cannot be happy about the story of her wrongly bearing Arms with a U.S. Capitol Police Officer’s gun. Her right to work in the Obama White House may soon be infringed.

Photo: Royal Netherlands Army flag

In military training, accidents happen. So, if there was ever a good time for Dutch Army soldiers to get shot during training exercises…that time is now. In the short-term, there is safety in the long-term danger of the current Dutch Army ammunition crisis.

Here is the story plain and simple about the NATO member:

“Het Nederlandse leger heeft geen munitie.”

That’s how the folks in the Netherlands would say in their native tongue, “The Dutch Army doesn’t have any ammo.”

An confidential email sent from a Defence Summit official to Army officers got leaked to the Dutch broadcaster RTL. Here are excerpts from it which tell how severe the Dutch Army ammunition crisis really is.

“You are informed of the problems with the ammunition Ministry of Defence in the broadest sense of the word. The problems were and are large…and there is a freeze agreed period. During that period, freeze all components have to surrender their ammunition…We are on the eve of the expiry of the freeze period, but that is not the problem ended. I will briefly outline some within the rest of 2015 but also well into 2016:

There is a shortage of all small caliber ammunition…

Competition shooting teams will not shoot until further notice…

Consequences and concerns over training of the staff should be indicated in the usual reports…

I cannot make it better, but there’s really no ammunition. This applies Defence Wide.”

You could say they just have the right to “bare” arms. Being banned from the ability to use bullets in their guns during training exercises, the Dutch Army ammunition crisis has soldiers faking the sounds of rifle fire, and getting frustrated doing it.

Jean Debie, chairman of the military union VBM, “Even if you have no bullets, you have to train with your weapon,” Jean Debie, chairman of the VBM (union for defence personnel) told RTL, “That means, as a soldier, you say ‘Bang, Bang!’ This is obviously disastrous for the morale of the military. You do not want to do this to a professional.”

The Defence Ministry released a statement admitting the Dutch Army ammunition crisis, saying there are “sometimes tight inventories” as part of the ongoing problem. “There is not always sufficient ammunition available for exercises and training. The Defence Ministry understands troops are not always happy with this. Once additional funding is available, the stockpiles will be replenished in 2015.”

A financial report by the European Leadership Network states 2015 will be first year in over a decade where the Dutch government will spend more on its defence budget rather than less.

(FBI released photo of Kevin Ryan Lumpkin)

The famous gun quote from Second Amendment supporter Bruce Willis may have just gotten blurred by a suburban Cleveland cop:

“If you take guns away from legal gun owners, then the only people who would have guns would be the bad guys.” — Bruce Willis, actor.

If it’s true, this story is a real-crime drama with a different twist. A good guy may have been opening up his arms to the bad guys. Usually, police are concerned with dangerous felons getting guns illegally. In this case, one of the boys in blue is accused of knowingly being the gun supplier to convicted felons.

The village of North Randall, Ohio is located about 20 miles east of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. North Randall has a population of just more than 1,000. In a press release, the FBI has confirmed Kevin Ryan Lumpkin, a 29-year old North Randall police officer is on unpaid leave after being arrested for selling firearms to two convicted felons.

The complaint affidavit alleges Officer Lumpkin purchased firearms specifically for the two he knew were unable to legally purchase them on their own. He is also charged with firing his service weapon at a wall while wearing his police uniform as he got into a fight with one of the felons to whom he sold firearms.

Lumpkin had been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI Police Corruption Unit. According to the criminal complaint, Cleveland Police found two of the firearms and their boxes while responding to a domestic violence dispute at the home of the felons. The gun sales were traced to Lumpkin. One of the convicted felons told agents they purchased “a shotgun, two assault rifles, a pistol and a ballistic vest, among other firearms” from Lumpkin.

The unnamed felon told the FBI they needed to purchase firearms after a home invasion in which they got shot. He said Lumpkin brought a catalog of firearms for them to browse when he came to their home to install security cameras.

The other felon claimed they bought a .380 caliber Ruger pistol from Lumpkin. During a traffic stop resulting from an expired license plate tag, police discovered that gun in the suspect’s car. He also had an outstanding warrant. A background check revealed it had been purchased by Lumpkin.

When the FBI interviewed Lumpkin in June 2015, they said he admitted to knowing both people were felons, but not knowing the whereabouts of the firearms. When agents asked him to be honest, he replied, “what does being honest get me?”

Kevin Ryan Lumpkin turned himself in on Friday to the FBI in Cleveland. He is now being held by the U.S. Marshals Service. A judge will decide this week if he will remain in custody while his case is presented to a federal grand jury. If he is found guilty, Kevin Ryan Lumpkin could face up to six years in prison.

It could trigger a new and stronger Call to Arms. Or, it could not. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton B. “Ash” Carter wants military leaders to provide him with plans to beef up security for troops at home. He has given the service secretaries until August 21 to do so.

Ash Carter became the 25 Secretary of Defense in February 2015, replacing Chuck Hagel. In a memo just released from Carter, he urged military officials to “develop action plans to improve the security and force protection of DoD personnel.” This comes in response to the recent Chattanooga shootings in which Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, went on a rampage at military locations, killing 4 U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy Petty Officer.

Carter is ordering the military services to consider new policies which would enhance security for troops at home. The good news is it potentially includes arming more personnel. Nationwide, the Department of Defense (DoD) has roughly 7,000 sites outside military installations. The personnel in these locations include working at civilian office parks, shopping malls, and college campuses.

One of the big challenges for the DoD is adding guns is the matter of state’s rights. Many of these DoD employees work in states which have strict gun laws.

More Arms and Muscle?

Despite being appointed by President Obama, Ash Carter did place ammo on the table. He noted in his memo that the existing Department of Defense policy currently in place already authorizes the arming of additional “qualified DoD personnel (not regularly engaged in law enforcement activities) based on the threat and the immediate need to protect DoD assets and lives.”

However, a Pentagon spokesman said Carter is not in a rush to expand the amount of DoD personnel who are authorized to carry firearms on the job. “Looking at arming personnel doesn’t mean that is what the services will decide,” said U.S. Navy Captain Jeff Davis. “We recognize there are situations where this is not going to be the best option, to have people walking around armed. And certainly that is something that the services will be very aware of when they are looking at this.”

Carter’s memo also urged military officials to have their action plans consider additional solutions including:

• Any measures including changes to policy and procedures that protect our force against the evolving threat.
• Identifying physical and procedural ways to upgrade or improve off-installation site security.
• A new assessment of “mass warning notification systems and regional alert systems” to identify risks or gaps in security.

Let’s hope Ash Carter and the military leaders come to the conclusions every “Lone Wolf” gunman and terrorist group already know: A gun-free zone makes for a soft target.

It has gun enthusiasts talking with awe and envy. It has LAPD trying to piece together a unique puzzle. It now has a celebrity attorney involved. It is the mystery of the Pacific Palisades Secret Arsenal.

Located just minutes from Tinseltown, Pacific Palisades is an upscale neighborhood nestled between Santa Monica, Malibu, and Brentwood. This is not the community where you’d expect to find so many arms in a home that you couldn’t easily wrap your arms around how or why.

It may not be a movie in the making, but it sure is a mystery with the twists and turns of a Hollywood plot.

• Pacific Palisades neighbors who now tell the media they were suspicious, go two weeks without noticing a body decomposing in an SUV parked outside in the summer heat.
• A celebrity attorney comes forward saying he was the one who contacted police about the matter. He says his client will tell the truth to the LAPD, “But will anybody believe it?”
• LAPD investigators trace the dead man to a hillside town house down the street, only to find the Pacific Palisades Secret Arsenal. The colossal cache of firearms included over 1,200 high-end pistols, rifles, and shotguns. The canyon home was also loaded with about two tons (4,000 pounds) of ammunition.

Police are running background checks. Many of the firearms were still in boxes with price tags on them. Many others were never fired. “We don’t think the weapons are illegal,” said Sgt. David Craig from the LAPD gang and narcotics division. “We are taking them for public safety.” He said the guns and ammo were removed from the high-profile scene so they wouldn’t be stolen.

If there was an arms race, someone here was trying to win. Let’s put it into perspective this way. It took LAPD several truckloads over days to remove all of the guns and ammunition from the Pacific Palisades Secret Arsenal. The homeowner’s association said repairs done at the property in 2011 showed no signs of guns or ammunition.

The L.A. County Coroner’s Office has completed an autopsy, but has not determined the cause of death. Foul play is not suspected. The man was suffering from end stage cancer.

No one has formally identified the man. However, detectives have a good idea of his name. Neighbors say he identified himself as “Bob,” or “Bob Smith.” They describe a guy who claimed to have worked covert operations for either the CIA or FBI. One scared woman said, “He’d say crazy things like the does night missions swimming to Catalina (Island). He would tell us he would show us self-defense moves.”

Who is known is Catherine Nebron, the man’s fiancée. She owns the property on the 1700 block of Palisades Drive where the couple lived together for years.

Photo: Attorney Harland Braun

Enter Harland Braun.

The veteran criminal defense attorney has represented celebrities such as Robert Blake, Steven Seagal, Chris Farley, and one of the LAPD officers acquitted in the infamous Rodney King beating case. Braun says, “The problem is that the truth may be unbelievable.”

Braun claims his client, Nebron, believed her fiancée was a government undercover operative. She said he was being watched by those he was working for at an unnamed federal agency. She told Braun the man died on July 4^th in Santa Monica after feeling hot and sick. She didn’t report the death, and didn’t know what to do with the body. So, she left it for the agency because she assumed they were tracking him.

Harland Braun says the woman took a trip to Oregon, and was surprised to find her dead man still in the vehicle where she parked it. He admits the story “sounds so bizarre.”

Braun added the understatement of the year by saying, “One of the mysteries of this guy is who he really is.” Kirk Albanese, Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief has said who he is not. Despite what the man claimed, he was not working for any government security agency.

The other big mystery is why the man had such an extraordinary collection of guns and ammo. We might find out soon. We might never know. There might be even more mysterious details to come with this Pacific Palisades Secret Arsenal.