Crime Surge May Follow Prisoner Release

Give it to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who candidly worried — after announcing the county jail had released more than 4,200 inmates to protect them from the coronavirus — about a “potential surge” in crime following the pandemic, according to KTTV in Los Angeles, the local FOX affiliate.

Villanueva is the sheriff who was sued by several gun rights groups for bouncing back and forth on shutting down gun shops in the county. Back on March 31, he withdrew the order.

Releasing thousands of prisoners is no small thing. In Washington, the state Supreme Court ordered Gov. Jay Inslee to take action in an effort to reduce the prison population. “Non-violent” prisoners are supposed to be released, especially those with short time remaining, and those who might be more susceptible to the deadly virus.

California is one of those states where gun shops are not considered “essential businesses.” That’s why there are a number of lawsuits now under way in that state. So is Washington, but at this writing, there had been no lawsuits filed, perhaps because gun shops were still operating with certain “social distancing” procedures in place and nobody had made any effort to close their doors.

Villanueva told the station his department was first in the country to begin the early release of jail inmates, starting back on Feb. 28.

With any luck, the “shelter-in-place” orders will soon be lifted. America may start getting back to some semblance of normality.

Gun stores should open back up where they are now closed, people should be returning to work, shooting ranges will be open, and maybe the past two months will become just a bad memory.

https://www.foxla.com/news/l-a-sheriff-inmate-release-effective-but-possible-surge-in-crime-ahead

https://www.usnews.com/news

NSSF Import/Export Report

It’s taken a few months, but the National Shooting Sports Foundation released its report on firearms industry imports and exports for January 2020. In summary, things were a little slow as people recovered from the holidays, but as we all know, the picture has changed significantly in the months following.

Handgun imports for January dropped 23.7% from the same month in 2019, to 123,037 “units,” according to data from the U.S. International Trade Commission. The breakdown included 112,066 pistols and 10,971 revolvers. Back in January 2019, the country saw 141,731 handguns come in.

January exports declined 18.7%, with 17,459 handguns heading offshore, but that included a reported 187.3% increase in revolvers. Now, before anybody gets really excited, the actual number was 1,804 wheelguns, up from 628 that went out of country in January 2019.

http://www2.nssf.org/webmail

XS ‘Big Dot’ Sights

XS Sights recently announced its popular DXT2 “Big Dot” night sights are now available for a couple of popular pistols, the Smith & Wesson M&P 9 Shield EZ and the Heckler & Koch P7, P8, M13 and P7 PSP.

Insider Online has a couple of pals who, immediately upon taking delivery of semi-autos for street carry, scrapped the factory sights and had the Big Dot sights installed. They’ve never complained about performance.

Big Dots available for the S&W and H&K guns include Optic Yellow and Optic Orange. Because of their size and design, the eye is immediately drawn to the front sight, used with a “V-notch” rear sight with a single vertical white stripe below the center of the notch.

XS Sights uses a patent-pending colored Ember glow dot in the Big Dot sight that absorbs light and cases the sight to glow even before it gets dark enough to see the tritium lamp in the center. It’s really quite impressive.

According to XS Sights, the Optic Yellow is the most visible color in low light, while Optic Orange is best for bright light settings.

www.xssights.com

Is Stupid in Public a Crime?

Being stupid in public isn’t a crime in and of itself, but it can certainly lead to more serious charges (like public indecency), which brings us around to a story from Chicago that should become a TV movie plot.

Insider Online was doing some research on Chicago homicides during the first three months of the year when we ran across the story of how police bagged the alleged killer of the late Diviris Garfeed. He was murdered March 2, 2020 on a sidewalk in Humbolt Park while allegedly engaged in a marijuana sale. A car rolled up and a passenger put a 9mm bullet into his head.

A 20-year-old known gang member was popped for this crime when, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, “he tried to sell the murder weapon on Facebook, saying it had ‘bodies on it,’ prosecutors say.”

Garfeed was one of the 93 people murdered in Chicago during the first three months of the year, up from last year’s body count for that period by 36% from the first quarter of 2019.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news

A Fiancée Worth Keeping

Down in Fredericksburg, Tex. a couple of weeks ago, a 19-year-old burglar’s career came to an abrupt end when he reportedly assaulted 73-year-old Curtis Roys outside his home at 1 a.m., according to KVUE News.

Bad luck for the bad guy because Roys’ fiancée, identified as 65-year-old Melody Lumpkin, pleaded with the teen to stop beating her beau. When he didn’t, she “retrieved a handgun from the bedroom.”

Then, when a warning shot didn’t end the attack, Lumpkin reportedly fired a second time, putting the attacker down for the count. After being taken to a hospital, the attacker was pronounced dead.

According to one report, the suspect had no apparent police record. No charges were filed.

https://cbsaustin.com/news