Penny Dean and Your Rights

A Florida man was shot and killed outside a McDonald’s after an unprovoked attack on a diner who was eating his meal inside a car, authorities said Tuesday.

Brandon Turner, 36, walked up to a car in the parking lot of the Port St. John fast-food restaurant around 8:30 p.m. Sunday and physically attacked the driver, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said.

As the driver was struck repeatedly, he grabbed a firearm in the vehicle and fired one shot, striking Turner, according to authorities. 

Turner was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

We know about Black Lives Matter. This column is about a group called Black Guns Matter.

Maj Toure, a Philadelphia high school dropout turned activist, tells me he started it after he got tired of hearing people endless chanting, “Black lives matter” but saying nothing “when it’s time for Black people to defend their lives.” Toure carries a gun wherever he goes.

“This is my human right,” he says. “If anybody wants to come chase me down about that, let’s go to court.”

"Official misconduct was certainly a contributing factor in Lee’s case, just as it has been in over 50% of wrongful conviction cases. What we should take away from this is that unfettered power, without proper checks and balances, leaves ripe the opportunity for mistakes and misconduct. Proper oversight, coupled with educational initiatives designed to prevent and correct wrongful convictions, is key," said Hurley. "Prosecutors have a duty to see that justice is done in their cases, and that must include a commitment to principles of integrity, equity, and accountability. It is imperative that they are willing to take corrective action when they see injustice, including when the injustice is perpetrated by police."

* Amalgamated CEO says technology is in the ‘very early stages’
* Attempts to track gun sales have been met with suspicion

Banks are developing technology to identify potential mass shooters, according to a CEO backing the push to get credit-card companies to more closely track gun purchases. 

In January, Colorado police officers confined a 77-year-old grandmother named Ruby Johnson for hours in a squad car without even offering a glass of water during a time when she was due to take her daily medications—why?

In May 2018, Des Moines resident and radio producer Daniel Robbins was recording illegally parked cars near the police station. Some of these illegally parked cars were driven by police officers. Detective Brad Youngblut, on his way towards his (possibly illegally parked) vehicle noticed Robbins and decided to start hassling him.

A legally armed bystander is being heralded as a hero after he helped thwart a mall shooting in Pennsylvania. [...] The shooting unfolded Sunday at the Lancaster mall when a 16-year-old suspect reportedly got into a fight with another person and pulled a gun. The teen fired several shots, while multiple people struggled over getting the gun, police said. 

"It reminds me of the Desert Storm war when I was there. It was awful. The sounds of shooting, it’s really bringing things back to you. It’s so terrifying," Ali, a native of Iraq, added.

An armed bystander intervened to stop a brutal attack on a pregnant woman at a Publix parking lot in Florida.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said 27-year-old Cole Joseph Danisment became angry with the mother of his unborn child and began brutally beating her in a Publix parking lot Saturday, punching her in the face several times during the attack, according to a report from WFLA.

A new study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open analyzed firearm deaths over the past three decades – a total of more than 1 million lives lost since 1990. The researchers found that firearm mortality rates increased for most demographic groups in recent years – especially during the pandemic – and vast disparities persisted. [...]

A Dallas police officer was arrested Friday after pointing a gun at the front seat passenger of an Uber ride they were sharing, police said.

Officer Anthony Heims was arrested by the Dallas Police Department and charged with aggravated assault, according to a news release.

Police responded to a 911 call from an Uber driver who reported his back seat passenger, identified as Heims, had pointed a pistol at his front seat passenger’s head while he was driving the two men, police said in the arrest warrant affidavit, obtained by CNN.