Paula Michelle Locklear. (Photo: Carroll County Sheriff’s Office)
A Virginian homeowner shot a woman last week when she broke into his house stark naked and attacked him with a frying pan, say authorities.
Police arrived on the scene that night to discover the woman, 35-year-old Paula Locklear, with a gunshot wound to the leg. After investigating the incident further, they “determined that the shooting was the result of a breaking and entering.”
According to the New York Post and other sources, the homeowner heard a noise, and upon entering his kitchen, found “an unclothed female” who began hitting him with his own cast-iron pan.
The victim successfully locked her out on the back porch but authorities say that Locklear then found the electrical breaker and turned off the electricity to the house.
She began to beat on the window, yelling that the homeowner had better “get out of his house or she would kill him”.
When Locklear resumed beating on the door that she had originally entered through, the homeowner was forced to fire a shot, hitting her in the leg.
The homeowner is not currently being charged, says Fox News, with authorities deeming it a self-defense shooting.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office stated that Locklear is being charged with “breaking and entering with a weapon, assault and battery, and damage of property.”
Locklear was brought by officials to a hospital to be treated for her wound before being incarcerated in the county jail.
The homeowner made a tough call but ultimately it comes down to self-defense and he was lucky to have been prepared for any situation.
Young adults who live in Texas are now eligible to obtain concealed carry licenses that will allow them to bear arms in certain businesses and at public universities.
In January, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) stopped enforcing a law barring 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds from carrying handguns.
The change was prompted by a federal district court case that struck down the law as unconstitutional.
The legal battle over the law began in November 2021 when the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a pro-gun organization, filed suit, following the passage of constitutional carry in Texas.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of two plaintiffs who were adults under the age of 21 and, therefore, were prohibited from bearing arms under Texas Penal Code 46.02.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman issued his ruling in the case, finding that the age limits in the statute were in violation of the 2nd Amendment.
“[The statute] prohibits law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds from carrying handguns for self-defense outside the home based solely on their age, this statutory scheme violates the Second Amendment, as incorporated against the States via the Fourteenth Amendment,” Pittman wrote in his decision.
“We applaud Texas for doing the right thing and accepting the district court’s ruling against its law prohibiting 18-to-20-year-old adults from carrying firearms in public,” said FPC attorney Cody J. Wisniewski in a statement on the FBC website.
“Not only do young adults have the same constitutionally protected right to bear arms as all other adults, they are also among the reasons we have a Second Amendment, Constitution, and Country in the first place,” he added.
Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw initially filed a notice of appeal following the late August decision. However, the agency withdrew its appeal without explanation last December.
A DPS memo sent out in January cited the case, and advised officers that they may no longer enforce the law, adding, “This directive has immediate and permanent effect unless countermanded by the Office of General Counsel through your chain of command.”
Following the DPS memo, the agency’s handgun licensing website now states, “A federal district court has ruled the Department can no longer apply the License to Carry statutory eligibility criteria that prohibit otherwise eligible 18-to-20 year-olds from obtaining the license. Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc. et. al., v. Steven McCraw, et. al., No. 4:21-cv-1245-P. The Department will therefore no longer deny applications solely on the basis that the applicants are 18-to-20 years old.”
Indeed, DPS has already begun issuing handgun licenses to the formerly-affected population, and gun rights proponents believe it is just the beginning.
According to the Dallas Morning News, since the decision to abandon the appeal, and the issuance of the memo, the department said it has received more than 100 applications from newly eligible adults and issued 17 licenses as of the end of February.
“As more people find out, there’s going to be an influx,” said Michael Cargill, who owns a gun store in Austin. Earlier this month, he said two 19-year-old college students sat before him in his handgun licensing class, pens in hand, ready to get their licenses to carry.
Cargill is noted as being the primary plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Department of Justice that saw the federal bump stock ban get overturned.
As gun control laws are scaled back in the post-Bruen legal landscape, additional lawsuits brought by the FPC in a wide swathe of jurisdictions that prohibit adults under 21 from bearing arms are sure to follow Andrew v McCraw’s victory in the 5th Circuit.
Of course, as litigation advances in such cases as Lara v. Evanchick (vs. Pennsylvania, in the 3rd Circuit), Reese v. ATF (vs. the federal government, in the 5th Circuit), Beeler v. Long(vs. Tennessee, in the 6th Circuit), Meyer v. Raoul(vs. Illinois, in the 7th Circuit), Worth v. Harrington (vs. Minnesota, in the 8th Circuit), Jones v. Bonta (vs. California, in the 9th Circuit), and Baughcum v. Jackson(vs. Georgia, in the 11th Circuit), stay tuned for updates!
Data reveals most incidents where guns are brought to school don’t result in mass shootings. But as FOX News’ Sean Langille reports, officials say an alarming number of students are still bringing firearms into the classroom.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia’s governor signed a bill Wednesday allowing people with concealed carry permits to take firearms onto public college and university campuses.
“Proud day for me,” Republican Gov. Jim Justice said as he signed the bill, surrounded by more than two dozen state lawmakers, members of the National Rifle Association, and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League.
The law will take effect in July 2024. Similar legislation has passed in 11 other states.
Justice said guns have been present on state campuses even without the new law.
“For crying out loud, the doors are wide open,” he said. “This is just saying the law-abiding people have a right to be able to carry if they choose to do so. We just hope and pray that there’s never a problem. We can’t ensure in any way that there won’t be a problem.”
He wants the law to “send a message to the world, by God , if you want to mess with us, we can mess back.”
The signing comes two weeks after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others at Michigan State University.
At a public hearing last month at the West Virginia Capitol, nearly all of the 40 people who spoke opposed the bill.
The presidents of West Virginia’s largest institutions of higher learning urged lawmakers to reconsider as the bill moved through the Legislature. They said decisions about whether or not to allow guns on campus should be left to the institutions, and voiced concerns about students struggling with mental health challenges.
West Virginia University President Gordon Gee said Wednesday that the university will form a campus safety group prior to the law’s effective date.
“Today we must come together to focus clearly on what is most important to all of us — keeping our students, faculty, staff, visitors and community members safe while on our campuses,” Gee said in a statement. “That has always been, and will remain, our utmost priority.”
The bill bans the open carry of a firearm on a college or university campus and allows institutions of higher learning to implement exceptions. It also prohibits people from taking guns into areas with a capacity of more than 1,000 spectators — stadiums for football games, for example — or to on-campus daycare centers.
The bill allows exceptions in rooms where a student or employee disciplinary proceeding is being held. Guns can be restricted in specifically designated areas where patient care or mental health counseling is being provided.
Schools would be permitted to regulate firearms in residence halls, but not in common areas, including lounges, dining areas and study areas. Colleges and universities will be required to provide a secure location for storage of a pistol or revolver in at least one on-campus residence hall or to make safes available in residence rooms, which could come with a fee.
