An Afghan policeman is seen alert at a check post as his colleagues check cars for Taliban insurgents that escaped from a prison in Kandahar. (Associated Press / April 26, 2011)

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan— By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times

“The Taliban on Saturday declared the start of a spring offensive in Afghanistan, warning that insurgents plan to attack foreign troops, Afghan security forces and government officials in coming days.

In a statement, the Taliban warned civilians to avoid public gatherings, military bases and convoys, as well as government buildings.

“All Afghan people should bear in mind to keep away from gatherings, convoys and centers of the enemy so that they will not become harmed during attacks of mujahedin against the enemy,” the statement said.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghanistan-spring-20110501,0,1570621.story

Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D.

Is a firearm in your home “22 times more likely” to be used to kill or injure a family member than to be used for protection? Or “43 times more likely?” How about “18 times more likely?” Anti-gun groups and politicians say it is, citing research by Arthur L. Kellermann, M.D.

Dr. Kellermann’s dubious conclusions provide anti-gunners propaganda they use to try to frighten Americans into voluntarily disposing of their guns—in essence, to do to themselves what the anti-gunners have been unable to do to them by legislative, regulatory, or judicial means.

Most significant, though, Kellermann severely understates defensive uses of guns, by counting only those in which criminals are killed or injured.

Dr. Edgar A. Suter, writing in the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia, explains the error in the context of an earlier Kellermann study, which compared family member deaths to killings of criminals:

“The true measure of the protective benefits of guns are the lives saved, the injuries prevented, the medical costs saved, and the property protected—not the burglar or rapist body count. Since only 0.1% to 0.2% of defensive gun usage involves the death of the criminal, any study, such as this, that counts criminal deaths as the only measure of the protective benefits of guns will expectedly underestimate the benefits of firearms by a factor of 500 to 1,000.”
(“Guns in the Medical Literature—A Failure of Peer Review,” March 1994, p. 134.)

Similarly, criminologist Gary Kleck notes, “More commonly, guns are merely pointed at another person, or perhaps referred to or displayed, and this sufficient to accomplish the ends of the user.” (Targeting Guns, Aldine de Gruyter, 1997, p. 162.)

Kleck’s 1995 landmark survey of defensive gun uses found guns used for protection as many as 2.5 million times annually. (“Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Fall 1995.)

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=119

An Afghan soldier keeps watch at the gate of an air force compound after the shooting. (Shah Marai / AFP/Getty Images / April 27, 2011)

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan— “Eight U.S. troops and an American contractor were killed early Wednesday when a veteran Afghan military pilot opened fire on trainers during a meeting in a military compound near Kabul International Airport.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility in what it said was the latest attack by an insurgent infiltrator.

… Azizullah [the attacker] contacted Taliban officials two years ago, and had been feeding them information. He planned his attack for five months, but it was only approved the day before because he was a valuable source.

“This attack indicates that we can access any security forces facilities of the enemy we want,” Mujahid said. “We have our infiltrators in all sections.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-pilot-20110428,0,3114785.story

Rev. Kimani Wright & Wife

“Presbyterian Minister Kimani Wright and his son arrived home in Hillendale, N.C. to find the house had been broken into. Wright retrieved a gun, went inside to investigate and discovered an armed intruder, whom he fired at. Upon coming under fire, the intruder fled the scene. (The Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, N.C. 04/22/11)

http://www.nraila.org/ArmedCitizen/