GunENews - GSL Daily Blog

AKRON (WKYC) — Pizza shop owner Johnny Hayes not only had a legal right to defend himself and his business with lethal force, he felt an obligation to defend his staff and customers.

Still, life after this death has not been easy.

Each day since has become an emotional gut check over what can’t be undone.

Some police officers work a whole career without firing their weapon, but after just two years of owning a 9mm handgun, Hayes killed a man with it.

“I live thinking about it every day. I am still concerned for my well being more so then ever, my employees and my family,” Hayes said.

“I shot and killed a guy. I don’t feel good about it.”

Last March Hayes was filling an order when someone stepped through the front door.

“I heard, ‘This is (expletive) robbery.’ I turned and there was a guy in an orange ski mask,” Hayes said.

Behind the mask was 20-year-old Patrick Finney.

“You got to assume when a guy puts a shotgun to your head he’s going to shoot ya,” Hayes said.

The suspect was distracted by the money and Hayes pulled his concealed weapon, firing seven times. Bullet impressions remain in the door frame.

“It seemed very surreal and almost fake at the time,” Hayes said.

Finney ran from the shop and collapsed 100 yards down the street.

The pizza shop owner defended his life and his cash, but business has since suffered. It’s down 80 percent.

“We’ve slowed down. We lost a lot of our core customers in the neighborhood,” Hayes said.

He is getting on with it. He remains optimistic and armed.

“I just want to live, work and enjoy my life. If you want something from me, ask, don’t come in with a gun and try to take it,” Hayes said.

Hayes does have a concealed carry permit for his weapon, although it was not required since he was in his own establishment.

Hayes said he got the license and weapon in 2007 after his friend told him about chasing off a home invader.

This was the first time he ever had to use it.
© 2009 WKYC-TV

NRA Lobbied Against License to Carry Bill in IL

A little background first. For the past decade and a half license-to-carry bills introduced in the IL General Assembly have become routine and hold little to no expectation of passing due to opposition from the Chicago/Cook Co. legislators. That opposition means every year the same old bills calling for statewide preemption which would force the carry law into Chicago guarantees the bill is dead on arrival. A bill or two may make the headlines but never to the floor for a vote largely due to the opposition of Mayor Daley and Cook County legislators. The likelihood of a statewide preemption bill being passed is greatly reduced by the fact that bills preempting home rule status require 71 votes for passage rather than a simple majority of 60. Double or triple that reduction by the fact that in Chicago it is illegal to even own a handgun let alone carry one for self-defense purposes. We find it somewhat ludicrous to even consider a statewide preemptive bill passing in the state of Illinois given those circumstances.

Other states like Ohio and Nebraska faced years of major opposition like this. They finally won their battle by passing a carry law which we in Illinois would call “subject to home rule”. An imperfect bill that allowed major cities to opt out but did provide a means for license-to-carry to get a foothold in the state. Pro-Second Amendment groups in Ohio were then able to prove carrying firearms for self-defense works and they came back in just a few short years and successfully expanded the law to include everyone. Nebraska, just two short years after passing their license-to-carry bill now has statewide preemption according to their state’s Attorney General and are now working to amend their law.

With those recent successes in mind many license-to-carry supporters in Illinois were very excited when down state Representative Brandon Phelps courageously decided it was time to try the same strategy in Illinois - how about a bill that would require only a simple majority of 60 votes, would provide an opportunity for license-to-carry to get a foot in the door, something similar to what has been so successful in Ohio and Nebraska . . . how about a “subject to home rule” bill which would allow home rule municipalities to opt out if they so chose but citizens in the vast majority of the state would be free to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms? The Citizens Self-defense Act, HB 2257, was born.

Keeping in mind a statewide preemptive law is the ultimate goal, IllinoisCarry members, including members residing in municipalities sure to ban the practice, have given their full support to the idea of subject to home rule carry and believe the premise behind it is the best hope of getting any kind of license-to-carry bill passed in the state of Illinois.

HB2257 started off with good promise, the sponsor reported he felt sure he could garner the 60 votes needed to pass it out of the House. So it came as a huge shock and disappointment to learn from legislators that the NRA was actually lobbying against it.

When contacted by lllinoisCarry the NRA-ILA lobbyist confirmed the NRA-ILA was indeed lobbying against the bill and vowed to kill it. The reason given for the opposition was that the bill did not include statewide preemption, that it would create a patchwork of ordinances all across the state which could be detrimental to license holders, and it would ultimately be vetoed by Gov. Quinn and still need 71 votes for a veto override. Therefore we should continue to wait and work toward a change in the political makeup of the IL legislature.

IllinoisCarry maintains that statewide preemption didn’t pass even when we did have a more favorable party in office and continuing to wait for countless more years will only result in more defenseless victims being violently assaulted and murdered. Citizens in the rest of the state where license to carry is being welcomed should not be denied the right to defend themselves just because other municipalities choose to infringe on their citizens’ rights.

Furthering the argument for a subject to home rule bill like HB2257, IllinoisCarry is confident it will lead to statewide preemption as it has in Ohio and Nebraska. IL firearm owners already have to work within a patchwork of city ordinances concerning firearms and a look at the listing of city ordinances on the Illinois State Police website would verify that fact. Although Gov. Quinn may very well veto the bill, we will never know that if every such bill is killed by the NRA-ILA without a good hard push for passage.

We need the NRA-ILA and their hardworking lobbyists on the IL Second Amendment team. But we differ greatly on this issue of denying an opportunity for a subject to home rule bill to come to a vote. The NRA-ILA lobbyist for Illinois is one of the best in the country and has been invaluable in the battle to curtail bad gun bills in the state of Illinois. We recognize a lobbyist must follow the bidding of the organization they represent. We have been assured by him that if the NRA-ILA changes their stance on the issue to one of support then he will support the issue also.

Now after weeks of conversation with the NRA-ILA, their leadership team has temporarily changed their position from opposition to neutral while they claim to study the issue. It is our opinion a subject to home rule license-to-carry bill will not advance in Illinois without the support of the NRA-ILA. We need the NRA to SUPPORT subject to home rule carry in Illinois.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? LOBBY THE NRA!

If you are an NRA member, resident of Illinois, visit Illinois, or even travel through Illinois please call the numbers below - REMEMBER BE POLITE BUT FIRM- and tell them you want their support for subject to home rule license-to-carry in Illinois. If you are a resident of Chicago or any other municipality that might exercise the right to “opt out” of concealed carry, assure the NRA-ILA that you know the most effective and expeditious way to get concealed carry into your area is to get it into the rest of the state first. Do not let them get caught up in HB2257 specifically - bills can be amended, it’s the issue of subject to home rule we want them to support.

Contact the following NRA-ILA leadership team:

Chris Cox
Executive Director
NRA-ILA
1-800-392-8683
1-703-267-3973 fax
CCox@NRAhq.org

Scott Christman
Assist. Ex. Dir.
NRA-ILA
703-267-1140
SChristman@NRAhq.org

Randy Kozuch
Director
ILA-State and Local Affairs
703-267-1202
703-267-3976 fax
RKozuch@NRAhq.org

NOTE:  Read this story and learn from the experiences of the license holder who successfully defended himself and other innocents from a violent predator.

http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/751469.html

By JOHN MONK - jmonk@thestate.com
The man who shot to death a gun-wielding would-be robber Saturday night at a Five Points Alcoholics Anonymous gathering spot is a well-known local attorney and an AA member who says he’d do it again in similar circumstances.

“I had two choices — maybe get killed and robbed — and I’m not sure what might have happened to the other people with me — or draw my weapon and fire,” said Jim, 61, who spoke to The State in his law offices Wednesday afternoon.

Jim admitted he was the man who fired the gun Saturday night. He asked that his last name not be used until any retaliatory threats against him can be assessed. Police say the possibility of retribution might exist but refuse to be specific.

Since the shooting of Kayson Helms, 18, of Edison, N.J., Saturday night, police have kept Jim’s name secret and released only a sketchy account of what happened when a young man entered the AA center near USC, brandished a gun and demanded money from what Jim said was a group of four people.

Wednesday, in a 90-minute interview at his law office, Jim recounted — in second-by-second detail — how the shooting took place. He showed a reporter a .32- caliber Kel-Tec semi-automatic he said was similar to the one he drew from a rear pocket and used to shoot Helms.

“Police asked me the question, ‘Were you afraid?’ I was concerned. There wasn’t time to be afraid. Till afterwards.”

Seeing the assailant’s gun, he said, he knew he had to take action. “I didn’t want him to get a chance to fire. I didn’t know what he was going to do. He didn’t say, ‘This is a stickup — your money or your life.’ But if somebody presents a pistol, they’ve just said that.”

At the time, Jim’s tiny, black lightweight pistol, loaded with hollow-point bullets that flatten when they strike a body, creating more damage than regular bullets, was encased in a special wallet-style holster, he said.

A wallet holster is a squarish leather wallet holder with one hole for the gun barrel and another for the trigger. The holster both hides a pistol’s shape and allows a shooter to fire quickly.

Columbia police confiscated the .32-caliber gun he used, Jim said.

“I don’t think I did anything anybody else in the same circumstances wouldn’t have done. If I’d left my gun in the car, or at home, I might not be sitting here talking to you,” said Jim, who said he nearly always carries a gun and was carrying a two-shot concealed derringer during Wednesday’s interview.

He graduated from USC’s law school in the 1970s, has had a concealed weapons permit since the early 1980s and practices a variety of civil and criminal law. His voice is gravelly; he smokes three packs of cigarettes a day.

“I didn’t know whether he was going to open fire. He did point and swing his gun this way and that way. We had seven or eight people in the back room.” Those held at gunpoint were in the front room, according to Jim.

Columbia lawyers said Jim — at 6 feet, 3 inches, a big man with a full head of blondish-brown hair — has a good reputation.

“He’s a reputable member of the legal profession,” said Dick Harpootlian, a former 5th Circuit prosecutor. “I’ve tried cases with him and against him. I’m sure the folks down at the AA center Saturday night were glad he was packing heat.”

Jack Swerling, a noted Columbia criminal defense lawyer, said he has remained friends with Jim since they went to USC law school. “Jim’s really a good guy.”

Jim said the incident took “10 seconds, max” to unfold.

Shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, Jim was sitting on a sofa in the lounge of the ACOA building, a meeting place for AA members since 1947, talking to a friend.

Jim is a self-described recovering alcoholic who describes alcoholism as a “cruel, cunning, baffling, powerful disease. The desire to drink goes away but comes back all the time.” He said he hasn’t taken a drink since 1981.

Saturday night, a young woman came in the front door, saying, “‘I don’t have money. I have money in the car,’” he said.

“I thought, Why’s she talking about money? Then this kid came around her and started off — ‘Get it up!’ You couldn’t see his gun at that point. He said, ‘Empty your pockets.’ Then I saw his gun.”

The gun was small and silver, and Jim said he knew right away it was a .22- or .25-caliber.

“I thought, Oy! That will hurt — .22s and .25s are very lethal. I wasn’t going to take a chance on him getting a shot off.”

One of the four people in the lounge started emptying his pockets onto the floor, Jim said.

At that point, Jim said, he was maybe six to eight feet from the gunman and had a clear shot across a coffee table. He drew.

“My first shot was dead center on his chest,” said Jim, who demonstrated how he gripped the wrist of his right gun hand with his left hand to steady his aim.

“With that, he kind of turned to his right, exposing his left side, and his gun arm went up. I’m pretty sure the second shot hit him in the stomach. With that, he did a 180 (a complete turn) and headed back toward the door, and I fired the third shot. I think that’s the one that hit him in the neck.

“I thought I fired a fourth shot. But they (police) only found three spent casings. ….. In the stress, I thought I fired four.”

Jim said he never was able to count the number of bullets remaining in his Kel-Tec because police took his weapon. The gun holds seven rounds, but Jim only loads six.

The assailant “disappeared out the door,” and, according to police, made his way up a walkway, across railroad tracks toward Laurens Street, where he collapsed.

Jim called 9-1-1, gave them his name, said he had a concealed weapons permit and that he had just shot an armed robber at the ACOA center on College Street.

Still talking to the dispatcher, Jim said, he went outside the building.

“I saw this white Lincoln pull up… .. It looked to me like a white guy in a white shirt got out and went up the walkway.”

Two minutes “at the most” elapsed between the time he dialed 9-1-1 and the time police arrived, Jim said. The Lincoln vanished. But a distraught young woman remained near the fallen man, he said.

Jim said police no doubt told the media earlier this week that his life was in danger because of “all the unanswered questions about the shooting.”

For one thing, Jim said, there was the vanished Lincoln. Then, the distraught woman could have been Helms’ “girlfriend. …. She was sobbing and crying near the body, and police took her into custody,” he said.

“I’m not sure whether there is a threat. I just find it weird that some guy from Edison, New Jersey …. would be in Columbia, South Carolina and trying to rob people.”

Columbia police have declined to release details, including any information about Helms, saying they are investigating. Prosecutors have not said whether they will charge Jim.

One resident of the nearby University Neighborhood, Bud Ferrillo, who owns a Columbia public-relations firm, confirmed some of Jim’s descriptions of the scene.

Ferrillo said he heard three shots in quick succession. Within a minute, he was watching events unfold from a close vantage point.

He said he saw a distraught woman crying loudly near the body on the walkway. Ferillo said police got to the scene within a minute or two.

Ferrillo said police asked who had “the gun” and saw a man fitting Jim’s description raise his hands.

Jim said he when he first got a concealed weapons permit, he had a need for it but declined to give details. He also declined to say whether he had ever fired at a person before.

These days, he said, he carries a concealed pistol “because at this point, I feel almost undressed without it. I don’t have a problem leaving it in a car when I go to church or into the courthouse. I can live with that.”

He has rehearsed shooting scenarios in his mind. “Have I ever thought about such a scenario before? Sure. Everybody who carries a gun has thought about it.”

Yet, it still came as a surprise to have to fire Saturday, he said. “That was the last thing on my mind that night.”

Jim shook his head. Violence is everywhere, he said.

“I did what I had to do, that’s the way I see it. And under the laws we have in place, I think I’m immune from civil or criminal prosecution. I’d do it again, if the same circumstances arose… .

“I’m just sorry the whole incident occurred. I would have preferred he not come in… .

“I’m okay with this. Sorry I had to do it. It wasn’t something I wanted to do. But you do what you’ve got to do.”