Gun

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The prosecution and defense agree Bryan Jefferson fatally shot Charles Green Jr. The issue in the criminal homicide trial that began Monday in Franklin County Court is whether Green was also armed. "This is not a whodunit type of case," Assistant District Attorney Jill McCracken told the jury of six men and six women. Jefferson, 39, of Harrisburg, Pa., is charged with the Oct. 6, 1997, shooting outside Green's home at 18 W. Catherine St. Jefferson turned himself in to borough police minutes after the shooting, giving them the handgun used, according to police records.

A Hagerstown man accused of pulling a gun on his ex-girlfriend and another man on Friday was being held Monday on $350,000 bond, according to Washington County District Court records. Marcel Joseph Guerin, 32, of 945 View St., is charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment, and one count of using a firearm in a crime of violence, court records show. Hagerstown Police went to a home in the 100 block of East Baltimore Street shortly before 7 p.m. Friday for a report of a man with a handgun, according to the statement of probable cause filed by Hagerstown Police.

Standing below the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse at courthouse plaza, 250 people rallied in support of their right to bear arms at Saturday's Second Amendment Freedom Rally in Chambersburg. Some held “Don't Tread on Me” signs, while others displayed guns on their hips or held rifles. “I'm glad I'm at a rally where I could bring my own gun,” said Ted Weaver, one of six speakers at the rally. “More and more, the Second Amendment is being stomped on.” Weaver, who was raised in Maryland and is chief executive officer and founder of Responsibly Armed, said he is disappointed by the strict changes in the gun laws in Maryland in the aftermath of December's massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Hello Washington County, I'm feeling a bit blue today.  Early in the week of January 3, I submitted an article for publication to The Herald-Mail.   The point of that article, besides a little history about the Battle of Antietam, was my vow and a vow for each of you, to settle our differences in a bloodless manner.  Lo' and behold, at the end of that same week a deranged (my opinion and I hope it becomes a fact) young man tried to settle some as yet unspecified grievance with a gun.   The net result of that action, at the time I am writing this article, is six Americans dead, another 12 wounded and a state turned upside down.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. -- A gun that might have belonged to famed Confederate spy Belle Boyd of Martinsburg was sold at auction in Gettysburg, Pa., this week to a private investor for $8,000, according to the auctioneering firm that held the sale. The .31-caliber, five-shot Allen & Wheelock revolver with ivory grips is inscribed with Boyd's name, but officials with Redding Auction Service could not be sure the firearm belonged to Boyd. The selling price for the gun is reflective of a "very strong" collecting market right now, firearms manager Patrick Redding said.

The gun with which a 2-year-old boy accidentally shot himself Monday morning was the personal weapon of a federal law enforcement officer that was stolen earlier this month from the glove compartment of his vehicle. The Glock Model 27 .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol was reported stolen to the Washington County Sheriff's Office on Sept. 7, according to court documents filed by the Hagerstown Police Department. The pistol was taken from the vehicle of the officer at his home in Keedysville, the documents show.

When Hagerstown Police Officer Thomas Cox investigated a report of suspicious vehicles in a parking lot in April, he encountered a man with a gun. Jarvel Fostion of Hagerstown pulled the gun from his waistband during a scuffle with the officer, Cox recalled during an interview on Wednesday. Before Fostion could raise the gun high enough to point it at him, Cox whacked Fostion's arm with a flashlight, Cox said. That confrontation led to Fostion entering an Alford plea on Wednesday to first-degree assault and being ordered to serve seven years in prison.

A man who pulled a gun during a Christmas Eve argument in the Barracuda Surf Bar parking lot was found guilty of second-degree assault and carrying a handgun Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court. Shane W. Spiegle, 28, of Laurel, Md., will remain free on $10,000 bond pending sentencing. A first-degree assault charge was dropped in exchange for the plea. Deputy Washington County State's Attorney Charles Strong said the Dec. 24 incident occurred at 1:32 a.m. when security guards saw two men fighting on the ground in the parking lot. The security guards approached the two men and saw a gun on the ground nearby.

A loaded .380-caliber handgun was tossed over a railing Tuesday afternoon at 311 N. Jonathan St. after officers detained a man in a suspected drug incident, according to Washington County District Court records. Leroy Benjamin Harris, 31, no fixed address, was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia and handgun on person, according to court records. Harris was being held in the Washington County Detention Center Wednesday night on $20,000 bond, a jail spokesman said.

Man guilty of discharging gun in store By JULIE E. GREENE / Staff Writer A Hancock man received probation before judgment Monday after pleading guilty to discharging a firearm in a liquor store in Hancock, officials said. Douglas Burnett, 33, of Main Street, has paid almost $800 in restitution to the owners of two vehicles damaged by the bullet after it went through a wall of the store, his attorney, Wiley Rutledge, told Washington County Circuit Judge Donald E. Beachley.

A deputy used a stun gun on a man Sunday morning after the man acted wildly when approached by police, who were responding to a call about a suspicious person on Basore Drive, Washington County Sheriff's Office officials said. Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore said the man appeared to have mental issues and deputies didn't know if he was “coming off some drugs.” “Apparently he was going wild,” Mullendore said. A stun gun was used once on the man, who was taken to Meritus Medical Center on an emergency petition for the psychiatric issue, Mullendore said.

The Hagerstown Police Department accepted four guns Saturday as part of Attorney General Doug Gansler's first statewide Gun Turn-In Day. Patrolman Kevin Brashears said residents turned in two handguns, a rifle and a pellet gun during the event, which was held locally from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hagerstown Police Department. Brashears said the guns would be stored in gun lockers at police headquarters for the time being. The Maryland Attorney General's Office sponsored the event to give people a chance to safely dispose of any unwanted firearms.

Police seized two firearms and large amounts of narcotics at a Martinsburg residence early Monday where they arrested three people, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court documents. Steven Edward Tomasik Jr., 25, of 320 E. Race St., was arraigned Monday on four counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and felon in possession of a firearm, according to court documents. Amber Louise Mills, 23, and Linda Ann Smith, 20, of the same Race Street address, were each charged with possession of a controlled substance, according to court documents.

State Sen. Richard Alloway is seeking co-sponsors for his latest bill that aims to prevent Pennsylvania municipalities from passing laws that do not align with state firearms regulations. “The reason I introduced it is to protect the rights of gun owners across Pennsylvania,” Alloway, R-Franklin/Adams/York, said Thursday. Some communities in the Philadelphia area have made decisions that are misaligned with state regulations such as permitting and reporting of lost or stolen firearms, Alloway said.

A teenage boy was struck with a handgun during an armed robbery near the Hager House in City Park on Wednesday afternoon, according to a Hagerstown Police Department spokesman. Sgt. John Lehman of the Criminal Investigation Division said the robbery was not a random act. Lehman said the victim and at least two teenage boys involved knew each other. The victim was taken to Meritus Medical Center east of Hagerstown, where he was treated and released, Lehman said. An undisclosed amount of money was taken from the victim, Lehman said.

Standing below the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse at courthouse plaza, 250 people rallied in support of their right to bear arms at Saturday's Second Amendment Freedom Rally in Chambersburg. Some held “Don't Tread on Me” signs, while others displayed guns on their hips or held rifles. “I'm glad I'm at a rally where I could bring my own gun,” said Ted Weaver, one of six speakers at the rally. “More and more, the Second Amendment is being stomped on.” Weaver, who was raised in Maryland and is chief executive officer and founder of Responsibly Armed, said he is disappointed by the strict changes in the gun laws in Maryland in the aftermath of December's massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

National Rifle Association President David Keene is unhappy about the gun-control measures passed Wednesday in by the House of Delegates in Maryland. “I'm a Maryland resident, so I'm not very enthused by the way Gov. (Martin) O'Malley has gone about all this. The so-called assault weapons ban he's tried to impose in Maryland and he's now gotten through the legislature is something I don't think will stand up to constitutional challenge,” Keene said in an interview with The Herald-Mail.

The Maryland House of Delegates approved a major gun control measure Wednesday banning assault weapons, requiring people who buy handguns to provide their fingerprints and limiting gun magazines to 10 bullets. The House voted 78-61 for the bill, one of Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's priorities for the legislative session scheduled to end Monday at midnight. All five Washington County delegates voted against the bill. Some called the bill a de facto ban on handguns, while one local legislator said the piece of legislation is one among several that he might try and put on a referendum in the 2014 elections.

The Franklin County 912 Patriots will host a “Second Amendment Freedom Rally” on Saturday, April 6, from noon to 2 p.m. adjacent to the old courthouse in downtown Chambersburg. The event will feature numerous speakers discussing the importance of protecting the Second Amendment, according to a news release. State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, will be one of the featured speakers. Metcalfe is the primary sponsor of House Bill 357, known as the Right to Bear Arms Protection Act. That legislation would nullify any new federal gun control measures in Pennsylvania, according to the news release.

Seven people were named in three indictments returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Martinsburg last week, according to U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II. Christopher Wayne Williams, 39, of Mill Creek, W.Va., was named in a two-count indictment charging him with one count of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of stolen firearms, according to a news release from Ihlenfeld's office. If convicted, Williams faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.