Actor fights N.J. gun charge filed over prop used during filming


NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — An actor who played a bit part in an independent gangster film is facing 10 years in state prison because he used a prop pellet gun without a state gun permit.

Carlo Goias, whose stage name is Carlo Bellario, was charged under New Jersey's strict gun law. It requires permits for firearms, including the airsoft gun Goias used while filming a car chase scene.

Goias rejected a plea deal offer Tuesday that could have sent him to jail for less than a year. He faces up to a decade behind bars because of prior felony convictions that prosecutors say include theft and burglary.

"I was shooting a movie — I wasn't committing a crime intentionally," Goias recently told The Associated Press. "Robert De Niro doesn't ask Marty Scorsese is if he has gun permits. We're actors. That's for the production company to worry about."

Armed employee stops workplace shooter on the Southside

It's a story of bravery, coming out of a tragedy.

After the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says an employee of B & L Landscape Company on the Southside opened fire Wednesday, killing a co-worker, witnesses now claim another employee stopped the incident from getting any worse.

They tell us Joseph Curry pulled out his own gun and stopped the shooter in his tracks.

Pro-gun activist accidentally shot by son to face charge

Jamie Gilt, the Florida pro-gun activist who was accidentally shot and wounded by her 4-year-old son, is expected to face a misdemeanor charge of allowing a minor access to a firearm, authorities said Tuesday.

Gilt, 31, was hospitalized earlier this month after the toddler accidentally shot her from the back seat of a car while she was sitting in the driver's seat, officials said.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday filed an affidavit with local prosecutors asking that Gilt be charged with the second-degree misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to 180 days in jail, Capt. Gator DeLoach told reporters.

DeLoach said the sheriff's office supports the rights of citizens to own and possess firearms but gun owners have the "additional responsibility of ensuring children do not gain unintended access to a firearm in hopes of preventing tragedies like this."

These Attacks Happened Days Before Brussels — But You Probably Didn't Hear About Them

The city of Brussels was rocked by explosions Tuesday morning, leaving at least 34 people dead and 170 others injured. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks in the immediate aftermath, but they came just days after Paris massacre suspect Salah Abdeslam was apprehended in the Molenbeek district of Brussels. The most recent spasm of European violence has already sent ripples of grief in media and Facebook feeds around the world.

Just days before all this, however, there were actually not one, but two bombings you may not have heard about — both in Turkey.

On March 13, a car bomb in the capital city of Ankara exploded leaving at least 37people dead and more than 100 injured, according to the Turkish health ministry. On Saturday, an ISIS-connected suicide bomber killed at least four in a busy tourist area in Istanbul.

But people are asking, where is the show of global solidarity for Ankara that there was for Paris, and there is right now for Brussels?

Or, in the words of Facebook user and Ankara resident James Taylor on the day his city was attacked: "You were Charlie, you were Paris. Will you be Ankara?"

Utah Senate votes to repeal 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (with video)

The Utah Senate on Wednesday called on Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment — so that state senators could again select U.S. senators.

It voted 20-6 to pass SJR2, and sent it to the House. It calls for Congress to repeal the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1913 to allow people to directly elect U.S. senators.

Its sponsor, Sen. Al Jackson, R-Highland, says electing senators by the state Senate is needed because no branch of the federal government now represents the needs of state governments. A change would force senators to do that.

"Today, senators are more beholden to special interest groups than to their states" because those interests give them money for reelection, Jackson said.

Brooklyn Park police: Permit-carrying resident halts armed robbery with fatal gunfire

A man with a permit to carry a firearm fatally shot an armed would-be robber on a Brooklyn Park street, authorities said Tuesday.

The two men exchanged gunfire about 8:05 p.m. Monday in the 7500 block of Imperial Drive, police said. Officers arrived at the scene and found the man who was attempting the robbery on the ground.

The person targeted in the robbery has a valid permit to carry a handgun and was not arrested, said Deputy Police Chief Mark Bruley.

Officers recovered both guns at the scene as they continue to investigate the shooting. Police have not released the identities of the two involved in the confrontation.

Bloomberg gun-safety group has a new target: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe

RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) suddenly knows what it’s like to be on the other end of a Michael Bloomberg advertising campaign.

Everytown for Gun Safety, a group bankrolled by the former New York mayor, poured $2 million into TV ads last fall in a failed bid to help McAuliffe’s party take back the state Senate.

On Wednesday, Everytown launched a social media campaign against McAuliffe, who last week stunned gun-safety advocates by announcing that he had struck a gun deal with Republican legislators and the National Rifle Association. It shows side-by-side photos of McAuliffe and the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre.

“What do VA Gov. Terry McAuliffe and NRA head Wayne LaPierre have in common?” one version reads. “Both Gov McAuliffe and NRA Head Wayne LaPierre support allowing dangerous people to carry hidden loaded weapons in Virginia.”

The Navy's Colossal Stealth Destroyer Heads Out to Sea

BATH, Maine (AP) — The largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy headed out to sea for the first time Monday, departing from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works and carefully navigating the winding Kennebec River before reaching the open ocean where the ship will undergo sea trials.

More than 200 shipbuilders, sailors and residents gathered to watch as the futuristic 600-foot, 15,000-ton USS Zumwalt glided past Fort Popham, accompanied by tugboats.

Kelley Campana, a Bath Iron Works employee, said she had goose bumps and tears in her eyes.

"This is pretty exciting. It's a great day to be a shipbuilder and to be an American," she said. "It's the first in its class. There's never been anything like it. It looks like the future."

Kalashnikov cranking up AK-47 factory in Florida

The famous Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles have been made in frigid Moscow since their inception 69 years ago. Soon, they'll be made in sunny Florida, too.

Kalashnikov USA has been approved by the city of Pompano Beach to assemble guns there.

Kalashnikov USA of Tullytown, Pa., was importing rifles made by Kalashnikov Concern, the original AK-47 manufacturer in Moscow, until 2014 when President Obama imposed sanctions against Russia following its annexation of Crimea. At that point, Kalashnikov USA severed all ties with the Russian company.

The company started making the guns in Pennsylvania last year, but is shifting manufacturing to Florida. Kalashnikov hasn't said why they are moving or how big the Pompano Beach operation will be.