I'm simply aghast!

In a 2-1 decision in Parker v. District of Columbia, right-wing activist judges on a Federal Appeals Court recently overturned Washington D.C.'s long-standing restrictions on handguns based on their twisted view of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution while ignoring more than 60 years of precedent — a decision that endangers America's gun laws coast-to-coast.

This case could land before the U.S. Supreme Court within the next 6 months and each month brings a tidal wave of work to fight this terrible decision. Simply put: we need your support today!

Please click here to make a commitment of $5 or more per month. This affordable amount will automatically be charged to your credit card each month — unless you decide to change or cancel your monthly commitment.

Your monthly gift will be a steady source of income that will help us:

Convene well-recognized experts in constitutional law and history to develop the most powerful arguments against the Parker ruling;

Assemble a comprehensive library of books, treatises, articles, court decisions and legal briefs refuting the "individual rights" view of the Second Amendment and make this library available to lawyers nationwide and on the Internet; and

Launch a major public education campaign including full-page ads in major newspapers and a new Brady Gun Law Defense Fund website. We'll also organize lawyers and law professors to write newspaper op-eds and letters to the editor to create a constant drumbeat of criticism of this decision.

This battle — to its very core — is the most important battle we have ever waged. We need your help today — your monthly support — to build a strong Brady Gun Law Defense Fund to save America's gun laws.

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We must prepare for the fight of our lives. Everything we have worked for in the past and everything we’re currently working on could be destroyed by the heinous ruling of right-wing activist judges who choose to ignore more than 60 years of precedent in order to help the gun lobby accomplish in the courts what they’ve been unable to accomplish in Congress.

A citizen shoots a robber during a grocery store heist. It happened more than a year ago in the Homeland store at 91st and Memorial. The man has never shared his story until now, and he spoke only to News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright. She reports it was a tough decision for him to make.

It was split second and life or death. The man and his wife had been to the movies and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. They were in the check-out line when the robbery unfolded right in front of them. Joseph saw the men walk into the grocery store and head to the store office with the managers as they pulled their t-shirts over their faces.

Even though he spent 21 years in the military, and believes he made the right decision, it's hard for him to talk about.

"The gentleman I shot produced a handgun and placed it against the manager's head like this and I thought, I need to do something, so, it's harder to talk about, I pulled my weapon, sighted him and fired two shots," said Joseph.

He hit one of the robbers once. Michael Curly, dragged himself out of the store. Another suspect, Mark Brown, ran off. Both men were arrested months later.

Joseph had gotten his concealed carry permit 7 years earlier, and had practiced shooting regularly.

"The only time you can use deadly force is when you believe a life is at stake, and my belief was that manager was about to be killed and I had to do something about it," he said. Joseph had a Smith and Wesson 357 revolver that night, with five shots and would've been outgunned had the robber shot back. Now, he carries a glock 357 semi-auto with 14 rounds and a laser site.

"I don't regret having shot him,” Joseph said. “I also am pleased he didn't die, for a couple of reasons. Nobody likes to take a life and the other is, maybe he'll tell his friends they need to think twice, or three times about doing what they've been doing."

Joseph never faced any charges in the case, and police returned his gun to him a week later. The man he shot had been given a 40 year prison sentence in 1995 for crimes in Oklahoma City that involved rape, robbery, torture and scalding, but he got out after serving only eight. He is now testifying against other robbers so he hasn't been sentenced for this crime yet.