Today is so yesterday. While the show remains a cash cow, Today’s production team can’t show up at J-school lecture halls without the cloying smell of 80′s happy talk overpowering their intellectual pretensions. And so Today is dipping its collective toe into . . . wait for it . . . investigative journalism. What better way to kick off their new venture than a cookie-cutter piece of EAT-G (Easy Access to Guns)? Did you know you can buy guns over the Internet without an FFL and FBI background check? Only one problem . . .

YOU CAN’T. But that kind of fact checking seems to be beyond the ken of Jeff Rossen and NBC’s “national investigative unit.”

Hey guys, the Internet is only the means by which buyers and sellers find each other. It’s the modern-day equivalent of what used to be called “newspapers.” You know; a printed publication that ran “classified ads.”

Apparently, this newfangled Internet’s something different: a cesspit of illegal gun sales. Not just guns. Semi-automatic guns. Assault rifles. Fifty caliber sniper rifles that can shoot five miles. Five miles! And bring down a helicopter! As Rossen breathlessly pointed out, the fiddy’s a favorite of Mexican drug lords.

OK, but—you can’t buy a gun off the Internet from a distributor or manufacturer without said firearm going through a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL). Private sales between individuals are perfectly legal—as long as the buyer and seller are both residents of the same state (where the deal goes down). That’s true no matter how the buyer and seller find each other.

Equally, selling a firearm to a felon is perfectly illegal, no matter how that deal goes down. So how does Joe Blow know the difference between friend and felon? He doesn’t. Not really. (Clever criminals!) The seller can be held accountable for selling a firearm to a felon, but the government has to prove the private seller’s foreknowledge in a court of law.

OMG! How do you live with that? If you’re a liberal, you don’t. Actually, you do. Because you have to. Because America’s founding fathers didn’t want the government poking its nose into private transactions between citizens until and unless they can prove that said transaction is illegal—after the fact.

Innocent until proven guilty. That kind of thing.

Does this Internet gun sales “loophole” enable gun-seeking bad guys? Maybe. But forcing private sellers to involve the feds in a supposedly free market also enables criminals. Ones that operate within the law (hint: they are the law). Go figure. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to change the channel. [h/t to TTAG's AI for the link]

TTAG is no stranger to the M&P 45C. In fact, our boy Giao reviewed one back in July of 2011 and found it to be quite nice, save for some trigger shortcomings. I’m ignorant of most things pistol and self defense-related, but the M&Ps are mighty popular, especially with new shooters. So my take on the gun is through the eyes of a total noob. There are a few other practical reasons for the M&P comeback. First, I’m at a breaking point on finding a concealed carry piece for the First Time CHL series. . .

For a few reasons, a 1911 is no dice and I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m going to end up carrying (and shooting) a couple different guns along the way to the concealed carry promised land. Second, the rep from Springfield Armory has said that an XDs will be harder to find that an honest politician in Chicago for a while so my hopes for a grip safety-equipped carry gun are on hold until they either dig up a T&E sample or I break down and pump some money into the local economy. And third, our man Dan seems to have done a great job schmoozing the boys from Smith at the SHOT Show. They initially told me it was going to take 90-120 days before getting a test gun in my grubby little paws. Six days later, my FFL took my 1911 in for maintenance and handed over a blue plastic S&W case.

Initial thoughts

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you don’t want to sit through 6:00 minutes of my oddly toned voice, I can sum things up rather quickly. There isn’t much to finagle on this here M&P. Magazine release, slide release, takedown lever, and trigger. Those are your four controls. No manual safety and no grip safety. There is no question about this being a fighting gun. Back when I raced motorcycles (way back when), you could always spot the race bikes from a mile away. There was safety wire everywhere, coarse cut magnesium parts, and flat black paint. Just one look told you that those bikes weren’t made for impressing people. It was for getting from point A to point B as fast as the rider could stomach. The M&P is the same way. This isn’t a pretty gun by any means, but it looks functional as all hell. Bonus points for being all black.

There were a few items that really impressed me. First, shipping with two different magazines. One flush for maximum concealment, the other with a pinky extender for those with bigger paws to get a good purchase on that nicely textured grip. Second is how easy it is to change out the backstraps. You’ll only need one, but not having to dig out a drift punch and hammer is sweet, sweet news. In less than 30 seconds, you can change the grip to suit your needs. That’s seriously awesome. Third, you can release the slide by ramming a loaded magazine home with gusto. See video to watch it in action.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now for the two pieces of bad news. First, the slide release is worthless in its current form. It is low profile which is nice for avoiding fat fingering it in a shootout. However, it is WAY too stiff and cannot be manipulated unless you completely move your thumb to 90 degrees and press down HARD. Thank god for a heavily serrated slide that makes racking easy.

Second, the trigger is godawful. Like real bad. S&W says 7 pounds. My trigger scale say 8 pounds. And it’s not an easy road to get to the 8 pound breaking point. This road to hell is apparently paved with long travel, a fair amount of grit and no noticeable reset. Good news for Apex Tactical. I’m planning to try out one of their DCAEK kits.

First Range Trip

What does it eat?

Pretty much everything. Plain and simple. I fed it steel case, hollow points, FMJ, and even some rat shot just for giggles.  According to the manual, +P is verboten. I only had one failure to fire in 250 rounds and it was from a dud primer on some steel cased ammo. Check out the video of my shit-eating grin after popping off some rat shot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Is it accurate?

Plenty enough for me. Pictures speak a thousand words, but suffice it to say that slow or fast, seven yards or fifteen, I never had a problem with MOBG accuracy. And a nicer trigger should only improve this tendency towards ragged holes.

Is it pleasant to shoot?

You betcha! .45 ACP is no slouch when it comes to recoil, but things were manageable and I didn’t have to ice down my hands and wrists after 250 rounds after a little more than 60 minutes of bangbangamous fun. Would I take it shooting all day? Sure, as long as I could afford the ammo.

Does it jam?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yes, but only if you don’t release the slide with vigor. You can see in the video that when I daintily released the slide with two fingers it jammed up. When I changed my grip to an overhand rack, end of problem. If the M&P does jam, a quick tap sets things in place.

While trying to film a video of the gun jamming up, I loaded and reloaded the same bullet several times. Regular readers might remember that we talked about bullet setback back in November. As this picture shows, setback is very real and happened in less than ten reloads. My guess is that the feed ramp on the M&P is a bit aggressive and that can put some things in a bind.

Conclusion

The M&P 45C is a good gun that needs just a bit of tweaking to become an excellent firearm. I feel completely comfortable using it as my EDC gun and will be doing so when my certificate comes in the mail. I have a feeling that I’ll be converting to 9 mm in the coming months, but for right now I’ve got a really solid platform to start practicing with.

Smith and Wesson M&P 45 Compact (no manual safety)

• Caliber: .45 ACP
• Capacity: 8+1
• Barrel Length: 4”
• Action: Striker Fire (DA Only)
• Weight (No Mag): 26.2 oz
• Overall Length: 7.55”
• Overall Height: 4.8”
• Width: 1.2”
• Material: Polymer Frame, Stainless Steel Melonite coated, Slide and Barrel
• MSRP: $599 (street price less than $500)

Ratings (out of five stars)

Style * * * *
Ugly as sin in all the right ways. Not Glock ugly, but still no 1911.

Ergonomics * * * *
I found it to have a very natural point of aim and the changeable backstraps mean that you have a lot of options when it comes to making the gun fit your hand. All of the controls are low profile and don’t inhibit your ability to put holes in stuff.

Reliability * * *
I’m docking points for the minor jamming issue. It might resolve itself in the next 1000 rounds or so, but I think it’s worth consideration. You need to be extra diligent about really jamming the slide home.

Control Usability * *
Mag release works great and the takedown process is easy. However, the slide release and trigger really chapped my skivvies. S&W could definitely fix the trigger by just implementing something like what Apex already offers. So why don’t they?

Overall Rating * * * *
This is a fine polymer gun that’ eaten everything I’ve thrown at it. It’s plenty accurate and  very concealable. No manual safety means that it’s a point and shoot affair. I’ll be strapping one to my hip in the next few months if that tells you anything.

Lancaster Pennsylvania mayor Rick Gray is outraged. Outraged I tell you! The state legislature is debating a law which would punish municipalities for breaking the law. Pennsylvania has statewide gun law preemption which means that local governments can’t make and enforce their own gun laws, which in turn means that gun owners can drive from one town to another without worrying that they will be breaking the law somewhere on the trip. Only one problem . . .

But the preemption law hasn’t kept a number of Keystone State cities from passing various, well, illegal laws. A particular favorite is the “lost or stolen” law which requires  gun owners to inform police within 24 (or sometimes 48) hours of discovering a missing weapon. The ostensible idea behind these laws is similar to the “one-gun-a-month” laws; to keep straw buyers from plying their trade.

Practicality and reality aren’t mainstays of hoplophobes’ thinking. Nor, apparently, is following the laws themselves. The thought of having to actually face consequences for their scofflaw regulations is enough to break through the purple sky of their make-believe world and so they are kicking up a fuss at having to actually obey the laws.

Gray noted the opposition to the measure from the state’s law enforcement community.

“Quite frankly, I think it’s pathetic that they pander to people whose interest is not public safety, but some ethereal interest in the right to a gun,” the mayor said.

He condemned the legislators for penalizing cities financially rather than responding to the financial crisis many Pennsylvania cities are facing.

In the words of my friend’s Tia Anna, pobrecitos.

Meanwhile, here’s the kicker: philly.com reports that the cops aren’t even enforcing the mandatory reporting requirement anyway. Does that mean they want to see the back of it? Does it hell.

Lt. Raymond Ever said the lack of citations doesn’t reflect any conscious decision not to enforce the ordinance.

Rather, “straw purchasers,” people who buy guns legally and then sell or give them to criminals, already face strict penalties when caught, so “a minor fine” piled onto the punishment they already face isn’t needed, he said. In Philly, people who don’t report a lost or stolen firearm within 24 hours face fines of up to $2,000 and 90 days in jail.

So . . .

Citations aren’t the point, Evers added. Rather, the ordinance serves as a public-education tool and incentive “to the good guys, the 99 percent of gun owners who are very, very responsible” to report lost or stolen firearms immediately.

So it’s an unenforced (perhaps unenforceable) punitive law designed to “educate” lawful gun owners about a requirement which has no appreciable effect on public safety. So now you know.

Mathew Corrigan is an Army reservist who was battling depression and insomnia. Wanting some help with the problems, he called what he thought was the military’s emotional support help line. Instead, he mistakenly called a suicide hotline. When he told them he was a vet, they asked if he owned guns. He confided that yes, he did, ended the conversation a short time later and went to bed. A prescription pill helped him get to sleep. Until, that is, he was rudely woken by the sound of his name being shouted over a bull horn. . .

As www.courthousenews.com tells it, the hotline had alerted the DCPD. They then deployed what appeared to be most of the city’s SWAT assets who had set up floodlights and surrounded his house.

“Corrigan turned on his phone and found that Officer Fischer of the 5th District was calling him, asking him to come out, which he did at about 4:50 a.m., locking the door behind him. He was handcuffed and put in the back of a SWAT truck.

“When Officer John Doe I (upon information and belief, Officer John Doe I is Lieutenant Robert Glover) asked Corrigan for the key to his apartment, he informed the officer: ‘There is no way I am giving you consent to enter my place.’ Officer John Doe I stated: ‘I don’t have time to play this constitutional bullshit!’ and ordered that Officers John Does II-V, members of the Emergency Response Team (ERT), enter the apartment.”

As a result of the incident, Lt. Glover will probably have to make some more time for constitutional bullshit in the not too distant future. His shock troops trashed Corrigan’s apartment looking for his guns and ammo (all of which were confiscated) then scanned the place for explosives. In an unusual and refreshing turn for a SWAT squad, they refrained from automatically shooting Corrigan’s dog, instead turning the pooch over to a shelter.

Corrigan spent two days in a VA hospital. Once they determined that he really wasn’t suicidal, he was arrested and spent two weeks in jail.

“When Corrigan returned to his apartment 16 days after being seized, he found that John Does I-XV had left the front door unlocked and unsecured, had left the electric stove on, had cut open every zipped bag, had dumped every box and drawer, had broken locked boxes from under the bed and the closet, and emptied shelves into piles in each room. All his tropical fish in his 150 gallon aquarium were dead.”

Corrigan has filed suit against District of Columbia seeking $500,000 in damages for constitutional violations.

As anyone who’s read Jared Lee Loughner’s internet rantings (since removed) or gazed at his visage will attest, the Arizona spree killer is as crazy as a loon. And yet Uncle Sam is determined to get the federal court to rule Loughner competent to stand trial. They’ve been pumping JLL with anti-psychotic drugs (against his lawyer’s objections), isolating him from the general prison population and refusing to allow the defense to videotape his interrogations “therapy.” Even now, after all that, despite a shrink’s determination that Loughner’s still batshit crazy, the killer is being railroaded towards a show trial. Aided and abetted by U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns. Check this latest ruling . . .

On Monday, January 30, 2012, the Court received a competency report from Dr. Christina Pietz, the defendant’s chief psychologist. In Dr. Pietz’s opinion, the defendant remains incompetent to stand trial, in particular because he lacks an adequate understanding of the nature and consequences of the charges against him. Dr. Pietz does, however, believe that the defendant has made measurable progress toward competency, and that his mental state will continue to improve.

I’d sure like to see the original psychiatrist’s report. The Judge’s carefully couched wording—Loughner “continue(s) to improve”—says nothing about Loughner’s ultimate ability to attain mental competency. Which would never happen without his mandatory drug regimen and “therapy” sessions with the prison doc.

The feds have had four months to de-crazy-i-fy Loughner. The judge has just given them another four. It’s been over a year since the shooting.

This is nuts. Loughner is nuts. Let him plead out, lock him up, throw away the key and be done with it. The Powers That Be should focus their attention on the failure of his parents, his friends, his school, the ATF and the sheriff’s department to intervene before Loughner went postal. Period.

This could be the year that Illinois finally “allows” its citizens to exercise their right to keep and bear (as in carry) arms. So what? As long as the Chicago machine calls the shots in The Land of Lincoln, the state will be about as firearms friendly as a Brady Campaign Christmas party. Illinois-based firearms manufacturers (e.g. Rock River Arms) are well advised to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Yes, I know: ArmaLite and other gunmakers in the AR “Silicon Valley” have deep roots in the community. But if the state can push bills like the ones described above in a post-McDonald decision world, there’s no hope. And there’s never been a better time to negotiate new digs in gun-friendly states. Sorry Mark. Major hassle. Lots of heartbreak. But it’s time to go.

Arizona is considering a “controversial” bill that would prevent state-run colleges from restricting students’ Second Amendment rights. Only not really. SB1474 will allow in-state campuses to ban guns within buildings—provided the campus has gun lockers and posts signage informing gun owners of the policy. The first thought in my mind: what good is concealed carry if you have to check your gun at the door of every class you attend? I’ve got three words for the bill’s framers: target rich environment. Further, creating a single storage space where a pile of weapons are just a crowbar away strikes me as an exceptionally bad idea. And here’s the big question: how do you get to college without learning about the United States Constitution? How do you get to be a professor–-a law teacher— without understanding its basic tenets? azcentral.com:

Flagstaff Mayor Sara Presler [above], an attorney who has taught at Northern Arizona University, asked legislators to vote down the bill.

She said she supports the Second Amendment, but said college is not the place for weapons.

“It’s (hard) to imagine encouraging a free marketplace of ideas and intellectual growth developed in an environment with a Colt 45 strapped to the hip of a student or professor,” Presler wrote in a letter. “Bring a book to class, not a Colt 45.”

“I support the Second Amendment.” Words. The same (first) words that came out of the mouths of Mayors Menino and Bloomberg during their pro-gun control Superbowl ad (aired in the New England market). Note to gun control advocates: words have meaning. If you think about it . . .

One of my favorite rhetorical tactics when it comes to the Second Amendment: substitute one of the other items in the Bill of Rights for the right to keep and bear arms. It’s why I am no longer a “reasonable restrictions” guy and am now a “the second amendment is my permit” guy.

Imagine if Arizona were considering a bill to restore the right to peaceably assemble on campus. Would student groups form in opposition to the idea (admittedly, such a group would have trouble convincing one another to get together for a protest)?

I’m confident that if a vote were taken on any given college campus to “restore” Second Amendment rights to students while on campus, the vote would fail handily*.  Our education system does a horrible job of teaching civics in anything approaching a historic fashion. There is far more fervent support for a “right” found in the emanations and penumbras of the Fourth Amendment than a clearly articulated right such as the second.

The common view of the Bill of Rights is deeply distorted in society and the academy is a chief culprit. I’ve said before that children are ignorant barbarians, born naked and unknowing into the world. It’s up to us to teach them right from wrong. For decades we have sub-contracted the teaching of civics to those who believe that what’s enumerated in Second Amendment isn’t really a right. We need to take upon ourselves the teaching of constitutional government since government-run schools are doing such a piss-poor job of it.

*On the other hand, almost all the college age folks I talked to at the Occupy St. Louis “happening” supported the 2nd Amendment, so long as one had small magazines.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence’s name is a ruse. By declaring that it wants to”prevent gun violence” the BS artist formerly known as Handgun Control avoids signaling its real goal: a de facto gun ban. This they would do by creating expensive, pre-emptive, restrictive, impractical, ineffectual and virtually unenforceable gun laws; regulations that discourage and/or prevent lawful citizens from obtaining a firearm. As for enabling concealed carry licenses so that citizens can prevent gun violence in economically challenged neighborhoods, you must be joking. But now that Daniel Gross [above] has taken the helm from Helmke, expect big changes at the Brady Campaign . . .

Or not.

Gross spoke with USA TODAY over the weekend and said he wants to start a national conversation on gun control and get people engaged in a deep way. [TTAG is reaching out for a web-based live chat.]

“Policy is a big part of the solution but people have to realize that this isn’t a political issue, this is an issue that’s claiming the lives of 30,000 people every year and eight kids every day and we need to approach it with that kind of urgency,” Gross said.

More code. Translation: “Not a political issue” means the Brady Campaign will continue to hammer Republicans for “dragging their heels” on “common sense gun control” while claiming that gun control should be a non-partisan effort that transcends any discussion of constitutional rights or liberties. Although they may not mention that last bit.

“The bottom line is making people care about this issue and care about it personally and deeply,” he added. “If you look at most gun (control) policy, you’ll see the majority of Americans are in favor of it, but that voice has yet to be coalesced and impassioned to the point where it can effect change.”

Huh? Recent surveys show—definitively—that Americans are less supportive of messing around with gun control laws than ever before. Support for the late lamented (by the Bradys) assault weapons ban has also slipped. Dramatically. And that’s from a population that couldn’t tell an assault weapon from a modern sporting home defense rifle (with a shoulder thingie that goes up).

The fact that Mr. Gross is willing to lie about his issue’s popularity, or, worse, holds this belief without any data to back it up, shows us that it’s We Won’t Get Fooled Again. Again.

Here, meet the new boss:

Michael Fleming, executive director of the David Bohnett Foundation, a social activism group based in Beverly Hills, said in an email that he has worked with Gross for almost a decade.

“As a funder that is passionate about stemming the tide of senseless gun violence in our country, I know that Dan will bring Brady a new sense of purpose and energy as they take on some of the greatest public policy challenges we, as a society, face.”

Gross helped create the Center to Prevent Youth Violence, a New York-based organization, after his brother was shot in the head during a 1997 rampage on the roof of the Empire State Building. Before founding the center in 1998, Gross was a marketing and advertising executive in New York.

Let’s look at Mr. Gross’s benefactor . . .

According to their webpage, the David Bohnett Foundation doles out cash to the vote fixers at Acorn, a great many AIDs charities and gay rights groups (nothing wrong with that, save the fact that gay people should be armed against their oppressors) and, of course, The Brady Campaign to Prevent Violence.

Bohnett has “awarded” the Bradys $198,000 since 2000. Believe it or not that makes them one of the top benefactors. Bohnett also went big for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence ($235k since 2009).

We now learn that the abortive website gunfreediningintennessee.org was a Bohnett beneficiary. (Why 2k?) Another 30k (since 2000) went to the Campus Alliance to End Gun Violence, which did so much to stop the Virginia Tech shooting. Oh wait.

There’s a grand to Handgun Control (which I thought was defunct) and 10 Gs for Chicago’s Handgun Epidemic Lowering Plan (HELP). FYI friends at Media Matters For America took possession of $545k of Bohnett’s bounty since 2007.

He who owns the gold grabs the guns, eh? We’ve reported on Gross’s own Center to Prevent Youth Violence before, whose webpage has some helpful advice on how to suicide-proof your home. Here’s the level of discourse on that topic:

An NVISS Study of firearm suicides among youth under 18 occurring found that 82% used a firearm belonging to a family member, usually a parent. When storage status was noted, about two-thirds of the firearms had been stored unlocked. Among the remaining cases in which the firearms had been locked the youth knew the combination or where the key was kept or broke into the cabinet (Harvard School of Public Health).

So, more of the same, then. Misdirections, statistical manipulation and waving the bloody shirt. It’s too bad that The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence doesn’t really want to prevent gun violence with effective measures that would gain the support of gun owners (e.g., making sure that vicious criminals remain incarcerated until their testosterone levels drop, or longer).

Then again, the sort of campaign would simply provide a more effective cover for their real agenda: disarming Americans. The fight continues.

I just received the following email from Wisconsin Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer [above] re: Danny’s previously posted story Bill Kramer: New CCL Holder, Politician: 

I did not want to affect the comment flow, but I wanted to let you know that I did not out myself.  The AP called me knowing that I, and one other legislator by name, was carrying in the Capitol.  By taking the interview, I hoped that I could get, at least, part of my side into the story and try to keep other legislators from being named . . .

I stressed in every interview that the key is “concealed”, and that I was less than happy being named.  I am not ashamed to carry.  I am not scared in the Capitol.  I am not shouting from the mountain top that I am carrying, either.

Bill Kramer
Speaker Pro Tem

On the eve of the Super Bowl gun control ad by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the nraila.org offered a round-up of criminal charges lodged against members of the gun grabbing group. We republish it here with our thanks to the NRA for their tireless opposition to those who would seek to abridge our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.  We start with Coaldale NY Mayor Richard Corkery . . .

Coaldale, Pa. Mayor faces pornography charges
The Times News, Carbon County, N.Y., September 9, 2011

The Mayor of Coaldale, Richard Corkery is in jail following a violation of his bail conditions stemming from charges by Carbon County prosecutors that he downloaded child pornography.

Brownsville Mayor has third DWI arrest
The Monitor, McAllen, Texas, May 11, 2010
The Brownsville Herald, Brownsville, Texas, Jun. 21, 2011

Mayor Pat M. Ahumeda Jr. was arrested after police pulled him over for driving erratically and he refused to take a breathalyzer. The mayor plead guilty to reckless driving and was sentenced to two years’ probation. Ahumeda was arrested for DWI in 1987 and 2003.

Monticello, N.Y. Mayor pleads guilty
The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y., Jun. 10, 2010
The Sullivan County Democrat, Callicoon, N.Y., Apr. 19, 2011

Mayor Gordon Jenkins plead guilty to five counts of trademark counterfeiting after he and his wife were caught selling knockoff Nikes to undercover police at the store the couple own. A search of their home also turned up marijuana.

Mayor of Tamarac, Fla. turns herself in
The Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., March 9, 2011

Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco faces charges of bribery and official misconduct stemming from dealings with two unscrupulous developers.

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez sentenced to three years in prison
The Hartford Courant, Sept. 15, 2010

Mayor Eddie Perez has been sentenced to three years in prison and three years of probation after being convicted on five felony corruption charges, including extortion

Embattled Racine mayor resigns
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, March 3, 2010

Mayor of Racine, Wis. and member of Mayors against Illegal Guns Gary Becker resigned after facing charges in an internet sex sting. Becker was later convicted and received a three year prison term.

White Plains, NY: After arrest, mayor denies injuring wife
LoHud.com, March 1, 2010

Mayor Adam Bradley was arrested for third degree misdemeanor assault. Wife Fumiko Bradley acquired a temporary protective order against him. The mayor was sentenced to three years probation.

Inglewood mayor resigns before pleading guilty to misdemeanor conflict of interest charge
The L.A. Times, Jan. 25, 2010

Mayor of Inglewood resigns ahead of pleading guilty to conflict of interest charges. He also faced charges of embezzlement.

Baltimore Mayor resigns after pleading guilty to stealing from the poor
The Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 6, 2010

Mayor of Baltimore, Md. Sheila Dixon and member of Mayors against Illegal Guns was indicted on theft and perjury charges. Dixon was ultimately convicted of taking from a program intended to help disadvantaged children. Dixon had to resign as part of her plea deal.

Larry Langford found guilty on all 60 counts
The Birmingham News, Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 28, 2009

Larry Langford, Birmingham’s mayor and a former Jefferson County commissioner, has been found guilty in his federal bribery trial.

Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick sentenced to four months
CNN, Oct. 28, 2008

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading to two felony charges of obstruction of justice. In addition, the mayor pled to a charge of assaulting a police officer.

New Jersey Mayor and wife sentenced for extortion
The Jersey Journal, Oct. 3, 2008

Mayor David Delle Donna, 49, of Guttenberg, was sentenced to four years, 3 months for tax evasion and the extortion of a local business owner.

Mayor with a past has a future in prison
The New York Times, Aug. 22, 2008

When a federal judge sentenced former Mayor Samuel Rivera to 21 months in federal prison on Aug. 15, an era ended in this tattered city of nearly 70,000, leaving many here debating Mr. Rivera’s tumultuous past and wondering what is to come.

Will Wynn pleads guilty to assault
The Austin Chronicle, Mar. 3, 2008

Mayor Will Wynn formally pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge Tuesday, stemming from a 2006 incident where he physically ejected purported party crasher Luke Johnson from his Downtown condo; in a signed statement, Johnson described the “contact as offensive and provocative.”

The Mayor of Jersey City is convicted over a scuffle
The New York Times, Jun. 6, 2007

A municipal court judge in this shore town found the mayor of Jersey City guilty of obstructing justice and resisting arrest in a clash with a police officer a little more than a year ago, leading the mayor’s wife, Maureen, to hiss, “It’s a disgrace.” The mayor, Jerramiah T. Healy, said in a news conference after the verdict that he had no intention of resigning his office, and would most likely appeal the decision, rendered by a municipal court judge, John G. Colannino, who ordered Mayor Healy to pay $828 in fees and fines and then imposed a stay of 20 days.

A Bloomberg anti-gun mayor is charged with carrying weapon
New York Sun, Nov. 22, 2006

The mayor of Jackson, Miss., Frank Melton—who, according to news reports, carries firearms at all times and has a reputation for being tough on crime—pleaded no contest to carrying a concealed gun on the campus of Mississippi College School of Law. He also pleaded guilty to carrying a gun into a church and into a park, also illegal under state law. The first was reduced from a felony charge to a misdemeanor; the latter two were misdemeanors.