We are relieved to point out a report that the Birmingham, Ala., police detective who was pistol-whipped unconscious last Friday during a traffic stop is out of the hospital. It remains to be seen if the officer can remain unnamed to shield his family.

While details are still emerging as to how the suspect got the veteran officer’s weapon, other things are clear. According to Sergeant Heath Boackle of the BPD, “(The police) are walking on eggshells because of how they’re scrutinized by the media.” In this case, the officer didn’t use his gun to stop the attack because he “didn’t want to be in the media”—nearly getting him killed.

BPD Chief A.C. Roper captured the larger context amid online celebration of the attack: “The nobility of policing has been challenged … and we have allowed popular culture to draft a narrative which is contrary to the amazing work that so many officers are doing.”

Illustrating the fact that so-called “gun buybacks” don’t accomplish anything, either in Boston or anywhere else, Beantown’s gun buyback—which Mayor Martin J. Walsh launched proclaiming that “removing guns from our neighborhoods is at the heart of our violence prevention”—so far this year has netted a grand total of one gun.

In contrast, similar efforts last year in Boston yielded 410 firearms, suggesting that whatever old, broken, unwanted or worthless firearms that widows and gun collectors had stowed away have already been sold to the city—with significant profits for the sellers and more red ink for Boston—while Boston’s murder rate rises.

Here’s a crazy idea, Boston: Instead of spending money you don’t have ... to buy guns people don’t want ... at higher prices than they’re worth ... to accomplish a lot of nothing, why not spend that money on something that works—like police and prosecutions?

An Alabama church has found a unique way to utilize some rough church-owned property behind its buildings, and is helping members and local law enforcement improve their shooting skills in the process.

Rocky Mount United Methodist Church in Jemison, Ala., has turned an overgrown gully out back into a shooting range, used both for training and as an outreach ministry. “This is an opportunity for us to reach out in the name of Jesus Christ in a setting that is completely unique. Even odd by some people’s standards,” Phillip Guin, church pastor, told WIAT. “But who’s to say that church can’t happen right here?”

The range is also regularly used by officers with the Jemison Police Department, both for training and offering training courses to the public.

A recent tweet from noted … well, celebrity Kim Kardashian about a mass murder is sadly typical of that blend of outrage and ignorance so common in Hollywood: “He purchased the gun & ammo ONLINE! How is it so easy to purchase guns online!!! Does this not sicken you? No background checks needed!!!!!” Kardashian boasts 34.4 million Twitter followers, many of whom probably took her at her word.

Of course, anyone who has spent more than five minutes researching guns knows that even while you can set up a gun purchase online, it must legally be conducted through a federal firearms license holder (who will conduct a background check). The idea that someone can have a gun shipped to their house as easily as a book is completely erroneous—but unfortunately, a few more people probably believe it now.

The New York State Supreme Court has ruled in favor of opponents of Gov. Cuomo’s NY SAFE Act for the second time in less than two months. The Shooters Committee on Political Education, or SCOPE, has been seeking documents and records pertaining to the law pushed through in 2013.

According to court papers filed in Albany County, SCOPE wanted to know if the governor’s lawyers “concocted a special regulation designed to suppress protestors’ right to use toy guns in exercise of their First Amendment rights.”

The Cuomo administration initially refused to hand over requested documents, citing attorney-client privilege. However, in a ruling last month, acting state Supreme Court Justice Michael Melkonian said the administration should provide correspondence from prior to the April 1, 2014, rally during which police confiscated two protest signs that looked like weapons. The governor’s office is likely to appeal the latest court decision.

Two armed intruders likely didn’t expect to be interrupted when they braved the rain to break into an empty Lantana, Fla., house Thursday night. But when the resident arrived to find them in his home around 8 p.m., he immediately made it clear that he wasn’t going to be made a victim. During the subsequent altercation, the homeowner exchanged gunfire with the suspects, killing one and injuring the other, who was taken to a local hospital. The homeowner was unharmed and has not been charged.

A neighbor who witnessed the incident described the resident as a family man and “good guy” who works several jobs to make ends meet. In an interview with The Palm Beach Post, he defended the homeowner’s actions, saying, “I’m all for the Stand Your Ground law. If I came home and somebody was in my house, I’m sorry to say, but I’m not going to choose your life over mine.”