Good Week for Mayhem at the Movies!

We can segue directly from 300 to Shooter! More than this, you can't ask...I'm sending an email to Brother Steve Hunter, whose classic (and dare I say it, beloved among gun-sters like myself) book Point of Impact was the basis for Shooter.

I'm back from the Frozen Northlands, where I was on a pretty cool project for SIGARMS, essential "video-editing" their catalog. More about that later. I did get a chanc e to put some rounds through the new SIG P220 Compact, the repla cement for the now-discontinued P245...you'll see the whole video on DOWN RANGE (of course!), but I'll give you a quick bottom line — spectacular! A little .45 that delivers.

I ordered one on the spot.

In fact, I sort of had a P220 epiphany. I got my first 220 .45 back around 1982, one of the European versions with a butt magazine release. The gun had been overhauled and finished with electroless nickel, and it was slick slick slick. In a moment of spectacular weakness, I traded it for a new in the box Browning Hi-Power Combat in .40 S&W. This is when I was still suffering from the delusion that .40 S&W had anything to offer. I shot the first IDPA Columbia Invitational with the H-P and did okay. I eventually had Wayne Noval overhaul the gun, but like every other .40 I've owned, I found myself not taking it to the range, defaulting to .45s and 9mms. I eventually solved this problem by not getting any more .40s, probably the most overrated cartridge on earth.

Anyway, short story, I remembered just how good my 220s shot, so I've resolved to get another full-sized one along with the Compact.

Interesting summation in Real Clear Politics of the D.C. decision on how the Second Amendment is viewed:

For nearly 70 years, the Second Amendment has been the Jimmy Hoffa of constitutional provisions -- missing, its whereabouts unknown, and presumed dead. The right to keep and bear arms, though treasured by many Americans, was a complete stranger to the Supreme Court. But recently, a federal appeals court did something no federal court had ever done before: It struck down a gun control law as a violation of the Second Amendment.

There's also an interesting column from Sam Venable in Tennessee that sums it up well:

But I'm guessing everyday folks - who may or may not own a gun and don't feel strongly either way - will be inclined to side with the court this time around.

Why?

Because we've all felt the heavy hand of Big Brother, and it's a most uncomfortable sensation.

Between the broad auspices of the Patriot Act, domestic surveillance programs and other abuses of time-honored civil liberties, John and Jane Does have come to the sobering realization that Uncle Sam isn't always a kind, benevolent father figure who respects the privacy of his citizens. Unchecked, open government will inevitably morph into an Orwellian nightmare.

I'm certainly no legal scholar. If I interpret the court's ruling correctly, however, it means laws can be enacted to govern gun ownership, but they can't be so sweeping and so absolute that they abridge a basic constitutional right.

If only the courts would take a similar approach to other civil liberties - such as freedom of expression.

BTW, I have to apologize for today's videos on DOWN RANGE being a bit late...I made a critical mistake in wrestling with QuickTime, thinking I could use one of two highly regarded utility problems as a workaround. I probably could have, if I could have obtained said utilities...one company is MIA; the other took my money, allowed me to download the utility,then NEVER sent me the key to turn the program on. Talk about vaporware!

Videos will be up this afternoon, with our new audio intro!