Sleazy Unsubstantiated Gossip...

Rumors all over the place that Colt has been sold to Taurus. Unfortunately, they didn't fall into my in-box until after business hours, so I can't confirm or deny until Monday.

Heaven knows there have been all kinds of deals on the table for the Pony, but most of the buyers I talked to were thoroughly disgusted by the pricing.

Let you know as soon as I know...

A Little Something Creepy for You All...

Here's the movie trailer for the sequel to 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later.

I'd been on the road like forever when I smoked into some airport motel in the wee hours with a 6AM flight ahead of me. I pay down in bed, flicked the teevee to 28 Days Later on HBO and spent the rest of the night with my eyes wide, wide open. I made my plane early. It's a scary movie.

I have hopes for the sequel, who's tag line is "Eradication...Sterilization...Re-Population...Re-Infection..."

Very Sad News Today for the Firearms Community

This from my friends at Para USA:

Ted Szabo, 60, Leaves Behind a Legacy of Innovation at Para-Ordnance

Ted Szabo, the innovative president of Para-Ordnance Mfg. Inc., passed away on Wednesday March 28, 2007 at the age of 60. Szabo, a gifted engineer and designer, founded the company in the 1985 with his friend, Thanos Polyzos.

From its inception, the company displayed an innovative capacity that has characterized its products ever since. Their first offering, introduced in 1987, was an all-plastic, selective-fire paint ball gun called the Model 85 “Dye Marking Tactical Machine Pistol.” In full-auto mode, this unique pistol fired at a rate of 1,200 rounds per minute, and was designed as a close-quarters-combat training device for law enforcement and military personnel.

In 1988, Para-Ordnance introduced an innovation which Szabo had dreamt about since his college days: a high-capacity frame and magazine for Model 1911 pistols. This solved the classic handgunners’ dilemma—choosing between the superior stopping power of the .45 ACP cartridge and the impressive magazine capacity and firepower of the 9mm Parabellum.

For the first time in history, Model 1911 pistol owners no longer had to compromise, and could enjoy an 86% increase in magazine capacity—from 7 rounds to 13. The high-capacity frame assembly became Para’s first step in a long series of needed improvements upon the original John M. Browning design.

Szabo’s passion was the 1911 pistol, or what he called, “the best platform for an auto-loading pistol.” While he was intrigued with John Browning’s original designs, Szabo had no interest in replicating them. “I have always wanted to pick up where his design left off and carry the technology forward to the next level,” said Szabo.

And that is what he did in 1990 with the introduction of the Para P14·45 pistol with double the magazine capacity of a standard 1911. Szabo’s creative genius drove him to continuously seek ways of improving handgun design. Szabo pondered why there could not be an easier, smoother double-action trigger system. His development of a true light double-action (LDA) trigger system won his company an unprecedented four “Gunny” awards from Guns & Ammo magazine.

Never content to rest on his laurels, Szabo was constantly looking for ways to improve the 1911 pistol. The design of the extractor, he felt, was a weak link that needed to be improved. The result was Para’s patented Power Extractor™ with its 50% larger claw that produces controlled feeding and positive extraction of the empty case.

While Szabo’s desire was always to “significantly improve a product” he had another passion, and that was championing gun rights. His family fled his native Hungary after the tanks rolled into Budapest in 1956. “I know what it means to have your dreams of freedom crushed by a totalitarian government,” said Szabo.

Para’s new Gun Rights models, the PXT 1911 SSP and the PXT P14·45, were designed to give consumers significant value and make a contribution to NRA-ILA. “We all need to support the NRA and the work they are doing for all of us. We are facing a lot of challenges as we go into 2008,” said Szabo.

In the spirit that Para-Ordnance was created, the company will continue to champion value for gun owners and their continued rights. Co-founder, Thanos Polyzos, and his strong management team will continue to produce the innovative pistols that Ted Szabo created, as well as his new designs that are in development.

Say hello to the Colonel for us, Ted...

Interesting Take on D.C. & the Second...

Brother Jonah Goldberg over at NRO has an interesting and well-reasoned take on the implications of the D.C. firearms ruling and the Second Amendment...be sure to read the whole thing!

Now, you might think this is what I have in mind when I say that the Court of Appeals ruling was an epochal victory for conservatives. But it’s not.

No, the real victory is that liberals are starting to accept the fact that the constitution has a meaning separate and distinct from what the most pliant liberal judge wants it to mean. Therefore, writes Wittes, “perhaps it’s time for gun-control supporters to come to grips with the fact that the (Second Amendment) actually means something ... For which reason, I hereby advance a modest proposal: Let’s repeal the damn thing.” Wittes isn’t alone. A number of left-wing commentators have picked up the idea as well.

Personally, I would oppose repeal, and I have problems with many liberal arguments against the Second Amendment. But that liberals are willing to play by the rules is an enormous, monumental victory that transcends the particulars of the gun-control debate.

I agree with Jonah that the real victory of Parker et all is a redefining of the argument. For the uncommitted middle, the ruling has stripped away the fiction perpetuated by Brady and its ilk that only NRA whackos though the Second Amendment actually meant what it said.

I'm sure the guys over at NRO are sick of my letters, too, harping about how the Republicans had better suck it up and start pretending that they believe — and acting like they believe — in what the Second Amendment says before my entire end of "the Grand Old Party" totally leaves the reservation!

Thursday Wrap-Up

Here's a really nice piece on the on-going Webb Aide With Piece controversy in D.C., from Investors.com:

Reports of the incident involving Webb's aide are sketchy and conflicting. But we know that Phillip Thompson was arrested and spent his birthday in custody for trying to enter the Russell Senate Office Building, where Webb's office is located, with a bag carrying Webb's loaded gun and two fully loaded magazines.

We can't imagine the uproar if he had been an aide to a GOP senator. No doubt we'd have been bombarded with file footage of Columbine and every other mass shooting in memory. Instead we have stony silence from those who were happy to exploit Webb's position on the Second Amendment to get him elected.

Either they support his position or they don't. If not, where's the condemnation?

Remember when the Dems were running how they bleated and bleated that they weren't the "cut and run" party? Then, as soon as they were elected, they whored themselves out to anyone who'd pony up a vote for a piece of pork so they could prove they were the cut and run party? I worry that the new anti-gun Dems are going to follwo the same trajectory...

It's still snowing here in the High Country...sigh...I believed in my heart it spring had sprung...

If we are able to actually convince the manufacturer to build that stainless Broomhandle, i promise you one of the first five as a DRTV Giveaway Gun! We're giving away the bruce Gray Sig Sauer 1911 at the NRA Members Meeting in St. Louis in two weeks! The next gun is a Tactical Solutions 10/22 with an AMAZING Leupold scope! I'll post video from the show.

My Chase bank account is, as of this afternoon, CLOSED CLOSED CLOSED. You guys made that possible, and I thank you. Interesting point...in the last few days I've had a serious Internet"attack" on my PayPal account, and the attackers had all my checking account information. HMMMMM...in all my years as a reporter, I stopped believing in "coincidence." If two things happend in proximity of each other, and those things shared a couple of data points, they were related. I step up the war on Chase, some little puppy with access to the info leaks my checking account info to the web. If it was my bank, I'd start firing people...

Riddle Me This, Teddy Roosevelt!

This is a REAL question for all you little gunnies out there!

Above is a classic Mauser C96 "Bolo" version, your basic Broomhandle Mauser. It is, IMO, one of the coolest handguns ever made. The Broomhandles are sort of like gun puzzles, they disassemble like a puzzle, without screws and I think only one pin. Hey, if it was good enough for T.R., Winston Churchill and the Texas Rangers, it's good enough for me!

So here's my question...what if a gun company was willing to build a stainless steel Broomhandle, available in .30 Mauser, the original cartridge, 9mm or...get this....357 SIG?

Would you buy it?

For between $1200-1500? That's the cost of a mid-range Kimber, by way of comparison...

Say yes, because I want one in the worst possible way! Just seeing a picture of a Broomhandle gives me an overwhelming urge to slay Dervishes and avenge "Chinese" Gordon...if this makes no sense to you, I can't help it if you slept through your Colonial History of Africa classes in college!

Come on...after all those plastic pistols, a stainless Broomhandle would be a breath of fresh air, and in .357 SIG the ne plus ultra of car guns! Fit a suppressor and a holster/shoulder stock and you will be the absolute hit of your next Cowboy Action Match — hey, it's 19th Century technology...just like the Maxim!

Cool is cool...vote now and vote often, as they say in Chicago!

Sen. Jim Webb on Guns in D.C.

This from the National Review Online this AM:

QUESTION: Do you, Senator, feel that you are above Washington, D.C.'s gun law?

WEBB: I'm not going to comment in any level in terms of how I provide for my own security.

Well, heck...which of us does not agree with the good senator? The backstory (here, from CNN) is that Webb's aide, Phillip Thompson, was arrested for carrying a loaded pistol with "two fully loaded magazines" into the Seate Office Building Monday morning:

A congressional official who has been briefed on the incident by law enforcement told CNN that the handgun belonged to the senator. Thompson was driving Webb to a Washington-area airport, located in Virginia, earlier Monday morning, the official said, when Webb remembered that he had the gun on him. It is legal to carry a concealed handgun in Virginia.

Thompson apparentlyt forgot he had the piece in his briefcase. Well, it happens. I'd really like to see Webb, one of the newly minted "pro-gun" Dems, stand up and say the truth, which is that everyone in D.C. shoudl ahve access to a self-defense firearm. We'll see.,

BTW, no word on Webb's choice of a carry gun, but here's a piece (so to speak) of his post-election interview in the Richmond Times Dispatch: :

Q: Sen. George Allen would allow visitors to carry a concealed firearm into a national park. You wrote a letter during the campaign on gun issues; do you intend to introduce a bill that would repeal the gun ban in national parks?

A: I'm willing to look at that. I'm a strong Second Amendment person . . . I've not seen Allen's bill.

The way that the legislative approach was presented to me on that issue was that in those states that allow conceal and carry, and allow . . . people who can carry concealed weapons to carry those weapons into all parks . . . in those states that have federal land, that it would be appropriate to open those up for concealed-carry. And I agree with that concept.

The difficulty in gun-control issues has always been that we're such a diverse country -- geographically, demographically and in other ways -- that it's hard to have a national standard on a lot of this stuff. What works in New York City doesn't necessarily work in Southwest Virginia, and vice versa.

Q: Do you carry a gun regularly?

A: I don't carry personally regularly. I shoot regularly. I like to have the option to carry, which is why I keep the permit.

Q: You're not carrying around Capitol Hill?

A: (Laughing.) No . . . I value the opportunity to be able to protect myself, depending on situations. But no, I don't walk around with a weapon on me all of the time.

Given the present makeup of Congress, I'd say it makes sense to alwasy have not only a gun, but at least two armed guards and a roll of toilet paper with you at all times!

THANK YOU!!!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOO...I post on Thursday PM, at exactly 8:00 AM, Gayle Vaseman from Chase calls to apologize profusely and say my account is "almost" closed, as she only has a few questions left.

By 9:00 AM, Ms. Vaseman and the "few questions" have vanished, and Chase is giving me bulletins on the progress towards closing my account. They graciously decide to remove the penalties and service fees that resulted when PayPal dinged my account — even before I explained to them that I had filed a fraud report with PayPal, who is investigating the software company involved.

Chase now says that my account will be closed by this morning...as my "new customer service representative" says, "Don't take this the wrong way, Mr. Bane, but all of us here truly hope we NEVER hear your name again!"

THANK YOU (and you know who you are!). Without the help of the readers of this blog, these weasels would never have been bought to heel.

I'll keep you all informed as the the exact moment my account is officially "closed."

Guns & Yoga

I love this article, from the New York Times Sunday Magazine, no less:

True-Life Tales
Guns and Yoga

By PATTON OSWALT

Not long ago, I decided to learn how to shoot guns. It was a Saturday morning, and I was curious. So after a breakfast of spelt flakes, soy milk and green tea, I went out shooting.

I believe in sustainable agriculture. I support gay marriage. I think war is a failure of diplomacy, logic and leadership. I’m embarrassed by the fact that it’s 2007 and my country is debating evolution. Pot should be legal. I dream of a world where punches are made of flowers.

And, it turns out, I love guns.

At the gun class, I learned gun safety, legal obligations, targeting and trigger pulling. And there were coffee and doughnuts, so you could pretend you were a maverick cop who didn’t play by the rules and, damn it, Chief, unless you let me do this my way, we’re never gonna catch this killer. Here, take my badge!

While shooting, I loved how the guns were small but also really heavy. I’m small and heavy, too, but not solid like a gun. I’m more like a duffel bag full of ball bearings and mayonnaise.

Here is how a gun works. You put these small metal cylinders full of explosives inside, and when the cylinders explode the gun doesn’t. It’s tight and strong and sends the cylinders flying out at whatever you’re pointing at — a paper target or, I hope, someday, zombies. While most things these days — movies, government employees, fast-food sandwiches and me — are slapped together with cardboard and frosting, a gun is a precision instrument.

Because I know how ridiculous I look holding a gun, I did pretty well. If your focus isn’t on being cool while you do something, you focus on results. I was free. I cut dead center (or close to it) on my silhouette target’s 8-ring almost every time. I imagined huge chunks of stew getting blown out of the backs of my attackers.

Later that day, I took a restorative yoga class. Shooting guns and taking yoga on the same day was the biggest “You got chocolate in my peanut butter!” moment I’ve had so far in my life. Guns and yoga are French fries dipped in a milkshake. Scotch and ginger ale. Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model” after a bad breakup. Reruns of “Law and Order” and having no life: they’re good together.

You shoot better when you realize that your soul is a leaf falling through time, and that work shouldn’t equal struggle. And yoga never aligns you with the universe better than when your forearm is still tingling from the buck and recoil of a .357 bullpup.

Someone needs to open a combination shooting range and yoga studio. I’m serious. Maybe I should do it. Hose off a few clips of Glaser safety slugs, then see how deep you can go into Warrior II. The murder rate would go down. No, wait — it would stay the same, but people would realize it’s all part of a bigger plan. Or, no, it would go up, because people would realize the transitory nature of existence, and that everything that has happened or is going to happen is always happening someplace forever, so why not put a slug in that dude’s head who won’t stop talking during “300”?

The people I took the introductory gun course with were an interesting bunch: two guys hoping to become armed security guards, an indie-music-store-looking black guy, a dad and his two teenage sons and a guy who claimed to be an actor researching a role. Did they know a neophyte yogi sat among them, counting his inhalations and trying to make his exhalations take twice as long?

Meanwhile, I was the only guy in the yoga class. In fact, I was the only non-soccer mom in the yoga class. Did they know they had a rifle-eyed street panther in their midst?

Probably not. In yoga, you’re supposed to go at your own pace and focus on your breathing. So no one saw me flopping my doughnut belly and Internet butt around like a wino when I was trying to do Bridge Pose, or Happy Baby or Slightly Superior Suburbanite. Like the legless, armless silhouette I shot at earlier that day, I had holes of self-loathing blasted out of me. My Corpse Pose must’ve looked eerily authentic.

All these thoughts whizzed through my head like tracer bullets as I lay there, in the evening gloom of the studio, with a dozen moms breathing mom-breaths around me. I floated out of my body. I hovered over Burbank. I was one with my target, and my target was bliss.

Namaste. Lock and load.

Patton Oswalt is a writer and comedian. He performs the voice of Remy, the lead rat, in “Ratatouille,” an animated film scheduled for release this summer.

Namaste. Lock and load.

That oughta be the motto for DOWN RANGE TELEVISION...

Chase Bank HATES Their Customers!

At least, they apparently hate me...

This is the kind of thing that absolutely sends me screaming!

I have been trying to close my personal checking account at CHASE BANK in downtown Boulder since late December. In fact, I was assured by Chase Bank Dispute Resolution that my bank account was closed by January 7.

What follows is a cautionary tale for the Electronic Age.

First, Chase tells me that I CAN'T close my checking account, because there are some Internet debit accounts. I say that the accounts, a credit card billin system I used before PayPal and a Yahoo Groups account have been notified that they can no longer ding my account. Chase Bank says TOUGH NOOGIES, I have to pay until I rot in hell and that's the way life is. I suggest that my attorney does not believe that there are any state and federal laws that require me to keep my checking account open.

WHOOPS, says the Chase Weasel, you need to talk to Dispute Resolution.

May I have your name, I ask?

No, the Weasel says, but you can be transfered to Dispute Resolution. That's TRIP ONE to my new pals at DR, who apologized profusely, said the Chase Weasel had "misspoke" and that ti was "not the policy of Chase to lie to our customers." She promised to close my account, refund the service fees and charges and, in general, make it all well.

Fast forward to the end of January, when Chase starts calling me about 5-8 times a day, from 7:30AM to 8:30 PM. I call Chase, who tells me — surprise! — my account not only is not closed, but it accruing penalties and service fees like crazy. I ask for a human being's name and start to expain and — surprise surprise!! — no name but an instant transfer to Dispute Resolution.

On TRIP TWO to DR, they once again apologize profusely for the "ignorance" of the people calling me; promise to refund all service fees, penalties, etc.; promise to close my account once and for all and fax me "within the hour" a statement for me to notarize that no one is authorized to debit my alledgedly now-closed account.

What about the Chase weasels calling me six and seven times a day? "There's nothng we can do about that," DR tells me. "Tell them you're talkig to DR and give them a claim number and they may stop." Tell them to stop, I say. It's harrassment. "We can't," DR replies. "We have no way of knowing who is calling you."

Hmmmmmm....

ROUND THREE...the weasels keep calling, telling me they're now prepared to ruin my credit, keep piling on the penalties and, I swear to God, CLOSE MY ACCOUNT if I don't pony up more money. I call yet again, and am told once (actually thrice) again that I can't close my account, there's nothing anyone at Chase can do to help me and that they will keep calling forever and ever...and so on and so on until I mention I have spoken to dispute Resolution...and I am summarily transfered to DR after the "Chase Customer Service Representative" refuses to give me her name, an employee number or the name of her supervisor.

DR once again apologies. I offer to pay the penalties if that will make all this nonsense end, and DR says absolutely not — "Mr. Bane, you have done everything right and this is Chase's fault. You shouldn't have to pay anything."

However — and it's a big however — maybe it would be better if I went to my branch, the downtown branch in Boulder, CO, and make sure the account was closed. And they didn't fax me any papers to sign because the amounts were so small i didn't need to sign any papers. "Don't worry, Mr. Bane," DR said. "You account is closed and no one can debit from it."

Before I could get to Boulder, I get a threatening letter in addition to my endless phone calls, which were continuing at the rate of 5-6 a day, to my home number (which I never gave them) and my business number. So I drop everything and head to Boulder, where I meet the first nice person I've talked to at Chase, Crystal Wiley, who is an officer in commercial banking, who proceeds to tell me that everything DR told me is a lie.

"Your account is still open,'Ms. Wiley says, because it can't be closed unless you have a zero balance. You don't have a zero balance."

I go through the whole song and dance, and she says nothing Chase can do. So I pony up $52 and change, which she assures me DR will refund via a check, because if they refund me the money to my account, it automatically opens my account...got that? "It's almost over," she says, "and I couldn't be more sorry flr your ordeal."

I will call you Wednesday morning, Ms. Wiley says, and make sure it's OFFICIALLY OVER.

Wednesday morning comes and goes.

No call.

Finally, at end of business day on Wednesday, I call for Ms.Wiley and get transfered to one Gayle Vaseman, an alledged customer service representative. Ms. Vaseman, who works out of the Boulder Downtown branch of Chase, is every bit as brusque — and rude — as the other Chase Weasels. A debit has come in, she says. I say DR has assured me that the account is closed and no one can debit it. Ms. Vaseman says she doesn't know anything about that, but in any case there's nothing she can do. I say any attempted debit is fraud. She says I'll have to take that up with my friends at DR. I start to explain, and she interrupts to say there is NOTHING she can do, so what do I want?

I say I want to speak to Ms.Wiley. After my 3rd request, she puts Ms. Wiley on the phone, who immediately begins appologizing for Ms. Vaseman's rudeness. She assures me that Ms. Vaseman is on the case and will, without fail, call me on Thursday to say whether the small debit has "posted" or not.

I say Im confused, as DR has assured me thatmy accountis closed and that NOTHING can debit from it. She says, well, I'm not sure, but if it "pists" and we pay it, you have to pay us, even though you insist it is an unauthorized debit and criminal fraud, because that;s the way it is. But I shold not worry, as Ms. Vaseman is an expert and good for her word.

Then Ms. Wiley leaves for vacation.

But as she is hanging up, I hear Ms. Vaseman, the expert and honest person, announce loudly thagt, "Boy I'm llooking forward to dealing with this one!"

Thursday, and the honest Ms. Vaseman doesn't call. In fact, I can't reach her in any way, and the honest Ms. Vasemen doesn't bother to return my call by end of business day Thursday. I have yet another call into my pals at DR. My account is still open. Chase is still charging me service fees and penalties.

EVERY WORD SPOKEN TO ME BY A REPRESENTATIVE OF CHASE BANK HAS BEEN A LIE.

I HAVE BEEN ROUTINELY TREATED BY THE "CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES" OF CHASE BANK LIKE DOG CRAP ON THE BOTTOM OF THEIR SHOES...SCRAPE IT OFF AND HOPE THE SMELL GOES AWAY.

I strongly urge everyone to forward this post to anyone in the banking community. If anyone has a direct phone number or email address for ANYONE at Chase, please forward it to me...I have worked as an investigative reporter and am an expert on the Internet, but the people at Chase, who refuse to give their names unless you demand it to their faces, keep their contact information VERY secret...gee, I wonder why!

Thanks!

Bob the Nailer for President

And, hey, I wasn't the first to say it!

This from no less than SFWeekly.com:

Wittily adapted by screenwriter Jonathan Lemkin (The Devil's Advocate) from the first in a trilogy of Swagger novels by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter, Shooter is a generically titled studio action picture that turns out to be a surprisingly deft satire about Americans' loss of faith in their government following the 2000 election, the 9/11 attacks, and the ensuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Betrayed by Uncle Sam both at home and abroad, Swagger starts to seem like the last honest exponent of old-fashioned American virtue — a John Rambo for the Bush II generation — and the more he learns about the conspiracy that has taken hold of his life, the further he sees that it reaches: That everything really is about oil money and that, in the words of the movie's fat-cat Red-state senator (a wonderfully smarmy Ned Beatty), there are no heroes and villains or Democrats and Republicans — only haves and have-nots. Cannily programmed at the start of the 2008 election season, this rampantly amoral and Darwinian film persuasively argues that, in today's America, it's every man for himself and commerce against all. Allow me to be the first to propose: Bob Lee Swagger for president.

A-freakin'-men!

Why I Never Fell in Love with the .40 S&W

Okay, here's another muddy quagmire for me to wade into!

Yes, I know that the .40 S&W, occasionally known as the .40 Short & Weak, has been hailed as the most lethal round from a hand-held weapon since the RPG, packing the pure stopping power of a cement truck filled with molden lead. You can read the adulatory entry in the Wikipedia or, if you've got some time on your hands, you can read all 11,400 entries in the Google search "stopping power comparison between 9mm and .40 S&W." Yes indeedy, the power of a .45 ACP with the capacity of a Wonder-9! Better than peanut butter and jelly in the same jar!

Okay, so no sane person, given any sort of choice, would opt for a 9mm or a .45 ACP when he or she could have this amazing miracle round.

I've certainly shot enough .40...I competed in USPSA with an STI EDGE in .40, the absolute baseline gun for USPSA Limited competition, and it rocked. I shot IDPA with a .40 High Power . When the first little bitty .40s came out — as it happens, it was a Star FireStar M-40 — I shelled out far too much money for a Spanish gun, sent it to gunsmith Mike LaRocca, who bitched mightily but did a flawless action job on the gun, whined until Tim Wegner at Blade-Tech made me an IWB for the little gun. I carried it for several years and put a couple of thousand rounds through it before I changed first to an STI LS-9 9mm, then the SIG P225 in 9mm.

Now why would I voluntarily "downgrade" myself from this Jedi knight light saber of a round to a plain vanilla 9mm, which as everyone who reads gun magazines knows is only slightly more efficient than a spitball from a 13-year-old schoolgirl?

Okey-dokey...let me step you through it:

1) Sophisticated computer-aided bullet design has drastically narrowed the gap between the handgun cartridges. To a large extent, the drastic differences in "handgun stopping power" have involved comparisons with ball ammo.
2) I'm not a cop nor in the military; I can choose to carry any bullet I want. The military has numerous constraints on their handgun ammo, and so does law enforcement. One of those big constraints is price. I buy the round I'm the most comfortable with — Hornady TAPS — and, yes, it's more expensive than the average bear.
3) My experience has been that I can deliver more accurate rounds faster with either a 9mm or a .45 ACP than with a .40 in the equivalent small frame semiauto. I believe this has to do with the recoil impulse of the .40, which is sharp and nasty in a little gun...and I've shot a lot of them.
4) The .40 S&W has a spooky pressure curve, especially related to overall case length. If the bullet is driven back into the case, pressures can spike sharply. I don't like high pressure surprises, no matter how remote the chance.
5) I HATED developing loads for the .40...it seemed to me to be a far more finicky beastie than the .45 ACP (or the 9mm, which I typically don't reload). When I finally got a load that rocked in my EDGE, the High Power flatly hated it. The loads that ran well and were super accurate in the H-P jammed the EDGE up. The loads that worked best in my single stack STI Trojan sucked in everything else. My experience with the .45 ACP and the revolver rounds found much less "swing" with the same loads in similar guns. My baseline .45 loads work pretty well in everything.
6) There's the undefinable "take it to the range" factor...I always take an additional gun (or guns) to the range no matter what I'm there for, just to do a little practice or plinking when I'm done with my main shooting. I found that the .40s stayed in the safe. Hmmmmmmm...David Caruso would call that a "clue."
7) On travels, I have on occasion had to buy ammo from Wally-World or the random K-Mart...in those cases where I know I have to buy ammo, I invariably carry a .45 ACP and buy 230-grain FMJ ball. .45 ball works.
8) Finally, "stopping power" is wildly secondary to bullet placement. Let me say that again...in a handgun round, bullet placement is everything. What I want in a carry gun is the absolute knowledge that I can deliver the shot with that gun and that load. The little .40s required more from me than the 9mms and the .45 ACPs.

So anyhow, shoot what you want to and what you can shoot well. Your experiences may differ from mine, and you're every bit as correct as me. Not as handsome and scintillating, of course...

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!

I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal...

Tell me the truth...do you think this look will work for me on SHOOTING GALLERY and DRTV???

I mean, I've had hair envy for a long time. I look longingly at overwaxed pompadors, dyed brown waves cresting over weak foreheads. Sigh. Anyhow, I think with hair extensions, epoxy and possibly some plastic superstructure I can pull this off...maybe dye the whole thing in some Mossy Oak pattern...

Maybe not...I could go with Realtree...

Put some rounds through a 552 buzz gun today. I understand why rifle people get fixated on the little SIG...it does rock. I also got to play around with the new SIG-branded Airsoft guns, including the 552 Airsoft, which is really really neat. Since you can't have the Real Thing, you can always fantasize...AND DOGS WILL FEAR YOU!

I had hoped to have some video edited for DRTV tonight, but it's late and I have 'way early appointments. I'm going to leave the computer running all night capturing video...nite all!

New Hamster!

Oh mama, can this really be the end...to be stuck inside New Hamster...etc...

I saw some REALLY cool guns today, but I can't tell you anything about them yet! I will have SIGARMS video up next week, so stay tuned at DOWN RANGE! Went to a place tonight that served Anchor Steam on tap...that alone makes the trip worthwhile.

In the meantime, check out NRO's excellent summation of the D.C. gun ruling from a series of top scholars and writers.

I'm gonna try and sneak over to the SIG Academy and crank up a 552 on Wednesday...happiness is indeed a warm machinegun...

More on the D.C. Second Amendment Ruling

Lots of blog stuff out there. Say Uncle has excellent coverage. Volokh, via Instapundit, is documenting factual errors on the ruling in both the Washington Post and the NYT. Big media is trying desperately to spin this story their — ie, the antigun — way, but at least based on the NPR interview with Paul Helmke, the curent weasel-in-charge at Brady, they're running around on the verge of wetting themselves. You can read Brady's overwrought press release here.

Not to be outdone, the Violence Policy Center is predicting the end of civilization as we know it:

"While today’s decision is a dream come true for America’s gun lobby and gunmakers, it may mark the beginning of a long, national nightmare from which we will never recover as a nation."

Wow! Cool! I suggest immigrating to Canada; be sure to say hi to Alex Baldwin when you get there! Meanwhile, NBC is running a poll on whether handguns should be legal in D.C., witht he current tally running about 88% in our favor. Tres embarrassing! The rabble just doesn't seem to agree with those media "opinion leaders."

HELL FREEZES OVER!

Lord help us all! The D.C. Circuit Court has struck down the Washington D.C. gun laws for violating the Second Amendment!

Read about it here:

According to the majority opinion, "[T]he phrase 'the right of the people,' when read intratextually and in light of Supreme Court precedent, leads us to conclude that the right in question is individual." The majority opinion sums up its holding on this point as follows:

To summarize, we conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad). In addition, the right to keep and bear arms had the important and salutary civic purpose of helping to preserve the citizen militia. The civic purpose was also a political expedient for the Federalists in the First Congress as it served, in part, to placate their Antifederalist opponents. The individual right facilitated militia service by ensuring that citizens would not be barred from keeping the arms they would need when called forth for militia duty. Despite the importance of the Second Amendment's civic purpose, however, the activities it protects are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia.
The majority opinion also rejects the argument that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a State. And the majority opinion concludes, "Section 7-2507.02, like the bar on carrying a pistol within the home, amounts to a complete prohibition on the lawful use of handguns for self-defense. As such, we hold it unconstitutional."

Today's Recipes...LOL!

Okay, meanwhile back in Gun World, first a quick look Across the Pond, where the pathetic remnants of our forefathers continue hell-bent toward spiritual suicide:

Home Office proposes ban on samurai swords

Banning Offensive Weapons proposes a ban on the sale, import and hire of replica samurai swords, adding them to the 17 weapons including on the Offensive Weapons Order.

In the past four years there have been 80 serious crimes involving imitation samurais in England and Wales. The Home Office notes that genuine, collectable swords are not used in crime, but rather cheaper, easily available swords.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said: "Public safety is our greatest priority. Samurai sword crime is low in volume but high in profile and I recognise it can have a devastating impact.

Last year the U. K. Home Office was fretting about large chef's knives, remember. Next year, they'll be looking at sharp sticks, knitting needles, fingers to the eye (nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!), and harsh language. Gun crime, of course, continues to soar, because, of course, "...only outlaws will have guns..."

Thankfully, Britain's large contingent of Jedi Knights (I'm not making this up!) are standing firm:

Jedi denounce UK sabre ban plan

The UK's Jedi community today expressed concerns that government plans to ban Samurai swords could hinder their freedom to wield lightsabres in public.

[...]

Breaching the new rules could mean six months in prison, and a £5,000 fine. Anyone carrying such a weapon in public could faces up to four years in prison, the consultation paper suggests.
The paper notes that genuine Samurai swords would not attract the same penalties, and there are also exemptions for other specific martial arts weapons. "We recognise it is the cheap, easily available Samurai swords which are being used in crime and not the genuine, more expensive samurai swords which are of interest to collectors and martial art enthusiasts," Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker. "As such as we are putting forward exemptions for these groups."

The key word here is 'replica'. No one has yet built a working lightsabre, leaving the UK's would-be Obi-Wans inevitably having to wield plastic, flick-of-the-wrist-to-extend weapons in duels with Sith Lords, remotes and, occasionally, each other.

But Jedi fear that the Samurai ban would leave them exposed to future legislation against other forms of imitation weaponry that would, Jedi Temple (Neasden) spokesman Indi-Anna Jones warned today.

I'm thinking of forming the first Jedi Temple in the little mountain town I live in. I figured the burned out hippies who live here will flock to the Temple, especially when I put up the big posters of Carrie Fisher as a Jabba the Hut's barge 'ho. Pass that collection plate! I suppose it doesn't matter about Britain in the long run...it has my vote as the most likely European country to first adopt Sharia Law. Do you think the imans will require Wookies to wear burkahs? Probably...this from The London Fog blogsite:

Men should wear burkahs too

The United Nations, in collaboration with the World Mental Health Organization and the Women's Universal Suffrage organization, in collaboration with the Homeless Coalition and the Diversity and Anti-Discrimination co-operative, in collaboration with local White Male support groups overlooked by the environmental friendly are advocating mandatory burkahs for all.

What better way to achieve equality and suppress unfair advantages such as those enjoyed by beautiful people than by covering up their mugs? Ugly people deserve a chance too.

Meanwhile, rumors about in Gun World that two major players will be stepping in the blazing hot black rifle market this year. I'm estimating that maybe as many as 750,000 black rifles, primarily AR clones and the numerous flavors or AKs, were sold in 2006. I base this on some preliminary AR manufacturing numbers and a "finger in the wind best-guess" on the AKs. Part of this reflects the November elections...I issued a "buy order," and I stand by it. Secondly, AKs are available at extremely attractive prices, and there's definitely a "betcha can't eat just one" air around them.

There's also a bit of controvery around Matthew Fox's paeon to the H-K 416 gas piston gun in Army Times. Here's his conclusions:

The 416 is now considered in many circles to be the best carbine in the world — a weapon that combines the solid handling, accuracy and familiarity of the M4 with the famed dependability of the rugged AK47.

For the foreseeable future, however, the Army is sticking with the M4 and M16 for regular forces.

[...]

The key to the 416’s reliability lies in its gas system. It looks like the M4 carbine on the outside, but on the inside, H&K has replaced Colt’s “gas-tube” system with the short-stroke piston system. This eliminates carbon being blown back into the chamber, which leads to fouling problems, and greatly reduces parts wear created by super-heated gases used to cycle the weapon. The result, experts say, is that the 416 is more reliable, easier to maintain and has a longer parts life than the M4.

I personally think all this bodes well for the next generation of carbines using some kind of modified piston system, including the presently available SIGARMS 556, the FNH SCAR system (which I have shot in semi, but not full auto due to range restrictions) and the whole host of smaller makers like Robinson, LWRC (which I have shot in full auto) and P.O.F.-USA.

My bone with H-K is that there are zero plans for a civilian version of the 416, which sucks. FNH is working on a civilian semi version of the SCAR, which I liked the heck out of. I'm going up to FNH later this spring and will have a full report for you guys on DOWN RANGE and SHOOTING GALLERY.

I'll be up at SIGARMS next week, working with the 556 and a couple of varieties of SIG pistols that should be available alter this year. Again, watch this space!

Rum Drinks

Yesterday was my day to clean house, including the bird cages, which are roughly perodactyl-sized. While I was slogging along, the teevee was on the Food Channel, playing a Bobby Flay thing on chowder. This launched me into a chowder frenzy, so I spent the evening tinkering together a southwestern-flavored corn and shrimp chowder, based loosely on a recipe I found on the Internet.

The secret to great chowder has nothing to do with rum drinks — the title to a Jimmy Buffett song if you must know. Rather, the secret to great chowder is great tequila. I figured since I was already in the kitchen, I'd make a pitcher of margaritas (see how all this ties back to Jimmy Buffett song titles?).

All you tequila snobs are going to have an aneurysm, but I used a mixture of the legendary Porfidio "Cactus in Bottle" Silver and not-exactly chopped liver Milagro Select Reposada, along with Triple Sec, Gran Marnier, Citronge orange liquer, lime and lemon juice, fresh limes, and a little blended mix.

Well, that makes the chowder go a little easier!

Anyhow, the chowder was a huge success, even though I refused to use heavy whipping cream. Part of the trick is rubbing the shrimp with Emeril's spicey seasoning, letting them sit for awhile, then boiling them in about an inch of half-water/half-white wine (or cooking wine, either works). Saute a medium onion in half-butter/half-olive oil; add a tablespoon of minced garlic; cook 'til the onions are soft. Go very slowly, because high-end tequila doesn't actually lead to intoxication so much as a hallucinogenic shifting of reality. This is a good time not to let the cat in the kitchen or read anything from Hunter S. Thompson outloud.

Add a couple of cups of chicken stock...I only use free-range low-fat low-sodium organic pizza-fed yada yada, but I live in Boulder County, so that can be excused. Add a cup of so (I did a cup and a half, maybe two, of mild) of your favorite tomato-based salsa...boil five minutes.

Toss in the cooked shrimp, chopped; diced new potatoes, boiled; half a cup of fresh basil, chopped fine; one seeded jalapeno, chopped. Season to taste...to me that means salt, pepper and Emeril's. Heaven knows what it means to Bitter Bitch! Bile? I brought this to a boil, had some more margarita, waited another five minutes and added one-half cup of low fat half-and-half . Another five-minute boil, then serve with more margaritas and heated garlic bread. I could have probably topped it with chopped cilantro, but my Sweetie hates cilantro.

I actually had a pretty good time...I went to cooking school, after all. Every so often I ought to cook. It was either that or go down in the cold, cold basement, sans margarita, and reload .500 S&W Magnums...

SHOOTING GALLERY / COWBOYS GOOD NEWS!

Ah, the news you've all been waiting to hear!

SHOOTING GALLERY and COWBOYS will be back with new shows on The Outdoor Channel in 2008, with me producing.

Even more importantly, the new management of The Outdoor Channel and I are on exactly the same page...we're going to be taking the two most popular shooting shows in HISTORY up to the next level! Get ready, 'cause it's gonna rock!

More later, but I wanted to get this announcement out ASAP....

UPDATE: USFS Jihad Against Recreational Shooting Rolls On!

First, before I get into my next post on the serious issue of toys designed to grow into invading aliens, let me apologize for the vague post on the Greenies from the U.S. Forest Service meetings yesterday.

Short story...USFS officials are holding "public meetings" all over the country to access recrational uses of the public forestr resource. The local head rangers, who run their area like little medieval fiefdoms, get to choose which "critical areas" to address first. Here in the Front Range, Boulder District Ranger Christine Walsh, who is violently antigun, has been on jihad against recreational shootng. The local Greenies have been doing a series of "show trials" to try and justify their plan to end recreational shooting on USFS — aka, our — land. The second set of show trials, where we lowly citizens get to suggest "solutions" to the non-existant problems dredged up by the last set of public meetings, is under way.

I say they're show trials because:

1) Walsh has told me directly that USFS will "out-of-hand reject" any plans/suggestions that increase USFS liability. That includes any "no net loss" of shooting areas, any formal or informal maps to shooting areas, any information posted as to where and how people can shoot, signage at local shooting areas, even having Rangers give any information on how or where a person can legally shoot on USFS land, etc. This is despite the fact that shooting shares the same liability issues as equestrian sports and kayaking...USFS readily provides, maps, trail information, signage, helpful information, etc. for both equestrian sports and kayaking.

2) Walsh and USFS recreation Director Cat Luna told me directly that the "real issue" with recreational shooting was that by allowing it, USFS was "legally obligated" to clean up the lead contamination. This is nonsense on several levels:
• Lead contamination is hardly an issue in casual shooting areas, where the volume of use falls well below even the lowest EPA estimates on shooting ranges.
• The areas typically involved in recreational shooting in the high country are not "high risk" areas such as wetlands or streams. Rather, they're rocky, largely dry areas often already used for other activities that have far greater impact on the environment, eg motorized off-road activity, staging area for wildfire-fighting equptment in the event of fire, a heavily logged area, etc.
• The Front Range of Colorado is an old, heavily worked mining area! There are mine sites on USFS land that make Cernobyl look like a fun Sunday picnic destination — arsenic, heavy metals of a stunning variety, lead at a level far, far beyond any shooting range, a fascinating cocktail of lesser known carcinogens, the occasional radioactive waste material, etc. I know of at least one incident in the last 12 months where a commercial range was given a pass on cleaning lead contamination because, realistically, the mine sites represent a hugely greater threat. In short, USFS can't afford to clean up the mine sites in the forests; the shootng sites are inconsequential small potatoes.

3) USFS is actively closing shooting areas in the Front Range illegally, using a discredited interpretation of federal law as an excuse. As I've blogged about extensively (here's the link to my most recent story last year) and has been covered extensively in both GunWeek (most recently, Spetember 2006 Archives) and Soldier of Fortune, I first became aware of the USFS jihad when the range I shot on above the little mountain town I live in was shut down for "being within 150 yards of an occupied area," in this case a gravel road. Read my earlier post for all the pertinent information. In short, the USFS and the Department of Agriculture acknowledge that a "road" is not an "occupied area" as stated in Federal law.

The range I shot on, however, is still posted for that reason. At last Saturday's meeting, Ms. Walsh stated again that no shooting could be done within 150 yards of any road, street or highway. I challenged her on her interpretation of the law. First, she told me that "this is not the forum to address that issue." I responded if not here and now, when? This was, after all, a public meeting to address these "critical issues." She then told me that she and her executive staff had "no choice" but to post the shooting ranges, as the USFS Law Enforcement section had told her that was their interpretation of the law.

Hmmmmm, me thinks....so I go to the USFS Law Enforcement people and asked them why they interpreted the law in direct violation of their bosses in Washington. LE told me they did no such thing; that, in fact, the USFS administration had chosen to close the range over the recommendations of ther own enforcement officers and the objections of local law enforcement officers, some of whom actively used the shooting area for training and qualifying.

Here's what the Feds say about Ms. Walsh's personal interpretation of the law, from GunWeek:

Some critical issues were revealed during Gun Week’s investigation of this latest [USFS] incident. [Veteran USFS Public Affairs Officer in Washington D.C. Alan] Gibbs acknowledged that it is still the belief among USFS law enforcement officers and other staffers that a forest road is an “occupied area” as defined under a forest regulation first discussed more than a year ago as part of an earlier Gun Week investigation into shooting on national forest lands.

He confirmed that law enforcement bases its position on an unwritten, verbal “ruling” by an unidentified federal magistrate that a road is an occupied area. Yet last year, Mark Rey, Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment—essentially the man who oversees national forest operations—told Gun Week in an interview that this ruling is “an urban legend.”

And as this issue was going to press, Gun Week learned the truth about that “ruling” from the enforcement officer who had brought a case before a federal magistrate in Seattle more than 10 years ago.

USFS Officer Shane Wyrsch told Gun Week that the magistrate, whose name he could not recall, never issued a “ruling” that declared a road to be an occupied area. The magistrate, as Wyrsch recalled, was deciding a citation that Wyrsch, then new on the job, had written to a man who had been shooting, apparently right along a national forest road. During the course of his discussion, the magistrate apparently suggested that if there were people on a road, it might be considered an “occupied area.”

“But that’s all it was,” Wyrsch stressed to Gun Week in frustration, “just his opinion. Who’s to say that another magistrate on the same day on another case might not have said something else?”

Wyrsch agreed that this chance remark has “grown legs” and taken on a life of its own “in the retelling.” He concurred that it was not a formal ruling that has the same effect as law, and he promised that when he returned from an assignment in another state, he would “once again” try to explain this to USFS staff in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest either in a meeting or via e-mail, and try to put the misunderstanding to rest.

After Saturday's meeting, I spoke with RKBA people in Arizona who are fighting USFS incursions there. They reported to me that USFS attempts to shut down shooting areas within 10 yards of roads had been stopped dead because the law does not support such shutdowns!

More than spitting in the face of their superiors, I am concerned that the Boulder Ranger District assumes that lying is an acceptable response to any public criticism. The Greenies have told different stories about the closing of the shooting area closest to me to everyone who has callled to ask about it. Senators and Cngressmen's office staffs have been told various that the area was closed because:
• "There's a subdivision across the street." I drove up there yesterday; apparently the subdivision has been deflated and stored for the winter. It looks to me like the only thing across the street is...more forest.
• "The shooting represents a danger to a nearby natural gas pipeline." There is a pipeline connection near the range...on the side of the road, where it is indeed at risk, from drunk drivers speeding down the gravel road!
• "We have complaints about the shooting on that range." I and longtime NRA Board of Directors member Col. Bob Brown directly asked to see all documentation on those "complaints" — in fact ANY complaints regarding recrational shooting anywhere on USFS Boulder District land. Ms. Walsh told us that 1) there was NO documentation of any kind; 2) that the USFS did not have the funds to record or even keep a log of incoming complaints; 3) that the USFS had issued no citations for littering or illegal dumping on range sites, because they "lacked the funding;" 4) That USFS had investiaged NO complaints of illegal shooting activities, because they "lacked the funding." The entire jihad against recreational shooting is alledgedly based on Ms. Walsh's "gut feelings."
I spoke with USFS enforcement and asked whether they could remember any complaints on the closed range...the answer was no. Oh, and despite the fact that USFS doesn't have the funding to actually do much of anything, they did find the $10,000 necessary to host a series of public meetings to discuss the "recreational shooting crisis," bring in USFS employees from around the state to act as "facilitators" and even hire local police to be on hand in case Col. Brown and I went postal!
In fact, two USFS officials were heard after the last public meeting discussing the lack of documentation on any actual complaints...one of the officials, thinking no one was within hearing range, said, "Well, the thing is we probably only get one a month...maybe less..." In short, even USFS officials are having trouble keeping tabs on their lies.
• "We get complaints about the noise from shooting areas." Welcome to the rural mountain West! In our little town, we have a pamphlet for urban newcomers that says, "WELCOME! Now Behave!" When you move to the rural mountains, it is not the same as living in the city. Cow dookey smells bad! The roads sometimes don't get plowed! Coyotes and mountain lions will indeed eat little Fluffy as an h'orderve, and the bears will wreck havoc on your grill if you don't clean it!!! Your cellphone doesn't work! And in a state where hunting is one of the top three industries, your kids are occasionally going to see Mr. Deer or Mr. Elk in a bloody, disassembled state, not yet conveniently packed in butcher paper or plastic wrap! You're also going to hear gunfire...get the hell over it! Show me in Federal law where my new neighbors from San Francisco have the "right" NOT to hear gunfire. I can hear gunfire from my house, and I like it! It means that people are exercising their Constitutional right, learning to defend themselves, practicing for a shooting sport, getting ready for hunting season. If the gunfire bothers you, there is housing available in San Fran!

We have a problem, boys and girls!

The next meeting Saturday March 3rd from 10:00 am - 12:00pm at Longmont High School 1040 Sunset Street, Longmont, CO.

See you there!