Working Hard This Week...

So a little behind here...Marshal is working like crazy to sort out how badly DRTV got clobbered yesterday. The site is still not 100%, but Marshal and Teresa are doing yeoman's work to get it all back online. It reminds me how vulnerable we all are here in the technological web.

I think this week we're may need to declare a PODCAST HOLIDAY until the site is 100%. I'll talk to Marshal this morning, but my inclination is to not add tasks on top of problems. We'll make a decision a little later this AM.

Meanwhile, the reprehensible 'hos at Brady issues this drivel yesterday:  

 It was wrong that a brutal killer and convicted felon was able to arm himself with a military-style semiautomatic assault weapon.? It is wrong that our Nation’s weak and nearly non-existent gun laws make these deadly weapons so easily available to dangerous people. We owe it to these law enforcement officers to do what police leaders across America have been urging and do more to keep these weapons off our streets and out of the hands of dangerous people. 

Yeah, right...more laws would have stopped a man who was banned from possessing a gun from getting a gun and committing multiple murder, which, last I checked, was illegal even in California. The four hero Oakland cops died because the California penal system failed and put a bad man back on the street, and the men in blue had to step in to protect the community. They were soldiers of America...mourn them.

I note that John Kerry, who is lobbying for Teddy Kennedy's role as class fool, is bleating about Mexico. I'm proud to say that my analogy of ending the First Amendment to protect the delicate ears of Our Neighbors to the North has gotten some traction on the Internet.

If you're contacting your Congresscritters on the lunacy of destroying American rights to prop up a crumbling narco-state south 'o the border, feel free to steal my analogy!

I gotta go figure out how to put a Ching sling on an AR...I think it requires a third hand and that face-ripping chimpanzee, so I could be in trouble.

Gun Porn

From Traction Control, when a 500 fps pellet meets common household objects. The Christmas ornament, above, is my favorite.

A Fascinating Book!

I jus finished reading (in two sittings) NeIl Strauss's EMERGENCY: THIS BOOK WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, one man's odyssey from a life as a rock critic to a dedicated survivalist...in the best sense of that often miss-used word. Here's the Amazon blurb: 

Terrorist attacks. Natural disasters. Domestic crackdowns. Economic collapse. Riots. Wars. Disease. Starvation.

What can you do when it all hits the fan?

You can learn to be self-sufficient and survive without the system.

**I've started to look at the world through apocalypse eyes.** So begins Neil Strauss's harrowing new book: his first full-length worksince the international bestseller The Game, and one of the most original-and provocative-narratives of the year.

After the last few years of violence and terror, of ethnic and religious hatred, of tsunamis and hurricanes–and now of world financial meltdown–Strauss, like most of his generation, came to the sobering realization that, even in America, anything can happen. But rather than watch helplessly, he decided to do something about it. And so he spent three years traveling through a country that's lost its sense of safety, equipping himself with the tools necessary to save himself and his loved ones from an uncertain future.

With the same quick wit and eye for cultural trends that marked The Game, The Dirt, and How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, Emergency traces Neil's white-knuckled journey through today's heart of darkness, as he sets out to move his life offshore, test his skills in the wild, and remake himself as a gun-toting, plane-flying, government-defying survivor. It's a tale of paranoid fantasies and crippling doubts, of shady lawyers and dangerous cult leaders, of billionaire gun nuts and survivalist superheroes, of weirdos, heroes, and ordinary citizens going off the grid.

It's one man's story of a dangerous world–and how to stay alive in it.

Before the next disaster strikes, you're going to want to read this book. And you'll want to do everything it suggests. Because tomorrow doesn't come with a guarantee...

What fascinated me was the strange parallels to my own life..I would have said I was the only cheesy book writing rock critic who ended up here. Plus, the whole idea of Strauss' quest to be secure parallels in many ways my own OVER THE EDGE: A REGULAR GUY'S ODYSSEY IN EXTREME SPORTS. I loved Strauss' description of his first trip to GUNSITE...he captured my friend Ed Head perfectly! You can read the excerpt here on Amazon.

The LA Times did an interview a couple of weeks ago: 

Neil Strauss hardly seems like a guy who'd kill a goat and gut it with his own hands. A slim intellectual in silver jewelry and designer jeans, he doesn't appear to be the kind of person who would stash food in a forest or plot an escape from his Laurel Canyon home using fire trails and a motorcycle he barely knows how to ride.

Yet that's precisely what Strauss has learned to do over the last three years in an effort to prepare himself should society collapse. It's a journey he not only chronicles in his new book, "Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life," but continues to pursue. 

Days before his book's release, Strauss' BlackBerry is brimming with projects. (Get motorcycle license. Take pain-resistance training. Grind grain.) He's looking to strike a few items off his list. 

"I'm here to pick up a shotgun," he says, stepping up to the counter at Gun World, a Burbank shop whose anteroom is loaded with ammo and shell cases. The shotgun is a Remington 870 Wingmaster -- the third part of an unholy trinity that also includes a 9-millimeter pistol and a rifle, all of which he keeps in a hidden safe at his house. 

"Three years ago, I never would have been in a gun store," says Strauss, who was a New York Times music and culture critic before writing the bestseller "The Game," a guide to picking up women. He also collaborated with Jenna Jameson on her 2004 memoir "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star."

Anyway, what really locked me into the book was the fact that Strauss' and my politics are 180-degrees opposed. At the end of EMERGENCY he and his friends thrill at the election of Obama (although I wonder if he's less thrilled now as the shape of the Brave New World reveals itself).

This book is definitely worth reading, and hey, maybe it will save your life! 

Snowstorm Day

Had to run around and get ready for tomorrow's predicted snowstorm...not a big deal, but needed some survival beer (90 Shilling Ale) and some egg noodles. I would really like to see a snowstorm if for no other reason than I'm terrified of fire season.

Also having some issues with TBD: SURVIVAL...looks like we'll be filming the principal gun stuff at whatever Blackwater is called these days. Am working on getting the ubiquitous dude-guy carbine god Ken Hackathorn to join us. Would be fun, to be sure!

Here's a pretty good piece on His Majesty's Second Amendment plans from PajamasMedia: 

Another way Obama can use the “common sense gun laws” approach to cripple the Second Amendment is to allow his understudies, like Holder, Emmanuel, or any other Democrat, to do his dirty work. This way, he can continue to claim support for the Constitution while simultaneously waging war against it via his surrogates. 

The president is actually using this approach as I type. On January 14, Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush introduced H.R. 45, known as the “Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009.” Should this act pass, it “will make it illegal to possess … any firearm that takes an ammunition clip, without a [federal gun-owner's] license.” According to WorldNetDaily.com’s Drew Zahn, H.R. 45 would also order Attorney General Holder, “to establish a database of every handgun sale, transfer, and owner’s address in America.”

Have you noticed that Obama’s “common sense gun laws” all seem to end in the same way — with the registration of guns and gun owners, as well as an increased number of steps law-abiding citizens must go through to purchase a firearm? It’s just the same old gun-grabbing song and dance, which is why Zahn points out that, “H.R. 45 is a resurfacing of 2007’s H.R. 2666, which contained much of the same language and was co-sponsored by 15 other representatives and Barack Obama’s current chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel.”

As Bill Clinton’s deputy attorney general in 1999, Holder described the outlawing of private gun sales as “common sense.” But we recognized the threat, cried foul, and persuaded Congress to ignore Holder’s pleas. Now that Holder, Obama, and Emmanuel are working in unison today, can we do any less?

BTW, I heard from my "Deep Throat" at Springfield Armory, who says that a direct appeal to Massachusetts legislators in Congress applies the most heat to "Mr. Fabric," the new head of SA who hates guns. Tomorrow I'll also give you an address for Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, who is a Colorado rancher and I suspect will have a limited sense of humor about Mr. Fabric, who badly needs to start his new career at Taco Bell. DO NOT contract Mr. Fabric directly...I want his new career to come as a surprise...

Michael Screws Up...Yikes!

Sorry guys...my dyslexia strikes again!

The Liberty Safe special promo code "bane" is NOT YET ACYTIVE...so hang onto your safe-buying money for a bit longer!

Totoally my fault...sorry.

It'll be worth the wait, believe me!

Mexican Radio

You've been reading the endless spin on Mexican drug cartels...that they're on the verge of overwhelming the Mexican government — such as it is —  with hardware its soldiers picked up from the Wal-Mart in Galveston. If you're still have trouble gasping this, here's a quick, antigun round-up from the wire: 

Tom Diaz, an analyst at the Violence Policy Center, a gun control group, said cartels use military-style weapons such as the Armalite AR-50, a .50-caliber sniper rifle.

He brought one to a recent congressional hearing — with the help of two police officers — and said he found the weapon on the Internet, bought it for $3,200 from a Maryland "kitchen table" dealer and had it registered in the District of Columbia, all in about six hours.

Semiautomatic rifles used by the cartels are imported legally into the U.S. as "sporting" weapons, a policy that was stopped for years but revived under President George W. Bush. The government could stop importation of those weapons under the 1968 Gun Control Act and thus keep them from winding up in Mexico, Diaz said.

Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., who chaired a hearing on guns going to Mexico, said he is not seeking widespread gun control but Congress must do something.

Of course, it's all a lie...the cartels are, indeed, an army with real, full-auto "assault" weapons, antitank rockets, grenades, etc. which, unless the Galveston Wal-Mart is one of heck of a place they got from the usual suspects, the military arms bazaars that dot the Third World like pockmarks on El Generale's face.

The point of the exercise is spin, trying to find something — anything — the antigun lobby can get traction on. Tom Diaz would appear before Congress dragging his grandmother's entrails if he thought it would allow him to continue to be a "player" and making the big bucks in D.C.

But maybe let's think about Mexico for a moment. In fact, here's a quiz...how many rights should Americans be willing to give up to help protect a neighbor state? Okay, how about a different example than Our Friends to the South, maybe Our Friends to the North? 

If you've been following the news over the last year or so, Canada's not crazy about this wild-and-crazy free speech stuff, especially if it offends Muslims, which is why best-selling author Mark Steyn got charged with "hate speech" in Canada for his wildly poplar book AMERICA ALONE, which speculated that Europe, including England, would be Islamic countries within 20 years if for no other reason that demographics. So the Canadians, tired of the endless, unregulated speech pouring over the border from the south, petition the United States government to place strict regulation on speech, lest it slip over the border and annoy the LeBatts crowd, maybe licensing and strictly monitoring connections to the Internet, prior restraint of radio and television broadcasts to give the U.S. government a chance to make sure the content is Canada A-Okay, etc.

Should we do that to help our Poor Cold Brothers and Sisters?

Sounds pretty stupid, doesn't it? In fact, the answer to both Mexico and our hypothetical Canadian situation is the same: Tough nuggies (or, perhaps for the Montrealers, touche nougat).

 

Gats and Heaters and Roscoes, Oh My!

Well, my friend Henning Wallgren — ace professional shooter for Tanfoglio, practical shooting champion in numerous countries, including the U.S. — has a slogan: Winning is a motivation, but having fun doing it is key.

I'm 100% on that, which is why I'm enthused at yet another of Henning's interests, the newly formed American Zoot Shooters Association. Here's the new sport's description from the website:

AZSA is a multi-gun sport in which participants dress in 1920s costumes and compete against the clock engaging targets for the best possible score. Zoot Shooters must use firearms that are correct for the time surrounding Prohibition. Costumes may be of any character type reflecting the era (i.e. gangster, law enforcement, flapper, bootlegger, politician, etc.).

The predominant AZSA guns are Thompsons and 1911 pistols but other firearms may be considered. Though many shooters may already own a 1911 type pistol, most probably do not own a Thompson sub-machine gun. Fortunately, Kahr/Auto-Ordnance is reproducing high quality semi-automatic Tommy Guns that do not require special permits. If you are lucky (or wealthy) enough to own a legally registered, full-auto Tommy by all means use it providing the host range will allow it!

The competitions have multiple stages referred to as Capers. Each Caper has a specific course of direction in which the shooter must safely engage targets in the quickest amount of time. Capers may reflect a moment in history, a scene from a movie or part of a story that gives a feeling of going back to a time when gangsters made Tommy Guns roar! Most importantly participants must be safe, maintain good sportsmanship and have fun.

Oh come on, Tactical Tommys, lighten up...it's supposed to be fun! Shuck those 5.11s, the tactical vests, Oakley shades and boots, and that long-billed baseball cap with the SureFire logo and light up a nice Thompson!

Besides, while you can argue all you want about the efficacy of a Single Action Army as a self-defense tool, you gotta give it up for 1911 Super .38s, .45 Thompsons and that every-popular Browning A5/Remington Model 11.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Automatic Rifle

From Attack Cartoons...

A Rant Every American Should Read

From Victor Davis Hanson at PajamasMedia:

This self-congratulatory generation can hardly, as we are learning, build a Bay Bridge again. Yet when we see on the Internet pictures of a new aircraft carrier we are stunned in amazement—we did that? We built such a powerful, sophisticated ship? We—at least someone— can actually still do things on rare occasion like that?

The American people are, to be frank, nauseated by the archetype of a John Edwards, who never created anything other than a legacy of bankrupting doctors in order to enrich himself. I’d prefer one gall bladder surgeon to fifty Botox experts, a good Perkins engine mechanic to 1,000 deconstructionists at the MLA, one competent chemist to fifty government attorneys.

For the present I think that we have enough social service bureaucrats, enough consultants, enough PhDs that will lecture how race/class/gender has made us, our air, our dogs even, so unfair. We simply are thirsty for the unapologetic doer, who never says he’s sorry for himself or his country or his ancestors, but instead thinks and plans how he can build something better and leave it for others–the age old agrarian commandment “make sure you leave a better farm than you inherit.” Where are they all, in the grave?

We all seem to stare at the rare genius under a semi, working on the transmission, or someone on a catwalk riveting a girder, or a teacher who can wade into an unruly class and say “damn it, we are going to learn calculus one way or another”.

My complaint against Hollywood actors is not that they are talentless, though many are; or that they talk in the same tones as women did sixty years ago, but that they have no imprint, no trademark of individuality. In short, to paraphrase Orwell, “If it paid better, they’d be fascists.”

I think we responded to Mickey Rorke’s brief renaissance, not because he survived while being drug-addled, or was punched out, or reckless, but because he showed, as a torn-cat, a certain dignity, a certain courage of being so very different from the norm. Yes, at this point we are so desperate for talent and singularity we will take eccentricity bordering on nihilism.

So there you have this rant.

Why are Americans hesitant, bewildered after the arrival of the Messiah?

Not for the reason our President attests about high unemployment or shaky GDP or the lack of national health care. We simply are ashamed of our profligacy; we don’t trust those who should be trusted; we put up with the crass and honor the mediocre and ugly; and we fight and bicker over the distribution, never over a share in the creation.

Hope and change, indeed.

Please, read the whole thing.

I'm going to be talking about this subject in next week's podcast. We are as a nation being devoured by our fear, but it just doesn't have to be so no matter how hard times get...

Park Service Moves Against Springfield Museum???

The Springfield Armory National Historical Site in Massachusetts is a tribute to America's first and last national armory, the place where much of our national history was shaped (the above illustration is from Harper's Magazine in 1861 as the Armory tooled up for the Civil War).

Now it appears that the Armory itself has come under fire, this time from its National Park Service overseers.

Yesterday Jim Shepherd at the SHOOTING WIRE and I received information ostensibly from an insider whistle-blower that the Springfield Armory is quietly being disassembled. According to the information we received, the new director not only has no background in firearms — rather, from "textiles" — but sees no benefit in preserving "old guns."

Again, according to the information we received, the curator has been removed, the huge arms library has been closed and the new administrator is in the process of locking up the arms collections.

Both Jim and I are working to either confirm or deny the information, but so far no one at Springfield is talking.

The Springfield Armory is an important part of our history and a special place for gun owners. Those who would like to exorcize firearms from the American stage might well pause and consider the consequences to their own careers from being in the middle of a very public controversy over an important piece of Americana.

We'll keep you informed!

Ammo Search Engine!

This is an awesome site...it finds the cheapest ammo available on the Internet at any moment.

Pro-Gun DEMS Stand Up!

From the AP this afternoon:

Sixty-five House Democrats said Wednesday that they would oppose any attempt by the Obama administration to revive a ban on military-style weapons that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994 and President George W. Bush let expire.

The pro-gun Democrats, led by Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., wrote Attorney General Eric Holder that they would "actively oppose any effort to reinstate the 1994 ban, or to pass any similar law."

They urged the administration to avoid a "long and divisive fight over a gun control issue" at a time when Washington needs to concentrate on the economic crisis.

The House letter came a day after Montana's two Democratic senators, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, wrote a similar letter to Holder saying the Justice Department should enforce existing laws before considering new gun ownership restrictions. "We will strongly oppose any legislation that will infringe upon the rights of individual gun owners," they said.

The letters came after Holder, during a news conference to announce the arrest of Mexican drug dealers, said the drug cartels were obtaining high-powered weapons like the AK-47 from U.S. gun stores and said the Obama administration supported reinstituting the ban on the sale of assault-style weapons.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said she plans to introduce legislation to bring back the weapons ban. Feinstein was an author of the 1994 bill, which banned 19 types of semiautomatic, military-style guns. The law expired under the Bush administration in 2004. Another long-term goal is requiring that all gun shows conduct background checks before selling firearms.

The National Rifle Association has said it is mobilizing to stop any assault weapons ban, and the opposition of 65 House Democrats, many from rural or conservative districts with strong pro-gun sentiments, probably would doom any legislative drive to restrict gun ownership.

Hey Michael Steele...what's in YOUR wallet??

Podcast Overcome By Events...

...but in a good way! Sorry you've got to suffer through my rant on the DoD ammunition kerfunkle on the podcast, but am extremely happy to see the DoD change its mind...under pressure from Montana Senators John Tester and Max Baucus, both Democrats.

Gentleman, a profound thank you!

Deep breath here...we in the gun culture need a new political consensus that is tied to neither the Republican or Democratic parties. If you support the Second Amendment and are committed to gun rights, it doesn't matter what political party you belong to. While individual Republicans have stood with us, the party as a whole has held us in obvious contempt.

I see that Republican weasel Michael Steele will speak at the NRA Convention...this is the same Michael Steele who spoke out in favor of a new AWB. The first words out of his mouth better be, "Members of the NRA...I am profoundly sorry for my ill-advised comments on laws banning the most popular firearms in America...accordingly, I hereby commit the Republican Party to unconditional support for the Second Amendment and gun rights in America..." 

Otherwise, he should join the execs at AIG in seppuka... 

Military Policy Reversed!

Forwarded to me from Charles Bond:

Gary Marbut-MSSA [mailto:mssa@mtssa.org]
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 4:15 PM
To: mssa@mtssa.org
Subject: Flash - Military brass destruction policy reversed

Dear MSSA Friends,

I just received a phone call from the office of U.S. Senator Tester
of Montana to inform me that at 5:15 (EST) today a letter cosigned by
Senator Tester (D-MT) and Senator Baucus (D-MT) was faxed to the
Department of Defense asking DoD to reverse its new policy requiring
destruction of fired military cartridge brass. At 5:30, I am told,
Tester's office received a fax back from DoD saying that the brass
destruction policy IS reversed.

Others report to me that they are already seeing evidence of this on
the Websites of entities that liquidate surplus DoD commodities.

Our thanks go out to Senator Tester and Senator Baucus, and their
staff, for getting on this problem promptly and making the reversal happen

Staff for Tester and Baucus promise they will get me the
documentation for this reversal tomorrow morning. I'll forward that
when I get it.

Best wishes,

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

Government Turnaround on Ammo???

This just in on one of the gun forums to a remanufacturer, forwarded to my by old friend Rob Boudrie: 

We just received word the mutilation requirement is only for fired shells exceeding 50mm.
As your invoice is for notably smaller shells, the sale will proceed as normal, and you will not be required to mutilate them – they can be used for reloading as you’d planned.

Thanks!

Arana K. Wolin
Document Verification Supervisor
Government Liquidation, LLC
DOD Surplus, LLC
15051 N Kierland Blvd. #300
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
(480) 609-3306 direct telephone
(480) 596-4480 fax

More as this developes, but keep your fingers crossed...

Obama Cancels Armed Pilots Program

From the Washington Times:

After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.

Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.

The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.

This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs.

Notice a pattern here? Every little weasel in Maximum Barry's administration is pouring over the books looking for the word "guns." When ever they find that word, they move to strike it. This is the new battlefield!

From Our "PLASTIC GIRL SIGHTINGS" Desk...

She's my life-sized, wife-sized, full grown blow-up plastic girl, and ain't nothin missin'

And she's more than just a friend and she never has a headache

Or bad breath when we're kissin'

Yeah she's there when you need her and she doesn't have a do

nd her skin is as smooth as a pearl

y life-sized, wife-sized, full grown blow-up plastic girl

The music selection from last week's podcast, Mel McDaniel's "Plastic Girl," drew a surprising amount of...response. So, of course, I decided to focus a portion of my admittedly limited attention span to the spreading issue of plastic girls.

Nice...er..."radar sensory devices!"

And folks, it's worse that I imagined! This from Breitbart.com today:

Japanese researchers on Monday showed off a robot that will soon strut her stuff down a Tokyo catwalk.

The girlie-faced humanoid with slightly oversized eyes, a tiny nose and a shoulder length hair-do boasts 42 motion motors programmed to mimic the movements of flesh-and-blood fashion models.
[...]
The fashion-bot is 158 centimetres (five foot two inches) tall, the average height of Japanese women aged 19 to 29, but weighs in at a waif-like 43 kilograms (95 pounds) -- including batteries.

She has a manga-inspired human face but a silver metallic body.

"If we had made the robot too similar to a real human, it would have been uncanny," said one of the inventors, humanoid research leader Shuji Kajita.

"We have deliberately leaned toward an anime style."

The institute said the robot "has been developed mainly for use in the entertainment industry" but is not for sale at the moment.

Hamming it up before photographers and television crews, the seductive cyborg struck poses, flashed bright smiles and pouted sulkily according to commands transmitted wirelessly from journalists via bluetooth devices.

Yo! I don't know about you, but this is working for me...I like that cute reference to being developed, "mainly for use in the entertainment industry..." You betcha, GI! Note to Japan...can you make me one of these?

Rally Vincent of "Gunsmith Cats" Fame

Although given Rally's propensity for CZs, I'd probably have to sign her over to Angus Hobdell, CZ's ace factory shooter...talk about falling in with bad companions!

NYT: Guns Divide Democrats

Here's an interesting take from the Sinking Gray Lady on the current give-and-take on guns among Congressional Democrats:

But there is one issue that retains the power to leave Democrats quivering: gun rights. Gun issues still persistently tie the party in knots and have been used by Republicans to stall two major bills this year, with more likely to come.
[...]
Democratic leaders admit they are confounded by the mounting problems with gun votes and are trying to find a way out of a situation that is partly a product of their own success. The wider their majority, the more members Democrats have from swing districts where gun rights are likely to be a prominent issue.

One of those members, Representative Travis Childers of Mississippi, last year was able to win House approval of his plan to let residents of the District of Columbia buy and keep guns in their homes for self-protection, a further retreat from the district’s virtually universal ban on legal handgun ownership that had already been relaxed by the Supreme Court.

“The Second Amendment right is a long-standing pillar in our system of government, and I believe law-abiding citizens should have the right to defend their homes in the District of Columbia, just like they have the ability to do so in the First Congressional District of Mississippi,” said Mr. Childers, who persuaded 81 other Democrats to side with him.

Democratic leaders say that baseline of 80 or so Democrats has undoubtedly grown, given gains in moderate districts last November, providing a solid House majority for gun rights when combined when strong support among Republicans. The cultural shift is pronounced — this week’s mass shootings in Alabama and Germany stirred hardly a Congressional call for new gun restrictions, a contrast from past episodes.

So here we are again, the Crazy Uncles in the Closet, giving the shattered Republican Party its only effective issue in Congress. I asked the Republican National Committee, through their media relations division, for an interview with Michael Steele...they didn't even bother to answer me. Maybe they answered Shepherd or Gresham in the hopes of sitting on a less hot seat that the one I have in mind for Mr. Steele, but I doubt Jim or Tom would cut the man any more slack than I would.

How many times do we let Lucy snatch the football away from Charlie Brown?

No More Military Brass

This has been around for a couple of days, but in case you've missed it, the Department of Defense will no long recycle their used brass into the civilian marker. Here's a copy of the DoD memo from major remanufactured ammunition maker Georgia Arms: 

"Effective immediately DOD Surplus, LLC, will be implementing new requirements for mutilation of fired shell casings. The new DRMS requirement calls for DOD Surplus personnel to witness the mutilation of the property and sign the Certificate of Destruction. Mutilation of the property can be done at the DRMO, if permitted by the Government, or it may be mutilated at a site chosen by the buyer. Mutilation means that the property will be destroyed to the extent prevents its reuse or reconstruction. DOD Surplus personnel will determine when property has been sufficiently mutilated to meet the requirements of the Government. "

Jim Shepherd notes in today's SHOOTING WIRE that this represents a loss of 80% of the value of the brass. But hey, why would the Maximum Barry administration care about that? He has the printing presses, after all.

But what are the consequences of this for shooters? Quoted in the WIRE, look at Georgia Arms, just one of many remanufacturers:

Georgia Arms was remanufacturing more than one million rounds of .223 ammunition monthly; selling that ammo on the civilian market to resellers and to government agencies all over the country. 

Tomorrow, Georgia Arms will start sending cancellation notices for .223 ammunition to law enforcement agencies across the United States. Haynie says he may have to layoff half of his sixty-person workforce.

In short, this government action is aimed at the heart of the civilian ammunition market, to put increased pressure on an already superheated consumer market. With a single stroke, tens of million rounds of 5.56, 7.62, 9mm and .50 BMG has been removed from the market. Okay kiddies, a quick question from Economics 101, that class you slept through your senior year...if demand rises and supply shrinks, what happens to prices?

If you're a new ammunition manufacturer, do you have a choice between honoring your huge military contracts (remember, even if we pull out of everywhere tomorrow morning the military needs to replenish their largely depleted ammo stores) and supplying the civilian market? Of course not. The remanufacturing segment of the industry was essentially filling the gap left by the military orders, providing ammo to civilians and law enforcement.

The antigunners in the Obama administration have landed a disastrous blow totally under the radar.

Tell me again how I'm overreacting...

Who Is John Galt?

As I have written many times, one of the most important pieces of advice I've ever gotten came from a cantankerous Ayn Rand, shaking her finger in my face after my interview in Texas..."You have one thing to do with your life, young man. One thing only...see clearly. That is all. See clearly!"

This from Capitalism Magazine on the left-wing reaction to the re-rise of Randian politics:

The Americans who recently protested the spendthrift policies of the Obama administration and Congress with “tea parties,” and who plan to protest them on an even larger scale in the near future, one can wager are not regular readers of The New York Times. They cannot have much in common with its columnists and editors, nor with the news media.

So the collectivist and altruist elite become very touchy when the people for whom they are “doing good” for their own sake, even to the point of enacting coercive and felonious legislation, exhibit signs of intelligence, resistance and anger. How dare these yokels!

And nothing raises their hackles higher than any mention of Ayn Rand.

The cultural and political elite are upset that she has not been forgotten. That philosophy has returned to haunt them and aggravate their guilt. And they are in high dudgeon because they are being cast in the role, not as saviors, but as her black-hearted villains. They are discovering that ideas cannot be interred as permanently as their authors. Atlas Shrugged is on their minds.

The Times blog, “Opinionator” (a round-up of positions expressed in other blogs) of March 6th, called “’Going Galt’: Everyone’s Doing It!“ is a testimonial to how the elite have been blind-sided in their arrogant complacency and sent spinning out of control on the Internet highway, and evidence of how thoroughly they have been indoctrinated in the belief that reality has nothing to do with their chosen “reality.” They are deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming train, but sneer that the train does not exist. They are stuffed animals crammed with the excelsior of worn-out bromides, mulched second-hand sociology, and the sawdust of a failed ideology.

TGIF!

Yep, it has been one of those weeks, but thankfully I've made it to Friday relatively unscathed. Yesterday was all day in the studio recording voice-over for the last episode of SHOOTING GALLERY. Today is a TBD: SURVIVAL day. Be careful what you wish for!

I'm also working on the outline for the DVD companion — the compete guide to carrying a gun in the backcountry — to TRAIL SAFE. The idea is that TRAIL SAFE provides the conceptual structure and the DVD gives you the nuts and bolts. You saw some of those nuts and bolts in THE BEST DEFENSE episode on being safe in the backcountry, which has (surprisingly) turned out to be the most popular episode of the season.

Also also, I want to try something really different for Season 10 of SHOOTING GALLERY — a viewer-generated episode where you guys get to pick what we film. Actually trying to figure out how it will work...obviously we'll use DRTV to set up the survey...we just haven't decided what's going to be on that survey.

Thoughts????

Some notes on the ammo shortage...I'm seeing a shift in the terminology as the shortage drags on...now even on some of the firearms forums we're "hoarders" as opposed to "people stocking up." An interesting, and totally normal, part of the cycle...blame the consumer and take the heat off the real cause, government's intentional and inadvertent  signals to the market. There are "ammo control" bills being introduced in statehouses all over the country, our enemies have said and continue to say that while they might not be able to "get" guns, they can get ammo or components; the current administration is unequivocally the most antigun in history and has repeatedly sent signals that it plans to "do something."

Given all those factors, I would like someone to explain to me why stockpiling ammo or reloading supplies is "irrational hoarding." In a normal market, increased demand would lead to increased supply, but no ammo supplier is going to tool up in the face of new government regulations and potential changes in U.S. foreign policy. It's also much harder for foreign ammo manufacturers to get their products to U.S. consumers...it's like a pipeline with big holes in it.

The market will stabilize. I say that with this caveat: the government does nothing to refuel the fire, a la Eric Holder's casual call for a new AWB a few weeks ago, which reignited a market that was showing signs of cooling off.

Icky Week So Far

Recession humor:

How do you get an investment banker off your porch?

Pay him for the pizza.

This also works for lawyers.

I just finished a fun 24 hours wearing a blood pressure monitor...sort of like having an annoying pet always pulling at your arm. There doesn't seem to be that much wrong with me, but it still puzzles the cardiologist...and puzzling a cardiologist is a good way to guarantee that you hit your insurance maximum out-of-pocket for the year.

My blood chemistry is great; last year they ran a television camera into my veins (arteries?) and concluded I have 'insignificant blockage;" I exercise pretty much every day and eat a healthy diet (sigh); yet my blood pressure is still on the slightly high side and my weight refuses to drop.

Unfortunately, since we're integrated systems, it all ties into my blown knees. I used to keep my blood pressure low (and my weight down) by running a lot. I am now paying the physiological price for decades of worn out sneakers...am told I need new knees, but prudence demands I stall for as long as I can. Celebrex works on the pain, but raises my blood pressure. Am presently getting hideous recombinant DNA sludge injected into both knees, as industrial hard chroming apparently requires some disassembly. The goal is to be running, at least at a 5K level, by spring. One never knows, does one.

This comes on the heels of a pet medical emergency on Sunday, when Bishop, my green-winged macaw, managed to but the tip off her beak. A big blood vessel runs through a parrots beak, so she began bleeding like the proverbial stuck hog. We couldn't stop the bleeding — and birds don't have all that much blood to begin with — so she had to be rushed to an emergency avian vet. She's fine, but sluggish from the blood loss, so she's headed to the top avian specialist in the area for a full work up.

The net result of all this whining is that blogging has definitely been given short shrift...

Para GI Expert

In Gun World...as I mentioned on the podcast this AM, I'm [b][i]de-evolving[/i][/b] the Para GI Expert I plan to shoot in the End of Trail Wild Bunch match in New Mexico in June. Wild Bunch shooting has 2 classes, Traditional and Modern, and the GI Expert falls easily into the Modern category, which allows bells and whistles. I thought it'd be cool. however, to make the GI Expert over into a WW1/WW2 version.

Old (but nice) GI Warhorse 1911

That means a spur hammer, appropriate grip safety, nubby safety, arched mainspring housing with lanyard ring, short steel trigger and diamond pattern walnut grips (could have gone plastic, but though the retro wood was nicer). All the parts are available from Sarco for kibbles and bits(although Sarco must be the last people on earth to implement Internet ordering!). I'm keeping the Para fixed sights, but I'll probably black out the white dots.

I'm also replacing the Para recoil spring plug with one of the new mil-specs from Cylinder & Slide. Essentially, Bill Laughridge reinvented the wheel. Old recoil spring plugs had a flange on the front so the recoil spring could be wound onto the plug...preventing the dread "plug launch" (I have dents in the ceiling fo the gun room). The GI Expert already has the plain old GI recoil spring set-up...no recoil guide rod, no buffers, nothing that JB didn't want in the system.

There is, of course, no reason, especially tactical, for this project, just as — and I hate to be the one to tell you this — there hasn't been any reason other than cosmetics for most of the 1911 modifications since, say, 1983. When you get beyond ejection/extraction issues, hi-viz sights and maybe the beavertail, it's all racing stripes and bigger tailfins. I'd probably exempt Wayne Novak's "The Answer" mainspring housing from the tailfin category, as it does away with that excreble bane-of-girlman-hands grip safety.

And yes, I could have bought one of the "modern" GI 1911 — Colt, Springfield, Auto-Ordnance, EMF (not up on the website yet), or wait for Legacy Sports to start bringing in the Chiappa Italian 1911 I handled behind the curtains at SHOT (especially the rumored Evlil Roy version). If I had hit the lottery, I'd be on the phone to Doug Donnelly at U. S. Firearms for one of their heartbreakingly beautiful, exquisitely machined Military Models (left).

$1895 MSRP, but just about as beautiful as they come.

Unfortunately, between my knee, my heart and my parrot, I need to win the lottery just to hit my insurance deductibles.

What's funny here is that the Glock-sters are going, what on earth is all the fuss? They all look alike anyway. Glocks, on the other hand, are infinitely diverse!

Who's Watching the Store?

From InstaPundit...

Incompetence or Malevolence

Everybody in America should read this piece from Roger Kimball at PajamasMedia...the country that all of us want to live in is being ripped apart at a left that even Mr. Paranoid Michael could have conceived before the November election:

Yes, we agreed, it certainly looks like incompetence and, judged by its results, is effects, its consequences for this great country, it is incompetence on a breathtaking scale.

And yet, is it only incompetence? Remember, shortly before the election, Obama boasted to his mesmerized supporters that “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” Is that not what he has set about doing–with a vengeance?

And here’s where we began talking about another possibility: that Team Obama was deliberately targeting the U.S. economy, deliberately impoverishing millions of Americans, deliberately angering our closest allies while coddling dictators like Putin and his puppet Medvedev and funneling millions to terrorist organizations like Hamas.

Maybe that young person the financial journalist Jim Cramer spoke to was right and “We’ve elected elected a Leninist” whose “agenda is destroying the life savings of millions of Americans”
[...]
Why would Obama inflict these destructive policies while the economy is collapsing? Simple. Each step strengthens the role of government in people’s lives.

And here we have the ’enry ’iggins moment: “By George, I think he’s got it!” “Each step strengthens the role of government in people’s lives.” That’s exactly what Lenin sought to do. In a cheery volume called State and Revolution, for example, Lenin explains how:

And the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the organization of the vanguard of the oppressed as the ruling class for the purpose of suppressing the oppressors, cannot result merely in an expansion of democracy. Simultaneously with an immense expansion of democracy, which for the first time becomes democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the money-bags, the dictatorship of the proletariat imposes a series of restrictions on the freedom of the oppressors, the exploiters, the capitalists.

Lenin, too, wished to “spread the wealth around.” And Obama, like Lenin, has been perfectly frank in recommending that we need to go beyond the “merely formal” rights enunciated in the Constitution in order to “bring about redistributive change” in society.

An Excerpt from FIVE TO GO...

...the sequel for ALL NIGHT RADIO, which I swear to whatever gods we're presently worshiping here in the People's Republic that I will finish! Do I need to sacrifice a chicken or something? This is for you, Hecate! I was gonna go with the big sex scene, but I decided to save that one and pick it up... 

Ten minutes later, fresh as a daisy in a clean MTSA polo shirt, shorts, hiking boots and the .45 tucked into a waistband holster, Anna and I hiked up to the main office. Afternoon clouds were starting to roll in, but I thought it was all just a bluff. It didn’t feel like rain…yet.

We were just walking up with a barge-sized black Cadillac Escalade SUV pulled into the lot and docked in a handicapped spot. Some functionary jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran around the car to open the passenger door. The man who climbed out had to perform some strange origami unfolding to extract himself from the Caddie’s passenger seat. He was creeping up on the six-and-a-half foot mark, rail thin from his perfectly groomed silver hair to the perfectly polished Ballys. His summer weight wool suit in a pale dove grey hung…well, perfectly. The overall effect was diminished somewhat by his long face and basset hound eyes. “Don’t let those doggie eyes fool you,” said my friend Susan S. Smith, whose relentless publicity machine made him sound like a loveable cross between Mahatma Gandhi, Ralph Nader and Barney the Dinosaur. “Frank Lee James has all the warmth and compassion of a rabid mink.”

“And you’re helping him become the next governor of Tennessee?” I’d queried.

She shrugged. “What can I say? The checks clear.”

Yeah, well, let she who is without sin, etc.

The back door of the Escalade, which appeared to have more doors than one of those clown cars in the circus, opened and the big SUV disgorged a whole posse of suits, including David—“Just call me Davey”—Crockett, campaign manager and one-time used car magnate…”A coonskin cap for the kiddies and a caddy for the little lady.” Rumor was he’d bought up every single piece of videotape that featured his head in proximity to anything remotely racoonish; these days, he was given to Levis, hand-woven sweaters, a huge database of Internet campaign contributors and an army of blog weasels, just waiting to be unleashed on the politically unsuspecting. 

Davey was followed by, oh joy, Assistant Chief Armando Clement—proving categorically that my karma was still on a roll—and a suit I didn’t recognize. Just when I thought the car was running out of clowns, it popped two more, obviously a matched set. The first stepped out with endless amount of leg, all lean muscle and pale skin right on up to her thigh. She folded out of the car with a fluid grace that practically screamed dancer, then stepped lightly to the side while the other matched piece crawled out. They could have been salt and pepper shakers, if you’d been buying your table accoutrements in Vladivostok. Twins, a speck taller than Anna’s five-foot-seven, both with the milky pale skin, watery blue eyes, white blond hair and the look of absent distain of long-expatriated Russian royalty. They took two graceful steps to flank the suit I didn’t know, then went still, four blue eyes flickering back and forth, scanning like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.  

Behind me, I felt, rather than heard, Anna click on. I know, I know…strange-o, but I don’t know any other way to describe it. One minute she’s off in Anna World; the next she’s 100 percent here, with all her defenses up and phasers set to barbeque.

 Neat trick. 

Without looking, I knew she’d be moving laterally, opening up the fields of fire. The blonde velociraptors tracked her with their heads. Better talk, Kashi, before everything went all O-K Corral for no apparent reason.

“Hi guys,” I said, once again exercising my uncanny ability for conversation. “What’s up?”

“Are those things loaded?” Governor-to-Be James asked, nodding toward the gun on my hip.

“Yep,” Anna said, “but don’t worry. We never shoot anyone on Sunday. Blue laws and all.”

“She thinks she’s a laugh riot,” said Assistant Chief Clement.

“And she certainly is!” G-T-B James said. You must be Anna…” then turning to me and extending his huge hand…”and you must be the celebrated Kashi. Great picture in last week’s SI! I can’t tell you how much we’re all looking forward to tomorrow.”

Sigh.

Blue Dogs Stand Up!

This from AP:

Tester, Baucus tell AG to back off on gun control

WASHINGTON (AP) Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester have a message for the Obama administration: they will oppose any gun restrictions the new administration may be considering.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the two Democrats said the Justice Department should enforce existing laws rather than propose additional laws they said could infringe on Second Amendment rights.

The letter was prompted by Holder's comment that reinstating a ban on the sale of assault weapons could help reduce bloodshed in Mexico, where 6,000 people were killed last year in drug-related violence.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein has said she plans to push legislation to reinstate a federal ban on some assault weapons that became law during the Clinton administration in 1994, but expired a decade later.

Barrett Kaiser, a spokesman for Baucus, says the letter was sent as a "pre-emptive strike" to warn the Obama administration that any effort to push new gun control will meet with resistance.

For Those of You Who Dis' the NRA...

...the boys and girls in Virginia show you how the war is fought. From The Hill this AM:

NRA forces Pelosi retreat

Democrats may be running the House, but the National Rifle Association (NRA) can still stop a bill in its tracks.

House Democratic leaders on Tuesday pulled legislation from the floor that seemingly had nothing to do with guns because the NRA disliked it.

The bill in question would give the District of Columbia a voting member of Congress. The gun-rights lobby prefers a Senate version, which includes language amending the District’s gun policies, and some suggest the NRA could make life difficult for conservative Democrats if that language is not included in the House version.

There was no official call to arms, nothing on the NRA website, no alerts floating around. Just speculation among Democrats and Republicans that the NRA would make a procedural vote on legislation that would give the District of Columbia a voting member of Congress a “test vote.”

That means that if centrist Democrats voted with their leadership, they could lose their prized “A-ratings” from the NRA, which many consider essential to keeping their jobs in rural, Southern and Western districts.
So the D.C. Voting Rights Act was pulled from consideration for Wednesday. Aides stressed that negotiations are continuing and it could be brought back soon.

The reluctance to bring the vote to the floor highlights the continuing clout of the NRA, as well as the difficulty faced by Democrats, whose majority comes from an increasing number of members elected in Republican districts.

From CPAC (Just Catching Up, Folks!)

From Jim Geraghty of NRO, reporting from last week's CPAC meeting (via InstaPundit):

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, notes that Attorney General Eric Holder is citing violence along the U.S.-Mexican border in an argument for further gun-control efforts.

"The lie is, if we would just surrender more of our Second Amendment, Mexican drug cartels wouldn't be able to get the guns they use to terrorize that country. The idea that criminals of any nationality obey gun bans. They're criminals! . . . The proud people of Mexico need their gun rights back. They need their own meaningful Second Amendment to protect their homes, their lives, and their families."

(I'm fascinated by the Obama administration's mentality that the fact that violent Mexican drug cartels are raising hell just over the border doesn't justify additional border security or a fence, but it does justify making it harder for American citizens to own a gun.)

Another LaPierre line: "I don't care if it makes their butts pucker from here to the Potomac, the Founding Fathers understood that the guys with the guns make the rules."

Amen, Brother Wayne!

And You Thought It Was Just Me...

From Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee (via PajamasMedia):

Nationwide Ammunition Shortage Hits U.S. 

Individual shooters are stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition because of fears of future punitive taxation or outright bans of certain kinds of ammunition. Law enforcement agencies are also stockpiling ammunition to make sure they have enough on hand to meet training requirements. The shortage we are seeing is the result of both agencies and private citizens hoarding the most sought-after ammunition.

Thus, this shortage is the result of an accordion effect that has developed over the past few years.

Law enforcement agencies have been rapidly increasing their ammunition consumption because of how they are rearming, causing a permanent increase in demand. Just as ammunition manufacturers began to cope with that increase, a second run, based upon a downward-turning economy and rising fears of laws targeting gun and ammunition, dramatically expanded demand yet again.

Shortages of ammunition and firearms can be expected to continue for as long as it appears our overreaching federal government is a threat to our individual liberties, our economy continues to falter, and our police agencies keep militarizing.

It’s going to be a long ride.

Stock up while you can.

Lou Dobbs — 2nd Amendment Under Fire

Am Back and All Wild Bunch'ed Up

Sorry for the absence...we were out in Phoenix filming Winter Range, the cowboy action shooting national championships, for COWBOYS. We got 5 super episodes, hung out with good friends and met great new friends and ate gobs of spectacular Mexican food. I can strongly recommend the margaritas at Cantina Laredo in Scottsdale...have a designated driver ready, too!

On the shooting side, I have some cool news to report...you guys know how much I like the new Wild Bunch class of cowboy action shooting, that is, using the guns of the movie THE WILD BUNCH — trench shotguns, major caliber lever action rifles and 1911s — on cowboy stages. Well, Gene Pearcey (Evil Roy to you all), Marshal Halloway from DRTV and I have decided to "adopt" Wild Bunch shooting and help promote it big time. 

Our initial efforts will be at this year's End of Trail, the cowboy world championships, in June. DRTV and Evil Roy will be proving the super-deluxe trophies for the match, and we will be lining up a heart-breaking selection of prizes for the participants, including 1911s, magazines, custom Wild Bunch leather and other things you really really want. In keeping with the spirit if cowboy action shooting, the prizes will be given away to registered Wild Bunch shooters by drawing at the match.

DRTV will of course be there to cover the match, and we're going to set up a special Wild Bunch section on the site that will include the basics of Wild Bunch style shooting, Evil Roy video training tips and (hopefully) discounts on gear. 

Ideally, Gene, Marshal and I want to make Wild Bunch shooting into a serious — and fun — national competition. And based on the great response we got from the SHOOTING GALLERY  episode on the first major WB match at last year's EOT, I think we're definitely on the right track!

I'll be putting up the talking points/letter to your Congressperson on the new AWB on Wednesday, both on DRTV and the blog. I'll also go over them point-by-point on the Wednesday podcast. I'm undecided on whether A.G. Holder's comments on the new AWB last week was a trial balloon or simply a slip on Holder's part. 

Pelosi and Reid tried to distance themselves from the comment, which IMHO means they counted votes and didn't have it. Their actions don't, however, mean they don't support a new AWB...just that they don't want the train to slip the rails this early in the new administration.

Clearly Holder's comments in the last couple of weeks reveal him as an undistinguished lawyer with a second-rate mind...a stalking horse or a shill. In either case, it's clear he speaks for the Obama administration, who — as Jim Shepherd has so clearly outlined — already think of the AWB as a done deal. 

Yesterday my conversations with a wide variety of people in the firearms and shooting industry were focused on a common theme: now what? 

Depends on who you ask. Pro-gun observers tell me that it's going to take a tremendous outpouring of protest to slow a new ban - despite Madame Pelosi's protestations for reason. Democratic officials tell me they don't believe there is any slowing of the administration because their position really is that "a crisis is too-good an opportunity to waste".

Disturbingly, they're also telling me that the administration strategists have dismissed the first step - the AWB's resurrection and implementation - as a foregone conclusion and have already moved into the second phase of a strategy that is designed to bring the United States into compliance with the "enlightened" position on firearms ownership as set forth the United Nations. Seems they feel they have time as well as power on their side.

I believe the fight is upon us.