Single Actions for Self-defense

See? I'm trying to get serious again. Hard to do, since I'm in California to shoot the Shooting Industry Masters, meaning I will have to pretend to shoot sporting clays. And cowboy...I'm good with cowboy. Of course, Tequila will be better...ringer! Ringer! I did bring some of my "A" stuff, including the blood-red "Cartman" Winchester X2, a Steve's Gunz Navy Arms '92 clone and — because all teh brass from Ruger will be here — two really slick Blackhawks...a 100% New Blackhawk Flat-Top from Cylinder & Slide and my fully restored 1956 Flat-Top .357 from Dave Clements. I may not be able to hit anything, but damn, I get style points!

Since I can't carry in this miserable state, I didn't bring a carry gun. But I did bring a very .357 JHPs for the Blackhawks...specifically for the C&S New Flat-Top because it's got a transfer bar and holds six rounds. Gives me something to keep me warm and fuzzy in the hotel room.

Funny story...when we were running the NSSF Media Seminars, one of our regular instructors was Angie Kelley, your basic law enforcement SWAT trainer girl. One morning we're out here in sunny CA and at breakfast Angie asks, "Hey Michael, would it be okay if I got a box of 9mms out of the case for my hotel room?" Sure, I said. Thanks, she replied, as someone had tried to break into her room the night before, screaming, yelling, etc., and she had a room full of guns and no ammo. Whoops...

So, do I feel undergunned with a 19th Century single action revolver to protect my tiny hotel room? Nahhhhh...get real! Real World scenario says someone tries to break into my room, he (or she, this being CA and all) gets to meet Mr. 125-grain JHP, who doesn't actually care what the launching platform is. I doubt there's going to be a firefight, and even if there is I have several hundred cowboy rounds for the Navy Arms carbine.

Prepare the sandbags! Get ready to hodl the fort! No wait, it's Ontario...who wants to hold the fort...give it to them and ESCAPE...


BTW, Our friend Jeff at Alphecca has fallen on some hard times...stop by the site and kick him some kibble to help tide him over!

The End of the World as We Know It Comes!

From Reuters, sad, sad news:

Weekly World News to close
(aliens not blamed!)

MIAMI (Reuters) - Publisher American Media Inc. said on Tuesday it will stop printing the Weekly World News, which for 28 years gleefully chronicled the exploits of alien babies, animal-human hybrids and dead celebrities.

The company said in a brief statement it would end the print version of the tabloid newspaper next month but would maintain the online version (www.weeklyworldnews.com).
[...]
The Weekly World News, which boasted it was "The World's Only Reliable Newspaper," reveled in shocking and almost always exclusive reports about extra-terrestrials, ghosts, scoundrels and scientific discoveries, such as the cure for lovesickness found on the walls of an ancient Mexican monument.

Bat Boy, the half-bat, half-human child found in a cave, was a regular feature. After the September 11 attacks, the tabloid reported he had been enlisted in the hunt for Osama bin Laden because of his special cave-dwelling skills.

Sigh...I always had aspirations of becoming the 34-pound Grasshopper Correspondent, traveling the Midwest in search of the elusive giant insects. Another dream bites the dust!

NEW ADDENDUM!

From the London Daily Mail:

UFO sightings bring town to a standstill
Last updated at 11:27am on 25th July 2007

A crowd of 100 stunned stargazers brought a town centre to a standstill when five mysterious UFOs were spotted hovering in the sky.

Drinkers spilled out of pubs, motorists stopped to gawp and camera phones were aimed upwards as the five orbs, in a seeming formation, hovered above Stratford-Upon-Avon for half an hour.

The unidentified flying objects lit up the otherwise clear night sky above Shakespeare's birthplace in Warwickshire on Saturday.

Wouldn't it totally suck if the aliens actually landed AFTER WWN closes????

Quick...Check the Basement for CHUDs!

This morning Pravda — IMO, for more objective and honest, not to mention entertaining, than the New York Times — revealed that ther may be another civilization in the hollow Earth:

Legends say that an entry to the underground realms was located somewhere in the North, and legendary ancient tribes living on the planet centuries ago used the entries to have a good shelter under the Earth's surface. Mystics believe that the entry to the legendary Hyperborea, Shambala and Plutonia is carefully concealed from outsiders somewhere close to the North Pole. Recently, a reliable edition reported that UFOs coming to this planet start not from space but burst out from huge holes under the surface in the North Pole.

Sort of like Boulder resident Jeff Long's cool best-selling novel, The Descent. Just in case, I went down and checked the basement, but no sign of underaliens. Actually, they're welcome in my basement gun room if they'll single run the Dillons for me...I've give them a case of Jiffy Extra-Crunchy peanut butter a month and an Internet connection with their own FaceBook account, so they can meet other underaliens. When I get tired of all their chitterings, I'll sell them on eBay. I am a simple man.

Great visit at Midway yesterday...Larry Potterfield cleverly spend half the day having us shoot sporting clays, where I proved once again that I can barely hit the ground with a shotgun. I swear I'm going to do an episode of SHOOTING GALLERY on clays just so I can figure out what I'm doing wrong...well, I know what I'm doing wrong...I tend to stop the gun, leading me to shoot behind the clay. Anyhow, I love to hang around the Midway plant and watch it work, sort of like a great big clock...my old manufacturing consulting background peaking out, I guess.

Placed an order today for a Stag AR today, one of the Model 2Ts with ARMS folding rear sights (shown above...yes, it looks like an AR!!!). I plan to use it in a Performance Rifle class at the United States Shooting Academy in Tulsa in a couple of months — you'll see it on SHOOTING GALLERY, of course. I'm really excitied about going to Tulsa and taking some classes...USSA is the home of USPSA Grand Master Phil Strader, one of the three nicest guys in the world and a great instructor. It'll be fun...

I also asked S&W for one of the new John Ross/Performance Center .500 blasters...I love the way John has designed the gun! You can eventually get details on it on John's site, and there are videos of the proto from the NRA Show in April on DOWN RANGE (go to DRTV Videos and scroll down the list to "2007 NRA Annual Meeting."

BTW, have you seen the new look on DOWN RANGE? We've got the MEMBER VIDEO UPLOADS engine working now, so users will be uploading their videos. I'd hoped to cut a deal with GunsAmerica.com, the large classified ad site, to put us in front of more viewers, but that whole negotiation proved to be quite the little tar baby and, unfortunately, we weren't able to make the deal work.

Marshal Holloway and I are still committed to making DOWN RANGE the ultimate community site for shooters, and I think we're pretty close to being there. We ain't no stinkin' carpetbaggers!

Time to go to work...got videos to upload for tomorrow! Plus I gotta go check the traps in the basement...

St. Louis Blues

More or less...I'm in St. Louis on my way to Columbia to pull the trigger a bit and have lunch with Larry Potterfield at Midway USA. I am luckily in a hotel with the world's greatest minibar...this is a plus...

Also a plus are the rumored first 10,000 AR clones from longtime military supplier Reed Knight...looking forward to aying my hands on one of the suckers. No, that's not what the hamster has...rodents have their own weapons' suppliers.

BTW, kudos are in order for my friend Debbie Ferns of Babes With Bullets for doing such an excellent job on NBC News last week talking about high-tech rifles. Deb couldn't do anythign about the usual nitwit stuff — These guns have pistol grips! Oh my god! — but she did a beautiful job of presenting our case on the national news. Thank you, Deb!

Am Back from Margaritaville North

AKA, Miami and a trip to Taurus...shot some cool stuff, sat on the beach, ate some great fish and had a couple of good margaritas!

Should have the first video up Wednesday, along with the podcast.

More tomorrow...sorry for the light posting!

OSHA Caves!

Some very good news for all of us! The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in the face of stunning response from gun owners and Second Amendment supporters in Congress and facing the "Centers for Disease Control" scenario — being stripped of some of their federal funds for use in anythng even resembling gun control — has caved on their attempt to back-door collapse the ammunition industry. From the NRA-ILA:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new “explosives safety” regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with.

Gun owners had filed a blizzard of negative comments urged by the NRA, and just a week ago, OSHA had already issued one extension for its public comment period at the request of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. After continued publicity through NRA alerts and the outdoor media, and after dozens of Members of Congress expressed concern about its impact, OSHA has wisely decided to go back to the drawing board.

Working with the NRA, Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT) planned to offer a floor amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill this Wednesday when the House considers this legislation. His amendment would have prohibited federal funds from being used to enforce this OSHA regulation.

Simple truth...when we stand together, we have the power. And we are going to need that power, because there is a storm coming in 2008. Believe it!

Parker Going to the Supremes!

Get ready, boys and girls, because the roller coaster is starting up. Washington D.C. has decided to appeal the Parker decision — remember, from the D.C. Circuit, that the Second Amendment is an individual right, making D.C.'s draconian gun prohibitions unconstitutional — to the Supreme Court. This from the SCOTUSblog.com:

Local government officials in Washington, D.C., announced Monday they will appeal to the Supreme Court in a major test case on the meaning of the Second Amendment. The key issue in the coming petition will be whether the Amendment protects an individual right to have guns in one's home -- an issue on which there is now a clear conflict among federal Circuit Courts. The city will be defending the constitutionality of a local handgun control law that is regarded as the strictest in the nation.

The petition would have been due Aug. 7, but city officials said Monday that they would ask Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., for a 30-day extension of time to file the case. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and city Attorney General Linda Singer disclosed the appeal plan at a press conference, along with local Police Chief Cathy Lanier. (A news release announcing the action can be found here ) The Mayor said: "We have made the determination that this law can and should be defended and we are willing to take our case to the highest court in the land to protect the city's residents. Our handgun law has saved countless lives -- keeping guns out of the hands of those who would hurt others or themselves."

The D.C. Circuit Court ruled on March 9 that the Second Amendment does guarantee an individual right to possess a gun -- at least within one's own home. The ruling was the first by a federal appeals court to strike down a gun control law based on that view of the Amendment's reach. The case is Parker, et al., v. District of Columbia (Circuit docket 04-7041). On May 8, the Circuit Court refused by a 6-4 vote to rehear the case en banc. The mandate is scheduled to be issued Aug. 7, but will be withheld after the city files its Supreme Court petition. Thus, the existing gun law would remain in effect temporarily.

What does it all mean?

Could be nothing; could be the whole freakin' ball game. The Supreme Court scares the hell out of me (and numerous pro-2A attorneys have written me with exactly the same feelings). Yes, we have a "conservative" Court, but the Court will go where the Court will go. Read Joe Tartaro's of the Second Amendment Foundaton articulate commentary from GunWeek a couple of months back:

...the Parker case may be a turning point in the struggle for the right to keep and bear arms. It must be remembered, however, that the Parker case focuses on the question of “keeping arms” in one’s home or business, not “bearing” arms on the streets of Washington, DC, or anywhere else.

If it goes to the Supreme Court, and the court upholds the Mar. 9 ruling by the three-judge panel in the DC appellate court, it will not spell the end of all gun control laws. That decision, like the earlier 5th Circuit Emerson decision left room for some limitations on firearms possession and use while upholding an individual right to possess them.

The anti-gunners has been tearing their hair out and screaming that the world of gun control will come to an end if the Supreme Court upholds the Parker decision. As usual, they are predicting nothing short of the end of civilization as we know it if the decision is upheld.

Some pro-gunners are almost as extreme in their fear of what would happen if the court overturns Parker, something I find hard to believe given the careful preparation of the case, the upstanding nature of the plaintiffs, and the scholarship woven into the Parker decision.

Sooner or later, it is inevitable that one or more Second Amendment cases will be accepted by the Supreme Court, no matter what the pro-gun and anti-gun leaders and their strategists say. I believe that Parker should be that case. As I mentioned, it is a case about the right to keep arms in one’s home. Later, there may be cases that address the question of bearing arms outside the home.

Better now the Parker case than the one involving drug dealers, terrorists, bank robbers, and rapists—all of whom frequently raise the Second Amendment in their defenses.

As Parker case attorney Alan Gura told Workman during his interview, “If not this case, which case?”

Let's talk a little about timing and the President elections of 2008. This is from the Volokh Conspiracy last March right after the decision:

Say that the D.C. Circuit decides not to rehear the case en banc; that probably means the en banc petition will be denied within several months. Assume that it's denied by late June — the petition for certiorari will be due in late September, the Supreme Court will consider it in the next month or two (unless it decides to call for the views of the Solicitor General, but I doubt this will be necessary). That means the case will likely be heard in early 2008, and decide by June 2008.
What will the extra prominence of the issue do to the primaries?

Assume the decision is 5-4 in favor of the individual rights theory; what will that do to the general Presidential election race? Assume it's 5-4 in favor of the collective rights theory, with Kennedy joining the four liberals on the collective rights side — what will that do to the race? What if it's 5-4 with Roberts or Alito joining the liberals? I take it that if it's not 5-4, or (possibly) if it's 5-4 with a less liberal/conservative split, the effect will be less; is that right? Or is this decision not that relevant, either on the theory that the issue won't energize people that much, or on the theory that plenty of people would be energized on gun control and the Second Amendment regardless of how the case comes down?

Naturally, if one of the Justices retires this year or next, the effect on the Presidential race would be still greater, I suspect. And if the case is delayed (say, by en banc activity, by a call for the views of the Solicitor General, or the like) so that it's heard in Fall 2008 and expected to be decided in Spring 2009, I take it the effect on the election would be bigger still.

Finally, note that if there is a pro-individual-rights decision from the Supreme Court, I expect it will be very narrow, will leave open considerable room for gun controls that are less comprehensive than D.C.'s total ban, and will not resolve the question whether the Second Amendment is incorporated in the Fourteenth Amendment to cover state regulations.

We'll see...

Jim Cirillo Killed in Car Crash

Good Lord, another dear friend lost!

Jim Cirillo, the legendary member of the New York City Police Department "Stake Out Squad" in the 1970s, was killed yesterday in a car-truck collision in New York...Jim was 76.

I don't even know what to say right now...

Back to Work!

Back to filming today for DOWN RANGE, a voracious maw that devours media. I'm working on a series of short-form videos for people who want to or are getting ready to buy a firearm. I forget sometimes that not everyone lives, eats and breathes this stuff. Here's a question — how should I balance the mix of videos on DOWN RANGE, vis-a-vis expert vs. beginner?

I think there's some utility in getting some of the top people in the industry to step back in time and remember how they started.

A second question...looking at the sweep of Gun Universe, how much emphasis do I need to be placing on all those old military rifles in SHOTGUN NEWS, the C&R stuff? It's frankly out of my venue...I've got a couple of Mausers, but in truth I haven't shot them in years. I need to get a sense of how large that market is..growing or shrinking...that sort of thing. I am going to go back and re-examine some of the older pistols like the Walther P-38/P-1, the CZ-52, the 1895 Nagant revolver and the like.

I'm having trouble putting these guns into context, so to speak. For example, yes, you can pick up a serviceable 8mm German Mauser 98 for a couple of bills or a Mosin Nagant for less than a hundred...but in my eyes those guns are either for plinking, informal target shooting, collecting or, for some of the guys I know, hunting...I'm not denegrating ANY of those activities, either! Remember, I'm the guy who thinks 38-40 is such a great cartridge he had a custom one built!

But if someone were to ask me for a suggestion for a good cheap bolt-action hunting rifle, my answer would be a used Savage or Ruger — in other words, a modern gun made with current steels — rather than one of the older military rifles. If you asked me about a "do-everything" or a so-called "social" rifle and you wanted a bolt gun, I'm going to send you out for any one of a half-dozen modern .308s. If you wanted a fast-handling carbine and were allergic to ARs, I'd point you toward a Marlin 30-30 lever gun...you can getone that was run over by a train and it will still work great. But the 50-plus year old military rifles I see as "fun guns," much like I see my 38-40.

My exception to the "fun guns" would be the Walther P-38/P-1 pistol. If I had only a single 9mm and it was a P-38 (actually, I prefer the alloy-framed P-1), I'd be just fine, heel-mounted magazine release and all. I've put a lot of rounds through various and sundry P-38s and P-1s, and I've found them to be accurate and reliable. I've shot some WW2 relics that surprised the heck out of me on accuracy. I've actually half-way planned to get one, have Tim Wegner at Blade-Tech or Brian Hoffner make me a modern plastic holster rig for it and shoot it in IDPA just to see how it worked...my suspicion is that it would work just fine.

I will confess that I'm planning on finishing a Siamese Mauser .45-70 project my father started and like so many other things in his life never finished. It's been rechambered from the original rimmed 8mm round, rebarreled and partially refinished. I tracked down the gunsmith who did the original work back in the early 1970s — Ed Mason in Memphis — and my plan is to get them to finish the job. Like I said, a fun gun...

Am I full of elephant poopers or what?

The End of a Long Week

Well, the world spins on, or as Peggy Noonan noted in the WSJ OpinionJournal, "...a slow week in a hot era."

First I would like to refer you to Kathleen Parker's eloquent epitath for Doug Marlette in Townhall.com:

He felt it was the artist's assignment to find out -- "to snare the spirits of mankind in nets of magic," as Wolfe put it.

I would also like to acknowledge the gracious comments on the last post. Two of the posters, Gary & Sandi, figured large in our shared story...not only did Gary actually (and insanely) hire both Marlette and I for the Florida Flambeau, but during those college years they fed us both more than once.

I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.

— Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood

Doug Marlette — A Warrior for Truth

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette, creator of the "Kudzu" comic strip and a relentless and honest observer of the human condition, was killed in a car accident in Mississippi yesterday morning.

He was 57, my age, and one of my oldest friends.

We met our freshman year at Florida State, working for the school newspaper, and shared those crazy years together. Just when I thought we were all going to grow up and become "serious" journalists, Marlette got a job at the Charlotte Observer and talked me into moving to North Carolina. It was Marlette who believed — absolutely believed! — I could spin a haphazard career out of air. I sold him my first real bicycle, a Raleigh, when I moved to New York City to become a magazine editor.

When he drew the cartoon above, What Would Mohammed Drive?, a few years ago, he did so as a committed liberal and a religious man who was as appalled at the rise of Islamofacism as he was by the rise of the Praise the Lord Club — he was, as he always said, an equal opportunity offender. The fascist declared a fatwah on my friend and called for his death.

More painful to him, far too many of his long-time "friends" deserted him; publications who routinely ran Marlette's broadsides against the Pope, against PTL, against Jerry Falwell (a favorite target) refused to run the Mohammed cartoon out of "sensitivity" to Muslims. "Cowards," he called them.

And he went on with his life, because Doug Marlette was not a coward.

Got an email from him a month or so ago complimenting me on "your web empire" and telling me he had started drawing for the Tulsa World. "Hey, we'll get together soon!" he wrote, and he signed his note, "Your old friend..."

I don't know what else to say, except that my friend was always a warrior for truth and a true son of the South in the oldest, deepest and most profound sense.

I will miss him. So will the world.

Interesting Reading on 2008

McCain's pretty much tanked — the money's running out and the rats are leaving the ship. He sold us out on the First and Second Amendments and wonders why nobody loves him any more. Pathetic.

Maybe he can move to San Francisco, where the Board of Supervisors approved more and more gun control regulation for the most antigun city, albeit with the best restaurants, in America. Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair, Johnny!

Been a while since I mentioned Ann Coulter, so check out this article in Human Events...just as you suspected, felons vote (when they vote), overwhelmingly Democratic (and other tidbits from John Lott):

This is not because, as you might imagine, blacks have high crime rates and also happen to be overwhelmingly Democratic. Lott compares the voting patterns of felons and nonfelons, controlling for race, age, education level, religious habits, employment, age and country of residence. Wholly apart from all these factors, felons were still more likely to vote Democratic. Indeed, in the 2004 election, Lott says, felons in Washington state "voted exclusively for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry."

With so many felons being Democrats, the party might want to think about changing its mascot from a donkey to a jailbird.

Needless to say, Democrats are neurotically obsessed with restoring the right to vote to felons. But the ex-cons themselves rarely express any interest in regaining this particular right. What ex-cons want is the right to own a gun. "Felons," Lott says, "who frequently live in poor, high-crime neighborhoods, want to be able to defend themselves."

So the evidence is in on that one, too: Preferring the right to bear arms to the right to vote (for choice), convicted felons have a superior value system to liberals.

And John McCain, too!

Two Mondays in a Week...

...well, two Fridays, too! Am going to go see Live Free or Die Hard today, just because I haven't seen anything blow up in awhile. My Sweetie and I did a long bike on Independence Day, up Mt. Evans, which is, I believe, the highest paved road in America. At about 12,000 feet I got minor mountain sick — splitting headache, nausea and the "whirlies." I rode on for another 500 feet of elevation, but finally packed it in when we saw a big thunderstorm swirling aout from behind the summit. That's my story and I'm sticking to it, although, in truth, the mountain sickness was sucking out all my enthusiasm for biking!

I strongly urge you to avoid steep descents on twisting mountain roads with big drops off the side while the world in your head is spinning around...remember, I'm a professional! The weird thing about mountain sickness, of course, is that it goes away as quickly as it comes on...at just below 12,000 feet, I felt great again. It's also a "luck of the draw" sort of thing...I've been at 12,000 feet a bunch in the last couple of years with no ill effects.

Interesting piece in Reason Online on the militarization of the police, based on senior editor Radley Balko's testimony before the House Subcommittee on Crime a couple of weeks ago:

This is troubling because paramilitary police actions are extremely volatile, necessarily violent, overly confrontational, and leave very little margin for error. These are acceptable risks when you’re dealing with an already violent situation featuring a suspect who is an eminent threat to the community.

But when you’re dealing with nonviolent drug offenders, paramilitary police actions create violence instead of defusing it. Whether you’re an innocent family startled by a police invasion that inadvertently targeted the wrong home or a drug dealer who mistakes raiding police officers for a rival drug dealer, forced entry into someone’s home creates confrontation. It rouses the basest, most fundamental instincts we have in us – those of self-preservation – to fight when flight isn’t an option.

Check out this map on botched police raids put together by the Cato Insititute. The red dots are raids that resulted in the death of an innocent person.

Quickly switching gears, I just finished reading DEER HUNTING WITH JESUS — Dispatches From America's Class War. It's interesting because the author, redneck Internet columnist Joe Bageant, is also a self-described socialist who moved back to his home town in Virginia, Winchester, and decided to address the issues of class he found there.

I enjoyed the book and found much to agree with...I am, of course, Tennessee born and bred; And, as Conway and Loretta once noted, "we ain't the jet set." Sadly...at least to me...much of Bageant's "solutions" are the same Sad Sack socialist recipes served cold...if the underclass only taxed themselves silly to build mass transit instead of buying trailers! If they only traveled and saw other people with different value systems — only 20% of the people in America even have passports!

Oh gosh, Joe, I have traveled...I'm one of the 20% with a worn passport full of fascinating stamps. I have visited countries where people have other belief systems, and — let me put this in the vernacular of my home or your home — most of them suck dog balls.

We did find some serious common ground...on guns, of course:

So when the left began to demonize gun owners in the 1960s, they not only were arrogant and insulting because they associated all gun owners with criminals but also were politically stupid" [P129; graf 2]

And this on Hollywood's love affair with gun control, talking about the infamous Handgun Control Inc. "Open Letter to the NRA" a few years back:

Personally I love 'em all, but Hollywood doesn't seem to have the common sense God gave a soggy animal cracker when it comes to guns. Maybe they signed up to endorse HCI because their agent says they need a cause and there is no more room on the AIDS bandwagon. I don't know. But according to HCI and the well-meaning but clueless stars who endorse it, "Every day we lose 13 children to gun violence in this country...The debate is not about guns. It's about children." Nah, It's about middle-class liberal feel-good masturbation and celebrity-identity franchise building through causes. In reality, 90 percent of the "children" we lose to gun violence are gangbangers between 15 and 19 years of age. Which is not quite the same as your average elementary or middle school kid shooting up the neighborhood or popping little brother with daddy's Magnum pistol. [P136-137; graf 3]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Joe! He goes on to discuss gun control's ugly little closet secret, that it was born primarily to deprive black Americans of their right to self-defense. Of course, he can't resist working up a little liberal sweat on those of us with high-tech rifles in the basement:

Yet I shudder to think about what the Glens and the Donnys of the world will do one day if things spiral out of control. What happens when this country finally hits Peak Oil Demand and the electrical grid starts browning down and even little things become desperately difficult or unaffordable? What happens if the wrong kind of president declares the wrong kind of national emergency. What will be the first reflex of those hundreds of thousands of devotees of lethality? [P156; graf 1]

Now that's a thorny question, isn't it Joe?

Still, DEER HUNTING WITH JESUS is the perfect gift book to buy for your liberal friends...the first few chapters will get them all heated-up and aroused on the Usual Agenda and frothing about Bush, then the gun chapter falls on 'em like an lard-based atomic weapon! Be fun to watch!

Independence Day, 2007

Recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001

And I keep on fighting for the things I want
Though I know that when you're dead you can't
But I'd rather be a free man in my grave
Than living as a puppet or a slave
The harder they come, the harder they'll fall one and all

Jimmy Cliff
"The Harder They Come"

Remember our soldiers, heroes one and all! Sean, keep your head down over there.

Remember...remember...remember...

We Can Forget It For You Wholesale

This from LiveScience:

Researchers at Harvard and McGill University (in Montreal) are working on an amnesia drug that blocks or deletes bad memories. The technique seems to allow psychiatrists to disrupt the biochemical pathways that allow a memory to be recalled.

I can't wait to get some, because I've been trying to forget the Clintons for 8 years; I suspect that I'll need a second dose to forget most of the Bush Presidency.

The Newest Battleline...OSHA

From NSSF:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the government agency charged with assuring the safety and health of America's workers, is proposing a regulatory rule affecting the manufacturing, transportation and storage of small arms ammunition, primers and smokeless propellants.

As written, the proposed rule would force the closure of nearly all ammunition manufacturers and force the cost of small arms ammunition to skyrocket beyond what the market could bear—essentially collapsing our industry. This is not an exaggeration. The cost to comply with the proposed rule for the ammunition industry, including manufacturer, wholesale distributors and retailers, will be massive and easily exceed $100 million. For example, ammunition and smokeless propellant manufacturers would have to shut down and evacuate a factory when a thunderstorm approached and customers would not be allowed within 50 feet of any ammunition (displayed or otherwise stored) without first being searched for matches or lighters.

Go to the NSSF site for details on how to contact OSHA!

The Moon's a Harsh Mistress

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

— Robert A. Heinlein

We're coming up on the 100-year anniversary of science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, July 7, 2007. There's an interesting essay on Fredericksburg.com (thank you, InstaPundit!) on the upcoming anniversary:

Almost half a century later, the book [Starship Troopers, of course] continues to outrage, shock--and awe. It still has critics, but also armies of admirers. As a coming-of-age story about duty, citizenship, and the role of the military in a free society, "Starship Troopers" certainly speaks to modern concerns. The U.S. armed services frequently put it on recommended-reading lists.

There's even a grassroots campaign to have a next-generation, Zumwalt-class destroyer named the USS Robert A. Heinlein.

Heinlein's influence reaches far beyond a single book, of course. He was the first sci-fi author to make the bestseller lists, the winner of multiple awards, and the inspiration for a legion of proteges and imitators whose own volumes now weigh down bookstore shelves. He was not the most accomplished literary stylist in his genre, but he spun a good yarn, grappled with big questions, and left an enduring imprint on a popular field. He was arguably the preeminent sci-fi author of the 20th century.
[...]
One of the key differences between him and the two men who might also compete for this title--Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke--is that whereas they were political liberals, Heinlein was a Man of the Right.

Interestingly enough, Brian Doherty's book on American libertarianism, Radicals for Capitalism, notes that most modern libertarian activitists list Heinlein as an early influence. I consider myself a libertarian activist who focuses on the gun issue, and, of course, much of my early thinking (such as it was) centered around Heinlein, Ayn Rand, and some crotchety bastard firebrand named Jeff Cooper.

Later I was priviledged to spend time with both Ayn Rand and Col. Cooper...and I can't tell you have lucky I am...but it has always pained me that I never got to sit down with Heinlein...so many questions!

Back in high school, I sketched out the outlines of my haphazard career after reading (many times) the Heinlein short story "We Also Walk Dogs." And, of course, this quote:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

— Robert A. Heinlein

Hyperbole Saturday

This from Roseanne Barr's blog...

IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT AND THE VICE PRESIDENT, THEY ARE TRAITORS TO AMERICA, AND SO ARE ALL OF THEIR SUPPORTERS. IMPEACH! ANYONE IN CONGRESS WHO REFUSES TO SAVE OUR UNION FROM THESE TRAITORS BY DOING NOTHING NEEDS TO BE RECALLED. SAVE OUR TROOPS!!! SAVE OUR SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS AND JOBS. FEED OUR HUNGRY AND POOR! SAVE THE DROWNING PEOPLE IN NEW ORLEANS! ANYONE WHO MENTIONS PARIS HILTON ONE MORE TIME MUST DIE!

Well, I'm pretty much on board with the Paris Hilton part of the message, but otherwise, I'm afraid it's a week of decaf for Roseanne!

Going to spend the day bicycling mountain passes over in Summit County, which will be both beautiful and fun (and, yeah, will probably cause my heart to pop out my ear or something).

I realize I have an explanation due over my off-hand comment that I might start shooting USPSA Single Stack with a .40 Short & Weak STI Trojan, since I recently had what I thought was a pretty well-thought-out rant about how the .40 was a not-so-ingenious solution to a more-or-less real problem (cops wanted more rounds than could be stuffed in a .45 semiauto).

SOOOOO, if I don't like .40 at all, why would I shoot it in competition? Cause I've got about a billion rounds of brass, many cartons of bullets and a Dillion 650 set up to spew finished .40s out like a bulemic Hollywood starlet...the legacy of my days of shooting USPSA Limited with an STI Edge...arguably the gun that defines USPSA Limited.

Alternately, I've been halfway thinking about giving in to my ever-increasing age and shoot Open with a red-dot site, which would require me to go forage a .38 Super and all that other happy crap to compete with...not necessarily a bad thing.

I know what you're wondering...why not IDPA? Frankly, I just can't face getting yelled at by "tactical master" pizza delivery guys and orthodontists. Yeah, they probably know more than me, but I've never been much on yelling as a way of transmitting information. Certainly not all IDPA clubs have institutionalized this shouting at the shooter for every small (or perceived) infraction nonsense, and I strongly urge you to resist the temptation...when you yell at the shooter for everything — failure to use cover, foot misplacements, etc. — you essentially desensitize the shooter to your range commands. As a rangemaster, the only word I've ever shouted was, "STOP!" And when I yell that, believe me, I want instant obedience because I have seen a dangerous situation that the shooter is not aware of. I have been hauled onto the carpet by some of the top instructors in the world, and not a single one has raised his or her voice while doing it...interesting.

Gettin' The Goat!

Got this piece of BBC/YouTube video in an email this AM from John Paul at JP Enterprises, makers of the finest ARs in the business, along with this memo attached:

Note that these rifles have been in service since 2003 and have well over 100K rounds through them. Each aerial shooter has two rifles, one to shoot, one to cool. Expected round count was to be upwards of over a thousand rounds per rifle per day. They are equipped with the heat sink and Aimpoint Comp MLs. All rifles had to hold one MOA accuracy or better after 1000 rounds of testing and are still accurate today.

But, can we apply for this job or what?

An "Accidental" Discharge for the Books!

Stumbled on this on The High Road, from 2001 in the American Journal of Roentgenology (honest):

Case Report

Spontaneous Discharge of a Firearm in an MR Imaging Environment

An incident recently occurred at an outpatient imaging center in western New York State, in which a firearm spontaneously discharged in a 1.5-T MR imaging environment with active shielding. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of such an occurrence. The event confirms previously reported theoretic risks of a firearm discharging in an MR imaging environment [1]. In this report, we examine the incident in detail from the official police and ballistic reports.

An off-duty police officer went to an outpatient imaging center (not affiliated with our institution) in western New York State to have an MR imaging examination. The facility housed a 1.5-T MR unit (Signa; General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI) with active shielding. The officer was carrying a model 1991 A-1 compact.45 caliber semiautomatic pistol (Colt's Manufacturing, Hartford, CT).

The officer notified the technologist that he was carrying the weapon before entering the MR dressing room. The technologist told the officer to take the gun with him. The technologist intended to meet the officer in the MR patient waiting area before the examination and secure the weapon in that room, where he felt it would be safe. However, the officer apparently misunderstood and took the gun into the MR suite. The technologist was entering the officer's personal data into the computer and did not see him entering the MR suite.

Once the officer was inside the MR suite, the gun was pulled from his hand as he attempted to place the gun on top of a cabinet 3 ft (0.9 m) away from the magnet bore. The gun was immediately pulled into the bore, where it struck the left side and spontaneously discharged a round into the wall of the room at the rear of the magnet. Fortunately, no one was injured. Although the gun struck the magnet bore, only minimal cosmetic damage occurred to the magnet itself. The MR unit had full functional capability immediately after the gun discharged. The weapon's thumb safety was reportedly engaged when the gun discharged.

An unsuccessful attempt to remove the gun from the magnet resulted in the gun being pulled to the right side of the magnet (Fig. 1). The decision was then made to power down the magnet to remove the gun.

Moral of this story...keep your blaster away from Big Magnets!

Praise the Lord!

In her first interview since being released from jail, Paris Hilton told CNN's Larry King on Wednesday that she has never used drugs, isn't a big drinker, and although she feels her incarceration was unwarranted, God had a reason for putting her there.

"Don't serve the time; let the time serve you," Hilton said. "I have a new outlook on life."

From CNN this AM

I can see the future...Paris Hilton, motivational speaker! I can't wait to pony up $50 just for a seat in the auditorium...maybe she'll do a tag-team with Tony Robbins. Now that would rock! The only thing that would make it better was if they got some acrobats from Cirque Du Soleil and maybe a miniature pony or two. There's a video that'll sell like hotcakes! Hotcakes, I tell you!

Okay, celebrity moment over!

As an aside, I used to be a motivational speaker, but I discovered I was insufficiently cynical...certainly something I never would have figured in advance. Interesting bit of trivia...researchers have found what may be the first gunshot victim in this hemisphere...from the Indianapolis Star:

The musket blast was sudden and deadly, the killing nearly 500 years ago of what may have been the first gunshot victim in the Western Hemisphere.

"We didn't expect it. We saw this skull and saw the almost round hole and thought people must have been shooting around here recently," said Guillermo Cock, an archaeologist who found the remains near Lima, Peru.
[...]
To be sure this was a gunshot wound -- making it the earliest one documented in the Americas -- forensics expert Tim Palmbach at the University of New Haven studied the skull and brought in other experts.

Al Harper, director of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science in New Haven, Conn., said the team "tried to rule out all kinds of causes of the hole -- a rock from a slingshot, spear, sledgehammer." Harper and Palmbach studied the skull with a powerful scanning electronic microscope.

"We all thought it was a million-to-one chance that we would find any traces of metal on a skull that old, but it was worth a try," Harper said in a statement.

But there they were: fragments of metal from a musket ball surrounding the hole.

What can we deduce from this uber-shooting? Well, head shots work, especially when you're lobbing a lead ball about an inch in diameter. Or maybe the Spaniard was just shooting high...there's an interesting thread on Glock Talk about the propensity of soldiers to shoot high under combat stress. This from one of the posts:

British musket drill manuals from the 18th and early 19th centuries instruct sargents to order soldiers to aim at the cross belt. The tendency was to aim at the chest and shoot over the head. They also warn sargents and officers that most men shut their eyes or look away from the musket lock when fireing.

Not that I have any secret information, but I think firing high under stress is probably a perception problem involving what is or is not the "center of mass" of a person. If our subconscious factors in that big lump on top of our shoulders, the head, when "computing" center mass, our shots are likely to go high on the torso, because the head adds another foot [haha...bad pun!] or so to the size of the body. Secondly, in the shooting process we extend our arm or arms to shoulder level; unless we make adjustments up or down, the bullet's impact is likely to be at shoulder level, which is too high for a true torso center mass shot and too low for a head shot.

Anyway, I can't keep ignoring the endless ringing of my office phone this AM! BTW, am going to be doing some consulting for a National Geo producer I know on the iconic AK-47 for a special on that gun. Ought to be interesting!

Run toward the sound of the ringing phones! To arms! To arms!

Emasculated!

Well, I revealed to my Sweetie that according to CNN she was potentially at risk since I own guns, to which she replied, "Nope."

Maybe it's because she cribbed the cream of my collection for her own use. Now I'm worried that she might be psychotic and I might be at risk. Paging Pat the Profiler! And, of course, Lisa Farrell scares me spitless...

Anyhow, we're moving to consolidate our gains with the USFS...I'll keep you all informed. My little cherubs and seraphim tell me that Powers-That-Be in Washington just got sick of all the crappy publicity we've been generating. It reminds me that media war is an often ugly strategy, but at times a successful one.

In other news, it looks like we should go live on GunsAmerica.com with video and the podcast download next week as part of our plans for Total World Domination. I'm extremely excited about ramping up the 2008 seasons of SHOOTING GALLERY and COWBOYS. You guys and guyettes are going to be so impressed!

I'm thinking about starting back shooting USPSA Single Stack class, probably with the Cylinder & Slide Kimber or the .40 STI Trojan, if I can come up with 6 or 7 magazines that work all the time. I want to go total retro...get a leather rig from Kirkpatrick Leather, which is as close as I can get to an old-time Gordie Davis or Ernie Hill rig.

CNN Reveals We're All Whackos!

Drom Snowflakes in Hell:

Bitter Better Dump Me Soon!
Posted by Sebastian under The Media

If CNN is to be believed, I’m going to kill her any minute! Criminal Profiler Pat Brown says that having guns should be a “big red flag” that any guy they are dating is a potential psychopath.

Coffee & Ammo

Maybe I should start a magazine with that name...anyhow, I've been swilling coffee this AM trying desperately to wake up. My brain wouldn't turn off last night, so I turned it off...now I'm having trouble shoving thoughts through the gooey sludge in my head.

Probably a good time to record the weekly podcast!

Anhow, even all fuddled up I can figure out that middle-of-the-road Republicans are unlikely to desert even the current crew of putt-putt golf pros running for President and flock to Michael Bloomberg. Why — and this is not a trick question?

Because he's one of the most antigun politicians in American history.

Why am I even bringing this up today? Because I accidently watched the Sunday news shows, where I repeatedly heard that Michael Bloomberg represented a "viable alternative" for disenfranchised Republicans.

Here's a bulletin from the disenfranchised wing of the Republican party...why on earth do you think we're disenfranchised? Do you think it could be because your three main candidates think the Second Amendment is something they can set aside when the spirit moves them? Do you think we're all going to support an independent candidate who's willing to violate state and federal laws to feed his antigun obsession? Jeeeezzzzz....

Before I stumble into my office (then head off for a dental appointment oh joy oh joy), I want to make a couple of points on production values. The new bosses at the Outdoor Channel are committed to raising the quality of outdoor programming...one of the reasons I made the decision to go with the Outdor Channel rather than any of the other outdoor networks that were talking to me. My goals are quantum increased in production quality for SG and COWBOYS, and I'll hit those goals when we start the filming for 2008.

Meanwhile, we got machinegun video coming up on DOWN RANGE on Wednesday! All cotton candy...no vegetables!

Motorcycle Puttering Time

Back at home after a loooooooooong day at the Outdoor Channel...we had a lot of ground to conver, including rough concepts for the new openings and graphic elements of SHOOTING GALLERY and COWBOYS...California was, as always, hot and smelled like cow poopie....lovely place. Got some decent Mexican food and managed to avoid running over any immigrant families on the Interstate.

I was going to do the podcast from California, but I spent so much time ont he freeway at rush hours that I barely had time to do the work I was out there for! Have I mentioned how well the podcast is going over? Lots of subscribers and the most visited page on the DOWN RANGE site! I've had suggestions that I should do more than one a week, to which I reply why don't I just drive a nail in my foot and run around in circles?

Anyhow, been talking to ace photographer/poster-maker Oleg Volk — you've seen some of his posters here — and we're going to work rotating pro-gun posters into the redesign of DOWN RANGE later next month. He's also agree to do the cover for the revised TRAIL SAFE book, whihc will be a quantum improvement over the old one.

More later...I'm going to go putter around on my motorcycle...

Report on USFS Meeting in Local Paper

Frm the Rocky Mountain News this AM:

Recreational shooting has Forest Service's all-clear
Hints of a ban in Boulder County fired up shooters

Target shooters in Boulder may be safe after all.
U.S. Forest Service officials said Wednesday that they will not be looking to ban recreational shooting on national forest land in Boulder County.

Meeting with state lawmakers, Forest Service Regional Forester Rick Cables said earlier accounts of banning shooting on national forest land in the county were incorrect and not in keeping with the agency's ideals.

"The Forest Service honors the Second Amendment, period," he said.

The discussion Wednesday at the Capitol came on the heels of a series of open meetings in Boulder County discussing the Forest Service's Urban Front Country Initiative.

In reaction to the rising population along the Front Range, the plan aims to lessen the impact of heavy use of forest land near Colorado's larger cities.

The initiative is still in the exploratory phases. There are no proposed regulations, and the Forest Service is still asking for suggestions on the plan.

But at meetings this year in Boulder County, officials from the Boulder District Ranger's Office hinted at a recreational shooting ban.

The worry among recreational shooters was that a ban not only would violate the Second Amendment but also create a precedent to ban shooting for the five other national forests involved in the initiative.

In May, a bipartisan group of 44 Colorado lawmakers sent a letter to Cables, expressing their concern. Cables accepted an invitation to meet at the Capitol and tried to ease tensions Wednesday.

"There is no pre-emptive strike by the federal government right now," he said.

"We are in the very first stages of trying to address these issues. We ought to have opportunities for recreational shooting on the Front Range."

Cables also promised to standardize the process for recording complaints to better follow how many are lodged against shooters.

Cables said he would create pamphlets to be given out at shooting areas, showing where the activity is allowed and how to lessen the impact on the environment.
[...]
"We will have a discussion about what happened in Boulder and see what we can do from here."

Why Carrying a Battle Rifle in Your Car Makes Sense...

From MSNBC tonight:

Crowd attacks, kills man at Juneteenth festival
Man was passenger riding in vehicle that hit child during Texas observance

AUSTIN, Texas - An angry crowd beat a man to death after a vehicle he was riding in struck and injured a young girl, police said Wednesday.

Police believe 2,000 to 3,000 people were in the area for a Juneteenth celebration when the attack occurred Tuesday night.

The driver had stopped to check on the little girl at the entrance to an apartment complex when a group of men attacked him, authorities said. The passenger, David Rivas Morales, 40, got out to try to help the driver, but the crowd turned on him, said police Commander Harold Piatt.

Morales was beaten to death by as many as 20 men and left lying in a parking lot, Piatt said. A preliminary autopsy listed blunt force trauma as the cause of death.

From Drudge:

Police Release More Detail About Juneteenth Violence

Milwaukee Police say a 33-year-old man has a broken tooth and cuts all over his face after a group of teenagers pulled him from his car and beat him following Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration.

It happened after the festival ended in the 3000 block of north 1st Street which is a short distance from the actual festival. Police say hundreds of teenagers started kicking the man's car. Today's TMJ 4 video from the scene shows the teenagers damaging at least several cars.

Hell, the bravest thing I've apparently done lately was drive to Denver without a battle rifle in the car...or a gun of any sort, since I was Participating in the Legislative Process. I even wore a dark suit, white cotton shirt and dreadfully trendy tie, which caused Col. Brown to nearly swoon..."I wish everyone could see this!" he said as we feretted out the House hearing rooms. I'm only thankful that there were no cameras, or else I'd be out buying raw footage from reporters. I was reduced to carrying my Ken Onion rainbow-anodized folder, since I thought that matched the tie. Miracle I survived.

I think next week on podcast we're going to talk about rifles for the car...

USFS Stands Up!

There's a shocker, and something I didn't expect...USFS regional officials have repudiated the antigun actions of the Boulder Ranger District and called for open meetings with progun groups to address recreational shooting in the Front Range.

Colorado state legislators from both parties, meeting in an exclusive out-of-session hearing, called the reports coming out of Boulder on range closings "a Second Amendment issue." Also present were representatives from Colorado Senators Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar and Representatives Mark Udall, Tom Tancredo, Marilyn Musgrave and — strangely enough — Diana DeGette.

The legislators were joined by representatives of the NRA, the Colorado State Shooting Association, the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and the Firearms Coalition of Colorado...me and Col. Bob Brown from SOLDIER OF FORTUNE got to bat clean-up!

No representatives from the Boulder Ranger District, which triggered the controversy by closing ranges, were present.

Frankly, this is the first meeting in the almost two-year fight where USFS officials seemed to be listening and willing to address the issues we've brought to the table. This was by far and away the most important meeting we've had...we are united; we have state and national politicians standing with us and I honestly believe we're moving toward a resolution with USFS officials!

More later...

USFS ANTIGUN JIHAD HEATS UP!

Tomorrow I will be at the state capital in Denver for a "public meeting" on the USFS "Urban Front Country Initiative," which is the nice natty name for the USFS "End Recreational Shooting On Public Lands" initiative.

They tried really hard to keep me out..."well, it's not really for the public, but if you're media I guess we can't keep you out..."

LET THEM TRY TO KEEP ME OUT.

That ought to be good for a few laughs.

As I said to the USFS guys, I am a sitting journalist and Colorado has a "sunshine" law...by law — BY LAW — I have a right to be at this meeting.

And I will be there.

Totally Cool New Poster

From Oleg Volk, of course...

Monday Who Cares?

I'm finishing off the pot of coffee in anticipation of the day's quota of conference calls, plus a meeting on ramping up SHOOTING GALLERY and COWBOYS starting in July. At the suggestion/insistance of my Sweetie, I spent the weekend NOT thinking about work...I lasted until Sunday afternoon, when I had to capture some video for editing today.

All in all, it worked pretty well...my head is much clearer than usual. I'm sure the first couple of conference calls should take care of that!

I meant to mention the other day about the new FNH flashlight...whoops...tactical illumination device, in conjunction with Viper Tactical Lights. The FNH product runs counter to the current trend of flashlights you can swallow (and the LAPD trend of flashlight you can't beat anyone over the head with)...the Striker 6 is a big boy, with four hardened, sharp-pointed "glass-breakers" on the front. Great car light...

Baaaaaaaaaah Ram Ewe!

Bet none of the rest of you went to the Estes Park Wool Market yesterday! I only carried a .32 Kel-Tec, since I figured I was pretty safe from rampaging woolies. My Sweetie is an obsessive knitter, and she needed to yarn up. I personally lobbied for a buffalo yarn felted cowboy hat, which wohld have been 'spensive...there's a job title nominee for a Discover Channel series — Buffalo Shearer!

Besides, every so often I get this urege to retreat to a redoubt, raise goats, shoot coyotes and post a sign that reads:

Farnam's Freehold!
Warning! Land Mines!
Stay on the path!
Keep your hand above your head!
Books always welcome as trade goods.
Also tailess Manxes, beagles and parrots...
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Whatever...I'm goihng to spend a little time today wrestling with a new tube preamplifier for the podcast, my goal of course to become the morning DJ on W...O...L..D, playing all the hits for you wherever you may be. Sorry...obscure cultural reference. The podcast has really taken off, and over the next few weeks we'll be pumping it up even more. Very quickly, we'll be hooking up a podcast link on GunsAmerica.com, so 1.5 million people will have a chance to sign up. I'm also thinking of hiring a specialized marekting form to promote the blog/podcast, in my quest for Total World Domination. Stay tuned...

Right now I'm wrestling with a Gun Conundrum. This particular came about talking to Rob Pincus, the chief instructor at Valhalla and the author of the book COMBAT FOCUS SHOOTING (which has found some serious proponents in the SEAL teams, I hear), about carbines as rapid response weapons. I've been thinking about the conversation a good bit, and I have an urge for another carbines (while I'm waiting for the damn SIG 556!). My conundrum is "thump or speed," one of the Bushmaster .450 Hornady thumpers or an FNH PS90 triple-rails in real fast 5.7 X 28. I tend to default to the larger caliber, but I'm hearing anecdotal information about the little bitty speedsters delivering the mail...and that 50-round magazine is appealing. What would really sell the PS90 would be if I could get the short subgun barrel with a suppressor (two $200 transfer fees, I suppose...one of rhte SBR, the other for the silencer).

I'm going to talk about the whole 5.7 X 28 controversy on the Wednesday podcast, plus my take ont he current generation of service pistols; we'll also have a couple of Bruce Gray training videos I shot up in New Hamster last week up on Wednesday on DOWN RANGE.

TUNE IN, or otherwise I might have to get legitimate work! And I don't actually know that much about goats...

A Few Thoughts on Reviewing Guns

Sig Sauer P250 9mm

This stuff occurred to me on the way to the way to the Manchester Airport this AM, and I thought I should jot it down.

When I talk about shooting this gun or that gun, I'm a lot more atuned to my impressions than any sort of true evaluation...a friend of mine said I bring a "rock critic's sensibility" to talkign about firearms...I used to be a semifamous rock critic, doncha know...and my friend didn't actually mean that as a compliment.

Here's the difference...I can with certainty tell you my impressions of a gun — how does it handle; how are the ergonomics; how are the fire controls placed; how did the recoil seem to me, etc. Just like in music criticism, those impressions are filtered through my own personal experiences and shaded by my personal strengths and weaknesses. For example, the size of my hands, which are medium to small, effect how I view the ergonomics of a gun. That's why I believe the H-K SOCOM .45 ought to come equipped with wheels and a crew.

The fact that I came out of practical competition predisposes me to a certain type of gun — paging STI! The fact that I presently carry a Sig Sauer also shades my view of firearms ergonomics...I don't carry the Sig because I think its ergonomics suck. Quite the opposite.

But an evaluation implies that you have a lot of time and intimate understanding of what problem the gun was designed to solve (or the role the gun designer envisioned for the gun). Such an evaluation generally has nothing to do with lab coats, grills, or baseball bats, however, as there are no requirements for a firearm that involve Bobby Flay or the New York Yankees.

I mention these things because I actually don't believe in "objectivity." That comes from years in the newspaper business, where objectivity is bandied around as a truth somewhere between liberalism and safe sex. I realized pretty quickly that objectivity was right up there with the myth of fingerprints. I could be honest, but I couldn't truly be objective. What drove me out of newspapers was the realization that the way to be honest was to lay out one's biases so the reader could understand what filters were in place. Newspapers weren't wild about I like this" versus "this is true."

I've seen this a bit on the ole bloggerooni, where some of my compatriots have lusted for the very same "legitimate" status I ran from. I've had a "press card" since I was 18; it's overrated.

So, did I like the Sig Sauer P250? Well, of course I did...here's the link to the European version, btw, which only superficially resembles the American product. I've watched the gun go through its entire development process; been present for the compromises — and everybody makes them — and the breakthroughs. The 9mm version I shot yesterday is the latest, and probably the final, iteration. In a bit of synchronicity, the slight tweaking of frame width to accomodate the upcoming .45 ACP magazine lead to a one-round pick-up for the nine...now 16 + 1.

In my hands, the grip is perfect. I think I mentioned in the very first review I did of a Sig Sauer back in the early 1980s, a P226 9mm, I said (or at least I remember saying, which may not be the same thing), that unlike most of the semiauto offerings at the time, the Sig appeared to have been designed by someone who had actually seen a human hand. There have been a lot of refinements in that grip along the way, and the polymer frames have essentially freed weapons designers from the strictly lines of machined metal. The P250 is the zenith of that grip design, and the result is a very light yet very easy to shoot gun.

My standard is pretty much "would I carry it?" Would I replace my againg P225 with it...both the P220 Compact and now the P250 meet that criteria. The appeal of the P250 is that it delivers 17 rounds in a package that is very close to the size of the P225, an 8 + 1 round gun. Look at how close the specs line up:

P225
Length 7.1"
Barrel length 3.9"
Width 1.3"
Height 5.2"
Weight 26.1 oz (without magazine; figure about 3 + a bit ounces for an empty mag)

P250 (European)
Length 7.2”
Barrel length 3.86”
Width 1.38”
Height 5.12”
Weight 30.86 oz (INCLUDING magazine)

For concealed carry, the critical dimensions are width (1.3" vs. 1.38"), height (5.2" vs. 5.12") and weight (30.6 oz vs. 30.86 oz), and yes I know that the additional rounds of 9mm add a chunk of weight. Size and weightwise, though, it's pretty much a wash. The P250's a little fatter and a spec shorter in the butt (I'm assuming the American specs are pretty close). I felt like I could run the 250 every bit as fast as I could run the 225; maybe with a little better first split on the 250's ultralight DAO trigger versus the 225's DA/SA, which I do actually prefer for concealed carry.

A few quick words on the trigger...it's sweet. One of the big design considerations for the American market was that the European 9-pound DAO just wasn't goign to fly with American shooters. So Sig's American engineers redesigned the system, dropping the DAO to a very smooth 5-6 pounds.

Whoops...gotta go get on a plane...

Video on the P250 is embargoes for six more weeks...under the guns get intot he retail pipelines!

Start the Day Pissed Off!

And speaking of bullcrap, this morning's page 3 story in USA TODAY:

Easy access to guns is tough battle

NEW ORLEANS — When federal agents raided Elliot's Gun Shop, they hit the jackpot.

Not only was Elliot's a top source of weapons for crimes used in New Orleans, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that the low-slung metal warehouse in Jefferson, La., had an even more dubious distinction. The store was one of the top sources of firearms recovered in crimes in the United States in 2005 and 2006.
[...]
The federal raid late last month resulted in the arrests of the owner, two employees and the seizure of numerous firearms. Beyond the arrests, however, the landmark bust strikes a reminder of the underlying forces contributing to the surge in violence here and throughout the nation: access to firearms.

Bullcrap...bullcrap...bullcrap. This story is a particularly egregious example of twisting a straight-up news story to fit the headline. Guns aren't more accessible...in fact, they're less accessible and more controlled than every before (see my 30 April Podcast for a long rant on this). Rather, criminals continue to break the law and antigun police officials continue to make stupid statements to cover up their own ineptitude.

More later...gotta go...

Not a Chance, Underpants!

FNH-45

RE: My impending Sig 556...no, I'm not stepping out of the queue! In fact, I have a meeting tomorrow AM with Sig Prez Ron Cohen, and I'm hoping to move myself up on the list a bit. Late this afternoon, I took a walk around the factory and looked at the newest big gun CNC hardware...it's amazing to me how much the place has changed since the first time I visited years back!

Probably shouldn't tell you this, but I snatched a look at a really cool 556 long-range long barrel "varmint" rifle...oh, and a .45 ACP proto P250...and some other stuff they threatened to beat me if I mentioned.

It's been a big couple of days for protos...FNH had a three-dimensional model of their upcoming striker-fired polymer framed pistol, and it felt excellent in my hand. I also finally got to put some rounds downrange from the FNP .45 ACP gun designed for the ill-fated military pistol contract that vanished into thin air last year. I'd heard nothing but good about the FHN pistol from my friends in San Diego, and I'd say it totally lived up to the hype. There's a little extra weight in the slide, which makes it shoot light for a polymer-frame .45 (it's a DA/SA gun, which is much less of an issue than the gun mags would have you believe, as I've said before). The lock-up also softens the big .45.

The grip's big but — hey, it's a 14-shot .45! — but not blocky. There are interchangeable backstrap inserts...something else to lose. The gun points extremely well, as do all FN pistols since the Hi-Power (which FNH no longer imports because 1, the American market has never lined up to buy 'em, and 2, they're so damned expensive!). Sights are the FNH 3-dot system snag-frees, available with our without tritium inserts.

We were shooting 230-gr ball, and it was no problem to stand there on the line and hammer away, whether shooting singles, doubles or just emptying the magazine. I like this gun. If the process had gone forward, I'd have to say the FNH and the venerable Sig Sauer P220 Combat would have been the last pieces standing, bodth for the undeniable quality of the guns and both companies' reputation for delivering to the military.

Even though it never came to fruition, SOCOM's star-crossed search for a new pistola paid solid benefits to us all...the Taurus OSS, the Springfield XD, the Glock 21, the S&W M&P, the HK45, the Beretta PX4 SD, as well as the FNP and P220, have all drastically upped the ante for .45 ACP guns...I'll probably go to hell for saying this, but we may have finally gone beyond the baseline of the 1911...sorry...SORRY!

BTW, I spent a few magazines of .40 S&W on the FNP-40, just because I like to shoot the gun...it can deliver the mail.

On next Wednesday's podcast, I'm going to wade butt-deep into the whole 5.7 X 28 swamp...I've got a lot of time on the Five-seveN pistol and a respectable amount on the P90 "Stargate" subgun...not surprisingly, I have some thoughts on the matter!

Well, gotta go nighty night...another tough day on the range tomorrow!

No Blog of Note

I note that I've never been a Bloog of Note on Blogger...pdrobably because I'm still asleep at the St. Louis airport, easily one of the three most miserable airports in America. While I have to go get on the place, here's a fascinating article on CNS:

The Second Amendment guarantees the right of an individual to own guns and for that reason should be repealed, according to a legal affairs analyst who opposes gun ownership.

"The Second Amendment is one of the clearest statements of right in the Constitution," Benjamin Wittes, a guest scholar at the center-left Brookings Institution, acknowledged in a discussion Monday. "We've had decades of sort of intellectual gymnastics to try to make those words not mean what they say."

Wittes, who said he has "no particular enthusiasm for the idea of a gun culture," said that rather than try to limit gun ownership through regulation that potentially violates the Second Amendment, opponents of gun ownership should set their sights on repealing the amendment altogether.

"Rather than debating the meaning of the Second Amendment, I think the appropriate debate is whether we want a Second Amendment," Wittes said. He conceded, however, that the political likelihood of getting the amendment repealed is "pretty limited."

More when I get to New Hamster...am more convinced than ever that the FNH SCAR rifles — lite, in 5.56, and heavy in 7.62 — are a head and shoulders above any of the "new system" AR clones out there...be late 2007-2008 before a semiauto civilian version makes it dto market, though...should be worth waiting for...once again, into the dark and void!