Arizona Updates Prohibition on Firearm Possession by Illegals: Gov.
Janet Napolitano signed legislation Friday designed to restore a state
law keeping those not here legally from having firearms. The measure
revamps a 4-year-old state law that was designed to mirror existing
federal statutes of who can possess a weapon. But the state Court of
Appeals ruled last year said that federal statute - the one referred to
in state law - specifically refers to weapons involved in interstate
commerce. The judges said that means people could be convicted of
violating the state gun law only if prosecutors could prove the weapon
in question was "shipped or transported in interstate commerce." The new
version fixes that by saying all foreigners in this state are forbidden
from having guns. It does contain exceptions for permanent legal
residents and some visitors, including hunters and target shooters.
Others who would be permitted to have guns include certain diplomats,
foreign officials who have been granted permission from the U.S. State
Department, and law enforcement officers from "friendly foreign
governments" who enter this country on official business. (Very few
firearms are manufactured in Arizona.)
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/03/22/news/state/20080322_arizona_news_43.txt
---
More Police Acquiring Patrol Rifles: ...Some jurisdictions across the
U.S. have been arming rank-and-file officers with high-powered assault
rifles for a decade or more. But law enforcement officials say that
trend has accelerated in the last year because of greater numbers of
shootouts, standoffs in which police were outgunned, rising officer
deaths and mass shootings of civilians by heavily armed gunmen. "If you
get into a fire fight, you want to be the winner," said Scott Knight,
police chief of Chaska, Minn., and chairman of the firearms committee
for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "Our departments
are moving to those weapons out of necessity across the country."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032300533.html
---
Rule Five Reminder: A man has been charged with child endangerment and
unlawful gun use after a gun that he apparently kept in the oven went
off and wounded two children in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Anthony Smith, 24, was charged with two counts of endangering the life
of a child and one count of unlawful use of a weapon, after the two
boys, 4 and 12, were wounded when the gun went off as the oven was being
heated. The sister of the two boys was cooking at the stove at 3:55 p.m.
Friday at a home in the 4800 block of South Racine Avenue, when she
heard loud noises coming from it, police said. The sister heard the
4-year-old boy cry out and saw blood coming from his leg, and the older
boy was hit in the head with flying debris. (I know of two accounts of
police officers hiding handguns in ovens. In one case, the claim that a
round cooked off was phony - the NYPD officer had ingeniously managed to
get the hammer to strike the primer of a cartridge he held against the
recoil shield with the action open. Rule Five: Maintain control of your
firearm.)
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/gun.in.oven.2.682816.html
---
From John Farnam:
17 Mar 08
Safe disposal of unserviceable/unwanted small-arms ammunition:
A friend asked recently about safely disposing of several hundred rounds
of unwanted ammunition. He had inherited a quantity of 308 reloads from
an undependable source, and he regarded them as unsafe to shoot. He
thus wanted to simply dispose of them, rather than take the risk of
running them through any of his guns.
After consulting with friends in the business, here is the advice I gave
him:
When the Army is required to safely dispose of outdated small-arms
ammunition, they use what amounts to armored, heated cement mixers.
Ammunition is tumbled and heated until it all "pops." What remains is a
mass of inert, mangled brass and lead, which is then sold, by the ton,
as scrap metal.
When one lives in a rural area, he can do something similar by simply
digging a deep hole with a fence post digger and then creating a large,
hot fire at the bottom. When ammunition is then thrown in on top of it,
individual rounds will likewise burn and eventually "pop" harmlessly.
Of course, one needs to keep away from the opening!. What remains after
the fire has cooled can be salvaged and disposed of as scrap metal, of
simply buried.
When bullets are individually pulled from cases first, and powdered
propellant subsequently recovered and collected, it can be safely
disposed of by simply scattering it on your lawn. It is readily
bio-degradeable and actually good fertilizer! Subsequent burning of the
remaining empty cases will be far less spectacular, as only primers will
remain to be popped. The pulled bullets can be readily sold or given away.
In urban areas, the County/City Bomb Squad will usually accept, and
safely dispose of, small quantities of unwanted pistol or rifle
ammunition at no charge, as a public service.
On many occasions, I've fired pistol and rifle ammunition that was over
fifty years old, and (so long as it had been stored in a cool, dry
place) it all functioned normally. So, there is usually no reason to be
concerned about the safety or utility of "old" ammunition, unless it is
corroded, of dubious manufacture or re-manufacture, improperly stored,
exposed to solvents, or physically damaged.
New ammunition in factory boxes, that is simply unwanted, can nearly
always be sold or given away. Particularly today, there will be plenty
of takers!
/John
(While I no longer shoot or reload as much as I used to, I will still
fire my own reloads in my own guns, particularly when they meet a need
that is not met by commercial products. I have had enough bad
experiences with both other people's home reloads and commercial reloads
that I will no longer allow students to fire them in guns that I lend
them for courses they take with me. Reloads of uncertain origin in rifle
calibers should be avoided like the plague.)
19 Mar 08
Safe gun-handling in the midst of active fighting: This from a friend
(contractor) currently working in Afghanistan:
"We carry mostly Kalashnikovs (7.62X39) and H&K MP5s here. All are old
and badly worn. We do our best to keep them running. Our teams are
composed of Nepalese Ghurkas. These folks are diligent and dedicated to
the job. Good guys!
However, gun effectiveness and gun-handling skills are abysmal. When I
arrived, muzzles were thoughtlessly, obliviously pointed in every unsafe
direction imaginable. Accuracy and overall effectiveness were poor.
No one ever seemed to know, nor care, whether their guns were loaded or
not. NDs were common and were not regarded as "a problem."
The first thing we did was get trigger-fingers in register! Then, we
started educating our guys in the concept of "muzzle-consciousness."
Next came correct use/integration of sights and triggers in order to
achieve an effective/acceptable level of accuracy. Finally, we're
enlightening them about weapons maintenance and the importance of
keeping individual weapons clean and appropriately lubricated.
Ultimately, we're integrating all weapons skills into a comprehensive
modus-operandi that will serve them well for the rest of their lives,
and that they can pass on after they've separated from our direct
influence. We've made good progress, at least in our little corner of
the Theater!
What strikes me is that these folks, who have been warriors from birth,
knew so precious little about the rifles and pistols that have
surrounded them since childhood. They could not reliably put bullets on
target, even at modest ranges. And, like primitive tribesmen who are
unable to make the connection between sexual intercourse and pregnancy,
they seemed unable to see the connection between careless gun-handling
and gun-accidents. Like a child sitting in front of a piano, they
could not fully appreciate what they had, nor could they distinguish
between noise and music, nor could they, on demand, produce anything
except the former.
Of course gun-ignorance is hardly confined to this group of people, but
I have now come to realize how important to the continuance of Western
Civilization is the monumental body of accumulated gun skills that,
every day, serve us so well, and that we take for granted. When I saw
the pitiable level of ignorance here, and its appalling consequences, I
began to fully appreciate these skills, and the need to teach at every
opportunity!"
Comment: The "secrets" of correct gun-handling and use that we, nearly
every day, try our best to keep from being "secrets," have been garnered
at great cost! Countless deaths and injuries, over many centuries, have
been necessary in order to establish our current repertoire of weapons
skills and confirm to us that they are correct. It is our sacred duty
to the Civilization to continue to teach, indeed to continue to refine
and advance this Art.
When we fail therein, a whole new generation of Americans will have to
die all over again, re-learning what we already know!
Some worry about "dangerous knowledge." I worry far more about
"dangerous ignorance!"
/John
20 Mar 08
You can't have it both ways! From a UK newspaper:
"The number of armed police officers accidentally shooting themselves,
and colleagues, has soared in the past five years. Now, nearly half of
all injuries caused by police shootings are the result of officers
blasting themselves or a colleague, often during bungled training and
demonstrations... these disturbing statistics call into question
competence and training "
Comment:
Do they ever!
As British police are, of necessity, increasingly armed, they are also
increasingly embarrassed with the arrogant criticism they've so
self-righteously leveled at American police over the years for being
likewise armed. It seems the chickens have now come home to roost!
Unfortunately, as UK police surreptitiously acquire rifles and pistols,
they've discovered that there is no one to provide them with competent
training,
since UK's once-proud Gun Culture, indeed their entire Warrior Culture,
has been long-since suffocated by paranoid politicians who, like
politicians everywhere, are frightened to death of armed citizens. The
entire body of modern gun knowledge, that we take for granted in
America, is unavailable to them. And, they are so apprehensive of it,
and us, they're too frightened, proud, and ashamed to ask for "dangerous
enlightenment." They are much more comfortable with "safe ignorance,"
even while shooting themselves with embarrassing frequency!
Newly-armed cops, who heretofore knew little about guns, have as
"instructors " only irrelevant, ossified target shooters, who also know
little about guns, nothing about fighting, and absolutely nothing about
safe gun-handling, concealed-carry, and living with guns.
In addition, UK politicians don't trust cops any more than they trust
citizens. So, there is precious little live-fire training, and "armed"
cops are only armed when working. Continuous concealed carrying is
reserved for only an "elite" few. The rest have little opportunity to
become familiar with their guns. They only get to be afraid of them.
There will be no improvement in the UK any time soon, because there is
no political benefit associated with gun-competence getting any
better. Although newspapers consider this ND epidemic a "problem,"
politicians don't, so long as they personally are not endangered. A few
injured officers and citizens are useful fodder for crocodile-tear
speeches, but are otherwise of no real concern.
As always, nothing will change, until citizens demand it.
/John
(Note the contrast between the high priority placed in training the
Gurkha troopers to get their trigger fingers "in register, " straight
along the frame and the photo in the article to which John refers
[
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=535071&in_page_id=1770],
which I shared with the list last Monday. Ironically, The British Royal
Marine Commando and SAS Regiment have produced some outstanding firearms
instructors but I suspect that there is an intentional disconnect
between such military resources and the civilian authorities.)
21 Mar 08
Once again, the conspicuous impotence of surveillance cameras in
preventing violent crime, is on display:
"At the Van Dyke Housing Project in Brooklyn, NY, there are over
two-hundred surveillance cameras. Live video is displayed on thirty,
tiny, outdated TV monitors. Not surprisingly, cameras and monitors are
the cheapest, chintziest attainable. Each camera's view is shown for
only seven seconds, before the monitor automatically switches to another
camera. Resolution is so poor, facial identification is seldom
possible. The mind-numbing job of viewing these thirty monitors is
dumped onto a handful of bored-to-tears police who are on medical leave,
face disciplinary action, or, for some other reason, can't carry a
weapon. Predictably, the Department uses this assignment as a form of
punishment.
Yesterday, a woman was raped in this project. She was assaulted as she
exited an elevator, dragged into a staircase, and sexually victimized at
knife-point by a single, male VCA.
The attack was partially filmed, but, as it was actually happening, none
of the officers watching monitors noticed it. In fact, the crime was
not discovered until the victim herself reported it. Due to inadequate
resolution, no identification of the suspect was possible.
This crime, like most other violent crime in the projects, remains
unsolved. No arrest has been made, nor is one likely."
Comment: A sign at this project should read, "You're on camera! Please
smile when attacked." Once again, none of those cameras, which were
naively touted as the ultimate solution to violent crime, were of the
slightest benefit to this latest victim.
As has been pointed out before, surveillance cameras are valuable only
to media ghouls, because they provide valuable filler (masquerading as
"news") that the network can use (along with today's car-chase in Los
Angeles) to jam between ads for pills. Boosts their ratings, you know!
When a crime "solution," like surveillance cameras, incontrovertibly
proves itself, over and over, to be inefficacious, as this latest,
unsolved, violent crime so copiously demonstrates, the typical
government answer is predictable: "Let's do more of it!"
The real answer, which is to allow, indeed encourage, good citizens to
effectively defend themselves, via concealed guns, is, of course,
unthinkable to nanny-state politicians, the only species you'll find in
New York! Violent crime generates a fearful electorate. Scared,
dependent, hopeless, defenseless people are easily deceived and
intimidated into voting for overbearing despots. It's a principle not
lost on aspiring autocrats, who thus look upon violent criminals as a
critical resource and asset, and which is why they ever insist that VCAs
be out, committing violent crimes, and not in jail.
Conversely, proud, independent, self-reliant citizens resent being
smothered by inefficient, uncaring, ever-dithering, bloated
bureaucracies (is there another kind?). These are the kind of people
nanny-state politicians simultaneously hate and fear. They're not an
easy source of votes, and not easily conned. Accordingly, they are
marginalized, punished, and suffocated at every opportunity.
"Our elections are extravagant farces; theatrical enterprises in which
the great amalgam of gullible fools selects from the most pernicious
among us, ego-maniacal charlatans with insatiable appetites for
adulation and power, the reckless but persuasive, pandering parasites we
all must suffer, engorge, and submit to for the next short while."
KR Mudgeon
/John
(I believe that London leads the world in that ratio of surveillance
cameras to residents.)
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
