States Seek to Ban Toy Guns: Concerns that realistic-looking toy weapons
are confusing police and threatening safety have led 15 states to try
going beyond gun control and cracking down on fake firearms...Among
those 15 states, seven bills limiting fake guns are pending this year
and 21 have been enacted since 1990, according to the National
Conference of State Legislatures. Some states have enacted or are
considering multiple measures. They range from prohibiting imitation
firearms in vehicles to banning the toys from convenience stores.
Tennessee lawmakers are considering a proposal by state Rep. John
Deberry to make it a misdemeanor to intentionally display or expose "an
imitation firearm in a public place in a threatening manner." Exceptions
include justifiable self defense, lawful hunting, and displays such as a
museum collection.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-03-fake-weapons_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
---
Gun Dealer Sued Over Utah Mall Shooting: The firearms dealer who
illegally sold Sulejman Talovic a pistol-grip shotgun should have known
the 18-year-old planned to use the weapon for murder, a survivor of the
deadly Trolley Square shootings claims in a lawsuit. Stacy Hanson is
suing Nevada-based Rocky Mountain Enterprises and a pawn shop chain it
owns, Sportsman's Fastcash, for emotional and physical damages he and
his wife incurred after the Feb. 12, 2007, shootings, according to
documents filed in 3rd District Court on Thursday. "I think that people
who sell firearms need to be held to a higher level of responsibility.
Guns do one thing: They're made to kill things," said Hanson, reached at
his home on Thursday evening. "I think I owe something to the people who
died," he said of pursuing legal action against the gun sellers. "I made
it out of there. I think this is one of those things that I can do to
help their memories."
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9132140
---
NRA Prepares to Meet in Louisville: Louisville will host the annual
National Rifle Association convention for the first time later this
month. More than 70,000 gun enthusiasts are expected to attend and Mayor
Jerry Abramson says the city and its hotels, restaurants and stores
stand to get an economic boost of $15 million to $20 million from the
gathering. While some NRA conventions have been disrupted by antigun
protests, NRA leaders and local officials said they expect a peaceful
session in Louisville. The agenda for the May 16-18 convention at the
Kentucky Exposition Center includes a tribute to actor and former NRA
president Charlton Heston, discussion about a pending U.S. Supreme Court
case on gun ownership, and plenty of guns and gear.
http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/394582.html
---
Dress for Success: ...When he prepares for a day at work, he puts his
handgun in a holster, clips his cellphone and radio on his belt, and
tucks handcuffs into his waistband, letting one of the cuffs dangle
outside where he can easily grab it. And then, in a well-worn tradition
that has endured for more than a century, Detective Schroeder adds one
more crucial piece of gear. He puts on a tailored suit jacket that has
been cut with extra material around the waist. That way, there are no
unsightly bulges from gun and gear...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/04detectives.html?ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all
---
Oops, Wrong Store: Dwayne A. Curry of St. Paul had been sentenced on
nine burglary and theft-related felonies since 1986. He died while
trying to hold up Trail Liquors in Inver Grove Heights. The armed gunman
who was shot and killed with his own gun after he tried to rob a liquor
store in Inver Grove Heights was identified Friday as a St. Paul man
with a long rap sheet. Dwayne A. Curry, 42, died a few hours after the
liquor store manager shot him at Trail Liquors on Thursday morning.
Curry demanded cash, the manager grabbed the gun and the two scuffled,
authorities said. The manager, Matt Huerta, also was shot. He was
reported in good condition Friday morning at Regions Hospital in St.
Paul. (Sounds as though Mr. Huerta might have fared better if he had
been carrying his own gun.)
http://www.startribune.com/local/18493619.html
---
Rule Four Reminder: A Northeastern Pennsylvania woman who mistook her
husband for a bear and fatally shot him during a Canadian hunting trip
has been charged with criminal negligence, but spared from more serious
charges. Canadian police this week charged Mary Beth Harshbarger, 43, of
Meshoppen, with criminal negligence causing death and careless use of a
firearm in the Sept. 14, 2006, death of her husband, Mark. Harshbarger
told authorities that she mistook her 42-year-old husband for a bear. A
reenactment by police in central Newfoundland supports her account, her
defense lawyer, Paul Ackourey, said. Ackourey and his client have not
decided whether to fight extradition. (Always be sure of your target and
what's beyond it.)
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/18543439.html
---
US to Re-Arm Afghan Army with M16's: In a sharp break for a military
with long experience wielding the battle-tested AK-47, the Afghan
national army is set to replace its entire inventory of Kalashnikov
rifles with the American-made M-16. By the end of the year, the U.S.
military plans to ship about 55,000 used Marine Corps M-16A2 rifles to
Afghanistan with the intent of outfitting every soldier in the Afghan
army with one by the late spring of 2009. So far about 6,000 M16s,
including Canadian C-7 variants, have been fielded to Afghan units and
about 6,000 M-4 carbines have been in the hands of Afghan commandos
since May 2007. (A similar project is under way in Iraq.)
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,166799,00.html
---
From AzCDL:
Like it says in our brochure, AzCDL is an "all volunteer" organization.
We need volunteers to help us at the McMann's Roadrunner gun show on May
31 & June 1 at the Tucson Expo Center:
http://www.mcmannsroadrunner.com/ .
If you can spare a few hours we would deeply appreciate your help - the
majority of our members join AzCDL at gun shows. Come on down and spend
some time observing the other volunteers. When you feel ready, step on
in. If proactive selling is not your forte, we still need volunteers to
manage the table, help hand out flyers and brochures, and keep an eye on
things.
Volunteers who work the AzCDL table for a few hours will get into the
gun show FREE!
If your membership is coming up for renewal soon, stop by the table and
renew. Sustaining memberships get a FREE AzCDL T-Shirt.
Not a member? Not a problem! You can join AzCDL at the gun show!
Interested? Drop a line to
[email protected].
These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League
(AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots
organization. Join today!
AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html
Copyright � 2008 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.
---
From John Farnam:
29 Apr 08
Good observations on weapon modifications, from a colleague:
"I am amazed at the number of students who show up at classes with
'modifications' to their rifles and shotguns, the same weapons they keep
for serious purposes, but which they haven't tested since these
modifications were made!
Examples:
>>A good shooter and 'amateur-gunsmith' showed up with his
'old-reliable' AR15, on which he'd installed a new barrel. He
experienced monotonous malfunctions with every type of ammo and every
magazine he had. The rifle had been 'converted' to little more than
scrap metal!
>>Another 'good shooter' mounted a bi-pod on the forend of his AR15.
He couldn't figure out why he was unable to hit even easy targets with
his rifle solidly resting on the bi-pod. When, in exasperation, he
checked his rifle on paper, he unhappily discovered that the
installation of the bi-pod had shifted his POI over a foot north and
opened his groups from MOA to 'MOC" (Minute of County)!
>>Yet another 'good shooter' mounted a Sidesaddle on his Remington
11-87 and, several weeks later, brought it to a class. He was astonished
and dismayed to discover that the action wouldn't cycle at all, as
mounting screws protruded too deeply into the receiver. This was his
'home-defense' shotgun, and had been resting in his closet in this
inoperable state, unbeknownst to him.
The foregoing are only a few examples. I've personally witnessed
countless other rifles, shotguns, and pistols undergo similar,
mysterious 'personality-changes' when their naive owners hung new
equipment on them."
Comment: The only way to be confident that your serious arms will
genuinely function, on demand, is to run them regularly and under the
conditions you expect to use them. Particularly now, when nearly all
rifles and pistols come with rails. Well, when there is a rail on my
gun, I have to hang something on it, don't I? Heaven forbid my gun
would have a naked rail!"
This, of course, includes shooting your rifles from a solid rest. When
your support arm/hand is inoperable, you will probably have to rest the
rifle on something solid in order to shoot. Knowing, in advance, what
effect this will have on your POI will then become life-saving information!
/John
(A related issue is showing up for training with reloaded ammo, to save
a few bucks. I learned this lesson many years ago when I experienced a
case separation with commercially reloaded .223 rounds in the middle of
a rifle course I was taking. I once had a student experience repeated
malfunctions with an AR-15 because he was using reloads he had tailored
for maximum velocity in a single-shot rifle. In the first case I had an
M1 Carbine standing by and switched guns. In the second case another
student had brought a spare case of ammo.)
29 Apr 08
Lasers on Pistols:
I've been a non-fan on lasers on pistols, and have said so on a number
of occasions, but my patient friends at Lasermax finally persuaded me to
honestly evaluate a copy of their product on my SA/XD/40S&W that I'm
currently carrying as my main-gun.
Well, I gave the Lasermax a honest workout at a Pistol Course last
weekend. I have to say, it is really fast, a good deal faster, with no
compromise in accuracy, than without it! Here are my comments:
>>A pulsating laser is superior to a "constant" laser, because your eye
picks it up faster. Lasermax makes them both ways, but my preference is
definitely for the pulsating variation.
>>Concerns about durability have been largely eliminated. Lasermax's
unit fits completely inside of the pistol. It comes as the laser unit
itself and the captured recoil spring already assembled, and it is very
rugged!
>>Concerns about alignment have also been largely eliminated. The unit
is pre-aligned, and my copy is dead on!
>>The activation buttons are on both sides and are easily operated, yet
are completely shielded as the pistol is holstered.
>>When I use the laser, I don't used sights at all! Keeping both eyes
open, I drive the dot to the target, looking over the sights, and
immediately run the trigger. As I said, it is fast, and accuracy is
superb at any range you can use it!
>>The system is most useful in conjunction with typical indoor lighting
conditions. Outdoors, it is most effective for a two-hour period at
dawn and dusk. In bright sunlight, one cannot see the aiming point, and
in darkness, the aiming point is visible, but one cannot tell what it is
being projected upon. It is just a dancing, red dot!
However, indoors once can nearly always see both the dot and the target,
and there is sufficient ambient light to evaluate the target for
threats. Outdoors, at dusk and dawn, and on heavily overcast days, one
can do the same thing.
When used in conjunction with a Surefire Weapon light or a Safariland
RLS, the Lasermax is effective in even very low light, because there is
now enough light to locate and evaluate the target, and the Operator can
still see the laser aiming point within the corona of white light.
I am starting to come around to lasers on pistols! I thought I'd never
say that, and how I hate to admit I've been wrong, but my personal
experience has been extremely favorable with the Lasermax product.
Crimson Trace also makes an excellent unit, but I have not yet tested it
extensively.
We live and learn!
/John
(I remain concerned about how quickly you will transition to an "older"
method of aiming when ambient conditions, a dead battery or some other
malfunction prevent the red or green dot from appearing where you expect
it.)
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
