My Error: I recently commented on why ejected cases, instead fired
bullets, are used to try to identify firearms that have hammer-forged
barrels. I listed the Springfield Armory XD with other pistols that have
polygonal rifling. Yesterday I had my first student with an XD and
discovered that while its barrel is hammer-forged, it appears to be
forged with land-and-groove rifling. Thus, it would be possible to
distinguish a .40-caliber bullet fired from an XD from one fired from a
Glock or an HK (Glock uses hexagonal rifling, HK uses octagonal rifling)
but in neither case would there be toolmarks transferred to the bullet
that would allow it to be linked to a specific barrel.
---
Obama and the Attempt on the Second Amendment: ...During Obama's tenure,
the Joyce Foundation board planned and implemented a program targeting
the Supreme Court. The work began five years into Obama's directorship,
when the Foundation had experience in turning its millions into anti-gun
"grassroots" organizations, but none at converting cash into legal
scholarship. The plan's objective was bold: the judicial obliteration of
the Second Amendment...
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-and-the-attempt-to-destroy-the-second-amendment/
---
Tangentially Related: Critics of Senator Barack Obama make a strategic
mistake when they talk about his "past associations." That just gives
his many defenders in the media an opportunity to counter-attack against
"guilt by association." We all have associations, whether at the office,
in our neighborhood or in various recreational activities. Most of us
neither know nor care what our associates believe or say about politics.
Associations are very different from alliances. Allies are not just
people who happen to be where you are or who happen to be doing the same
things you do. You choose allies deliberately for a reason. The kind of
allies you choose says something about you...
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/10/07/the_real_obama?page=full
---
Obama Ad Features NRA Member: Ben Smith points us to a new spot from the
Obama campaign, "Life," that was not sent out to the press. It features
a lifetime National Rifle Association member who supports the Democratic
nominee. The spot has been seen in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North
Carolina. "I'm a life member of the NRA," Greg West says in the spot. "I
hunt, I fish, I love the outdoors. I love this country, and I support
Barack Obama." An announcer then seeks to reassure skeptics. "Barack
Obama supports gun rights," he says. "Our right to defend ourselves. The
second amendment. That's the truth..."
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/06/politics/horserace/entry4504207.shtml
The TV Spot:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Obama_Life_Member.html
---
Hunting and Obama: You know, I'd love to believe that Obama is cool with
guns and hunting, but when the nation's largest and most radical group
that wants to ban hunting thinks he's peachy, it makes this middle-aged
redneck think that maybe Barack is full of B'crap and his "pro
gun/hunting" spiel is just another con job spun by the King of
Obfuscation. But that's just me. This past week Obama added to his rogue
gallery of support groups another radical band of anti-American spirit
lunatics. No, I'm not talking about an additional endorsement by a new
terrorist group or Black Muslim faction, or pro-abortion loon, or
another communist cabal, or an extra Castro/Chavez-like dictator but
rather the Humane Society (HSUS)...
http://townhall.com/columnists/DougGiles/2008/10/06/hunters_against_obama?page=full
---
But AHSA Prattles On...: ... "The ratings and endorsements NRA released
over the weekend confirm what American Hunters and Shooters first
reported a month ago: the NRA leadership overwhelmingly supports Members
of Congress who put the interests of Washington corporate lobbyists
ahead of the interests that hunters and sportsman have in protecting
America's public lands," said AHSA President Ray Schoenke. "It's time
for gun owners, hunters, and all Americans to repudiate the NRA's slash
and burn culture war politics and join the movement to protect our gun
rights and the lands we love - and do it in a way that unites Americans
instead of dividing them...."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nra-leadership-still-selling-hunters/story.aspx?guid={862859F8-0DEF-435A-B468-36EB997CCC52}&dist=hppr
---
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma...: ... In just two short years, Andrew Rice has
experienced a remarkable change of heart when it comes to the Second
Amendment. He's gone from "a proven enemy of gun owners' rights" as
described by the Oklahoma Rifle Association and indifferent, if not
outright hostile toward gun owners' and sportsmen's rights as described
by the National Rifle Association, to a gun-toting supporter of the
Second Amendment. Now, in his campaign for the United States Senate, it
seems Rice has completely reversed his position in the hopes that nobody
would notice!
http://www.okcbusiness.com/view_release.asp?aID=2572
---
Pennsylvanians Debate RKBA as Election Nears: ... Some of those in
Pennsylvania on various sides of how heavily to regulate gun ownership
and use don't disagree on Americans' constitutional right to own and use
them. Both presidential candidates' campaigns formed, among other focus
groups, committees of sportsmen in Pennsylvania. The groups aim to take
the candidates' message to hunters and anglers. Both also say they want
to protect Americans' Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms...
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/511847.html
---
Georgia Continues to Debate Public-Gathering Law: President Ronald
Reagan explained in 1964 that "governments don't control things ...
without controlling people ... [by using] force and coercion." The
debate about whether to repeal Georgia's public gathering law is not
about whether to allow something. It is about whether to control
Georgians who want to take personal responsibility for their safety.
Georgia discourages personal responsibility and self-reliance by
outlawing possession of a weapon at a public gathering, even with a
firearms license. It is impossible to know what constitutes a public
gathering under Georgia's uniquely ambiguous law...
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/opinion/stories/2008/10/02/stoneed_1002.html
---
GCO Sues Over Open-Carry Incident: GCO filed a federal lawsuit in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia
against the Sheriff of Richmond County and a Richmond County deputy who
detained a GCO member and seized his legally-carried pistol. After
checking it to see whether it was stolen, the deputy confiscated the
firearm until "proof of purchase" could be provided, and the Sheriff's
Department then refused to return it. The deputy insisted that it is
against the law to carry a pistol openly. This sort of police misconduct
is fortunately rare, but it is becoming more common as more Georgians
begin carrying firearms. (Following firearm-related news as I do, I
can't help noticing that these incidents appear to be more commonly
associated with open carry than with legal concealed carry. It can be
argued that many cops may be more comfortable knowing that an individual
has gone through a background check to get licensed for CCW [some
jurisdictions do require licensure for open carry] and that the right to
bear arms should not be infringed with license requirements. That said,
those who opt for open carry, in jurisdictions where it is not common,
need to be prepared to become a poster child when they are harassed or
arrested for it.)
http://www.georgiacarry.org/cms/2008/10/04/gco-sues-over-man-with-a-gun-incident/
---
How Many Children Die from Gunfire?: ... However, Georgia's child death
rate of 73.2 (deaths per 100,000 children) continues to be higher
compared to children living in other regions of the country... 69% of
all child deaths were due to medical causes (infants accounted for 78%
of all medical deaths). Motor vehicle incidents were the second leading
cause of death (154)... (Firearms accounted for 0.2% of deaths.)
http://www.childdeathreview.org/Reports/GAExecSummary2005.pdf
---
FBI Warns of Suicide Attacks in US: Federal officials notified law
enforcement agencies Monday of a potential al-Qaida terrorist attack in
which public buildings are targeted by suicide bombers. According to NBC
News, the analysis by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security
describes a scenario where a dozen attackers each carrying 20 kilograms
of explosives storm a building, "seal off escape and access points, and
occupy it long enough to set and detonate their explosive packages." In
the al-Qaida plan, according to the analysis, suicide terrorists "would
be able to enter many publicly accessible buildings easily with little
or no resistance from often poorly trained and lightly armed or unarmed
security guards, and that an explosion from inside the building would be
particularly effective..."
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/suicide_attack_al_qaida/2008/10/07/137937.html
---
Why More "Gun Control" Is Good: A must-see video.
http://michaelbane.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-gun-control-is-good.html
---
RKBA, Switzerland vs. Canada: In this week's column, Pierre Lemieux
compares Switzerland and Canada. Lemieux was recently invited to
Switzerland to give a talk on "the right to keep and bear arms." After
his talk, his hosts gifted him with a Schmidt Rubin M-1931 7.5 mm
carbine, the rifle the Swiss army used during World War II. In his
column, Lemieux describes Switzerland's revolutionary tradition and
suggests this is why the right to bear arms is taken more seriously in
that country than it is in Canada. Canada, he argues, "totally lacks a
military culture." In addition, "Canadians... have been too nice,
smiling, and trustful of authority." According to Lemieux, these two
factors together explain why Canadians have allowed their government to
take away more and more of their liberties... (The Swiss are actually
also facing erosion of their RKBA.)
http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2008/10/lemieux-of-swit.html
---
Tangentially Related: Last month a Georgia woman named DeShan Fishel was
driving near a school and saw a Jeep rush past a stop signal on a school
bus, clipping a 5-year-old boy. The other driver sped away. Ms. Fishel
whipped a U-turn and gave chase. She stayed with the Jeep on surface
streets and caught the driver on a highway in Dawson County, Ga., making
him pull over. She watched the driver until police officers arrived.
"All I could think about was that little kid, getting hit, and this
person getting away with it," Ms. Fishel said at a news conference. "It
just really upset me." ... Scientists debate how common these citizen
enforcers are, and whether an urge to punish infractions amounts to an
overall gain or loss, given that it is costly for both parties. But
recent research suggests that in individuals, the fairness instinct is a
highly variable psychological impulse, rising and falling in response to
what is happening in the world. And there is strong evidence that it
hardens in times of crisis and uncertainty, like the current one...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/health/research/07fair.html?ref=science&pagewanted=all
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
