Back to Normal: I finally got my desktop computer back yesterday. It
appears that the Trojan CX and/or its forced removal altered Ad-Aware
and the Zone Alarm firewall, compromising the computer's ability to stay
connected to the internet. It's a great relief to get back to familiar
software and to be able to type not only on a keyboard to which I am
accustomed but also at the level with which I am accustomed - typing on
the flat keyboard of a laptop, at the height of my dining-room table,
caused a surprising degree of muscle strain.
---
RKBA Key Issue in Montana AG Race: Democrat Steve Bullock and Republican
Tim Fox, the two men running to be Montana's next attorney general, have
been in a gun fight for months now. Since July, Fox has pushed gun
rights as a cornerstone of his campaign and targeted Bullock for being,
in his campaign's estimation, weak on the issue. The National Rifle
Association and the Montana Shooting Sports Association have endorsed
Fox. But Bullock's position in favor of gun rights is also strong and,
Bullock said, tested by personal tragedy...
http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/10/19/news/state/25-gun.txt
---
I'm Shocked - ABC Shows Bias: "Good Morning America" correspondent Neal
Karlinsky on Thursday passed off the statistics of a liberal, rabidly
pro-gun control group during a story on the 2008 election and firearms.
Reporting live from Wyoming, he talked to a family who owns a number of
weapons and asserted, "Yet time and time again, statistics show that
firearm death rates are significantly higher in places with relaxed gun
laws..."
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2008/10/16/abc-touts-rabid-anti-gun-groups-statistics-firearm-story
---
With Friends Like These...: ...Guns come with meanings for me, come with
stories and histories. So I watch with more than passing interest when
an antigun person such as Mayor Daley steps into the political arena
with gun legislation. The latest foray came Thursday. My first thought
was, "Oh, God, not again.'' Then I picked through the highlights. As a
hunter and human being, I agreed with almost all of them. As hunters, we
must learn to separate ourselves from the gun nuts, those who would
oppose every firearm restriction. Otherwise, we'll be lumped in the
crackpot pile...(As Benjamin Franklin said, at the signing of the
Declaration of Independence, "We must hang together, gentlemen...else,
we shall most assuredly hang separately.")
http://www.havegunwillvote.com/index.php?sec=news&id=79
---
Border Patrol Agent Faces Second Trial: ... According to initial police
reports, Corbett told investigators he shot Dominguez-Rivera from about
4 feet away when the illegal immigrant raised his arm to throw a rock at
Corbett. The video, gunpowder residue, autopsy data and eyewitness
testimony from the victim's three relatives show the shooting could not
have occurred as Corbett described, prosecutors argue... (Without
judging the merits of the case, the above quote points out why one
should not give statements about how many shots were fired or how close
the threat was. Stress distorts perception and it is not uncommon for a
defensive shooter not to hear the first shots he fires. When such
statements are contradicted by physical evidence, one gets painted as a
liar.)
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/10/19/20081019border-agent1019.html
---
At Least they're Not Trigger Locks: Firearms safety kits are being made
available upon request to Mesa [AZ] residents to ensure that the guns do
not wind up in the hands of children, Mesa police said. The safety kits
include a cable-style gun locking device, lock installation instructions
and a safety booklet, according to the Web site of Project ChildSafe, a
national organization that helps ensure safe and responsible firearms
ownership and storage. The safety kits are given to the parents to teach
their children not to touch the guns in the house, said Terri Teten,
crime prevention officer with the Mesa Police Department... (I recommend
cable locks for firearms that need to be disabled temporarily because
they are not stored in safes. Unlike trigger locks, they do not violate
Rule Three because, used correctly, they are not inserted into the
trigger guard.)
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/128415
---
Rule Four Reminder: The brief struggle between police officers and a
drug suspect in the dark vestibule of a Brooklyn crack house unfolded
that winter night in 1998 amid chaos and confusion. When it was over,
the suspect lay dead and a police sergeant was injured by a bullet
through his back. The sergeant, Dexter Brown, sued the city and a
detective, Luis Lopez, who Sergeant Brown says shot him on purpose. In
the decade since, Sergeant Brown's battle with the authorities has
played out more slowly, but perhaps amid even more confusion than the
shooting itself... (Rule Four: Always be sure of your target and what's
beyond it.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/nyregion/14sergeant.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
---
NRA-ILA Alerts: Alerts for the week are posted on the NRA-ILA website.
http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx
---
Help NRA Keep Obama Ads on the Air: ...Tracking polls tell us that if
the election were held today, not only would Barack Obama become the
most anti-gun politician ever elected President of the United States,
gun owners would be facing losses of between 20-30 pro-gun votes in the
U.S. House and as many as 8 in the U.S. Senate! This is a very serious
situation. Gun owners were able to weather the storm in 2006 and
maintain their narrow majorities in Congress. In 2008, those majorities
are in danger of being erased! But we have the ability to turn this
around by telling the truth about Barack Obama's radical anti-gun
record! The good news is that NRA-PVF is already having an impact! The
message NRA-PVF is delivering to the voters is so effective, the Obama
campaign is trying to silence it. They are using strong-arm tactics to
threaten the FCC licenses of radio and television stations that run
NRA-PVF ads! ...
https://www.nrapvf.org/Secure/Members/Contribute.aspx?memberid=1070907
---
Tangentially Related, 1: The collapse of U.S. financial markets is
forcing deep cuts in local police agencies and stoking fears among
police chiefs that mass home foreclosures are bringing more crime to
suburbs. Problems created by the financial meltdown are starting to
touch everything from police response times to unsolved crimes. "As we
see significant reductions, we'll be seeing increased response times,
fewer cases solved and reduced services for victims of crime," says
Police Chief Charlie Deane of Prince William County, Va. His $73 million
budget could drop up to 30 percent next year because of declining
property tax revenues...
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/10/19/20081019crime-economy1019.html
---
Tangentially Related, 2: It is not unusual for fans of Sarah Palin to
shout out to the Alaska governor in the midst of her stump speeches. It
is noteworthy, however, that the crowds are heavily male...At the height
of Palinmania, soon after she made her national debut in September, Ms.
Palin's popularity among men was striking. Her favorability ratings were
higher among men than women (44 percent to 36 percent), according to a
New York Times poll, even though she was chosen in part because of her
expected appeal to women. Since then, Ms. Palin has endured a tough
month politically, and her favorability ratings have dropped among both
sexes, but more so among men (down 13 points, to 31 percent in the
latest Times poll.) ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/us/politics/19palin.html?ref=us&pagewanted=all
---
From John Farnam:
13 Oct 08
Useful tip from one of our Instructors:
"Bore-snakes are wonderful devices, as you know, and they belong in
every range-bag. However, the brittle, plastic packaging in which they
come doesn't hold up well. In no time, it cracks and subsequently falls
apart. Thus, most of us then end up with dirty, loose, hopelessly
tangled Bore-snakes littering the bottom of our range-bags, with no way
to determine what caliber any of them are.
On a recent trip to Walmart, I noticed, in the pharmacy section, plastic
travel containers for bars of bath soap. They were on sale for less
than one dollar per copy, so I bought several.
They work perfectly as durable and convenient Bore-snake containers!
Not only does the bore snake fit comfortably, but one can also put a
small oil bottle in with it. I put my label-maker to work and affixed
caliber, in large print, on the side, and top, of each container.
My DSA/FAL travels with me as my car-gun, along with two spare
magazines. Now, within the tennis-racket case where it all resides, I
have a durable mini-cleaning-kit as well!"
Comment: Of course, running a Bore-snake through your rifle, pistol or
shotgun does not substitute for thorough cleaning, but I still make it a
practice to run Bore-snakes through each of my guns before leaving the
range.
The reason is that, while carrying, I want to be sure my bore and
chamber are clean, for two reasons:
(1) I want to be sure rounds are going to chamber completely and thus be
ready to be discharged. A dirty chamber can compromise complete
chambering, thus rendering a gun that cannot fire, as most pistols and
rifles have mechanical systems that prevent the weapon from firing when
the bolt/slide are not in complete battery. It is actually a safety
feature, but, when used as an item of emergency/safety equipment, I have
no use for guns that don't fire when I desperately need them to.
Cleaning the chamber with a Bore-snake before leaving the range is thus
an extremely good idea!
(2) When, later that same evening, there has been a shooting, and I am
in the area, but I was not involved, I surely want physical/forensic
evidence to clearly indicate that my gun was not fired! Leaving the
range with a dirty gun may create a problem, as it will be impossible
for police to subsequently determine how and when the gun got dirty.
Accordingly, always leave the range with a clean bore and chamber!
/John
(I have been a fan of Bore Snakes for years. I use them almost
exclusively on handguns. With revolvers chambered in .38 Special or .357
Magnum, I use a .40-caliber Bore Snake for the chambers and a
38/.357/9mm Bore Snake for the bore. I think they make a great
combination with a water-based solvent, such as M-Pro-7. I place a few
drops on the lead section and, when I feel that the Bore Snake is too
dirty for my taste, simply rinse the whole thing in hot water and allow
it to dry. I have yet to find a better way to clean shotgun barrels. A
while back, John recommended threading the Bore Snake up through the
magazine well of bottom-feeding pistols, then down the bore, in order to
clean the feed ramp in the process. There has been some concern about
the brushes in the Bore Snake scoring polymer frames with this practice.
It may be wiser simply to swab the feed ramp with a solvent-soaked Q-Tip
for quick, on-site cleaning. I also like to clean the face of the
cylinder of my carry revolvers on site, if I have shot them at the
range. This makes it easier to ascertain if fewer than all the rounds
have been fired, should I be involved in a self-defense incident on the
way home. The water-based solvents are great for this. On stainless
steel, I use them with a bronze-bristle brush. On blued steel, I use
them with a nylon-bristle brush. At home, for stubborn powder residue,
when .38 Special rounds have been fired from a .357 Magnum revolver, I
use a Lewis Lead Remover, making sure to draw it in only as far as the
step to the throat of each chamber - if it is pulled through the throat,
the "patch" and plug get sized to the smaller diameter. A few twists
right next to the step will break up the "crust" and allow final
cleaning with the normal method.)
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
