Elitism, Police and Guns in New York: The New York Post recently ran a
story about New York State Governor Paterson's doubling the size of his
security detail during the last year to "over 200" members. This comes
at the expense of New York's taxpayers, who must tolerate reduced police
services as a result... According to Tom King, President of the New York
State Rifle and Pistol and Pistol Association, it's easier to purchase a
defensive firearm than most people think. If a homeowner wants to
purchase a rifle or shotgun for home defense, there are no restrictions.
New York state requires licensing only for handguns, and the process
varies by county. Outside New York City (NYC), it takes anywhere from
1-6 months to get a handgun license after you apply. By law, the county
has six months to reject a handgun license application, usually for
serious reasons like felony, drug possession and trafficking, or violent
misdemeanor convictions.
By contrast, in NYC, it may take 6-9 months to obtain a license to own
any firearm, and the city can deny you for any reason. New York allows
home rule for cities over 5 million in population, and NYC has its own
gun laws... King said that outside NYC, obtaining a concealed carry
permit can be relatively easy. Some counties require a four-hour safety
course, after which they issue a carry permit in lieu of a pistol
license, enabling you to carry throughout the state and purchase
additional handguns. King says the one exception is NYC. King notes a
curious twist: While upstate carry licenses end at the NYC boundary, NYC
licensees can carry anywhere... (I invite correction but my
understanding is that state law requires a pistol license. Unless
restricted, such a license is a license to own and to carry. Counties
vary widely in policy, with some routinely issuing unrestricted licenses
and some doing so rarely. I am under the impression that those counties
where the judges have delegated the police to handle licensure tend to
issue fewer unrestricted licenses. Broome County, where police provide
the required training, may be an exception.)
http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m1d10-New-York-Governor-Paterson-boosts-private-security-detail-while-state-patrols-shrink
---
RKBA in the Tennessee Gubernatorial Race: Tennesseans who support or
oppose the expansion of gun rights, or who fall somewhere in between,
probably will find candidates for governor this year who share their
views on the issue. A Tennessee Newspaper Network survey of the major
candidates - four Republicans and three Democrats - shows candidates
taking a range of positions on several gun issues up for debate at the
State Capitol. Those issues range from guns in bars, parks and college
campuses to guns on employer-owned parking lots and on leased property.
They also include whether the public can find out if someone has a
state-issued permit to go armed, and whether the state should declare
that guns made and sold inside Tennessee are exempt from federal
regulation... Three Republicans - Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, Senate
Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga
- said they support renewing the guns-in-bars law. The Democrats -
Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle of Memphis, former House Democratic
Leader Kim McMillan of Clarksville and Jackson businessman Mike
McWherter - and Republican Shelby County District Attorney General Bill
Gibbons expressed opposition to guns in places serving alcohol... (I
find it interesting that Republicans support guns in bars but Democrats
oppose guns in places serving alcohol.)
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100110/NEWS0201/1100383/TN+gubernatorial+candidates+are+divided+on+guns
---
Identification of Firearms: Ever wonder why so few National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) inquiries on firearms result in hits? Or why
so few entries seem to be recovered? Perhaps you complain about ATF
tracing, that rarely finds the information you're looking for. The
answer may be in the old computer term, GIGO - garbage in, garbage
out... The serial number (s/n) sounds like a simple entry - but not
quite so. First, which number is it? Many firearms may have multiple
numbers - serial, model and parts-matching - on the firearm. Once, the
S&W s/n appeared on the butt of the grip; now it's found on the frame,
inside the crane. Early Ruger revolvers had the s/n on the butt; today
it's on the side of the frame, below the cylinder. Since 1968, ATF has
required that the s/n appear on the frame of a firearm. Thus, on any
current handgun it will appear on the frame and not the cylinder, barrel
or slide. However, older firearms (pre-1968) may find the number in some
other location. Many older double-barrel shotguns will find the s/n
hidden on the bottom of the barrels or on the flat of the frame where
the barrel rests when closed... (To my knowledge, most revolvers still
have the serial number stamped or engraved on the bottom strap of the
grip frame. However, when it became popular to fit revolvers with
oversize grips, the serial number was also placed on the frame, in the
area that is exposed when the action is opened. Confusion often occurs
with S&W revolvers, which often also have "assembly numbers" stamped in
the same area; this may require removal of oversize grips if the person
seeking the serial number is not familiar with S&W serial numbers. Model
designation can also be a point of confusion. I once had a friendly
disagreement with a deputy sheriff because I identified a revolver as a
S&W Model 25-2. He insisted on calling it a Model of 1955 because that
was marked on the barrel, in neater and larger characters than the
"25-2" stamped on the frame, adjacent to the serial number. These issues
take on importance to the gun owner when firearms need to be identified
in cases of loss and recovery.)
http://www.lawofficer.com/news-and-articles/columns/Laska/firearm_investigations_1.html;jsessionid=F5C87B94F3164527C5E1EB7504CC9EDD
---
Coatings and Plating: This is a fairly technical article, intended for
gunsmiths. It provides some useful information, particularly if you
function in an environment where people brag about all the additional
money they spent on a gun after the initial purchase. I have two
comments. Several years ago, a friend showed me a 1911 pistol that had
just been returned to him with NP3, a Teflon-based coating. I found the
pistol itself a bit slick to handle but was favorably impressed at how
nicely the coated magazines fed and ejected from the magazine well. I
don't know if they would have done so as smoothly if only the magazines
had been coated. The discussion of plating leaves me with a question. In
conventional plating, it is a rule to plate a white metal onto a red
metal and vice versa. Thus a steel gun will receive a "flash" plating of
copper before being plated in nickel. There is no mention of this in the
linked discussion. I have never been fond of conventional nickel
plating, in part because I don't like the glare off the bright nickel
when shooting in sunlight. Owners of nickel-plated guns are cautioned
about the use of conventional cleaning solvents containing ammonia. The
reason for this is that if the nickel layer gets scratched deeply
enough, the ammonia can leach out the underlying copper, leading the
overlying nickel to flake off.
http://www.gunreports.com/special_reports/accessories/American-Gunsmith-magazine-Coatings-teflon-Electroless-nickel-plating1766-1.html?ET=gunreports:e608:183810a:&st=email
---
Winchester 94: My Christmas gift to myself was a carbine I'd always
wanted: a lever action Winchester complete with saddle ring. It was the
iconic gun of the Western movies. If it was good enough for John Wayne,
it was good enough for me... My example also an old working gun, and
also a Winchester Model of 1894, but in the more common .30-30
chambering. The serial number dates it to the year 1926. This
short-barreled rifle's gray patina indicates that it spent much if not
all of its 84 years on this Earth in the woods or on a farm, and so do
the many dings on its time-darkened walnut stock and fore-end. It still
has the old-style steel crescent butt plate, which can make the mild
recoil of the .30-30 actually hurt. Yet its bore is bright and smooth,
and its well-worn action works like glass. I took it to my hundred-yard
range, and from my solid Caldwell bench rest table it still kept all its
shots in a group the size of a deer's heart with both 170 grain and 150
grain hunting loads. It had been sighted for the latter, and I left it
that way. For the relatively small deer around where I live, a good 150
grain softnose at sedate .30-30 velocity will do just fine... (I share
this because I recently learned a disappointing lesson about the
Winchester 94. Unlike Winchester's 92's, which were designed around the
WCF cartridges [e.g., .44-40 WCF, etc.] the 94 was designed around the
30-30 and related cartridges. Late in its production, rather than
reintroducing the 92, the 94 was offered in Magnum revolver cartridges
and .45 Colt. This apparently required machining a round-bottom groove
the length of the forward tab of the carrier, which lifts the cartridge
from the magazine to the chamber. This seems to weaken the carrier and
breakage of this part is fairly common. If you already own a 94
chambered for a revolver cartridge, you may wish to purchase a spare
carrier from Browning, while they are still available. If you are
contemplating a lever-action rifle in a revolver chambering, consider a
Marlin 1894 or one of the replicas of the Winchester 92. By the way,
when I purchased my Winchester 94 Trappers, back in 1999, the first
thing I did was to unscrew and remove the saddle rings so as not to have
them rattling at inopportune moments.)
http://backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/2010/01/07/blast-from-the-past/
---
From John Farnam:
4 Jan 10
On pocket-pistols, from a friend in WA:
"I picked-up a used Kahr PM9 late last year. Its prior owner was
frustrated with its occasional hiccups, but I know many Kahr-owners who
say all Kahr pistols require a 'break-in' of between two-hundred and
five-hundred rounds.
They're right! After spending a day at Marty Hayes' wonderful Range in
Onalaska, WA, all problems gradually worked themselves out, and the
little gun now runs just fine.
My PM9 resides in a Stephen McElroy Pocket-liner. It comfortably
disappears in my front pocket. Loaded with CorBon DPX, I am dangerous
in non-permissive environments where I work, and I don't worry about
'printing.'"
Comment: Friends in the retail gun business tell me that "pocket"
pistols are red-hot these days, as increasing numbers of nervous
Americans come to the realization that they need to be armed all the time.
S&W Scandium Snubby revolvers, Kahr P380s, and SIG's P238 do not stay on
store shelves for more than a day or two.
Artfully concealing these small pistols, particularly for women, is a
much easier task than is the case with bigger guns.
All new guns, regardless of manufacturer, need to be "broken-in" to one
degree or another. You should not carry a gun (for serious purposes) in
which you have only marginal confidence. Shoot it now and then. Make
sure it runs!
"In the long-run, there is no such thing as luck. However, the
'short-run' is often longer than many individual lifetimes!"
Operator's Axiom
/John
(Kahr advises a 200-round break-in period for all its pistols. All of my
Kahrs have functioned flawlessly, with FMJ ammo, during those 200
rounds. The PM9 took a relatively long time to debug. Unfortunately,
once it was debugged, Kahr dropped my personal favorite, the P9 Covert.
While I am not fond of the .380 round, I have come to accept that it may
be the best some people can manage. I am keeping my eye on the Kahr P380
and the new, less costly Diamondback DB380. I have yet to see any
negative reports on the P380 but the DB380 does not yet appear to have
gotten over its hiccups. I firmly believe that people handicap
themselves seriously with small, lightweight revolvers, particularly the
ultralights [see comments at
http://www.spw-duf.info/handgun.html]. For
those who insist on using them, I believe the Federal Nyclad 125 gr. .38
Special hollowpoint is the optimal round but it is still extremely hard
to locate.)
4 Jan 10
More Revelations from Scenario-Based Training, from an Instructor and
Colleague:
"I conducted Airsoft, scenario-based training this past weekend with a
group of DTI Instructors and students. I set it up my shop (indoors) in
low light. Actors were all given rolls to play, but no one knew what
rolls [sic] were being played by the rest of the participants.
In the first scenario, there were two VCAs, armed with blades, one
otherwise-uninvolved eye-witness, one armed citizen (selected for
victimization by the VCAs), and one responding police officer, who
arrives after all significant events are concluded.
Armed citizen is aggressively stalked and ultimately approached by VCAs,
who demand money. One VCA, amid belligerent, verbal threats, lifts his
shirt in order to display a large knife in his belt, even referring to
it and the damage it can do. He made this threatening display several
times. Our armed citizen later said he never saw knives, nor was aware
of their presence, until they were actually brandished in the hands of
the VCAs, as he was being attacked!
Our armed citizen didn't even attempt to draw his pistol until both
VCAs, knives in hand, charged him! He learned, graphically, the crux of
the 'Tueller Drill" that day! VCAs were in physical contact with him
before his first shot was fired.
The exercise continued with the armed citizen wounded, one VCA DRT, and
on the ground, and the second VCA running away. Armed citizen, gun
still in his hand, stood at the scene, dazed.
Then, police show up! At gunpoint, police command armed citizen to drop
his gun. Citizen is then frisked, cuffed, and placed in the back of a
marked beat-car.
A 'witness' shows up. He is himself a neighborhood punk and
gang-member. He says, "Some dude just shot my friend" loud enough for
the armed citizen to hear.
Police go back to the car and question the citizen. He sings like a
canary! His high-pitched, gravely-voiced statements to police are
disjointed, inarticulate, mostly incomprehensible, and factually
incorrect. It is all little more than panicked blather!
Five minutes into it, as he is vainly trying to recall how many shots he
fired, it finally dawns on him to take a long breath and say, "Officer,
I'll be more than happy to answer the rest of your questions as soon as
my lawyer is here."
Our hero had been through DTI Basic and two of Henk Iverson's Courses.
He knew what he should have done, but even the small amount of pressure
we generated in the scenario caused him to unnecessarily hesitate in
responding to a deadly attack, and then subsequently blow it with police."
Comment: The lesson here is that a single exposure to competent
training, when it is not regularly reinforced, will not adequately
prepare most to competently deal with the potentially-lethal encounters
that motivated us to go armed and seek training in the first place.
Critical skills must be learned and then regularly exercised. We can't
just "take the pill" and then naively think we're "good to go" from that
point forward. Training is not an "event." It is a life-long
commitment. You're either "one of us," or you're not!
"Lucky fools rarely bear the slightest suspicion that they may be lucky
fools"
Nassim Taleb
/John
(I am informed by a list member who has a closer relationship with John
than I do that "VCA" actually stands for "Violent Criminal Assailant," a
seemingly redundant term. "DRT" stands for "Dead Right There." Those not
familiar with the "Tueller drill" may contact me for a copy of Dennis
Tueller's seminal article "How Close Is Too Close?" I also have a couple
of articles that examine the concept in greater depth. There are two
philosophies on role-playing. One approach is to use it to show students
how easily they can be killed. Another is to use it to prompt the
appropriate response. At some point, everyone will benefit from training
under pressure but most will respond better if they have first had the
chance to perform correctly. I suspect that the incident described was
the first time the student ever played the role of a suspect. It has
been shown that stress does not enhance memory and it probably does not
enhance initial learning.)
5 Jan 10
Weapon Maintenance, from a friend and Instructor:
"I bought a Kahr P9 some time ago. My wife and I both used and carried
it. We ran it with all brands of high-performance ammunition and, for
practice, some pretty wretched junk. That little pistol effortlessly
digested all of it, with nary a failure. We both trusted it implicitly!
One day, I decided to ask a well-known pistolsmith to polish the
pistol's trigger linkage, since, while the trigger, as it came from the
factory, was certainly north of tolerable, it had an annoying little
hitch in its git-along that I decided a sophisticated connoisseur such
as myself simply shouldn't have to tolerate!
After his expert ministrations, I couldn't get the damn thing to run a
full magazine (with any of the four I owned, all of which had fed
flawlessly beforehand)! In addition, I couldn't get the situation to
improve, even after several thorough cleanings, intermixed with a
250-round break-in.
From that day forward, the pistol never ran satisfactorily again. I
finally traded it, at a loss.
My sad lesson: When your business-piece runs just fine, be certain you
really need whatever fiddling you've decided you have to have done.
"True Happiness" may prove far more illusive than you ever imagined!
Comment:
"But, at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near
The grave is a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace."
Andrew Marvell
/John
(I recently purchased my first true hunting rifle, at a local gun shop
owned by a friend. A Ruger M77 Hawkeye variant, it comes with Ruger's
nonadjustable but "lighter and crisper" LC6 trigger. My friend
immediately detected a slight amount of pre-travel or creep in the
trigger, which he would like to eliminate for me. It took me a few dozen
dry-fire cycles to notice it. I am not uncomfortable with a slight
amount of pre-travel in a single-action trigger that is likely to be
used under stress. My friend is very proud of his trigger work but I
know nothing about it. I have no idea who the "well-known pistolsmith"
is in the above account but, if he is a reputable gunsmith, he should
have been afforded the chance to make good his unsatisfactory work. The
key issue is that he may be well known for work on a genre such as 1911
pistols and have had no significant prior experience with Kahrs. One
list member recently got back a S&W revolver with a trigger job from one
of the few gunsmiths in Arizona who specializes in S&W trigger work. A
double-action revolver, as the latter friend learned, can really benefit
from a good trigger job, so long as it's done by someone who knows his
art and focuses on street reliability, not target shooting. The issue is
being able to recognize when you've got something that's good enough for
its mission. As George Patton was fond of remarking, "The perfect is the
enemy of the good." For those unfamiliar with the saying, it means that
the quest for perfection may keep you from actually accomplishing your
goal with means that are already good enough.)
5 Jan 09
Beware of Dangerous People, even at your Doorstep! This from an LEO in
the Midwest:
"Yesterday, we had a bank-robbery in our small town. The first one ever
at this bank!
Two suspects in ski-masks brandished guns and quickly entered and exited
the bank, after receiving several thousand dollars in cash.
Both suspects made it out of the bank before local police arrived, and
they fled towards the interstate in a vehicle, but were boxed-in by our
marked units before they could reach the on-ramp. They then exited the
vehicle and fled on foot into a swamp and ubsequently into a
residential neighborhood.
We were right behind them, with dogs, but they split up and separately
entered two local homes.
One conned his way into a house by convincing the single, male
home-owner that he needed to use a phone to call a friend for a ride,
and in fact subsequently talked the home-owner into giving him a ride to
a local shopping mall. As the vehicle, containing home-owner and
suspect, attempted to leave the neighborhood, it was stopped by our
marked units, and officers questioning both quickly saw through the
phony story and arrested the suspect, without further incident. The
home-owner was unhurt, through no fault of his own!
The second suspect entered another residence through an unlocked front
door, quickly found the home-owners car keys in his jacket pocket which
was hanging near the doorway, and made off in a stolen car! He
successfully made it out of the neighborhood and is still at large.
Lessons for me:
Keep doors (home and car) locked!
Keep your electronic security system turned on when you're not there.
Be armed, even at home.
Don't engage strangers at your doorstep in conversation, and don't
unlock the door! Tell them that you can't help them, and that you're
calling police.
Be aware that dangerous, criminal suspects are everywhere, including
your doorstep!"
Comment:
"Opportunity may knock, but seldom nags!"
David Mamet
Now is the time to make important changes in your physical situation and
in your personal philosophy, changes that harden you, yours, and your
home against criminal violence.
"Hope" is not a strategy!
/John
(We have seen before that the request to use a phone to call for
assistance, typically for a claimed emergency, is a common ruse to get
inside a home. If you feel compelled to provide assistance under such
circumstances, offer to call 911 for the requestor, while he remains on
the other side of your locked door. I recently learned the value of
having installed a backup generator, which comes on automatically when
the power goes out for one minute, in my home. On one of my rare trips
out of town a snowstorm took out power for several hours in my
neighborhood and for days in others. The maintenance of electrical power
allowed everything else, including heating, to continue to function in
my absence. I am awaiting the assistance of the friend who installed my
generator in running the wiring for an inexpensive set of surveillance
cameras that will allow me to see who may be at selected points outside
my house, even in the dark. With Social Security as my primary source of
income, I am currently contemplating when to invest in an intercom
system that will allow me to speak to someone outside the door without
having to stand behind it. Times are not getting any better.)
7 Jan 10
Re-emergence of an old scam, from a friend on the East Coast:
"Last week, a woman pulled into a local bank parking-lot, went in, and
withdrew several thousand dollars in cash. When she got back into her
Mercedes, a smiling 'good-Samaritan' approached, waving a stack of
bills, and saying, 'Lady! You dropped this."
Instead of leaving her window up, locking all doors, and quickly
checking, she rolled down her window. He grabbed her arm, took her
purse, and fled. Two accomplices then came from behind and quickly
slashed all four of her tires. They then fled also.
Police arrived shortly thereafter. The trio is still at large. The
woman was not hurt, but she was badly shaken, lost her purse, inherited
a towing bill, and had to buy a new set of tires!
However, she could have just as easily been murdered!"
Comment: VCAs are working in pairs and groups, especially in big towns.
Smart ones select victims carefully. Thus women, infirm, and elderly
need be particularly observant and careful.
In big towns, with paranoid, power-hungry mayors who invariably have
anti-gun agendas, VCAs know that most potential victims are not armed.
In states and towns where CCW permits are available, there is currently
a rush to get them.
In those places, VCAs can't be quite so smug!
/John
(A key word in the above account is "Mercedes." I spent many years
collating Asian gang intelligence at a Los Angeles sheriff's station. A
large proportion of the crime reports I processed were of home-invasion
robberies. These were an art from among the street-level Vietnamese
youth gangs in the 90's and one that was subsequently shared with other
nationalities during periods of incarceration. As practiced by the
Viets, these were not crimes of opportunity. Victims were carefully
targeted, typically by spotting Asian women wearing more than the usual
amount of gold or jade jewelry in shopping places. The next step was to
follow them discreetly to their cars. Those driving Mercedes, BMW, Lexus
and Cadillac vehicles would likely be followed home. A period of
surveillance would ensue, often for a few weeks, during which a
subterfuge to gain entry would be developed. Asians were targeted
because those Asian immigrants who possess them will generally keep
large amounts of cash and jewelry in their homes. When the robberies
went down it was common practice to threaten rape of the youngest female
if the goods were not surrendered. Ostentation can command a very high
price. Shun fancy jewelry and flashy cars. Even if you live in an
upscale neighborhood, don't make your home the most attractive one on
the block.)
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
The tactics and skills to use a firearm
in self-defense don't come naturally
with the right to keep and bear arms.
http://www.spw-duf.info
