Waiting for McDonald: Gun retailers, who got a boost when President
Barack Obama took office, are hoping to get another one from the U.S.
Supreme Court. The high court is widely expected to strike down
Chicago's 28-year-old handgun ban this summer, following the court's
2008 decision to overturn a similar ordinance in Washington, D.C.
Suburban gun store owners anticipate the court's next move will uncork
pent-up demand for firearms within Chicago city limits. Nixing the
city's ban "is going to open up business to thousands and thousands of
households, and that could mean thousands and thousands in sales," says
Fred Lutger, owner of Freddie Bear Sports, the outdoor-sports store he's
operated in south suburban Tinley Park for 30 years. Like other gun
retailers, Mr. Lutger has seen sales accelerate since just before Mr.
Obama's election, as gun enthusiasts rushed to buy firearms out of fear
that the new president would enact tougher gun-control laws. Mr.
Lutger's sales have climbed 50% in that period. Noel Incavo, co-owner of
Midwest Sporting Goods in west suburban Lyons, has seen a 30% jump.
Neither expects a drop-off; it seems the fear of a gun ban can have the
same effect on sales as a ban's demise... (While Chicago residents may
face onerous registration requirements similar to those in DC, they will
at least have an easier time purchasing handguns lawfully because there
are stocking dealers nearby, in the same state.)
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=33129&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CrainsChicagoBusinessWeeklyEdition+%28Crain%27s+Chicago+Business+Weekly+Edition%29
---
Sorry, Sugarmann: The BATFE recently released U.S. firearm manufacturer
production data showing that during 2008, AR-15s accounted for eight
percent of all firearms and 22 percent of all rifles made in the U.S.
and not exported. The number of AR-15s in 2008 - over 337,000 - is
staggering, but may have been topped in 2009. And, at the current rate
of production, the total number of AR-15s in the U.S. will exceed 2.5
million some time this year, and that doesn't even count production
before 1986, the figures for which are not available. In other words,
the AR-15 market has collapsed, because no one wants AR-15s. At least,
that's what Josh Sugarmann, of the Violence Policy Center, wrote last
week on the Huffington Post blog, where the fringe gathers to
commiserate about everything it thinks is wrong with America.
Sugarmann's evidence consists of the fact that KBI has discontinued its
Charles Daly brand AR-15 line. We're not sure what's happening on
Sugarmann's planet, but on the American portion of Earth the numbers of
AR-15 manufacturers and the AR-15s they produce are at all-time highs.
AR-15s have been popular for decades and that popularity is growing in
leaps and bounds for a variety of reasons. Innovations relating to
defensive rifle use now center on AR-15 carbines. Bar none, the AR-15 in
its various configurations is the leading marksmanship training and
competition rifle in the country, and there are more kinds of training
and competition opportunities built around the AR-15 than ever before.
And the advent of new cartridges that fit the AR-15 platform, and which
are legal for hunting deer-sized game in most states, are rapidly making
the AR-15 one of the most popular hunting rifles in the country... (A
list member has pointed out that "AR-15" is used generically here, with
Colt having the legal rights to the term.)
http://www.ilaalerts.org/UM/T.asp?A1.2.6071.10.3827746
---
Another Red Herring: Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year
at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same
unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis. Law enforcement
officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in
criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made
their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers [emphasis
added] and to the shooters. The use of guns that were once in police
custody to attack police officers highlights a little-known divide in
gun policy in the U.S.: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in
criminal probes, but others sell or trade the weapons in order to get
other guns or buy police equipment. In fact, on the day of the Pentagon
shooting, March 4, the Tennessee governor signed legislation revising
state law on confiscated guns. Before, law enforcement agencies in the
state had the option of destroying a gun. Under the new version,
agencies can only destroy a gun if it's inoperable or unsafe. Kentucky
has a similar law, but it's not clear how many other states have laws
specifically designed to promote the police sale or trade of confiscated
weapons. A nationwide review by The Associated Press in December found
that over the previous two years, 24 states - mostly in the South and
West, where gun-rights advocates are particularly strong - have passed
47 new laws loosening gun restrictions. Gun rights groups are making a
greater effort to pass favorable legislation in state capitals...
(Minimized in this report is the fact that these guns must go through
FFL's, which means that the next purchaser must pass a background check.
Does it really matter if the guns had previously been used in a crime in
Memphis or in Los Angeles, where such guns are destroyed if they cannot
be shown to have been stolen from a lawful owner? What if they had been
purchased new, from the same licensed dealers?)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-14-pentagon-courthouse-shooting_N.htm
---
Then There's This: More than 20 guns seized by a state-run firearms task
force in Prince George's County are unaccounted for, and investigators
believe that one of the weapons was used in the shooting of an off-duty
police officer late last year, according to law enforcement sources
familiar with the investigation. All the missing guns apparently had
been seized by the Prince George's narcotics detective who was assigned
to the task force, the sources said. The detective, Juan Carter, was
suspended late last year during the investigation but has not been
charged with any crimes, sources said... The missing guns case is
similar to one in which it was revealed that almost 300 firearms were
lost by various Department of Homeland Security agencies during fiscal
2006-08, in many instances because they were not properly secured. But
in the Prince George's case, police are investigating whether the guns
were stolen and sold back on the street, law enforcement sources said...
Although the probe appears to be limited, it raises questions about
supervision on the state police gun task force, which, according to
state records, seized nearly 430 guns from its inception in 2007 to
September 2009. The Prince George's Firearms Interdiction Task Force,
led by the Maryland State Police, specialized in taking guns from
criminals and keeping them off the streets. The state police task force
still operates in Prince George's and has been expanded to include the
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is also
active in other jurisdictions...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/13/AR2010031301210.html
---
The Poster Boy I Don't Think the Open-Carry Movement Wants: You may not
know Leonard Embody's name, but you might know his recent troubles with
the law and guns... Embody's name and story have been appeared in news
reports and online blogs for months. He was thrust into the media
spotlight last December when he carried an AK-47-type pistol into Radnor
Lake State Park. "It wasn't modified in any way except for a sling, and
I had painted the tip orange on it [emphasis added]," he said. His
gun-carry permit was current and the gun was legal, but park rangers
stopped Embody and detained him for three hours. He was later released
with no charges filed. The next month, he made headlines again when he
took his handgun on a walk down Belle Meade Boulevard, in full
compliance with the law. "The only way you can carry the handgun is to
carry it openly in your hand," Embody said. Once again, he was stopped,
searched, and released. Since then, Embody has filed a federal lawsuit
against the Radnor Lake State Park ranger. And on Friday, he received a
certified letter from the Tennessee Department of Safety stating his gun
carry permit was revoked... Embody doesn't consider himself an gun
rights activist; but he strongly believes gun legislation is flawed,
often outdated, vague, or contradictory... (In the Belle Meade incident,
Embody relied on a post-Bellum city ordinance that only permits the
carry of an "Army revolver," openly, in the hand, so he carried a
cap-and ball replica. As he posted in a forum, regarding the city's
complaint that resulted in the suspension of his permit, "Now I have my
damages against Belle Meade." He appears to be knocking on many doors in
order to find a lawsuit he can win. Not mentioned in the article is his
attempt to purchase a suppressor for his AK-style pistol, scuttled by an
incomplete endorsement of the paperwork by his local sheriff.)
http://www.wsmv.com/news/22834140/detail.html
---
NRA-ILA Alerts: List members are encouraged to check the alerts for the
week, posted on the NRA-ILA website.
http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx
---
Thoughts on Caliber Selection: Right after a prospective gunman decides
which type of pistol to buy and carry, invariably, one of the things he
asks is what caliber he should get. In fact, you would be hard-pressed
to pick up any gun-related magazine and not see at least one article
relating to ammunition and caliber choices. Some instructors are also
very caliber-focused, thinking that anyone who does not bring a .45 to
class is unarmed. One student of mine who carries a 9mm was recently
told that his 9mm was simply a 45 set on "stun." (However, the
commentator declined to be stunned.) So what should you do when trying
to decide on calibers/loads, etc.? In a previous article, we discussed
the attribute of magazine capacity. Here, we will discuss the
characteristics of each caliber and give you some information, so you
can make up your own mind... All calibers can fail and have failed. When
you look at the issues scientifically, a 9mm or a .38 Special is
approximately a .357; a .40 S&W is a 10mm; and a 45 ACP is an 11mm. So
could it be that we have basically one or two little millimeters
separating "T-Rex stopper" from "merely adequate" or "anemically
inadequate"? Yes, that is exactly right... (There are data that suggest
more effectiveness with rounds that deliver at least 500 foot-pounds of
energy but, as Mr. Suarez points out, such packages may not be practical
for many users. Further, evaluations of "shootability" should be made
under the worst of circumstances [e.g., compressed, one-handed shooting
positions, from the holster] rather than the calmly assumed two-hand
shooting position typically used at the range.)
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35919
---
Tangentially Related: Something is happening here in the United States -
something unprecedented in the last 150 years. And it's a good
something. States are telling the federal government to take a hike.
They are reminding Washington, the man with the gun, that they are
sovereign states, not subjects of the central government. They are
explaining to Uncle Sam that the Constitution strictly limits the powers
of the federal government and reserves all non-enumerated authority to
the states. It's quite a development, one that WND alone has been
chronicling... (Farah goes on to cite Firearms Freedom Acts, legislation
in 36 states authorizing citizens to opt out of mandatory health
insurance, state-sovereignty resolutions citing the Ninth and Tenth
Amendments, and efforts to restrict federal use of the National Guard.)
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127784
The Texas State Board of Education agreed to new social studies
standards on Friday after the far-right faction wielded its power to
shape the lessons that will be taught to millions of students on
American history, the U.S. free enterprise system, religion and other
topics... Decisions by the board - long led by the social conservatives
who have advocated ideas such as teaching more about the weaknesses of
evolutionary theory - affects textbook content nationwide because Texas
is one of publishers' biggest clients... They also agreed to strike the
word "democratic" in references to the form of U.S. government, opting
instead to call it a "constitutional republic." In addition to learning
the Bill of Rights, the board specified a reference to the Second
Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S.
government class and agreed to require economics students to "analyze
the decline of the U.S. dollar including abandonment of the gold
standard." ...
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/12/tx-adopts-more-conservative-social-studies-standar/
..What children are taught in public school matters. Whole societies
have been altered by indoctrinating them. And that's why a battle has
been fought for decades on what should be included in American school
texts. In the '90s a bill proposed in the Illinois legislature called
simply "The American Heritage Act" declared that references to God in
historical documents should not be censored. It failed. And so, without
the knowledge of most parents, any mention of God by George Washington
or Abraham Lincoln, the Mayflower Compact, the Supreme Court, were
censored in school textbooks profoundly altering our national story and
building into our children a secularism the Founding Fathers never
intended...
http://townhall.com/columnists/SandyRios/2010/03/12/texas_and_the_textbook_alamo?page=full
The U.S. attorney's office in the District has found more than 100 cases
since the mid-1970s that need to be reviewed because of potentially
falsified and inaccurate tests by FBI analysts. The report, filed in
D.C. Superior Court late Friday, stems from an internal investigation by
prosecutors after the exoneration in December of Donald E. Gates, who
was falsely imprisoned for 28 years for the 1981 rape and slaying of a
Georgetown University student. The review was launched to examine 20
cases in which Justice Department officials questioned the validity of
statements made by six FBI forensic analysts who were identified in a
1997 report by the department's office of inspector general...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/13/AR2010031302416.html
---
From Force Science Research Center:
I. Do head cameras always see what you see in a force encounter?
News reports about the head camera currently being tested by selected
law enforcement agencies may be raising false expectations regarding the
device that could have serious repercussions in some use-of-force
investigations, warns the Force Science Institute.
The camera, manufactured by Taser International and a little larger than
a Bluetooth earpiece, fits snuggly on an officer's temple and is
commonly perceived as a "third eye" that reliably captures the wearer's
point of view. For example, a recent news story in San Diego, one of the
camera's test cities, was headlined: "What the Officer Sees, the Jury
Will See."
But according to Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force
Science Institute and a leading researcher on the human dynamics of
force encounters, it isn't that simple, unfortunately.
"There are certain important differences in how human beings process
information and how a camera does," Lewinski told Force Science News.
"There is no camera in existence that can record an event exactly as it
was perceived by an officer who experienced it."
In most use-of-force cases, that won't present a problem. "Head cameras
potentially will bring many important benefits to law enforcement, as
have in-car videos," Lewinski says. "In most cases, they'll be a great
help to investigators in reconstructing what an officer faced on the
street, they'll help refresh an officer's memory so he can give a fuller
account of a confrontation, and they'll help use-of-force reviewers
better understand actions of the officer and the suspect.
"But in some cases, there may be differences between what the officer
remembers and what the camera recording shows, or the officer may have
no recollection of key elements of the scene and the action, or there
may be other discrepancies that seem inexplicable or controversial.
"In those cases, if the differences between human perception and camera
perception are not understood, the video involved could end up confusing
and misleading officers, force reviewers, and the civilian public."
To minimize that risk, the Force Science Institute proposes that a
"Video Advisory" accompany any official viewing of recordings from head
cameras, as well as from dash cams, body cams, and other video devices.
How such a warning might be phrased will be explored in a moment.
CLICK HERE to download a printable copy of the Video Advisory
First, the rationale that makes a precautionary statement desirable.
Even with a camera that's mounted near an officer's eye and
theoretically recording a scene from his or her perspective, certain
inescapable differences between human and mechanical processing of
information will likely prevent a recording from exactly matching what
an officer sees and hears during a critical confrontation such as a
shooting, Lewinski explains.
Fundamentally, these differences have to do with field of view, focus of
attention, and interpretation.
Selective Perception
The camera, Lewinski points out, is a "neutral, unemotional observer" of
a given scene. It has a broad focus, the expanse and detail of which are
restricted only by the quality and range of its lens.
In contrast, an officer in a tense, uncertain, and rapidly unfolding
situation does not have the same panoramic vision. While the camera
indiscriminately captures its broader picture, the officer's training
and experience have taught him from the outset of an encounter to
selectively assess a scene or individuals present, hunting, for example,
for threat cues.
"He tends to focus on certain kinds of information that interest him,
determined by context, and to exclude other information that he
considers irrelevant," Lewinski explains.
"It's somewhat like asking a carpenter and a surgeon to describe what
they each saw when looking at a body on an operating table. The
carpenter will see the big picture--with lots of body parts and colors
and blood. But the surgeon's eye and brain will quickly focus in on the
bleeding vessel in need of repair, and filter out everything else as
unimportant at that moment.
"In the case of the surgeon, his or her training and experience allow
for the appropriately quick identification and selective focus on
information relevant to an operating room crisis, just as an officer
will tend to home in on potential cues to a different kind of threat.
"In contrast to the camera's inclusiveness, the officer's brain, like
the surgeon's, is suppressing from cognition what seems unimportant to
him. Of millions of bits of information that emanate from a given
environment, only a relative trickle will reach the brain's processing
area and only a minute few will be formulated into conscious perceptions
upon which judgments will be based.
"Context influences meaning. A camera does not have the officer's
experience so it does not know or record how he is interpreting what he
is seeing."
Narrowing Focus
The more imminent the life threat, the more the officer's vision
involuntarily narrows to isolate the threat and see it in greater
detail," Lewinski says. "He focuses and sees within a range of only
about 3 to 5 degrees, a mere fraction of the breadth that the camera is
recording. Comparing what a camera captures to what actually registers
in an officer's brain doesn't give a true rendering of what the officer
actually perceived in the stressful moment.
"Think of what the camera shows as 'the big screen' in a movie theater.
Under stress the officer is only able to perceive the part of the movie
that you might see if you were watching it through a paper towel tube.
There is no way for the camera to isolate the limited part of the scene
that perhaps captured the officer's entire field of attention.
"To a reviewer, that part might appear as a small detail. But to the
involved officer whose life was on the line, it might have seemed to be
the whole show. When the recording is played later, we don't really know
just from watching it what part of it the officer was actually focused on."
We can be highly confident, however, that a phenomenon called
"inattentional blindness" likely came into play in any major force
encounter. That means simply that the officer did not--could not--see
things he was not concentrating on at the time but which may later turn
out to be quite important in the larger context of the encounter.
Says Lewinski: "Someone who doesn't understand the human dynamics
involved may conclude that the officer is lying when he says he wasn't
aware of persons or actions that appear plainly in the camera's
recording and seem to have been in his field of view."
Other factors
In addition to the critical issue of selective focus, there are light
and depth considerations. "In low-light situations especially, the human
eye is likely to perceive things differently from a camera lens, and a
camera's 2-D recording is much different than the eyes' 3-D capability,
particularly when it comes to calculating depth and distances," Lewinski
says. "In 3-D, something coming directly at you, such as a speeding car,
seems significantly different to you than it does in a flat, 2-D image."
And there is this indisputable fact: "After an incident is over, hours
can be spent playing a video recording over and over again, analyzing
what happened and picking out things an officer 'should' have been able
to see," Lewinski says. "But as an encounter is unfolding, an officer
gets only one run-through--a narrow, fragmented view that may last only
milliseconds but on which he must make decisions that can have
life-or-death consequences."
Bottom Line
All things considered, this is the bottom line Lewinski believes is
essential to recognize:
"A camera will never represent precisely an officer's view of a scene or
what an officer was thinking at any given instant or how he was
interpreting what he was seeing, even if the camera is right beside the
officer's eye. Ideally, a camera may help us understand why an officer
acted as he did, but in some cases it may be only a start.
"Ultimately, we need to judge uses of force from the viewpoint of the
officers involved rather than from the viewpoint of a camera. Otherwise,
an officer reviewing a recording may be confused by discrepancies
between what he remembers and what the camera shows, and persons judging
the incident may inappropriately hold him accountable for actions and
statements that don't appear to jibe with the filmed record."
Recommended Advisory
With that in mind, the Force Science Institute recommends that an
advisory be delivered before an officer views any video recording of an
incident he was involved in or before persons responsible for judging
the officer's actions see it. Here is suggested language for this
caution, formulated with the help of attorney John Hoag, who has
represented scores of officers in OIS investigations and who serves on
the national advisory board of the Institute:
VIDEO ADVISORY
You are about to view a camera recording of a use-of-force event.
Understand that while this recording depicts visual information from the
scene, the human eye and brain are highly likely to perceive some things
in stressful situations differently than a camera records them, so this
photographic record may not reflect how the involved officer actually
perceived the event.
The recording may depict things that the officer did not see or hear.
The officer may have seen or heard things that were not recorded by the
camera. Depending on the speed of the camera, some action elements may
not have been recorded or may have happened faster than the officer
could perceive and absorb them. The camera has captured a 2-dimensional
image, which may be different from an officer's 3-dimensional
observations. Lighting and angles may also have contributed to different
perceptions. And, of course, the camera did not view the scene with the
officer's unique experience and training.
Hopefully, this recording will enhance your understanding of the
incident. Keep in mind, though, that these video images are only one
piece of evidence to be considered in reconstructing and evaluating the
totality of the circumstances. Some elements may require further
exploration and explanation before the investigation is concluded.
[Click to download a printable version]
Lewinski notes: "The purpose of the Advisory is not to challenge the
integrity of state-of-the-art recording equipment, but to remind all
parties that it necessarily has intrinsic limitations. This advisory is
offered as a useful tool in promoting thorough and impartial
investigations of uses of force.
"Properly framed, camera recordings can be great memory refreshers for
involved officers and offer valuable insights for reviewers. The key
lies in understanding that they are not likely to be the be-all and
end-all for explaining every incident."
(The considerations touched on in this report are explored in greater
detail during FSI's certification course in Force Science Analysis.)
[Our thanks to Chris Lawrence, a member of the Force Science Institute's
national advisory board, for suggesting this article and to Atty.
William Everett, also a national advisor, for his constructive review.]
================
(c) 2009: Force Science Research Center, www.forcescience.org. Reprints
allowed by request. For reprint clearance, please e-mail:
[email protected]. FORCE SCIENCE is a registered trademark of
The Force Science Research Center, a non-profit organization based at
Minnesota State University, Mankato.
================
---
From John Farnam:
9 Mar 10
Ballistic narrative, from a friend in SC:
"Last Friday, I shot a wild hog, using my S&W Commander 1911/45ACP and
Cor-Bon, 185gr/hp ammunition. The hog was a two-hundred pound male. I
shot him from the front. The bullet impacted two inches below his right
eye. Range was fifteen meters.
He collapsed instantaneously, as if I had hit a circuit-breaker! A
second shot through his heart (from the side) ended festivities for good.
Back at the farm, during butchering, I found the second bullet. It
lodged just under the skin in the front shoulder, after penetrating
side-to-side, 25cm (ten inches). Perfectly symmetrical mushroom! Core
and jacket still firmly bonded together.
The skull is now at the taxidermist being cleaned. We're hoping to
recover the first bullet as well.
It was not my intent that day to 'hunt' with my 1911. We inadvertently
stumbled upon this hog while scouting the area, but it surely worked
well, at least in this case!"
Comment: I don't recommend deliberately hunting any kind of big game,
surely not wild hogs, with a 1911 pistol in 45ACP (nor any other pistol
caliber). The 1911/45ACP is a "people-gun." Like most pistol rounds,
it lacks adequate penetration for big-game hunting.
However, the foregoing (though just one incident, and anecdotal at that)
is still an example of the good results we often get when careful aim
and a steady hand, combined with high-performance ammunition, come together.
Who train so that they hit consistently, and consistently insist upon
good equipment, always have a significant advantage over the slovenly
and clueless!
/John
(Yesterday I shared a couple of items about wildlife attacks in Alaska.
I am under the impression that few Alaskans would venture into the woods
without at least a .44 Magnum revolver. I carry short-barrel revolvers,
loaded with Corbon's +P .38 Special 110 gr. DPX load, for normal
self-defense. On my hikes with my dog in the local woods, I have made it
a point to sling an additional revolver, loaded with warm .44 Special
handloads or, more recently, low-end .44 Magnum handloads [I did not own
a .44 Magnum until last summer]. While I have yet to see a black bear or
a cougar on my hikes, back in September 2006 I did see a black jaguar;
fortuitously, it was anxious to continue in the opposite direction. I
note the mention of core and jacket in the above account, suggesting
that this was a conventional hollowpoint load from CorBon, not one with
the all-copper DPX bullet. CorBon offers the latter in both 160 and 185
gr. in .45 ACP.)
--
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
