They're Back: A list member searched a little harder than I did and
found the Federal Nyclad 125 gr. .38 Special standard-pressure
hollowpoint available at Ammunition To Go for $34.95 per 50-round box.
Most vendors, who list it as out of stock and may or may not offer back
orders, only list the 20-round box, at about $20. This load, nicknamed
the Chief Special load, was designed for expansion from two-inch barrels
and is particularly suited for use in lightweight revolvers or by those
who are particularly sensitive to recoil.
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/product_info.php/cPath/23_66_113/products_id/3019
---
Elections and the RKBA: Conditions have lined up for 2010 to be the year
of the perfect electoral storm. But in order to create the kind of storm
the Republic needs, one that cleans out an insubordinate and defiant
Congress, GunVoters and pro-rights activists need to get organized. The
time to start is now. Just as my friend, noted author and radio host
Dave Ramsey says about saving money, it's never too early to get
involved in politics, but it's better to get involved late than not to
get involved at all. Whether you're reading this in May, or next
October, you need to take action. There are many ways to participate in
the political process and all of them are important. The first, and most
fundamental, is to vote. Make sure that you are registered to vote and
that you show up on Election Day. Dismiss the excuses. I've heard them
all and they are all lame...
http://www.ammoland.com/2010/04/10/gun-voters-practicing-politics/
---
With Friends Like These...: [AZ] State lawmakers have passed a new gun
bill that could soon allow you to carry a hidden gun without a concealed
weapons permit. But not all gun rights advocates support this gun rights
law. Jim Stover says, "would I say to a police officer here's your badge
here's your gun go out and defend my life without any training,
absolutely not." ... But state lawmaker Frank Antenori says the law
makes it safer for all citizens because it allows more people to carry
guns and to protect themselves against armed criminals. Antenori says,
"I would rather see someone shot dead trying to rob a convenience store
by a clerk who's been sick and tired of being robbed and robbed and
robbed and see that criminal dead and not be a burden on the state and
criminal system then see some poor guy shot and killed by a criminal
watching her family cry as he's being buried." But expanded gun rights
doesn't always mean expanded responsibility. On Thursday, police charged
a man from Surprise Arizona with endangerment after his gun went off
inside a Walmart. Witnesses say the man was fidgeting with his gun when
it fired a bullet into the ceiling. Despite this dangerous gun
discharge, Antenori says, "You can't legislate against stupidity. But
you shouldn't legislate against the people and their inherent right to
protect themselves." Stover believes differently. He says training would
have taught the gun owner how to properly pick up the gun from the floor
without putting his finger on the trigger. Stover adds, "our lawmakers
they think its the most amazing thing in the world, I think its the most
stupid thing that they can come up with." ... (Stover is apparently
"chief instructor" at Marksman Pistol Institute in Tucson, and has a
history of advocating limitation of the RKBA in order to boost his
business. The knucklehead who negligently discharged his pistol in the
Walmart store is reportedly a former Maricopa County detention officer
and probably has had formal handgun training, if only to obtain a CWP.)
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12287211
---
If You're Applying for a Carry Permit: The Federal Bureau of
Investigation has notified state law enforcement agencies that all
fingerprint-based background checks necessary for Right-to-Carry permit
applications will be temporarily suspended from April 28, 2010, to May
3, 2010. The temporary suspension is said to be necessary in order for
the FBI to process almost 500,000 fingerprints for Census Bureau
workers. The FBI will resume processing CHL applicant fingerprints
beginning May 4, 2010. Delays from the suspension of up to two weeks
are anticipated; with the FBI giving assurances that all fingerprints
will be processed as quickly as possible.
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=5711
---
CCW Remains an Issue in California Sheriff Race: After Orange County's
sheriff was indicted on corruption charges on 2007, supervisors made a
point of looking beyond the county limits to find a replacement who was
free of the cronyism and scandal that had tainted the office. A retired
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department division chief, Sandra Hutchens
was lauded by one Orange County supervisor for being "removed from the
political machinations in the county" and was seen as a welcome breath
of fresh air in a department that had been led for decades by
politically connected lawmen. But now, facing her first election bid,
Hutchens is fighting criticism that she's too much of an outsider, a
career cop from Los Angeles who just doesn't understand Orange County.
As sheriff, Hutchens shook up her command staff, threatened to rescind
concealed weapons permits handed out by former Sheriff Michael S. Carona
and struck an independent tone that rubbed some county supervisors the
wrong way, at times leaving them out of the loop or having to ask
questions after decisions had been made... (I am puzzled by the charge
that Carona handed out CWP's as political favors - to my knowledge, he
simply made Orange County as close as possible to shall-issue under
California law. What he apparently did do as political favors was to had
out reserve badges.)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hutchens11-2010apr11,0,7247059,full.story
---
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
---
Tangentially Related: Two senators on the committee that will examine
President Barack Obama's next Supreme Court nominee are playing down the
chance of a filibuster. Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Senate
Republican, says the White House can avoid a filibuster fight by
nominating a "mainstream" candidate to succeed retiring Justice John
Paul Stevens. Kyl says a filibuster is unlikely except under
"extraordinary circumstances." A fellow Senate Justice Committee member,
Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, says he thinks it's fairly
certain that Obama will settle on someone in the mainstream. The
senators appeared on ABC's "This Week." (Sounds to me as though the fix
is in.)
http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2010/04/11/senators_say_high_court_filibuster_can_be_avoided
There are two ways the Senate can approach a president's judicial
nominees - and specifically President Barack Obama's nomination of
University of California, Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco... Liu himself opposed
the confirmation of now-Chief Justice John Roberts on the grounds that
Roberts might prove to be a conservative extremist. Well, the 9th
Circuit already is extreme, on the liberal side. I want to know whether
Liu wants to right a listing ship or steer it into the drink.
http://townhall.com/columnists/DebraJSaunders/2010/04/11/would_goodwin_liu_sink_the_left-leaning_9th_circuit?page=full
---
From John Farnam:
4 Apr 10
Addendum to "Soldiers and Guns"
It gets worse:
"At larger FOBs, personnel 'enforcing' unloading procedures at clearing
barrels are third-world contractors, who, in most cases, speak no English.
As we unload our guns in front of them, they are all carrying pistols,
with magazines inserted, and they are there, we are assured, '... for
our own safety.' They are, in effect, 'Base Police,' but I've never
heard of one risking his life in order to protect any of us
forcibly-disarmed, uniformed US personnel, in an active Combat Zone!
As you might suspect, at shift-change these blithering idiots make use
of the self-same 'clearing barrels,' and, due to their conspicuous,
indeed comical, display of weapon mis-handling, the area around
clearing barrels now easily qualifies as the most dangerous place
in-Country."
Comment: Unfortunately, it seems that Western Civilization, even our
military culture, is reverting from a proud heritage of logic, reason,
and daring, to a frightened, emasculate, unenlightened state of seedy,
epicene mysticism.
How is it that, while casually admitting that what we're doing is stupid
and makes no sense, we seem unable to advance?
Have we entered a new Dark Age?
(I am reminded of the requirement for officers to disarm when entering
jails, such as to book prisoners. On LASD it was common enough for
deputies to get distracted by conversation while going back out onto
patrol that most deputies eschewed the gun lockers at the entrance to
the jail and secured their handguns in the trunk of their patrol cars.
That way, when they got half a mile from the station and realized that
their holsters were empty, they could just pull over and go to the trunk
to retrieve the missing handgun. In the case of jails and prisons, there
is good reason not to carry a firearm into an environment where an
officer would face a high risk of disarmament, with very serious
consequences. I do not see a parallel with requiring military personnel
to unload when returning to base.)
/John
6 Apr 10
Stupidity and endemic distrust is not confined to the military. This
from an LEO friend in the Chicago area:
"Recently, Chicago experienced a wide-spread, protracted shooting
incident. During a 48-hour period. 54 people were shot in an around a
single neighborhood. One of the TV-news clips showed multiple CPD
officers responding to dozens of simultaneous 'shots-fired' calls.
In one clip, several officers could be seen carrying AR-15 rifles. As
these officers courageously approached the scene, you could here much
gunfire, recorded by news cameras.
Our mayor was furious... with the police!
He could not believe any of his officers would actually deploy a rifle
in his little town. He indicated that he would rescind the general
order, authorizing officers to carry these weapons.
Note that these rifles are not provided by the City. These intrepid and
dedicated officers purchased the weapons, ammunition, and all
accessories (to include required safety-measures for carrying them in
beat-cars) with their own money."
Comment: "Prepared" is present tense. "Victim" is past tense.
"Justice," in theory, can be either, but most agree that no justice
exists in past tense!
We promote the incompetent; baptize the unrepentant; elect the unemployable!
/John
(If the rifles were authorized, it sounds like a dispute between the
mayor and his chief of police. Back when the AR-15 was new, I recall a
negligent, fatal shooting of an innocent person by a police officer in
Vernon CA, who had brought his own, unauthorized AR-15 on a warrant
service. It didn't help that the officers involved had drunk a few beers
with their pre-raid dinner.)
8 Apr 10
Test Your Gear:
I've been carrying a SIG/250 in 9mm for a number of months, and, like
all SIGs, it runs fine. I then switched to another 250, this one is
40S&W. I ran my 9mm with the smallest of SIG's three frame sizes. The
40S&W version came with the middle-sized frame, but I swapped it out for
the small one that had been on my 9mm.
The new pistol ran, except the slide kept unexpectedly locking to the
rear halfway through the magazine. I asked my pistolsmith to try it,
and it ran fine for him with no glitches, and the slide-lock lever's
downward spring-pressure was normal, so I concluded that the problem was
with my grip.
I prefer a thumbs-up, or "flying-thumbs" grip. My hands are average for
a person my size, but my left thumb sometimes apparently put just enough
upward pressure on the slide-lock lever to cause the problem. It didn't
cause the identical problem with the 9mm and the small grip, as there is
just enough difference between the 9mm and 40S&W slides to cause it in
one case, but not in the other. There is also enough divergence between
grip sizes to make all the difference in the way the pistol runs in my
hands. I never would have predicted it!
So, I put the mid-sized frame back on the 40S&W, and the premature
slide-lock problem immediately disappeared!
For those who are wondering if there is a point lurking in all this, it
is: Test your gear!
Your guns and gear need to be tested by you, in the exact way you use
them. Pistols that run just fine "for everyone else," may not for you,
and the way to be certain, one way or another, is via thorough,
realistic, faithful testing.
There are a million variables, and gunmakers can only make product to
fit "average" circumstances. Accordingly, no gun will ever be exactly
perfect for you personally, but it still needs to run reliably when
you're using it!
Test! Don't guess.
/John
(Many of us teach what I would describe as a "thumbs forward" grip of
the bottom-feeding pistol. John teaches what is literally a "thumbs up"
grip. I know one of his instructors who ground off the slide-release
lever on his Glock pistol to avoid the type of interference described -
the inner portion, which is raised by the magazine follower, to lock the
slide back after the last round is fired, remains in place. Back when I
was still enamored of bottom-feeders, I acquired a SIG P220, for
cold-weather use. I intentionally sought a used European version, with
the magazine release on the rear of the bottom of the grip frame, to
eliminate any unintentional pressure on the magazine-release button of
the newer American-style model, while wearing thick gloves. Sometimes
the added recoil of a larger caliber can create ergonomic interactions
not present with smaller calibers. Gloves, in particular, can pose
serious challenges in the operation of firearms. While many have sought
designs that minimize interference, such gloves often fail to provide
enough insulation against cold. Many of us have come to believe that the
wisest course is to choose the glove you need for warmth, so long as you
can chomp down on a few fingertips with your teeth and rip off the one
on your gun hand before you start your draw stroke. Differences in the
length and shape of thumbs can make crucial differences in handgun
operation. One list member showed up for training with a Glock, on which
he had been advised to install a slide lock [the part that is pulled
downward to remove the slide for cleaning] that is wider than the one
furnished by the factory. When he experienced discomfort shooting with
the thumbs-forward grip, we discovered that it was because the
serrations on the aftermarket slide lock were abrading the thumb of his
support hand. While some may benefit from extended controls, others may
find that they create unwanted interference. I asked the student in
question to ask the guy who had installed the extended slide lock when
he had ever seen someone need to perform a high-speed disassembly of a
pistol.)
--
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
