2A News: March 3, 2016 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman

Election

• Tuesday, March 8 is the presidential primary election date for MS. This is your first chance to vote against Hillary. You will have to vote in the Democrat primary to do that.

• Remember Vince Foster’s “suicide” 23 years ago during Hillary’s first administration? There are still questions.

• The DOJ has given immunity from prosecution to Bryan Pagliano, a State Department employee who helped set up and manage the private email server Hillary Clinton used in her New York home for her work as secretary of state. That begs the question, Immunity from what? The Washington Post reports it as a criminal investigation. To date, the State Department has revealed the presence of more than 2,000 emails on her private server that contained state secrets — and four that were select access privilege, or SAP — or “top secret” — the highest level of protected secrecy, for the utmost protection of the government’s gravest secrets.

• We also have a report that Hillary Clinton has proposed $1.1 TRILLION in tax increases.

• Marco Rubio (the same one who voted for gun control) thinks that the Second Amendment is second because the founders saw it as the second most important right in the Bill of Rights. “It’s the constitutional right of every American to protect themselves and their families,” Rubio said. “It is the Second Amendment for a reason.”

But our understanding is that the first 10 ratified amendments (out of 12 proposed) were enumerated in the order in which their subject matter appears in the Constitution, not in order of importance or anything else. In this case, for instance, the First Amendment addresses Article 1, Section 8, while the Second Amendment addresses Article 1, Section 9.

Kansas follow-up

We told you last week that the massacrist in Hesston, Kansas, was a “prohibited person” not allowed to possess a gun. Now we learn that he got those guns through straw purchases by his ex-girlfriend, aided by police. She is the same one who had the protection from abuse order against him. Apparently she bought the guns and gave them to him, then the police took them away from him and gave them back to her, and she gave them back to him and he used them in the killings.

We also learned that the hero cop was Hesston Police Chief Doug Schroeder, who entered the building alone without backup, and confronted the killer in the front office area. They exchanged gunfire, and the perp was killed.

Our previous estimate of potential victims was also low; according to current reports there were 200 to 300 people inside, and the killer “was not going to stop.”

SCOTUS’ Thomas Speaks!

SCOTUS Associate Justice Clarence Thomas broke a decade-long silence from the bench on Monday, during oral arguments in the case Voisine v. US, regarding a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence (including offenses not involving weapons) from owning guns. Thomas asked a Justice Department lawyer whether a misdemeanor conviction of any other law “suspends a constitutional right.” Good question. The lawyer noted that violating other laws can, in some cases, limit a person’s free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

• Justice Thomas breaks 10-year silence on gun rights case
• Justice Thomas stuns court, asks first questions in 10 years during gun rights case from Maine
• After a decade of silence, will Justice Clarence Thomas find his voice?

Legislation

The US House passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act of 2015, which protects against regulations concerning lead ammunition, increases the allowed federal funding for the development of shooting ranges by states on federal lands, and forces the US Army Corps of Engineers to allow people to protect themselves with a firearm on Corps-managed recreational projects. It also protects knife owners and gun collectors who may have knives or guns with elephant ivory grips.

The measure was approved by a 242-161 vote, with only 12 Blue Dog Democrats joining all but 4 Republicans in support of the legislation.

Other Democrats objected to a provision that prohibits the US Forest Service from restricting deer hunting with dogs in certain national forests in MS, OK, LA and AR, because, they said, rules surrounding dog deer hunting practices should be left up to localities instead of a mandate from Congress. But it is my understanding that states already may have rules/seasons concerning deer hunting with dogs on public lands, including national forests.

We understand a sister bill has been making its way through the Senate.

The Arizona House has passed a bill that would let the state join with other states in an interstate compact to make themselves exempt from any new rules curtailing Second Amendment rights. This is a reaction to Michael Bloomberg’s antics.

Kids and Guns

• Experiment With a Gun and Kids in the Room Has Horrible Results – If You’re Anti-Gun That is

11th Living Service Member Receives MOH. SEAL.

• Navy SEAL to receive Medal of Honor at White House ceremony

About Church Safety Teams

• Forming a Church Safety Team

Enemies

• “Instead of outright banning it, allow people to have some kind of licensing. I think it would weed out a lot of crime.” — X-Products co-owner James Malarkey, quoted by CNN and in Gun sales drive demand for high capacity magazines [via money.cnn.com] (X-Products makes those high capacity drum and revolving tube shotgun magazines.)

BUT, X-Products reports that “CNN has taken two very out of context answers to multiple questions. Then they broke them up and spliced it into something that cleverly seems to favor some kind of support for their premise,” and that X-Products “would not support any further limitations.”

I’m a lot more inclined to believe X-Products than CNN. Remember CNN running a faked news segment about semiautomatic “assault rifles” featuring a full auto machine gun instead?

• We hear that a bunch of leftist Hollyweird-types were seen sporting pro-gun-control bracelets at some big awards shindig last week, all while protected behind a phalanx of armed security guards.

“I don’t give a crap about the NRA.” — Retiring MS Rep. Steve Holland (D-Plantersville), this week on the MS House floor.

• President Obama. The usual.

• CVS Pharmacies — still against self defense.

• The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence posts photos of “victims” online to illustrate why they want to ban guns. One recent “victim” so posted was Marcos Perea, 41, a murder suspect with a restraining order from his former girlfriend (who he allegedly murdered) who was killed last month in a shootout with police after a high speed chase and after shooting at them in Lakewood, WA. So to CSGV, murderers are “victims” and police defending their lives are killers.

• The “Conservative” Political Action Conference is now a “gun free” zone.

Ayoob on Trial Defense

• Article in Backwoods Home Magazine

The Gun Control Debate in a Nutshell

I have a gun…
You don’t want me to have it…
I won’t give it up…
Your move…

“They came for our guns, so I immigrated to America.”

Greenleaf, Idaho, is NOT a “Gun Free” Zone.

• ‘This is not a gun free zone’: Greenleaf signs send strong message

Jackson, MS Police Dept. Earns Accreditation

The Jackson Police Department has received accreditation from the Mississippi Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission. JPD is the largest of the 27 Mississippi agencies to be accredited by the MLEAC.

The Only Ones

• We have an unconfirmed report that police in Inglewood, CA, shot to death two people they found unconscious in a car. After trying to wake them up and “de-escalate the situation,” for some as-yet unknown reason the unidentified officer(s) fatally shot the couple. I’m wondering why an unconscious couple situation needs “de-escalating.”

• Ronald W. Hamilton, 32, the man accused of murdering a Virginia police officer during a domestic disturbance call on her first shift, is an active-duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon (Joint Staff Support Center). Hamilton has been charged with capital murder of a police officer, first-degree murder, two counts of malicious wounding of a police officer and two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

• Montgomery, AL police officer Aaron “A.C.” Smith, 23, has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of a citizen last week, after “probable cause” was found in an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation. The deceased was reportedly the son of one of the area’s first black police officers.

• Erek Balentine, who resigned from his position as the Bald Knob, AL police chief in September, is expected to accept a deal in federal court to plead guilty to possession of stolen property (a department firearm which he attempted to sell). The deal is in exchange for dropping charges against Balentine for arson of his own truck — which he previously blamed on Second Amendment supporters after he was put on the hot seat for a messy arrest of a man for disorderly conduct and illegally (openly) carrying a firearm. That case resulted first in a guilty verdict, then a reversal and dismissal.

• Congress is concerned about the GSA losing guns.

How Not To Sheriff

“…that oath, that allegiance, is not to a Sheriff, it’s not to a Chief. It’s to the constitutional principles that our badge represents. It’s to the people, that we’ve sworn to serve and protect… …I will not kneel, to violent street gangs… I will not kneel, to murderers… or the parents that raised them…”

It appears that St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz succumbed to political correctness after his Capt. Clay Higgins went after members of the Gremlins street gang in his typically brusque manner in the Crime Stopper video we posted last week. Higgins has now left the force after Sheriff Guidroz objected to his spade-calling.

“…several people identifying themselves as family members of the accused gang members said they felt their relatives were in danger because of the segment.”

Well, that was kinda the point.

Sheriff Guidroz is a Democrat. We understand he has been sheriff since 2008 and has just been re-elected to a term that expires in 2020. We hope that Capt. Higgins will run against Sheriff Guidroz.

Sheriff, maybe this will interest you: “Lab-grown testicles give new hope to wounded vets”

Here’s more from Higgins about his resignation. We should all have officers like this one.

Dept. of Idiocy

PC run amok:

St. Jude Hospital says it’s not a coon hunt, it’s a “raccoon festival.”

So now I need a “festival” gun. I suppose next week it will be an “Oh-possum” dance. (To be honest, I once had the misfortune of witnessing my friend Dewayne do some sort of badger jitterbug. It wasn’t pretty and the badger didn’t seem too impressed either.)

“Breaking in” a Rifle Barrel

Article/video — If you think it’s necessary. I also recommend John Barsness’ info on this topic (Chapter 6 of his book “Rifle Trouble-Shooting and Handloading“).

Industry news

Englewood, Colorado-based Sports Authority has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company says it will close or sell 140 of its 463 stores nationwide over the next 3 months. It also says they will continue to run stores on normal schedules, sell on its websites and honor warranties on items purchased at its stores or online, and that it has “decided to utilize the Chapter 11 process to implement a financial and operational restructuring that we believe is necessary to help us become an even better place for our customers to shop for sporting goods.”

Products

• The April, 2016, edition will be the final print edition of Soldier of Fortune magazine, which is now going all-digital. The magazine was started in 1975 by Robert K. Brown, now an 80+ year-old NRA Board member.

• Yankee Hill now offers integrally suppressed barrels for Ruger 10/22 rifles. $744.

• J.G. Anschütz GmbH & Co. KG announced a new version of the 1771 rifle, the 1771 D, chambered in .222 Rem. and .223 Rem. with an action specifically designed for cartridges using the .222 Rem parent case. German made oiled walnut stock with a rubber butt plate, Schnabel forend tip and sling swivel studs. 60˚ bolt throw with 6 locking lugs. 4-round detachable box style magazine, trigger adjustable from about 2.2 to 4.4 lbs. $2495.

• Auto Mag LTD. CORPS., a new company in Florence, SC, intends to bring the Auto Mag pistol back into production. Apparently the price will be high and intended for the collector market.

• How about a 22 oz. full sized 1911 pistol?

• UA Arms also has “explosively bonded” lightweight 1911s.

• I may have missed the announcement that Ruger has a 15-round BX-15® magazine for the 10/22 Rifle, SR-22 Rifle, 22 Charger Pistol, .22 LR Ruger American Rimfire Rifle and .22 LR Ruger 77/22 Rifle. $29.

• Titanium AR parts from DS Arms

• 5.11 Tactical’s BBS Flex Kit allows you to use MOLLE/SlickStick™ web platform accessories with your 5.11 Backup Belt System™ clothes. The Flex Kit includes two 3″ x 7″ panels with BBS hook-and-loop at the front and standard webbing at the rear.

• Streamlight’s new ProTac HL 4 offers 2,200 lumens of white light on high (1 hr or 45 min. run time, depending on the battery source). On low, the light provides 60 lumens (plenty for most uses), and a run time of up to 43 hours. It is powered by either 4 included 3V CR123A lithium batteries, or 2 of Streamlight’s new Lithium Ion 18650 rechargeable batteries. Streamlight also offers an 18650 Battery Charger that can recharge 1 or 2 batteries simultaneously, and permits charging through either AC/DC or USB power sources. I have several smaller versions of Streamlight’s ProTac series and highly recommend them. $175 for this light.

• Range Rover’s Holland & Holland Edition SUV, created by Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations, will be available in limited quantities for 3 years. Quarter million dollars.

• Meanwhile, Mercedes’ “Guard” line of Maybach vehicles are custom configured with armor plating around the entire cabin of the vehicle (but leave the trunk and engine unprotected). Half a million dollars.

Quote of the Week

“It’s not that I believe that there are too many idiots in this world, just that lightning isn’t distributed right.” — Mark Twain