May 5, 2017 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman

New MS AG opinion on carry law

“If we assumed that all MDOT facilities were not locations listed in Section 45-9-101(13) [of the MS Code], then it would be our opinion that MDOT could, by signage alone, keep all concealed carriers off its property… …If, however, the location is not listed in Section 45-9-101(13), a state agency that controls the property can prohibit both an enhanced and regular license holder by the posting of a sign pursuant to Section 45-9-101(13).”

But the referenced Section 45-9-101(13) includes sign-posted locations, so a location “not [already] listed in Section 45-9-101(13)” by definition would then become listed in that section if a sign is posted.

I don’t know where the AG is getting this with regard to enhanced permits. The enhanced permit statute, Section 97-37-7(2), provides that “A person… [with the enhanced permit]… SHALL ALSO BE AUTHORIZED TO CARRY WEAPONS IN courthouses except in courtrooms during a judicial proceeding, and ANY LOCATION LISTED IN SUBSECTION (13) OF SECTION 45-9-101, except any place of nuisance as defined in Section 95-3-1, any police, sheriff or highway patrol station or any detention facility, prison or jail. Attorneys, please weigh in.

MS Gov. Phil Bryant — at your service

• Guns.com: Mississippi governor tells college students to fight for Second Amendment

Georgia

In other news, Georgia now has limited legal CCW on school campuses, with the proper license.

Are you protected by security guards?

Think again.

Handloads for Self Defense

• Backwoods Home Magazine: The Truth About Handloads for Defense

Hotel scam

I shouldn’t have to tell anyone this, but….

DGUs, Texas style

We have an unconfirmed report that the mass stabbing (1 dead, 3 injured) at the University of Texas Austin campus this week was stopped by a legally armed student with a handgun. The attacker was apparently illegally carrying a large “Bowie” knife with which to do his crimes. According to social media postings by the current UT Austin student body president, a student with a concealed handgun license saw the stabbing attack in progress, drew his firearm, and chased down the attacker. If true, this likely won’t be mentioned in the lamestream media. That campus has legal carry, opposed by many faculty and students. No word on which side the victims resided.

Remember the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, FL? It just happened again at the Zona Caliente Sports Bar in Arlington, TX. Texas, you say? What about all those armed cowboys and rednecks? Yeah, about that: Actual headline — “Police: Concealed Carry Permit Holder Shoots, Kills “Active Shooter.’”

Stats:

Orlando
No defensive guns. 49 dead, 53 injured.

Arlington
CCW carrier. 2 dead, including the perp.

Enemies

Update: We reported last week on the Big Lake High School’s (Minnesota) refusal to include its own trap shooting team’s yearbook photo. Apparently they now think it’s OK for their own trap team to shoot trap guns.

A NY Army Veteran with no prior criminal record has been charged with violation of New York’s SAFE Act and now faces 21 years in prison after his conviction on Friday, April 21. His violation? Possession of three, over-10-round-capacity pistol magazines he had in a locked box in his car when stopped by police in April of 2016. No weapon was found, but each magazine is punishable by 7 years in prison.

Lots of reports appeared this week alleging that Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms made a deal to carve out an exemption from a state licensing scheme (SB-1657). Both companies have issued statements denying any knowledge of the deal negotiated on their behalf by the lobbyist for the Illinois Firearms Manufacturing Association (IFMA), an organization funded by SA and RRA, and have quit the association over this fiasco. The allegations also claim that SA and RRA, through IFMA, donated tens of thousands of dollars to Illinois anti-gun politicians over the last several years, going back at least to 2012. It seems unlikely to me that neither company knew what was going on for all that time, including the support of identical-language bills in previous sessions. At the least, there seems to be some significant incompetence regarding who they’re associating with and donating to. And that is all both companies have admitted.

Stacy Washington, a conservative black woman and proud NRA supporter, is/was also a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But after her article titled “Guns in the Media,” which defended the NRA from previous comparisons to ISIS, was published April 28th in the SLP-D, she was suspended from the paper for having also appeared on NRA News. Or for being black. Or for liking black guns. Whatever. Washington then tendered her resignation.

Dept. of Idiocy

Wanna Get Shot, Kids? THIS Is How You Get Shot! Amen.

Monday evening, Colgate University, located in Hamilton, New York, went on lockdown for four hours… due to… a student…using a hot glue gun. Afterwards, a campus safety director was put on administrative leave after determining the individual used “implicit racial bias” when reporting the incident to authorities. Apparently the innocent student is black.

Saint Louis University’s (SLU) Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Manufacturing Procedures class assigned a project for students to build a device with interchangeable parts. One option was a rubber band gun; that’s what the class selected to do. Soon after, the campus went on “lockdown” after one of the rubber band guns was spotted by another student (presumably a basket-weaving major.)

Lockdowns are officially-mandated events in which potential victims are ordered or physically restrained in locations until a threat or rescuer finds them, whichever occurs first.

Florida Memorial University will confer upon Trayvon Martin a posthumous bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Science with a concentration in Flight Education, to be presented to Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. Trayvon Martin was the violent felon who was shot in self defense after he attacked and attempted to kill the neighborhood watch member in Florida.

That’s Florida Memorial University. Back at Mississippi State, I had to work problems and pass tests (a LOT of them) to get my engineering degree. I never knew a BS could be had from some other “school” by simply repeatedly bashing someone’s head into a concrete sidewalk. But we had a big hydraulic press with which to break concrete.

Not about guns, but this one really fits the category:

Rachael Malonson, crowned Miss Black University of Texas, is under fire on social media for “not being black enough.”

Those folks might want to consider the corollary to that.

The Only Ones

• Update: Off-duty Hamilton County, TN, Sheriff’s deputy Daniel Hendrix, who was fatally shot by Chattanooga police in March was facing a $250,000 federal civil rights lawsuit by a woman who accused him of beating her in a local jail while she was shackled, and then lying about it. Hendrix had been arrested for aggravated assault in 2015 and suspended over the incident involving the inmate. Charges were later dropped against him and Hendrix was allowed to return to work.

• From Berkeley, CA, PD’s website, under “Protest Guide” comes the “Event Planning Checklist,” which includes the following gem: “Do you want symbolic arrests?”

• An unidentified FBI agent lost his loaded .380 pistol in the back of a livery cab in Brooklyn last weekend. The agent told local cops that he had the gun inside his pants holster on his right side when he got into the taxi outside a bar around 2 a.m. Saturday. But after he woke up at home in the morning, he realized the pistol was gone.

• An unidentified off-duty Border Patrol agent shooting recreationally is being investigated as the cause of the Sawmill Fire in Arizona a week or so ago, which has burned nearly 47,000 acres and cost more than $1 million to fight so far. It’s still burning.

• Former 10-year veteran Boston police officer Adarbaad Karani, 37, was charged with the straw purchasing of two guns that were meant for law enforcement only. He had claimed the firearms would be used for law enforcement purposes and not resold. The firearms were later found in the possession of a Columbia Point Dawgs gang member. Karani was indicted on two counts of making false statement during a firearm purchase and two counts of making a false statement on record. He is facing 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the charges.

• The ATF raided the home of Pasadena, CA, Police Lt. Vasken Gourdikian and seized a bunch of guns. No charges yet filed.

• Lake County, FL, Deputy Dean Zipes, who was hired in December 2015, was fired April 21, 2017 for playfully waving his firearm and Taser while quoting lines from Denzel Washington’s character in “Training Day,” and other allegations that he twice pulled out his firearm in an office setting and once made a motion to draw his service weapon at a pizza delivery boy, joking that he was alleged Orlando cop-killer Markeith Loyd.

• An unidentified San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy accidentally shot himself while re-holstering his weapon at a training event at the regional training center.

Military pistols

The US Army’s new M17 Modular Handgun System (SIG P320) has reportedly also now been accepted by the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.

Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY, will be the first to receive the Army’s new M17 handguns.

“Trainer” Mike Lamb (Stoic Ventures) Comes Clean

Not a Recon Marine.

Burkett arrested

Matt Burkett has been arrested on a six-page federal grand jury indictment for fraud related to his Scottsdale, AZ firearms manufacturing business, Predator Tactical. Allegedly he was having customers put down 100% deposits, which then went into Burkett’s pocket, and then not delivering the promised guns.

NRA meetings

• The Truth About Guns: Girardoni Air Rifle at NRA Annual Meetings

NRA’s new president is Pete Brownell

Pete Brownell Elected President of the National Rifle Association

Board election results. Note that this list has only the current candidates, not the full board.

Photo of the Million Moms protesting the NRA meeting from a mile away:

New H&K factory

Heckler & Koch (“coke”) is building a $23 million factory in Columbus, Georgia to build pistols, sport, and hunting guns.

Gander Mountain update

Camping World Holdings Inc., along with a group of liquidators reportedly has offered $390 million for Gander Mountain’s assets and intellectual property, along with its Overton’s boating business. The group apparently has out-bid competitor Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. Our report indicates that the bid reveals plans to operate only 17 of the Gander Locations.

Products

• With the ELEY lot analyzer you will now be able to enter an ELEY ammunition lot number at www.eleyammunition.com, and see many different statistics about the particular lot of ammunition entered.

• Palmetto State Armory has S&W M&P45 Shield .45 ACP pistols for only $225 after rebate.

• New cartridge: the .277 Wolverine

• The Crickett Precision Rifle… with Crickettinny Rail (I’da been more dangerouser…)

• The Warfytr Fabriclip. $8.

• DDupleks is bringing its new Kaviar fragenting 12-ga. slug, is designed to break apart, to the US market. It’s full of birdshot and looks like a big Glaser Safety Slug.

• Federal Premium has a muzzleloader-specific “209 Muzzleloading Primer” touted to provide:
  • Hot, Reliable Ignition in any Conditions
  • Formulation Strongly Resists Moisture
  • Minimizes “Crud Ring” Fouling in the Breech Area
  • Perfect for Use w/ B.O.R. Lock MZ System bullets

• Bushnell’s new Engage scopes and binoculars are intended to be very competitive in the “attractively-priced” market, and boast fully multi-coated glass and a slick EXO Barrier lens coating technology molecularly bonded to the lens that repels water, oil, fog, dust and debris. Rain, snow, fingerprints and dirt will not stick. The bonded coating will not fade from the passage of time or normal wear and tear.
  • Engage riflescopes have a new Deploy MOA reticle that offers 1-MOA windage and elevation hashmarks and are available in nine configurations from 2-7x36mm up to 6-24x50mm, all with Butler Creek Flip Caps.
  • Engage binoculars come in four configurations from 8x42mm to 12x50mm and feature ED Prime Glass and PC-3 Phase Coating to enhance resolution and contrast.

• Steiner has a couple of new pistol light/laser units, 100% USA-made. The DBAL-PL v2 includes a visible laser, white-light illuminator, and infrared laser with coupled infrared illuminator. The SBAL v2 features only the visible light and laser.

• The Coin Sap. Probably legal?

• Mec-Gar® USA’s Second Amendment magazine is an eight-round .45acp 1911 magazine with the text of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution laser engraved thereon. 10% of the proceeds from the sale of these magazines will be donated to pro-second amendment organizations. The magazine has a retail price of $29.20 and the product number is: MGCG45082A.

Quote of the Week

“The Second Amendment, while it allows citizens to protect themselves from other citizens, goes well beyond just allowing us to defend ourselves from a criminal. The men who penned and ratified this document gave us the right to keep and bear arms as an ultimate checks and balances against the federal government. When considering magazine size and weapon type, comments like, ‘You don’t need a 10-round magazine to hunt deer’ completely misses the point of the Second Amendment.” — Tennessee state Sen. Mark Green (R), President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Army

Now that we’re rid of Ray Mabus, let’s work on the Navy.