Our local Jackson, MS newsrag apparently thinks its newsworthy that the local gun show is going on as scheduled at the State Fairgrounds this weekend while President Trump is scheduled to be at museum openings mere blocks away.
The show owner said, “We don’t expect any problems because our customers are law-abiding citizens.”
In other news, the local media also reported concerns about liberal protesters during Trump’s visit. We have no reported quotes about them being law-abiding or not.
Also, an article about a new local gun shop and indoor range. I definitely like the “try before you buy” option.
Legislation
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 (H.R. 38), passed the full US House (231-198-4) this week, with 6 Democrats voting in favor and 14 Republicans voting against. It now heads to the Senate. The “Fix NICS’ background check” gun control expansion language claimed to improve reporting to the database was added before passage. The bill has a steeper battle in the Senate, where it will require 60 votes to get through a procedural debate motion before a final simple majority vote. The votes probably aren’t there in the Senate, likely making the House vote purely symbolic, unless of course enough Senate Democrats resign before then due to sex scandals.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn introduced the Senate version and previously indicated he was against combining the Fix NICS language with the concealed carry reciprocity bill, and said that might kill the bill in the Senate. Opponents of the CCW bill of course don’t want the NICS language attached because they want to vote for more government background checks but not for more civil rights for poor minorities without political connections.
Detractors claim that the bill would subvert state CCW laws and violate states’ rights, but it would do no such thing – it simply requires that states apply their CCW laws to nonresidents with permits the same as they do to residents with permits. We note that the typical opponent to the legislation makes no such argument against federal protection of other, “politically correct,” civil rights so dear to the socialists.
MS AG opinion on CCW license public records
NICS checks and failures
The FBI issued 4,170 requests last year for ATF agents to “retrieve guns from prohibited buyers” who failed NICS background checks after the 3-day check deadline had passed and the sales went through, according to law. My understanding is that these were not initially “denials,” but were “waits.”
The 4,170 hits represents about 0.015% of over 27.5 million background checks performed last year. That’s 15/1000 of 1%.
Additionally, there were 120,497 denials in 2016. We note that typically, the false positives rate (innocent people falsely denied) of initial NICS checks is in the 99% range, meaning that the true denial number should have been in the neighborhood of 1,200 (in addition to the 4,170 above, plus any other “waits” who should have been denied but who didn’t buy the gun after the 3-day wait). We have a separate report this week that unpaid traffic tickets can result in a NICS denial.
No word on any arrests or prosecutions of the 4,170 prohibited purchases or the ~1,200+ unlawful attempts to purchase, unless the “retrievals” include arrests.
Back in March, Arapahoe County, CO, Deputies and Colorado State Troopers fired 55 rounds at the driver of a stationary vehicle from AR-15 rifles, .40-caliber pistols, and a shotgun from approximately 75 feet away, over about a 30-minute time span. Not a single round hit the suspect. At least one deputy inadvertently shot up a marked state patrol unit during the unusual standoff.
Five months after Kathryn Steinle was fatally shot on San Francisco’s waterfront, the US Bureau of Land Management promoted Ranger John Woychowski, whose unsecured stolen gun was used to kill her (the killer claims it was an accidental discharge). Woychowski’s .40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun was stolen from a backpack under his personal vehicle seat. Woychowski faced neither discipline nor criminal charges for failing to secure his weapon as required – a misdemeanor criminal act under California law. Woychowski had a second unsecured handgun hidden in the trunk of his car that wasn’t stolen. Woychowski didn’t mention it to police investigators (who didn’t ask), because he was worried that he was going to be prosecuted. No discipline, no charges, yes promotion. Got it.
California Highway Patrol OfficerTrevor Dalton, 45, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after an off-duty altercation in the driveway of a Ventura residence, according to authorities. During the altercation, Dalton shot a firearm twice at the 49-year-old male victim, with one of the shots hitting him in the back.
Enemies
Sixteen retired US military commanders, including Army Gens. Wesley Clark and Michael V. Hayden, Navy Admiral Eric T. Olson, Air Force Lt. Gen. Norman R. Seip and Marine Brig. Gen. Stephen A. Cheney, have joined up with Gabby Giffords’ gun ban group to urge Congress to pass more gun control laws infringing on the right to keep and bear arms for peaceful law-abiding citizens (such as themselves), as well as apparently opposing the national CCW permit reciprocity bill.
So now that you’re retired, your oath of allegiance no longer applies, I suppose. But the rest of us still respect the Constitution. We don’t retire from what is right.
9mm NATO more lethal than 9mm NATO?
Newsweek quoted US Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven Power, who oversees part of the Army’s pistol upgrade, as saying that the Sig M17 and M17 9mm pistols are “far more lethal” than the previous Beretta M9 9mm pistols, because of “better accuracy, tighter dispersion, and better ergonomics.” Newsweek didn’t question that.
Far more lethal. With the same ammo and the same shooter. Right. Must be those fully-semi-automatic-assault-pistols-with-the-stock-thingy-that-goes-up.
Weapons of War
“Weapons of war are precisely what ‘We the People’ are entitled to have. That’s why the militia was deemed ‘necessary to the security of a free State’ by the Founders.” — David Codrea
DGU
52-year-old Dawson County, GA sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Randy Harkness gave a homeless man a courtesy ride to a Dawsonville gas station to help him out with a little money. Upon arrival, Harkness began to give the man some money when the man began to physically assault Harkness. A female bystander in a car witnessed the assault, got out of her car and fired her gun at the homeless man two or three times, striking him at least once and causing him to cease the assault and run away.
“When private citizens intervene, the average body count is 2.33 victims, but when the police intervene, the average body count is 14.29 victims…” — see “Considerations About Stopping Mass Shootings“
New Mexico
Shooting at Aztec High School in northwest New Mexico this week. Three students dead including the killer, and a dozen or so reported injured. Gun free zone.
You are on your own
Don’t be stupid about it.
Read the article on pages 3-5 of the one below, but be warned — it’s graphic. If you don’t like it, that’s the point — do something to prevent it from happening to your family.
From a person fleeing the California wildfire:
“The fire here in Ventura erupted suddenly, like an earthquake. There was scant warning. On extremely short notice, we were forced to evacuate from our home late Monday. As we departed, we could see a literal ‘wall of fire,’ from our driveway, huge flames advancing relentlessly like charging infantry. As we drove away, I was astonished to see clueless people parked on the side of the road, just watching motionlessly, mesmerized, indeed paralyzed, by the sight of advancing fire, as though it were some form of entertainment. A simultaneous power failure meant no traffic lights, no street lights, no ambient light except for the fire itself. (And perhaps no functional cell phone towers or phone lines. — JP) As I write this, fire continues to rage. A city wide emergency-curfew is (predictably) being ignored by looters and other criminals.”
Technology — Low and High
Did you know that apparently a .45 ACP spent casing can be used in an original Browning design 1911 pistol as a recoil spring plug? You know, for those times when you disassemble your pistol in the field and launch your plug into the weeds. It might help somewhat if the plugs and springs were magnetized.
The Williams, AZ, Police Department is midway through a 30-day pilot program testing Viridian gun mounted video cameras and the department is reportedly favorably impressed so far. Now they just need to attach a lawyer to the video output and have him talk in the officers’ ears during a shooting.
We have a report of a “proof of concept” which can unlock certain Bluetooth-enabled locking gun storage containers through the transmission of specially formatted Bluetooth messages. I DO NOT like any sort of electronic, electric, digital, or biometric gun locking device. I prefer old fashioned key locks, simplex pushbutton combination locks, or dial combination locks, period.
Savage 10ML-II Muzzleloaders
We have word of several reports and lawsuits concerning Savage Arms (Vista Outdoors) stainless steel 10ML-II muzzleloader rifle barrels (the ones designed to use smokeless powder as well as black) allegedly exploding, bursting, splitting or cracking. That model was apparently quietly discontinued in 2010, and there has been no recall.
Products
Remington now has detachable box magazine versions of its Model 870 shotguns. All will ship with a single 6-round magazine. 3- and 6-round magazines to be available. No word on an autoloader version.
Three models of Springfield Armory’s M1A (semiauto M14) rifle are now available chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.
Savage Arms is adding the .338 Federal to the MSR 10 Hunter rifle and the 6mm Creedmoor to the MSR 10 Long Range model.
CCI’s new VNT .17 HMR load (#959CC) features a 17 grain polymer-tipped Speer bullet at 2650 fps, which is about 100 fps faster than other 17 grain loads and the same as its polymer-tipped A17 “Varmint Tip” load (#949CC). In fact, I don’t yet see a difference between the VNT and the A17 other than possibly the bullet itself.
Hornady added three new loads to the Match line — a .300 Norma Magnum with a 225 grain ELD Match bullet (velocity not yet published), a .300 Win. Mag. load with a 195 grain ELD Match bullet at 2,930 fps, and a 6.5 PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge) load with a 147 Grain ELD Match bullet at 2,910 fps. Added to the Superformance line are a .223 Rem. load with a 73 grain ELD Match bullet at 2,930 fps and a 5.56 NATO load with a 73 grain ELD Match bullet at 2,910 fps.
Spike’s Tactical has a 37mm flare launcher called the Thumper, that is a full-weight replica of the M79 grenade launcher. It is reported to not be an NFA weapon and in fact not a firearm at all. $995, and it’s backordered.
Hi-Point has a new carbine in 10mm Auto. $390. But if you can afford 10mm ammo, you can probably afford a good gun.
The slide stop on Nighthawk’s Border Special 1911 (and presumably other variants) is reported to have a groove or notch cut into the back that contacts the spring-loaded plunger tube pin during assembly. The groove pushes or guides the pin back into the plunger tube, allowing the stop to be pushed straight into the gun, reducing the possibility of scratching the frame, otherwise a very common occurrence widely known as an “idiot mark.” This is one of the touches that make high-end custom guns different. The stops are $56.
Quote of the Week
“If you follow my statutes and faithfully observe my commands…. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand; your enemies will fall before you by the sword.” — Leviticus 26: 3, 7-8.
The Williams, AZ, Police Department is midway through a 30-day pilot program testing Viridian gun mounted video cameras and the department is reportedly favorably impressed so far. Now they just need to attach a lawyer to the video output and have him talk in the officers’ ears during a shooting.
We have a report of a “proof of concept” which can unlock certain Bluetooth-enabled locking gun storage containers through the transmission of specially formatted Bluetooth messages. I DO NOT like any sort of electronic, electric, digital, or biometric gun locking device. I prefer old fashioned key locks, simplex pushbutton combination locks, or dial combination locks, period.
Remington now has detachable box magazine versions of its Model 870 shotguns. All will ship with a single 6-round magazine. 3- and 6-round magazines to be available. No word on an autoloader version.
Three models of Springfield Armory’s M1A (semiauto M14) rifle are now available chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.
Savage Arms is adding the .338 Federal to the MSR 10 Hunter rifle and the 6mm Creedmoor to the MSR 10 Long Range model.
CCI’s new VNT .17 HMR load (#959CC) features a 17 grain polymer-tipped Speer bullet at 2650 fps, which is about 100 fps faster than other 17 grain loads and the same as its polymer-tipped A17 “Varmint Tip” load (#949CC). In fact, I don’t yet see a difference between the VNT and the A17 other than possibly the bullet itself.
Hornady added three new loads to the Match line — a .300 Norma Magnum with a 225 grain ELD Match bullet (velocity not yet published), a .300 Win. Mag. load with a 195 grain ELD Match bullet at 2,930 fps, and a 6.5 PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge) load with a 147 Grain ELD Match bullet at 2,910 fps. Added to the Superformance line are a .223 Rem. load with a 73 grain ELD Match bullet at 2,930 fps and a 5.56 NATO load with a 73 grain ELD Match bullet at 2,910 fps.
Spike’s Tactical has a 37mm flare launcher called the Thumper, that is a full-weight replica of the M79 grenade launcher. It is reported to not be an NFA weapon and in fact not a firearm at all. $995, and it’s backordered.
Hi-Point has a new carbine in 10mm Auto. $390. But if you can afford 10mm ammo, you can probably afford a good gun.
The slide stop on Nighthawk’s Border Special 1911 (and presumably other variants) is reported to have a groove or notch cut into the back that contacts the spring-loaded plunger tube pin during assembly. The groove pushes or guides the pin back into the plunger tube, allowing the stop to be pushed straight into the gun, reducing the possibility of scratching the frame, otherwise a very common occurrence widely known as an “idiot mark.” This is one of the touches that make high-end custom guns different. The stops are $56.
