SCOTUS and ACB
Action item
- Urge your U.S. Senators to vote “NO” on Biden’s anti-gun nominees. You can edit the text.
We note that U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), who serves on the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, expressed strong opposition to the confirmation of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but not because he’s anti-gun.
Litigation
Bump stock ban case update
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has moved to vacate the decision of a three-judge panel that ruled California’s ban on the acquisition and possession of ammunition magazines that can hold more than ten rounds violated the Second Amendment, granting a motion to rehear the case with an 11-judge en banc panel.
Vanessa L. Bryant, Senior United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut, sentenced an East Hartford man who admitted to federal agents that he had been using marijuana regularly while owning a gun, to three years’ probation under federal guidelines. Judge Bryant commented that marijuana will soon be legal and called his situation “tragic.”
A U.S. ICE agent who claims his holstered P320 pistol discharged without him pulling the trigger and struck him in his upper right hip is suing Sig Sauer for $10 million. The Sig Sauer P320 is a design nearly identical to the M17 and M18 Modular Handgun System adopted by the U.S. Army in 2017. Sig Sauer has previously been sued over alleged similar accidental discharges with the P320 and the company agreed to provide a free voluntary upgrade to anyone who purchased models of the firearm manufactured before Aug. 8, 2017. This lawsuit alleges the P320 has had at least 28 accidental discharge incidents among law enforcement officers, 15 of which have resulted in injuries.
Scalia’s screw-ups
Legislation
A couple of counties in Missouri have passed ordinances that nullify new federal controls within the county and stipulate that the sheriff can arrest federal agents attempting to enforce those gun controls inside county lines.
Interesting and hopeful. I’m curious whether such an arrest and conviction would cause the guilty federal agent to then be a “prohibited person” under federal law.
President Joe Biden announced that he plans to take immediate action via executive order to ban the sale of non serialized parts (so-called “80%” receivers) that can be converted to a firearm. I don’t know the details, but it ain’t gonna work.
Fudd fodder
NRA updates & countersuit
- NRA Shows their Petticoats, and the US Trustee Objects to Brewer
- NRA sues NY attorney general, says she wants to destroy her ‘political enemy’
About the media and mass killers
“It’s rare for white supremacists to commit mass public shootings – and in 72% of these murders the shooters have no obvious political views. By far the next largest group is Islamic extremists, at 10%. People identified as ‘right-wingers’ only make up 3%, and another 3% are conservative or Republicans. The same numbers are liberal, Democrat, left-wing, or black militant. While 58% of mass public shooters are white (excluding Middle Easterners), that is less than their share of the population (64.4%).” – John Lott
Enemies
A new “study” released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in conjunction with their anti-gun partners, the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, mostly whines about minority groups being greatly over-represented in the “victim” category of fatal shooting data. However, there were two relevant things apparently not considered or reported: (1) What portion of the data set are actual victims, and what part are actually criminals who were justifiably shot? (2) What about the perpetrators? How does their “minority” demographic data correlate?
Meanwhile the Gun Violence Archive, another gun ban group which is not to be believed, says that mass shootings jumped by 47% in 2020, setting a new record of 611 such events. Can you name even one of these?
Armed attack at a gun shop
This is notable because it’s so rare.
A man entered a Metarie, LA, gun shop with an unholstered, loaded gun and got into an argument with the store compliance officer who told him he should not have a loaded gun until he got inside the range portion of the facility. The man instead fired a warning round before fatally shooting the store employee. In the ensuing gunfight, seven employees and customers returned fire, killing the attacker. Two of the defenders were also killed, and two others were injured. Now the perp’s family is claiming he was murdered.
Magic bullets
“…it’s virtually impossible to tell the difference between gunshot wounds among the ‘major’ .38/.357/.40/.45 calibers.” – Perfect Self-Defense Ammo?
National Defense; Military
According to 2017 Pentagon data, 71% of Americans age 17-24 are ineligible to serve in the United States military. Put another way: Over 24 million of the 34 million people of that age group cannot join the armed forces. However, 52% of those ineligibles (with a variance due to exclusions for more than one reason) are precluded by reasons of physical fitness or education, both of which are mostly surmountable by re-institution of the draft and extended, appropriate basic training. Just do it.
Olin Winchester’s Oxford, MS plant has been awarded another Army ammo contract.
As of Oct. 1, active-duty Marines will be required to qualify with the new Annual Rifle Qualification, or ARQ, a modernized course of fire crafted to replace the current Annual Rifle Training, or ART, qualification course, which has been used since the early 1900s. “The current rate for expert is 65%, whereas with ARQ we are anticipating 6% to be experts.”
Oo-rah.
New shotgun record
You’re aware of Herb Parsons and Tom Knapp and their clay target records. Now, Raniero Testa, an Italian athlete sponsored by Winchester, has set a new world record of breaking 17 simultaneously hand-thrown clay targets in 2.08 seconds with 17 shots. So the next time a Fudd asks why you need a “high capacity” magazine…
1911 Day
John Browning’s 1911 Government Model pistol was patented on Feb. 14, 1911. Happy Valentine’s Day, which henceforth will be known as 1911 Day.
Winter storm info
FWIW, although the author claims 9000 watts will run most houses normally, my experts indicated that a 20,000 watt version will not run my whole all-electric house in the winter, and they wired it accordingly.
RVs
Thinking of buying an RV? Maybe don’t.
Industry news
MidwayUSA announces first non-family president & CEO.
Products
Browning has updated its classic, John-Browning-designed Semi-Auto 22, into the Limited Edition Semi-Auto 22 Challenge rifle. $940.
Rumor has it that resurrection of the Colt Anaconda is on CZ’s radar. Don’t forget the .45 Colt version!
5.11 Tactical has Women’s Defender-Flex Slim Pants. Tactical and stylish. On sale right now for cheap.
Ruger has an interesting belt magazine pouch for its .22 “Mark” pistol magazines.
SAAMI has announced the acceptance of three new standardized rifle and pistol cartridges:
- The .300 Norma Magnum with a MAP of 61,000 psi, with a 230-gr bullet at 2,890 fps.
- The .338 Norma Magnum with a MAP of 62,500 psi, with a 300-gr bullet at 2,670 fps.
- The .429 Desert Eagle with a MAP of 46,000 psi, with a 240-gr bullet at 1,720 fps.
In Closing…
I went on a vegan diet. I eat 3 a day.
