Housekeeping & reminder
Hi folks; my apologies for the missed newsletter last week. We had a hardware failure that kept me offline for several days. I have included herein last week’s content I was compiling, along with this week’s.
The reminder is that unless otherwise disclosed, I don’t make a cent or receive any free or discounted goods or services related to my reporting in this newsletter or website. I do all my promoting and criticizing for free.
MS AG opinion on municipal restrictions on carrying guns (.pdf document)
It looks like Democrat AG Hood really wants to be governor. Hood’s office has generally done a good job on these gun opinions, but occasionally releases a stinker (My opinion; I’m not a lawyer, but I can read the Constitution. — JP)
Unrelated opinion on MS municipalities’ use of gunbroker.com to sell surplus guns (.pdf document).
Why I don’t vote for Democrats, by Michael Smith
The Mississippi primary election is Tuesday — your first chance to vote against whomever.
“You do not examine legislation in light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.” — Lyndon B. Johnson
Litigation
Judges on the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit clearly do not understand (or illicitly ignore) the US Constitution. The court erroneously ruled that the firearms ban covering US Capitol grounds and its parking areas doesn’t violate due process or the Second Amendment.
The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a woman who is not a prohibited person cannot regain possession of the 12 guns (that she now owns) seized from her residence by police when her husband was undergoing a mental health crisis.
Also within the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction, California US District Judge Josephine Staton upheld California’s ban on many popular semi-auto firearms, saying “Because the Court concludes that semiautomatic assault rifles are essentially indistinguishable from M-16s, which Heller noted could be banned pursuant to longstanding prohibitions on dangerous and usual weapons, the Court need not reach the question of whether semiautomatic rifles are excluded from the Second Amendment because they are not in common use for lawful purposes like self-defense.” There seems to be an epidemic of Constitutional illiteracy, or just plain felonious treason among the federal courts these days. We also note that the only class of weapons clearly protected by the Second Amendment are those used by or useful for the military.
US District Court Judge Peter Sheridan has upheld New Jersey’s law banning magazines with a capacity of over 10 rounds, and dismissed a lawsuit filed by a gun rights group. The state claims that 10 rounds is enough for self-defense and that anything more could prove dangerous to bystanders. No word on what size magazines cops in NJ are allowed to have for self defense. Previously, the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia had declined to grant an injunction to stop the law from taking effect. Judge Sheridan based this week’s ruling on the 3rd Circuit’s clearly erroneous determination that the magazine ban “does not violate the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.” Sheridan also denied the plaintiff’s request to delay action on the law while the US Supreme Court decides a New York case that involves a restriction on the right to carry a firearm in public, writing that it poses a different legal question.
Federal judges
The US Senate confirmed 13 federal district court judicial nominees this week, bringing President Trump’s confirmed judge total to over 100.
ATF nominee
Kenneth Charles “Chuck” Canterbury, Jr., President Trump’s nominee for Director of the BATFE, testified in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, “I don’t support any further gun restrictions.” But we previously reported that his record conflicts with that position, and both Gun Owners of America and the National Association of Gun Rights have opposed his nomination.
More.
NRA board under fire
We hear that a “highly placed NRA exec” has been offered immunity by the New York Attorney General. Hmmm… immunity from what?
Several hampers of dirty laundry from John Richardson:
- The Response
- Does Anyone In Fairfax Believe In Due Diligence?
- The NRA’s Outside Counsel – Ethical And Billing Concerns
More on NRA’s outside counsel
Firearms News Investigates the NRA: Part 1
Jeff Knox with some good questions.
Board member Buz Mills says that he and fellow Board members have failed to provide the proper oversight and direction to staff and hired executives. Well, finally an honest man.
Board member Friedman on the defense. While Friedman was not an “F” on that list of Dell’Aquila grades of board members shared a few days ago (see link below) and there may be some merit to Friedman’s arguments, that doesn’t explain the mess we’re in.
NRA donor Dell’Aquila on the offense & grades of board members, and update (.pdf document).
Board Member Scott Bach’s opinion. Take it with salt. A lot of salt.
Three good Board members quit; five questions for remaining members. Troublemaker Board member Marion Hammer wrote in a text message to the media her reaction to the departing board members: “Don’t let the door hit you in the back on your way out.”
Normally, the next three people who were not elected in April would be appointed to fill those empty Board seats. The three would be Dave Butz, Adam Kraut, and Richard Figueroa. But we have a report that Adam Kraut has “said that he will not take a seat under the current circumstances,” which moves Paul Babaz, President of the Safari Club International, into the third spot.
We understand that NRA’s ill-advised Carry Guard insurance program has folded, while its shaky Carry Guard training component is apparently still active. For now. This does not apply to any other NRA-related gun training program.
NRA members’ action.
Want to make a donation to a gun group that won’t squander it, while the NRA is eventually forced to clean up its act?
Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s are participating in an NRA membership drive August 18 & 19. Sign up to be an NRA Member in-store and receive a $25 Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Gift Card. NRA Representatives will be in select stores. See store for details. I DO encourage every responsible gun owner to be an NRA member. You can’t fix it from the outside.
CCW “insurance”
We have learned that the Washington State Office of Insurance Commissioner (WOIC) has opened an investigation into the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network, LLC, (Network) alleging that it is selling self-defense insurance, even though its assistance to members who have had to defend themselves is not provided through insurance. In addition to investigating the Network and taking action against the NRA Carry Guard insurance program, the WOIC is also investigating other companies, including United States Concealed Carry Association and their captive insurance provider, Shield Indemnity, Firearms Legal Protection and US Law Shield/Texas Law Shield.
Terrorism
FBI director Christopher Wray told Congress last week that “a majority of the domestic-terrorism cases that we’ve investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white-supremacist violence, but it does include other things as well.”
Gilroy mass attack
Three people were killed and 18 others injured in a shooting attack last weekend at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California before police, who reportedly confronted the attacker in about one minute, killed the man, who was armed with a rifle which is banned in California. Police are searching for a possible accomplice. We have a report that it was a gun free zone: The festival was held in Christmas Hill Park where the possession of “pocketknives and weapons of any kind” are clearly prohibited; Also, the city of Gilroy’s “Park Rules and Regulations” unambiguously states that “guns, slingshots, or fireworks” are prohibited. But our report indicates that apparently the perpetrator was aware that festival attendees were subjected to metal-detecting wands and bag searches at the official entry, and therefore he cut-through a hastily-erected fence to enter. One minute. Lots of police present. 3 dead and 18 injured. Additional injuries were apparently caused by the panicked stampede of the crowd. Once again, the bad guy was stopped by good guys with guns.
The shooting brought out immediate renewed demands for additional national gun control by leftist politicians, even though California already has some of the strictest and most unconstitutional firearms laws in the nation, and the event occurred in an enforced gun-free zone. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (sic) ranks California first in the nation for having the strongest gun laws.
At least a couple of folks in the crowd were also in the crowd during the Las Vegas massacre. Clearly they aren’t capable of good judgement.
“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.” — William Burroughs, 1992
Purdue University: “Run, hide, fight” is wrong.
A new study indicates that the “hide” advice widely disseminated by police and the federal Department of Homeland Security as “run, hide, fight” during a massacre — run if you can, hide if you can’t, fight the gunman as a last resort, is wrong.
If someone is literally shooting down everyone in sight, innocent people will probably keep dying until someone shoots him repeatedly until he is down and out of action. That simple, that quick, period. No warning, no hesitation, no fair fight. Just shoot until he’s done.
Also Purdue University: During a home invasion, the larger the magazine capacity the homeowner possessed, the greater the chance of his survival.
Reminder of “Active Shooter” statistics
…Only 7% of victims had potentially survivable wounds…
89% of mass shootings between 1998 and June 2019 occurred in gun-free zones.
Local news item on armed church security
Bogus “official” advice
This week we once again had a local police chief offering the following advice relative to “active shooter” situations:
“In a worst case scenario, you may have to fight the active shooter. In that case, anything within your grasp becomes a weapon. Whether it’s an ink pen or a set of keys or a cellphone. Anything that you have in your hands to attack someone that is trying to kill you, and that’s ultimately what it is, survival.”
While that’s technically true, in context it’s bad advice. It is offensive and insulting. Is the chief saying that if someone comes in his police department shooting the place up, he’s going to hide under his desk and only if necessary come out throwing a phone at the perp? No? Then why is he telling you to prepare to do something so ineffective? If the advice precedes the event, then it should be steered toward preparing to do what works, not what you may be left with if unprepared. He’s literally telling you to prepare to die. I’m telling you to prepare to survive. It’s your life. You choose.
Justice
Last week, US Attorney General William Barr reinstated the federal death penalty, which was abandoned 20 years ago even though expressly authorized by federal law, and immediately scheduled executions for five federal death row inmates convicted of murdering children and the elderly, while promising more to come. The US government has executed only three criminals since legally restoring the federal death penalty in 1988.
We last reported back in 2016 on the two perpetrators of the 1998 massacre at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas, who were released from prison on their 21st birthdays. We now have word that one of them (the one who later applied for a gun permit) has died in a car crash.
Enemies
Former CBS talking head Dan Rather somehow got himself on CNN two Sundays ago, where he said that liars should be called out as liars. OK, Dimwit Dan: You’re a liar. But I repeat myself.
CNN Shields Democrat Presidential Candidates From Going On Record On Gun Control
Private Baptist college Baylor University in Waco, TX, has lost its religion:
- Baylor University funds program promoting social justice and anti-gun rights among preteens
- Baylor University Funds Program Pushing Gun Control Agenda
These nuns need to be nones.
Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse in San Antonio, Texas, asked a San Antonio police officer, in “soft” uniform, to leave because he was carrying a gun. After learning that Texas law states that establishments can’t deny service to an officer or special investigator who is carrying a weapon on the premises, as long as they are authorized to carry the weapon, the restaurant apologized, but indications are that it still bans armed citizens.
The New Yorker says that the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, which recognized the Second Amendment’s protection of a civilian’s right to keep a firearm unconnected to a “well regulated” militia, was “deranged.”
Meanwhile over at The New York Times was this gem: “Even though military-style weapons are used in few shootings, they have proven to be the deadliest, and the most visible targets for legislation.”
“All of the shooters in America have been White males. White terrorists. The end. Back round (sic) checks should be mandatory.” — celebritwit Rosanna Arquette
“I have no problem with the 2nd Amendment, you have a right to bear arms but not weapons of (extremely offensive expletive deleted) mass destruction.” — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), speaking about semiauto AK-47 style rifles
Mr. Obama’s own bio says he was born in Kenya.
Reminder of 10 anti-hunting organizations
The Only Ones
Sources have confirmed that Baltimore, MD, Police Deputy Commissioner Danny Murphy and his wife were robbed at gunpoint while they were out in the city’s southeast area around 9 p.m. two weeks ago. Further reports indicate that Murphy is a civilian employee who doesn’t carry a gun or badge. I have another word for that.
Dozens of convicted criminals have been hired as cops in Alaska communities. Often, they are the only applicants. In Stebbins, every cop has a criminal record, including the chief.
An unidentified Greenville County, SC, Sheriff’s Deputy responding to what turned out to be a false cell phone medical emergency alarm at midnight, shot a homeowner through a window inside his own home and then apparently lied about the event, saying the victim opened the door and pointed a gun at him. Neither man has been charged with a crime.
An unidentified Arlington, TX, police officer shot and killed a woman while firing at her dog. The officer was responding to a call about the unconscious woman when her dog charged him. Woman dead; dog alive; officer unidentified.
Update on a Houston case apparently involving rogue murderous police officers and a cover-up by the department.
UK
In other news, we have a report that “knife crime” has hit a new record high in England and Wales, which pretty much ban all guns. Don’t worry — they’re doing knife bans too.
Meanwhile, London’s raging wave of violent crime shows no signs of abatement. Three men were hospitalized following a drive-by shooting last month.
Alabama permits
We have word that Alabama FFLs can no longer accept the state’s Concealed Carry Permit (CCP) as an exemption for a federal NICS check for a firearm sale. It seems the state CCP issuers are at fault.
The Jackson, ALABAMA, Police Department will be offering Women with Guns self-defense classes on Tuesday, Aug. 13 and Thursday, Aug. 15, from 5 until 8 p.m. To participate, submit your name and phone number to register for the course by calling (251) 246-4484. The course is $20. Bring ammo for the training at the firing range.
Chicago
Two members of the anti-gun violence group Mothers Against Senseless Killings who campaigned against Chicago’s shooting problem have themselves been shot and killed on a street corner where activists frequently stood to keep watch. Here’s the thing: “keeping watch” doesn’t prevent or stop bullets. (There were 48 people shot and six others killed in Chicago the same weekend. Chicago is reportedly “bracing for an increase in shootings” beginning this weekend.)
New York
New York state has banned the manufacture, sale or possession of 3D-printed guns and other types of undetectable firearms and has imposed new rules for the “safe” storage of firearms in homes with children, among other new gun laws.
Secret Service guns
The US Secret Service is moving to issue Glock 9mm pistols to replace the agency’s existing Sig Sauer .357 SIG duty weapons. The new guns will reportedly be the Glock 19 MOS Gen 5 for agents, while tactical teams will use the Glock G47 MOS Gen 5 and G26 Gen 5, matching the previously announced $85 million contract awarded by the US Customs and Border Protection.
The FBI, the Department of Diplomatic Security Services, CBP, and numerous big city police departments, including the NYPD, the LAPD and the Chicago Police Department all have already switched back to the 9mm.
Gun Black Boxes
Justifire, a Georgia-based “gun appliance manufacturer” has received a patent for a device described as a “black box” for your gun, which records visual, auditory, and other data for “events requiring lethal force.” They are “seeking additional funding to continue development.”
John Farnam on triggers, and on personal defense weapons. Pay special attention to binary triggers.
Handgun stopping power. Old but good.
How to drop your pistol
Breaking news: Criminals break laws.
Gun “study” stats for geeks.
You’re On Your Own. Law study for geeks (.pdf document).
“In general, a defendant’s mere failure to act does not give rise to liability for a due process violation.”
Gun laws and resources, state-by-state
All about Lyme disease
My notes:
- Lyme is in EVERY US state; the ticks are in 43 states. We have LOTS of them in Mississippi.
- Don’t believe that eucalyptus oil is as effective as real chemicals. Use both DEET (skin) and permethrin/pyrethrin (clothing).
Another tick warning.
Mississippi Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks loses its identity…
…Takes its ball and goes home. Scared, I guess.
Primos Hunting has also decided not to participate in this year’s Mississippi Wildlife Extravaganza, in “support of the people of the Mississippi lower Delta.” Other, minor hunting companies have also sat out.
Charlie Daniels educates
“A lot of you are sitting there wondering how we got from liberal politics to near starvation in a few paragraphs.”
Obit
Mrs. Janelle Cooper, widow of Gunsite founder Jeff Cooper, has passed away at the age of 99.
Industry news
Savage Arms, which was just acquired by a group of private investors headed by Savage CEO and President Al Kasper, is apparently already trying to expand through additional acquisitions of similar companies with the need for Savage’s manufacturing capabilities.
Products
I purchased a Maxpedition Large Excelsa (FRMLCKL) folding knife several months ago and have been carrying and using it on a daily basis ever since. I have been completely satisfied. It is built like a bank vault, works well and hard, and I have zero complaints about this awesome knife. It retails for around $130 or so (there is a a smaller version, the FRMLCKS, a bit cheaper) and is worth every penny. But right now, they’re on closeout sale for $76 & $65 at the Maxpedition website. Get one. Get two. You won’t be sorry.
Stephen Hunter’s latest Bob Lee Swagger novel, “Game of Snipers,” is out. It’s on my list. Hunter is scheduled to be on Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Radio this Sunday.
Starline Brass has been asked by the trademark holder to cease using the name .50 Beowulf® on cartridge cases, so now the cases (Part #3055) will be headstamped as 12.7x42mm.
FN America, LLC has announced a variation of its FN 509 Midsize MRD 9mm pistol that accepts red dot sights, similar to the FN 509 Tactical. It includes the FN Low Profile Optics Mounting System with plate adapters to directly mount more than 10 different optics. We note that there may not be 10 different optics that can stand up to serious use on a combat pistol slide.
Dan Wesson now has a lightweight 1911 Tactical Compact Pistol (TCP) in .45 AND 9mm.
Ruger’s Super GP 100 is a weird beefed-up .357 competition revolver with a Redhawk action. 8 shots, cut for moon clips. $1549.
Ruger also has some new AR-556 pistols.
We recently reported on the new SIG Sauer P320 XFIVE Legion competition pistol with the TXG grip module which is made of tungsten-infused polymer, resulting in a polymer frame that weighs the same as a steel one. Now, that grip module is available for purchase separately.
Nighthawk Custom’s Counselor is a 9mm, 3.5″ barrel, 1911 Officer’s-sized gun with an aluminum frame, MSH and grip safety. It also has a bobbed-concealment beavertail and hammer, “positive” forward slide serrations (They protrude out from the slide instead of having grooves milled into the slide.), extra-thin grips and a flush-fit magwell. Only $3800.
LaserMax has a new rail-mounted GripSense handgun laser sight (red or green) which senses the user’s grip on the handgun via some sort of motion detector and activates the sight. There is also a push button activation switch. The sight is programmable for steady or high-vis pulsed beam, and has an external battery access hatch requiring no tools. $149-199.
Part of Winchester Ammunition’s WWII Victory Series commemorative ammo line is a 12 gauge, 00 buckshot load in a 2-3/4″ full-length brass case M19 shotshell, just like the original (but with a commemorative headstamp). Cool. (Winchester also made paper-cased buckshot shells for WWII military use.)
IWI’s new Masada pistol is a 9mm polymer-framed, striker-fired, blah blah blah…. $549 at grabagun.com.
Beretta’s “new” 92X family of pistols has a standard Vertec profile frame with new wraparound grips and standard dovetailed front sights. Full-, mid- and compact versions available.
Proven Arms & Outfitters is getting a very limited number of the few remaining M17 Commemoratives in SIG’s inventory. You can pre-order now. $1122 when it ships.
CS-USA has a new CZ 527 American Synthetic Suppressor-Ready rifle. $700-ish.
Springfield Armory’s new M1A™ Tanker rifle is basically their SOCOM 16 with a vintage walnut stock. $1987.
Speer’s new Impact component bullets
MidwayUSA has Tapco composite 30-round AR magazines on sale for just $7.24.
“Turns out the California county with the most concealed carry licenses has a lower homicide rate than LA County, where it’s easier to win an Oscar than get a CHL.” — Cam Edwards @CamEdwards
“A gun is like a parachute. If you need one, and don’t have one, you’ll probably never need one again.” — unknown
