This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Guns

  • Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun; a book review

    I’ve owned guns since my father bought me a 20 gauge shotgun for my 14th birthday. I still have that old single shot Ithaca. But the first time I fired a handgun wasn’t until I was in the Army, and of course, that handgun was a 1911, so it was pretty much all I knew. I’ve owned two Combat Commanders and spent some time on the XVIIIth Airborne Corps Pistol team. So when I moved to West Virginia a couple of years ago, and I could own a handgun again, I went down to the local gun store and picked up another 1911 so I could shoot at the range with my new friend, a DoP guard at one of the federal prisons in the area.

    He had a Glock 36, a compact 5+1 .45 caliber. It was the weapon that he carried on duty and off-duty for personal protection. The first time we went to the range, he let me fire it, and it was a sweet gun. It was light and it seemed to go straight to the target every time I pointed it in that direction. Recoil was a little more than the 1911, but it returned to the target quickly and I was impressed with it. So I went out and got the Glock 30, a 10+1 .45 with a barrel under 4″ so I could carry it concealed, not like the bulky 1911. It quickly became my favorite of the two guns, because of it’s design, ease of shooting, and it’s magazine capacity.

    A few days ago, the Crown Publishing Company emailed that they wanted me to review their new book, “Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun“, written by Paul Barret, so I jumped at the opportunity. Big mistake. I got the 300 page book last night and I couldn’t put it down and I read the whole thing in one sitting.
    (more…)

  • Oliver North and Wayne LaPierre at CPAC

    I met Oliver North briefly one evening a few weeks after 9-11-01 and I’ve always been a fan. The good folks at the NRA sent us his address to CPAC during which he does what he does best and most often – honoring the troops;

    Being the NRA, they also sent the video of the NRA’s CEO and Executive Vice President, Wayne LaPierre, TSO’s former boss, who says that when Barack Obama is defeated in November, he’ll have gun owners to thank for it;

    He goes on to say that the Obama Administration made a conscious decision to avoid the gun issue during his first term, looking forward to his second term to address the divisive issue. I honestly don’t doubt that because the Giffords shooting was the perfect opportunity for them to begin restricting our rights to gun ownership, but they passed on it for the time being. Voting for Obama in 2012 is voting for gun control.

    LaPierre also lays out the case against the Obama Administration in regards to the Fast and Furious operation for people who haven’t been seriously following it thus far.

  • That irrational fear of veterans

    Joe Momma sent us a link yesterday that sounded too unbelievable to be true, so I had to do some more research, but apparently it is true. According to court documents. Army reservist, employed at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and living in DC, Matthew Corrigan, thought he was calling a veteran support number because he’d been unable to sleep for several nights. Turns out that he called a national suicide hotline instead. After he admitted to the counselor that he is a veteran and owns firearms, he turned off his phone and went to sleep.

    He was awakened at about 4am by someone calling his name through a bullhorn. When he turned on his phone, he found that the police, accompanied by a SWAT Team, were calling him on it telling him to come out of his home. When he did, they cuffed and stuffed him.

    He wouldn’t let the police search his house, so they broke down his door, which he had locked behind him when he came outside and searched anyway. One officer was reported to say, when Corrigan denied his permission for a search; “I don’t have time to play this constitutional bullshit”. Yeah, because it’s involving one of those dangerous, armed veterans, and they don’t deserve the constitutional rights the officer would have afforded a gang banger.

    The police found three firearms, a rifle and two handguns. I’m pretty sure the handguns were illegal in the District without reporting and registering them. And that’s probably why he’s facing charges for that evening, after nearly three weeks in police custody after the incident.

    There’s more to the story, that you’ll have to read at the link. The only reportage I can find on this story is in gun rights blogs and blogs from the right side of the spectrum. So it doesn’t really register on those Liberals’ WTFmeter.

    I’m pretty sure he shouldn’t have owned two handguns in the District, but apparently no one would have known about the guns if he hadn’t admitted it to the counselor, who I guess told the police. Not inspiring confidence in suicide hotline counselors here.

    But, I wonder how many SWAT members show up at every investigation of a potential suicide situation. It seems to me that if they’d got Corrigan to the door and found him in a single piece and not suicidal, they would have left him alone, if they hadn’t also known he was a veteran and had firearms.

  • Yup, you need one

    It’s a .950 cal. rifle with a 2800 grain bullet (a grain is 1/1000th of an ounce) that travels at 2100 ft/sec.

    I guess if you have stegosauruses tearing up your garden and molesting your dog, you’ll need one. Found at Ace of Spades.

  • “Emily Gets Her Gun” testifies

    If you didn’t see my original link on the series, Emily Miller of the Washington Times has documented her experience while trying to obtain a legal gun with which to protect herself as a resident of the District of Columbia, which has been forced by the Supreme Court to allow legal handgun ownership. Miller recently testified to the Judicial Committee of the District and recorded her testimony in her column;

    Which brings me to the astronomical cost of registering a gun in DC. On top of Sykes’s fees, I paid $225 for the class. $35 for range fees and ammunition. The passport photos cost $20. Then I paid the city $35 for fingerprints, $13 for gun registration and $12 for a ballistics test.

    So I have spent a total of $465 in fees. And that doesn’t include the cost of the gun!

    I had no idea registering a gun would be this expensive.

    It’s especially expensive when you consider that the only state fees you incur in West Virginia is the sales tax on the gun. I think the gun safety class I took for my CCW license was $75 and the license itself was $100 because I opted for the laminated one with my picture on it which was an extra $25.

    But, back to DC. There are thousands of unregistered and uninsured automobiles in the District because they’ve made it so expensive to maintain a vehicle there. The practice has apparently seeped into the gun owning process, too. There are so many illegal guns in the District precisely because the government wants to limit LEGAL GUN OWNERSHIP – a self fulfilling prophecy.

    Thanks to ROS for the link.

  • Are “Doomsday Preppers” Just Paranoid Nuts?

    So The National Geographic Channel is about to premiere Doomsday Preppers to the world.

    Long a rather quiet subculture it will be fascinating to see what kind of attention this exposure will bring.

    I should note here that I have been a survivalist (the OLD name) for quite some time. If some television producer asked ME to participate in a national TV show about the subject I’d be more interested in how he got my name? I sure as hell wouldn’t volunteer just to be on TV.

    Candidly, I’m skeptical (and paranoid?).  As Jonn noted in part  vets are suspect in some circles… but I’ll posit that that suspicion is based on many of the same elements that CAN be used to paint preppers.  Know what to do when The Shit Hits the Fan? Don’t need to rely on The Government?

    Like any group preppers will include some nuts. I’ve met a few, but by and large they are simply the sort of person who plans ahead and practice ‘just in case’.

  • Don’t rob the Waffle House

    That should be the first rule in every potential thief’s handbook. Those Old Boy patrons are serious about their waffles;

    Two masked men had entered the restaurant with the intention of robbing it, and at least one of them was armed, authorities said.

    A customer, who is a concealed weapons permit holder, thwarted the robbery by pulling his gun and attempting to hold the men until deputies arrived. When one of the men pointed his gun at the customer, the patron fired, killing the teenager.

    The teenager, later identified as Dante Lamont Williams, of 827 S. Edisto River Drive, Roebuck, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a written statement from Coroner Rusty Clevenger. Williams had been shot in the head and chest.

    Sheriff Chuck Wright said he does not plan to charge the customer, who he says is “very upset” about the shooting.

    The thief wouldn’t have been “very upset” if he’d got the first round off, I’m sure.

    And if someone with a CCW license pulls his gun out, you have to figure that he has had more training than a common thief so Little Billy Bad Ass was outgunned from the get-go.

    Thanks to UpNorth for the link.

  • Interesting Take on Gun Laws – No More Than Three?

    Don’t Panic YET! The story is from Australia.

    Three guns and no more, say Greens

    THE NSW Greens hope to reduce gun numbers in the state with new legislation it is putting before parliament.

    “It is simply wrong that individuals can accumulate an unlimited number of deadly weapons with next to no scrutiny,” says Greens MP and firearms spokesman David Shoebridge.

    Under the legislation, registered holders would be limited to a maximum of three guns.

    It follows a spike in gun theft, gun ownership and gun crime in NSW.

    “Less guns in society mean less opportunities for gun crime,” Dr Shoebridge said in a statement.

    Just the usual drivel on the surface, it seems, but I’m trying to grasp the rationale here?

    I don’t live in New South Wales. And I haven’t explored the background of the story either, I’m simply puzzled by the concept.

    Is it “the toe in the door” for further gun control? If they are successful down under could we see something similar here? Our Second Amendment only guarantees the Right to keep and bear arms. No mention of a number.

    Not really on topic, but the notion does raise an Exit question: If you could only have three, what would they be?