Year: 2008
Brady Campaign Mirepresents FOID in Illinois
Thirdpower reports some problems with how the Brady Campaign is representing the Illinois FOID card. The gun control crowd would be happy to pass licensing in other states, and will tell you it’s a “reasonable measure” and is “common sense.” Illinois already has it, but apparently it’s not enough. Is it any wonder we think the goal is just to make owning a gun so difficult that no one bothers? Then, it’ll be “common sense” and “reasonable” to just ban them altogether.
Where do I sign up?
Mixing explosives, blowing things up, and precision shooting, all in one place? I would love to go to Joe’s gun blogger day at Boomershoot, but it’ll hinge on the employment situation, which looking into April of 2009 might be a bit untenable if the company I work for runs out of money.
Range First Aid
Accidents involving firearms on shooting ranges are rare, but The Arizona Rifleman has some tips just in case. Most accidents don’t involve someone getting shot, but you might remember my friend Jason had his M950 blow up on him once. It’s not common, but it does happen. The worst injury I’ve ever gotten on the range was putting a staple through my finger tacking a target up to the cardboard target holder.
Banning Sport Shooting
Mayor Miller of Toronto thinks it’s an idea who’s time has come. But you know, we’re just a bunch of paranoid gun nuts. What do we know about slippery slopes?
Quote of the Day
“On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.”
To be fair to Barack Obama, it’s the kind of mistake any politician could make, but it’s an amusing screw-up nonetheless. After reading about this gaffe, and others, in more detail, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s just a stupid politician.
More Controversey over The 5.56x45mm
AP article on the ineffectiveness of the M855 round.
Dr. Martin Fackler, a former combat surgeon and a leading authority on bullet injuries, said the problem is the gun, not the bullet. The M4 rifle has a 14.5 inch barrel — too short to create the velocity needed for an M855 bullet to do maximum damage to the body.
My understanding is that the 5.56×45 needs to be doing over 2800 fps to do serious tissue damage, which it achieves being fired out of an M16, but not an M4.
Rules of war limit the type of ammunition conventional military units can shoot. The Hague Convention of 1899 bars hollow point bullets that expand in the body and cause injuries that someone is less likely to survive. The United States was not a party to that agreement. Yet, as most countries do, it adheres to the treaty, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
I would argue if our adversaries can behead people, we can use effective ammunition. To me, this is the real problem. With the right kind of ammo, I think the M4 would be much more effective than it is with M855.
“One of the things I’ve discovered in guns is that damned near everyone is an expert,” he says. “And they all have opinions.”
No doubt.
Republicans Running Serious Against McCarthy?
According to Jacob, it looks like the New York GOP mean to front a serious challenger against anti-gun Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, architect of HR1022, a sweeping semi-automatic ban, and expert on barrel shrouds. I wish they would have done this in a year where it the Republican brand wasn’t smelling like a truck full of used diapers.
Castro Warming Up to Obama
Another Gun Blog has the quote. Seems Castro is worried if he says too many good things about Obama, he’ll help McCain. That’s probably true.
Michael Bane’s NFA Rant
Michael Bane argues that the regulations applied to short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns, and suppressors, are worse than stupid. I couldn’t agree more. Even most European countries don’t regulate suppressors, and regulating barrel lengths has never made much sense. Suppressors particularly, with more and more shooting ranges under threat from noise ordinances, would be particularly useful for ranges in keeping friendly relations with neighbors. But suppressors aren’t common in the US like they are in Europe, because of their excessive regulation in this country.
I think it’s politically feasible to create a movement against these aspects of the National Firearms Act, but if Obama ends up in the White House, we’ll be two decades just undoing that damage, if we ever manage at all. If gun owners don’t win elections, we don’t win. Michael also isn’t too happy about the candidacy of Bob Barr on the Libertarian ticket. I agree with him that it’s no time for a feel good vote. If Governor Richardson had gotten the nod, I might feel better about telling the GOP to go to hell, but the idea of an Obama presidency scares the ever living crap out of me.