The Firearms Blogs has an interesting video on reloading your own primers, using the ignition compound from matches.
Month: May 2009
Gambling: It’s for the Children
Speaking from Summerdale, Cumberland County, yesterday, Rendell urged the young’uns to mount a Children’s Crusade by signing an online petition supporting the legalization of tens of thousands of video poker terminals to raise roughly $500 million for higher education grants.
Read the whole thing. I’m wholly in agreement with Rendell on the liberalization of the state’s gambling laws, but I think it’s odd to employ children in the promotion of it. Lame duck Ed is a lot more interesting than needs to win an election Ed. I will say that. Perhaps next Rendell can tell kids to convince their parents to drink more in order to bring in even more money the state can use for education.
Gun Intimates
Guns and Hunting has some industry trends I think we need to see more of. It’s one kind of gun that’s not likely to show up on this.
A Tale of Two Statements
A few weeks ago, in regards to Harrisburg’s recently passed Lost and Stolen ordinance, Linda Thompson, Harrisburg Council president stated to our favorite Inquirer columnist, Monica Yant Kinney:
Thompson doesn’t believe a lost-and-stolen law will halt gun trafficking, but it’s a worthy first step.
On Monday, responding to an NRA lawsuit against Harrisburg’s ordinance, she stated:
“I’m not threatened by the NRA,” said City Council President Linda Thompson. “I want the NRA to know I support our law-abiding gun owners, but they’ve got to get off the special interest state of mind. This is about human interest.”
How, in that instance, is the Lost and Stolen law not a “special interest?” She freely admits it will not stop illegal gun trafficking. So who does she presume it will affect? If you guessed the law abiding, you would be correct. Who is behind this rash of ordinances breaking out all over the Commonwealth? If you guessed CeaseFire PA, you would be correct. Does CeaseFire PA escape “special interest” status, or are the a “human interest?”
You see, it’s already a crime to transfer a handgun in this Commonwealth without processing through an FFL or the police. But we’re told now that even lowering the state’s burden down to that isn’t good enough. Now we want to be able to throw people in jail because the state thinks (but can’t prove) they are liars, when they inform the police they had a gun stolen. And opposing that, according to Councilwoman Thompson is a “special interest,” rather than a “human interest.” Forgive me if I don’t get the distinction.
New Jersey Dead Last in NICS Stats
Cemetery is reporting that New Jersey is dead last in NICS checks. Sales there are still up by over 30%, but with one of the lowest rates of (legal) gun ownership in the country, New Jersey’s just not a big enough slice of the pie to compete with other states. Pennsylvania is selling an order of magnitude more guns per person. Onerous restrictions in NJ are also going to put a lid on demand. Many folks who have applied for permit to purchases or FIDs after Novermber 4th are no doubt still waiting for them, and will wait for more than a year in many cases. This despite the fact that the law calls for a 90 30 day issuance. Obeying the gun laws over there is mandatory for the citizen, with multi-year mandatory jail sentences for forgetting some obscure detail, but optional for the police.  All in the name of public safety, you know.
The People’s Car
Specter Way Ahead of Toomey in Polling
Capitol Ideas is reporting that Specter beats Pat Toomey 53-33 percent in the general, but Tom Ridge matches up with Specter at 46 percent and Ridge at 43 percent. Like I’ve said before, incumbents have a sky high reelection rate, which is why it makes sense for NRA to endorse Specter if he holds his position on the Second Amendment and keeps voting that way.
As much as I would like to see Pat Toomey off Sarlen Arlen in the 2010 election, it’s not likely to happen. I think Toomey could improve his polling numbers if he plays his politics right for Pennsylvania, but if Ridge throws his hat into the primary, he’s going to have to run to the right of Ridge (how’s that for alliteration?). I think Toomey’s fortunes depend on him avoiding a rough primary, and even if he manages that, he has an uphill fight.
Of course, it’s not out of the question that Specter will face a stiff primary challenge from the left as well, so I’d be hard pressed to suggest this race is over before it starts. Time will tell.
Pirate Weaponry
The Firearms Blog looks at some of the firearms captured from Somali pirates. No doubt these all must have come from American gun shows. Paul Helmke says so, so it must be true!
NY Daily News Smear Job
Apparently the New York Daily News doesn’t like the fact that the NRA is presenting Sarah Palin with an Alaska themed AR-15:
The all-white “Alaskan Hunter” – fashionable until Labor Day – is the civilian version of a modified M-4 rifle carried by U.S. troops overseas.
No hint of condescension there at all.
It’s engraved with Palin’s name and adorned with a map of the state on the collapsible stock – made legal after the expiration of the assault weapons ban in 2004. The Big Dipper from the state flag is etched on the magazine well behind a vented barrel guard.
The rifle is chambered in .50-caliber “Beowulf.” It’s the same caliber used by heavy machine guns, which can take down big game, and in war zones “can disable both motor vehicles and assailants with body armor,” according to ammo manufacturer Alexander Arms’ Web site.
The .50 Beowulf is not used by any heavy machine gun. That’s the .50 BMG you twits. The .50 Beowulf can indeed take down big game. It would be a pretty good hunting round, in fact, for large game, like you would find in Alaska. And yes, like any centerfire rifle cartridge, it will penetrate soft body armor.
One wonders whether the New York Daily news would get their panties in a twist over this cartridge too, which, aside from being over 100 years old, has similar ballistic qualities to the .50 Beowulf, and would also zip through soft body armor, ballistic glass, and would easily disable vehicles. Let’s also not forget this armor piercing high-tech cartridge of death that preceded it. They must have really had it in for cops in the mid 19th century, let me tell you.
The fact that NRA offered to present this to Governor Palin, and she accepted, speaks highly of her Second Amendment bonifides. Surely she knew what the media reaction in places like New York were going to be.
GSSF Knoxville Shoot
Looks like Uncle is starting to get into competition, namely Glock Shooting Sports Foundation matches. I’ve thought it would be neat to do GSSF events at our club, but there are already clubs with larger facilities in the area doing them, plus, I’m not sure if some of our club rules would present a problem.
But it does look like the kind of match you could run at pretty much any club. If I recall, Central Jersey runs Glock matches. But to do that, I’d have to ignore the advice of several lawyers who have advised against taking guns into New Jersey. Guns are illegal in New Jersey, you see. It’s only through exceptions in the law that you can possess one. Fall outside that exception, which is easy with a pistol, and you’re an instant felon. As much as I’d like to compete in some of CJRPC’s matches, their laws are designed to put people like me in prison for minor slip-ups. No thanks. I’ll stay on this side of the river. Folks in Tennessee have it better.