The Firearm Blog has a detailed photoblog showing how craftsman with minimal technology can manufacture some very good firearms where commercial sources aren’t as common or are unaffordable. But gun control can work, just ask our opponents.
Month: July 2012
Ammunition Bill Details
Can be found at NJ Today, in what sounds more like a joint press release from the gun control groups than actual reporting:
- It requires anyone selling ammunition to be a licensed dealer.
- It requires ammunition buyers who are not licensed dealers to present photo identification at the time of purchase, effectively banning the online or mail order purchase of ammo by regular civilians.
- It requires licensed ammunition dealers to maintain records of the sale of ammunition.
- It requires licensed ammunition dealers to report the sale of more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition to an unlicensed person within any five consecutive business days.
My answer to our opponents on this bill is hell no. We will fight this tooth and nail. We must ensure this bill goes absolutely nowhere.
Why the CNC 1911 Isn’t Finished, or Rebuilding a DeLorean Engine.
The CNC 1911 I’ve been working on currently looks like this …
… which is pretty much how it looked four months ago. It still needs a fair bit of machining in order to get all the parts to fit. The problem is what little time I have for hobbies has been taking up by other things. First I decided to paint my basement, and before that got finished, I discovered my car had a head gasket leak.
Unfortunately, because of the type of engine, its age, and high mileage, it makes more sense to do an engine swap or full rebuild than to just replace the head gaskets. The main problem is that the engine has paper seals at the bottom of the cylinder liners, and there is a good change they will break when you remove the cylinder heads, which you may not know until you put everything back together and run the engine. If they break, to replace them, you have to pull the engine and remove the pistons. If you’re going that far you might as well do a full rebuild.
Continue reading “Why the CNC 1911 Isn’t Finished, or Rebuilding a DeLorean Engine.”
Maryland Appealing Stay
Maryland is appealing to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse Judge Legg’s ruling lifting the stay, and put it back in place, meaning Maryland would not have to issue permits until the final resolution of this case.
What Does Anonymous Actually Mean?
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. – Inigo Montoya
Two Democratic lawmakers on Monday will announce new legislation to regulate the online and mail-order sale of ammunition. …
“The shooter who killed 12 and injured 58 in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater this month had purchased over 6,000 rounds of ammunition anonymously on the Internet shortly before going on his killing spree, according to law enforcement officials,†the statement [from Sen. Lautenberg and Rep. McCarthy] reads. …
Lautenberg and McCarthy, who will unveil their new proposal at New York’s City Hall say they intend to “make it harder for criminals to anonymously stockpile ammunition through the Internet.â€
I have a big problem with this proposal before I’ve even read the exact language simply because of the statement. Think about how you purchase anything online. You have to enter a name and address to have it shipped somewhere. You have to enter a name that matches an address and credit card number in order to pay for it. In other words, there’s very little that’s truly anonymous online when it comes to ordering products from actual businesses.
However, there’s nothing unlawful about walking into a gun shop with cash and buying ammunition. That is truly anonymous. There’s no name, no address, and nothing that needs to process through a bank that is connected to the buyer. It’s straight up cash and carry from a traditional and highly regulated brick-and-motar gun shop.
So, if Lautenberg & McCarthy are truly disturbed by anonymous ammunition sales, why are they complaining about online transactions? It’s just one more piece of evidence that there’s nothing serious about their so-called effort to reduce gun violence. It’s simply about control – gun control.
Scalia on Gun Control
Starts at about the 6:50 mark. Good interview though:
I now stand by the fact that I wouldn’t read anything into this. The media is going crazy. The left is saying that Scalia is supporting a right to rocket launchers, and the right is saying he clearly believes we can restrict AR-15s and magazines. I think Justice Scalia is saying no such thing. He is saying it will have to be decided. This is simply fact. There are no tea leaves to be read here.
Should We Preemptively Break Out the Fail Whale for the Brady Campaign?
I noticed on the Brady Campaign Facebook page that they are going to protest for stricter gun laws tomorrow:
WHITE HOUSE DEMONSTRATION MONDAY, JULY 30 – 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
A group of concerned citizens will lead a peaceful demonstration across from the White House on Monday, July 30, 2012 from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Organizers believe America is better than this and they want improved gun legislation to prevent mass murders like the Aurora tragedy.
I applaud the Brady Campaign for this action. In fact, every reader of this blog should give them a pat on their sweat-coated backs tomorrow – even if it’s a digital shout-out. Why?
Because the new Brady leadership clearly believes that leading a three-hour protest for legislation the week that Congress prepares to break for August recess in an election year during some of the warmest hours of the day when the forecast calls for temperatures near 90 degrees in the former swamp we call Washington DC is a brilliant move. We hope they continue that line of thinking because it’s sure to be a resounding…success?
Tea Leaves
I don’t think there’s too much to be read into Justice Scalia’s statements appearing over at National Journal, in regards to which way an assault weapons ban would go if it appeared before the court. By the Heller “common use” test, an AR-15 should pass with flying colors, but that’s not to say it actually would. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with taking an assault weapons ban before the Court unless we got one or two more friendly votes. That way we can afford to lose a justice or two on a specific issue, and still have a winning majority.
Gun Registration Bill on the Way
I love the age of social media when lawmakers who support our civil liberties can give us a little insight into what kinds of bills we can expect from our opposition:
Just got Dem Rep’s memo that he’s introducing bill to require all guns in PA be registered with State Police. Nope, not gonna fly.
— Rep. Stephen Bloom (@RepBloom) July 27, 2012
Thanks to Rep. Bloom for standing up for our rights!
I realize that it seems like a no-brainer that a gun registration bill wouldn’t stand a chance in Pennsylvania, but I find it is helpful to see what our opponents want to push. This is their way of testing the waters, and they will try to strike if they manage to find more support for such bills in the future.
I also suggest that anyone with an “on the fence” state representative – someone with maybe a B, C, or D rating – should shoot an email to their lawmaker telling them that they hope he/she refuses to sign on to this bill. Since it’s a memo sent in advance of the bill, it will speak volumes to them that you pay that much attention to the issue. Politicians notice when we watch…
Did You Know?
Men who shoot trap, we have a lot of those here in the U.S. But, did you know that we don’t have a single American male competing in the Olympic trap competition?
I do realize that the Olympic competition is different from the traditional American version played at clubs around the country, but it seems like we should be able to field some dude from somewhere across this great land in the sport. Anyone want to try for 2016? Come on, it’s in Rio de Janeiro.
We do have two competitors in double trap (including the very attractive Pennsylvania native Josh Richmond). In skeet, we also have two competitors.