Exurban Kevin notices that what’s considered to be a good self-defense caliber has been getting ever smaller. When I first started carrying, back in 2002 or so, .380 was considered where self-defense rounds started, but 9mm was the generally popular self-defense caliber. Then everyone said it had to start with a .4 or it wasn’t good enough. The .40S&W became pretty popular, especially among law enforcement. Now we’re back to the smaller calibers being popular again. My guess is because more people are carrying, and it’s just much much easier to carry and conceal smaller firearms. I tend to think anything is better than harsh language. The best caliber is the one you’ll carry. A pocket .380 you have is better than the .40S&W left at home.
Author: Sebastian
Nick Johnson on NRA News
Sorry for somewhat of a prolonged absence. While we recovered from the ice storm fine here, our office was not so fortunate, and so we had to relocate a lot of equipment to get things up and running again and the business functioning. That takes a few long days. Our Internet finally came this Sunday, just in time for me to come down with a stomach flu. I can’t seem to win this winter. Here’s an interview between Nick Johnson and Cam Edwards I thought you’d enjoy:
I’ll try to post a few things later, if I have the energy.
SHARE Act Passes House
SHARE or Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement. While there’s a lot of pro-hunting stuff here, it’s also by virtue a pro-carry initiative. You can find the text here. Key point:
Title VI: Access to Water Resources Development Projects Act -Â Recreational Lands Self-Defense Act of 2013Â -Â Prohibits the Secretary of the Army from promulgating or enforcing any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm at a water resources development project administered by the Chief of Engineers if: (1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm, and (2) the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the state in which the project is located.
That’s basically the same language that was inserted into the 2009 Credit Card Bill to force the NPS to allow carry in National Parks. This is a good victory, but will the Senate take it up? It’s an election year. A “yes” vote on this would help a lot of troubled Democrats who are up in 2014, and Obama, as a lame duck, no longer needs to be protected. It would be interesting to see whether this could get sent to Obama, and what he’d do.
CT State Police Won’t Aid With Compliance
Bearing Arms is reporting that the Connecticut State Police are refusing to help firearms manufacturers comply with their new gun control law. I think the response should be to withdraw from the Connecticut market, including law enforcement. Then we’ll see if they want to do their jobs.
Happy Ice Storm
We were supposed to get more of the white stuff, but it’s turned into a full on ice storm! Power is out and we’re running on generator. The blog will remain up as long as I have gasoline and the fiber stays on. We already had one large branch come down. My UPS equipment is less than thrilled with the output of the generator, but they are taking it most of the time. You might have noticed a brief period of downtime earlier, as the outage happened when we were asleep and the UPS drained down before we could fire the generator.
UPDATE: Power came back just as I went out to get more of the precious juice for the generator. Everything is back to normal now, except for the fact that I have several large tree branches down in the yard.
Video Day: FEMA Camps Edition
Watch as college students in Southern California sign a petition to send us all to the FEMA camps:
h/t to Dave Hardy.
Video Day: Charlton Heston at the 1998 NRA Annual Meeting
This was held in Philadelphia. I can’t imagine NRA hosting an Annual Meeting in Philadelphia today. I did not go, because I wasn’t into guns back then, but I thought it was interesting that it got Ed Rendell to say something nice about the NRA. I was surprised this video was out there:
Video Day: Toying With a Sniper
I came across this on Facebook last night, and I just realized I can’t embed it. Syrian rebels toying with a sniper. Not a very good sniper if he’s falling for it. Each shot risks giving away his position. If the rebels aren’t busy trying to flank him, find out where he’s hiding, and take him out while he’s distracted with the dummy, they are dumber than he is.
Video Day: Dana Loesch on “The View”
I have a few videos building up in the tabs, so I thought I’d do a video day. The first video for today, accompanied by an article, is Dana Loesch’s appearance on “The View”
I thought she handled it well. After the big stink the Demanding Moms, all she had to do was avoid breathing fire.
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Doubles Membership
The wages of the SAFE Act. Now they are the largest NRA state affiliate organization, having surpassed Texas:
Today, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) is proud to announce that its membership has nearly doubled since the passage of the NY SAFE Act. NYSRPA President Tom King said, “Our membership has increased from (22,000?) to 41,000+ individual members in the space of one year. This is an extraordinary jump, and when you factor in the clubs and other organizations that are also members, we are a force to be reckoned with.†King noted that NYSRPA, the nation’s oldest National Rifle Association (NRA) affiliate, is now the largest, surpassing the Texas affiliate. King, an NRA board member, said he looks forward to drawing attention to this when he meets with his Texas Colleagues at the next NRA board meeting.
King cites the passage of the NY SAFE Act as the primary reason for the exponential increase in membership. “The NY SAFE Act is one of the most egregious assaults ever perpetrated on the Constitutional Rights of New Yorkers and people are fed up. I would point out that the governor recently said that advocates for the Second Amendment, traditional marriage, and the right to life, have forfeited their right to residency in this state. This is simply outrageous, and while we are strictly a Second Amendment advocacy organization, I can appreciate other organization’s consternation at such hubris.â€
The NYSRPA is currently in the process of litigating against the NY SAFE Act. “We had a recent decision in the Western NY federal judicial district that bodes well for our cause,†King. “The court ruled that the seven round limit on magazine capacity violated the Second Amendment and this decision has left the door open for a favorable ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court. Said King, “NYSRPA has already spent over $450,000 in legal fees and is prepared to bear whatever cost is required to defeat the NY SAFE Act. To quote the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘we shall overcome’.â€
Let us hope that their lawsuits find some success. I’ll be writing more about some activity in regards to lawsuits later, when I have a chance to review some opinions.