This is good news. I wonder if Tom Corbett will take a break from pandering to the anti-smoking busy bodies in order to pander to us for a bit.
Category: Guns
Club Magazine Limitations
One thing about my club that can sometimes drive me nuts is that we’re limited to no more than five rounds in a magazine. I was wondering how common this kind of restriction is at clubs? What’s the rule at your local club?
When this rule was explained, they claimed the reason for it was to prevent accidents if a gun failed and started firing uncontrollably. In my experience, this doesn’t happen. Plus, in my experience with machine pistols, if you shot 5 rounds off automatically and didn’t expect it, you’re putting three rounds in the ceiling.
I find the rule to be particularly annoying with revolvers, and now, I understand that the standard M1 Garand clip would leave me in violation of my club’s rule.  That’s not even mentioning how annoying I think it is to have to switch magazines if I’m trying to shoot a string of 10, or if I want to practice with the Glock on the indoor pistol range.
I think the real reason for the rule is to keep people out of the club who just want a place to come blast away, and aren’t serious shooters. Â I can accept that there may be utility to weeding out people who just want to join so they can blast away at crap on the plinking range, but I think there are better ways to avoid that problem.
One disappointing thing about this club, is the leadership seems to want to bring everything down to the lowest common denominator, rather than weeding out the problem people, so the rest of the members can enjoy the facilities. In our last club newsletter, they threatened to shut down the plinking range for range violations, without mentioning what people were doing that was a problem. It seems to me the proper way to deal with this is to revoke memberships for violations, rather than mete out collective punishment. I wonder if it’s the same attitude behind the round restrictions.
Passing It On
I’ll give Ed Rendell credit when he does something good for sportsmen:
In recent years, Pennsylvania has been at the forefront when it comes to creating and expanding hunting and shooting sports opportunities for youth and promoting them as family activities. Last year, that position received national attention when Gov. Ed Rendell demonstrated his support by holding a public signing ceremony that made Pennsylvania the first state to adopt Families Afield legislation.
Created by the United States Sportsmen’s Alliance, Families Afield addresses the concerns of declining participation in hunting. Since then, other states — recognizing the economic impact of the shooting sports and hunting, and its direct benefit to conservation — have followed Pennsylvania’s lead by passing similar legislation.
The bill allows adults to mentor young hunters without having to have a license. Truth be told, we need this across the board. The main obstacle to me going out and hunting for the first time is the fact that I have to find time to take hunters education, and buy the license. Hunting will continue to decline as long as barriers to the sport remain high. We need hunting for the shooting sports to be healthy, and for our rights to be safe. This is a great step in the right direction, but I think we need more.
A Gunnie Hoax
I’m pretty sure this Five Year Plan that Armed Canadian dug up is a hoax. The Brady Campaign wouldn’t be so bold as to outline their long terms plans in a memo like this, nor would they write so badly. Of course, that’s not to say there isn’t a grain of truth to what’s going on here.
While I’m almost certain this memo was written by a pro-gun person to rally gun owners into action, it has a basis in something called Brady II, which at once time was actually introduced into Congress.
Alcohol and Guns
It’s Clayton Cramer link day here, it seems.  This one on Alcohol and Guns. As a general rule, I agree that alcohol and guns don’t mix. If you’re too sauced to drive a car, you’re too sauced to handle a firearm. But I think that many of the state restrictions designed to prevent this are silly. My prescription would be for states to make it unlawful to carry or use a firearm while intoxicated.  I think that’s a pretty simple solution. It’s the same thing we use for cars, and operating a car and drinking is far more dangerous than carrying and drinking.
Stolen Identities and Gun Purchases
Clayton Cramer has an essay up about criminals using stolen identities to get around the NICS system. He makes this observation:
My second thought is that if, as the gun control advocates claim, criminals can easily buy guns at gun shows and from private parties, why did Labeet go to the extra work and risk of buying guns from a licensed dealer, using a stolen identity that might risk getting him caught? This really does suggest that Labeet considered purchasing guns from a dealer less risky than buying them through the “gun show loophole†that we hear so much about.
My guess is, because finding the guns he was looking for would have been more difficult using this method. I’ve seen folks wandering gun shows with a flag in the barrel looking to sell a firearm. I have seen a few M1 Garands, and maybe a Mauser or two, but most of the time the guy is selling a deer rifle or a shotgun. Even if you find someone with the gun you want, there’s always the chance he’ll think you’re shady and refuse to sell it to you. I certainly wouldn’t sell a gun to someone I had a bad feeling about, and I think most gun owners feel the same way. A private owner has more incentive to discriminate than a dealer does.
Primary Endorsements
Bitter has the details.  I still think it would be a mistake for NRA to become involved in the Republican primary, but they may just be dangling the carrot. This kind of press coverage certainly isn’t bad.
M1 Sweetness
I am one step closer to getting my M1 Garand. I received this e-mail this morning from the CMP:
We have received and verified your recent order. There is nothing that we will be able to tell you about the order until we have input all orders received ahead of yours into the system. Your order will now advance to our sales area and from there to our shipping area. Please note, that unless otherwise listed, our order to ship time is 30 days. You will receive other emails as the order progresses.
The one I ordered was a Springfield Armory M1 in Correct Grade. I hope I end up getting it.
E-Postal Match Results
USCitizen has the results up for this month’s match. I see Mr. Completely is still dominating the board with his High Standard. I feel bad that I’ve missed all the matches since August, but I will definitely start back up again in the spring.
Lately I’ve been shooting trap Monday night at the club, and indoor silhouette on Thursday nights, which doesn’t leave much room for e-postaling. I’m a reasonable clay shooter, but I’m not too good at shooting from standing position, so I’m hoping to get more proficient at Silhouette as time goes on. Right now my scores border on embarrassing, as I’m missing about 1/3rd of the animals.
Quote of the Day
“[Gun control] is an issue that, again, doesn’t break down under normal party lines, and if we’re going to win this we have to build a coalition, and that coalition in my judgment should include every southeastern Republican and Democrat. There’s no excuse for anybody from the southeast not voting to support common sense gun legislation” – Governor Rendell, 12/03/2007
Within several miles of my house are at least four gun shops. Literally right around the block there is one.  When you think about how many shooters a single gun shop can service, that gives you an idea of how many gun owners there are in this area.
My shooting club, which is 10 miles up the road in the next Township has 1100 members, and we’re at our limit. There’s a waiting list to join. If you went to apply today you’d be turned away.
Chester County issues approximately 11,000 LTCs, Montgomery County issues about 19,000, My county (Bucks) issues about 24,000. Delaware County issues about 12,000.  That totals 66,000 licenses issued in the Philadelphia Suburbs. The city itself issues 32,000.  License holders are typically the most active in the gun rights community, and 100,000 region wide is nothing to sneeze at.
Ed Rendell seems to be operating under the mistaken impression that no one in the suburbs cares about the second amendment. I think he’s wrong, and come election day, we may have to single out a few vulnerable members of his little “coalition” and demonstrate that.