Joe Huffman seems to have had the IPSC stage from hell this weekend, and got bitten by his 1911, which malfunctioned. When I shoot silhouette, I use a Ruger Mk.III. Holding taco, you bring the pistol in close for a more stable position. I have to be careful not to hold too close, or the slide comes back and punches me in the nose. That’s about the worst I’ve ever gotten in competition.
Category: Guns
Reusing Primers
The Firearms Blogs has an interesting video on reloading your own primers, using the ignition compound from matches.
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.
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.
Kids & Guns without the Panic
It is always refreshing to see not just one, but two stories in the mainstream media about teaching kids to shoot that doesn’t include full-scale panic. Considering one of them comes out of Maryland, it’s a very pleasant surprise.
Meeting Your Pro-Hunting, Pro-Trapping Religious Needs
How Well do the Lost-and-Stolen Laws Work?
In a run up to a memorial event for fallen police officers, reporters watching Harrisburg are waiting to see if Fast Eddie decides to use his speech to honor the officers or use their deaths to push for his gun ban agenda. But in an interesting side note to one of the articles pondering Rendell’s plans, the columnist actually inquired as to the success of Philadelphia’s last gun control stunt – lost-and-stolen reporting.
Philadelphia’s nine month-old lost-and-stolen law, for example, remains under legal appeal that could take another year or two.
Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, tells me that while 152 guns have been reported lost or stolen since the city law took effect in July, not one has been recovered. Not one.
Not a single result has come from their illegal law that flies in the face of state preemption.