Bitter is not happy about the NRA alert she got tonight. I saw it too and thought it was a bit hyperbolous. Either way, it’s not quite as important as the advances we just made with National Park carry, and the fact that there would be lawsuits on the Florida parking lot bill is predictable.
Category: Guns
It’s Everything You Want to Shoot
Air gun, 200 dollars. Tin of 500 .177 caliber pellets, 7 dollars. 25 box of CO2 cartridges, 15 dollars. Being able to pop the ram between each of these sentences, priceless!
Air Gun Happiness
So today I picked up a Crossman 2300S so I could do IHMSA air pistol class. Those are 1/10th scale animals, with chickens at 10 yards, pigs at 12.5, turkeys at 15 and rams at 18 yards. I also got one of these for practice in the house. I am disappointed that the animals look nothing like IHMSA standard animals, but are merely vague approximations.
But as for the airgun, the trigger is a little creepy for my tastes, but you can turn the pull down enough that it doesn’t much matter. It shoots pretty well, regardless. The plastic grips on it are pretty lame as well. But still, 200 bucks and you have a gun you can shoot in a different class with and practice at home to boot. I’m not complaining. That’s not even mentioning the price of pellets and CO2 compared to .22LR, or .44 Magnum.
I guess I can’t call this a range report, since I didn’t have to go to the range to zero the sights and try it out :) This will all be fun and games until someone loses an eye.
All Tragedy, All the Time
National Park Carry Update
The public comment period has begun. Just so you understand the process, in order to affect a change in the Code of Federal Regulations, the change has to be published in the Federal Register, and offered a public comment period. That’s the part we’re in now. You can examine the proposed rule change here. Basic summary is this:
Under the proposed amendment, an individual will be able to possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded, and operable firearms within a national park area in the same manner, and to the same extent, that a person may lawfully possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded and operable firearms in any state park in the state in which the federal park, or that portion thereof, is located. Possession of concealed firearms in national parks as authorized by this section must also conform to applicable federal laws.
This is a big help to those of us in the east who drive thorugh NPS land regularly without realizing it. I occaisionally travel through Valley Forge National Park when I’m heading to visit friends in that part of Chester County, and Independence National Historical Park is part of the City of Philadelphia, and doesn’t have clear boundaries. Now, I would note that buildings within the park will still be considered a federal facility, and still off limits to carry. That’s a different law, and will require an Act of Congress to fix/clarify.
Nagant 1895 Double Action Problems
Last night I decided to completely disassemble my Nagant 1895 to troubleshoot a problem with the double action trigger. When I would squeeze the trigger, the cylinder would rotate, but the hammer wouldn’t cock. Worked fine in single action mode. 
Upon taking it apart, I discovered that at some point, someone had apparently whacked the trigger with a punch in order to push some metal up so the double action fly on the hammer would catch more properly. I believe this was done to make up for a weak double action fly spring, which was allowing the fly to push in too readily, rather than catching on the trigger.  I took out the fly screw, and stretched out the fly spring, and bingo, it started working again. I may have to order a new fly spring if it happens again. There is actually a place you can buy Nagant parts (and from whom I shamlessly ‘borrowed’ the above image). I decided to write this up, because I couldn’t find much information on Nagant troubleshooting, I’m guessing because most people faced with a broken 1895 Nagant revolver just ceremoniously bury it in the back yard, then scrounge the sofa for the money to buy another one. But to me, the death of any gun is a tragedy, so I will commit myself to making sure this one stays in working order.
On Standards of Interpretation
Continuing a thread that started with my post about police rifles, I wanted to note that what I’m speaking of is not what interpretation of the second amendment is most correct historically, but which interpretations protect the widest array of firearms that the federal judiciary would adopt.
Note that there is no way the federal judiciary is going to accept a standard that laws regulating any kind of arm is by default unconstitutional. There will be lines drawn with certain classes of arms being protected, and certain classes not being protected. We have it on pretty good authority, both from Alan Gura, and various other folks with legal knowledge in the issue, that it is extremely unlikely that the federal judiciary will even rule that automatic firearms are protected arms under the second amendment.
So I think it behooves us to think of a standard that the federal judiciary will accept that nontheless, protects an awful lot of firearms. My “common police use” standard wasn’t meant to be an all inclusive rule, just one way to think about the problem. For instance, Bryan Miller’s crown jewel, the New Jersey Smart Gun ban would fail the common police use test, since police are exempted from it. The beauty of the test is that it forces politicians to seriously consider actions like what Chicago may be doing. If it can be shown that M4s are in common use in police departments, the constitutional case for restricting them starts getting weak. Certainly magazine size limits and bans on so called “assault weapons” would not pass this test already.
That’s not to say I think the “common police use” test should be the only one. I would propose a three fold test to determine whether the arm is protected under the second amendment:
- Is the arm usable for personal self-defense, or
- It has a function in the preservation of or practicing skill at arms, and
- It is of a type or functional variant of a firearm in common police or civilian use.
Type or functional variant makes this pretty broad, so many types of firearms fall into this. This test also doesn’t shut the door forever on machine guns, but nor does it directly address whether they are protected. It’s also a bit stronger than the “common civilian use” test that the court alluded to, since pretty obviously that would close the door on machine guns.
But this is only meant to be a standard of interpretation for what is an arm under the second amendment. At some point we also have to address what constitutes an infringement.
Gun Trivia
Countertop explains a little history behind the Sturm in Sturm and Ruger. Interesting.
Would you blame the car dealership …
… that sold a car to a drunk driver that killed a loved one in an alcohol related fatality? I wouldn’t. I don’t see why Eric Thompson doesn’t deserve the same consideration.
UPDATE: Also note that the VPC study Bryan links to reports gun deaths, not gun homicides as Bryan claims. There’s a difference between the two. Gun deaths include suicides. I do believe that lower levels of gun ownership tends to reduce the incidents of gun homicides, much like I believe that the lack of tall buildings in Boise probably translates into it having a lower per-capita suicide rate by jumping than, say, New York City or San Francisco.
Hearing Postponed
The hearing on the Philadelphia gun control ordinances, originally scheduled for April 28th (today), has been rescheduled for May 19th, when we’ll all be in Louisville. Apparently the city is trying to make a standing argument.
At an April 17 hearing at which Greenspan granted an order temporarily blocking enforcement of the gun-control laws, the judge said she had misgivings about the organizations’ standing to sue. Generally, organizations cannot file a constitutional challenge without showing how their members are directly harmed by the law in question.
I’m an NRA member. I have firearms that are illegal under this law that I often transport through the City of Philadelphia. I am affected. I know other people who live in the city who will be affected, and are NRA members. NRA has standing. Why isn’t that obvious? Or is it, and they just want NRA off the suit, and are looking for an excuse?