Ghost of Clinton

Under Bill Clinton’s administration, NICS records were being illegally kept by the FBI.  This practice was ended under the Bush administration.  Frank Lautenberg, the senator from the state that has pretty much killed lawful gun ownership, wants to let the FBI keep those records for six months.  Ten years if you’re on the terrorist watch list.

Declining Gun Culture

New Jersey has, for the most part, pretty effectively extinguished the culture of lawful and responsible gun ownership.  Most gun shops there have closed, along with most ranges.  Criminal gun ownership is still, of course, quite fashionable in the Garden State.  California is now heading down the same slippery slope.  Hunters and Shooters who don’t think any of this stuff matters, because they “aren’t coming after my gun” need to realize that the shooting sports are an ecosystem, and without the rest of us to keep it healthy, it dies.  They don’t need to come after anyone’s gun if there’s nowhere to buy them and nowhere to shoot.

Bucks County Robbery String

This one hits close to home, since I live in this area.  Always a good idea to carry where you are legally able to.  This is one of the reasons why.  Robberies are a tough situation.  In most cases, the best course of action is to let it go down, and make sure to get a good description for the police, if the robbers are content to take the cash from the till and go. But robberies can go south quickly, so it’s wise to be prepared.  So far the places that have been robbed:

  • State Liquor Store
  • Subway sandwich shop
  • Pizza shop
  • Rite Aid pharmacy
  • Hair Salon
  • Dollar Store
  • Auto Zone

This guy seems prone to tying people up.  Never a good idea to let the robber control the situation.  If he’s not content to get the cash and get out, draw and fire, because that guy is dangerous, and will kill you as soon as look at you.  Most of the places on this list are easy targets, but mom and pop pizza joints in this area are generally packing heat.  Someone willing to rob family businesses is someone willing to risk taking a bullet, and not someone to give the benefit of doubt.

Unhappy Bitter

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.

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.