Month: July 2010

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Sheriff Clay Parker – Lead Plaintiff in NRA/CRPA Foundation Suit Against AB 962

July 28, 2010 by

About two weeks ago,  I posted a story on the NRA/CRPA Foundation Legal Action Project lawsuit againt California’s new handgun ammo law that goes into effect on February 1, 2011. The suit was filed in California Superior Court for Fresno County. We still haven’t seen the complaint in this case as the plaintiff’s attorneys are being “tactically” coy about it.

However, the Corning Observer in Corning, California has a story about Sheriff Clay Parker, the lead plaintiff in the case. The story notes that he is passionate about protecting the “citizen’s right to bear arms.”

Sheriff Parker says about the bill,

“The bill is too broad,” Parker said. “What is handgun ammunition? If you ask, no one could tell you. Some people may say a .357 shell is handgun ammunition, but I have a .357 rifle. This bill has to be defined better.”

The article also quotes an employee of a local hardware store that sells ammunition,

Tim Ross, an employee of Hatfield’s Ace Hardware, which sells firearms and ammunition, said he agrees with Parker that the language of the bill is too broad.

“There is a lot of firearms ammunition that is interchangeable between pistols and rifles,” Ross said. “Another issue we have with the bill is the record keeping. For every box of ammunition we sell we will have to keep fingerprint, driver’s license, and other information on our records for who knows how long and that will create an unimaginable paper trail headache.”

H/T Dave Hardy of Of Arms and the Law blog

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Will Steve Gibson, CEO of RightHaven LLC, Sleep with the Fishes?

July 28, 2010 by

Only an idiot would sue a reputed mob enforcer for copyright infringement. Steve Gibson, CEO of RightHaven LLC, qualifies.

Anthony “Tony the Animal” Fiato was the subject of a book by Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith and was also a source for many of his columns. The book was entitled “The Animal in Hollywood” and is still available on Amazon. Mr. Fiato is being sued for copyright infringement for putting up LVR-J stories about the mob in Las Vegas on his blog “Hollywood Goodfella“.

Fiato said he was surprised to learn of the lawsuit, since he had been unaware of any concern about him posting R-J stories on his website. Fiato learned about the suit because he was contacted for comment by the Las Vegas Sun.

“I’m not concerned about it. It sounds like someone made a mistake,’’ he said, noting his assistance with Smith’s book and in providing information to the Review-Journal.

Fiato said he lives at an undisclosed location as a relocated government witness.

 Sebastian at Snowflakes in Hell has more on RightHaven LLC and a program he has for WordPress blogs to check on links to any of Stephens Media LLC stories.

H/T Snowflakes In Hell

UPDATE: The Armed Citizen has an extensive update on the suit filed against them by RightHaven LLC. They also have a link to a website that gives in quite a bit of detail on the connections between Steve Gibson, both Michelle and Barack Obama, and Obama’s copyright czar Victoria Espinel.

UPDATE II: Walter Olson writing for Cato at Liberty discusses lawsuit filing “millls”. Among them is what he calls “the most recent to emerge – copyright mills” as evidenced by RightHaven LLC. It is an interesting article on all sorts of “litigation-mills”.

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Free Elk Hunting Opportunity – No Joke

July 28, 2010 by

Imagine a chance to go elk hunting where you don’t have to buy a license or special tags and don’t have to pay a fee to participate. It sounds too good to be true but isn’t. The Theodore Roosevelt National Park is seeking applications from hunters to help cull 250 cow elk from their herd.

They need up to 20 hunters per week for the 12 week program beginning on Nov. 1. According to Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor,

In order to be considered, applicants must be able to demonstrate a high level of shooting proficiency using lead-free ammunition, agree to participate for an entire five-day week, self-certify they are fit enough to perform the rigorous activity necessary, be able to legally possess a firearm, and be willing to sign a volunteer agreement after arriving at the park.

To be considered, you must fill out an online application here and return it by August 9th. More information can be found here.

The only downside to this opportunity is that you have to get to North Dakota and might be hunting during December and January. The average temp in January is 18 deg. Medora, the closest town, has a whopping population of 100. That said, Medora does have 1 hotel and 2 motels. Go here for more info.

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Outdoor Life’s Crossbow Test 2010

July 28, 2010 by

With North Carolina approving crossbows for use during all archery seasons (and gun seasons as well), I found this review of the latest models of crossbows by Outdoor Life magazine very interesting.

 Horton Vision Crossbow

Now if North Carolina would get rid of their ridiculous requirement to get a purchase permit from the local sheriff, I’d be happy. The problem with the law (besides the permit requirement) is that it prevents you from shopping online. Out-of-state dealers are not going to ship you a crossbow and run afoul of state law. I see some road-trips to various archery dealers in my future.

Outdoor Life is also giving away their editor’s choice and best buy crossbows. However, I’d suggest boning up on crossbow history and lore before taking their 20 question quiz. If I got 5 out of 20 correct, I’d be lucky.

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Project Isaiah -Arrrrgh!

July 26, 2010 by

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will take 8,300 confiscated firearms to Tamco Steel Mill tomorrow and turn them into rebar. And they seem to be very proud of themselves over it. Deputy Bill Brauberger describes the event as a celebration and says, “It’s pretty exciting and very visual”.

Picture of the 2009 Project Isaiah
The LA Times story shows a picture of Sheriff Lee Baca holding a stainless Ruger Mini-14 which will be turned into rebar. Checking the price of this on Gunbroker.com, I find prices ranging from about $400 up to about $1,000. So they will be taking high grade steel and turning it into rebar which is utterly stupid. Moreover, the rebar will be used for upgrades to highways and bridges in California, Nevada, and Arizona. 
Arizona? I thought LA was boycotting Arizona over their immigration enforcement bill SB 1070.
No one said governments in California were smart. If they were then they would be making use of companies like this or this one that does auctions for the City of Anchorage.

UPDATE: Of course Project Isaiah makes some fools happy.

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Howler of the Day

July 26, 2010 by

From a FoxNew article on pro-gun Democrats comes the howler of the day courtesy of Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY):

“They’ve been very open about saying… ‘Carolyn, if the NRA comes against a bill, I gotta vote with the NRA.’ They’re not going to take that chance. I understand that,” said McCarthy of her Democratic colleagues. “Does it bother me? Of course, it bothers me because I’m not trying to take away anyone’s right to own a gun.”

And I’m sure she has the check in the mail as well.

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Pistol Ammo Reloading Cost Calculator

July 25, 2010 by

Hoplocate.com has released an alpha version of a calculator which lets you calculate the cost of reloading your pistol ammo. I’ve played with it and it seems to work OK. I’m not sure how the recovery cost portion of the calculator works.

The calculator was developed by Robb Allen of the Sharp As a Marble blog.

H/T to Rob of the Personal Armament Podcast for the link

UPDATE: Robb explained the Recovery Costs for me. In his words,

The Recovery Costs section indicates how many rounds you would need to load in order to justify a cost. For example, I want to purchase a new barrel for the Glock that lets me shoot lead. Running the numbers for JHP’s, I get 50 rnds for $14. Lead bullets run $11.50 for 50.

I set the reloading items up for lead, then put $105 for the Item Cost in Recovery Costs, $14 per 50 in Ammo Cost, and see that I would need to shoot 2100 rounds before the cost savings paid for the new barrel.

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LSAT (Lightweight Small Arms Technologies)

July 25, 2010 by

The military has been working on a program to lower the weight of both the ammo and weapons carried by soldiers. Called the Lightweight Small Arms Technologies program, it is being run by the Joint Service Small Arms Program based at the Picatinny Arsenal. A summary of the goals of the program can be seen here along with an update here.

The video below shows both a live fire demo and a lab demo of the LSAT lightweight SAW.

The video below is from Military.com. It shows the only publicly available video of the field testing at Ft. Benning according to them.

According to the article in the Kitup blog at Military.com, development of the lightweight M-249 SAW-like weapon is almost finished. It fires lightweight cased telescoped (CT) ammo. Researchers have fired about 10,000 rounds through three prototype weapons. According to Kori Phillips, the program manager,

With millions of dollars in Army research investment, the JSSAP office says it will be ready to put weapons in warfighters’ hands by next year. Phillips said eight new SAWs will be built by AAI Corporation. She also said that the office plans to run an exercise with an infantry squad equipped with the new lightweight machine gun and 100,000 rounds of cased telescoped ammo.

While the new weapon looks much like the older M-249 SAW it “uses a rotating action and a novel feed system that fires a standard 5.56mm ball projectile and ejects the plastic case and link from its own port.” The engineers report that have completely avoided failures to feed and eject.

While the cased telescoped ammo is almost ready for actual use, there are still developmental problems with the caseless ammo.

While the cased telescoped ammo is almost ready for prime time, the more exotic caseless rounds still need some work, Phillips explained. Testers are having problems keeping the rounds — which are essentially hard, molded propellant with an embedded 5.56 mm bullet — from degrading in high heat. They’re also expensive, hard to make, and tough on the shooter…..Excessive smoke, inexact timing and other uncertainties have kept the weapon attached to a bench.

Another article at Military.com goes into more detail about the M-4 version as well. It is interesting to read the comments regarding the lightweight ammo. One commenter noted that if the weight of ammo is cut in half he would end up just carrying twice as much.

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How Much Does Your AR-15 Weigh?

July 25, 2010 by

I stumbled across the Vuurwapen Blog today for the first time – and am I ever happy that I did!

Andrew, who runs the blog, has developed a calculator to determine what each thing you add to your AR-15 will weigh. For example, your basic M4 carbine configuration with a 6-position adjustable stock, Troy BUIS, Eotech 552 optic, Vortex flash hider, and a PMag full of 62 grain 5.56×45 ammo will weigh 8.525 pounds. If you decide you want the Vltor Clubfoot Modstock on it instead of the basic Tapco M4 buttstock, then the weight drops to 8.44375 pounds.

This tool is a great way to figure out in advance what hypothetical configurations will weigh without having to buy, assemble, and then weigh the weapon.

But wait! Andrew doesn’t stop there with his calculators. He also has developed a balance calculator that helps you determine the center of gravity of your AR-15. It helps you determine how the weigh will shift if you change various parts. He has a 3-part article that discusses weight and balance in AR’s.

If you have an AR-15 and you plan to modify it, you should bookmark these calculators. While you are at it, bookmark the Vuurwapen Blog as well.