Michael Bane has finally bought his first handgun at the SHOT Show. It is the Sig P938 which is the slightly scaled up P238 in 9mm. Other things he mentioned were the new modular Mossberg shotgun and their tactical lever-action rifle.
You can see his whole report here.
The Educational Fund To Stop Gun Violence, the 503(c)3 arm of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, has a website called MeetTheNRA.org. Their goal is to publish (out of context) quotes in an effort to discredit current and former members of the NRA Board as being conservative radicals, racists, and insurrectionists.
The screen cap below is from today in their effort to smear the late Col. Jeff Cooper.
What Col. Cooper actually wrote in his Commentaries, Vol. 4, was this:
Clearly propaganda is more potent than truth. Take this matter of Guernica, for example. Pablo Picasso, one of the more significant propagandists of the left, made a very successful point in claiming that the town of Guernica had been flattened from the air by the German Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War − this being an atrocity since the town had no strategic value. This point was accepted by the world press, and is now considered a fact, even for inclusion in encyclopedias.
For those who have access to the official records it is clear that the Condor Legion had been grounded for two weeks prior to the occupation of the city by the Nationalist forces. Moreover, the German light bombers did not have the technical capacity for “carpet bombing,” as later practiced by the Allies in Europe. Most conclusive, however, was the fact that there were no bomb craters in the streets. The buildings were pretty well demolished, but this was done from inside them. It is obviously impossible to flatten a town from the air without hitting any of the streets, but now, to the amazement of the well−informed, the German government is proposing to pay an indemnity to Spain for an atrocity never committed. Such goings on!
Now Col. Cooper served as an officer in the US Marine Corps during both WWII and the Korean Conflict. Moreover, he had a graduate degree in history to complement his undergraduate degree from Stanford in political science. I happen to think that a military officer, especially one trained as a historian, is somewhat more likely to have seen the official reports and to have made sense of them than a hoplophobe like Ladd Everitt who wasn’t even born when Kennedy was killed.
Now I will acknowledge that there is a significant difference of opinion about what really happened at Guernica especially among historians so the Colonel could be wrong in his assessment. Jeff Cooper was reputed to be a man of strong opinions, somewhat cranky and irascible, but brilliant nonetheless. If he were alive today, the intellectual flaying he would have given the small-minded gun prohibitionist hoplophobes at the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence and CSGV would have been a thing of beauty. It is a pity he didn’t live long enough to apply it.
I will admit I am a sucker for Steyr products. I have an old Mannlicher-Schoenauer Model 1910 which is one of favorite rifles from the butter-knife bolt handle to the rotary magazine. Their new stuff isn’t bad either.
The guys from Guns and Ammo checked out the Steyr Aug A3 and the Steyr M-A1 pistol in .40S&W. I have never shot a bullpup so I can’t say whether I would like one or not. Nonetheless, the ease with which they were able to take off the barrel for cleaning was impressive.
Here is a recap of Day One of the SHOT Show from the NSSF itself. I know the Complementary Spouse would agree with the presenter’s recommendation to wear comfortable shoes.
Michael Bane continues his video coverage of the 2012 SHOT Show. Some of the items he featured for Day 2 are the Heizer Double-Tap derringer, lasers from Crimson Trace, Windham Weaponry, the Sig 938, and a knife from Remington that uses 1911 grips.
Speaking of Heizer, when I was in St. Louis over the holidays I passed a small industrial building near Arnold that said “Heizer”. I am wondering if this was where the Doube-Tap is made or some facility. I’m thinking a request for a factory tour may be in order.
Jeff Quinn of Gunblast.com shows the things that caught his eye on day two of the SHOT Show. For 10mm fans, Para-USA is coming out with a 6″ barreled 1911.
For still pictures of more guns, go here.
The Violence Policy Center loves to moan and groan about how the NRA gets so much money from the firearms industry. Sturm, Ruger and Company, in a drive to break the one million firearm sales mark for one year, pledged to donate $1 for each firearm sold over a one year period. Through three quarters, Ruger has sold 871,200 firearms and donated an equal amount to the NRA. They have just decided to raise their pledge to $1.2 million.
Eat your hearts out Josh Sugarmann and Kristen Rand because the Joyce Foundation is never going to match this!
The quote of the day comes from that Friend of Angelo recipient of sweetheart mortgages, former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who just so happens to be the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.
It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.
He is criticizing Google, Wikipedia, bloggers, and others for blacking out their sites or asking people to oppose SOPA and PIPA. This is rich coming from the likes of Dodd who represents an industry that is at its best entertainment and usually more akin to a well-oiled propaganda machine for the so-called progressives.
You can find longer critiques of his comments here and here.
And to give this a gun blog slant, he is the son of the author of the Gun Control Act of 1968, Sen. Thomas J. Dodd (D-CT).
The Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011, S. 968, is the Senate version of the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act, HR 3261. It is sponsored by the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). It has its own acronym – PIPA – and it is scheduled for a cloture vote on January 24th.
The Strike Against SOPA and PIPA have an online petition which will deliver your message to your representatives.
The bill in the Senate currently has 38 co-sponsors as Sen. Mark Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) have withdrawn their support from the bill.
What I fail to understand is why any Republican is a co-sponsor of either bill as it rewards Hollywood, the recording industry, and other media companies who have supported and financed Democrats for years. Do they not understand – which the Democrats obviously do – that you reward your friends and screw your enemies?
Here is the Senate’s List of Shame:
Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] – 5/25/2011
Sen Ayotte, Kelly [NH] – 6/27/2011
Sen Bennet, Michael F. [CO] – 7/25/2011
Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] – 10/19/2011
Sen Blumenthal, Richard [CT] – 5/12/2011
Sen Blunt, Roy [MO] – 5/23/2011
Sen Boozman, John [AR] – 6/15/2011
Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] – 12/12/2011
Sen Brown, Sherrod [OH] – 10/20/2011
Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] – 7/13/2011
Sen Casey, Robert P., Jr. [PA] – 9/7/2011
Sen Chambliss, Saxby [GA] – 11/2/2011
Sen Cochran, Thad [MS] – 6/23/2011
Sen Coons, Christopher A. [DE] – 5/12/2011
Sen Corker, Bob [TN] – 6/9/2011
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] – 6/30/2011
Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] – 9/7/2011
Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] – 5/12/2011
Sen Franken, Al [MN] – 5/12/2011
Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] – 5/26/2011
Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC] – 5/12/2011
Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] – 5/12/2011
Sen Hagan, Kay [NC] – 7/5/2011
Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] – 5/12/2011
Sen Isakson, Johnny [GA] – 11/2/2011
Sen Johnson, Tim [SD] – 10/3/2011
Sen Klobuchar, Amy [MN] – 5/12/2011
Sen Kohl, Herb [WI] – 5/12/2011
Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] – 10/17/2011
Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] – 7/7/2011
Sen McCain, John [AZ] – 7/26/2011
Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] – 10/31/2011
Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] – 9/23/2011
Sen Risch, James E. [ID] – 11/7/2011
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] – 5/12/2011
Sen Shaheen, Jeanne [NH] – 6/30/2011
Sen Udall, Tom [NM] – 7/7/2011
Sen Vitter, David [LA] – 11/7/2011
Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] – 5/12/2011
UPDATE: Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Roy Blount (R-MO) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have all removed their co-sponsorship from this bill today.
“I’m withdrawing my co-sponsorship for the Protect IP Act,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican.
Sen. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican, “will be withdrawing his name as a co-sponsor” of Protect IP, a spokesman told CNET today. Fellow Protect IP co-sponsor Sen. James Risch, an Idaho Republican, said today that he wants “more time to re-examine the legislation before going to a vote” and has asked staff for a detailed briefing, a spokesman said.
And Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who has long been a close ally of Hollywood on copyright and is up for re-election this year, said on Twitter that “I will not only vote against moving the bill forward next week but also remove my co-sponsorship of the bill.” Hatch’s volte face is notable because of his enthusiasm for similar measures in the past: once proposed that copyright holders should be allowed to remotely destroy the computers of music pirates and tried to outlaw peer-to-peer networks through his Induce Act.
UPDATE II: Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) Tweeted this evening that she was removing her co-sponsorship of the bill according to Rollcall.
UPDATE III: Ars Technica is reporting that 7 of the original co-sponsors have removed their names from the bill and are actively against it. I have crossed those 7 off the List of Shame. They did this in response to the swell of opposition to PIPA.
One of my senators, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), still seems to be more dependent on Hollywood money than the voters of North Carolina. 2014 cannot get here soon enough.
UPDATE IV: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who is listed as one of the co-sponsors of this bill released this yesterday. I need to check if he is still listed as a co-sponsor.
Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley released the following statement regarding the Senate’s Protect IP Act.
“It’s critical we protect the intellectual property rights of our businesses and fight online infringement, but at the same time, we can’t do harm to the internet, the Constitution, or the ability of businesses to grow and innovate. Internet piracy is illegal, and we need to find a way that works for all sides. The current Protect IP Act needs more due diligence, analysis, and substantial changes. As it stands right now, I can’t support the bill moving forward next week.”
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