Month: March 2013

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Urgent Alert For Illinois Readers

March 19, 2013 by 1 Comment

The Illinois State Rifle Association reports that vote on a magazine ban will come up today in the Illinois State House. It will come as Amendment 12 to HB 1156.

This amendment would make it illegal to “to knowingly deliver, sell, receive, transfer, purchase, or cause to be delivered, sold, received, transferred, purchased, or possessed a large capacity ammunition feeding device.” A “large capacity ammunition feeding device” is defined as a magazine, etc., that could hold more than 10 rounds. Tubular-fed rimfire rifles and lever action rifles would be exempted from this definition.

Of course, this amendment contains exemptions for those thought to have a higher need to possess a “large capacity ammunition feeding device”. Those include cops, the military, and Hollywood. It also contains a provision that would allow the manufacture of magazines so long as it was for cops, the military, and Hollywood. Under the amendment, manufacturers could also make magazines for sale out of state. I call this the “merchant of death” provision given the proponents of this amendment consider these magazines much too deadly for Illinois residents to possess but don’t give a big rat’s ass what happens outside the friendly confines of the Prairie State.

Read the ISRA alert below and act accordingly.

House Speaker Michael Madigan and his gun-grabber pals have just reintroduced their magazine ban as Amendment 12 to HB1156.


THIS MAGAZINE BAN WILL BE UP FOR A VOTE ON TUESDAY


If this ban passes, you will have to go down to the police station and register your magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and you will have to sign an oath that you will never sell them to anyone else.


GUESS HOW MANY CRIMINALS WILL BE REQUIRED TO REGISTER THEIR MAGAZINES? THE ANSWER IS ZERO!


Of course, sales of new magazines holding more than 10 rounds would be BANNED.


It’s very important that you make these calls. We realize that you’ve been called upon to act many times so far this year. But your continued support is crucial. Madigan and the gun-grabbers are hoping that you will get tired of defending your rights.


MADIGAN NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE WILL NEVER GET TIRED OF DEFENDING OUR RIGHTS!


HERE IS WHAT YOU MUST DO TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS


1. Call your state representative and politely tell them you are a law-abiding gun owner who objects to magazine bans. Politely advise them to vote NO on Amendment 12 – the magazine ban. If you do not know who your state representative is, then the Illinois State Board of Elections has a new interactive search page here:
www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx


If you know who your representative is, you can find their contact info here:
www.ilga.gov/house/.


2. Post this alert to any and all Internet Bulletin Boards or blogs to which you subscribe.


3. Pass this alert on to your friends and family and ask them to call their legislators as well.

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Doug Koenig – The Hands Will Follow The Eyes

March 18, 2013 by 2 Comments

In the next installment of pistol training tips from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Doug Koenig discusses transitioning from one target to another. The key is to switch your eyes to the new target and your hands and body will follow suit.

I learned this technique in a training class with Brian Searcy of TigerSwan. It works. If you move your pistol to the new target before your eyes, you will overshoot the target and have to come back. If you just move your eyes first, your hands and the pistol will lock on to the target and not overshoot it.

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Permit Confidentiality And Restaurant Carry Set For NC House Hearings

March 18, 2013 by 1 Comment

HB 17, the Gun Permits/Restaurants and Confidentiality, comes before the North Carolina House’s Judiciary A Committee on Wednesday for hearings. Both parts of this bill – confidentiality and restaurant carry – are important. Grass Roots North Carolina has heard a rumor that the committee might strip out the restaurant carry provisions. Restaurant carry passed the House in the previous session of the General Assembly but died in the Senate for lack of a floor vote.

From GRNC:


Ensure that restaurant carry survives!

This critical pro-feedom legislation will solve two significant problems facing North Carolina gun owners: (1) Not being able to defend ourselves and our families in restaurants that serve alcohol, and (2) Being subject to the release of personal information by hostile media, as was done previously in both NC and NY.

HB-17 is currently residing within House Judiciary Subcommittee A. It is scheduled to be heard this Wednesday. Rumors suggest there are efforts to strip out restaurant carry provisions. We must MAKE SURE this DOES NOT HAPPEN!

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

  • Quickly Email Republican Members of Judiciary Committee A. Tell them to oppose all efforts to weaken the bill by eliminating the restaurant carry provisions.

  • Plan to Attend the Judiciary Meeting. Show your Representatives in person that you strongly support restaurant carry and that you strongly oppose the release of personal information about concealed carry permit holders!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Copy and paste email addresses for House Judiciary Committee A: John.Blust@ncleg.net, Jacqueline.Schaffer@ncleg.net, Dean.Arp@ncleg.net, Hugh.Blackwell@ncleg.net, Justin.Burr@ncleg.net, Leo.Daughtry@ncleg.net, Jon.Hardister@ncleg.net, Julia.Howard@ncleg.net, Allen.McNeill@ncleg.net, Bob.Steinburg@ncleg.net

To attend the Judiciary Committee A meeting, follow these directions on GRNC.org: http://grnc.org/directions-to-the-general-assembly

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Dear Member of Judiciary Committee A:

HB-17, “Gun Permits/Restaurants & Confidentiality” is a critical piece of pro-freedom legislation that will expand the area in our state where law-abiding citizens can effectively protect themselves and their families.

By preventing the release of personal information, HB-17 will also protect law-abiding holders of concealed carry permits from unconscionable attacks by hostile media. As you may know, in other states the release of this type of sensitive personal information has resulted in law-abiding gun owners being targeted by criminals.

I expect you to support this important bill entirely, without any weakening amendments. Efforts to strip out any element related to restaurant carry are unacceptable.

I will be closely monitoring your actions via Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully,

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It’s A Change Whose Time Has Come In NC

March 17, 2013 by

The NC Wildlife Resources Commission adopted a resolution on Friday in support of Sunday hunting on private lands with a firearm. It is currently permissible to do so with a bow. I think this is a change whose time has come.

From the release by the Wildlife Resources Commission:

RALEIGH,N.C. (March 15, 2013) — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has adopted a resolution supporting a bill that would allow people to hunt on Sundays on private lands.

During the March 14 business meeting, the Commission adopted a resolution in support of Senate Bill 224, which would remove a prohibition against Sunday hunting on private lands with shotgun, rifle or pistol set out in N.C.G.S. 103-2.

The mission of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission includes conserving and managing wildlife resources and enhancing the state’s rich hunting heritage by providing opportunities for hunters to enjoy wildlife-associated recreation.

“Allowing Sunday hunting on private lands will provide additional hunting days and additional options for youth and adults whose school and employment responsibilities limit their hunting opportunities to weekends,” said Gordon Myers, executive director of the Wildlife Commission.

The prohibition against Sunday hunting serves no purpose with regard to conservation of wildlife resources and habitats. North Carolina residents who currently seek hunting opportunities in neighboring states that do allow Sunday hunting take substantial revenues elsewhere instead of keeping these dollars within North Carolina borders where they would generate tremendous economic benefits, particularly to rural areas and businesses.

In 2009, the Commission adopted regulations allowing hunting on Sundays on private lands with archery equipment. Since September 2010 North Carolinians have been hunting on Sundays on private lands with archery equipment without incident or conflict.

The Commission also adopted a motion Thursday directing Myers to work with the Legislature and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to find a solution for the potential loss of compensatory hunting days for those who hunt migratory waterfowl on public waters, should Senate Bill 224 become law.

View full text of the resolution.

Another change I’d like to see the Wildlife Resources Commission make is to allow shooting on Sunday at the Wayne E. Smith Shooting Range on the Cold Mountain Game Lands. Most people who could use the range work Monday through Friday and only have Saturday to use the range. The rationale is the same for this range as it is for Sunday hunting.

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An Unbelievable Eight In A Row

March 17, 2013 by

Permit me this indulgence as this post won’t be on guns, finance, legal issues, or politics. It will be on the tenacity and resilience of a group of high school girls, whom when they were down by 11 with 5 minutes to go in the game, didn’t give up.

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

The Villains looked so dead with five minutes left — they trailed 50-39 then — that Robinson compared his team to Jason Voorhees, the immortal character from the “Friday the 13th ” movie series.

“You just keep coming back again and again and again…,” he said.

After a tough afternoon of outside shooting, McGuinness found its range just in time. The Villains were 6 of 25 on 3-point shots overall, but they made the final three they took. Freshman Tia Cappuccio sandwiched two 3s around a traditional three-point play by Olivia DeFrancesco and a 3-point field goal by Cameron Nieters.

Those points all came in a 15-0 run that stunned the Jaguars, who had the lead for 26½ of the game’s 32 minutes.

The Villains in question are from Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School of Kernersville, North Carolina – my alma mater.  They have just won an unbelievable eight state 1-A girls basketball championships….in a row. I wrote about them two years ago when they tied the state record for consecutive championships at six and then last year when they made it seven in a row. I really never thought that I’d be writing about them winning an eighth straight championship. They didn’t win their conference and were only ranked 11th out of 96 teams in the 1-A division by MaxPreps. They had to play their way into the Western Regional championships where they were the 4th seed.

I’ll let Coach Brian Robinson finish this for me.

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The Weapons Of The Óglaigh na hÉireann

March 17, 2013 by 1 Comment

On this St. Patrick’s Day, what better post for a gun blog than to highlight the weapons of the Irish Defence Force, or in Irish, Óglaigh na hÉireann.

The primary firearm of the Irish Army is the Steyr AUG A1. They adopted this rifle in 1988. Part of the rationale behind adopting this weapon was that it was chambered in 5.56×45. Adoption of a rifle in this round put them on par with most of the armies of the West.

Rounding out the weapons at the platoon level are the M203 grenade launcher made by Diemaco of Canada and the FN MAG 58 general purpose machine gun from FN Herstal. They also are equipped with the AT-4 SRAAW disposable rocket launcher from Saab’s FFV Ordnance.

In the Irish Army, a company is composed of three rifle platoons and a weapons platoon. The weapons platoon is broken down into three sections centered around the platoon’s weapons. First, there is the machine gun section which uses a tripod-mounted FN Herstal FN MAG in 7.62×51. It is called the GPMG SF in the Irish Army. The SF stands for sustained fire.

The second section is a light mortar section using the South African Vektor M1 60mm mortar. This mortar is in use by both the South African Defence Force and the Irish Army. It can also be used with a smaller base plate and a special grip in a commando role.

The third section of the weapons platoon is arranged around the Bofors 84mm Anti-Tank Gun. It is a breech loaded and percussion fired weapon. Like the rest of the sections of the weapons platoon, the Anti-Tank Gun section is composed of three detachments.

The next level of weapons in the Irish Army is the battalion level where the weapons are both lighter and heavier than at the company level. Each battalion has three rifle companies, a HQ company, and a support company. It is this last company which provides battalion level weapons support.

The Support Company is composed of a heavy machine gun platoon, an 81mm mortar platoon, and an anti-tank platoon. Also attached to the Support Company are two Sniper Pairs or teams. The weapon of choice for the Sniper Pairs is the Accuracy International 92 sniper rifle in 7.62. This rifle is mated with a Schmidt and Bender scope. It is reported elsewhere that the Sniper Pairs have upgraded their sniper rifle to the AI AX338 in .338 Magnum.

The heavy machine gun platoon is equipped with the venerable Browning M2 .50 machine gun aka the Ma-Deuce made by FN Herstal in Belgium. The version the Irish Army uses is still equipped with iron sights. They also use the M2 as their primary air defense weapon for the battalion.

The motor platoon uses the Hotchkiss-Brandt 81mm mortar now made by Thales in France. The mortar is equipped with the C2 AI Sight and the Morfire Fire Control Computer.

The Anti-Tank platoon is equipped with the Javelin fire and forget missile system. This is produced in the US by Raytheon The Javelin can be used in either a direct attack or top attack mode.

Providing heavier firepower to the infantry battalions are the Field Artillery Regiment which is equipped with 105mm guns and the Cavalry Corps.

It should be remembered that Ireland is a small country and that the IDF is a rather small force consisting of approximately 8,500 men and women. The two brigades of the Irish Army have a tripartite mission – conventional military operations, United Nations peacekeeping forces, and as an aid to civil power. In this last role, the Ordnance Corps’ Bomb Disposal Team is often called out the the Garda (Irish Police) to disarm explosives and handle unstable chemicals.

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“Or Readily Converted”

March 16, 2013 by 2 Comments

Now that HB 1224 has been amended and passed by both houses of the Colorado legislature, a line in the bill that would effectively ban all magazines with a removable floorplate is finally being noticed. And the bill’s primary sponsor Rep. Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora) is not only not concerned about that but fully supports the broad interpretation of the law.

The relevant passage from the definitions section of the engrossed version of HB 1224 in defining what constitutes a “large capacity magazine” reads:

(I) A FIXED OR DETACHABLE MAGAZINE, BOX, DRUM, FEED STRIP, OR SIMILAR DEVICE CAPABLE OF ACCEPTING, OR THAT IS DESIGNED TO BE READILY CONVERTED TO ACCEPT, MORE THAN FIFTEEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION

Say, for example, that you had a standard Glock 19 magazine that hold 15 rounds. You think that it is legal if this law is signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) and could be readily transferred. However, you can put a Pearce Grip magazine extension on it which adds two more rounds. That 15 round magazine was just readily converted to a 17 round magazine and is illegal under the law as written.

Denver’s 9 News investigated and concluded the above example is a correct interpretation of the law. Moreover, when they interviewed Rep. Fields, she agreed. She also suggested that people could either get existing non-convertible 10 round magazines or that manufacturers would make 15 round magazines for sale in Colorado. She lives in a dreamland if you believes the latter.

Michael Bane has an extended discussion of this in this week’s DownRange Radio podcast. You can listen to it here. It explains why he is setting up a gun trust to protect himself.

Under Colorado law, Gov. Hickenlooper has two weeks to veto the bill. His veto must be an affirmative act – just refusing to sign the bill will let it go into effect.

You still have time to contact Hickenlooper using this link. He portrays himself as pro-business and now it is time for him to put up or shut up.

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Logistics Wins Wars

March 16, 2013 by

The Complementary Spouse’s uncle sent me the video below. It describes the Allied effort in World War II to get gasoline from Great Britain to the front in continental Europe. It was called Operation Pluto for Pipe Lines Under the Ocean.

Mike Vanderboegh recently had a post about the importance of logistics for the Russian Army in their Chechnya campaign. It was based upon an article that had appeared in the Marine Corps Gazette. The article found that the Russians struggled in their battle due to their logistical problems.

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For Reloaders

March 16, 2013 by 3 Comments

Once Fired 7.62 NATO brass

My favorite military surplus dealer, Old Grouch’s Military Surplus, just got in some once fired 7.62 NATO and 5.56×45 brass. I picked up a box of 500 of the 7.62 brass today. Tim is selling it for $99.95 a box.

After examining the headstamps, I found brass from Lake City (LC), PMC (PSD) in South Korea, and 205th Arsenal in Taiwan. This was all US military sourced brass. Tim has compared the weight of the non-US made brass and it was equal to that from the Lake City Ammo Plant.

When I purchased my brass this afternoon, they only had about 16 boxes left that were not spoken for. They also had quite a few boxes of the 5.56 brass. Contact Tim for more info on the 5.56 brass.

Jamison Brass and Ammo

I came across this company from a reloading list to which I belong. Jamison Brass is now a division of Captech International.

What caught my eye is the range of obscure brass that they produced. It isn’t often that you can find brass in such calibers as .256 Newton or .303 Savage.

It gets even better if you are a hunter of African big game and have one of the old African big game rifles. They offer brass in such calibers as .577 Nitro Express, .375 Flanged Magnum, .416 Rigby, and .500 Jeffrey. Michael Bane can even get his .450-400 Nitro Express 3″ brass for his safari to Africa.

Knowing that I can get brass for some of these calibers may make me look twice at old guns up for auction like a Savage 99 in .303 Savage Moreover, it will let some of them be put back into action for hunting or sport and that is good.

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“Jumped-Up Refugee From A Zoning Board”

March 15, 2013 by 2 Comments

The title of this post comes from a description of Sen. Dianne Feinsten (D-CA) made by Tam in a post back in February. I loved it then and I especially love it now that DiFi is all butt hurt over the eloquent thrashing she took from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.

Ted Cruz asked DiFi whether she thought Congress could likewise limit the right of the people under the 1st and 4th Amendments as she is seeking to do with her Assault Weapons Ban of 2012. As you can see in the video below, DiFi gets all huffy about it. Three male Democrats also have to jump in because it seems that they are worried that a woman can’t make a strong enough argument or so it would seem.

After the committee business meeting, DiFi had to run to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to wrap the mantle of victimhood across her shoulders. She said, “Well, I just felt patronized. I felt he was somewhat arrogant about it.” CNN is still playing the clip below of DiFi whining about her treatment as I saw just this morning on TV in a local McDonalds.

Did DiFin really say she put her fingers in the wounds of George Moscone and Harvey Milk? Hmnm. I wonder when DiFi will get around to telling people that fellow Supervisor Dan White didn’t use an AR or an AK or even an FN-FAL to murder them. No, Dan White used a S&W Model 10 in .38 Special – a plain old everyday revolver then used by police forces around the country.

20 years in the Senate and 9 years as the accidental mayor of San Francisco still doesn’t make one a expert on Constitutional matters. Nor does it seem to engender any real respect for it either. She is, and will always remain, what Tam described her as – a meddling harpy and a jumped-up refugee from a zoning board.