Month: April 2013

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If I Had The Money….

April 26, 2013 by 5 Comments

I like to look over the firearms auctions on Proxibid.com on a regular basis. This week I came across an estate auction that would set the heart aflutter of most any collector.

It is from the collection of Richard Wray of Cincinnati, Ohio. I don’t know who Mr. Wray is or was other than he owned Wray Electric Company. I do know he had more Class III NFA firearms than most museums!

In addition to the more common items like a M-16, a Browning M-2, and the M-60 machine gun, the collection has stuff like a Carl Gustafs Model 1921/1924 Browning Automatic Rifle in 6.5 Swedish Mauser with Finnish Army proofs.

OK, that is a bit too pedestrian for your tastes, how about a Vickers Mark I Water-Cooled Machine Gun in .303 and retaining most of its original finish?

Nah, you say, Vickers made a lot of machine guns.  Then try a U.S. Model 1909 Benet Mercie Light Machine Gun made by Springfield Armory.

You need to check this auction out if only to see all the unusual US and foreign machine guns Mr. Wray had.

As for me, what I’d really want to bid on is the Smith and Wesson Model 76 Submachine gun which is the US copy of the Swedish K-gun. I got to shoot one a couple of years ago at the LuckyGunner Blogshoot and really liked it. It was easy to shoot and you might even still be able to get spare parts for it from Numrichs. It is also expected to sell in the 4-digit range and not the 5-digit range. Now all I would have to do is clear the NFA background check and wait…and wait.

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GRNC On Passage Of HB 937 Out Of Committee

April 25, 2013 by

As I noted in the previous post, the North Carolina State House Judiciary A Committee passed an omnibus gun rights bill out of committee today. From the report below from Grass Roots North Carolina, the gun prohibitionists tried very hard to neuter the bill but ultimately failed.

From GRNC:

Restaurant Carry Passes Committee

After lengthy debate and after rejecting numerous anti-gun amendments, the NC House Judiciary A Committee today passed House Bill 937. The bill will now head to the House floor for a vote, likely next week.

  • In its present form, HB 937 would expand concealed carry into:


  • Restaurants;

  • Assemblies of people for which admission is charged;

  • College campuses (provided firearms are kept in locked vehicles); and

  • Parking lots of state office buildings.

HB 937 would also clean up flaws in the parks carry language passed in HB 650 under which municipalities continue to flout the law by banning guns in entire parks.

During sometimes rancorous debate, Representatives Darren Jackson (D-Wake , GRNC 0-star), Deborah Ross (D-Wake, 0-star) and others proposed amendments designed to be “poison pills” for the bill. All failed. Most surprising was an amendment by Rep. Bob Steinburg (R-Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, ****) who supported the bill, but objected to provisions allowing concealed handgun permit-holders to keep firearms in locked vehicles on college campuses.

Sponsors Jacqueline Schaffer (R-Mecklenburg, ****), Justin Burr (R-Montgomery, Stanly, ****), John Faircloth (R-Guilford, ****), and George Cleveland (R-Onslow, ****) did an outstanding job of defending the bill. Addressing the committee in favor of the bill were GRNC president Paul Valone, Director of Development Josette Chmiel, and representatives for the NRA and NCRPA.

In testifying against the bill, North Carolinians “Against Gun Violence” director Gail Neely perjured herself to the committee by regurgitating a study which she claimed dealt with concealed handgun permit-holders, despite the fact that Valone had two weeks ago produced a copy of the study for her (and audience of an ACLU forum) demonstrating clearly that her claims were false.

Rep. Jackson introduced anti-gun amendment after anti-gun amendment in an attempt to “run the clock” on the bill until he was shut down by Committee Chair Rep. John Blust (R-Guilford, ****), who brought the bill to a vote.

Stay tuned for a detailed accounting of the committee action, including video.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

CONTACT YOUR HOUSE REP: Tell him to pass HB 937 as is, without weakening amendments. Find your rep Here or copy and paste: http://www.ncleg.net/representation/WhoRepresentsMe.aspx

SUPPORT GRNC: Please help by joining or contributing at: http://www.grnc.org/join-grnc/join-grnc-online

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “Pass HB937 As Is!”

Dear Representative:

I strongly urge you to not only vote for House Bill 937 (“Amend Various Gun Laws”), but to oppose any floor amendments intended to weaken the bill. The restaurant carry provisions of the bill are being practiced in forty-three states without serious problems. Virginia implemented restaurant carry two years ago, after which restaurant crime dropped by 5.2%.

Provisions for firearms in locked vehicles on campuses of higher learning is a modest first step aimed at reducing campus violence, deterring tragedies such as Virginia Tech and keeping thousands of lawful North Carolinians from becoming accidental felons.

I look forward to hearing of your support and will monitor this issue via Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully,

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Great News Out Of Raleigh

April 24, 2013 by 3 Comments

The NC State House’s Judiciary A Committee approved a measure this afternoon that would significantly expand gun rights in North Carolina. HB 937 would allow (among other things) concealed carry holders to have firearms on university and community college campuses so long as they were locked in their vehicles.

Representatives of the National Rifle Association, Grass Roots North Carolina and other gun owner rights groups endorsed the bill during the committee hearing, saying it granted changes long sought by gun owners.

“With respect to the campus provisions on this bill, frankly, it’s more limited than we wanted,” said Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots North Carolina, adding that his group still supported the bill. “The entire purpose of this is deterrence. We are looking at deterring violent sociopaths from crimes on campuses.”

The campus provision applies to all public community college and university campuses in the state. Independent colleges and universities would have the choice of whether to allow firearms on campus but would have to post a prohibition.

This is great news. Current law makes it a felony to have a firearm on university and community college campuses regardless of whether you hold a NC Concealed Handgun Permit or not.

The bill would also allow carry in restaurant and eating establishments that serve alcohol as well as clarify the General Assembly’s intent on park carry.

I have more on this bill later this evening as I’m heading out to an appointment now.

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More On The Sale Of The Freedom Group

April 24, 2013 by 2 Comments

Last week was somewhat consumed with the vote on Manchin-Toomey and the Boston Marathon bombings. The Wall Street Journal ran a couple of stories about the sale of the Freedom Group by Cerberus. You may remember that Cerberus put the Freedom Group up for sale in December after the Newtown shootings in response to pressure from some major pension funds who were investors.

In the first story dated April 16th, the Journal reports that a bid group is being formed by Stephen Feinberg and other partners in Cerberus. The rationale behind this is to provide a floor in the auction price for Freedom Group in order to prevent lowball offers.

Mr. Feinberg, Cerberus’s co-founder and chief executive, and other partners, using their own money, are looking to team up with other investors to place a bid for Freedom Group, the people said. The Cerberus partners would have a minority financial position in the group, according to the people. The partners are reaching out to other wealthy individuals and families to join the bid, the people said.

Cerberus would then form a special committee of investors of the private-equity firm who, along with the Cerberus board, would evaluate any bids. The bidding partners wouldn’t be part of that review process. The Cerberus group would withdraw from the bidding if a suitor tops its offer by 10% or more, the people said. The group wouldn’t receive a breakup fee.

That story also reports that 16 potential bidders have looked at the Freedom Group’s financials. The auction is being run by investment bank Lazard Ltd.

A follow-up story in the Wall Street Journal revealed some of the potential bidders for the Freedom Group who have examined the company’s financial information.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. and Sturm, Ruger & Co. have asked for detailed information on Freedom Group, the people said. Alliant Techsystems Inc., an aerospace and defense company that also makes ammunition and firearms accessories, has also expressed interest, they said.

While both Ruger and S&W are firearms manufacturers, this would mark the first move into firearms manufacturing for Alliant Techsystems. ATK currently makes Federal and Estate ammunition along with Alliant powder and a whole host of components such as Speer and CCI. While not mentioned, I think it would be conceivable that FN-Herstal which manufactures both Winchester and Browning sporting arms might be interested as well.

UPDATE: Frank W. James has a very perceptive comment over at SayUncle regarding the interest shown by Ruger, ATK, and S&W in the Freedom Group. In essence, they are using the opportunity to examine Freedom Group’s books not to buy the company but to compare their costs to those of Freedom Group. In other words, they are getting competitive intelligence for free.

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Short And To The Point

April 24, 2013 by

My friend Rev. Kenn Blanchard, the Black Man with a Gun, just posted a short animated message with thoughts about gun control in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. I think it gets the point across that gun control kills. It leaves the good people defenseless while doing nothing to stop terrorists, thugs, and assorted other criminals from obtaining weapons.

I think Kenn’s message needs to be shared far and wide.

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Something To Start Your Day

April 24, 2013 by 3 Comments

I need a cup of coffee to start the morning. Without it, I start dragging by mid-morning and begin caffeine withdrawal soon thereafter.

The video below is about how to make coffee when you are camping. However, you could use the same methods if you’ve lost power or having to bug out due to a disaster natural or otherwise. As long as you can heat water, you can make coffee regardless of whether you go with instant, French press, or the cowboy method.


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What’s The Constitution Worth To A Billionaire?

April 23, 2013 by 1 Comment

The answer to that headline is not much if the billionaire in question is New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

At a press conference held in conjunction with the Conde Nast Celebrates Editorial Excellence: Toast To Editors, Writers And Contributors event, Bloomberg said that our interpretation of the Constitution must change “to allow for greater security” to stave off events like the Boston Marathon bombing.

From the Observer.com’s Politicker column:

“The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry,” Mr.
Bloomberg said during a press conference in Midtown. “But we live in a
complex word where you’re going to have to have a level of security
greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws
and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”

I, for one, prefer the “olden days” before we had America’s scold and nanny as mayor of New York City.

Never one to miss a chance to push gun control and show his disdain for the Second Amendment, he had to add comments about guns.

The mayor pointed to the gun debate and noted the courts have allowed for increasingly stringent regulations in response to ever-more powerful weapons.

“Clearly the Supreme Court has recognized that you have to have different interpretations of the Second Amendment and what it applies to and reasonable gun laws … Here we’re going to to have to live with reasonable levels of security,” he said, pointing to the use of magnetometers to catch weapons in city schools.

“It really says something bad about us that we have to do it. But our obligation first and foremost is to keep our kids safe in the schools; first and foremost, to keep you safe if you go to a sporting event; first and foremost is to keep you safe if you walk down the streets or go into our parks,” he said. “We cannot let the terrorists put us in a situation where we can’t do those things. And the ways to do that is to provide what we think is an appropriate level of protection.”

I know some of the wealthy are somewhat arrogant just like many politicians are arrogant. However, when you cross extremely wealthy with politician you get a special kind of arrogance and Mike Bloomberg is the epitome of it.

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MrColionNoir To Biden – “At The End Of The Day, You Don’t Have The Credentials”

April 23, 2013 by

MrColionNoir is starting to grow on me. I’m not hip nor urban nor, unfortunately, young any more but I can still appreciate the way he can communicate a message in effective and simple terms. I think it was a brilliant move by the NRA to add him to their stable of commentators on gun issues.

In his latest, he takes direct aim at the use of the buzzwords “responsible” and “reasonable” by the Obama Administration to push background checks. He then turns to Vice-President Joe Biden and Biden’s advice on guns and gun safety. It gets even better from there.