Voted Most Likely

Courtesy of Patrick Henry HS

Most senior class superlatives are voted on before you actually graduate from high school. The young man above, a graduate of Patrick Henry High School, Class of 1967, was given a superlative long after graduation.

According to Dan Casey, a pundit with the Roanoke Times, he was awarded the Best Pay Raise for a Patrick Henry High School Graduate.

If the young man looks somewhat familiar, picture him at age 70 wearing frameless glasses and a very expensive navy blue suit.

John Correia’s Analysis Of The Church Shooting In Texas

John Correia of Active Self Protection is both a trainer and a former church pastor. His analysis of Sunday’s active shooter event in the church in White Settlement, Texas should be mandatory viewing for every church security team.

Key takeaways include having a plan, knowing who is in charge of the team, muzzle discipline, marksmanship practice, and the ability to draw quickly from a holster and make the shot. There is a lot more in this 10 minute video and I’d encourage you to watch it multiple times.

One other thing – Shannon Watts is an imbecile if she thinks any law banning firearms in a church would have stopped a murderer intent on killing churchgoers.

Know The Enemy – Letitia James

Letitia James is the Attorney General of New York. She recently published her 2019 Year in Review. Reading through this 62 page report gives you some indication of her attitudes and intentions towards gun owners and gun rights groups.

Michael Bane often says on his podcast that if someone says they plan to do you harm, take them at their word. James said in her campaign platform she intended to investigate the charitable status of the NRA. Indeed, that was the number one item on her bullet list dealing with “gun violence” (sic).

As we know, her office has followed through on that threat. The letter that prefaces her 2019 Year in Review noted that she had “opened an investigation into the NRA’s charitable practices “.

Pages 43 and 44 deal with her plans regarding firearms.

Gun violence is a public health epidemic in New York and across the nation. Every loss of life and injury from gun violence is a devastating reminder of our shared responsibility to face this crisis head on and to support the communities that have suffered from its effects. Attorney General James is committed to catching criminals who traffic illegal weapons onto our streets, and holding them accountable. She has taken legal action to protect states’ rights to enact common sense gun safety regulations, including leading a multistate coalition to protect New York’s right to implement these critical measures, which is currently being heard by the United States Supreme Court. She has also partnered with law enforcement agencies across the state to host gun buyback programs and get illegal guns out of our communities. She will continue to pursue every avenue available to reduce gun violence in New York.

By stating that the criminal misuse of a firearm is a “public health epidemic”, James conveniently sidesteps criminal justice steps targeted at the violent criminal actors. Criminal justice is actually not high on her radar if you read the highlights of her annual report. It appears she is more interested in abortion rights, climate change, and protecting New Yorkers “regressive Federal policies” of the Trump Administration than even “gun violence” (sic).

I find it interesting that she resorts to “states’ rights” to defend the repressive gun control laws in her state which leave the poorest at the mercy of criminals. John C. Calhoun would be proud of her use of states’ right to defend the indefensible. He used it to defend slavery and she uses it to defend the denigration of the right to keep and bear arms.

With regard to so-called “ghost guns”, she devotes a whole paragraph to them

The New York Attorney General’s Office was the first law enforcement agency in the nation to charge people for selling so-called ghost guns, or guns that are manufactured from parts sold over the Internet. These guns do not have serial numbers, so they are untraceable by law enforcement. Continuing on these enforcement efforts, in September 2019, Attorney General James directed 16 websites to cease and desist selling nearly complete assault weapons to consumers in New York. Attorney General James will continue to go after those that skirt the law to manufacture illegal and deadly assault weapons.

She then goes on to tout her support for gun buybacks.

Our neighborhoods are safer when unwanted firearms are off our streets and out of our homes. Attorney General James’ Gun Buyback Program provides a safe option for New Yorkers to get rid of guns they do not want, on a “no questions asked” basis. In 2019, Attorney General James partnered with local law enforcement agencies to host 24 gun buyback events at houses of worship and community centers all across the state. As a result of these events, the office recovered over 2,700 guns.

So in one paragraph she opines that “ghost guns” are unserialized making them untraceable by law enforcement. Then she proudly states she provided a safe option to get rid of guns people didn’t want on a no questions asked basis. I can’t be the only one to see the contradiction here. She is against guns being untraceable but is OK with guns actually used in violent crimes not being able to be traced to the violent criminal.

Finally, for some reason, she lumps police body cameras in with her section of “gun violence” (sic).

I guess when New Yorkers elected James they felt they were electing someone who wouldn’t engage in domestic violence like her predecessor nor hire prostitutes like her penultimate predecessor. That was kind of a low bar that even Tish James could hurdle.

SHOT Show Is Coming

The SHOT Show will start on January 21st in Las Vegas. It is the firearms industry’s annual trade show where they exhibit their wares to gun dealers, interested government purchasers, and the media.

Preceding the SHOT Show is Industry Day at the Range. Yehuda Remer (the PewPewJew), Shane Thurston, and I will be attending as a team.

If there is something you want us to try out at Range Day, let us know in the comments. With three people covering it, we should be able to get to most of the exhibitors.

Here is a list of SHOT Show exhibitors. If there is something from the main show that you would like us to check out, we’ll do our best.

With it being an election year and with the industry trying to come out of the “Trump Slump”, I anticipate there will be quite a number of new introductions. We have already seen Glock release their G-44 in .22 LR and Ruger release a number of new firearms including the Custom Shop Super GP100 Competition Revolver and a Custom Shop SR1911 Officer-style.

Tweet Of The Day

I know this is in response to the satirical website BabylonBee but it is wonderful.

Jayne Cobb approves!

Congratulations To Ian On 2,000 Videos

Congratulations to Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons on his 2,000th video.

I know how long it took me to write 2,000 blog posts. I can’t imagine all the work that went into creating 2,000 YouTube/Full 30 videos.

I feature a lot of Ian’s Forgotten Weapons videos on this blog because a) they are interesting, b) they are educational, and c) he does a damn good job in putting them together.

You may have noticed in many of Ian’s videos filmed outside that he has quite a collection of historic-looking headgear. He goes through a large box of them in his 2,000th video below.

As for me, I have a few boonies and a ton of giveaway ball caps gathered from the SHOT Show and NRA Annual Meetings with a few fly fishing companies thrown into the mix.

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

You know you’ve made it when you get invited to do a Riding Shotgun With Charlie!

For those that don’t know, in addition to his GunGrams, Charlie Cook has done a series of YouTube videos where he and a guest from the 2A community drive around and discuss things gun and 2A related.

Charlie and I filmed this episode in Phoenix after the end of the 2019 Gun Rights Policy Conference. Also joining us was Andrew Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation who we gave a ride to the airport.

The Complementary Spouse and I watched the entire video last night. After a few awkward moments when we begin, it was good.

I hope you enjoy it. Many thanks to Charlie for having me on.

Understanding Cant

I knew that if you didn’t have your rifle perfectly level, it would affect where the bullet would actually impact. That said, I didn’t know much else about it.

This recently released video from the National Shooting Sports Foundation featuring Todd Hodnett of Accuracy 1st does a good job of explaining both the impact of cant and how to account for it when aiming.

As to shooting with the rifle 90 degrees off of center, I had never seen that before. I believe he is correct that it does have tactical applications.

Some People Will Believe Anything!

March for Our Lives, the children’s crusade against firearms, has just shown their gullibility and ignorance. If it involves guns, they will believe anything an anti-gun politician spews out.

They have retweeted an absolute lie told by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D-PA). He wants people to have the impression that it was the National Rifle Association that sued him after his autocratic redefinition of what constitutes a firearm. Shapiro knew that throwing the name “NRA”, the term “ghost guns”, and tying it into crime was red meat for your average ignorant anti-gunner.

Look at the first page of the application for an emergency preliminary injunction. That action is being brought by a Pennsylvania FFL, a New Hampshire FFL, a manufacturer and dealer in what are called 80% lowers, and the Firearms Policy Coalition. No where do you see that the NRA is involved in this case. Indeed, if you had attended the Meeting of Members at the 2019 NRA Annual Meeting, you know that that old guard had nothing but disdain for attorneys Josh Prince and Adam Kraut. Don’t forget that Marion Hammer has called Adam “the enemy within”.

Shapiro sent out his original tweet the day after the application was filed. He knew or should have known that the NRA had nothing to do with this case.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has consistently held that unfinished forgings or castings that are “completely solid and un-machined in the fire-control recess area” are not firearms and not subject to the Gun Control Act of 1968. See the attached determinations beginning on page 67 of the application for an injunction. Moreover, BATFE doesn’t even use the term “80% lower” or “80% frame” which is more of a marketing term than anything else.

As Josh Prince notes in his law firm blog, only the Pennsylvania General Assembly has the power to write law and it cannot be delegated. In other words, Shapiro’s “legal opinion” is making law and therefore invalid.

With regard to Shapiro’s claim that he is being sued by “companies that fund the @NRA”, only Polymer 80 exhibited at the most recent NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Having a booth at a national show which attracts thousands of gun owners is smart business for Polymer 80. While the NRA does gain some marginal revenue, “funding the NRA” is not Polymer 80’s purpose in being there. Just like we are all the “gun lobby”, so, too, we are all “funding the NRA” through our memberships.

Politicians and their PR flacks will say anything to push their position. Sometimes it is true. More often it is either the shading of the truth or an outright lie. I’ll let you decide what Shapiro was trying to do with his tweet.

March for Our Lives’ tweet, on the other hand, is a demonstrable lie. Like naughty children, they should be sent to their room with no TV, no phone, and no Internet to think about the consequences of their lie.

Factoid Of The Day

Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He was born in Nassawadox which is in Northampton County and was raised on a farm outside of Onancock which is in Accomack County.

According to the most current list provided by the Virginia Citizens Defense League of 2A sanctuary counties and cities, both Northampton and Accomack Counties are now 2A sanctuaries.

Northampton County’s Board of Supervisors adopted their resolution on December 10th. It referred to the protections afforded the right to keep and bear arms in both the US and Virginia Constitutions.

Northampton Co. 2A meeting

Accomack County’s Board of Supervisors adopted their resolution at their regular meeting on December 18th. It included this whereas:

WHEREAS, the Accomack County Board of Supervisors believes in the rule of law and supports the US Constitution including the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment. Each member of the Accomack County Board of Supervisors has taken an oath to “support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia”. The Accomack County Board of Supervisors takes their oath of office seriously and actively works to protect all rights guaranteed by both constitutions, including the Second Amendment

From ShoreDailyNews.Com

According to the local paper, there is a bit of a quibble about whether both Northampton and Accomack are “sanctuaries”. Both their resolutions stated their strong support for the Second Amendment and both urge state legislators not to infringe on the Second Amendment. However, they don’t come out and say they are sanctuaries.

If the sentiments of Northam’s hometown folks are any indication, Thomas Wolfe was correct. You can’t go home again.