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Move Over Brownells

August 19, 2015 by 1 Comment

Brownells is my go-to place to get firearm parts. They, along with a few others, usually have everything I need. Well, thanks to a post on The Firearm Blog, I may be revising my choice on where to get gun parts.

I’m thinking it just might be Lowes. That’s because they a good selection of staple guns.

Staple guns and firearms? Huh?

I would have said the same until I saw this video by Clint Westwood who used a staple gun as the basis for a 4-shot .410 shotgun.

He calls it the Kaulkinator and has a photo log of the building process here.

You can see the Kaulkinator or K-441 in action in the video below. If you think about it, this could be the Liberator pistol of our generation. I really like what Cody Wilson is doing with Defense Distributed but this is even easier and you don’t need a 3-D printer.

As to the legality of it, so long as the barrels are rifled, then it would be classified as a pistol just like the Taurus Judge. Otherwise, it would be a short-barreled shotgun and fall into the NFA realm. However, if the world goes to hell in a handbasket and we fall into a period of SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, or WOL, then who cares.

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Trijicon MRO Takes Aim At Aimpoint

August 17, 2015 by 5 Comments

For years, Aimpoint has been the go-to company if you wanted a small, rifle-mounted red dot scope with ultralong battery life. Now Trijicon is has released their MRO (Miniature Rifle Optic) which seems to be directly aimed at the Micro T-1 and Micro T-2.

Trijicon is claiming a 5 year battery life. If you look at the picture above of the MRO, you can see that it is is cone-shaped and not tubular. Trijicon claims this makes for faster target acquisition and better situational awareness.

The scope isn’t cheap. The MSRP is $579 without the mount which costs in the $50-60 range depending upon height but it is still slightly cheaper than the Aimpoint product. That said, if it is like any Trijicon product, it will be well made and rugged.

I don’t see this new red dot as a game changer but I do see it as giving the customer more choices for small, ultra-rugged, military-grade red dot optics. If you prefer to buy American-made products, the MRO is made in the US while the Aimpoints are assembled in Sweden with some US parts.

Travis Haley has a first look review of it in this video.

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DC Is Having To Pay $75,000 In Attorneys’ Fees In Palmer Case

August 14, 2015 by 2 Comments

Thanks to the District of Columbia City Council and their anti-gun policies the taxpayers of the District are having to shell out $75,000 in legal fees to the Second Amendment Foundation. This is a result of their having lost Palmer v. District of Columbia and the award of attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs.

From the Legal Times:

(Alan) Gura, of Gura & Possessky, represented the plaintiffs who challenged the ban. He asked the court to award $54,720 in fees and costs in August 2014, but he continued to rack up billable hours while the city contested Scullin’s ruling and the two sides fought over whether the city had complied with the judge’s decision. In June, the parties told Scullin that they were attempting to reach an agreement on fees.

Notice of the settlement was filed with the court late Thursday. Gura declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.

In the aftermath of Scullin’s decision in the firearms case, Palmer v. District of Columbia, the city adopted regulations for residents who wished to apply for a permit to carry concealed firearms. Gura is challenging those regulations in a pending case, Wrenn v. District of Columbia.

While I feel for the taxpayers of DC, I take heart in the fact that there are many gun prohibitionists like Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) who live in the District.

You can read the agreement at the link to the Legal Times above.

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A Big Thank You To All Who Contributed

August 12, 2015 by

When I posted my plea for some help with The Polite Society Podcast’s GoFundMe campaign on Monday, we were short of our goal by $275.

Thanks to those who contributed as well as those who shared the post, we surpassed our goal by early Tuesday. The excess amount will be donated to the Second Amendment Foundation.

From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of all of us at The Polite Society Podcast I’d like to thank all who helped make this effort possible. Stay tuned for more details on how you can watch the live stream from the 2015 GRPC that you made possible.

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Highest July NICS Checks On Record

August 11, 2015 by 2 Comments

The National Shooting Sports Foundation adjusted NICS checks for July 2015 were just released today. They show the highest numbers for a July on record.

According to the release from the NSSF, there were 946,528 checks as adjusted. This was a 15.9% increase over July 2014. Going back to the July 2013 numbers which were the highest for July until now, the NSSF reported 855,259 checks as adjusted. Thus, July 2015 represented a 10.67% increase over the 2013 figure.


While 2014 was a bit of mixed bag, it appears that 2015, for the most part, is starting to show increases over the prior year’s statistics.



It is important to note that NICS checks are not a perfect correlation with gun sales. States such Iowa, Michigan, and Kentucky use the NICS system for background checks on both new and existing concealed carry permits. Moreover, in a number of states such as North Carolina, a concealed carry permit is accepted in lieu of running the NICS check.

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A Little Help, Please

August 10, 2015 by

As many of you know, I’m also a co-host of The Polite Society Podcast. We have a project that needs your help. We, in conjunction with the New Jersey Second Amendment Society and Ammoland.com, are going to live stream the 2015 Gun Rights Policy Conference.

This is the annual event held by the Second Amendment Foundation which brings together speakers from around the country to discuss all aspects related to the advancement of Second Amendment rights. The event is free to attend.

However, you still have to get there. Last year, many people who would have attended couldn’t get there because a suicidal FAA employee disrupted air traffic around the country by cutting cables in a major radar facility outside Chicago. I know I got caught in that mess and couldn’t get to Chicago even after I drove to another airport.

Then there is the cost of getting to the conference. If you live in Phoenix, then you don’t have worry about it. In my case, I’m having to fly so have airfare and hotel expenses.

By live streaming the conference, we are bringing the conference to you in the comfort of your home. For free. No suicidal FAA employees disrupting your travel plans. No TSA “pat-downs” to raise your blood pressure.

As I said above, we need your help to bring it off. We have a budget of $1,250 to purchase the requisite equipment and cables. We have a GoFundMe page set up for donations. As of today, we have raised $975 of that total. That leaves another $275 that we need before the mid part of September.

If 55 people were to donate $5 each or about half the cost of a movie ticket, we’d hit our goal. If 35 people were to donate $8 each or about the cost of a six-pack of craft beer, we’d beat our goal by $5. You get the idea.

Again, the link to the GoFundMe page is here. Please donate what you can. Frankly, I’d rather see a lot of smaller donations than one or two big donations because that would more accurately reflect the grassroots that make up the gun rights movement.

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McCrory Signs NC’s HB 562 Into Law

August 7, 2015 by 2 Comments

Grass Roots North Carolina is reporting that Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC) has signed HB 562 into law as of August 5th. It is now part of the 2015-2016 Session Laws. While it obviously was a compromise bill, it does contain items that will advance gun rights here in North Carolina as GRNC details below.

Now that this has become law, it is time to start thinking about the 2016-2017 session and what should be on our list to demand. The repeal of the pistol purchase permit system should be at the top of that list. Another thing I’d like to see is a uniform posting law similar to Texas’ 30.06 law. I’m sure my North Carolina readers can come up with a list of their own.

From the GRNC alert:

GOVERNOR MCCRORY SIGNS HOUSE BILL 562
Governor
Pat McCrory signed the GRNC-backed Omnibus Gun Legislation House
Bill 562 into law yesterday. We want to thank Governor McCrory for
signing this bill, as well as NC Representatives Jacqueline Shaffer
(R-105); Justin
Burr (R-67); George Cleveland (R-14); as well as Senator Jeff Tarte
(R-41) for their efforts in getting this bill passed with the strongest
language
possible. Most of all, we’d like to thank you for your support of GRNC.
Without you, we cannot continue to our tireless work to defend your 2nd
Amendment rights.

Among the victories for gun owners in North Carolina:

  • Expanded campus carry (and giving an affirmative defense for defensive gun use on campus)
  • Reduced penalties for
    carriage onto posted premises Expanded sport shooting range protection
  • Reductions in arbitrary permit denials for both concealed
    handgun permits and pistol purchase permits while reducing the number of disqualifying prior offenses for those permits

  • A new cause of action against local governments which violate our statewide
    firearms preemption law

  • A requirement for sheriffs to sign Form 4s for qualified Title II applicants


  • A provision for legal resident aliens to get concealed handgun permits Short-barreled rifle
    hunting in addition to the suppressor hunting passed in 2013


Full text of the bill is available by clicking this
link.
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Why State Preemption Matters

August 7, 2015 by 1 Comment

I read two stories in the last 24 hours that reinforced why every state should have preemption on firearms issues. The gun prohibitionists oppose this saying, in essence, different laws for different locales lets us preserve our pockets of irresponsible gun control.

What makes these two stories different is that they come from red states where gun ownership is more the norm than the exception.

The first story comes from Nebraska where a judge last Friday ordered the return of a Lincoln man’s gun collection. The only problem is that the city ordinances of Lincoln won’t allow him to have them within the city. Under their city ordinances, a person convicted of a weapons charge (including knives) is forbidden to possess firearms within the city for the next 10 years.

Police confiscated 24 handguns last August from Kevin Williams, who was accused of illegally possessing them after being convicted of having an illegal pocketknife, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick said that during a 2010 traffic stop, Williams told a police officer that he had a butterfly knife. Police ticketed him for carrying a concealed weapon, because the knife was too long, and he ultimately paid a $75 fine.

Police learned four years later that Williams had purchased many guns, and his conviction on the weapons charge for the pocketknife made him ineligible to possess a gun in Lincoln for 10 years. An officer then seized Williams’ guns under a city ordinance on unlawful firearm possession.

The knife in question was a butterfly knife. The city charged Williams with unlawful firearm possession. However, he fought it in court and the city requested the charge be dismissed. The Nebraska Firearm Owners Association says this illustrates the need for consistent regulations statewide and I would agree.

The second story comes out of Idaho. In this story, an investigation of the Madison County Sheriffs’ Department shows that they used concealed carry permit fees to buy firearms for the department and for new carpeting. This came just months after the county commissioners approved a request by Sheriff Roy Klinger to increase permit fees by 38% (an additional $20) back in 2013. The sheriff had argued for the increase saying they couldn’t keep up with the demand.

Records turned over to IdahoReporter.com revealed the agency has spent more than $60,000 on expenses not directly related to concealed weapons permit administration since 2011, including two carpet purchases and one outlay for tile in the office. Klingler characterized those expenses as necessary upkeep for his agency and said his office vetted the purchases through the county’s legal team.

He also said critics focused only on larger purchases, but ignored how long his agency saved to be able to spend on the big-ticket items.

Klinger said his critics have a “nefarious” agenda and are engaging in a “hate campaign against government/law enforcement”. Interestingly, both the sheriff and his critics in the Idaho Second Amendment Association agree on permitless carry.

While Pruett and Klingler agree on permitless carry, the ISAA president said Klingler needs to take action to ease the burden on Idaho’s gun owners.

“The ISAA is here to protect Idaho gun owners and regardless of our agreement on permitless carry, we felt it necessary to bring this issue to light,” Pruett said with a nod towards Klinger’s advocacy for statewide permitless carry.

What surprises me most about the Idaho story is that there isn’t a uniform charge for a carry permit throughout the state.

Both of these stories reinforce the need for statewide preemption on firearms matters just like the arrest of a tourist at Ground Zero in New York City illustrates the need for nationwide reciprocity on carry permits.

H/T Josh and Susan

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The Devil Is In The Details

August 7, 2015 by 5 Comments

Yesterday, I reported that Maj. Gen. Max Haston, the Adjutant General of the Tennessee National Guard, had authorized the carry of firearms by Guardsmen and Air Guardsmen while on duty. That, on the face of it, was and is a great leap forward in protecting the men and women of the Tennessee Guard from terrorists of all stripes.

However, as they say, the devil is in the details. Thanks to a Tennessee blogger who wishes to remain anonymous so as to protect his source I have those details. The key points as he summarized them are:

Here are some of the restrictions:
  • The carried weapon must “meet identical or nearly identical specifications of the M9 Beretta service pistol or smaller”, and the local Commander gets to decide what that means. No revolvers or derringers.
  • .380, 9mm, .40, and .45 only
  • It must be carried in a holster that is “identical or nearly identical to the service-issued holster” worn on either the right or left hip. 
  • While not explicitly stated, it appears that open carry is not allowed.
  • You may only have one.
  • No carry in Government Vehicles or Storefront Recruiting Stations. This basically means that Recruiters–the ones being targeted–are effectively not allowed to carry.
  • You may only carry in ACUs or Class A uniforms. 
    • Class A uniform carry is only allowed if you don’t print and won’t be required or expected to remove the jacket later. 
    • ACU carry is only allowed if blouse remove is not authorized. So if you’re on kitchen duty, you’re not allowed to carry even if you don’t take off your blouse, because blouse removal is authorized in that scenario. Same thing if it’s more than 85 degrees.
  • You are carrying as authorized by the Handgun Carry Permit statutes. As such, you’re not allowed to carry in schools or businesses that post 1359 signage.
The document you are required to sign before being allowed to carry places these additional restrictions:
  • While not in the actual orders, the paper that the soldier is required to sign requires them to carry with no magazine in the weapon. I have confirmed with my source that this is, indeed, the intention of that language.
  • Only allows carry on “authorized Military Department State properties”, ie, not while in uniform (while out) in the general public.

The key document is the Personally Owned Weapons Policy, ver. 4, which I have embedded below. In addition, here is the link to the document that must be signed and to the announcement sent to members of the Tennessee Military Department (NG and ANG).

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Tennessee’s Adjutant General Gets It – Allows Licensed Carry While On Duty

August 6, 2015 by 4 Comments

Maj. Gen. Max Haston, Tennessee’s Adjutant General, gets it. He issued orders today that will allow members of the Tennessee National Guard and Air National Guard to carry while on duty at State armories and facilities if they have a valid Tennessee carry permit. He also announced the selected Guard personnel working at Federal facilities will draw and carry Federally issued firearms for protection. Finally, he has moved Army National Guard recruiters from storefront locations to local armories.

The relevant parts of the news release:

Maj. Gen. Max Haston, Tennessee’s Adjutant General, today announced that the
Military Department has taken steps to increase the security of its personnel and facilities to
include allowing Tennessee Army & Air National Guard members with valid Tennessee State
Handgun Carry Permits to carry handguns at State Armories and facilities.

Haston’s decision follows Governor Bill Haslam’s directive, issued earlier this month in the
aftermath of the deadly shootings in Chattanooga, to review current Guard personnel who are
authorized to be armed in the performance of their duties, and identify and arm Guardsmen
where necessary to protect themselves, citizens and Guard facilities.

“We have been very deliberate in making the decision to arm our Tennessee National Guard,”
said Haston. “This is not a step that we take lightly, but it is apparent that military personnel
have been targeted and the protection of our Soldiers and Airmen is of utmost importance.
Physical security and risk assessment is something that we continually do as part of our day to
day obligations.”

Haston also announced that selected Guard personnel working on Federal facilities would be
allowed to carry federally issued handguns.

“Federal law prohibits carrying a personally owned weapon on a Federal facility,” said Haston.
“Therefore, selected personnel working on Federal property will draw and carry a federally
issued firearm for protection.”

I would hope to see this spread to more states. In the meantime, kudos to Gen. Haston for taking the necessary steps to protect the men and women under his command.