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Tomorrow Is The Day

September 9, 2013 by

While the recall elections in Colorado Springs and Pueblo are actually under way, tomorrow is the official election day. It will be the day where the rest of America will see if Bloomberg can successfully buy the legislatures of western states to further his anti-gun jihad and whether there will be any accountability for those legislators who traded the Constitution for money.

Ginny Simone reports for in a special for NRA News on the recall elections. She has interviews with many of the average guys who said enough was enough. People like Victor Head of Pueblo who is a plumber and Rob Harris of Colorado Springs along with El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa who is a plaintiff in the Federal lawsuit against the new gun laws.

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Quote Of The Day

September 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

The Colorado Springs Gazette estimates that Colorado Springs along with Pueblo have gotten a 500% return on their investment. The investment to which they refer is the cost of holding the recall elections for Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Senator Angela Giron (D-Pueblo). The return comes from all the out of state money donated to their campaigns by the likes of Michael Bloomber, Eli Broad, and others of their ilk that is being spent on campaign advertising. The editors note that these donors want Morse to continue his ideological agenda which is “averse to community interests”.

After pointing out that the recall proponents are operating on a shoe-string budget, the contributions from the NRA and Americans for Prosperity notwithstanding, they conclude:

Despite his enormous advantage in out-of-state money from special interests and left-wing billionaires, the “Whole Lot of People for John Morse” Facebook page asks us to “fight back against the NRA and Koch Brothers!”

Don’t be fooled. If big out-of-state money buys our community’s elections, Morse wins by a landslide. The good news: Either way, the election is not an expense to Colorado Springs. It is more like manna from heaven, even when Morse defenders ship cash to the best political operatives Chicago’s political machine can provide.

Remember – the only reason there is even a recall is because Bloomberg bought the votes of the Democrats in the Colorado legislature on gun control through a combination of money and the threat of primaries.

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Monthly Contests

September 7, 2013 by

Since it takes so little to injure the feelings of the gun prohibitionists and cause hysteria, here is something else – free guns!

Aaron at Weapon-Blog has his list of contests in which you can win free guns and accessories. This month it seems tilted towards pocket guns and ARs.

In the pistol category, there are two Springfield XD-S pistols (both 9mm and .45 ACP), two Kahrs, and a Beretta Nano among other choices. In the rifle category, I count 6 AR-15s plus some very nice bolt rifles. Finally, if you want a new Mossberg shotgun, they have four listed including two Thunder Ranch 500s. Finally, there are just a ton of contests with all sorts of accessories ranging from Crimson Trace lasers to holsters to night vision devices.

If you come across any other contest or giveaway involving firearms, let Aaron know at the link on his site.

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As If Coloradans Needed Another Reason To Vote For Recall

September 6, 2013 by 3 Comments

If Coloradans needed another reason to vote to recall the odious Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and his anti-gun compatriot Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo), here is one you’ve probably not considered. If either or both survive the recall elections, they are each eligible under Colorado law to collect 10 cents per vote cast.

If everyone registered to vote in Morse’s El Paso County Senate District 11 actually voted, then Morse — with a victory — could be reimbursed $6,901.For Giron, whose Pueblo Senate District 3 has 81,846 registered voters, she could receive $8,100 in reimbursement cash.

Morse and Giron, who face recalls for their support of Colorado gun laws passed this year by the Democrat-controlled legislature, would have 60-days after the date of the recall election to file a request with the state.

“It’s just not something we’re going to look to do,” said Kjersten Forseth, a consultant to both the Morse and Giron recall campaigns. “The taxpayers are already being forced to pay for these unnecessary recalls, and we’re not going to look to punish them.”

Given the amount of money that the incumbents have received from the likes of Mayor Bloomberg and LA billionaire Eli Broad, it is pocket change.

Their consultant did say it might be different if the money was coming from the organizers of the recall petitions. However, she went on to add, “that’s not at all democratic.”

I find that last comment rather rich considering Sen. Morse’s own comments to Rachel Maddow shown below in which he told Democrats in the State Senate to ignore their constituents when it came to voting to abridge their Second Amendment rights.

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Interesting Choice For Stag Arms – Houston or Myrtle Beach?

September 5, 2013 by 13 Comments

Mark Malkowski, President of Stag Arms, has an interesting choice to make. According to an announcement he made this past Friday, Malkowski has narrowed the choice for where Stag expands to either Houston, Texas or the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina. The ultimate decision will be made by the end of this month.

“South Carolina is very competitive,” Mark Malkowski said of what the state has to offer his company versus that put forward by the Lone Star State. “At this point, we’re spending our time evaluating the offers.”

 Assuming both states come up with comparable financial incentives, what advantages would Houston offer over Horry County (the H is silent)?

Houston would offer two major airports, two major universities with engineering schools, a number of technically skilled workers available with the downsizing of NASA, and all the amenities of a major metropolitan area including world-class healthcare facilities. The downside is that property taxes are higher, real estate and rents are more expensive, and, most importantly, wages tend to be higher. The overall cost of living as calculated by numerous cost of living calculators is about the same.

What about Myrtle Beach and Horry County?

First and foremost, it is closer to Connecticut. That was one of the deciding factors for PTR Industries when they relocated to Horry County.Workers that relocated from Connecticut are still within a long day’s driving distance of their relatives up north. Horry County officials are hoping that works in their favor.

Brad Lofton, CEO of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp., agreed that Horry County compares favorably in most areas with Texas, but hoped that Horry’s proximity to Stag’s Connecticut plant, quality of life and short distance to customers in Columbia and elsewhere in the Southeast could be the points that will sell Malkowski.

Both states have supportive Republican governors, good gun laws, and a welcoming business climate. Ultimately, I think it will come down to the intangibles such as quality of life. In other words, do they want to live at the beach or live in a major metropolis?

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Ruger Finalizes Purchase Of NC Plant

September 4, 2013 by 2 Comments

Ruger announced yesterday that they had completed the purchase of the former Unifi plant in Mayodan, North Carolina.

September 03, 2013

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE-RGR) announced today that it has finalized the purchase of a 220,000 square foot facility in Mayodan, North Carolina. This is the Company’s first major expansion in over 25 years, and production at the new facility is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2014.

In conjunction with Ruger’s announcement, the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners approved their package of incentives for Ruger and the Mayodan Town Council is expected to do the same next Monday.

As part of their deal, the town of Mayodan and Rockingham County officials had to offer incentives to the company.

Rockingham County Commissioners approved incentives in the amount of $942,000, Tuesday night.

Mayodan has scheduled a public meeting for September 9 on their incentives offer to Ruger. Town officials are offering $823,000.

The company won’t receive any incentives until 2015 and it will be over a 14 year period.

The manager of the new Ruger plant, Mickey Wilson, said at the commissioners’ meeting that Ruger wanted to be in Rockingham County.

“We sought Rockingham County,” Wilson said. “It was all based on available real estate at the beginning and through our diligence process we found that the workforce was equally as good as the available real estate.”

“Plus we’re big on Second-Amendment rights,” said Vice Chariman Craig Travis.

 There is no word yet on exactly what firearms will be made at the Mayodan plant. However, some production will be shifted from the Newport, NH plant to Mayodan according to the plant manager.

Mickey Wilson, the plant manager, said the company will shift two production lines from Ruger’s New Hampshire plant, with the other lines being dedicated to new products and designs. The initial hiring will include production workers, tool makers and engineers for manufacturing and product design.

“We are planning for a soft opening in the first quarter, but we would like to go full force as quickly after that as we can,” Wilson said.

Just last week, Ruger announced their new Ruger American Rimfire rifle. This was the first new firearm introduced by Ruger since January at the SHOT Show. I’m sure they have more designs ready to go and are only waiting for the production lines to be set up in Mayodan.

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The Streak Had To Be Broken Sometime

September 3, 2013 by 6 Comments

After 38 straight months of increases in the NSSF-adjusted NICS checks when compared to the same month a year previously, the streak has ended. The NSSF-adjusted NICS checks for the month of August 2013 were 2.5% lower than August 2012.

The August 2013 NSSF-adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) figure of 1,016,559 is a decrease of 2.5 percent compared to the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,042,924 in August 2012. For comparison, the unadjusted August 2013 NICS figure of 1,408,468 reflects a 7.0 percent decrease from the unadjusted NICS figure of 1,514,696 in August 2012.

This NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,016,559, while being a 2.5 percent decrease from the NSSF-adjusted NICS figure of 1,042,924 in August 2012, is an increase of 24.6 percent over checks in August 2011.

The streak of increases began in May 2010.

It should be noted that NICS checks are not a perfect correlation with firearm sales. This is because a number of states such as Connecticut and Utah use the NICS database to perform background checks on applicants for concealed carry permits as well as existing holders.

As to the streak being broken, we saw signs of the slowing last month. While ammo is still in relatively short supply, you can find a full gun case including AR-15s at most Walmarts.

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Well, It Does Have Rifles In It

September 2, 2013 by 3 Comments

The Halo 4 Global Championship Finals were held this weekend in Seattle in conjunction with PAX Prime 2013. The event was hosted by Microsoft in Benaroya Hall. Over 140 gamers from around the world who had qualified for the event were competing for $500,000 in prize money with $200,000 going to the winner.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, the Complementary Spouse’s nephews are big gamers and play Halo. Her 20-year old nephew Aaron – gamer name LX Ace XL – is a junior at the University of Kentucky majoring in chemical engineering.

We found out that “Ace” made it to the semi-finals earlier today. Then we found out that he made it to the finals and a chance to play for $200,000. At the very least, he would take home $75,000 for second place. “Ace” would be going up against “Pistola” who has been one of the top Halo players for the last few years and widely considered the favorite in the tournament.

The format of the finals was a head to head, one on one, match-up with the player getting the most kills in 10 minutes the winner. If it ended in a tie, then a second round would be played with the first player getting a kill declared the winner. It was the ultimate of sudden death playoffs in the gaming world.
 

So when all was said and done, “Ace” or Aaron won. He turned out to be the quicker and better shot at the end.

He goes home with $200,000.

He gets publicly congratulated by his older brother Kyle – a top player in his own right under the name Elamite Warrior.

And, he gets a nice hug from the hotty announcer Jessica Chobot.

Not a bad for an afternoon in Seattle. So congratulations to Aaron for a game well-played and for being an all-around nice guy.

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Hornady On Ammo Availability

August 31, 2013 by

Steve and Jason Hornady of ammo maker Hornady Manufacturing released a YouTube video this week discussing the ammo shortage. In their own humorous way, they showed that they really are working 24/7 on getting ammo out the door. Their parody intro is really good. It’s great to see a company that isn’t so stuck up on itself.

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Move Over Mark Harmon, Here Comes Andy Traver

August 31, 2013 by 3 Comments

Actor Mark Harmon, in this role as Agent Jethro Gibbs, is probably the name most associated with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service or NCIS. That may change with the selection of our old friend Andrew Traver to head NCIS.


Traver was selected by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus on Friday to become the Director of NCIS. Unlike promotions to admiral and other high civilian posts, the Director of NCIS does not need Senate confirmation.

“Andrew Traver is absolutely the right person to lead the NCIS,” said Mabus. “His strong law enforcement background and experience make him the ideal choice to guide NCIS in preventing and solving crimes and helping to counter those who would do us harm. As a former Naval officer, he understands the Navy and Marine Corps and the evolving security issues we face today.”

 Traver is currently the SAC of the BATFE’s Denver Field Division and was previously the SAC of the Chicago Field Division. We in the gun community know Mr. Traver as Obama’s failed nominee to head BATFE as well as being an anti-gunner.

The Obama Administration is famous for throwing people under the bus and Traver was one of those. After B. Todd Jones was named Acting Director of BATFE, it was clear that Traver would never get the post of Director. This post as Director of NCIS may be his consolation prize for being a loyalist and keeping his mouth shut during the whole time he was being considered for BATFE Director.

Since Secretary of the Navy Mabus is using Traver’s former service as a Naval officer as part of the rationale for appointing him to be head of NCIS, I think it is fair to ask more questions about his service. According to the questionnaire he submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he only served in the Navy from November 1985 until May 1987.

United
States
Navy
(Newport,
Rhode
Island;
Coronado,
California;
San
Diego,
California;
Pearl
Harbor,
Hawaii/USS
Benjamin
Stoddert;
Glenview,
Illinois),
Commissioned
Officer/O-l
Ensign
(November
1985-May
1987);

The questionnaire also reports that he left the Navy early as an Ensign with a “Hardship Discharge/Resignation”.  The normal service commitment is 3 to 5 years for Naval officers. As I said back in 2010, I wondered why he left a growing Navy that needed officers for its planned 600 ship Navy to join a local police department and then a backwater Treasury Department agency. It still would be interesting to know what the “hardship” was that allowed Traver to leave the Navy before fulfilling his normal service commitment. Given that he won’t be going through a confirmation hearing I doubt we’ll ever know.