NBC is actually presenting some relatively balanced reports on firearm ownership by women. This report aired on the NBC Nightly News on Sunday evening. The mandatory reports on shootings in Chicago – a city with extremely strict gun control – preface this report by Stephanie Gosk. According to a Gallup poll, firearm ownership among women has risen by a full 10 percentage points over the last eight years.
Like firearms manufacturers Ruger and Smith & Wesson, Hornady, makers of ammunition, components, and reloading equipment, has stepped up to the plate with their own gun rights letter generator. The letter is a bit different than the others but it still can be sent to Congress, the State House and Senate, and other state level officials. More importantly, unlike Ruger and Smith & Wesson, the message can be edited and you can add in your own verbiage.
I know this is not the same as a personal letter that is mailed or faxed. Nonetheless it helps build numbers and numbers are important. The Ruger letter has been sent over 4.9 million times.
Here is their basic message that you can customize as you see fit. The message is stronger and more to the point than either of the letters from Ruger and S&W.
As a voter who believes in the U.S. Constitution, I am writing to express my views on gun control legislation currently being discussed in every level of government. I am one of over 100 million law-abiding American citizens who responsibly owns firearms for target shooting, hunting, personal and home defense, and collecting. I care deeply about the Second Amendment, and I am closely monitoring legislation that would restrict my right to keep and bear arms.I am saddened by the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut, but I believe that efforts to impose new restrictions on me, a lawful and responsible gun owner, are misguided and unwarranted. The so-called “Assault Weapons Ban,” which for a decade restricted the sale of semiautomatic rifles and limited magazine capacity to ten rounds, did not reduce crime, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice. And since the expiration of the ban in 2004, violent crime has declined.
Your focus should be on real solutions to the problem of misuse of firearms, such as strengthening mental health care and improving the quality of data supporting the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
Do NOT pass more gun or magazine laws; instead, work to enforce the thousands of gun laws already on the books and help step up prosecution of criminals who commit violence and misuse firearms.
We need to be calling, faxing, and writing weekly to all of our elected representatives. We may not have the billions of Mayor Bloomberg to buy out of state congressional seats but I learned a long time ago that money, though important, isn’t everything in politics.
On some of the reloading lists that I subscribe to I’ve seen a lot of rumors about ammo and ammo component manufacturers. While this response from Hornady certainly doesn’t cover other large scale ammo/ammo components manufacturers like Remington, Federal, and Winchester, it is still good info especially with some reassurance for reloaders.
A Word on AvailabilityThe current political climate has caused extremely high demand on all shooting industry products, including ours. Empty retail shelves, long backorders, and exaggerated price increases on online auction sites – all fueled by rumors and conjecture – have amplified concerns about the availability of ammunition and firearms-related items.
If the information you hear doesn’t originate from Hornady Manufacturing, don’t believe it.
Here are some of rumors we’ve heard, and questions we’ve received:
Have you stopped production, or has the government forced you to stop?
Not at all.
Did you stop selling bullets so you could only make loaded ammunition?
Absolutely not.
Since we can’t find your product you must be selling it all to the government.
Nope, less than 5% of our sales are to government entities.
Why can’t you make more? Ramp up production? Turn on all the machines?
We’ve been steadily growing our production for a long time, especially the last five years. We’ve added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, people and space. Many popular items are produced 24 hours a day. Several hundred Hornady employees work overtime every week to produce as much as safely possible. If there is any question about that – please take a tour of the factory. You’ll be amazed at what you see.
We are producing as much as we can; much more than last year, which was a lot more than the year before, etc. No one wants to ship more during this time than we do.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience. We don’t know when the situation will improve, so please bear with us a little longer. And remember, when it comes to Hornady Manufacturing, if you don’t hear it from us, please don’t believe it.
When I first read the story in The Blaze saying that the Mexican government wants the United States to compile a registry of all firearms owned in the Southwest border states, I had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t April 1st. The Mexicans believe such a registry will make it easier to track firearms found at crime scenes in Mexico.
The story originated at the website InSightCrime which track organized crime in the Americas. From their story published in January:
Mexico’s Congress voted to formally ask the United States Senate to create a registry of all commercialized firearms in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Although the motion will have little impact in the US, it shows the gun control issue continues to resonate on both sides of the border.
The measure was approved January 9 by Mexico’s Permanent Commission, the government body that meets when the Senate and the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, is in recess.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) senator who introduced the proposal said it was intended to make it easier to trace guns used in violent attacks, reports Mexican newspaper Informador.
KPHO – CBS 5 in Phoenix – followed up on this story and asked Arizonans what they thought of it. As you can well imagine, not much.
As to my opinion on the Mexican government’s request, I would suggest they track the firearm diversions from their own army as well as those coming from their southern border.
This video featuring Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch fame was posted a number of months ago. That said, it never hurts to hear the four rules of gun safety reviewed again. Clint doesn’t just repeat the four rules – he gives sad examples of what happens when they are violated.
After watching the testimony of Colorado State Rep. Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) concerning concealed carry on campus and rape, I couldn’t help but think that the next thing out of his misogynist mouth would be, “and if it is gonna happen anyway, just lie there and enjoy it.”
Evidence and experience do not matter to these people. Colorado State University has had concealed carry on campus for years without problems. It is obvious that concealed carry on campus is only a problem when it impacts the flagship located in the People’s Republic of Boulder and not that “cow college” located on the Front Range.
The Colorado State House passed their standard capacity magazine ban by a vote of 33 to 31. Every Democrat save three voted for HB 1224.
This led the Denver Post to set up an on-line poll asking whether or not Magpul should follow through on their promise to leave the state if HB 1224 is enacted into law. It asks, “If Colorado passes legislation banning the possession of high-capacity gun magazines, should Colorado-based manufacturers of such magazines leave the state?”
Look at the language of the Yes vote:
Yes. Let them carry through with their recent threats to leave. Colorado doesn’t need them here.
Could you slant it any more than this?
Now look at the language of the No vote in the poll:
No. HB 1224 makes it clear they could still legally produce high-capacity magazines to sell elsewhere, and Colorado needs the jobs.
Now think about that – if the legislature really believes a product is so dangerous and so injurious to the public safety that it must be banned in the state, then why on Earth would you allow it to be produced and then put into interstate commerce?
As the Republican Minority Leader noted:
House Minority Leader Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, said it was “absolutely inconsistent” for Democrats to have added an amendment to the bill in an attempt to keep Erie -based gun magazine manufacturer Magpul from leaving the state. The amendment says manufacturers could still make high-capacity magazines for out-of-state sale.
“Apparently, they (high-capacity magazines) are not instruments of destruction when they’re purchased outside the borders of Colorado,” Waller said.
Unless a few Democrats in the State Senate show some spine and defeat the bill, Magpul will be moving. If I were an industrial recruiter in another state, I’d be putting my package together right now. It really is a sad state of affairs in the Centennial State.
If you answered “Kiddie Porn” to the question posed in the headline, you are an objective, rational person. If you answered “an 8-round magazine”, you might be a member of the New York State Assembly or State Senate.
Arma Borealis has a very interesting post up that shows how New York State criminal statutes treat such crimes as possessing child pornography, arson, rape, riot, and negligent homicide. They all are classed as a lower-degree offense than the possession of a new greater than 7-round magazine produced after the enactment date of the NY SAFE law. That law treats the magazine possession as a Class D felony.
I just shake my head in disgust at the misplaced priorities of Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and the state legislators in New York.
CORRECTION: As much as I’d like to believe that the gun prohibitionists in the New York Assembly and State Senate made possession of a greater than 8-round magazine a Class D felony, that is incorrect. Miguel at the Gun Free Zone corrected me on that. It is either a Class B or Class A misdemeanor depending on whether it is a first or subsequent offense and whether it was possessed inside or outside the home. The section of the law in question is below.
I should take this as a reminder to check and double check something that is just too good to be true.
UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF A LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICE IS A
40 CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.
41 S 265.37 UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF CERTAIN AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.
42 IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON TO KNOWINGLY POSSESS AN AMMUNITION
43 FEEDING DEVICE THAT SUCH PERSON LAWFULLY POSSESSED BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE
44 DATE OF THE CHAPTER OF THE LAWS OF TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN WHICH ADDED
45 THIS SECTION, THAT HAS A CAPACITY OF, OR THAT CAN BE READILY RESTORED OR
46 CONVERTED TO ACCEPT MORE THAN SEVEN BUT LESS THAN TEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNI-
47 TION, WHERE SUCH DEVICE CONTAINS MORE THAN SEVEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION.
48 IF SUCH DEVICE CONTAINING MORE THAN SEVEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION IS
49 POSSESSED WITHIN THE HOME OF THE POSSESSOR, THE PERSON SO POSSESSING THE
50 DEVICE SHALL, FOR A FIRST OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF A VIOLATION AND SUBJECT
51 TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS, AND FOR A SECOND OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF
52 A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR AND SUBJECT TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS AND A
53 TERM OF UP TO THREE MONTHS IMPRISONMENT.
54 IF SUCH DEVICE CONTAINING MORE THAN SEVEN ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION IS
55 POSSESSED IN ANY LOCATION OTHER THAN THE HOME OF THE POSSESSOR, THE
56 PERSON SO POSSESSING THE DEVICE SHALL, FOR A FIRST OFFENSE, BE GUILTY OF
S. 2230 25 A. 23881 A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR AND SUBJECT TO A FINE OF TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS AND A
2 TERM OF UP TO SIX MONTHS IMPRISONMENT, AND FOR A SECOND OFFENSE, BE
3 GUILTY OF A CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.
I am corrupt. That is, if your definition of corruption extends to contributing time and money to pro-rights organizations and to pro-rights candidates. Unfortunately, in the fevered mind of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy it does.
In an taped radio interview with Bill Cameron of WLS Radio, McCarthy made just such assertions. The interview broadcast yesterday morning but the audio podcast of it has not yet been posted to the station’s website.
Reaction to McCarthy from the Illinois State Rifle Association was swift.
Chicago Police Superintendent McCarthy Crosses The LineSPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):
Chicago’s embattled police superintendent dug himself deeper into a pit of controversy today by claiming that lawful firearm owners are agents of political corruption. Appearing on a Chicago Sunday morning talk show, superintendent Garry McCarthy expressed his conviction that firearm owners who lobby their elected representatives or who donate money to political campaigns are engaged in corruption that endangers public safety. McCarthy went on to express his belief that judges and legislators should rely on public opinion polls when interpreting our Constitution.
After totally dismissing the citizen’s right to redress grievances, McCarthy trained his constitutional wisdom on the 2nd Amendment. Despite recent court decisions to the contrary, McCarthy opined that the 2nd Amendment limits citizens to owning smooth-bore muskets. McCarthy went on to say that he believes that the 2nd Amendment supports mandatory liability insurance for firearm owners and the mandatory application of GPS tracking devices to civilian owned firearms.
” Garry McCarthy ‘s understanding of our Constitution barely qualifies him as a meter maid, never mind the chief of the nation’s third largest police department,” commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson . “What on earth would possess McCarthy to assert that constitutional rights should be meted out based on public opinion polls? Let’s not forget that public opinion polls once opposed a woman’s right to vote while it would be a safe bet that, at one time, polls would have shown lynching as an acceptable form of justice. It has been said that our Constitution exists to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. McCarthy’s view of our Constitution is dangerous and unbecoming of a civil servant.”
“McCarthy needs to understand that the lawful firearm owners of this state will continue to lobby their representatives and continue to support candidates who represent their interests,” continued Pearson. “If Garry McCarthy doesn’t like that, well that’s just too bad. If McCarthy is so interested in influence peddling, he should pop into some of the gin mills ringing the Illinois Capitol and count the ruddy red noses of taxpayer-funded lobbyists for the City of Chicago.”
The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. For more than a century, the ISRA has represented the interests of millions of law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.
By McCarthy’s definition, the intrusion of Mayor Bloomberg and his money into the Democrat primary to replace disgraced former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. must be anti-corruption. His ads only target former Rep. Debbie Halvorson due to her previous stance on gun control. I say previous stance as she has backtracked significantly from her former pro-gun rights stance. Nonetheless, she still is against any assault weapons (sic) ban.
I was working on my travel arrangements for the NRA Annual Meeting in Houston when I came across this. I was pricing rental cars through Budget Rent-A-Car.
If you look closely, the cheapest vehicle is the Ford F-150 pickup truck. The rate for my intended rental period is $130 cheaper for the F-150 than for an economy car like the Chevy Aveo.
I love Texas!
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