Big Shooterist does an excellent job in showing the difference between myth and reality about “assault weapons”. He illustrates in an easy to understand manner the difference between an AR-15 and a full-auto M-4.
If you have some friends or families who are unsure about the issue, show them this.
H/T Kitup Blog
Aaron at Weapon-Blog.com has just posted his monthly guide to gun giveaways and contests.
There are some nice ones in the lineup including a Sig M11-A1, a Nighthawk Custom 1911, the new Springfield XDs, a few AR’s, and the new Mossberg JM (Jerry Miculek) Pro Series 930 autoloader.
Be sure and thank Aaron if you sign up for any of these contests. It is a great service that he provides on a regular basis.
The Democrats finally released their platform yesterday evening. With regard to firearms and firearm rights, it is a study in contrasts with the Republican platform which was ardently pro-gun rights. It is full of the gun prohibitionists’ favorite codewords like “commonsense” and “reasonable” along with their usual so-called respect for the Second Amendment.
Firearms. We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans’ Second Amendment right to own and use firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation. We understand the terrible consequences of gun violence; it serves as a reminder that life is fragile, and our time here is limited and precious. We believe in an honest, open national conversation about firearms. We can focus on effective enforcement of existing laws, especially strengthening our background check system, and we can work together to enact commonsense improvements – like reinstating the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole – so that guns do not fall into the hands of those irresponsible, law-breaking few.
If you wondered what a second Obama term meant for gun owners the road map is right in front of us. Private sales will be outlawed which is what they mean by their use of the oxymoron “gun show loophole”. Moreover, when they say they will reinstate the assault weapons (sic) ban, you can rest assured that it won’t be like the Clinton-era ban which had many loopholes in it. They will have learned their lesson from before and you can expect any new ban to be draconian.
Elsewhere in the platform, the Democrats talk about future Supreme Court nominations and applaud the selections of both Sotomayor and Kagan.
That’s why President Obama appointed two distinguished jurists to the Supreme Court: Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Moving forward, we will continue to nominate and confirm judges who are men and women of unquestionable talent and character and will always demonstrate their faithfulness to our law and our Constitution and bring with them a sense of how American society works and how the American people live.
You should remember back to Justice Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings where she declared that the Second Amendment was settled law. She promptly then was one of the dissenting votes in McDonald v. Chicago. If just one of the majority in Heller and McDonald dies or retires during a second Obama term, you can fully expect your Second Amendment freedoms to be at risk. You should also remember that most cases never advance beyond the District Court and Circuit Courts of Appeal and that stacking these courts with anti-gun appointees will also put your rights at risk.
The Democrats have said what they plan to do in a second Obama term and I believe them. As a gun owner and one that believes in gun rights, I plan to do everything I can to make sure that second term never happens.
The right to protect yourself and your family from attack by criminals is a basic human right. It is the basis behind castle doctrine laws.
Unfortunately, that basic human right is trampled on with regularity in the country that provided us with the original castle doctrine – the United Kingdom of (formerly) Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Andy and Tracey Ferrie of Welby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, are finding this out the hard way. They have been arrested for shooting two (out of four) burglars who invaded their home early Sunday with their legally possessed shotgun.
From the British newspaper, The Telegraph:
Mr Ferrie, who owns his own mobile caravan and motorhome servicing business, had confronted four burglars, aged between 23 and 33, who broke into the cottage and fired a legally-owned shotgun at them, injuring two.
He telephoned police immediately whilst one of the injured men called an ambulance. He was taken to hospital, where he along with three other men were arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary.
Mr and Mrs Ferrie were arrested at their home on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
All six remained in custody today for questioning by detectives, whilst the cottage continued to be searched by forensic officers.
If there is anything good about this case it is that the Ferrie’s Member of Parliament is standing behind them in their efforts to protect themselves from thugs.
Alan Duncan, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton, and Minister of State for International Development, said the householders should not be prosecuted for defending their home.
“If this is a straightforward case of someone using a shotgun to defend themselves against burglars in the dead of night, then I would hope that the police will prosecute the burglars and not my constituents,” he said.
“The householder is the victim here and justice should support them and prosecute the burglars.”
If this had happened in North Carolina or any number of other states that have strong castle doctrine laws, the Ferries would be free, the burglars would be in custody, and the Ferries would be immune from civil suits by the crooks.
H/T Steve T.
A new company, Halix, has come out with a product that call the NSN for no stock needed. It is a padded attachment that goes on the buffer tube of an AR-15 pistol and allows the shooter to rest their chin on it. By doing this, it allows an AR pistol to be used like a short barreled rifle. I just noticed this yesterday on a post by Soldier Systems and on Facebook. It is getting a lot of comment with a good bit of that trending towards the negative.
In the video below, you can see it in action.
Neal Brace, developer and president of Halix, talks in more detail here about the features of the NSN. You should bear in mind that it has not been released for sale yet and the pre-release price is $249.
As I noted above, it is generating a lot of comments. There is a thread on AR15.com and M4Carbine.net about the NSN. There is also a spirited discussion of it on AR15.news Facebook page. Many of the comments revolve around what the recoil will do to your jaw especially for people suffering from TMJ, the cost of it versus the $200 tax stamp for a SBR, and the legality of it in the eyes of BATFE.
It is that last thing that would concern me the most if I was shelling out $249 for it. We have seen numerous times where the BATFE Technical Section approves something and then reverses its own decision a bit later. Still it looks to be innovative and could convert a AR-15 pistol into a PDW or personal defense weapon rather easily.
Olympic Gold Medal winner Kim Rhode was interviewed by Ginny Simone of NRA News about her speech and appearance at the Republican National Convention. Rhode gave a short speech and then introduced a number of other Olympians that were supporting Mitt Romney.
From what Kim says, her role morphed from just doing a short speech to being the one who introduced the rest of the Olympians. She admits to being nervous as well as “a huge Republican”. Having watched her speech and presentation of the other Olympians, I think she did just fine.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation has released another one of its short training videos. This one features Mark Hanish of FNH-USA’s 3-gun team talking about using secondary sights for taking shorter shots in 3-gun competition.
The one thing that struck me immediately is that having secondary iron sights canted off to the side would also work well on a home defense AR-15 or MBR especially if it was a be-all and do-all rifle. That is, if it was your only rifle and you used it for a number of things including home defense.
The Republican Party Platform has gotten a number of mentions for how pro-gun it is from both the blogosphere as well as the mainstream media. Of course, Pravda on the Potomac aka the Washington Post has to headline their story, “In wake of mass shootings, Republican Party platforms calls for expanded rights for gun owners”. The new head of the Brady Campaign, Dan Gross, tells the Post that “by making these changes, Republican leaders have ‘put themselves farther out of touch with their constituents.'” Dan, of course, is merely wishing that were true.
So what does the Republican Platform – We The People: A Restoration of Constitutional Government – really say about firearms and gun rights? You can see for yourself below.
The Second Amendment: Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms
We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a right which antedated the Constitution and was solemnly confirmed by the Second Amendment. We acknowledge, support, and defend the law-abiding citizen’s God-given right of self-defense. We call for the protection of such fundamental individual rights recognized in the Supreme Court’s decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago affirming that right, and we recognize the individual responsibility to safely use and store firearms. This also includes the right to obtain and store ammunition without registration. We support the fundamental right to self-defense wherever a law-abiding citizen has a legal right to be, and we support federal legislation that would expand the exercise of that right by allowing those with state-issued carry permits to carry firearms in any state that issues such permits to its own residents. Gun ownership is responsible citizenship, enabling Americans to defend their homes and communities. We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and oppose federal licensing or registration of law-abiding gun owners. We oppose legislation that is intended to restrict our Second Amendment rights by limiting the capacity of clips or magazines or otherwise restoring the ill-considered Clinton gun ban. We condemn the reckless actions associated with the operation known as “Fast and Furious,” conducted by the Department of Justice, which resulted in the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent and others on both sides of the border. We applaud the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives in holding the current Administration’s Attorney General in contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with their investigation into that debacle. We oppose the improper collection of firearms sales information in the four southern border states, which was imposed without congressional authority.
With the exception of overturning the Hughes Amendment and removing silencers from the NFA, I think it hits all the high points of what we have been fighting to achieve.
The NSSF Blog which strongly endorses this platform now wonders if the Democrats will come out with a similarly strong worded platform in favor of gun rights.
Now as the Democratic National Convention approaches, we can hope for a campaign platform statement on the right to keep and bear arms that is as straightforward, respectful of our history and of recent Supreme Court decisions as the reasonable members of that party can achieve. We will not hold our breath, but we can hope.
I’m not holding my breath either.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the case that Leonard Embody brought against Tennessee park ranger Steve Ward today.
The Court found that Embody’s 2nd, 4th, and 14th Amendment Rights were not violated when he was stopped in Radnor Lake State Natural Area while open-carrying a Draco AK-47 pistol. The Draco had an 11 1/2 inch barrel and had the tip of the muzzle painted orange much like an airsoft toy.
This case has been troublesome since the start due to Mr. Embody’s hubris. To be frank, he went looking for trouble, found it, was momentarily detained, and then sent on his merry way no worse the wear. In response he filed a suit in US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The end result of that was to have everyone’s Second Amendment rights circumscribed due to that court’s decision which misread the Heller decision.
As Judge Sutton of the 6th Circuit noted in his opinion:
For his troubles, Embody has done something rare: He has taken a position on the Second and Fourth Amendment that unites the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Second Amendment Foundation. Both organizations think that the park ranger permissibly disarmed and detained Leonard Embody that day, notwithstanding his rights to possess the gun. So do we.
Alan Gura had filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Second Amendment Foundation and the CalGuns Foundation that argued the District Court got the decision right but for the wrong reasons. It asked the 6th Circuit to affirm the decision but find that the Second Amendment didn’t apply in this case. The appeals court seems to have agreed with this and said the Second Amendment didn’t apply in this situation due to qualified immunity.
Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned has much more on the decision here. The Volokh Conspiracy also covers the decision and there is a lively discussion going on in the comments section.
Whether or not Mr. Embody decides to appeal to the Supreme Court is up to him. If he does, I’d wager house money that the Supreme Court would deny certiorari in this case.
I stumbled across this music video by a band called The Voters. With parts of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana under water due to Hurricane Issac, it seems strangely appropriate.
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