The report published by the Richmond Times Dispatch this weekend analyzing the first year of experience of allowing concealed carry in Virginia establishments that serve alcohol is important. The study found that not only did violent crime not go up but it actually decreased by 5.2 percent. It has gotten a lot of attention within the firearms community and numerousgunblogs have reported on it. Even non-gun blogs like HotAir have noticed it.
Now is the time to make this important news useful.
The bill to allow concealed carry in restaurants and eating establishments that serve alcohol in North Carolina, HB 111, has passed the N.C. House but is stuck in the State Senate. According to Grass Roots North Carolina, Senate leaders purportedly are fearful of polling which shows public sentiment against this measure.
HB 111: “HANDGUN PERMIT VALID IN PARKS & RESTAURANTS”
Sponsored by Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba, GRNC ****), after passing the House by a vote of 76-42 with a weakening amendment allowing municipalities to ban guns in recreational facilities offered by Rep. David Guice (D- , GRNC ), the bill headed to the Senate. There it was first referred to Rules – widely regarded as the graveyard for bills leadership has no intention of hearing. After negotiations with Rules Chair Sen. Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson, ****), HB 111 was re-referred to Judiciary II on the agreement that GRNC would wait for a hearing until after completion of the state budget. Although HB 111 will remain alive for next year, Senate Republicans are running scared from polling which reportedly shows lack of public support for concealed carry in restaurants. Meanwhile, parks carry has passed in HB 650.
If you live in North Carolina I suggest you print out this article and send it along with a polite letter to both your State Senator and the Republican leadership in the State Senate. Point out that an objective analysis conducted by a major statewide paper in an adjoining state found that the change in the law didn’t cause blood to run in the streets as its opponents promised it would. Rather, it actually led to a decrease in violent crime in those restaurants and bars. Point out that North Carolina Concealed Handgun Permit holders are some of the most law-abiding responsible citizens around and much more so than the general public. Then ask them to get moving and pass HB 111 so that you can discretely carry while eating with your family at Applebee’s (and drinking ice tea).
This is fresh news so it is important to hit while it is still fresh. While I think a written letter to a state legislator will have more impact than an email, you could also email this article with a short note as well. If you are not sure who represents you in the N.C. State Senate, go here.
Frankly, I am not sure what other states are considering such measures. I know Ohio did pass such a bill in this session of the General Assembly. If your state is considering such a bill or, better yet, if your state prohibits carry in establishments serving alcohol, I’d suggest you do the same thing as what I plan to do here in North Carolina.
The Violence Policy Center has finally released a Tweet castigating Glock and the Second Amendment Foundation over Glock’s significant donation to SAF. The donation was announced on Thursday, August 11th. As I said at the time, I wonder what snide comment the VPC will make about it. Now we know.
@VPCinfo
Gunmaker Glock helps fund SAF’s efforts to overturn gun laws to, of course, sell more guns. http://t.co/A8d7bKb
Frankly, I’m surprised that that it took them this long to respond. I expected it the same day. I guess they are not only ineffectual but inept as well. Good!
The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit will host the ARMY Strong Collegiate Shooting Championships at Ft. Benning March 13-18, 2012. It pulls together into one venue four collegiate shooting championship events.
The US Army Marksmanship Unit is proud to announce that it will host the first-ever ARMY STRONG Collegiate Shooting Championships from 13-18 March, 2012. This pioneering collegiate and youth shooting sports championship event will consist of the NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championships, the NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship, the Scholastic Steel Challenge Collegiate Championship, and the Scholastic Clay Target Program Challenge. ARMY STRONG!
The second gunnie T-shirt is from the Gun Rights Radio Network. Mark Vanderberg of the Gun Rights Advocates Podcast took a vision that pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment podcasts would help spread “the Gospel” and ran with it. The result is the Gun Rights Radio Network which includes podcasts ranging from Massad Ayoob’s ProArms podcast to the GunDudes podcast and everything in between. Their motto is “Podcasting Freedom, One Episode at a Time.”
Pre-orders for the T-shirt above end today. They cost $17 each including shipping. Proceeds go to supporting GRRN. You can place your order here.
Be the well-dressed gunnie and order one or both of these T-shirts. I have.
Crimson Trace Wins At NRA’s Inaugural National Defense Match
(Camp Perry, OH) Crimson Trace’s media relations manager, Iain Harrison took top honors at the new National Defense Match at Camp Perry this weekend. In a neck and neck race with Team FNH’s Tommy Thacker, the two shot almost identical times during the first half of the match, until Thacker made a procedural error which cost him dearly. Marking a departure from the usual Camp Perry matches, the National Defense Match introduces a more practical aspect to the discipline and stresses speed as well as accuracy at ranges from 7 to 500 yards.
Match Director and ex-SEAL Trey Tuggle masterminded the event and brought in Swiss-manufactured electronic targets from Shot Response . Although new technology played an important role in the national match, the course of fire is designed to be adaptable to the club level. “We wanted to remove barriers to people enjoying competitive shooting and get more folks involved in the sport,” said Tuggle. “This match is designed to be challenging, but not so overwhelming that the average guy with an off the shelf semi-auto rifle can’t come out and play. We hope that clubs across the country will adopt the new format as a way of getting new shooters involved in competitions.”
The Camp Perry event received wide support from the firearms industry, not only from title sponsors FNH, but also from key players such as DPMS, JP Enterprises, Geisselle Triggers, Bladetech and Sinclair. Also joining Harrison for the event was fellow Top Shot finalist and Ohio native Chris Cerino.
Robert Barnes, writing in the Washington Post, recognizes that there are a number of Second Amendment cases working their way through the lower courts including two that have been appealed to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately he buys the Brady Campaign’s argument that Second Amendment cases have been continually losing in the lower courts since the Heller and McDonald decisions.
A funny thing has happened in the three years since gun-rights activists won their biggest victory at the Supreme Court.
They’ve been on a losing streak in the lower courts.
Barnes makes reference to the so-called report put out by the Brady Center in July titled “Hollow Victory?” In it, the Brady Center argues that the lower courts have held that “the Second Amendment does not interfere with the people’s right to enact legislation protecting families and communities from gun violence.”
Both Barnes and the Brady Center ignore the 7th Circuit’s decision in Ezell v. City of Chicago which was an unequivocal win for the Second Amendment and which may be the tool needed to get some sort of carry law passed in Illinois.
That said, the article does do a decent job of exploring two cases that might be granted certiorari by the Supreme Court. The cases are a Maryland case challenging a conviction for carrying or transporting with a permit and a Virginia case involving possession of a firearm in a National Park.
The Maryland case – Williams v. Maryland – is brought by Charles Williams who is contesting his 2008 conviction for violating Maryland’s law against wearing, carrying, or transporting a firearm in public without a permit. He was traveling from his girlfriend’s house to his own with a legally purchased gun. However, he does acknowledge that he hadn’t applied for a permit. He is being represented by attorney Stephen Halbrook who contends that the Maryland law is so restrictive that “ordinary people” can’t get the permit. This, he says, clearly violates the Supreme Court’s decisions in Heller and McDonald. This case comes on appeal from the Maryland Court of Appeals which is that state’s highest court.
Meanwhile, in Virginia, Sean Masciandaro was convicted and fined for having a loaded firearm in the trunk of his car on National Park Service property. While this has not been a crime since 2010, it was still prohibited when Mr. Masciandaro pulled off the George Washington Parkway to take a nap rather than fall asleep at the wheel of his car. Unfortunately, the GW Parkway runs through Theodore Roosevelt Island N.P. Moreover, when woken from his nap by park police because he was illegally parked, he answered honestly when asked if he had any more weapons than a knife that was in open view.
Masciandaro appealed his conviction to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals where it was upheld. He is now appealing to the Supreme Court. According to Supreme Court case filings, he filed an in forma pauperis petition and has been assigned a Federal Public Defender in the case. The Second Amendment Foundation has filed an amicus brief supporting Mr. Masciandaro that was written by Alan Gura.
The article concludes with a brief discussion of the conflicting views about the right to carry for self-defense outside the home.
While the Brady Center trumpets Scalia’s finding that there is no right to “carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,” the Second Amendment Foundation takes that as confirmation that “there is a right to carry at least some weapons, in some manner, for some purpose.”
The latter argument is in a brief supporting Masciandaro’s appeal written by Alan Gura, who argued the Heller case. He said the case provides a perfect chance to “clarify” for recalcitrant lower courts that the Second Amendment “applies beyond the threshold of one’s home.”
But if neither Williams nor Masciandaro strikes the court as the right opportunity for the next round of Second Amendment jurisprudence, Gura assures that there are more cases on the way.
Mr. Gura along with the Second Amendment Foundation has done a good job in making sure that many more (good) cases are on the way! And to be fair, the NRA has done its part as well.
The bureaucrats of the ATF’s Firearms and Explosives Industry Division released a report in January concerning the importability of certain shotguns.The study contended that certain shotguns would not meet the sporting test for importation despite being used extensively in USPSA and IPSC competitions.
Following this review, the working group determined that certain shotgun features are not particularly suitable or readily adaptable for sporting purposes. These features include:
(1) Folding, telescoping, or collapsible stocks;
(2) bayonet lugs;
(3) flash suppressors;
(4) magazines over 5 rounds, or a drum magazine;
(5) grenade-launcher mounts;
(6) integrated rail systems (other than on top of the receiver or barrel);
(7) light enhancing devices;
(8) excessive weight (greater than 10 pounds for 12 gauge or smaller);
(9) excessive bulk (greater than 3 inches in width and/or greater than 4 inches in depth);
(10) forward pistol grips or other protruding parts designed or used for gripping the shotgun with the shooter’s extended hand.
Although the features listed above do not represent an exhaustive list of possible shotgun features, designs or characteristics, the working group determined that shotguns with any one of these features are most appropriate for military or law enforcement use. Therefore, shotguns containing any of these features are not particularly suitable for nor readily adaptable to generally recognized sporting purposes such as hunting, trap, sporting clay, and skeet shooting.
The Tromix Mini 12-gauge Saiga AK Shotgun reviewed in the video below has at least five of the “evil” characteristics as determined by the ATF study and it has a short barrel to boot. Oh, the horror!
If you want Tromix Lead Delivery Systems to build one of these for you, you’ll have to pony up at least $1385 (probably more) plus your own Saiga 12. You will also have to wait until 2012 to take delivery as they are booked up for custom builds through the end of 2011.
Despite all the NFA crap that would come with this shotgun, I’d still wouldn’t mind having one. They look like a fun gun to have.
Andrew at Vuurwapen Blog posted a “training” video from American Defense Enterprises as an example of unsafe gun handling. After watching the video, I just cringed to think that people actually wasted their good money on this “training”. More importantly, someone is going to get killed if they try it. (Edited – A.D.E. has removed the video from YouTube.)
It also encouraged me to find out more about this “training” company. There are a lot of great training instructors and schools out there that we’ve all heard or read about: Gunsite, Thunder Ranch, Massad Ayoob, Tom Givens, Clint Smith, Tiger McKee, Dave Spaulding and the list goes on. I had never heard of A.D.E. or American Defense Enterprises which is based in the Los Angeles area but that is why Google exists.
The motto of American Defenses Enterprises is “If you want to shoot like a professional you need to train with professionals!” Here is what they say on their Facebook page about their school:
American Defense Enterprises consists of experienced Special Ops and law enforcement instructors offering world-class training in the entire spectrum of small arms weaponry (handguns, rifles, shotguns). Whether you are an honest citizen concerned with personal safety or an operator whose life depends on proficiency with his weapon, A.D.E. instructors can train you to the highest level you wish to achieve.
American Defense Enterprises offers courses designed to teach and develop the fundamental skills necessary should a lethal confrontation arise. Those who take these courses will be trained to a substantially higher level of skill than the average police officer or military unit.
A.D.E. claims to be “Rated #1 by Homeland Security”. However, as a poster on CalGuns Forum who took the time to call DHS found out, there is no such ranking or rating. (Post #25 by ZombieTactics). Can you say “false advertising”?
And have you seen their “American Warrior Test”? It’s the ultimate test of skills. Forget a sub-5 second FAST or a 280+ on the Hackathorn Standards, it takes seven hours just to take the American Warrior Test, which is apparently almost as expensive grueling as earning a Four Weapons Combat Master ticket!
There is a long thread on the Lightfighter.Net Forum about the first video and A.D.E. That forum does have a number of members with both current and former military experience including in Special Operations. To say they are disgusted by what they see is an understatement. One of the commenters, “JAG”, works at the range where this company often holds classes and has seen A.D.E. and their instructors up close and personal. He isn’t impressed. He says in part:
At my “Range”, there is a “company” of people that do “tactical training”… and with all the fliers, and pamphlets that they leave around the range, it doesn’t take very long to notice it. One thing I noticed right away, is that one of the employees at the “Range” also wore the similar clothing of “company”. I didn’t think anything of it, and just focused on learning the specifics of the job. It turns out “she” is an instructor with the “company” on days when she’s not working at the “range”.
One day, I overheard her talking to a customer about the “company”. She was bragging about stories of other people doing tactical things, how they do them wrong, and how their “company” fixes those problems. After her conversation, I started probing.
Me: “How long have you been shooting?”
Her: “Oh, only about 3 years or so…”
Me: “Wow, really? How did you get hooked up with “company”?
Her: “Well, I started shooting, and I was really good, and “owner of company” saw me, and asked me to be an instructor, so I said sure!”
Me: “Wow, that’s cool…” Eek
They literally pulled her off the street and made her an instructor…. for their “military and LEO training. She had/has NO .mil or LEO training, and barely knows anything about firearms in general, forget about “tactical training”. She learned on a Glock 19, so that’s all she knows. All of her students shoot glocks, and that’s all she really discusses… because its all she knows. It’s the same with the entire “company”. Red flag number 1.
While A.D.E. claims many of their instructors – no bios given – are former Special Ops, that is highly doubtful. Instead of attending BUD/S, it is more probable that many attended, as one guy on Lightfighter said, “Basic Foodcourt Demolition School.”
Firearms training is serious business. It is far too serious to be left to be a bunch of mall ninjas masquerading as former SEAL/Green Beret/Spec Ops/SWAT operators. As Tam notes, there is no self-regulating accrediting body for training schools. While you can be certified as an instructor in various firearms disciplines by the NRA, that is not the same as an accreditation body for schools which still might not protect students from these ass-clowns.
The complete lack of a self-regulating accrediting body is going to bite the training industry in the ass sooner or later, and the irony is that even having one wouldn’t do much good, since there is always a certain subset of trainers who would market themselves as outlaws, teaching SPECOPS SEAL Contractor Dynamic 360° Combat tactics too extreme!! for the other guys, who are a bunch of nancy milquetoasts.
In the end, it comes down to caveat emptor – buyer beware. If you are going to get training – and you should – check out the school and the instructors beforehand. And don’t go to a class with A.D.E.!
UPDATE:pdb at PappaDeltaBravo provides a play-by-play analysis of everything that is wrong about the “training” shown in the first video. pdb points out just how bad – and dangerous – the training from A.D.E. really is.
UPDATE II: Grant Cunningham has a really funny comment on A.D.E. and their promo video.
I think, however, that both Tam and pdb wasted a lot of effort actually analyzing the video. They could have simply used my theorem: quality of instruction in a video is inversely proportional to the sound pressure level of the cheesy heavy metal music used on the soundtrack.
The Violence Policy Center has this thing about donations from firearms manufacturers to pro-rights organizations such as the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation. They call it “blood money” as if donating to protect an enumerated civil right is somehow on par with child molestation.
In the release below, the Second Amendment Foundation announces a “significant donation” from Glock. I’m sure it will set off the narrow minds that run VPC and we can expect a snide or nasty Tweet about it sometime later today.
BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today announced that Glock, Inc. has donated and pledged significant financial support to SAF’s on-going litigation efforts in defense of firearms civil rights.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb made the announcement, noting that Glock has now become the largest corporate contributor to the foundation, in recognition of the important legal efforts SAF has mounted and will continue to pursue.
“I want to publicly and personally thank the management and ownership at Glock,” Gottlieb said, “and all Glock employees who have made this possible. Specifically, I want to thank Glock Vice President Josh Dorsey and General Counsel Carlos Guevara for their involvement and for making this happen.
“SAF’s victory in McDonald v. Chicago has made all of this litigation against onerous state laws and municipal ordinances possible,” he continued, “and it is imperative that we continue and expand our legal challenges with the greatest possible speed.
“Glock’s generous support comes at a critical time,” Gottlieb added. “Most of our members and supporters make contributions in the $10 to $25 range, and Glock will be providing significant additional support in our efforts to win back firearms freedoms one lawsuit at a time.”
Gottlieb urged SAF supporters and all Americans who are concerned about their firearms freedoms to support Glock and other companies that support their Second Amendment rights.
“There are times in the history of any movement, and in the lives of every person, when it is important to stand up and be counted,” Gottlieb said. “Glock has stepped up to the plate when it really does count, and we will be eternally grateful for their generosity and their unwavering dedication to the Second Amendment.”
First there was Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in his lonely quest to get answers from Attorney General Eric Holder about Project Gunwalker. Then Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) got on board and through his chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings. Now Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is asking questions of Eric Holder as it appears Texas had its own version of Operation Fast and Furious.
Below is the letter he sent to Attorney General Eric Holder today.
August 11, 2011
The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Attorney General Holder:
I write to express my deep concerns regarding press reports of an ATF “gun-walking” program that allegedly operated in the state of Texas. I request that the Department of Justice immediately brief my office regarding the scope and details of any past or present ATF “gun-walking” programs operated in the state of Texas.
As you are aware, recent congressional investigations have revealed the existence of a controversial “gun-walking” program operated by the ATF in Phoenix, Arizona. As a part of that program, known as “Operation Fast and Furious,” ATF agents instructed federally licensed firearms dealers to illegally sell more than 1,000 weapons to straw purchasers working for drug cartels in Mexico. These ATF agents were also ordered by their superiors to ignore well-established practice and refrain from interdicting these weapons before they flowed into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Sadly, this ill-advised program had tragic consequences, with these “walked” weapons showing up at the scene of multiple violent crimes—including the murder of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Unfortunately, the Department of Justice has been less than forthcoming during congressional investigations into the failed “Operation Fast and Furious.” For instance, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich initially told Congress that the allegation that “ATF sanctioned or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico—is false.” Additionally, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson told congressional investigators that “ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative” with the congressional investigation of “Operation Fast and Furious,” but “Justice Department officials directed [ATF] not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress.”
I believe it is important that you promptly disclose the details of any past or present Texas-based ATF “gun-walking” program similar to “Operation Fast and Furious.” My constituents deserve a full accounting of any such activities in Texas. I look forward to your reply.
by 
