Month: December 2013

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Ruger LCRx

December 19, 2013 by 1 Comment

You know that the SHOT Show is less than a month away as we are starting to see more and more announcements regarding new firearms. Ruger announced their LCRx yesterday. It is an external hammer version of their polymer, steel, and aluminum LCR revolver. The external trigger allows the revolver to be shot single-action as well as double-action. The LCRx is only available currently in .38 Special +P.

Finish: Matte Black, Synergistic Hard Coat Grip: Hogue® Tamer™ Monogrip®
Front Sight: Replaceable, Pinned Ramp Rear Sight: U-Notch Integral
Barrel Material: Stainless Steel Cylinder Finish: Ionbond Diamondblack™
Barrel Length: 1.875″ Overall Length: 6.50″
Height: 4.50″ Width: 1.28″
Weight: 13.50 oz. Capacity: 5
Twist: 1:16″ RH Grooves: 6
MA Approved & Certified: No CA Approved: No
Suggested Retail: $529.00

Other than the external hammer which allows the LCRx to be used single-action, it is identical in size and weight to the original LCR.

Michael Bane made the observation yesterday that he thought this year’s SHOT Show will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Looking at the Ruger LCRx, I’d say this is on the mark.

Now if someone asked me what I’d like to see introduced or reintroduced, it would be the Colt Detective Special with an enhanced trigger and in .38 Special +P. I like the idea of an extra round in a small package. However, I’d settle for revolversmith Grant Cunningham opening up his waiting list so I could send him my Detective Special for tuning.

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Mayors Demand Illegal Moms

December 19, 2013 by 1 Comment

Or is it Illegal Mayors Demand Action (with) Moms?

More appropriately, Moms Demand Action Against Illegal Mayors.

In case you haven’t heard, Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors and I’m Just a Stay-at-Home Mom Shannon Watt’s Demanding Moms have agreed to merge.

From USA Today:

Outgoing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns on Thursday will announce that it is joining with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a year-old grassroots campaign launched the day after the Dec. 14, 2012, shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The combined group will align Bloomberg’s deep pockets with the strong social network and media savvy the mothers’ group brings. The billionaire founder of Bloomberg News said last week that he’ll “devote extensive resources of my own” to the effort.

In a statement Wednesday, Bloomberg said, “Gun violence is, unfortunately, an issue that affects every community, and coming together with Moms Demand Action today will strengthen our efforts to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and save lives.”

As Say Uncle noted last night when he first reported this story, “Except that there is no grassroots and there is no high profile.”

California gun rights attorney Chuck Michel compared this merger to when the Brady Campaign and the Million Mom March merged except this time they’ll have Bloomberg’s deep pockets. From the same USA Today article, he said:

“This seems analogous to a corporate takeover, where a large company sees the advantage of acquiring the social media and brand of a target company, but their agendas are the same. In this case, their anti-Second Amendment agendas won’t change,” he says.

There is no word yet from Mr. Gabby Giffords who I imagine is a bit miffed that Bloomberg didn’t pick them as a merger partner.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) calls this a “game changer” on their Facebook page because they think it will give gun control “a fully-funded national grassroots movement.” Yeah, right but Josh and Ladd are still stuck in an office above a coffee shop.

* The headline is courtesy of a tweet by Gene Hoffman.

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Comment Of The Day

December 18, 2013 by 2 Comments

The comment of the day comes from Paul Erhardt, Editor, of the Outdoor Digital Wires Network. In a discussion about shooting ranges and the need for new and expanded ranges, Paul has this to say in his Between the Berms column:

Ranges are not simply places to shoot. They are the entertainment interface for firearms. Buying a gun is cool. But if all you do is sit around you house looking at it, drooling and bragging online about the shiny new super-blaster you bought, then you are just collecting guns…and dust.

Taking that gun to the range, shooting with others, even entering competitions, is where we fully exercise our Second Amendment rights. And not only do we exercise them to their fullest, we strengthen our rights.

Ranges are where we turn a new gun owner into a gun enthusiast of the highest order. The role of the range is therefore critical.

 I never thought of a shooting range as “the entertainment interface for firearms” but that is exactly what they are. I remember the first range I ever went to with my best friend in high school. It was little more than a clearing in a power easement with a 100 yard range. I don’t remember if it even had any benches. But it was place to shoot and you could plink away to your heart’s content. It is where I learned shooting could be fun.

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I Think Someone Needs A Rabies Shot

December 18, 2013 by 3 Comments

I make no secret of my disdain and disgust for the supporters of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) whom I call PETAfiles. Now they have gone so far beyond the pale that I am left wondering if they are suffering from rabies given their rabid attack on a Pennsylvania teen who was bitten by a bear while deer hunting.

Camille Bomboy of Lock Haven, PA was attacked by a female bear while deer hunting near her family’s farm. The attack almost caused Bomboy to lose an ear. She had inadvertently gotten between a mother bear and her cubs which may have precipitated the attack. After a brief stay in the hospital, Bomboy is home with her family.

Following the attack, she received a letter from Alicia Woempner who serves as the Special Projects Division Manager for PETA. After saying she wished Bomboy a speedy recovery, Woempner goes on to say:

This seems to be a good opportunity to put yourself in the place of the individuals you and the rest of your hunting party were trying to kill. As terrifying as it must have been to be attacked by a bear, please consider the frightening and painful experiences that hunters set out to impose upon animals. There used to be a bumper sticker that read, “I support the right to arm bears!” That was a joke, but in all seriousness, it would be a blessing if you were to abandon hunting and decide to live and let live.

You have to wonder in what sort of warped universe these zealots live.

To add insult to injury, PETA sent their Senior VP Lisa Lange to Fox News to discuss it. Lange said to Gretchen Carlson that this incident might cause Bomboy to sympathize with the animals she is hunting.

Gretchen Carlson replied, “When a teenage girl is potentially almost killed … you send a letter asking her to look at it from the perspective of the bear?!”


Lange didn’t back down, saying, “Absolutely.”

The video of the interview can be seen here.

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They’ll Be Accused Of Indoctrinating The Youth For Sure

December 18, 2013 by 1 Comment

Any time that a gun rights organization holds training or educational events for youth they get accused of indoctrination by the gun prohibitionists. Well, the NRA Foundation and the Friends of the NRA are sponsoring 45 scholarships for the NRA Youth Education Summit in 2014.

Forty-five outstanding current high school sophomores and juniors from across the United States are chosen each year to travel to the nation’s capital, where they participate in the weeklong educational opportunity. The summit encourages young adults to become active and knowledgeable U.S. citizens by learning about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the federal government, and the importance of being active in civic affairs. The 2014 summit will take place Monday, June 23 – Sunday, June 29. Click here to download the application to get started today!

Activities on the schedule include:

  • Guest speakers at NRA Headquarters and the National Firearms Museum


  • Competitive debates with other high school students from across the nation

  • Informative tours at historic sites and monuments in and around Washington, D.C.

  • Meeting national leaders from Capitol Hill and around Washington, D.C.

In addition to the week in Washington D.C., Y.E.S. participants compete for $30,000 in college scholarships. The first round of awards totals $15,000 and is given at the conclusion of the Y.E.S. program. A second round of scholarships is comprised of $15,000 and involves a second application, available to the participants after they go through the Y.E.S. program.

Since the program’s inception in 1996, more than 700 students have graduated from Y.E.S. and over $400,000 in scholarships has been awarded. Entry into the program requires submission of a completed application form, high school transcript, three-page essay on the Second Amendment, one-page personal statement, and three letters of recommendation.

This is enough to cause the Sarah Bradys and Shannon Watts of the gun prohibitionist world to have the vapors.

As if that was not reason enough not to encourage a high school sophomore or junior to apply, here are 10 more in Traditions magazine.

For additional information on the NRA Youth Education Summit please call 1-800-672-3888, ext. 1351 or email yes@nrahq.org

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Family Structure And School Shootings

December 18, 2013 by 4 Comments

Let me start this off by saying I was raised by a single mother. As I’ve alluded to many times, my father was an Army careerist. I am the unusual Army brat in that I didn’t move from base to base. My parents made the decision long before I was born that my dad would move base to base and on deployments while my mom maintained the family home in North Carolina. It don’t know why they came to this arrangement but it just was what they did. The result was that I saw my dad on occasional weekends and when he got leave. While my parents officially separated when I was nine, it really didn’t change the reality of things for me.

W. Bradford Wilcox of the American Enterprise Institute has a very interesting article in the National Review Online regarding what he calls “sons of divorce” and school shootings. He notes that most school shootings over the past year from Newtown to Arapahoe High School have involved young men whose parents were divorced or never married. Wilcox goes on to say that upheaval at home often finds its way to the world outside.

The social scientific evidence about the connection between violence and broken homes could not be clearer. My own research suggests that boys living in single mother homes are almost twice as likely to end up delinquent compared to boys who enjoy good relationships with their father. Harvard sociologist Robert Sampson has written that “Family structure is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, predictor of variations in urban violence across cities in the United States.” His views are echoed by the eminent criminologists Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi, who have written that “such family measures as the percentage of the population divorced, the percentage of households headed by women, and the percentage of unattached individuals in the community are among the most powerful predictors of crime rates.”

Why is fatherlessness such a big deal for our boys (almost all of these incidents involve boys)? Putting the argument positively, sociologist David Popenoe notes that “fathers are important to their sons as role models. They are important for maintaining authority and discipline. And they are important in helping their sons to develop both self-control and feelings of empathy toward others, character traits that are found to be lacking in violent youth.” Boys, then, who did not grow up with an engaged, attentive, and firm father are more vulnerable to getting swept up in the Sturm und Drang of adolescence and young adulthood, and in the worst possible way.

I was lucky in that I had a strong (and strong willed) mother who had taught high school for many years and was used to dealing with adolescent boys. I also had many good male role models in my life including uncles and Scout leaders. My father, while absent from my life for long stretches of time, did his best to keep involved through letters and through making sure I got plenty of good attention when he was at home. I still remember some of the fishing trips we took.

I think it is harder for young men and boys nowadays. Divorce is more prevalent, the media and the entertainment industry have denigrated the role of fathers in the family, and bullying in schools is more insidious through the use of social media. Good male role models are fewer and farther between. I don’t want to even get started on the role of schools and their emasculating curricula. Supporting and promoting the family as well as activities such as Scouting and organized athletics would not cure the problem of these broken young men but it might be a good start.

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Off To Boiling Springs

December 16, 2013 by 1 Comment

We are taking off to Boiling Springs, North Carolina in a few minutes to attend commencement at Gardner-Webb University. My stepdaughter Laura is receiving her MA in Elementary Education this morning. She finished what is normally a two year program in a year and a half and she did it with distinction.

The Complementary Spouse and I are extremely proud of her accomplishment.

The mascot of Gardner-Webb is the Bulldog and the mascot of UNC-Greensboro where she received her undergraduate degree is the Spartan. I guess that makes her a Spartan Bulldog. Given the way she battles for her kids against the educational bureaucracy, I think that is appropriate.

Go Laura!

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No More Silence Except For Supporters Of Civil Rights

December 16, 2013 by 2 Comments

As I mentioned in my weekend roundup, Kaaren Haldeman, North Carolina state director of Moms Demand Action, refused to let Sean Sorrentino into their event at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Durham on Saturday. Sean says in his blog today that it was projection on her part. While she might have disrupted a pro-rights event, he would have never disrupted their event especially in a house of worship.

Moms Demand Action are trying to use their supposed moral superiority to stifle any discussion of their proposals for more gun control. In a republic, it doesn’t work that way. Both sides of a debate should and must be heard for us to survive as a free society.

The video from the event is below. Sean, who has been studying this for a long time, makes the excellent point that most violent crime is committed by those with a criminal past.

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A Weekend Roundup

December 16, 2013 by 1 Comment

The weekend started out with a shooting at Arapahoe High School in Colorado. That it just happened to be on the eve of the first anniversary of the Newtown shootings may be just a coincidence. But like Tam, I doubt it.

The shooter turned out to be a disgruntled student who had a beef with the debate coach. Like all rampage shooters, he intended to wound or kill as many as possible. Again, like many rampage shooters in the past, when confronted by an armed school resource officer, he killed himself after severely wounding Claire Davis.

And the shooter’s firearm of choice? A pump-action shotgun legally purchased on December 6th after the shooter went through a background check.

The media has stepped up and performed its usual role of publicizing everything about the shooter. The only thing that they scrubbed from their description of him was a classmate’s characterization of the shooter as “a very opinionated socialist.” It became just “very opinionated“.

With Saturday being the first anniversary of the Newtown shootings, the gun prohibitionists were out in force. It started at the top with President Obama’s weekly address calling for more gun control.


So-called stay-at-home mom Shannon Watts and her group of demanding moms were out in force with their No More Silence events. North Carolina wasn’t immune to their events. I know we had one in Asheville and one in Durham. At the latter event, Sean Sorrentino was denied entry to Holy Cross Catholic Church by their state director Kaaren Haldeman who didn’t want his sort at their event. As Miguel says, once again we are the new negroes.

One of the words we keep hearing is consensus. As in a national consensus for universal background checks or a national consensus to do more to prevent “gun violence” (sic).  The other words are “common ground”. This is the line that Richard Feldman of the Independent Firearm Owners Association and Arkadi Gerney of the Center for American Progress are pushing in an op-ed in today’s LA Times. In exchange for us giving up on universal background checks, we might get a national carry law – a carry law with nationally-mandated training, etc.

Michael Bane does an excellent job at taking apart this “grand bargain”.  As for me, I am immediately suspicious of anything coming from Gerney who is the former executive director of Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors. Mr. Feldman may have done things to advance gun rights in the past when he was a NRA lobbyist but now seems just to be clinging to anything that will give him relevance.

What Mike Bloomberg cannot achieve at the national level, he plans to try to do at the state level. We saw what he did in Colorado. Kurt Hofmann reports that Mark Glaze considers the $15 million spent previously just dipping a toe in the water and that we should watch what a whole foot will do. David Codrea expands on Kurt’s report to discuss efforts by Bloomberg in the states.

An off the wall article in Salon, accuses those of us who believe in gun rights of having a “sick gun fetish” and and “Tea Party fantasies”. The article also accuses us of misreading the Second Amendment. I guess the “bitter clinger” here is the author who clings to a definition of the Second Amendment that the Supreme Court said was erroneous in the Heller case.

With the recent death of Nelson Mandela, I guess it isn’t surprising that the gun prohibitionists are starting to wax nostalgic about the anti-apartheid divestiture movement and wondering if it could work again. They cite Cerberus and its goal of selling Remington Outdoor aka Freedom Group due to pressure from pension funds. In the meantime, Remington’s Ilion, New York plant can’t make guns fast enough because sales have surged.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is coming under fire from The ARC who works with intellectually and developmentally disabled people. This is due to the BATFE’s use of mentally challenged persons in their sting operations. The ARC is calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to stop this practice and to have the DOJ Inspector General to start an investigation into it.

And finally, NPR did a report on Thursday about the Maryland Tenth Cavalry Gun Club. They are an organization of African-American shooters who seek to introduce black youth to responsible gun use along with a dose of history. The club takes its name from the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and the black cavalrymen known as the “Buffalo Soldiers”.

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Practice Tips From Jim “Long Hunter” Finch

December 12, 2013 by 3 Comments

In one of the latest videos from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Jim “Long Hunter” Finch talks about how he goes about practicing for a match. While not everything about Cowboy Action Shooting or, for that matter, competition is applicable to daily life, some of the practice tips he suggests are.

I really like his suggestion that you practice not what you are with comfortable with but what makes you uncomfortable. In his case, as a natural right-hander, he’s more comfortable drawing from his right side as well as with moving left to right. In his practice sessions, he reverses that so that he is practicing what doesn’t come natural to him.