Month: July 2015

Uncategorized

Ammo Sales Are Up At Winchester

July 31, 2015 by 6 Comments

Olin Corporation released their second quarter 2015 results yesterday. I doubt anyone who reads this blog cares what they made on their sales of chlor alkali and caustic soda. However, their results from their Winchester division are interesting.

WINCHESTER

Winchester second quarter of 2015 sales were $194.2 million compared to $181.0 million in the second quarter of 2014. The increase in second quarter of 2015 sales compared to the second quarter of 2014 reflects increased shipments to commercial, law enforcement and military customers. Winchester’s second quarter 2015 segment earnings were $33.9 million compared to $33.1 million in the second quarter of 2014. The increase in segment earnings reflects the impact of lower commodity and material costs and lower manufacturing and other costs, partially offset by a less favorable product mix.

As I read this, and I’m not an accountant, both their gross sales and net revenues from ammo sales are up. However, their net margins have dropped from 18.29% in 2014 to 17.04% in 2015. Given that they have lower commodity/material costs combined with lower manufacturing costs in 2015, the fact that their net margins have dropped would be something I’d want to keep an eye on.

I’m thinking that either Walmart is really pushing them on price or that push is coming from their governmental bulk sales. This is all just a guess on my part.

Uncategorized

Parts Available At Lowe’s

July 31, 2015 by 1 Comment

I stumbled across this silent documentary about British production of the Sten during WWII. It called to mind a comment that Tam had made last year during all the angst in California about “ghost guns” and 80% lowers. She noted, “Heck, Lowe’s sells 90% Sten receivers on aisle 5.”

After watching this documentary, I believe Tam is correct. The Sten is a crude firearm but seeing whole wheelbarrows full of them leaving the factory leaves me almost giddy. A guy can dream.

Uncategorized

To The NC Republicans Who Voted To Keep The Permit System, This One Is For You

July 30, 2015 by 5 Comments

Back on June 16th, 34 Republican members of the NC House joined with all 43 Democrat members on an amendment to HB 562 that not only kept the racist Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit system but doubled down by adding back the “good moral character” verbiage. This was Amendment Five proposed by Rep. Allen McNeill (R-Randolph). If asked, those 34 Republicans would have said that they were just supporting law enforcement. After all, the amendment was proposed by Rep. McNeill who had been the Chief Deputy in the Randolph County Sheriffs’ Department before being elected to the General Assembly.

It just so happened that keeping the pistol purchase permit system alive was also the primary goal of every gun prohibitionist group out there. Both Everytown Moms for Illegal Mayors and Americans for Responsible Solutions (sic) put up big bucks on ad campaigns urging people to contact their legislators to “save background checks”. The Brady Campaign was sending text messages and emails left and right.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg’s group Everytown sent out this press release saying they had beaten the “gun lobby”.

Another NRA Defeat: North Carolina Moms Successfully Defend Handgun Background Check Requirement From Gun Lobby-Backed Repeal Effort

July 27, 2015 By press

NC Legislature Rejects Gun Lobby Attempt to Repeal Background Checks for Handgun Buyers

RALEIGH, NC – The North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statements today after successfully removing a gun lobby-backed provision out of HB 562 that would have repealed North Carolina’s requirement that all handgun buyers first pass a criminal background check and obtain a pistol permit—and made it easy for prohibited people to buy a handgun from an unlicensed, private seller with no questions asked.

Statement from Sarah Green, volunteer Chapter Leader of the North Carolina Chapter of Moms Demand Action:

“Moms were loud and clear this year – we won’t allow the NRA to put North Carolinians in danger by gutting our state’s handgun background check requirement. We’re pleased that the legislature stood with the 87 percent of North Carolinians who support background checks instead of the gun lobby. Moms will continue to fight for sensible public safety measures that keep guns out of dangerous hands and save lives.”

Statement from Kim Yaman, a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. Yaman, a mother and grandmother who lives in Cary and, along with her two young children, was a witness to the mass shooting at the University of Iowa:

“I am gratified that so many North Carolinians stood up for common sense and convinced legislators to keep our state’s background check requirement in place. Despite the gun lobby’s best efforts, North Carolina will remain one of the 18 states that requires background checks on all handgun sales, and all of us in the Tar Heel State will be safer as a result.”

Earlier today, the Legislature passed a version of HB 562 that did not include that dangerous repeal provision, following a months-long campaign led by a coalition of moms, law enforcement, and the more than 130,000 Everytown supporters in the state who urged lawmakers to keep North Carolina’s background check requirement in place.

Over the course of months, Moms held nine events at the Capitol, made nearly 1,000 phone calls into legislators’ offices, and delivered more than 17,000 petition signatures and emails to legislators demanding they keep North Carolina’s background check requirement in place.

In May, Everytown aired ads statewide highlighting the broad consensus among North Carolinians against HB 562. The ad featured polling paid for by Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund showing that 87 percent of North Carolinians support background checks on all handgun sales and a letter from the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association urging the Legislature not to repeal the state’s background check law. The bill would have allowed felons and other people prohibited from having guns to buy handguns from unlicensed sellers online or at gun shows, with no background check and no questions asked. When Missouri made this same mistake in 2007, gun homicides in that state spiked by 25 percent.

North Carolina is one of 18 states (plus the District of Columbia) that requires background checks not just for sales by licensed gun dealers, but also for handgun buyers that buy from unlicensed sellers. An earlier version of HB 562 sought to remove North Carolina from that group, and had it become law, dangerous people would have been able to meet a stranger online and buy a handgun with no questions asked. Just last month, the Iowa chapter of Moms Demand Action defeated similar gun lobby-backed legislation in Iowa that would have repealed the state’s background check requirement and put Iowans at risk.

Here are the names of the 34 Republican members of the NC House who sided with the gun banners:

Representative(s): Avila; Blackwell; Boles; Brawley; Bryan; Daughtry; Davis; Dobson; Faircloth; Fraley; Holloway; Horn; Howard; Hurley; Iler; Jeter; L. Johnson; Lambeth; Langdon; Malone; McElraft; McGrady; McNeill; Pendleton; R. Turner; Riddell; Robinson; Ross; Stam (CHAIR); Stevens; Tine; Warren; Watford; Zachary

The Gang of 34 would have you believe that they are true blue supporters of the Second Amendment. They would say they were supporting law enforcement and not voting for gun control. They would point to their rankings by the NRA-PVF and the coveted NRA endorsement as evidence of this. Out of the 34, 30 were endorsed and 27 had an A/AQ or better rating.

That’s all well and good but you still sold out gun rights and gun rights supporters. Many of these representatives are in safe seats. 15 out of the 34 had no opposition in the 2014 General Election. They probably think they are invulnerable. I wonder how many of their supporters would be cool with their representative being on the same side as the gun banners. Given the districts that most of the Gang of 34 represent, I’d wager not many. If I were a gun rights supporter who lived in one of their districts and I had a solid resume (and deep pockets), I’d seriously consider running against them in the primary. I would not be surprised to see just that.

Uncategorized

Why Do I Suspect A Disinformation Campaign?

July 29, 2015 by 6 Comments

Brady Campaign employees Lonnie and Sandy Phillips have been making the rounds of the liberal media proclaiming that they face bankruptcy. This comes as a result of the dismissal of their Brady Center-sponsored lawsuit against LuckyGunner.com, Sportsman’s Guide, and others. US District Court Judge Richard Matsch awarded attorneys’ fees to the defendants when he dismissed the lawsuit.

As I showed back in April, both Lonnie and Sandy are employees of the Brady Campaign. Lonnie still is listed as a Operations Manager for them on LinkedIn. Sandy, as I said, works for them as a Campaign Manager.

While I can feel sympathy for them for the loss of their daughter Jessica Ghawi, I have no sympathy for them over this. Frankly, while I have no proof, I do have a very strong sneaking suspicion that the Brady Center/Brady Campaign will be the ones actually footing the bill.

If the Phillips are actually going to seek the protection of the Bankruptcy Court, it is only because they want to screw the defendants out of the money that is legally owed to them. I think the fact that Lucky Gunner is planning to donate their portion of the money to Second Amendment groups has got to stick in the craw of both the Phillips and the Brady Center.

These TV appearances are an overt attempt to win in the court of public opinion because they have lost, and will continue to lose, in the court system. They acknowledge that they now are seeking Federal legislation that would essentially put Lucky Gunner out of business.

That MSNBC and others have provided the Phillips with a sympathetic ear comes as no surprise to me. They hate gun owners and they hate the Second Amendment. The hell with journalistic ethics when it comes to us. The employment status of the Phillips should have been disclosed as it is an important component of the full story.

UPDATE: Thanks to Linoge, we have a poster that puts it into perspective.

Used with permission

Uncategorized

Something To Hang Around The Necks Of North Carolina House RINOs

July 29, 2015 by

Amber Goodwin is the State Legislative Director for Americans for Responsible Solutions. In that role, she is Gabby and Space Cowboy’s hired gun charged with killing pro-gun rights bills in the states. She sent out this missive late last night.

We’ve emailed you quite a few times about the gun lobby’s efforts to repeal background checks in North Carolina.

I have a very important update to share with you today:

Earlier today, the State Legislature passed HB 562 and IT DID NOT contain language to repeal North Carolina’s background checks law — a great victory for our movement.

Time and time again, Americans for Responsible Solutions supporters made their voices heard through phone calls and letters to state legislators, and contributions that helped us place ads on television and the internet.

That collective effort made this victory possible — and lives will be saved because of that work.

 Now anybody who knows anything about the North Carolina General Assembly knows that the pistol purchase permit system is still around due to the efforts of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association and their power and money hungry members. While the gun prohibitionists may have had some impact on some Democrats, I can’t think of any Republican that was swayed by Mike, Gabby, Shannon, and a bunch of nanny-staters clad in felon orange tees.

Nonetheless, when it comes time to primary those Republican representatives who threw gun rights under the bus at the behest of the sheriffs, I think we should hang this around their scrawny RINO necks. Let them try to explain how their votes to keep the pistol purchase permit system did not please the gun prohibitionists. The answer is that no matter how they try to spin it, their vote to keep that racist system did please those who oppose gun rights.

Uncategorized

NC’s HB 562 Sent To Governor For Signature

July 28, 2015 by 1 Comment

The North Carolina Senate passed HB 562 last night in an evening session by a vote of 40 yea, 9 nay, and one absent. The bill will now be sent to Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC) for his signature.

It passed with no new amendments and no drama. Both of those were reserved for the NC House where an unholy alliance of power-hungry sheriffs, gun control groups, Democrats, and some LEO worshiping Republicans conspired to strip the demise of the racist pistol purchase permit system from the bill. The medical privacy component of the bill which provided relatively weak protections to gun owners was also stripped from the bill in a closer vote at the behest of the North Carolina Medical Society.

The bill that was left did include some important gun rights provisions. These include a more standardized process for approving or denying both concealed handgun permits and pistol purchase permits, shooting range protections, expanded campus carry, and shall-issue CLEO sign-offs on NFA items. There are more and the full bill can be found here.

In the end, both gun rights supporters and gun prohibitionists will be able to claim victory. Mike Bloomberg, Shannon, and Gabby will claim victory because they got to keep the pistol purchase permit system. This was a system instituted in 1919 by white supremacist Democrats to keep handguns and other weapons out of the hands of African-Americans, union organizers, socialists, populists, and anyone else that they thought would be an opponent. Gun rights supporters will be able to claim a victory because of all the other stuff we got in the bill which, in the end, may prove to be much more important than the end of the pistol purchase permit system.

Here is the final vote breakdown in the Senate:

Total Votes: 49   Ayes: 40   Noes: 9   Not: 0   Exc. Absent: 1   Exc. Vote: 0
Democrat Republican
Ayes:    Senator(s): Clark; D. Davis; Ford; Lowe; Smith; Smith-Ingram; Stein Senator(s): Alexander; Apodaca; B. Jackson; Barefoot; Barringer; Berger; Bingham; Brock; Cook; Curtis; Daniel; Gunn; Harrington; Hartsell; Hise; J. Davis; Krawiec; Lee; McInnis; Meredith; Newton; Pate; Rabin; Rabon; Randleman; Rucho; Sanderson; Soucek; Tarte; Tillman; Tucker; Wade; Wells
Noes:    Senator(s): Blue; Bryant; Foushee; J. Jackson; McKissick; Robinson; Van Duyn; Waddell; Woodard Senator(s): None
Exc. Absence:    Senator(s): None Senator(s): Brown

One final note. It is interesting to notice the vote by the African-American senators on the bill. Five voted for the bill while six voted against it. Interesting.

Uncategorized

CRKT And Cold Steel Settle Their Differences

July 27, 2015 by 2 Comments

I got the following press release late this morning from Columbia River Knife & Tool:

Tualatin, Oregon, U.S.A.— July 27, 2015


CRKT today announced a settlement of a lawsuit filed in June 2015 in Los Angeles by Cold Steel relating to advertising by Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT). CRKT is satisfied with the terms of the settlement, which are confidential. The lawsuit will be dismissed. Neither party will make any further comment about the lawsuit or its resolution.

I had written about the lawsuit that Cold Steel brought against CRKT about a month and a half ago. I called it a misuse of the courts and I stand by that statement. While I had a request in to CRKT for a response to the lawsuit, they said they couldn’t talk about it.

As the press release makes clear the lawsuit will be dismissed and the terms of the settlement will be confidential. It should be interesting to see if there is a change in advertising or other behavior from either party in the near to mid-term future. That would be as clear an indication as any as to the terms of the settlement.

Uncategorized

HB 562 Comes Before The Entire NC Senate Tomorrow

July 27, 2015 by 2 Comments

HB 562, the Second Amendment Affirmation Act, comes before the North Carolina Senate tomorrow. The House version was approved without amendments by the Senate Judiciary II Committee on Thursday of this past week. The bill, even though weakened with amendments in the House, does give North Carolina gun owners some important wins. The alert below from GRNC spells out the good stuff and ask that gun owners contact the Republican members of the Senate to urge them to vote for the bill without any weakening amendments.

Pro-gun bill, HB 562, will be considered by the NC Senate
tomorrow (Monday, July 27). Please encourage Senate Republicans to support it …

Last week, thanks in large part to the
insistence of GRNC supporters like you, HB562 moved smoothly through the Senate Judiciary
II Committee. GRNC would like to thank Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Guilford, Rockingham) and Senator Tom Apodaca (R-Buncombe, Henderson,
Transylvania) for making sure this bill had a proper hearing. Fortunately, the committee did not weaken the bill, which still contains
some great gun-rights advancements, such as: 
  • Expanded
    campus carry (and giving an affirmative defense for defensive gun use on campus);

  • Reduced penalties for carriage onto posted premises;

  • Expanded sport shooting range protection;

  • Reductions in arbitrary permit denials for both concealed handgun permits and pistol purchase
    permits while reducing the number of disqualifying prior offenses for those permits;

  • A new cause of action against local governments which violate our statewide firearms preemption
    law;
  • A requirement for sheriffs to sign Form 4s for
    qualified Title II applicants;
  • A provision for legal
    resident aliens to get concealed handgun permits; and
  • Short-barreled rifle hunting in addition to the suppressor hunting we passed in 2013. 
Now,
it’s time for HB562 to be considered by the
full Senate. To insure its passage, the Republican members of the
NC Senate need to be reminded that you expect them to support this bill,
and to
pass it without weakening amendments.

Below,
you’ll find a
copy/paste message and a copy/paste email list that you can use to
encourage the Senate’s supermajority to act in accordance with their
campaign
promises by voting in favor of HB562.

IMMEDIATE
ACTION REQUIRED!

  • EMAIL SENATE
    REPUBLICANS    : use the copy/paste email address list, and the copy/paste email text under ‘Deliver This Message,’ below.

CONTACT INFO
Copy/paste email *list for Senate Republicans:

John.Alexander@ncleg.net;
Tom.Apodaca@ncleg.net;
Chad.Barefoot@ncleg.net; Tamara.Barringer@ncleg.net;
Phil.Berger@ncleg.net; Stan.Bingham@ncleg.net; Andrew.Brock@ncleg.net;
Harry.Brown@ncleg.net; Bill.Cook@ncleg.net; David.Curtis@ncleg.net;
Warren.Daniel@ncleg.net; Jim.Davis@ncleg.net; Rick.Gunn@ncleg.net;
Kathy.Harrington@ncleg.net; Fletcher.Hartsell@ncleg.net;
Ralph.Hise@ncleg.net; Brent.Jackson@ncleg.net; Joyce.Krawiec@ncleg.net;
Michael.Lee@ncleg.net; Tom.McInnis@ncleg.net; Wesley.Meredith@ncleg.net;
Buck.Newton@ncleg.net; Louis.Pate@ncleg.net; Ron.Rabin@ncleg.net;
Bill.Rabon@ncleg.net; Shirley.Randleman@ncleg.net; Bob.Rucho@ncleg.net;
Norman.Sanderson@ncleg.net; Dan.Soucek@ncleg.net; Jeff.Tarte@ncleg.net;
Jerry.Tillman@ncleg.net; Tommy.Tucker@ncleg.net; Trudy.Wade@ncleg.net;
Andy.Wells@ncleg.net
*Regarding the above
email list: some email programs may require that the semicolons be replaced with commas.

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “Please Support HB562”  
Dear Senator:

Last week, I was pleased to hear that HB562
moved seamlessly through the Judiciary II Committee, and I am writing to urge you to continue shepherding this pro-Second Amendment bill toward the governor’s desk without
weakening it.

HB562 will be a great step forward
for gun rights in our state. I strongly encourage you to back this bill,
and
to encourage your colleagues to do the same. Please vote for HB562 as it
is currently written, and please vote against any weakening amendments.

I
will be closely watching your actions on this subject through legislative alerts from Grass Roots North Carolina.

Respectfully,  
Uncategorized

Frustrated Is Good; Stymied Is Even Better

July 24, 2015 by 1 Comment

The BBC’s North America editor Jon Sopel was given an exclusive interview with President Obama. In that interview, Mr. Obama said:

“If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I’ve been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which, we do not have sufficient common-sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings,” Obama said. “If you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands.”

I am proud to say that I have supported organizations and legislators who have helped stymie his assault on the Second Amendment. I know Mr. Obama thinks nothing of abrogating the rights of Americans by using his “pen and a phone”. When he mentions in the video below that he has 18 months to work on “gun violence” (sic), I take him at his word and am willing to fight him every step of the way. Nothing he has proposed or will propose is “common sense”.