Month: October 2019

Uncategorized

USCCA Fined By Washington State

October 22, 2019 by 2 Comments

The United States Concealed Carry Association was fined $100,000 by the Washington State Department of Insurance. The violation was “selling unauthorized insurance that illegally covers defense costs for criminal shootings. ” USCCA also agreed to pay “$5,457 in unpaid premium taxes, penalties and interest. “

In a press release dated October 21st, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler (D-WA) said:

“We made two things very clear to USCCA,” Kreidler said. “Insurers must be authorized to sell in our state, and policies can’t cover illegal activity. These law violations are fixable, if the company wishes to do business in Washington state.”

USCCA and other such plans only cover you for viable self-defense incidents and not “illegal activity”. Even though USCCA made this perfectly clear, the Department of Insurance contended that there was no mechanism to reclaim payments made to members who were later convicted of a crime.

Anti-gunners love to talk about “loopholes”. The only loophole I see here is one that allows bureaucrats to make regulations out of whole cloth.

On the authorization issue, Washington is probably correct. Selling insurance in a state does require a license from each individual state and the District of Columbia.

Kreidler’s press release notes that USCCA could possibly still do business in the state.

USCCA could sell insurance legally in Washington by changing its policies to not insure criminal activity, and either becoming a registered insurer or by placing insurance business through surplus lines brokers.

Earlier in the year, Kreidler and the Department of Insurance went after the NRA’s Carry Guard program.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler today banned the sale of illegal insurance policies branded by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and will fine two companies involved in underwriting and selling them in Washington state. 


Kreidler ordered Illinois Union Insurance Co. to stop underwriting the policies, branded under the NRA as self-defense policies. They are illegal in Washington state because they insure unlawful activity. 


Kreidler also seeks to fine the company $102,000 for selling 811 of the illegal policies to Washington state consumers. 


Kreidler also seeks to fine Lockton Affinity L.L.C. $75,000. Lockton Affinity is the licensed insurance producer that sold the illegal policies on behalf of the NRA.  


“When it comes to insurance products associated with the NRA, it’s buyer beware,” Kreidler said. “The attempt to insure a criminal act is a rip-off for consumers. The policies sold are deceptive and dishonest. I would be remiss as the state’s insurance regulator if I didn’t shut them down.”

Kreidler, 76, is in his fifth term as insurance commissioner. He is an optometrist by training. He served 16 years in the Washington House and Senate as well as one term in Congress. He lost re-election in 1994 after voting for the Clinton “assault weapons ban”.

Uncategorized

Life After Dick’s

October 20, 2019 by 2 Comments

There is life after Dick’s. At least there is for some former Field & Stream stores. The two in North Carolina that were purchased by Sportsman’s Warehouse have now opened for business.

We are in the Piedmont Triad this weekend visiting the granddaughters and took some time to check out the Greensboro store. It is still laid out – for now – like the old Field & Stream. Moreover, from my conversation with a store employee, much of the staff came over from Field & Stream. That said, they appeared to be happy with the move.

From an email, I understand the Asheville store has opened as well. The grand opening at both stores will be October 25th and 26th. I’m sure there will be some specials but the store staff hasn’t been told what they will be yet.

The other thing I noticed was this sign.

The store was still stocked with a good deal of Field & Stream branded products but as you can see they are clearing it out.

I didn’t take much time to check out prices as this was a run in, run out type of visit. I did notice that the gun racks had some large open spots. There was a sign saying to expect more firearm inventory soon. I’m guessing that will include those evil AR-15s now that Ed Stack is gone.

I am happy with the change and hope Sportsman’s Warehouse does well in North Carolina.

Uncategorized

#ReleaseTheList

October 16, 2019 by 1 Comment

The ultra-progressive group Demand Justice released a list of 32 potential nominees for the Supreme Court. They want Democrat presidential candidates to adopt this list or to release one of their own. This is what then-candidate Donald J. Trump did in 2016 to good effect.

I agree. Release the list! If the list(s) adopted by any of the Democrat candidates is anything like the Demand Justice list, it will be full of radicals, with little judicial experience, chosen to appease constituent groups.

Professor Josh Blackman provides a convenient grouping on The Volokh Conspiracy.

Academics: Michelle Alexander (Union Theological Seminary),  James Forman, Jr. (Yale), Pamela Karlan (Stanford), M. Elizabeth Magill (Virginia), Melissa Murray (NYU), Bryan Stevenson (NYU), Zephyr Teachout (Fordham), Timothy Wu (Columbia),


Progressive Litigators: Brigitte Amiri (ACLU), Nicole Berner (GC SEIU), Deepak Gupta (Gupta Wessler), Dale Ho (ACLU), Sherrilyn Ifill (NAACP LDF), Shannon Minter (National Center for Lesbian Rights), Nina Perales (MALDEF), Thomas A. Saenz (MALDEF), Cecillia Wang (ACLU),


Current/Former Government Officers: Xavier Becerra (California AG), Sharon Block (one of the three NLRB appointments at issue in Noel Canning), Vanita Gupta (Former Obama DOJ), Lawrence Krasner (Philadelphia DA), Catharine Lhamon (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights), Katie Porter (House of Representatives), Jenny Yang (Former EEOC Chair)


Federal Judges: Richard F. Boulware (D. Nev.), Jane Kelly (8th Circuit), Cornelia Pillard (D.C. Circuit), Carlton Reeves (S.D. Miss.)


State Judges: Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar (California Supreme Court), Anita Earls (North Carolina Supreme Court), Leondra Kruger (California Supreme Court), Goodwin Liu (California Supreme Court)

Let’s look at the sitting judges first. All of the Federal judges were appointed by President Barack Obama. They have between five and nine years of experience and only one of them is on a Circuit Court of Appeals.

Pages: 1 2

Uncategorized

Game Theory

October 15, 2019 by 2 Comments

Certain truths can be stated without reservation.  FACT ONE: American youth love video games.  And, FACT TWO: Guns have been a large part of our history and culture for hundreds of years.  Here’s another: Without the constant renewal and growth of new participants, the gun culture and shooting sports will wither and die, and the Second Amendment will be closely behind it.  The Second Amendment would become a quaint reminder of a distant past, then, gradually, incrementally, be reduced to an abstract symbolic concept.  

If one were to set out to address the challenge of finding new participants for the shooting sports, where would you look and who would you look for?  Well, it would be nice to target young people, heaven knows the more “mature” crowd is already well represented!  It would also make sense to target people who already have demonstrated some interest in and knowledge of guns.  

This ideal demographic of future competitive shooters, firearms enthusiasts, and Second Amendment activists exists within the world of video gaming.  We know from anecdotal evidence that the cross-pollination opportunity between the video gaming culture and the “real” gun culture is significant.  In fact, even the briefest look at the gaming industry reveals the staggering scale of the numbers involved.  Gaming is huge!  According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 97% of all teenagers play video games; and 81% of 18-to-29 year olds are gaming, and a large percentage of those games are based on shooting and gun themes.  For example, the ‘Red Dead Redemption Part 2 Cowboy’ action game grossed over $725 million its opening weekend and has sold over 25 million copies.

In fact, my own introduction into the world of firearms was the indirect result of video games.  My sons’ interest in guns was piqued after playing video games, which lead to an interest in paintball and airsoft guns.  Realizing quickly if I had declared real guns forbidden it would have only strengthened the attraction, I embarked on a mission to learn all I could about safe gun use in order to educate my sons and keep them safe.  I reached out to a knowledgeable gun-owning friend, who gave us a brief introduction to guns and recommended a safety training class.   To my great joy,  guns and the shooting sports have become a central part of our lives ever since, providing countless hours of enjoyment and family bonding.

Of course, only a small percentage of gamers will make the leap from shooting guns in video games to shooting guns in real life.

But a small percentage of a big number is still a big number.  There are barriers to entry that must be overcome. Not everyone has a gun-owning friend (that they know of) to whom they can reach out.  With this in mind, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), promotes the excellent “First Shots Program” offered at many local shooting ranges. The program is geared towards safely introducing first-time shooters to the fun of shooting.

Andrew Gottlieb, Director of Outreach for the Second Amendment Foundation, has begun some excellent work on the issue of gaming and how it relates to the Second Amendment.  A key point he made in his presentation at the 34th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Phoenix related to the inevitable blame-game and finger-pointing that occurs whenever a mass murder event occurs and it’s subsequently revealed the “murderer was a video game player”.   Mr. Gottlieb said plainly “The gun people need to stop pointing to the video games as the cause,  because that just makes the gamers point back to the gun as the cause when both parties should be pointing to the acts of the individual perpetrator!”  I must admit, I have been tempted myself to point to games as a causal factor; however, considering how pervasive gaming actually is you might as well point to shoes as the cause of mass murder because as far as I know most murderers aren’t barefoot!  Alas, there are not simple answers to complex problems.  

As firearms enthusiasts, gun owners and Second Amendment advocates, let’s actively look for ways to reach out to the people who are already interested in what we do.  Get out there and find a gamer to take shooting, it’ll be a blast!

Uncategorized

Update On NYSRPA V. City Of New York

October 15, 2019 by

The Supreme Court released new orders relating to oral arguments in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. City of New York.

The motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument is granted. The motion of Neal Goldfarb for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument is denied.

The Supreme Court usually approves the request of the Solicitor General to participate in oral arguments as amicus curiae and will grant his or her request for divided argument.

As to Mr. Goldfarb, he is the only one of those submitting amicus briefs who requested to participate in the oral argument. From what I can tell, he is something of a gadfly who wants to apply linguistics to the legal interpretation. His brief insists that the Court was wrong in its interpretation of language in DC v. Heller.

Uncategorized

Crossing Guard Reinstated To Job; Guns Still Seized

October 14, 2019 by 5 Comments

Stephen Nichols has been restored to his job as a crossing guard in Tisbury, Massachusetts. He was removed from his job over an overheard remark that a nosy waitress construed as a threat to the local school. You can read more about the circumstances in this post.

Tisbury PD Chief Mark Saloio maintains Mr. Nichols was never fired. Rather his job was just under “review” according to his statement to the MV Times.

“The town, collectively, has expressed an outpouring of concern about Mr. Nichols, and his employment as a school crossing guard. We as well share those concerns. We wish to make you aware that today, Mr. Nichols was informed that he may return to his crossing guard duties tomorrow morning,” Saloio wrote in an email to The Times. “This return to work was always pending upon a final review that was in process. Throughout this period, Mr. Nichols has retained his position as a crossing guard for the town. However, these reviews are thorough and complete, and neither immediate nor instantaneous.”

Chief Saloio went on to defend the school resource officer whose forays to a buy coffee while on the job were criticized by Mr. Nichols.

While Mr. Nichols has his job back as a school crossing guard, his firearms and license to carry have not been restored to him.

Dan Larkosh, of the Edgartown firm Larkosh and Jackson, represents Nichols, and he was pleased Nichols was reinstated. Nevertheless he intends to file an appeal of the decision by Tisbury Police Chief Mark Saloio to seize guns owned by Nichols, as well as his license to carry.


Saloio declined to comment when approached at the Tisbury Police Station. He later told The Times, “There’s nothing that I can legally discuss about the matter. Period.” The police department has also refused to release the police report from the investigation citing the “personnel” exemption of the public records law.

Supporters of Mr. Nichols started circulating a petition to get him both reinstated and to get his firearms and carry license restored to him. According to the MV Times, it has garnered over 800 signatures as of this morning.

Absent the publicity brought to this case by it going viral, I doubt Mr. Nichols would have his job restored to him. Now let’s hope it helps to restore his means of self-defense.

Uncategorized

Research Press And The History Of Long Range Shooting

October 13, 2019 by 1 Comment

I stumbled across a very interesting website dedicated to the history of long range target shooting today. It is called Research Press: Firearms, Long Range Target Shooting & Associated History. It comes from the United Kingdom.

A mailing list to which I subscribe had a link to an article on it about the .45-70 Springfield and a 2 mile shot made in 1879.

THE SHOOTER at the heavy bench rest squinted as he aligned his .45-70 Allin-Springfield Model 1873 Army rifle on the distant target. The rifle fore-stock and barrel was cradled in a rest; the butt was supported by his shoulder. The rear sight was flipped up to its full height, so with no stock support for his head, the rifle tester from Springfield Armory worked carefully to align high rear and low muzzle sight on the speck that was the target – a surveyed 2,500 yards distant.


Holding his breath, he squeezed the 7-pound trigger. The rifle fired, and some 15 seconds later, signals from the target indicated that his shot had struck well inside the 6-foot diameter bullseye on a target well over a mile away!

The website has a lot of history dealing with the growth of rifle marksmanship and long range shooting in Great Britain. The growth of it was spurred by a fear in 1859 of a potential invasion of Britain by the French. Volunteer groups promoting marksmanship were raised across the country and eventually were merged with the yeomanry to become the Territorial Army which is the reserve element of the British Army.

Local and regional rifle matches become commonplace and by the end of the decade of the 1860’s Great Britain, with no prior tradition for rifle marksmanship, had thousands of trained riflemen.


Great Volunteer reviews before large crowds of spectators, and sometimes royalty, were held throughout the country where the men demonstrated their skill at drill and skirmishing.


The original arm of the Volunteers was the muzzle loading Enfield rifle. In September 1870 this was replaced by the Snider, a breech loading conversion of the Enfield. The adoption of the Martini-Henry breech loading rifle by the Volunteers was commenced in 1879 but not completed until 1885. The issue of the Lee-Metford magazine rifle was authorised in 1895.

This is just skimming the surface. If you have an interest in the history of organized rifle shooting, I’d suggest taking some time and perusing the site. It will be worth your time.

Uncategorized

Life In The Volksrepublik

October 13, 2019 by 5 Comments

JayG used to refer to Massachusetts as the Volksrepublik in his old blog Marooned. It was a snarky take on life in a very liberal state with an overbearing government. Volksrepublik derives from the German for People’s Republic which is a term often used by Communist or otherwise authoritarian states.

Though East Germany, officially Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR, was merely a “democratic republic” and not a “people’s republic, it did have the Volkshammer, the Volksarmee, and the Volkspolizei. Respectively they were the People’s Chamber legislature, the National People’s Army or their military, and the People’s Police or the national state police. The DDR also had the Staatssicherheitsdienst aka the Stasi. This was the secret police agency meant to repress any dissent. The Stasi encouraged and made extensive use of mass surveillance. This meant neighbor spying on neighbor and children spying on parents all with the purpose of reporting deviations to the secret police.

Bear this history in mind when you hear the story of Stephen Nichols, 84, of Tisbury, Massachusetts. It is a small town on Martha’s Vineyard. Mr. Nichols is a Korean War veteran, a former officer with the Tisbury Police Department, a former court official, a former constable, and now a former school crossing guard.

I say former school crossing guard because a waitress at Linda Jean’s Restaurant in Oak Bluffs overheard his complaints about a school resource officer, misinterpreted them, and then reported him to the Tisbury Police.

As reported by the MV Times on Friday:

Nichols said he was unimpressed with the Tisbury School resource officer’s alleged trips to Xtra Mart to get coffee when children came to school in the morning. While dining at Linda Jean’s a couple of weeks ago, Nichols said he told a friend about this and suggested somebody could “shoot up the school” in that officer’s absence, which he described as “leaving his post.” 

Nichols said the waitress made a complaint to Tisbury Police about what she overheard and on the strength of that, (Tisbury PD Chief Mark) Saloio and another officer relieved Nichols of his crossing guard duties while he was in the midst of performing them and subsequently drove to his home and took away his firearms license and guns. 


“He came up and told me what I said was a felony but he wasn’t going to charge me,” Nichols said of Saloio. 


The confiscated guns were later turned over to Nichols’ son-in-law, Nichols told The Times.


Asked if he was given a letter or any paperwork for the seizure of his license, Nichols said, “No he just told me to hand it over so I took it out of my wallet and handed it to him.”


Nichols said he has been licensed for firearms since 1958.


He said he didn’t receive any paperwork or receipts for the seizure of his guns, either.

The Stasi would be so proud of that anonymous waitress as well as the reaction of the police.

The story goes to note that the both Mark Hanover who owns Linda Jean’s and Andy Marcus who was having coffee with Mr. Nichols assert no threat was made. Mr. Nichols merely thought it irresponsible that the school resource officer would leave his post to get coffee. Only one person construed it as a threat and the police ran with that.

This is a reprehensible situation. You have an elderly widower now left defenseless, children were put at risk pulling the crossing guard in the middle of his shift, and a man’s reputation is sullied based upon an overheard comment that was misunderstood.

The responses of the Tisbury Police Department and the Tisbury Town Administrator were classic bureaucratic evasiveness. They refused to talk about it because it was “a personnel matter.”

Now think about this situation in light of the push for red flag laws. Instances like Mr. Nichols will become more common and with more tragic consequences. In this case you had an elderly man who was not a threat to anyone, who loves kids, and who didn’t even carry outside the home. What if it had been a disturbed person triggered to violence by having his or her firearms removed. They are still on the street, they didn’t get the help they needed, and they are only down one tool out of many with which they can commit a violent attack.

Uncategorized

I So Want One Of These!

October 13, 2019 by 1 Comment

In the video below, Larry Vickers discusses and shoots the Swedish K Gun. Also known as the Carl Gustav M/45, this submachine gun was used extensively in Vietnam by Special Forces and in the Congo by Swedish UN peacekeepers.

The Swedes objected to the US forces using it in Vietnam and imposed an embargo on their sale. Smith & Wesson made a clone called the Model 76 for use by our military. I had a chance to shoot one of these years ago at a blogger shoot put on by LuckyGunner.com. Let’s put it this way, if I had the extra money and didn’t mind waiting months I’d buy one.

The going price for a transferable K Gun is in the $20,000 range. You can get the S&W Model 76 for much less.

Uncategorized

Grassley Tells IRS To Ignore Calls For Russia-NRA Probe

October 11, 2019 by 1 Comment

The Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee issued a staff report in September calling on the IRS to investigate the NRA over a trip to Russia. They want the IRS to pull the NRA’s 503(c)(4) tax designation. The Senate Finance Committee minority members even called the NRA a “foreign asset”.

Yesterday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley fired back in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. He characterized the Democrats’ efforts to get the IRS to investigate the NRA as “partisan” request. He said that the IRS ” is not a political weapon, and it should not be used as such. “

Sen. Grassley goes on to note:

The Minority report focuses on certain NRA personnel who traveled to Russia in December 2015 for a goodwill trip. After reviewing nearly identical evidence as the Minority staff at great length, it was clear to the Majority staff that nothing in those documents reasonably raises questions about whether the NRA should maintain its tax-exempt status under the tax code. Indeed, rather than present a careful and serious analysis, the Minority staff report offers incendiary conclusions unsupported by paragraphs full of belabored references to behavior that “raises serious” but undefined “concerns.” Even the cover of the Minority staff report deems the NRA a “Russian asset,” while nothing in the text of the actual report ever does more than editorialize to that effect.

He recalls the efforts of Obama Administration to politicize the Internal Revenue Service with some sadness.

Moreover, the IRS should never investigate taxpayers as a result of potential political motives. It is critical for the administration of our tax system that the IRS remain ideologically neutral when it comes to enforcing the tax code, and it is just as critical that taxpayers all throughout the United States know and believe this to be true. This decade has already seen the IRS involved in enough controversy around politically-motived tax enforcement, and the IRS should strive mightily to avoid such episodes in the future. As you are well aware, in May 2013 a scandal engulfed the IRS with its partisan enforcement of applications for tax-exempt status under Sec. 50I(c)(4) of the tax code, as led by Ms. Lois Lerner. Sadly, that scandal may have been precipitated by partisan requests for the IRS to investigate its perceived political opponents. This was a tragic episode in the IRS’ history and it must not happen again.

Grassley goes on to conclude that the IRS does important work. However, he warns that if the IRS is to retain its legitimacy with the American people, it must not “biased against them based on the exercise of their constitutional rights.”

He is right. The only way the IRS can ultimately get compliance with tax laws is voluntary compliance. If it is seen as a punitive tool by the Democrats – or the Republicans – it loses any sort of legitimacy and with that compliance. There are not enough IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agents to compel compliance if the American people as a whole say, “I will not comply.”