Month: January 2022

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Best Concurring Opinion Evah!

January 27, 2022 by 2 Comments

Judge Lawrence VanDyke wrote the court’s opinion in McDougall v. Ventura County (California). It was a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that found Ventura County’s public health order closing of gun shops, ammo stores, and shooting ranges for 48 days violated the Second Amendment.

Judge VanDyke was appointed to the 9th Circuit by President Donald Trump. He had previously served as the Solicitor General for both the states of Montana and Nevada as well as Assistant Solicitor General for Texas. VanDyke earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering before attending Harvard Law School.

VanDyke gets appeals court seat despite Cortez Masto, Rosen protest

Judge VanDyke did something quite unusual. He actually wrote a concurring opinion to the court’s opinion that he himself had written.

Why, you ask, would a judge write a concurring opinion to his own opinion? VanDyke, knowing that virtually all Second Amendment wins in the 9th Circuit get overturned en banc by the court, wanted to point out the absurdity of those opinions by giving the court a draft en banc opinion.

Given both of these realities—that (1) no firearm-related ban or regulation ever ultimately fails our circuit’s Second Amendment review, and (2) that review is effectively standardless and imposes no burden on the government—it occurred to me that I might demonstrate the latter while assisting my hard-working colleagues with the former. Those who know our court well know that all of our judges
are very busy and that it’s a lot of work for any judge to call a panel decision en banc. A judge or group of judges must first write a call memo, and then, if the en banc call is successful, the en banc majority must write a new opinion. Since our court’s Second Amendment intermediate scrutiny standard can reach any result one desires, I figure there is no reason why I shouldn’t write an alternative draft opinion that
will apply our test in a way more to the liking of the majority of our court. That way I can demonstrate just how easy it is to reach any desired conclusion under our current framework, and the majority of our court can get a jumpstart on calling this case en banc. Sort of a win-win for everyone.

The real beauty of VanDyke’s concurrence lies within the footnotes where he gives his snarkiness free rein.

You have gems like this:

We refer to strict scrutiny as a theoretical matter—a thought-experiment, really. Our court has never ultimately applied strict scrutiny to any real-life gun regulation.

And this:

Here’s the deal: Whenever we think the history helps us in upholding the challenged regulation, we’re happy to rely on it in step one of our test. See, e.g., Young, 992 F.3d at 784–826. But most of the time the
history either doesn’t help us uphold the gun regulation, is indeterminate, or is just really hard to evaluate. So usually we just skip over step one of our “two-step” test by assuming the challenged regulation burdens Second Amendment-protected conduct. But that’s okay, because the real beauty of our two-step test is its amazing flexibility at the various stages of step two in balancing the government’s asserted interest versus the claimed impact on the “core” of the Second Amendment.

And another one:

The first prong is always met in Second Amendment cases. Guns are dangerous, after all, so the government’s interest in ameliorating such danger is always important. At first we were worried this case
might be a problem, because the regulations here don’t really have any nexus to the dangerousness of guns. But COVID-19 is dangerous too, so that substitutes in nicely.

And his concluding footnote:

Again, it doesn’t matter much what we say here. Once we’re allowed to effectively balance competing interests under our Second Amendment intermediate scrutiny, it’s so easy justifying a regulation that we could easily just delegate this part of the opinion to our interns.

VanDyke ends his concurrence by saying” You’re welcome.” I’m sure this won’t endear him to some of his fellow judges on the 9th Circuit but I don’t think he gives a damn. From what I can tell, VanDyke’s dissents have really irritated the liberals on the court for which I say, “Good!”.

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New US Primer Manufacturer Coming

January 23, 2022 by 33 Comments

Until now, only two companies controlled the market for primers in the United States. Olin Corporation through their ownership of Winchester and Vista Outdoor with their ownership of Federal, Remington Ammunition, and CCI. A third manufacturer intends to to begin producing by 2023.

Expansion Industries of Carrolton, Texas will be opening a new plant on the site of the former Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant outside of Texarkana, Texas.

Ammunition plant coming to the Texarkana area
From KTBS.com https://www.ktbs.com/news/texarkana/ammunition-plant-coming-to-the-texarkana-area/article_a00ac8b4-7a38-11ec-83e4-5754598b14c6.html

According to reports in the Texarkana Gazette, Expansion Industries has already invested $100 million in the effort.

The facility will specialize in the production of primers, a key component in ammunition manufacturing, for the small arms industry.

“We have invested $100 million into the site so far,” said Richard A. Smissen, owner, Expansion Industries. “This is all about supply and demand. There is serious demand in the industry for this product and right now, for various reasons, the supply chain is falling woefully short. So we are getting ready to do our part to help out with that issue.”

Smissen describes the new facility as state-of-the-art, featuring a high level of automation. He said the site at the former Lone Star Army Ammunition plant is uniquely situated for what they will be doing.

“The manufacturing facilities at Lone Star were set up for ammunition manufacturing,” said Smissen. “Not only the way the facilities are laid out on the former base, but the facilities themselves are hardened to protect against possible accidents working with this material. What is here was ready for someone like us to come and set up shop. So we’ve had our people in there getting it ready for a modern manufacturing facility. We aim to be up and running in the first few months of this year.”

They intend to employ up to 400 employees by 2023 and have already started their employee recruitment efforts.

This is good news as primers are the key component which seems to be in the shortest supply. I know it was a topic of discussion this week among my friends at the SHOT Show.

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Tips For First Time African Hunters

January 19, 2022 by 2 Comments

One of the projects I set for myself when I attended the Dallas Safari Club Convention was to seek tips and advice for those hunting Africa for the first time. I spoke to professional hunters (PHs) and other experts for their advice. My question to them was what would be the one tip that you would give a person planning to hunt Africa for the first time.

Here is what I got in no particular order.

Dylan Love – Huntershill Safaris, South Africa, and the PH Journal Podcast. (He has a must listen to podcast)

  • Do your research on potential outfitters and especially check out their social media. It will be the most up to date.
  • Let the outfitters handle the finer details.

Craig Boddington – author, hunter, and TV show host.

  • Listen to your PH!

Rob Lurie – Zimbabwe Professional Hunters and Game Association. They have the toughest standards for licensing in Africa.

  • Do your homework!
  • Ponder all you options.
  • Ask for recent references.

Japsie Blaauw – Dzombo Hunting Safaris, Namibia and Botswana.

  • Practice shooting off of sticks.

Marius Goesen – KMG Safaris, South Africa

  • Trust your PH
  • Don’t overpack. You won’t need more than 3 sets of clothes as you have daily laundry.

Philip Weyer- Henderson – Muller Hunting and Safaris, South Africa

  • Take good, broken-in boots

Russ Field – Russ Field Safaris, South Africa

  • Go for at least 10 days
  • Pack light
  • Use the camp rental guns. Your own guns will just be a hassle.

Alex Oelofse – Jan Oelofse Hunting Safaris, Namibia

  • Plan a few extra days to see wildlife like elephants and lions if not on the hunting property
  • Ask the outfitter whether you will be hunting all on one block of property or will you travel to another block. If another block, ask how far.
  • Be wary of outfitters and PHs “overselling” size of the animals.

I think these are all good tips. I probably would have gotten more tips from more outfitters if I always remembered to ask when I visiting a booth. My bad.

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DSC Convention Day 3

January 16, 2022 by 2 Comments

I am taking this snowy day to finish my posts about the Dallas Safari Club Convention which ended Sunday a week ago. I should be at the airport getting ready to fly to Las Vegas for the SHOT Show and SCI Convention but weather has thrown a wrench in that.

My third day at the DSC Convention was similar to earlier days in that I spoke with outfitters, cruised the aisles, drooled over guns, and attended a couple of seminars. I did see some interesting taxidermy and artwork as you can see below.

My two biggest highlights were chatting with “the” Bill Laughridge of Cylinder and Slide and meeting Kevin “Doctari” Robertson. I chatted with Mr. Laughridge about the Browning Hi-Power as well as the new Springfield SA-35. He thought the Springfield SA-35 was a good upgrade to the Browning model as he had worked on customizing a couple so far.

With regards to Kevin Robertson, I was walking the aisles and heard this guy speaking with a couple of people. I knew that voice! I had recently heard it on John McAdams’ Big Game Hunting Podcast. Dr. Robertson is the author of the The Perfect Shot and The Perfect Shot II. Those books combine his experience as a veterinarian and as a licensed professional hunter in Zimbabwe to provide hunters with the knowledge to make a clean kill on tough African wildlife. As with Mr. Laughridge, he was a very nice gentleman and willing to talk.

I also attended a seminar put on by Hornady on bullet design. The engineer presenting the seminar said they were going to work backwards from the animal dying to find the type of bullet needed for the task. An animal dies from the lack of oxygenated blood to the brain. There are three systems that can be impacted that will cause death: circulatory, respiratory, and nervous. In other words, the animal dies from blood loss, damage to its lungs and/or heart, or from a spinal or brain shot that shuts down the nervous system. When designing a bullet the engineers give consideration to placement, penetration, and expansion. Placement is always important while on some animals you need more penetration and on others expansion is more critical. Unfortunately, I had to leave before they finished the seminar.

The other seminar I attended was put on by Michael Sabbeth who is a student of the media. His seminar dealt with how the media portrays hunting and especially trophy hunting. Much of the seminar was deconstructing an interview done by Emma Barnett of the BBC with Danene van der Westhuyzen who runs Aru Safaris with her husband in Namibia. Danene is one of the few female PHs in Namibia and is president of the Namibian Professional Hunters Association. Sabbeth found Barnett to be a master of rhetorical tricks and unethical in her use of them. You can read his deconstruction of the interview here.

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My Visit To Dealey Plaza

January 15, 2022 by 2 Comments

If you are of a certain age you know exactly where you were on November 22, 1963. In my case, I was in Mrs. Rimpson’s first grade class at what was then named Park Street School in Asheboro, North Carolina. I still vaguely remember the teachers leaving the classrooms to congregate in the hall to discuss something of importance. We later learned that President John Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas.

I spent a good part of last week in Dallas attending the Dallas Safari Club Convention. Looking out from my hotel room I saw a plaza and a six story brick building about a block and a half away. Then it hit me that this was Dealey Plaza and the building was the Texas School Book Depository. Before I left on Sunday I took some time to walk around the plaza and take a few pictures.

Dealey Plaza has two colonnades which are bisected by Main Street. The left colonnade has a statue of George Dealey who was the publisher of the Dallas Morning News and for whom the plaza is named. The right colonnade shown below is dedicated to the late President Kennedy. You can see the American flag in the background which is perpetually at half staff.

The map displayed below shows the layout of Dealey Plaza. The Kennedy motorcade approached the plaza on Main Street and then took a right turn on to Houston Street. Then it took a final hard left turn on Elm Street on which the Book Depository fronts.

This is behind the colonnade looking across to Elm Street and the infamous “Grassy Knoll”. It is infamous as many witnesses said they heard gun shots coming from there.

This is the Texas School Book Depository. There is now a museum in it.

The sixth floor window from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot is the square window on the far right. Why Oswald didn’t take the shot as the car turned on to Elm from Houston when it was almost stopped will never be known.

One thing that strikes a visitor to the location is that the distances involved are much smaller than the impression given by the many TV shows and films on the assassination.

The is what was named the Dal-Tex Building. The name stood for Dallas Textiles as it held offices for many small clothing wholesalers and manufacturers. New owners now have renamed it to 501 Elm Place. This building has figured in a number conspiracy theories on the assassination as the location of an alternative sniper.

One of the best examinations of the assassination in my opinion from a shooter’s perspective is actually a novel. The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter features his sniper protagonist Bob Lee Swagger. He is asked by a widow to investigate it as her late husband was murdered while working on a book about the assassination.

I read the book when it came out and just re-read it after getting home from Dallas. Having actually visited Dealey Plaza and walked the plaza, this made parts of the book come alive. If you have any interest in the Kennedy Assassination I highly recommend it. You can find the Kindle version here. Note, I do earn a commission on it.

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FN Issues Safety Recall On M249S Rifles

January 14, 2022 by 2 Comments

FN America has issued a safety recall on all of their M249S rifles. This is the belt-fed, semi-auto version of their well-known M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (machine gun) that has a MSRP in the $8,000 range or so.

FN M249S® | FN®
From the recall notice:

(McLean, VA – January 14, 2022) FN America, LLC announces the mandatory recall of all FN M249S® semi-automatic, belt-fed rifles sold before January 1, 2022. An identified issue from a component in the FN M249S fire control group may adversely affect the rifle’s standard operation, and under certain circumstances, a reset failure within the hammer group may cause an unsafe firing event. To correct this condition and restore consistent and safe operation of the firearm’s fire control group, it is necessary for FN to replace specific components in all FN M249S rifles.

FN is instructing customers to discontinue use of these rifles immediately and return affected products to FN directly for installation of new components, at no expense to its owner.

January 2022 FN M249S® SAFETY RECALL
Product Name: 
FN M249S		Model Name(s):  
FN M249S Standard, FN M249S Para, FN M249S Limited Edition
Product Numbers: 
56460, 56501, 56509, 56502, 56435, 46-100030, 46-100028 		Color(s): 
Black, Flat Dark Earth (FDE)

All FN M249S serial numbers sold before January 1, 2022, are affected by this recall. Therefore, FN M249S owners are asked to please visit the FN M249S Safety Recall webpage and input their serial number for detailed instructions on returning the FN M249S for service.

Note: Please do not ship any affected product to FN until a shipping label has been generated by FN and sent to you. In the interim, FN asks that customers not operate their FN M249S until FN has made the necessary repairs to your rifle. 

FN is deeply committed to providing customers with the safest, most reliable firearms possible. As such, it is imperative that all recalled product is received back as soon as possible. Patience and cooperation are appreciated as we receive, inspect and service these firearms for a direct return to you. We will make every effort to return the rifles within 30 days of receipt at FN.

For questions about the recall or assistance in returning a firearm, contact the FN M249S Recall Support team at 1-800-635-1321, extension 145, or by email at M249Srecall@fnamerica.com. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

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Many SHOT Show Exhibitors Dropping It

January 14, 2022 by 4 Comments

If you have been following any of the Facebook or other social media sites with SHOT Show 2022 information, you know that many companies have dropped out of attending. You had SIG Sauer saying a few months ago that they were not coming due to Covid-19.

The list now includes major firearm companies like Ruger, Springfield Armory, Beretta, Benelli, Weatherby, Savage (I confirmed this at DSC), and CZ. Other industry stalwarts such as Trijicon, Swarovski, Redding, Nosler, and a whole host of others.

On the face of it, the oft-stated reason for not attending is the fear of the Coronavirus and the impact the spread of it would be to their employees. However, the imposition of contract tracing, enforced masking, etc. could actually be the reason behind many companies bagging the SHOT Show.

From an email I received tonight from Larry and Stacy Lasky of Froglube who have canceled out:

Since COVID struck in 2020, FrogLube attempted to continue our participation in SHOT SHOW despite unlawful, cost prohibitive and convoluted restrictions imposed by the governor of the state of Nevada. We looked to NSSF to stand up for our industry and to pressure the state authorities into allowing our trade show to return to normal. As a small business, any attempt to engage in commercial interaction with our customers under constantly changing, unrealistic and absurd restrictions is cost prohibitive and places an undue burden on our company. 

 We do not question the reality of the COVID 19 disease, in fact, most of us have had it. At issue is that a disease is not sufficient cause for the removal of god-given/inalienable rights by any man, government agency or commercial enterprise. Does the governor of Nevada restrict trade show attendance for any other communicable diseases with transmissibility? FrogLube and NSSF engage in free enterprise in an industry that uses individual rights as a selling point to attract people to purchase our firearms products. We find the NSSF stance is mutually incompatible to the expression of both the 1st and 2nd amendments of the US Constitution. How can we stress the 2nd amendment at the show while yielding on the 1st amendment?

My friend Ben Langlotz, the Gun Patent Attorney, with whom I had the pleasure of having a wonderful dinner in Dallas, has been very vocal about this loss of freedom on both Facebook and in his newsletter sent around the industry.

He had this to say in his newsletter and I’ve excerpted parts of it.

I’m skipping because of the mask mandate, pure and simple.  As you have read in prior months, I was an optimist that our firearms industry culture is on the free-thinking side and not too trusting of governments, especially those dominated by politicians who want to take our guns.  NASGW proved me right, and I trumpeted it in this space….

The NSSF leadership is in an impossible situation, forced to do business with the devil, tied up in contracts in jurisdictions that hate our freedoms, and having no power to negotiate around mandates.  BUT…I’d feel more sympathetic to the NSSF if they at least offered something that told members that they were on our side, not that of the local democrat governments.  A little signal that they weren’t happy either, like: “We believe our members have the right to make their own medical choices, and we oppose mask mandates. We have done all we can on behalf of the liberties of our members, and still face an unwanted mask mandate imposed by local regulations and enforced by local authorities. We are also working to locate suitable sites for future SHOT Shows that are more respectful of our members’ liberties, especially to ensure medical privacy and freedom of choice without ever being subject to vaccine passports.  Like most of our members, we are not happy to be subjected to the mandates in Las Vegas.”…

Ben goes on to add that it is time for NSSF to move out of a place that treads on us while taking our money.

I wrote above that the NSSF has the unenviable task of being forced to do business with the devil in the form of Democrat authoritarians.  But at some point, it becomes a choice.  There may be contracts that could be broken if there’s the will to fight.  There are the compromises that come with second-choice venues lacking the capacity and comfort we all value.  It’s a lot more work to having a roving location for a trade show than to have the drill down (and booth locations memorized) at a familiar location, even with its faults.

But at some point (and I think we’re past it) it’s time to move on, and get out of a bad relationship.  The SHOT Show needs to be in a Red State that has shown reasonable and restrained policies respectful of our freedoms.  How they handled Covid signals what to expect from Las Vegas in the future.  Will it be vaccine passports next year?  Is there a contingency plan for that plausible scenario in Las Vegas?  Don’t forget that the Mandalay Massacre gave Las Vegas Leftists and their Casino Cronies the excuse to deny our right to keep and bear arms when attending SHOT.  How much more will we put up with?

I agree with Ben. I am not a fan of Las Vegas. In the harsh light of day, it is a grungy place which looks upon the tourist and convention goer as a Rube who must be separated from his money. Moreover, the state has now been taken over by the anti-gun, anti-freedom element.

Let us not forget that many of the big casino companies have helped fund gun control in Nevada. I wrote a post in 2016 that questioned why a number of hotels that had helped fund the universal background check initiative were official SHOT Show hotels. I suggested moving from Las Vegas to Orlando which had as many hotels and an equally large convention center. I remember getting pushback on Facebook when I suggested that. While we are going to SHOT this year, we will not be staying in any of those hotels. In fact, we decided to go “off strip” where we don’t have to pay a “resort fee” nor breathe second-hand smoke.

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Karma!

January 11, 2022 by

I have reported on Dicks Sporting Goods over the years. Their former CEO Ed Stack went off the deep end for gun control, they sold their Field and Stream chain, and eventually stopped selling firearms. Many employees also departed the company in protest. In other words, the company lived up to its name.

I saw this tweet this morning from Rob Romano about a former Dicks building now being used for a gun show.

If you click on the embedded tweet, you can see the inside of the building along with the prices for a table. The replies to Rob’s tweet are brutal for Dicks.

The Lycoming Mall is located in Pennsdale, Pennsylvania which is in the north-central part of the state or about 80 miles due north of the state capitol of Harrisburg.

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DSC Convention Day Two

January 8, 2022 by

Day Two was much like the first day with a lot of walking around. I did get to talk with a couple of Eastern Cape outfitters about trips in 2023. One was Marius Goesen of KMG Safaris who I really enjoyed talking with. My friend David Cole had gone with him on an earlier trip and plans to go again.

Two highlights from the the day were a seminar that was an accumulation of tips and wisdom about going to Africa. As one of the presenter put it, he was just there in November and some things had already changed. His point was whatever happened for a friend a year or five ago is probably already out of date. Thinks change that quickly. I took 3 plus pages of notes and will do a separate post on that later.

The second highlight was a dinner organized by Africahunting.com for those who participate in its forums. I met a lot of great people there and had some really good Tex-Mex food.

I’m keeping this short so that I can head in to the convention. This will be my last day there so I need to make the most of it.