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Understanding Cant

December 23, 2019 by 1 Comment

I knew that if you didn’t have your rifle perfectly level, it would affect where the bullet would actually impact. That said, I didn’t know much else about it.

This recently released video from the National Shooting Sports Foundation featuring Todd Hodnett of Accuracy 1st does a good job of explaining both the impact of cant and how to account for it when aiming.

As to shooting with the rifle 90 degrees off of center, I had never seen that before. I believe he is correct that it does have tactical applications.

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Some People Will Believe Anything!

December 22, 2019 by 1 Comment

March for Our Lives, the children’s crusade against firearms, has just shown their gullibility and ignorance. If it involves guns, they will believe anything an anti-gun politician spews out.

They have retweeted an absolute lie told by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D-PA). He wants people to have the impression that it was the National Rifle Association that sued him after his autocratic redefinition of what constitutes a firearm. Shapiro knew that throwing the name “NRA”, the term “ghost guns”, and tying it into crime was red meat for your average ignorant anti-gunner.

Look at the first page of the application for an emergency preliminary injunction. That action is being brought by a Pennsylvania FFL, a New Hampshire FFL, a manufacturer and dealer in what are called 80% lowers, and the Firearms Policy Coalition. No where do you see that the NRA is involved in this case. Indeed, if you had attended the Meeting of Members at the 2019 NRA Annual Meeting, you know that that old guard had nothing but disdain for attorneys Josh Prince and Adam Kraut. Don’t forget that Marion Hammer has called Adam “the enemy within”.

Shapiro sent out his original tweet the day after the application was filed. He knew or should have known that the NRA had nothing to do with this case.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has consistently held that unfinished forgings or castings that are “completely solid and un-machined in the fire-control recess area” are not firearms and not subject to the Gun Control Act of 1968. See the attached determinations beginning on page 67 of the application for an injunction. Moreover, BATFE doesn’t even use the term “80% lower” or “80% frame” which is more of a marketing term than anything else.

As Josh Prince notes in his law firm blog, only the Pennsylvania General Assembly has the power to write law and it cannot be delegated. In other words, Shapiro’s “legal opinion” is making law and therefore invalid.

With regard to Shapiro’s claim that he is being sued by “companies that fund the @NRA”, only Polymer 80 exhibited at the most recent NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Having a booth at a national show which attracts thousands of gun owners is smart business for Polymer 80. While the NRA does gain some marginal revenue, “funding the NRA” is not Polymer 80’s purpose in being there. Just like we are all the “gun lobby”, so, too, we are all “funding the NRA” through our memberships.

Politicians and their PR flacks will say anything to push their position. Sometimes it is true. More often it is either the shading of the truth or an outright lie. I’ll let you decide what Shapiro was trying to do with his tweet.

March for Our Lives’ tweet, on the other hand, is a demonstrable lie. Like naughty children, they should be sent to their room with no TV, no phone, and no Internet to think about the consequences of their lie.

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Factoid Of The Day

December 21, 2019 by 1 Comment

Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He was born in Nassawadox which is in Northampton County and was raised on a farm outside of Onancock which is in Accomack County.

According to the most current list provided by the Virginia Citizens Defense League of 2A sanctuary counties and cities, both Northampton and Accomack Counties are now 2A sanctuaries.

Northampton County’s Board of Supervisors adopted their resolution on December 10th. It referred to the protections afforded the right to keep and bear arms in both the US and Virginia Constitutions.

Northampton Co. 2A meeting

Accomack County’s Board of Supervisors adopted their resolution at their regular meeting on December 18th. It included this whereas:

WHEREAS, the Accomack County Board of Supervisors believes in the rule of law and supports the US Constitution including the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment. Each member of the Accomack County Board of Supervisors has taken an oath to “support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia”. The Accomack County Board of Supervisors takes their oath of office seriously and actively works to protect all rights guaranteed by both constitutions, including the Second Amendment

From ShoreDailyNews.Com

According to the local paper, there is a bit of a quibble about whether both Northampton and Accomack are “sanctuaries”. Both their resolutions stated their strong support for the Second Amendment and both urge state legislators not to infringe on the Second Amendment. However, they don’t come out and say they are sanctuaries.

If the sentiments of Northam’s hometown folks are any indication, Thomas Wolfe was correct. You can’t go home again.

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A reCAPTCHA For Virginia

December 20, 2019 by 2 Comments

We have all been on websites with pictures asking you to select the boxes with buses or stoplights or cars in order to prove you are not a bot. It is a system called reCAPTCHA. It was meant as an improvement over an earlier system that presented you with fuzzy numbers and letters which you had to type in.

Someone decided to create a new picture just for Virginia politicians and gun control advocates.

Flatlanders like Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) just don’t get it.

As someone who has lived in the Appalachians for the majority of my life, I can tell him that folks from Tazewell or Grundy or Wytheville are different from the rest of Virginians. They didn’t descend from the planter class and their families won’t be found in a list of the First Families of Virginia. Instead they are descended from the heavily Scots-Irish migrants who ended up there because they just wanted to be left the hell alone. They didn’t take kindly to being told what to do and they still don’t.

People in the mountains are a tolerant people until they are not. This is something the Virginia Democrats bought and paid for by Michael Bloomberg should keep in mind. I hope and pray that they do. Because if they don’t, all hell is going to break loose. And it won’t be pretty.

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Does He Want To Turn DC Into Sarajevo?

December 20, 2019 by 3 Comments

Jeet Heer is the National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation magazine. He just published an article in The Nation that confirms he is both a fool and a knave.

Heer has called for mass street protests because he feels that Congressional Democrats are being too conservative with impeachment. He calls for a “people’s impeachment”.

Unleashing the power of mass protest to force resignation is rare in America but common elsewhere. Indeed, we seem to be living in an age when it’s not unusual for street protesters to topple governments. From South Korea to Spain to Iceland to Finland, street protests have played a key role in bringing down despised heads of government.

The reason such mass protests to force a resignation are rare in the United States is because we have seen the folly of a civil war.

Heer is critical of impeachment as he thinks it is too “centrist” and too legalistic.

In the words of Pelosi and Gopnik, we once again hear the yearning for a centrist restoration. Trump, in this worldview, is a horrific anomaly in an otherwise well-functioning system. After you get rid of him—or even just give him a symbolic rebuke in the form of impeachment—the system will return to normal. The hope is that once Trump is gone, the old order will rise again, with Democrats and Republicans joining hands in bipartisan comity.

He goes on to say:

Could a people’s impeachment achieve the level of success of the Puerto Rico protests? This is unlikely, given that removal by the Senate would require 67 votes. Further, the anti-Trump resistance isn’t yet as radicalized as Puerto Rico was in the summer of 2017.

Puerto Rico should be treated as a benchmark for the best possible outcome. But even if a people’s impeachment falls short of forcing Trump’s resignation, it still has a crucial role to play in mobilizing the population to defend democracy.

(Author Dana) Fisher says the hallmark of the resistance to date is a commitment to peaceful protest. But she adds that this could change, given that a younger cohort of protesters is being radicalized. She speculates that if Trump is reelected, we could see a wave of truly disruptive protests.

You know my thoughts on a hot civil war. They are something only a fool would want because life becomes nasty, brutish, and short to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes.

It is easy for Heer to call for the protests that lead to a hot civil war. After all he is a Canadian and would just go back across the border to escape the violence. The rest of us would not be so lucky.

Lest he need a reminder, Rule 303 (or a modern equivalent) will always trump a concrete milkshake. I hope and pray we never see Rule 303 put into action.

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Christmas Book Suggestions

December 19, 2019 by 2 Comments

Getting books for Christmas was a tradition in my family. It is not surprising when your Mom was first an English teacher and then a school librarian.

I have compiled a list of books for your perusal. I have read most of the books myself. Those that I haven’t are either too new or are new books from authors I trust and respect.

First up is a new book on handgun hunting by my fellow Polite Society Podcast co-host Kat Ainsworth. I have it on order and am anxious to start reading it. Kat’s work can be found in USCCA Concealed Carry Magazine, Concealed Carry Handguns, Range 365, Pew Pew Tactical, SHOT Business, and Shooting Illustrated.

Another new books worthy of consideration is by Nikki Goeser. Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me details how Tennessee’s legislatively mandated gun free zones allowed a demented stalker to kill her husband. Because Nikki obeyed the law and locked her carry gun in her car, she was left defenseless when this evil person murdered her husband.

Jim Curtis aka Old NFO is a friend, blogger, and novelist. I just finished the finale of his The Grey Man series, The Grey Man – Sunset. It brings to a conclusion the exploits of John Cronin and his family and friends as they fight the drug cartels and other evil doers in west Texas. Cronin is a rancher, a (retired) captain with the Pecos County Sheriff’s Department, an ex-DEA agent, and a Vietnam vet who served on 5th Special Forces A-Teams. He is also known to be a stone-cold killer of those that deserved it. I suggest starting from the beginning of his series and working your way through all of them.

Moving on, my next suggestion is actually a text book by law professors Randy Barnett and Josh Blackman. That said, An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know, is very readable. It starts with the early cases such as Marbury v Madison and works its way forward. Since our common law is built heavily on precedent, knowing how earlier decisions paved the way for later decisions is critical if you want to understand it. The book also comes with a code that allows access to the video series that goes along with the book. Fortunately, unlike most law books, the price of this book isn’t a killer.

Pages: 1 2 3

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A 2A Sanctuary State

December 18, 2019 by 4 Comments

Thanks to the work of the Virginia Citizens Defense League most everyone is now familiar with Second Amendment sanctuary cities and counties. As of yesterday, there are now 101 sanctuary cities and counties.

This is all good and well but what if you had an entire 2A sanctuary state.

It should be noted that cities and counties are creatures of the state. Under Dillon’s Rule, they only have the power to act when given an express grant by the state or if it could be implied from there. Thus, a state can take power away from local governments or even dissolve them but the converse isn’t true.

Rep. David Hardin (R-86), Assistant Majority Whip of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, has pre-filed a bill that would make Oklahoma a Second Amendment state. HB 2781 or Second Amendment Preservation Act would ban any Oklahoma state or local official from enforcing any Federal law, act, executive order, court order, etc. that would infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.

According to the Tenth Amendment Center, the bill has a very detailed definition of infringement that includes:

  • taxes and fees on firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition that would have a chilling effect on firearms ownership;
  • registration and tracking schemes applied to firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition that would have a chilling effect;
  • any act forbidding the possession, ownership, or use or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition by law-abiding citizens;
  • any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition from law-abiding citizens.

The bill allows civil suits against any one who violates the law and knowingly violated a person’s right to keep and bear arms. Very interestingly, the bill would remove sovereign immunity as an affirmative defense in such suits. (Section 7.C.)

The bill also includes provisions that would apply to federal agents who knowingly enforce or attempt to enforce any of the infringing acts identified in the law, or who give material aid and support to such enforcement efforts.

Under the proposed law, they would “be permanently ineligible to serve as a law enforcement officer or to supervise law enforcement officers for the state or any political subdivision of the state.” This would also apply to state or local law enforcement agents working with federal task forces or deputized by federal agencies.

In other words, Oklahoma law enforcement officers who cooperate with the feds in a violation of a person’s right to keep and bear arms would lose their jobs and never be able to work in Oklahoma law enforcement again, and federal agents could not work in Oklahoma law enforcement.

As the Supreme Court has ruled in Printz v. US, the Federal government cannot force state law enforcement officials to implement or enforce Federal laws. This is known as the doctrine of anti-commandeering.

While the Federal government cannot force state and local law enforcement to enforce Federal law, it can engage in partnerships with them to do so. A prime example of this would be requests from ICE to local law enforcement to hold illegal aliens who are arrested for other reasons until such time as they can be remanded to Federal custody. Likewise, for any Federal gun control law to be effective, it needs the help of state and local law enforcement.

I don’t know the likelihood of this bill passing the Oklahoma State Legislature. However, given the sponsor is part of the Republican leadership, this is more likely than if introduced by some freshman back bencher. I will keep you updated.

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A Sniper Revolver?

December 18, 2019 by 3 Comments

Oui!

The French national police’s special tactical unit, Groupe d’intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale or GIGN, is their equivalent of the FBI’s Hostage and Rescue Team. As a special unit, they are allowed free rein in picking firearms suited to the various missions they carry out.

They are unique in that in their early days they went with a double action revolver instead of a semi-auto pistol. They chose the highly accurate Manurhin MR73 in .357 Magnum as their basic handgun. From what I understand, it still remains in their arsenal.

However, the GIGN went a step further and created a version to be used by their snipers for shorter range work.

From Ian McCollum:

The MR73 was purchased and used mostly with 4″ and 5″ barrels, but a small number were also purchased by GIGN with 8″ barrels, to be made into scoped sniper models. These were fitted with a Harris bipod on custom mount, and a Bushnell 2.5x pistol scope. Outfitted this way, they were capable of pinpoint precise shots in very tight quarters where a rifle would not be a practical option. They were not meant to replace rifles in all situations; GIGN is one of those elite agencies with great latitude in arms procurement. This scoped revolver was one of many options available in their arsenal, for particular situations calling for it.

Ian goes into much more detail about the sniper version of the MR73 in his Forgotten Weapons video below.

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Statement From The Virginia National Guard

December 14, 2019 by 2 Comments

Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, Adjutant General of the Virginia National Guard, released a statement regarding the use of the Guard to enforce anticipated gun control laws.

We have received multiple questions regarding proposed legislation for the 2020 General Assembly session and the authority of the Governor of Virginia to employ the Virginia National Guard in a law enforcement role. We understand and respect the passion people feel for the U.S. Constitution and 2nd Amendment rights. We will not speculate about the possible use of the Virginia National Guard. I encourage everyone to be patient while we allow our elected officials to work through the legislative process. We have not received any requests from the Governor, or anyone on his staff, about serving in a law enforcement role related to any proposed legislation. I expect our Soldiers, Airmen and members of the Virginia Defense Force to be professional and respectful in their discussions about this subject. As private citizens, our personnel are free to express their opinions to their elected officials, but they should not engage in any political activity while in a uniformed status. We will provide regular updates when appropriate during the General Assembly session. Please utilize your chain of command to direct any questions or concerns to my office, and we will do our best to address them.

As I read this statement, Gen. Williams is saying a few things. First, he is warning Guardsmen not to participate in 2A rallies in uniform or use their status in commentary. They are free to do what they want but only as private citizens.

Second, he is waffling a bit on whether they would enforce any such gun control laws. He does this by saying no one has made an official request for them to act in a law enforcement role. He also says they respect the “passion” people feel for the 2A and the Constitution.

Finally, I think he is pointing out that no one knows what will actually be passed by referring to it as “proposed legislation”. On this he is 100% correct.

With the exception of South Carolina and Vermont, the Adjutant General of each state’s National Guard is selected by the Governor. However, Williams’ date of appointment indicates he was in the position pre-Northam.