Articles by Herschel Smith

Ron Spomer gives us a lot of history in the lever action that I didn’t know, besides always being an interesting firearms scholar and historian.

Ammoland.

The text of the legislation as introduced in the 115th Congress states that it is unlawful to buy a firearm without a “qualified liability insurance policy” and that it is also illegal to sell to someone without said “qualified liability insurance policy.” Now, the definition the text provides is vague, beyond saying that the policy should provide “liability insurance covering the purchaser specifically for losses resulting from use of the firearm while it is owned by the purchaser.”

It is not an overstatement to say that Second Amendment supporters can figure out just what sorts of mischief can take place. Operation Choke Point is just the start. Given the constant social stigmatization surrounding not just the exercise of Second Amendment rights, but against those who use the First Amendment to advocate in defense of our Second Amendment rights, some insurance agents may not want the business at all. In addition, there is no guarantee that insurance companies won’t engage in a form of “redlining” against certain firearms.

Even if those things don’t happen, the insurance is going to be yet another monthly expense for those exercising our Second Amendment rights. Even then, there would be questions: Would a new gun require an adjustment in the policy? Would rates go up for those with larger collections? The list goes on and on.

If firearms owners could even find companies willing to supply this “liability coverage,” whatever that is.

What I think is that Congress should pass legislation requiring communist insurance coverage before a candidate could file to stand election.

If found to be a communist, the insurance would cover the cost of your trial and imprisonment.

Views from SC.

“When you go to open carry, I think you are creating more problems,” Greenwood Police Chief T.J. Chaudoin said. “I think it would cause too many problems with the general public.”

Chaudoin said having someone walking down the street with 16 guns on their belt could cause people to panic or be afraid.

“This isn’t the wild west where everybody walks around with a gun on their hip,” he said.

Okay, goober.  I think we understand your view.

You haven’t been anywhere open carry is legal, so you think this causes the wild, wild west.  You should travel a little.

You support the second amendment, but not really, and want people to hide their weapons.

You think open carriers are able to carry 16 guns on their hips.  So this is just a joke to you.

A joke, as long as LEOs get to openly carry, because you’re special, and you do live in the wild, wild west.  Unlike “the poors” who cannot be trusted to openly carry like the special ones like you.

You’d fit better in New York.

Take it from pediatricians: open carry gun law will endanger SC children.

Multiple pediatricians, myself included, urged lawmakers to oppose H.3094, citing the wave of gun violence we have seen in our communities, including among our children.

Yet the bill passed easily in a 3-1 vote along party lines and could be approved by the full committee next week.

As a pediatrician, I find the fight against gun violence incredibly frustrating for one simple yet shocking fact: Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in South Carolina and in the United States.

For me, this is not just a statistic. This is a reality that I have experienced throughout my career, and it only seems to be getting worse.

Who you’re calling children are really criminal teenagers, and you know it.

I’ve seen too many children who were innocent bystanders in shootings. Once you’ve cared for a 4-year-old girl who was shot in her own front yard, it’s hard to believe that more visible guns in public places is a good idea.

Because of politicization, this significant threat to children’s lives is not given the attention it deserves.

If this were any other cause — cancer, infection, genetic disease — it would be recognized as the public health threat that it is, and our resources would be focused on a cure. Instead, we find ourselves battling the Legislature on a bill that would allow for guns to be displayed openly in places that are normally safe havens for our children, like our parks, playgrounds and beaches.

H.3094 would be detrimental to the safety of our community, and therefore the safety of our children, for several reasons.

First, research has already shown that a visible gun makes people more aggressive. These findings suggest that simple disagreements would be more likely to turn violent if a gun were involved. An unfortunate example of this occurred this month when an employee at a downtown Charleston bar was shot when a patron became upset over the bar’s earlier closing time due to state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions.

Second, open carry is opposed by law enforcement, including Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds, as it makes their job more difficult during active-shooter situations.

Oh, so we’re back to this?  An inanimate object can literally change the heart of mankind.  A steel object can make you more violent.

So here’s what I think, Ms. pediatrician.  “Anything that can be done with an openly carried firearm can be done with a concealed firearm.  It’s an amazing thing that we actually have to cover this ground again, but the fact that someone cannot visually ascertain the presence of a firearm doesn’t mean it’s not there.  Any confusion on this fact points to a second-grader level psychological problem.”

And I think you know it.  Therefore, this is just a ruse with you.  You’re not really anti-open carry.  You’re anti-gun, and that makes you out to be a liar.  You’re using bad statistics, unrelated anecdotes, and your “status” as a pediatrician to infringe on the right of a man to carry weapon in the manner he chooses.

And I think you know that the things you say happen don’t really happen because of open carry, and the fact that 46 other states have open carry proves my point.  Blood doesn’t run in the streets because of open carry.

But again, you know all of this.  You’re outside your lane, and badly so.  I may as well say “Take it from a 180 pound man.”  That makes me as much of an expert as you are.

I’ll file this one under gun control, because until South Carolina passes open carry, I put you in the same category as the controllers in New York.

In previous posts we’ve discussed barrel twist and stabilization of heavier 5.56mm rounds.  I’d say that 1:9 twist is just fine for 77 grain bullets based on his results.  Then again, Rock River Arms makes good machines.

News from NC.

This year’s version of legislation that would let gun owners with concealed weapons permits bring handguns into religious buildings that also host schools cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday, an early step in the lawmaking process.

Guns are already allowed in houses of worship, provided church, temple, mosque, etc. leadership allow them. But current law forbids guns on school campuses, and religious campuses that have their own private schools qualify as school campuses.

Senate Bill 43 would let people carry concealed on those campuses, outside of school hours only. Some pastors, and a number of Republican legislators, have been pushing the change for years. Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a broader gun bill last year that included the change.

This year’s bill cleared the Senate Judiciary committee with at least some committee Democrats voting against it. There are several steps left before the bill is finalized.

The awful goober, Governor Roy Cooper, focused his message of a similar bill to be related to the provision for guns in churches attached to church-run schools.  Of course, this is just a stupid excuse since church schools aren’t open during worship services.

So unless the legislature can override another veto, this is wasted time.  Also, if you’re a NC resident and you wait for permission to be able to defend your family during worship, then the worship you offer God ignores His commandments and you need to revisit your commitment to the Almighty.

Okay, whatever.

I see this the same way as I do the stupid KeyMod versus M-LOK debate.  It’s a waste of time.  Find the sling you want, practice with it, mount the sling where you want, get the optic you want, practice with it, make it modular to the extent you need, dress it up the way you want to, and ignore everyone else because your choices are what matter.

The only expert on what you want is you. Why on earth, after building rifles that are the ultimate in modularity, adjustability, adaptability and flexibility, does the community want to force everyone into sameness?

Update on South Carolina open carry.

The Open Carry Training Act would allow anyone with a concealed weapons permit to carry a handgun out in the open.

Reaction to the proposed law is mixed.

“I understand good faith opposition to guns, I do, I get it, but the reality is this law is very narrowly tailored to address one specific concern and that is people who have CWPs if they are going to be criminalized for having that gun exposed,” Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, said.

Lowcountry pediatrician Dr. Anne Andrews cited 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating firearms are the leading cause of death for children in South Carolina between the ages of 1 and 19, surpassing motor vehicle accidents.

Let’s stop there.

First of all, there is no “good faith” opposition to open carry or to guns.  This is a God-given right.  Self defense is a God-given right to which objections should be appealed to the sovereign of the universe, not men and women who want to defend home and hearth.

Next up, Lowcountry pediatrician Dr. Anne Andrews must be an idiot.  ““Guns that are going to be open carried are most likely going to be loaded” has to be the most stolid statement I’ve ever heard in the context of weapons.

Is she implying that concealed firearms aren’t loaded?  Or is she implying that since guns must be assumed to be loaded, a child is going to intentionally attempt to assault an open carrier who is carrying without a weapon retention holster?  This is an equally ridiculous assertion, unless she’s referring to miscreant criminal teens, in which case they aren’t children.  The reference to this person in the article reeks of having to fill in white space by the author.  The objection has no place, makes no sense, and breaks the train of thought and flow of the report.

“One way to look at this bill is, what it does is say, if you’ve got a valid concealed weapon permit you won’t be penalized for this gun being exposed,” Caskey said. “So, if you got your coat caught behind your concealed weapon right now that would be a violation of state law. We are trying to decimalize that.”

Well that itself is a good enough reason to pass the bill, but let’s call this what it is.  It’s an open carry bill, or in other words, it’s a bill to undo what the law currently says about openly carried firearms and pull South Carolina into agreement with what 46 other states know: openly carried weapons don’t cause blood to run in the streets.  Open carry is legal in North Carolina, right across the border, and apparently no one has thought to investigate whether open carry in North Carolina causes blood to run in the streets.

“For people who are not familiar with me, I’m just another minority walking the streets,” he said. “I do have concerns if I would be able to open carry the same as my white counterparts.”

Bamberg defines himself as a pro-Second Amendment gun owner. But he is concerned about sheriffs who have spoken out against the idea.

Well, Rep. Justin Bamberg has given us a disorganized, random pile of mess to unravel.

First, if a minority doesn’t wish to open carry, he doesn’t have to.  This bill doesn’t require open carry.  Second, I think he’s lying and he isn’t really a 2A supporter, at least, not if he’s opposed to open carry.

Third, I’m perfectly comfortable seeing open carry, and I’ve walked right by black guys who were openly carrying in my own state.  But this isn’t about my comfort, nor his comfort, nor the comfort of anyone else.  Rights are not contingent upon comfort.  Many people are uncomfortable listening to street preachers.  I’ve seen people on the sidewalks change to the other side of the road to avoid them, while I’m happy to walk up and talk to them.

We don’t discuss limits on the first amendment because people are uncomfortable with street preachers, nor should we.  And I would hasten to repeat what I’ve pointed out before.  “Anything that can be done with an openly carried firearm can be done with a concealed firearm.  It’s an amazing thing that we actually have to cover this ground again, but the fact that someone cannot visually ascertain the presence of a firearm doesn’t mean it’s not there.  Any confusion on this fact points to a second-grader level psychological problem.”

We don’t infringe on God-given rights because of psychological problems.  Finally, there is this misdirect from Bamberg (whom we quoted earlier).

That’s simply a lie.  This piece of legislation is before the committee.  It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s clear, and it deserves a hearing before the entire legislature.  If Bamberg wants to reign in law enforcement in the state of South Carolina, that’s a worthy goal.  I’m with him on that one, whether LEOs who shoot first and investigate later, LEOs who shoot innocent victims through the doors of their own homes, and on the list could go.

But that all has absolutely nothing to do with this bill.  It’s irrelevant, and the excuse that “we have more important things to work on” is exactly what jettisoned this bill every time it has been brought up, as if the judiciary committee is trying to protect the rest of the legislature from having to stake out a position and cast a vote on it.  You see, killing the bill protects the closet gun controllers from self-identifying and answering for their position in the next election.  They know that.  They plan for it.  Maybe the author of the article, Adam Mintzer, could investigate the real reasons for killing this bill so many times before in his next article.  Perhaps it will be better than this one.

To the South Carolina legislature: it’s okay not to be like the four states who still live in the dark ages, and it’s okay not to be like the control freaks who live in New York.  You can admit that you’re supposed to be a free state.

Pass this bill through committee.  Let the legislature take a vote.  Make everyone take a stand.  It’s time.

Prior: South Carolina Open Carry Tag (many articles)