Articles by Herschel Smith

USA Carry.

In what the Dallas Police Department is calling an expansion of alternate reporting methods, they are amending their response protocols to limit officer contact with the public for non-emergency and property-related offenses. They say that this will not affect their responses to crimes against persons and other “High Priority Calls”.

Instead of officer responses, victims are being asked to use the Dallas Online Reporting System and click on the “File a Police Report Online” tab. The Dept says that an investigation will be conducted just as if an officer had taken the report at the scene.

Among the low-level crimes affected are Burglary of a Motor Vehicle, Criminal Mischief, Reckless Damage, Shoplifting, Property Theft (Auto Accessories), and similar.

As a reminder to regular readers, and a brief primer for new readers, the police are under no legal obligation to protect anyone.

Castle Rock v. Gonzalez

Warren v. District of Columbia

DeShaney v. Winnebago County

For home invasions, I cannot offer legal advice, but it’s not a safe bet that the invaders are only there to steal property.

And just a reminder – never talk to the police.  That’s your lawyer’s job.

I was shocked to see this post over at Say Uncle.  I’m so very sorry to him, and words cannot possibly convey my heartfelt sympathy or the pain and grief he is bearing right now.

I’m sorry for your loss.

From a reader, news from North Carolina.

The Wake County Sheriff’s Office will suspend pistol and concealed-carry permit applications until April 30 as demand surges amid the coronavirus outbreak, Sheriff Gerald Baker announced Tuesday.

Applications that have already been submitted will continue to be processed, Baker said during a press briefing.

Pistol permit applications last week averaged 290 per day, or more than three times the roughly 90 applications per day during the same time period a year ago, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Baker said his office needs time to manage the backlog.

“This decision does not limit anyone’s right to purchase a handgun,” he said in a news release.

Of course, that’s a lie and he knows it.

All permitting schemes are an infringement upon God-given rights, including the one in North Carolina.  If the Sheriff had said that he was stopping the processing of concealed handgun permits only, then he might have been correct, but since North Carolina has a permitting scheme for BOTH pistol purchases and concealed handgun carry, that means if someone wanted to go purchase a handgun tomorrow, he would be unable to if he lived in Wake County.

Many other counties are doing the same thing, and unfortunately, the entirety of Pennsylvania is shut down to firearms purchases because the governor issued a shutdown order for all businesses.

Even Hungarians are standing in line for firearms purchases.

About 300,000 people hold licenses for guns in each of the Czech Republic and Hungary, both with about 10 million inhabitants. Licenses are not mandatory for some light arms.

“We are selling five times as much as in a normal March,” said Gabor Vass, who runs three gun shops in the Hungarian capital including the one where Rostas bought his gas pistol.

“We could sell 15 times more if we had any more rubber bullet weapons, but we ran out.”

The shop, little bigger than a phone booth and tucked inside a suburban shopping center on the edge of Budapest, was hardly designed for an onrush of customers. But last week brought a heavy stream, people from all walks of life.

“Prepping” means doing it before, not after.

Las Vegas Sun.

Nevada’s governor has signed an emergency order barring the use of anti-malaria drugs for someone who has the coronavirus.

Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak’s order Tuesday restricting chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine comes after President Donald Trump touted the medication as a treatment for the virus.

Trump last week falsely stated that the Food and Drug Administration had just approved the use of chloroquine to treat patients infected with coronavirus. After the FDA’s chief said the drug still needs to be tested for that use, Trump overstated the drug’s potential benefits in containing the virus.

Sisolak said in a statement that there’s no consensus among experts or Nevada doctors that the drugs can treat people with COVID-19. His order also limits a prescription to a 30-day supply to ensure it’s available for “legitimate medical purposes” and so that people cannot find a way to stockpile the drug.

There are comments to the extent AP has misreported.  But apparently not.  There is also this.

You’ve heard it from me and you’ve heard it from medical experts and other leaders across our country — the best way to stop the spread of this virus is to practice aggressive social distancing and to keep large groups of people apart. This virus is persistent and spreads invisibly, it can live on surfaces for up to 72 hours or more. That’s why distance is so important. It’s our number one defense.

So listen.  This isn’t right.  Isolation, containment and social distancing aren’t affecting the doubling rate.  That’s just false.  As I’ve said before, I’ve been tracking this since before the aggressive social lockdowns, and the doubling rate hasn’t changed except in the second or third decimal place.

Anyway, the governor is a fool.

NY Daily News.

Wait!  You mean that cops can’t be trusted at crime scenes?

But the most interesting part is that cops know when to shut up.  ” … he refused to discuss, on the grounds he might incriminate himself.”  If you are ever accosted by police, you should claim the fifth too.

Yes.

We’ve seen subtle signs of a panic buying here and there the past few weeks but it looks like the lid is about to blow off.

A reader from Arizona, Brent Stuart, tried to purchase two cases of pistol primers last week from Sportsman’s Warehouse in Phoenix, AZ, this afternoon and was told he could only purchase one case. The clerk at the counter told him there was a new corporate policy limiting the amounts of firearms, ammunition and reloading components purchased in a single day. According to the employee, he had received a copy of a memo from corporate headquarters that morning limiting firearm, reloading components and ammunition purchases temporarily.

Online ammunition retailer, Ammo.com, reports a significant increase in sales since February 23, 2020. The company believes that this surge corresponds with the public concern regarding the COVID-19 virus.

Online ammunition retailer, Ammo.com, reports a significant increase in sales since February 23, 2020. The company believes that this surge corresponds with the public concern regarding the COVID-19 virus.

When compared to the 11 days before February 23 (February 12 to 22), in the 11 days after (February 23 to March 4), Ammo.com’sber of transactions increased 68%.

Alex Horsman, the marketing manager at Ammo.com, said of the surge, “We know certain things impact ammo sales, mostly political events or economic instability when people feel their rights may end up infringed, but this is our first experience with a virus leading to such a boost in sales.”

We queried another big box store, Cabela’s and Bass Pro-Shops, who reported that ammunition is selling at a record pace. Week to date tallies for Herter’s 9mm 115-grain FMJ ammunition is 5,589 boxes. That’s 279,450 rounds and it’s not even Saturday. Month to date sales are 40,152 boxes for 2,007,600 rounds and we are not even halfway through March for just that one type and brand of 9mm ammo.

In my little neck of the woods, the shelves at Academy Sports are bare.  There is nothing on them.  The same holds at Cabela’s.  I suspect that even in normal times it would take months to recover inventory.  With the upcoming election cycle, these aren’t normal times.

BlueMountainEagle.

What made me start to wonder was when I started comparing the .270 to the 7mm Remington Magnum that I usually hunt with. As it turns out, I can fling a 140-grain bullet from my .270 just as fast as a 160-grain bullet in my 7 mm. The 7 requires a 2 inch longer barrel, which means more gun weight. It also requires more powder in a bigger case leading to a significant bump in recoil. Are those extra 20 grains worth all that?

Then I started looking at the shiny new toy in town. These days the 6.5 Creedmoor seems to be the man, and I admit, it does pretty well. However, the .270 throws its bullets between 100 and 200 feet per second faster. While bullet weights top out around 140 grains in the 6.5, you can find bullets up to around 160 grains in the .270, which would be a better choice when you are chasing the big stuff. Well, the 6.5 has less recoil, you say? Yep, by about 1.5 foot pounds. You are one sensitive dude if you can notice that difference.

Well then, why not step up to the .30-06 then? After all, you can lob bullets over 200 grains with it. It certainly isn’t a bad choice, but with the heavier bullets, recoil goes up as well and velocity goes down. These days we have a plethora of good bullets to choose from. So while I do believe in heavy-for-caliber bullets, there is no need to overdo it. The .270 deals out bullets that will handle anything we hunt around here. While the good ol’ .30-06 can pretty much keep up with the .270 with comparable bullet weights, the ballistic coefficient of the 30-caliber bullets is pretty poor. That means its trajectory won’t be as good.

I have to say that I like the lower recoil of the 6.5 Creedmoor, having shot both the .270 and the 6.5mm.  However, I’ve looked into the ballistics of the .270 versus the 7mm magnum and the 300 WinMag.  There isn’t a whole lot of difference, and if I wanted to take large North American game, I’d still choose the .270.

He does a good job of explaining the rush on ammunition, and the resulting push to get 5.56mm/.223, .45 ACP and 9mm out the door.  He also explains the retooling process necessary to get .22LR produced, the lower profit margin, and the uncertainty the upcoming election cycle will bring.

Give a controller an inch, they’ll take a mile.  Give them an opportunity, they’ll take more control of your lives.