Articles by Herschel Smith

Fox News.

In a letter to McCabe attorney Michael Bromwich obtained by Fox News, Justice Department attorney J.P. Cooney said the investigation is now “closed.”

“We write to inform you that, after careful consideration, the government has decided not to pursue criminal charges against your client, Andrew G. McCabe,” Cooney wrote.

The DOJ added: “Based on the totality of the circumstances and all of the information known to the government at this time, we consider the matter closed.”

William Barr recently complained about Trump, saying “I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me,” Barr said.

“To have public statements and tweets made about the department, about people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department and about judges before whom we have cases, make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department that we’re doing our work with integrity,” he said.

In other words, “You’re getting in the way of the deep state doing its job.”

I just can’t see .243 as an effective deer rifle because of its high velocity (penetration without deposition of energy), but I guess some guys swear by it.

Dean Weingarten writing at Ammoland.

Many who fight hard to infringe on the rights to keep and carry firearms have been allies in the right to keep and carry knives. This creates momentum and precedent to remove infringements on the right to arms generally.

SB 96 in West Virginia has been referred to the House. If it passes a House vote,  it will need to be signed by Governor Jim Justice to become law.

I think Dean meant to say “Many who fight hard against infringements of the RKBA …”  The statement would make better sense that way.

He’s right, we’re natural allies, knife rights and gun rights folks.  But until West Virginia deals with the crooks in its midst, the people are under tyranny.  It’s just local tyranny, not state.  But the state is complicit if they do nothing.

Where is the state AG on Sheriff Steve Deweese, sdeweese@putnamwv.org?  He and his deputies are the crooks I’m talking about.

Recall that one crud, vulgar, obscene Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputy violated a man’s rights guaranteed under the second and fourth amendments by an illegal and unconstitutional detention?

Well, a recent video shows obvious violation of someone’s fourth amendment rights, and attempts to cover it up before the fact.

Sheriff Steve Deweese, sdeweese@putnamwv.org, has a real problem on his hands.  It looks like most if not all of his deputies are crass, lawless thugs and criminals.  Then again, you know what they say.  This typically all comes from the top.  Sheriff Deweese needs to be replaced and then prosecuted along with his deputies.  He looks like he is corrupt to the bone.

David Codrea is responsible for this great find, from David Kopel writing at Reason.

Did the Framers of the Second Amendment consider the possibility that Americans might own firearms with a capacity greater than 10 rounds? Certainly yes. Such arms had been invented two centuries before the Second Amendment, and by 1791, repeating arms, including those capable of firing more than 10 rounds, were well-known in the United States. The history is explained in a Third Circuit amicus brief I coauthored last week.

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Earliest repeating arms: A  repeater is a firearm that can fire more than one shot without having to be reloaded. The first known repeating firearms date back to between 1490 and 1530, with guns that fired 10 consecutive rounds. A 1580 gun could fire 16 shots. Once the user pressed the trigger, these guns would continue to fire until the ammunition was exhausted.

Seventeenth century: By the 1640s, major improvements in repeating arms had been developed. Now, the user could fire just one shot by pressing the trigger, and then fire more shots by pressing the trigger repeatedly. Danish rifles invented by Peter Kalthoff had ammunition capacities ranging from 6 to 30 rounds. During the seventeenth century, Kalthoff repeaters were copied by gunsmiths from London to Moscow.

For the case background and additional discussion on David’s research, consult the article.  He’s done a magnificent job of cataloging all of this.

And he does get to the storied Girandoni air rifle, which I think it would be cool to hold and fire.

So enough from the know-nothing naysayers about how the founders couldn’t have possibly imagined this, or imagined that.  Anyway, consider how ridiculous it would be for the founders, who risked their lives, fortunes, families and reputation, to have rejected whatever they had at their disposal to defeat King George!

And consider how ridiculous is the claim that the founders didn’t intend for citizens to keep and bear arms for the amelioration of tyranny, when that’s exactly what they did and how they managed to do it.

Finally, in my estimation, Kopel’s work goes not just to magazine capacity, but something other than single shot firearms as well.  Read again.  Repeaters.

From a reader, this news.

According to a follow up article, mountain lions don’t usually come this far down to the prairie area of Redfield. However, the lion was a young male, and young male mountain lions are known to travel. In this case, one particular mountain lion did come down from their normal hunting area, and he found himself a nice big 800lb meal.

As the lion wandered onto the property and attacked the steer, a livestock operator spotted him. Unfortunately, this livestock operator was not armed while he was out feeding the animals. To the lion, he was just another piece of meat on the range.

Fortunately, a neighboring rancher spotted the lion and recognized the danger the animal posed. This beast could have taken down multiple cattle costing thousands of dollars in damages. It could have also taken out the livestock operator.

Bet he’ll carry a gun in the future.  As for me, I think I’d prefer to have a long gun in these circumstances.  For those who don’t live in South Dakota, there’s always Coyotes, so there is always reason to carry, whether on the city streets from two-legged threats or in your yard or ranch from four-legged threats.

There is lots of movement in the second amendment sanctuary front.  First up, It’s nice to see Virginians still in high spirits.

Spoiler Alert: this story has a happy ending with Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign bus veering off into a political ditch at its final stop in Virginia on Sunday night.

That’s because members of my Patriot Picket crew joined forces with the Virginia Citizens Defense League and others to give the arriving Bloomberg team a Second Amendment welcome—one that absolutely undercut the boisterous gun-control festivities that they had planned for the evening.

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In addition to the VCDL members that mixed in with our Patriot Picket squad, we were also supplemented by the ArfCom Regulars, who made their own entrance.

With a drummer at the front, they marched up the sidewalk in formation with banners held high—and bullhorn blaring—to rendezvous with us.

“We will not comply.”  Video at the link.

Second up, it’s nice to see the states thinking more regionally.  Mississippi House Bill 753 involves an authorization to enter into a compact of southern states for the purpose of being a second amendment sanctuary.  The language is strong, and the other states listed in the bill are Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky and Oklahoma.  Whether they have been in contact with these states isn’t stated.  If the language is actually enforced, it means something.  It isn’t toothless.

Third, a number of states have pending second amendment preservation acts.

In order to help the dumbfounded public understand and accept the changes that will be coming their way, these are small but necessary steps.  The changes are coming whether we we want them to or not, as the collectivists do not sleep, but are ever vigilant to trample God-given rights.  They won’t stop, so people must eventually take sides, including all of the pols and LEOs, state, county and city.  This will become apparent to them as we go, but I say again, these are necessary first steps, baby steps if you will.

News from New York.

“We’re a rural county, and a lot of people are gun owners and support the Second Amendment and were not happy with the SAFE Act, and I support all of that,” Smith said. “But I couldn’t take the lead and advise people to break the law.”

“I couldn’t lead it because I took an oath and am here to support people who are for and against the Second Amendment,” Smith said.

Have you ever heard such a cowardly and confused statement?  Try to dissect that.  ” … I took an oath and am here to support people who are for and against the Second Amendment.”

Where is something like that in any oath he took?  When did he take an oath to “support” people who are against the thing to which he was supposed to swear an oath?

Shooting Illustrated.

Let’s start with a simple definition: Mil-spec is “A document that describes the essential technical requirements for military-unique materiel or substantially modified commercial items. MIL-STD-961 covers the content and format for defense specifications.” In simple terms, mil-spec is a list of standards to which goods sold to the U.S. military must adhere. These standards might apply to truck tires, hats, t-shirts, and yes, firearms and ammunition. There is even a spec that specifies “Requirements for swim fins made of gum rubber for wear by military personnel for swimming purposes and for general utility.” Exciting stuff.

In the munitions context, a standardized “spec” ensures that everyone is armed with firearms that are of equal quality and with interchangeable parts. This simplifies logistics and ensures a basic level of quality. In the marketing world, mil-spec has taken on a life of its own. It is promoted as some sort of gold standard for quality when, in fact, it is a floor rather than a ceiling. The military itself is rarely at the cutting edge of innovation, instead relying on private industry to meet the needs of the force. Just because a product meets the mil-spec doesn’t mean that is the best thing on the block.

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If a firearm truly meets the military specification, we know that it satisfies a baseline standard for quality. If you’ve ever slept in a military sleeping bag, used a military backpack or hiked in military boots, you’ll probably agree that the issued items are rarely the best on the market. The same goes for firearms, which is something that we should all take into account when making our buying decisions. Just because a product is right for the military, doesn’t mean that it is the right choice for you.

Sounds like something I said before.  “Don’t slip past these paragraphs, because they explain why “Milspec” is 1:7.  It isn’t because 1:7 shoots M193 or M855 more accurately.  It’s because of the weight of tracer rounds.  As we’ve discussed before, the term Milspec doesn’t mean better, or worse, or anything at all except that it precisely meets the specifications outlined in the purchase order(s), excepting whatever variance notifications they might make on a given batch of guns.”