Articles by Herschel Smith

We covered this before, but there was some question as to the authenticity of the statement by Colt.  Listen to them in their own words.

Colt moving away from selling ARs to civilians isn’t a sign that the company wants to stop selling guns to civilians altogether, however. Instead, the company will ramp up sales of pistols and revolvers, including its 1911 models, Cobra, King Cobra, and Single Action Army collectible series.

Which, of course, is an absurd declaration, i.e., that “rifles aren’t heavily favored by the civilian market.”  It’s just that the civilian market doesn’t apparently favor Colt rifles.  Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Daniel Defense, BCM, FN, and a whole host of other companies are doing well enough.

So they intend to focus on … wait for it … producing rifles to fulfill outstanding military and law enforcement contracts.  I take this to mean replacement rifles and more particularly, replacement parts.

The revolver market was abdicated to  Smith & Wesson and Ruger, and I doubt that Colt will regain support in this sector.  This portends bad things for Colt’s future, in my estimation.

See this report, and then watch this video.

Horace Mann was very effective at educating a new generation of communists, yes?  The funny thing is that I agree that our children are not our own, but not in the way they do.

They believe in the dictum “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.”  I’ll leave it to the reader to ascertain the origin of this quote.

No, neither my children nor my grandchildren belong to me.  Neither do they belong to the state.  I am not an anarchist/libertarian, and I am not a statist.

I am a Christian.  That means when I baptized my children, they were marked into the covenant.  They belong to God, and God will do with them as He wishes.  They are accountable to Him, as I am for teaching, raising and training them up in a world and life view that honors Him.  I am God’s custodian and servant, I am in responsible charge of His living creation.  That’s an awesome responsibility.  It cannot be turned over to the state.

For once, I agree with a collectivist, but I still find myself on opposite sides.  The state wants to be God.  I will always war against that notion.

David Codrea.

If being on that list is going to prevent you (but not criminals or real terrorists) from buying firearms, who thinks the next step won‘t be to confiscate the guns you already own? (That’s where registration lists, which the National Institute of Justice acknowledges are necessary for “universal background checks” to “work,” can come in so handy, especially when supplemented with so-called “red flag laws.”) And if you are one of those real terrorists and are dumb enough to fill out a Form 4473 and submit yourself to a NICS approval, what better way to be tipped off that you’ve been “made” than to be helpfully told the feds won’t allow your firearm transfer to proceed?

[ … ]

don’t forget the undeniable truth that is now out in the open: The antis not only want your guns, they want you treated like terrorists, that is, imprisoned without rights and/or killed. That’s not hyperbole. The words are theirs. And those in government want to make it official.

Beware of lists of names.  Such things empower the Leviathan, but its appetite never ceases – it only grows.  Placing names on lists is subject to all of the governmental abuse, ideological bias and bureaucratic twists that any other government program is, but only worse.

Independent Sentinel.

Democrats advanced a new measure this week to encourage states to pass “red flag” laws. These so-called extreme risk protection orders authorize removing guns and ammunition from individuals deemed as dangerous by some anonymous, unaccountable person, but it would not include the ready-made lists of gang members.

Republicans tried to add an amendment including known gang members, but the Democrats will not permit the inclusion of gang databases. It’s odd since gangs are the ones causing most of the so-called gun violence.

They would agree to include the names of white supremacists, but not other terror groups.

The House Judiciary rejected any effort by Republicans to include gang databases since they are worried about people mistakenly taken for a gang member. They brought up the ‘no-fly, no-buy’ list which was filled with inaccuracies, but Rep. Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican, who hoped to amend the measure to include gang databases, reminded the Democrats the restrictions for placing someone on a gang database are much tougher than the no-fly list.

“White supremacists.”  If you believe that the U.S. should close the borders, that includes you.  As for the rest of it, this little tidbit is just rich: “They brought up the ‘no-fly, no-buy’ list which was filled with inaccuracies …”

Yes it is, but whether it falsely flags “white supremacists” is another story.  They care about the one, but not the other.

Frank Clarke.

“It’s sad to see a highly-respected American corporation cravenly bending the knee to the forces of darkness. It shows a lack of courage. It shows a lack of foresight. It shows a lack of knowledge or, worse, a rejection of knowledge.

Only two states, Texas and Florida, keep statistics on “does this arrestee have a weapons permit?”. The data from these two states is startling. Lawful gun-carriers are arrested (not convicted, just arrested) at rates between 1/7th and 1/13th the rate for the general population, depending on the year chosen. What that means is that the people who go to the trouble of getting a carry permit are among the safest, most law-abiding people in the country. As a class, they are more law-abiding than the police, and your policy is to insult them and treat them as if they were criminals-in-waiting. Was that your intent or did you simply not think this all the way through?

Recall, as well, that on August 8th, an ordinary citizen — not law enforcement — stopped a potential mass shooting at a Wal-Mart in Springfield MO. Are you publicly asserting that you don’t want any of your customers intervening to stop such incidents in your stores? That would be a surprise, and not a pleasant one, either.

Principles are funny things. They sometimes cause us to say things or do things that others — often ‘others who lack much in the way of principles’ — interpret negatively. That is, alas, what Publix’s latest announcement looks like. It looks like Publix flinched in order to avoid ‘bad PR’ from people whose thinking doesn’t extend beyond “guns bad”. Those same people see the world as full of evildoers who wish nothing so much as to harm others. In such a world, people with guns are a positive danger.

You might suspect that I hold a different view, and you would be correct. I believe our world, despite the occasional ‘bad apple’, is full of loving people who care about their neighbors and want them to live happy, safe, and prosperous lives.

How do you see the world?”

Via WiscoDave, this is just rich.

The Associated Press reports the 29-year-old officer, a five-year veteran of the force, was shot in the abdomen “just below the vest.” The officer was shot after chasing a suspect into a backyard, where “a struggle ensued” that ended with the suspect taking the officer’s gun and shooting him with it.

Another officer then entered the backyard and killed the suspect.

Chief Acevedo responded to the incident by denouncing those who will offer sympathy for the officer while refusing to support gun control.

He said, “We were in Washington Monday talking about gun violence in our city, in our community, in our country, and I don’t want to hear from politicians tomorrow about how much they care about my cop.”

He added, “If they’re not here to talk to us about solutions, then don’t bother showing up to the Houston Police Department.”

Acevedo took time to thank Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) for coming out in support of gun control after the August 31, 2019, shooting in Midland-Odessa. On September 2, 2019, Breitbart News reported Patrick’s call for action against private gun sales.

But of course.  Here’s a test question, boys and girls.  What’s almost as good as using a SWAT raid on innocent people catalyzed by criminal cops to press for gun control?

The right answer for today is “Using theft of a police issued weapon to shoot police to press for more gun control.”  For today, that is.  With Art Acevedo, tomorrow is another day to use his workers to press his own agenda.

Sun-Sentinel.

Publix is the latest retailer asking customers to leave their guns at home.

The Lakeland-based supermarket chain joins the growing chorus of national retailers asking customers not to bring guns into stores in states where it is legal to openly carry firearms.

This one is disappointing, since I like the Publix right down the road from me and sometimes open carry there.  I’ve been told by the store manager that he doesn’t mind it and that they (Publix) follow state law.  I guess not now – they apparently all follow Florida state law.  I wonder how Floridians would feel if we imposed our laws on them?

It’s all part of the shaming of gun owners in America, and they’ve buckled to the pressure.  I’m willing to bet that not a single instance of trouble has ever occurred due to open carry.  This is all about political statements.  What a shame.  I never thought I would have to post about Publix and gun control at the same time.

I’ll have to send their CEO, Todd Jones,  a letter at todd.jones@publix.com.

Via WiscoDave, TTAG.

“We have just been notified by Colt Firearms that they will be discontinuing production of all Colt long guns to focus on regaining military contracts.

This isn’t surprising.  After my son returned from Iraq and had a chance to work with the RRA rifle I had, he told me that the Colts they were issued were vastly inferior to my own rifle.

Colt has long ago jettisoned QA in favor of bulk government contracts.  That isn’t the first mistake they’ve made, viz. the withdrawal from the revolver market to leave S&W the only manufacturer involved in revolvers, only then to see Ruger enter the market in a big way and then a resurgence of interest in wheel guns.  Too bad they’ve lost all of their revolver mechanics and no longer make the Python (which still sells for $2500 – $5000 if you can find one).

Another aspect of their demise surely involves their commitment to Connecticut where the state hates them, their workers are union shop, and their senior management inept.