Articles by Herschel Smith

Stars and Stripes:

The Army is updating procedures for use of the M4A1 automatic rifle after a soldier recorded cellphone video of his weapon firing when it shouldn’t have.

The video, recorded in late March, shows the soldier operating a rifle that has been converted from a standard M4, which can fire a maximum three-round burst, to the fully automatic M4A1, according a safety message sent to troops on Tuesday.

The soldier places his carbine’s selector switch between “semi” and “auto” and squeezes the trigger but it doesn’t fire, until the switch is moved to “auto” and immediately discharges a round, the message says.

The Army’s Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, or TACOM, first warned soldiers about the problem in March and April.

The M4A1, previously used exclusively by Special Operations troops, is now the Army’s primary individual weapon.

Inspectors were able to replicate the malfunction depicted in the soldier’s video in about 10 percent of the weapons they checked, defense industry journal Soldier Systems reported.

Testing also revealed that carbines from a different manufacturer malfunctioned when switched from “safe” to “semi-automatic,” the journal reported.

The latest safety messages concern M4s and M4A1s, as well as M16A2, A3 and A4 rifles. They order personnel to change the way they check functions on the weapons and perform immediate action drills to diagnose weapon stoppages.

Um … what?

What?

There is no reason a shooter should intentionally misplace the selector switch between modes, but then again in the stress of battle anything is possible and this failure mode is entirely plausible.

The genesis of the problem appears to be a feature of the gun not a part of the original specification, and it seems to me that this is a huge, huge problem.

They don’t need to send this problem to armorers.  They need civilian gunsmiths to tackle this and work the problems out, and that should have done that before deploying the modification.

I’m also not clear as to exactly why they need fully automatic anyway.  This gun can never be an effective area suppression weapon.  Not for long anyway.

Good grief.

At Shooting Illustrated.  You can go see for yourself, but I won’t comment except to say that the prices are totally unreasonable.

I simply won’t pay $4000+ for any handgun.  Ever.  Not even if I was wealthy.  I’d give my money away before I paid that much for a pistol, even a very good one.

I’m not sure what manufacturers are thinking (perhaps they think there’s a market for this price point, and maybe there is), but when you can get a pseudo-custom Dan Wesson for < $2000, it just isn’t worth is to buy more expensive.  And I think I’ve mentioned before that the gunsmiths at Hyatt Gun Shop would rather work on a Springfield Armory 1911 than a Kimber (so I’m told) because it’s a better pistol.

A Springfield runs for much, much less than the prices I see in this article.  Smith & Wesson also makes a very good Performance Center 1911 for much less than these prices.  I’m thinking that some of these must be custom-built guns, but even then, I’m just flabbergasted at the prices.

CNS News:

Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has released a statement calling on the United Nations to “seriously” pursue seven “human rights” cases in the United States. One of these is what Khamenei perceives as the need for gun control.

“Another case which the UN should definitely pursue is the freedom of selling guns in the US with which so many crimes are being committed,” Khamenei said in a statement published today.

“You hear and witness that every day in schools, in universities, in markets, and on the street that a teenager, a man, or a woman fires a volley of bullets at some people because of some problem they have–they are extremely angry, or they are mad and have some personal problems,” Khamenei said.

“They kill eight, ten, twenty–more or less–people, and families mourn the loss of their dear ones,” Khamenei continued. “Why do they not stop this? The reason is that gun companies prevent this, and the US administrations are under the influence of these companies. This is a very important issue which should be addressed and pursued by the UN.”

So if you believe that too, you are in remarkable company.  The Grand Poobah wants more gun control.

And so do the following folks.

“Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA — ordinary citizens don’t need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the State.”
–Heinrich Himmler

“I have grown up with guns all my life, but people who like assault weapons they should join the United States Army, we have them.”
–Gen. Wesley Clark, US Army

“Anyone who wants to possess such a weapon (“assault weapon”) should join the Marine Corps.”
–Oliver North, President of NRA

“We think it’s reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone.”
–Wayne LaPierre, CEO and Executive Vice President, NRA

“In the aftermath of two of the country’s worst mass shootings, it’s an affront to both our safety as a nation and the common sense of its citizens that Congress would consider actually weakening our gun laws.”
–General Stanley McChrystal, author of the ROE that killed good men at Ganjgal

“I spent a career carrying typically either an M16 or an M4 Carbine. An M4 Carbine fires a .223 caliber round which is 5.56 mm at about 3000 feet per second. When it hits a human body, the effects are devastating. It’s designed for that,” McChrystal explained. “That’s what our soldiers ought to carry. I personally don’t think there’s any need for that kind of weaponry on the streets and particularly around the schools in America.”
–General Stanley McChrystal

And all democrats.  And many more in the gun control hall of shame my readers have cataloged in the comments.

For some reason 1 Corinthians 15:33 comes to mind, but then there is also Matthew 15:19 that points a slightly different direction, albeit consistent with the first.  Oh well, that’s a discussion for another time.

I’m sure you haven’t noticed, but I’ve been doing this for twelve years.  Over the course of time I’ve transitioned from military blogging to guns and gun rights.  This transition occurred quite a while back, but I know I’ve still kept some military readers.

The blog began as a way to log a journal online while my son was in the Marine Corps.  My oldest son told me he thought I did it in order to stay sane.  Perhaps.  And perhaps I haven’t.  It evolved into analysis and assessment of military strategy, tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), rules of engagement, and the intersection of politics with all of the above.

The transition to guns and gun rights was natural, since keeping up with my son required me to learn the mechanics of firearms, and learn his tactics (e.g., shooting the AR-15 with the aggressive, plates-forward approach, which is now so comfortable to me that I wouldn’t be able to do it any other way).  I’ve evolved my own methods now, including the use of the C-Clamp grip (or otherwise called thumb-over-bore grip, which I initially rejected as faddish but once I adopted it changed the stability of my shooting).  I wouldn’t know what a squad rush or satellite patrol was without the impetus of knowing it to communicate with my son.

Over the course of time I’ve received visits from all of the military network domains (Army, Navy, AF, NG, CG, DoD), and still get regular visits from those as well as the DoJ, FBI Department of Criminal Justice, State Department, various appeals courts, The House of Representative, the Senate, and most state and many city governments.  I often wonder if I have any readers who have stayed with me all twelve years?  I’ve also received visits from the executive office of the president and the SCOTUS.  I have no earthly idea why such people would be interested in reading this humble blog.  I’m sure readers agree with that sentiment.

There is no doubt in my mind that I currently have the best readers on the internet.  I appreciate what you’ve made this web site.  For new readers, take the time to study some of my Featured Articles.  I’ve tried to put my best work in there.

Via The Texas Tribune, here is the plan (PDF).

Here are my problems with it.  Money, money, money, money, money, and more money.

And a hefty dose of predictive behavior modification from the department of pre-crime.  And then there is this special program.

The Telemedicine Wellness Intervention Triage and Referral (TWITR) Project has created a model for identifying students at risk for committing school violence and intervening with those students before acts of violence occur.

[ … ]

Students are identified by trained school staff and screened for risk-based behaviors by Licensed Professional Counselors in schools then provided psychiatric services by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) over a telemedicine link. Two telemedicine psychiatry sessions are provided through the project. If, through the assessment, a student is identified as requiring mental health care, either a referral for individual and/or family counseling is made or the student is referred to a medical school department of psychiatry for additional telemedicine psychiatric services

How nice.  The village witchdoctor will take a child aside, regardless of whether approved by parents, if s/he meets some criteria set up by … the village witchdoctors.

There is also a proposal to protect the identity of “tipsters.”  Great.  I can’t see such a thing being abused by school kids at all.

There’s more, from “red flag” laws to “Strengthening the Safe Firearm Storage Law.”  It’s a statists wet dream come true.

We’ve discussed many times how Warren v. D.C. and Castle Rock v. Gonzalez clearly and in no uncertain terms both find that, excepting some special deal where police agree to provide witness protection, for instance, the police are under absolutely no legal obligation to defend you or to come to your rescue during distress.

David Codrea mentions another recent case bearing on the subject.

In his lawsuit, Robert Sanchez Turner alleged that local and state police commanders, led by then-city Police Chief Al Thomas and then-VSP Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty, violated his and others’ civil rights on Aug. 12 by failing to prevent the violence that day.

Turner alleged that he was the victim of violence that was witnessed by officers who did nothing to stop the fracas that ensued for nearly an hour before authorities declared the event to be an unlawful assembly and ordered everyone in and around Emancipation Park to disperse.

The judge understated the case.  It isn’t just that the duty isn’t clearly established, it just isn’t there except in the imagination of the progressives.

Anyone who still believes that is a fool.

USA Today:

LIEGE, Belgium — A knife-wielding prison inmate stabbed two female police officers in the Belgian city of Liege, stole their service weapons and shot them and a bystander dead in an attack Tuesday that prosecutors fear could be terror-related.

Justice Minister Koen Geens said the assailant, who was later killed by police, was on a two-day leave from prison. Geens described him as a repeat offender who had been incarcerated since 2003 and was due for release in two years.

The attack happened outside a Liege cafe on Tuesday morning. Liege prosecutors’ spokesman Philippe Dulieu said the man crept up on the two officers from behind carrying a knife and stabbed them several times.

“He then took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers, who died,” Dulieu told reporters. The two police handguns had a total of 17 bullets.

Dulieu said the attacker then shot and killed a 22-year-old man in a vehicle that was leaving a parking space outside a nearby high school. He then took two women hostage inside the school.

But this sort of thing is nothing new.  In Brazil the police are targeted for their weapons.  It happens in the U.S. as well as this case in the Bronx demonstrates.

So when the controllers tell you that only cops will have guns if they get their way, they are telling you [a] guns will be in the hands of men who, worldwide, perpetrated approximately 170 million murders in the twentieth century, [b] guns will be in the hands of criminals who would sooner kill you for the fun of it as to look at you, or [c] both.

Remember that.

Although I just don’t understand what YouTube bans when, why and how, and what they don’t.

Forbes:

This year, here are just some of the measures doctors want the AMA to back:

• Ban the sale of bump stocks. AMA delegates will consider supporting “a ban on the sale of any device, including bump stocks, that converts a firearm into a weapon that mimics a fully automatic weapon.”
• Strengthen the background check system for firearms. AMA delegates will consider supporting legislation that requires “all gun sales and transfers” to “fall under strengthened regulation.
• ”Ban on semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines. AMA delegates will consider supporting “a ban on the sale, transfer, manufacturer and importation of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines to the public.”
• Increasing the legal age of purchasing ammunition and firearms from 18 to 21. AMA delegates will consider supporting “increasing the legal age to purchase firearms and ammunition.”

Know what’s happening.  Know and understand your enemies.  Know where the attacks are coming from.  Destroy the flanking maneuvers.

My father once told me that the AMA was the tightest, strongest fraternity outside of the communist party.  An enemy is dangerous if they are devoted to each other.

David Codrea:

As an aside, that the phrase “Molon Labe” is new to him shows a person profoundly ignorant of those he would turn into enemies. In fairness, his readership admittedly could leave most of us in the dust if the topics were men’s fashion tips, mixing the perfect martini or where to go for the best mankini wax job.

Then there is this.

This is existential. If Americans once more rebel against tyranny, there’s no reason to expect history will not repeat itself as far as the very personal and often violent Patriots vs. Tories conflicts that happened last time. If that does, those for whom no gun laws will ever be enough, and who egged it all on, should not delude themselves into thinking their roles will be overlooked …

I suspect that Holmes read the comments and email and saw that his prose was received poorly, deciding that he didn’t like what he saw.  So he decided to write about it again.  He was probably fabulating as to the true nature of the email, alleging personal threats when the mail had more to do with generic statements of philosophy.

As to Codrea’s first paragraph I lifted, it almost made me spit my coffee.  As to his second paragraph, Holmes and others had better take the “generic statements of philosophy” very seriously.  The people making the statements sure do.

As I said, I’m not very worried about Holmes.  I’m very concerned about nickel and dime, death of a thousand cuts, constantly dripping, constantly badgering gun owners to death.  A new AWB that doesn’t declare AR-15s illegal, just non-transferrable upon death.  New laws that make it illegal to shoot AR-15s at ranges.  New taxes and controls on ammunition.  New banking laws that make it difficult if not impossible for gun manufacturers to do business.

We’ve discussed it all before.  You know how to detect and prevent the flanking maneuvers, right?