Articles by Herschel Smith

David Corn writing at Mother Jones:

In late 2016, the US Army released a report noting that the Russian military, through experience gained during fighting in Ukraine, was undergoing a transformation and becoming a more potent battlefield threat to American forces. One troublesome development identified by the report’s authors was the increased proficiency of Russian snipers. “The capabilities of a sniper in a Russian contingent is far more advanced than the precision shooters U.S. formations have encountered over the last 15 years,” the study noted. One reason for this was the Russian military’s recent adoption of the ORSIS T-5000, a relatively new Russian-made firearm that the report called “one of the most capable bolt action sniper rifles in the world.” As one military technology expert noted, after reviewing this report, the US Army faced “being outgunned” by foes armed with the T-5000—which can be accurate at a distance of 2,000 yards—and these Russian rifles were showing up in Iraq and Ukraine. That is, this weapon posed a threat to US troops and those of its allies. Yet the National Rifle Association—which boasts it is identified with American patriotism—has helped promote Moscow-based ORSIS and its sniper rifle.

Corn goes on and on in breathtaking and dramatic fashion over this highly lethal rifle, which happens to be a .338 bolt action gun.

I guess the U.S. doesn’t have .338 bolt action guns.  Oops, never mind.  Guess we don’t have .50 BMG rifles.  Oops, never mind, the Marine Corps Scout Snipers use them all the time.  Guess the .338 is an innovative round never before seen on the battlefields of the world.  Oops, never mind.

Guess David Corn bought the Pentagon picture-book hook, line and sinker.  David, this report is a request for money.  Do you get that, son?

By the way, nice job, Army-folks.  Lots of nice, pretty, action-pictures to keep the brass and politicians interested as they turn the pages.

George Block at Observer-Reporter:

There is little doubt but that the name Winchester increases the value of any rifle. There are many lever action models that have jumped in value. An 1888 in good shape is worth quite a bit as is the ugly and awkward to carry 1895. Even the most popular Winchester of all the 1894 holds its value well. The 1894 later became the model 94 that most of us have shot at some time.

Earlier I misstated in a reply back to Georgiaboy that Winchester Rifles are now made in Portugal.  Actually, Winchester rifles were made in Japan for a number of years, and at that point the quality deteriorated to near nothing.

FN purchased the brand, and now the parts are made in Columbia, S.C., while being assembled in Portugal.  It’s still difficult to get a Winchester Model 70 because FN tools their line in Columbia to make a certain gun, retools for the next one, and so on and around it goes.  I question whether this is a good business model, but it’s what they do.

Few people outside FN know when a new release of gun models is going to become available.  I’ve sent FN customer service notes before on other subjects only to be ignored.  I also don’t know anything about the quality of the Model 70s being made today.

Tell me if you would your interest in these subjects.

I’ll give you equal time to explain why you’re interested in these subjects.  Is that a deal?

As seen on Facebook:

This is why Facebook is stupid.  Yes, I know the hazard of saying something like that is that there are so many reasons Facebook is stupid that someone may point out the reductionism of the assertion This is why Facebook is stupid.  Nonetheless, this is why Facebook is stupid.

No one has apparently asked her to change the subject to something like automobiles.  ” … You’re already stating that having car insurance and ambulances means that cars are dangerous and a threat to those nearby.”  Consistency is only the Hobgoblin of small minds in American schools.

About the only thing you can say to something like that (because she’s not teachable) is “Shut up, go to the kitchen and make me a sandwich.”

If you have a Facebook account, delete it.  You’re stupider every day you have it.  It’s amazing that Zuckerberg actually makes a living with this crap, a testimony to the stupidity of the American people.

Trump spoke at the NRA convention in Dallas to a hero’s welcome.  David Codrea has other thoughts.

No one is expecting the president to exceed his authority or the proper bounds of federalism, but the office does come with a bully pulpit and, depending on your point of view, the man is either famous or notorious for issuing public statements through Twitter. If we’re to believe the “assault on [our] Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end,” what kind of statements would it be reasonable to expect when states are infringing on a right articulated in “the supreme Law of the Land”?

Donald “Ban the bump stocks take the guns first” Trump was heralded at the NRA convention, but by my calculus he has given us (a) a progressive Ninth Circuit judge, (b) a bump stock ban, (c) Fix-NICS, (d) more funding for the CDC to pump out anti-gun garbage.

Tim Harmsen, whom I like and whose videos I enjoy, was interviewed by NPR.  Normally I’d say as I always do, “The first rule of gun club is don’t talk about gun club.”  But NPR did a fair job.

The National Rifle Association’s annual meeting begins Friday in Dallas, and some members of the organization plan to voice their discontent with the positions the NRA has taken in the past year.

Lifetime member Tim Harmsen, the owner of Copper Custom Gun Shop in Valparaiso, Ind., and the creator and host of the Military Arms Channel on YouTube, says he’s bringing boxes of T-shirts that reflect his disappointment.

“The shirts say ‘NRA: Not Real Activists.’ So, we’re not happy with the direction that [NRA leaders] Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox have taken,” Harmsen says. “They think that the resolution to all that ails the country is constant compromise on our constitutional rights, and there’s a growing number of us who are dissatisfied with that.”

They constantly negotiate our rights away. And my opinion is this — that in a compromise, it’s assumed that both parties will get something of equal value, and that’s not what happens. We don’t really compromise — we surrender our rights, endlessly trying to appease the factions that simply want to erase the Second Amendment as though it never existed….

Two issues that they’ve recently pushed through with the assistance of Trump is their NICS fix, which is an expansion of the NICS background check system, which has about a 97 percent false positive rate. … The NRA originally wrote the bill during the Clinton administration, and then they had President Trump expand it, which is a de facto waiting period for most Americans. It inaccurately flags most people.

Then, the second thing that they did is bump stock regulation. It’s really poorly written, and it goes so far as to tell you how to get around the regulations change.

I’m going for two reasons: First of all, I’m a voting member, and I plan to vote — and we keep trying to vote in a board that more reflects the opinions of the membership, which is myself and a large number of NRA members. If you get online and look, go through the discussion forms (sic) and the pro-Second Amendment forms (sic), you’ll see what I’m saying is true….

You’d think that NPR could at least get the word forum right.  As I said, I like Tim, but I don’t believe in compromise.  The problem is not just that we don’t really compromise and the other side gets everything.  The fundamental problem is that when God has spoken and decreed rights, man has no business stepping in to intercede in that right.  Man usurps the position of God, and it makes Him angry.  It also makes men who love God angry.

The problem with the bump stock ban isn’t that it is poorly written, or that it’s a slippery slope, or that we didn’t get anything in the compromise.  If it was well written and we got something in the give-and-take, it’s still wrong.

All gun control is wicked.  Compromise is evil when God has spoken and dictated the terms and conditions of our existence.  But always remember what Trump said in the debates, and what I’ve rehearsed here on these pages many times.

“Everything is negotiable.”

Reuters:

Bank of America Corp is preparing to provide critical financing to Remington Outdoor Co, which makes assault-type rifles, just weeks after the U.S. bank said it would stop financing “military-style” firearms for civilians.

The bank is contributing $43.2 million to a $193 million lending package funded by seven banks, according to court documents, which will help put Remington back on stable footing as it emerges from bankruptcy later this month into an uncertain environment for gun makers.

The package replaces a similar credit facility the banks committed to providing Remington. Both were agreed in late March, before Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, changed its policy to stop financing companies that make military-style guns for civilian use.

Anne Finucane, Bank of America’s vice chair, said in April that the bank had decided on its pledge to help reduce mass shootings, saying in an interview with Bloomberg TV that “it is not our intent to underwrite or finance military-style firearms on a go-forward basis.”

[ … ]

But withdrawing from the deal would hurt the bank’s reputation for standing by its lending agreements and could undermine Remington’s survival, according to one person familiar with the bank’s thinking.

Surely BoA knew about this loan package before it’s stupid announcement on other firearms manufacturers.

That means one of two things.  Either BoA is full of liars and crooks who were only trying to make an appearance of cooperating with the gun controllers, or Remington has been strong armed and is preparing to jettison its Bushmaster line of guns.

If the first is true, it doesn’t mean BoA will lend in the future to firearms manufacturers.  It just means that they are liars.  If the second is true, this is the end for Remington.  There will be no recovery.  Tikka can easily supplant the Remington 700 because it’s a better gun.

News from Detroit:

FOWLERVILLE, Mich. – A gunshot rang out at Fowlerville High School during a wrestling tournament Saturday.

Police said an off-duty police officer was at the school to watch his son wrestle when his weapon accidentally discharged about 12:40 p.m. The bullet struck the gymnasium floor.

One person was treated for a twisted ankle they suffered while fleeing the scene, police said, but no one was hurt as a result of the shooting.

His weapon accidentally discharged.  It took on a mind of it’s own and decided, without aid or interaction with any human, to discharge a round.

Don’t you just love how the media puts it when it happens to a cop?  It’s always the gun’s fault.  It’s never a negligent discharge.

ABC News:

An off-duty California police officer pulled a gun on a man whom he accused of stealing Mentos candy at a gas station, according to ABC TV station KABC in Los Angeles.

The man had in fact just purchased the candy, according to surveillance video of the March 16 incident posted by KABC.

In the video, a customer later identified as Jose Arreola can be seen paying a cashier for the Mentos at the gas station in Orange County south of Los Angeles.

Moments later, a man in black shorts and a black shirt who is standing in line behind Arreola pulls out a gun and tells him to put the candy back.

After Arreola tells the man he paid for the candy, the man asks the clerk, “Did he pay for this?”

The clerk confirms the purchase, and the officer apologizes to Arreola.

Arreola told the Orange County Register in a story published Friday that the incident left him scared and angry.

Since you’re not a cop, you’re not a “hero of the community there to protect and serve.”  Therefore, you can’t get away with something like that.

This cop had no muzzle discipline, and doesn’t have the brains to understand Tennessee v. Garner.  But that’s okay, since no prosecutor will ever charge him with assault with a deadly weapon (which is what would happen to us if we ever did something that brainless).

This video is worth watching to the end.  First of all, I dislike the fawning over the NRA and even more over cops.  Stephen is a good man, a very good man, but the thing about this service to the community is that it was unpaid and without regard for the safety of his own life.

As to the part about cops being “sheepdogs,” for me to think of cops that way would require a massive change in culture.  For any individual to rise to the level of being a “sheepdog,” he must be unpaid, and Willeford didn’t think for one second about “coming home safely at the end of the day.”  That’s why this was self-sacrifice.  Cops who write and follow procedures that put officer safety first are not involved in self-sacrifice.

Here is the video.

He’s of course right about the sheepdogs needing a shepherd.

FB:

To All Our Loyal Fans & Customers: We have had a number of inquiries about whether we plan to discontinue sales to Dick’s Sporting Goods. We do not sell to Dick’s. Ruger utilizes a two-step distribution system in which we sell to independent, federally licensed distributors, who sell to independent, federally licensed retailers. Because the distributors are independent, we cannot control where they sell the products they acquire. However, we share your concerns about how Dick’s is conducting itself and are disappointed by their recent actions. Given Dick’s recent pronouncements, we expect it is safe to assume that you will not be seeing Ruger firearms in their stores. #Ruger #firearms

I just don’t know whether I believe this.  All Ruger – or any other manufacturer – has to do is require of their distributors that they not sell to Dick’s Sporting Goods.  If they are caught doing that, then Ruger does not use those distributors any more.

In fact, this could all be set up in a contractual agreement.  What’s so hard about that?  Why is Ruger dismissing this as if we’re stupid and can’t figure it out?