Articles by Herschel Smith

Outdoor Life:

In today’s world of high-capacity, polymer-frame, semi-auto pistols, we often forget about the original repeating handgun. While the roots of the revolver go back to the revolving arquebus, produced by Hans Stopler of Nuremberg in 1597, it wasn’t until 1836 that Sam Colt figured out how to make it work reliably. Once Colt started making revolvers, the world of repeating handguns changed forever.

Whether you’re in the field hunting, hiking, or exploring, or in any wilderness setting, the revolver is the top choice in a handgun. For personal defense, the double-action revolver may be a bit less popular nowadays, but it’s every bit as good a choice as it ever was.

I agree.  I have one concealed carry revolver, and two that are too big to conceal, requiring open carry.  I carry my small wheel gun regularly.  And while we’re on the subject of revolvers again, Lucky Gunner has a nice article on testing the Ruger GP100.  I love mine.  But that’s not what caught my eye.  While reading the Outdoor Life piece on carry revolvers, I noticed one I missed from two years ago that has some remarkable anecdotal data.

Even here in Alaska, where you’d think we would have the “bear sidearm” thing figured out, all you have to do is mention bear protection in a crowded place or online forum, and you will no doubt hear from numerous people who swear on their mother’s grave that their .44 mag, .454, .500, or other monster caliber is the ideal bear protection. I have however, only heard one claim myself of someone stopping a grizzly with one shot from a .460. The bigger-is-better idea is rapidly going the way of the buffalo, and here’s why.

I’ll say this very clearly. No handgun has the energy to drop a bear in its tracks (barring a perfect, or extremely lucky shot). Even the .500 S&W has little more energy than a .30-30. If you read John Snow’s blog last week, you saw a scientific comparison of several autoloading cartridges and the conclusions that the FBI drew from it. Yes, the bigger cartridges do slightly more damage than a .45 ACP, but we are talking about animals that can sometimes soak up .375 H&H rounds like they are BB’s. I’ve personally witnessed a brown bear take 13 solid shots from less than 20 yards with a .375 Ackley before it expired. I have seen black bears shot at under 15 yards with .338’s and 7mm Mag’s and not even lose their footing. The handgun is a last resort, slightly better than nothing. Never, EVER rely on a handgun as your primary defense if you know you are going to be in a risky situation. Take a large rifle you are comfortable with, or a shotgun.

[ … ]

I think that with a heavy wheelgun, you will get one shot off if you are lucky. If you’re wondering how you would do, next time you are at the range, see how many hits you can get on a 15” x 20” target at 15 feet in 3 seconds (including drawing from your carry holster). You probably won’t have much more time than that in the field, and possibly less.

Select your backcountry sidearm wisely, and be safe out there!

Okay, I hear you loud and clear.  But it’s still the case that soon after firearms were declared legal in national parks a man defended his life from a grizzly in Denali National Par using a .45 ACP handgun.  I always want more rather than less, but I’ll take what I’ve got and try to aim well if this situation ever presents itself.  I’m not sure that anyone can ever be truly prepared for an attack like this save doing it all of the time.

Ned Weatherby:

Wouldn’t surprise me if the “didn’t know” was true – but averting one’s eyes to avoid learning the truth in this political climate is BS.

However, I truly wonder how many of the people now bitching at various gun friendly websites about RRA & SA don’t do crap for gun rights, other than maybe being an NRA member – if that.

Here in AZ, the Arizona Citizens Defense League has only around 2000 members, and yet, AZCDL and its handful of members are responsible for most of the pro-rights laws passed the last few years in AZ. http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html

So few do the heavy lifting. Sorry folks, but “activism” like not buying a RRA product is just keyboard commando posing horsecrap.

I see posts often on various websites from state-run gun rights organizations asking for help. How many of the “activists” who now won’t buy that new SA gun can’t even be bothered to follow a link and send the pre-prepared letters for their own state – much less join?

How many Illinois gun owners didn’t do squat about this issue, and are now bitching because some scumbag lobbyist also took “no position?”

I spend an awful lot of time perusing articles, watching the forum posts, sending letters my readers never see, and writing for you to take the information and act on it.  I hope you do that rather than just read my posts.  Sending these links around pushes traffic and empowers the whole community.  But this takes a powerful lot of time.  I’m not complaining, it’s a labor of love.  But everyone has to do their part.

I’ll would certainly buy again from Rock River Arms.  There’s a sweet 6.5 Creedmoor rifle they have up on their web site I’d like to have.  It’s a bit too pricey for me right now, but after a couple of years of bonuses from work, perhaps it will be my next purchase.

I encourage you to make your feelings known to Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms.  They’ve given you the avenue to do that.  If they didn’t want to hear from you they wouldn’t have given you the chance to tell them what’s on your mind.

As to perfection in the gun rights community, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.  Consider Ned’s questions.

Before we get to the main subject of this article, let’s cover an incident perpetrated by Carroll County’s Sheriff’s Office in Maryland.

Gaithersburg, Md. –  The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office is admitting it was a mistake that led to a SWAT raid at a Montgomery County man’s home where he and his family were detained by police.

Israel Orellana has the same name as a man investigators were searching for in a gun theft case. Somehow, Carroll County got a warrant to search the wrong man’s home.

Orellana says he was in his bedroom Tuesday when he heard the noises. He says his mom had friends from church at their home at the time.

“I thought it was my mom’s friends because sometimes they pray and they start dancing,” he said. “So I get up from my bed and I start walking over to my door. And as I’m opening my door, I make eye contact with the SWAT officer and he pushes up against the door with his shield and he slams me against the wall. He starts screaming at me, ‘Stop resisting! Stop resisting!’”

Orellana showed FOX 5 a bruise on his face and scrapes on his arm. He said his hands were tied behind his back and he was taken upstairs to find that his family and his mother’s friends were also detained. He says officers barged in on his 14-year-old sister in the bathroom.

“It was really horrific,” he said. “You feel really helpless during the whole situation. Like you know you’re innocent, you’re telling them you’re innocent, but they just see you as a criminal.”

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office got the search warrant for Orellana’s home and requested that Montgomery County police execute it. According to the search warrant, a man named Israel Orellana was linked to a home burglary where 20 guns and money were stolen. The suspect in the case was identified in surveillance video and investigators believed that Orellana’s driver’s license photo matched that video.

Both Israel Orellanas live in Gaithersburg.

“Stop resisting.”  Compliant sheeple, citizens are expected to be.  Shooting home invaders isn’t considered a right of citizens, and it’s questionable what a jury would have found, but there is no question that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals would have given the cops a pass had they shot the man if he had in fact resisted.

This all put citizens in a dangerous position.  Men need to protect their families, and single women are even more vulnerable in this calculus.  The reason is clear.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Police are trying to catch a group of armed robbers who pistol whipped a couple inside their condo while wearing fake SWAT uniforms.

“I think it made us hesitate enough to give them the jump on us,” Brad Ouellette said. “Just oh, SWAT, maybe the wrong house, what are you doing here?”

The masked men got away with three Rolex watches and five guns. They are also accused of inappropriately touching Ouellette’s wife.

“This reminded her of something she would see in Colombia,” he said. “She never thought she’d see it in America.”

Never forget those words.  “I think it made us hesitate enough to give them the jump on us.”   As I said before concerning armed invaders and the proliferation of police SWAT raids, “For those of you who are LEOs, do you understand?  Does this ring any bells with you as home owners and family members?  Does it make any sense to you that this is number 18,399 on the list of reasons not to conduct home raids, even if they are intended to find evidence of wrong-doing?

Well, does it?  I hope a LEO weighs in, because it’s crystal clear to me and most readers.  In addition to your felt need to “go home safely at the end of your shift,” we have an equivalent need to be safe in our own homes, to prevent flash-bang grenades from being thrown into our toddler’s cribs, to prevent your reflexively shooting our family dogs, and to prevent street thugs like this from raiding our homes under the guise of being police officers.

You see, we can’t just lay down and let people screaming “police, police, get the fuck on the floor, police, police” … come into our homes without countering those efforts with close quarters battle.  Because they may not be police.”

The proliferation of military tactics into ordinary policing work in America was first promoted by progressives fighting a war on drugs, but the police-worship is possibly even worse among the “law-and-order” neocons who also happen to be some of the most virulent Northeastern gun controllers.

This is all setting up a national confrontation between the police and those who are being policed, and whether those who are setting all of this up actually understand the hazard this creates for themselves as well isn’t clear.  What is clear is that this is bound to get much worse before it ever gets any better.

But you simply cannot lay on the floor waiting for your door to be busted down because the home invaders might be police.  No honorable man can do something like that, any more than an honorable man can bust doors in and point guns at other people just because a judge says so.

Courthouse News Service:

A Cleveland security guard claims in court that the city has refused to return his guns that were used as evidence after he shot and killed a home invader, even though the case against the intruder’s accomplice is over.

Brian Bridges sued the City of Cleveland, Mayor Frank Jackson and Police Chief Calvin Williams on Thursday in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, alleging violations of his Second and Fourth Amendment rights.

In March 2015, Bridges came home to find two men robbing his house. During the ensuing confrontation, Bridges fatally shot one of the invaders, Joseph Eason.

“The shooting was in self defense and was justifiable,” Bridges’ lawsuit states.

The other suspect, Anthony Akins-Daniels, escaped, but he was eventually found and arrested. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for causing the death of his “best friend,” Eason.

Bridges claims Cleveland police unlawfully seized his property, “including a Glock 21 semiautomatic handgun, ammunition, holsters and a redcherry piccolo,” to be used as evidence in Akins-Daniels’ case.

Despite the fact that the criminal proceedings against Akins-Daniels are over, police have not returned Bridges’ guns, he says.

Bridges noted in his complaint that he is a professional security guard and has a license to carry a concealed handgun.

He sued for replevin and violation of the Second and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Bridges seeks $20,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages. He also wants an injunction to stop the city from “enforcing any policy and/or actions that infringe upon a lawful gun owner’s right to keep and bear arms.”

The temptation of any attorney is to play up the ideas that (a) he’s a “guard,” he (b) has a permit, and (c) he was exonerated.

None of those things matter.  What matters is that asset forfeiture and seizure, even if supported by existing laws, are immoral.  They reek of royal ownership of personal property, and thus don’t even consider that a war was fought over just such things.

The owners of property, even if convicted in court, should get a chance to sell their property, give it to their family, or otherwise dispose of it in any way they deem appropriate.  It’s theirs.  Their property doesn’t belong to the state, to the king or queen, or to society at large.

This is one reason I oppose the modern concept of incarceration, as well as the notion and phrase that any man has a “debt to society” that must be paid.  No man has a debt to society.  If he has stolen he has a debt to the victim.  If he murders, rapes or kidnaps, he should be put to death.

Here’s a quick note to lawmakers everywhere.  Get rid of asset forfeiture and seizure laws.  Men’s property isn’t yours.  It doesn’t belong to you.

He seems like a good, decent and honorable man.

“The Second Amendment, while it allows citizens to protect themselves from other citizens, goes well beyond just allowing us to defend ourselves from a criminal,” Green said at a pro-gun rally in 2013.

He has withdrawn his name.

President Donald Trump’s choice for Army secretary withdrew his nomination Friday after mounting criticism over past statements he made about gays and lesbians, Muslims and other groups.

Mark Green, a Republican Tennessee state senator from Clarksville, pulled his name from consideration in a short statement Friday afternoon that said his nomination had become a distraction “due to false and misleading attacks against me.”

His decision came before confirmation hearings had even started for the West Point graduate and former Army medic — just four weeks after Trump picked him for the post.

“Tragically, my life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and attacked by a few on the other side of the aisle for political gain,” Green said. “While these attacks have no bearing on the needs of the Army or my qualifications to serve, I believe it is critical to give the president the ability to move forward with his vision to restore our military to its rightful place in the world.

“Camie and I look forward to finding other opportunities to use our gifts to serve others and help make America great again.”

Once again, he seems like a very good, very decent and very honorable man.  I wish he were president instead of the jerk we’ve got who apparently wouldn’t fight the good fight to get him confirmed.  When I think of the Senate and House I think of a gaggle of demons, gargoyles and pit vipers, or perhaps the consortium of pigs in “Animal Farm.”

Color me unsurprised that Trump didn’t want to fight for him.  Color me unsurprised that the collectivists and God-haters wanted him defeated.  And color me unsurprised that he was gracious in his withdrawal.  Again, he seems like a very good, very decent and very honorable man.

New York Post:

A conservative columnist who was suspended by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after she defended the National Rifle Association from comparisons to ISIS fired back with her resignation and a series of targeted tweets.

The newspaper on Friday suspended Stacy Washington after a column entitled “Guns and the Media” disputed an anti-NRA article that argued since more Americans die from guns than from ISIS, the Second Amendment advocacy group is the greater danger.

[ … ]

“Her active promotional activities and professional association with the National Rifle Association represented an unacceptable conflict of interest in her most recent column, which resulted in our suspension of her work,” Tod Robberson, the Post-Dispatch’s editorial page editor, wrote in a response to Washington’s suspension and quitting.

Robberson added: “Columnists are expected to fully disclose conflicts of interest when writing about topics where such a conflict might arise. We apply this standard regardless of the lobbying or advocacy group being written about in a column.”

[ … ]

“I’m not ashamed that I’m an NRA supporter, a Bible-thumper, that I love Jesus Christ. I’m all the way out there. There’s nothing else that I can do to articulate my perspective any more clearly on where I stand.”

So let’s get this straight, “Tod.”  Stacy wasn’t being paid by anyone but you.  Her views are simply that – her views.  You suspended her because of her views, and you know it.  You’re just a cowardly liar.  I have no respect for you because of that.  But since you suspend people who have views, I presume you suspended all Hillary Clinton supporters from the newspaper, right?  Oh, no, I see, you didn’t actually do that, did you?  No, because you’re a liar.

It’s an interesting commentary, though, in that Stacy, in addition to being a charming woman and one to whom you should listen, is more of a man than you are.  Good God.  What kind of metrosexual, effeminate, pathetic “men” do they raise in your neck of the woods anyway?

As for Stacy, don’t worry.  You’ll land on your feet and you’ll be better off without them.  They suck anyway.  I’ve noticed that after blogging for eleven years.

David Codrea:

It wasn’t much of a counterweight to the convention. Depending on who you listen to and which carefully-cropped photos you look at, the Astroturf Moms managed to attract anywhere from several dozen to a couple hundred supporters. For grassroots numbers, you’d need to go inside the 2017 NRA Annual Meeting, with attendance estimates exceeding 80,000.

To-to-toe, huh Shannon?  Is that sort of like when the moms tried to shut down Harris Teeter in Charlotte when “about 10 women, men and children held placards in the Harris Teeter parking lot, cut their customer loyalty cards in front of television cameras and carried a letter to the store manager?”

Is this all about the optics, Shannon?

Via WRSA, this from Z man.

“If there is any hope for a revival of French culture it will only come through total French humiliation and despair. Once a majority of Frenchmen no longer see any reason to support the status quo, to remain loyal to their betters, then things change and change rapidly. It will not happen through elections and political activism. Democracy is good at driving a country off a cliff. It is useless in pulling it back onto the road. France needs to vote itself off the cliff in order to clear the field for what comes next.”

I disagree, and vehemently so.  This analysis is dead wrong.  France has no future now for the same reason France had no future before this election cycle.  France lost its soul long ago.  They exchanged the “grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” for the existentialist philosophy of Sartre And Camus.  The Frenchman hates himself because he hates God.

No man or woman, politician or not, can fill that void.  And no constitution, political philosophy or war can save a country.  No man can replace God.  And France is the canary in the mine for all of Europe, including Britain.  I recall the experience some good friends had when they visited Britain recently, and took the C.S. Lewis tour.  The sad part is that the tour guide said that he only tours Americans now.  No one in Britain cares any more or even knows who C.S. Lewis was.

No they don’t.  All of Europe is lost.

I tried to warn everyone, but just like America has a cop-worshipping problem, it also has a special operator worshipping problem.  Abolish SOCOM, I said.  Distribute direction action capabilities among the units, get out of countries where we don’t belong, and whet our appetite for war-making.

No one listens to me.

The breakneck pace at which the United States deploys its special operations forces to conflict zones is taking a toll, their top commander told Congress on Thursday.

Army Gen. Raymond Thomas, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, called the rate at which special operations forces are being deployed “unsustainable” and said the growing reliance of the U.S. military on its elite troops could produce a dangerous strain.

“We are not a panacea,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We are not the ultimate solution to every problem, and you will not hear that coming from us.”

About 8,000 U.S. special forces are currently deployed in more than 80 countries, Thomas said. Many are at the forefront of advising missions in Syria and Iraq as well as counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan. There are about 500 special operators in Syria.

The origins of this problem are actually quite simple.  First of all, allow meddlesome rulers control over the military.  Second, create military leadership who agrees with all this meddling.  Next, fling the borders wide-ass open and allow anyone to come here for any reason under the sun.  The resultant witch’s brew of toxicity requires you to control everyone, everywhere, all of the time in order to try to ensure that the country doesn’t completely collapse.

Further, invite gays, transgenders, women and weaklings into the military.  The only way to accomplish warfare then is to rely on the only remaining bastion of capability, SOCOM and the U.S. Marine Corps.  The general purpose forces have become a jobs program, and it’s doubtful whether “big army” will ever be capable of fighting another major war.

Perhaps one good side effect of this is that we leave those 138 counties where we deployed last year and mind our own business.

The Morning Call:

Coopersburg resident Mary Ann Nord was looking for reassurance when one of her senators, Republican Pat Toomey, headed to the microphone Wednesday during a gun-safety advocacy event in downtown Washington.

Nord, a member of the Philadelphia chapter of Moms Demand Action, a nonpartisan group created after the elementary school shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., is quick to praise Toomey’s work on his 2013 background check bill that stalled in the Senate.

Crafting and pushing that legislation took courage, Nord said. She recalled being in Toomey’s office and hearing the phones ringing with angry callers. But more recently, she’s been underwhelmed by his actions on the issue.

“Since then, it’s not been as clear if he was going to continue to be that kind of an advocate for the cause,” said Nord, who spent Wednesday lobbying Pennsylvania legislators and their staffs. “We have been a little bit discouraged that he hasn’t been more vocal.”

The Lehigh Valley senator told her and others gathered at the Grand Hyatt that he and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — his cosponsor on the measure to extend background checks to gun show sales and online purchases — still support the bill and finding a path through Congress.

“We have not been successful yet, but my determination has not diminished and one day we’re going to succeed on this bill,” Toomey told the reception crowd, drawing applause.

The event was part of a two-day summit organized by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Americans for Responsible Solutions, a group founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was severely injured in a 2011 shooting.

Giffords’ group endorsed Toomey during his tightly contested re-election fight due to his efforts on the 2013 gun background check bill. A gun-control advocacy group founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg aired pro-Toomey ads, highlighting an issue the senator emphasized as he sought to win over moderate, suburban voters.

He took criticism from gun-rights advocates as a result of the background check bill, and his A rating from the National Rifle Association dropped to a C last year.

His rating should have dropped to F.  He should have never had the A rating to begin with, and that was a function of bad judgment by the NRA, something we see time and again.

This goes a long way back with Toomey and Manchin, as it did with Eric Cantor and as it also does with Paul Ryan.  The fact that Ryan is House speaker tells us all we need to know about the judgment of other members of the House who supported Ryan’s candidacy for said position.

The gun controllers will never give up, and neither can we.  I’m not saying that it’s impossible to truly change, because God can save fallen men.  But the reliance on the state for safety and security is a demonstrable indicia of statism and thus fallen and pagan thinking.  Men live like the die, and they die like they live.  The thief on the cross was a stark exception, but he was just that – an exception.

Toomey and Manchin apparently are the standard, not the exception.  Fight them with all your breath, with every ounce of energy, with every cell of your body, and with every prayer in your soul.