Articles by Herschel Smith

David Codrea:

What is clear is the promise of a reward and the guarantee that the person receiving it will not have to provide their name lends itself to the potential for abuse. Not only could gangland competitors be effectively removed, an opportunistic criminal could reap rewards for phoning such a calculated tip in, including the possibility of exploiting unsuspecting police to permanently eliminate reported rivals. Also unstated is what safeguards are in place to ensure rogue law enforcement officers don’t themselves create a tip to do an end run around Fourth Amendment protections, artificially establishing phony “probable cause” opportunities for stops, searches and seizures that would otherwise not present themselves.

It all sounds so Orwellian doesn’t it?  Their designs will have come to fruition when families are informing on family members to the god-government.

David Codrea:

Members of Oath Keepers, a national group that includes current and retired military and law enforcement personnel, have rejected orders from St. Louis County Police to abandon posts on top of private businesses that invited their protection, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday. The order to stand down was issued under presumed authority of a county ordinance prohibiting unlicensed security personnel.

Do you need any more evidence that the police aren’t interested in your protection or property?

Kurt Hofmann:

If the government’s hired muscle is shooting too many people, too indiscriminately, the answer is not to voluntarily surrender the means of defending against them. If they are unnecessarily shooting people out of fear, it’s well past time for them to stop shooting, out of a much greater fear of the consequences of such shootings. That greater fear can only be imposed by people equipped to make shooting citizens unnecessarily a terminally dangerous activity.

Kurt upbraids Matthew Yglesias, who is a little boy and whose readers are his boy-followers.

Dave Workman (via Mike Vanderboegh):

As Monson put it, “There is no way I would bring a family into downtown Seattle right now. The criminals have won. The gangs have won. The protesters are out of control” … Some might suggest that Seattle tilts so far to the left that it’s a wonder the city hasn’t slid into Elliott Bay. But the city also has a dichotomy. On the one hand, the liberal/socialist core population obviously leans toward the “only-cops-should-have-guns” philosophy, except when it comes to cops actually using their guns to stop criminals …

Yea, progressives can be paradoxical, no?  And as for losers, criminals, and ne’er-do-wells taking over the city, it’s not much different in Portland.  Expect it to head your way, Washington.  And yet the politicians are concerned about things like focusing on guns and making sure that grandfathers don’t give firearms as presents to grandsons.

Via Mike, police and dogs again.

The body language section of the “Police & Dog Encounters” videos is designed to teach officers how to quickly size up the potential threat presented by dogs. And dog behaviorists and police trainers say you can’t just eyeball a dog, decide that it looks like a pit bull or Rottweiler, and decide it’s dangerous.  In the body language section of the “Police & Dog Encounters” videos, dog trainer and author Brian Kilcommons works with four Chicago PD officers on how to approach dogs that are not very happy about having strangers in their territory. “Dogs don’t lie,” Kilcommons says on the video. “They tell you what they are thinking.” That may be true, but you have to know how to interpret what the dog is saying.

Good grief.  Just good grief.  As I’ve said, you bunch of little screaming girls, go spend some time at a farm or ranch and buy and raise a dog.  Good grief.  It’s shameful that cops have to be taught to do things that most little boys can already do.

Finally, Mike gets some nice props.

During a recent trip.

Tenth Amendment Center:

AUSTIN, Texas (December 1, 2014) – Today, two bills were filed in the Texas state house that would have the effect of nullifying virtually all federal gun control measures in the state. Sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center say that the bills have a good chance of passage, but only with strong grassroots support.

Introduced by Rep.Matthew Krause, (R-Ft. Worth) House Bill 422 (HB422) would require that the state refuse to enforce almost all federal gun control measures enacted at anytime – past, present or future.    It reads, in part:

An agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state, and a law enforcement officer or other person employed by an agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state, may not contract with or in any other manner provide assistance to a federal agency or official with respect to the enforcement of a federal statute, order, rule, or regulation purporting to regulate a firearm, a firearm accessory, or firearm ammunition if the statute, order, rule, or regulation imposes a prohibition, restriction, or other regulation, such as a capacity or size limitation or a registration requirement, that does not exist under the laws of this state.

This would make a huge dent in any new federal effort to further restrict the right to keep and bear arms in Texas. As Judge Andrew Napolitano has said recently, such widespread noncompliance can make a federal law “nearly impossible to enforce” (video here). Quite simply, the federal government absolutely cannot enforce gun control in Texas without the help of Texas.

A similar bill introduced by Krause in 2013 (HB928) passed out of the state house by a vote of 102-31, but since it was held to late in the session, the Senate never had the opportunity to concur.

Also introduced today is a bill known as the 2nd Amendment Preservation Act. Filed by Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Ft. Worth), House Bill 413 (HB413) is an exact duplicate of HB176 filed last month by outgoing Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt (R-Lexington). Since Kleinschmidt is retiring from the state house to accept a new position with the state, HB176 is considered “dead” and HB413 is the active bill in its place.

HB413 declares all federal restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms to be “invalid” and “not enforceable” within the state of Texas. It reads, in part:

A federal law, including a statute, an executive, administrative, or court order, or a rule, that infringes on a law-abiding citizen’s right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 23, Article I, Texas Constitution, is invalid and not enforceable in this state.

If passed into law, all government agencies and employees within Texas would be banned from enforcing any federal law in violation of the act.

Read the Tenth Amendment Center for the rest of the details, one of which is a nice restriction on universal background checks and gun registration.  Of course as readers know, this one is near and dear to my heart.

And true enough, lack of participation by state and local law enforcement would make, let’s say, a ban on standard capacity magazines, completely unenforceable.  There is nothing wrong with the bills as constituted.  But they don’t go nearly far enough.

For instance, what if a federal requirement is enacted for FFLS to do something or other that most Texans believe infringes on their rights under the Texas constitution?  The ATF can then threaten the FFL with revocation of their license, or perhaps even worse, fines and prison time, if he does not comply.  The federal government wins – unless, that is, the authorities in Texas are willing to send Texas law enforcement to arrest agents of the DoJ and ATF who reside in or enter the boundaries of Texas, with mandatory prison time as a consequence.

Just how free do Texans consider themselves?  The same question goes for the rest of us.

Delivered recently, a Voodoo 42″ tactical padded rifle case, which holds two rifles and other weapons (two handguns).  There is also room for magazines, tools, and other kit that you might want to take to the range or into the field.  If you’re like me, you probably cannot even name or catalog the equipment and other miscellaneous stuff you have in your dope bag (or range bag).  This clears it up.  When you head out the door, you put in what you need for the day, weekend or longer.

 Here is a picture of the case unopened, plenty of Molle and cinch straps.  And I like the OD green.

Here is a picture of the back, with padded shoulder straps and D-rings.

One aspect of the bag I like is the presence of zippers amenable to locking.  No, it won’t stop someone from picking up your entire bag.  But it will stop someone from going into your rifle bag and coming out with something that you don’t miss until much later.  Here is a picture closed.

And unclosed.

I wanted to see how it would handle longer rifles (since it is, after all, a 42″ case), so I put in my Tikka T3 Hunter, with scope, on one side of the dedicated two-rifle bag.

Nice fit.  Now on the other side, my RRA AR-15 with EOTech.

See how the top of the EOTech goes to the top of the bag?  The forend grip was given to me straight from a Marine in my son’s MC Battalion.  It saw combat action.  It holds sentimental value for me.  I figure there’s no reason I should have to remove my forend grip in order to get my rifle into a tactical bag.  More on that in a minute.  

One more item worthy of mention is that I didn’t notice any stress on the zippers when the bag was fully opened.  If the zippers were stressed when folded open, I would say so and dock points for that in my review.  This bag passes with flying colors.  Below are the storage compartments opened up.

Plenty of snaps, velcro and tension cords.  And more on the internal storage compartments.

Now back to the height of the bag.  Take a close look at the tape measure below.  It reads 11″ seam to seam.

Another bag I have reads 10.5″ seam to seam.

The difference is actually about 0.75″ when I get down close to the seams and tape (a picture cannot do it justice).  Does that 0.75″ matter?  Well, it does if you have an EOTech on your rifle plus a forend grip.

The Voodoo 42″ tactical padded rifle case is a worthy way to spend your money if you need a rifle case.  In fact, I highly recommend it if you have a rifle longer than the AR-15 carbine (16″ barrel) that needs to be protected during transport.  And by the way.  I decry the notion of abusing your weapons to the maximum just to ascertain the point at which they will stop working.  You don’t do that with your own body, do you?  Protect your weapons like your life.

The Blaze:

Everytown for Gun Safety, the organization funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, issued a set of five talking points for gun control advocates to follow when trying to persuade their pro-gun friends and relatives of their error in thinking on Thanksgiving.

“This Thanksgiving when talk around he table turns to politics and current events, you can help set the record straight on some of the most common myths about guns,” the talking points titled, “Talking Turkey About Guns,” says.

The “myths” and “facts” infographics included Thanksgiving imagery such as turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

That this was intended for Thanksgiving is irrelevant.  What’s more germane to the conversation is what Bloomberg’s group did and why they did it.  It’s not likely to happen exactly like Bloomberg presents it.  My position on mental health and gun ownership is well established.  As my reader menckenlite has said of psychiatry.

Control freaks love psychiatry, a means of social control with no Due Process protections. It is a system of personal opinion masquerading as science. See, e.g., Boston University Psychology Professor Margaret Hagan’s book, Whores of the Court,he to see how arbitrary psychiatric illnesses are. Peter Breggin, Fred Baughman and Thomas Szasz wrote extensively about abuses of psychiatry. Liberals blame guns for violence. Conservatives blame mental illness. Neither have any causal connection to violence.

There may be end of life issues in which collection of guns may take same path as collection of cars or anything else that can harm someone.  We are dealing with a 91-year old grandmother who has clinical dementia.  We won’t let her drive.  We took her guns.  Guns are no different than anything else, but we are caring for her.

The point is that in the absence of clinical medical issues like dementia, you are not entitled to the guns owned by loved ones.  But totalitarians have always been quick to intercept and interdict the communications, care, money, love and every other aspect of the life of the family.  The state taxes the most helpless among us, the widow and orphan, merely because a loved one perished.  God holds a special place in hell for men who make such laws.

The Nazis did it, the Soviets did it, the communists in Southeast Asia did it, the Chinese communists do it with their one child policy and other laws.  The family is subservient to the state, rather than being one of the sovereign institutions in God’s economy.  The family owes fealty to the state rather than itself and God, and the philosophical question of the one and the many has been settled long ago in favor of the one.

The state knows that the family members love each other, and they use that against the family.  If they can split the family or use one of the members against another to report on their activities or convince them of their duty to the state, the love of the family can engender pacifism within the family.  In order to ensure peace within the family, members can go along to get along.  Worse, they might actually fear another family member, which is exactly what the state wants.

You won’t find another more important venue or object of your lobby efforts or target of your teaching and instruction than family, even extended family.  If you cannot persuade your family of your world view, then it makes no sense to turn your attentions to others.  Go back to the beginning and work on your family again, and again, and again, and again.  Never let the state win.  It’s been said that socialized medicine is the holy grail of the collectivists.  That is wrong.  Their end game is the end of the family.

But after all is said and done, if you have extended family that simply cannot be convinced and will not acquiesce to your God-given rights, make it clear to them that if they align themselves with the collectivists, they have aligned with the enemy.  It’s just that serious.  Use those words.  They have become the enemy, or at least, workers for the enemy.  You cannot and will not ever relinquish your right to weapons, regardless of the close nature of those who would beseech you to do so.

When you read reports like the one from Bloomberg above, realize the deeper, more nefarious nature of their designs.  This isn’t about turkey, pie, Christmas presents, or any of the other trappings, and certainly not about the deeper religious meaning in the holidays.

David Codrea:

The thing is, transporting these children, sheltering them, feeding them, clothing them, bathing them and dealing with the waste they generate will all have an environmental impact, and while seemingly negligible compared to the totality of things, that’s added to the millions of heretofore illegal aliens already in the country now empowered to stay, and to those on their way, attracted by seeing “migrants” who came before them rewarded for lawbreaking. Their long-term impact as an aggregate on the environment and on the resources needed to provide energy, sustenance and disposal, can hardly be considered negligible. Nor can the immediate and continuing impact of environmental destruction left in their wake …

How much more of an impact will the president’s immigration directives have on the environment than the off-chance a person defending their life may (or may not) need to fire off rounds of ammunition that may (or may not) leave traces within national park boundaries? … Why not figure out the best jurisdiction to get an injunction halting Obama’s action until an environmental impact study can be completed.

Progressives are liars.  They pretend to care about the environement but don’t.  If they did, they would lobby for the startup of nuclear power plants.  Rather, progressives use their pretensions as a cudgel for their other causes.  As for the environmental impacts of immigration and lack of border security, we’ve discussed that here.  They don’t care.  Perhaps a judge can be found who would pay attention only to the law, but s/he wouldn’t care about the morality of the situation.

David Codrea:

 Obviously both of these individuals were not part of what the citizen disarmament cult disparages as “the gun culture,” as the lack of respect for even the most basic of safety rules indicated by the report points to people absolutely unfamiliar with basic rational gun-handling. The obvious ridiculous and senselessly dangerous way this woman evidently ended her own life unsurprisingly brought out ridicule-based comments, including predictable “Darwin Award” references.

“She deserved to die,” a gay Huffington Post reader from Yale weighed in. “Trailer lady deserved it.” Talk about tolerance and concern for “different” people of perceived lower economic status!

Progressives only pretend to care about the lower class.

From Uncle, here is a list of top handgun manufacturers.  I’m kind of surprised that Springfield Armory isn’t on the list.

Don Surber: Do not rebuild in Ferguson.  Yea, but when I said the same thing, I was somehow the devil.

Mountain Guerrilla:

Single-points have been popular for a long time, and I’ve been a fan. I ran one for a long time. I think the biggest selling point for single-point slings, for most people, is the cool-guy CDI (chicks dig it) factor. Guys see Chris Costa, or Travis Haley, or Kyle Defoor running them, and want one. The reality is, I HATE single-point slings. Every time I drop the gun, whether to transition to my sidearm (doesn’t happen nearly as often as a lot of training courses make it seem like does), or to go hands-on with someone, the f****** rifle nails me in the nuts.

Kyle Lamb, American Rifleman, December 2014:

A general-purpose AR just isn’t complete without a sling.  If you plan to carry a rifle or stabilize it while shooting, you must have a sling.  I use a quick-adjust, two-point type, the VTAC sling.  It allows the user to carry the carbine muzzle down as well as quickly cinch the rifle tight to his chest or loosen it for shooting or transitioning.  The sling can be slightly tightened while building a shooting position to greatly increase stability.  If you choose to use a single-point or three-point sling you will lose the ability to also have the built-in shooting aid.  The single-point lets the rifle dangle, merely there in case you have to transition to your side arm.  I find that less-secure configuration may also allow it to crack you in the family jewels or on the knees, depending on the adjustment.

My son Daniel and the rest of his company threw away or modified the mandated MC-issue three point slings to make them whatever the Marine wanted (even braiding 550 cord to make their own slings), in most cases a single point sling.  At the time they were preparing for Fallujah and a lot of CQB and room clearing, and needed the ability to raise the weapon and engage the sight picture via a “reflex sight” very quickly and efficiently.  Up and down and side to side and use of hands was very important.

I’m late with this wish because of connectivity problems.  But I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving.

I know that I am thankful for so many things – family, health, work, sustenance, and all good things which come from God – but most of all that He loves me and is my savior.

David Codrea:

Time was, the turkey was considered a game bird. The Pilgrims at Plymouth feasted on them. Generations later, Ben Franklin considered it such a useful fowl that he nominated it for the national bird.

Of course, this was in the days when the right to bear arms was taken for granted, when free people hunted turkeys for sustenance, all the while honing marksmanship that would serve them well in time of need.

Fast-forward to present-day Boston, a place of sacred tradition, the literal forge for our heritage of individual liberty. Except Boston is now a place where traditions have been betrayed. Its current overlords have succeeded in disarming the whole people in a way that General Gage could never have conceived possible.

So successful have these rulers been that the city that gave us Sam Adams and Paul Revere is now a city under siege …

David Codrea:

At Wednesday afternoon’s White House ceremony for the traditional annual presidential pardon of turkeys from being served up for Thanksgiving dinner, Barack Obama likened the action to his executive order last week on illegal aliens. The president made the remarks before assembled press with daughters Malia and Sasha present before sparing the lives of turkeys Mac and Cheese, the beneficiaries of his latest order.

That’s because he’s an asshole.

Kurt Hofmann:

One cannot help but wonder about Ensley’s blustering “we’ll take them.” Does he propose to personally take part in the confiscations, or would his participation be limited to cheerleading from the sidelines. Personally, I strongly suspect the latter.

Yes, but I prefer the former.  At least that would make an honest man out of him.

Magpul finalizes departure from Colorado.

Uncle: Will the Army drink the Kool-Aid?  I don’t know.  But I’m not worried about what the Army does.  To S&W, I say again like I have to every gun manufacturer.  Don’t even start down the path of relying on government contracts to keep your company solvent.  It’s like shooting heroin once.  Just say no.  Just don’t do it.

Mike Vanderboegh:

It is possible to condemn rioting and lawlessness in the streets without embracing the militarized police state.

It is also possible to call into question the righteousness of Wilson’s use of deadly force without embracing arson and pillage.

These are not mutually exclusive propositions.

Yea, but when I said the same thing, I was somehow the devil.

Opposing Views:

An unidentified woman pulled the trigger on her rifle and witnessed the gun explode in her hands in video footage uploaded to LiveLeak over the weekend.

Although the woman appeared to be unharmed, her exact condition is not known. The location of the incident is also unknown.

ConcealedNation.org, a website focused on firearms, suggested a reason for the explosion, since the woman in the video seemed entirely surprised by the accident.

“It seems that she experienced a squib load on the 2nd to last shot. While she cleared the casing from the rifle, she did not check for barrel obstruction,” the website explained. “Once she pulled the trigger again, the newly-fired round ran right into the back of the previous round that didn’t have enough energy to make it out of the barrel.”

The website added that squib is usually attributed to an underpowered cartridge, a missing powder charge or a light powder charge. If an obstruction is created, then a fired round comes into contact with it and causes “dangerous situations”.

As if you needed any more reasons not to shoot crappy guns or ammunition, this should be enough.